Sarah
This is one of those rare books that is not as good as the tv show. This book is a dry retelling of a jail sentence with an overarching sense of “but this is really hard and unusual for me because i'm white and a wasp.” I found it really condescending considering all the problems that exist in the american penal system.
I did not find this book as compelling as other Sherlock Holmes books that I have read. This seemed like a filler story simply to introduce Dr Watson's to be wife Mary and the “mystery” itself was a little lacking.
The Ask and the Answer By Patrick Ness Review
Patrick Ness has succeeded in continuing a truly unique young adult story without all the trappings on most of the other series in that genre. The Ask and the Answer is the second book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness.
The first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, was a fast paced story of the chase of Todd Hewitt across largely uninhabited frontier land of a newly colonised planet with new comer Viola Eade, who's parents were killed in the crash landing of their scout vessel.
In this instalment of the story, Todd and Viola are caught in between two warring factions when Major Prentiss (now President Prentiss) finds resistance to his hostile takeover of Haven (renamed New Prentisstown) in the form of Mistress Coyle (a local Healer) and her reformed gorilla group from the Spackle Wars, The Answer.
The Answer snatch the uncooperative Viola away to help in their bombing raids of New Prentisstown. Whilst Todd is held captive and manipulated into working for President Prentiss's cause.
This book is written in an amazingly graphic and compelling manner, with the change in font for both main characters POV and that of the “noise”. I felt like screaming at the characters at points when I knew they would be walking into a trap, and crying with them in others when everything seemed so without hope. These emotions, I believe are the signs of a well written book. Can not recommend this series enough.
4/5 Stars
2.5/5 stars. Would have been more but the translation was fairly average; a vehicle referred to as a truck, car and a pick-up in the space of 1 page. Plus you know, all the violence.
I felt like this was dragged out over an extra volume because it became sooo popular and it ruined it. If that wasn't the case then they need to learn when is the better point to end a story, because this was not it!
This book started really strongly and I was enjoying it up to about 60% of the way through. At this point I felt that the book needed some heavy editing.
I also found that although I like the story lines of the 3 main characters, I found the transition between the very seperate stories jarring and clunky. It felt like there were 2 books shoe horned into 1 and did not allow me to fully settle into the action or truly feel for the characters.
For that reason I will not be continuing with the series.
A nice collection of short mysteries solved with all the flare we expect from the legends of Holmes and Watson. The best in my opinion being “The Scandal in Bohemia” where we meet the only woman to outwit the great detective, “The Five Orange Pips” involving the possible ruin of the KKK, and “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” where we see the good in bad people and the bad in those seen as good.
This is by far and away the best book I have read this year and possibly last!
I was enthralled from start to finish. This read like a Anderson fairytale with all the horror and resolutions that are not happily but are sort of fair.
I powered through this over the weekend as its so well written.
This will be up there with The Night Circus as a book I will be recommending to everyone because it just so good.
I listened to a dramatised version of this one from Libivox that was not to bad. In typical Bronte style it's quite depressing for the most part and a little bit predictable with it's mistaken identities, misheard eavesdropping and misinterpretations of affections causing characters to completely fly of the handle and overreact to the simplest events.
Doesn't hold a card to her sister's work Jane Eyre as far as I'm concerned but I've read a work by each of the three Bronte's now so there's that.
Worth a listen but at 500 odd pages I wouldn't like to physically read it.
This was really a 2.5/5 stars. The story telling is really good but I want to find out more about characters I have already been introduced to, not constantly having to find out about new ones. I wont be continuing with this series.
Could not finish this one. Maybe I will try it again one day but the start is waaaayyy better than the rest. And I just don't care anymore. No more short stories for a while I think.
Disclaimer I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this book.
This is the opening book in a large epic fantasy story with dragons which really should be completely my wheelhouse but I found the experience jarring and tedious at the same time.
My main issue that I just could not get past was the author trying to world build with a ridiculous amount of exposition shoe horned into the plot. I understand that Norfield has this entire world stuck in his head and feels the need to get every aspect of what he can see, and has constructed, onto the page but as a lover of epic fantasy I found this amateurish and off putting. Which was unfortunate because there were 2 really interesting events happening at the start of this book that normally I would have been enthralled by but for the constant interruptions to explain back story of characters, lay out of country side and political musterings between waring factions. All of these elements can be left till later when the reader has a) remembered the names of the characters and b) invested emotionally in those characters.
My secondary issue was the lengthy/wordy descriptions for EVERYTHING. We get a blow by blow list of the scratches everyone got in a battle with the enemy... big injuries and deaths only and that can be done in the action sequence please.
I really think if this had just got into the action/ main plot and left the world building to happen organically I think this would be a great book as the elements are all there but buried in to many words for words sake and exposition I would have really enjoyed it but unfortunately it was and I could not bring myself to keep going.
There may be a reason that the only plays I have read have be school mandated...or this is actually terrible. To use the word “discombobulated” 3 times in a play is a bit wanky if you ask me. Also, turning Ron into comic relief really irked me. He is a funny character but after 7 books he is a little more than a one trick pony. The obvious effort to make the 2 sons into some nerdy cool outsiders types was clunky and ineffective in the plot of the story, which was very predictable by the way. the conversations between Albus and Scorpius had none of the elegance and the ease that comes with the type of friendship that they were supposed to have, and that friendship was the reason we all love Harry, Ron and Hermione. I don't know if they were trying to capture lightning in a bottle trying to recreate the friendship but they failed. In a colossal way.
This is a re-telling of Snow White set in the 1920's told mostly by the beautiful sketched illustrations. A very quick “read” (There really isn't much to read).
This was just one of the cutest books I have read in a long time. If you loved the Series Of Unfortunate Events and want more in that genre, you've got it in The Magic Misfits, oh and a Diamond heist to boot.
This was where I felt the need to say goodby to Araminta and the Spook house as this book was the last one that I owned and I didn't have anywhere near as much fun reading this one as I have the last four.
The story of Araminta and co being baby sat by the resident ghosts of Spook house with two invading poltergeists who just want to stay and cause a ruckus just didn't work for me.
2/5 Stars.
Great book. Will be reading the rest of the series and most likely reading it soon. reminds me of DDouglas Adams which is the highest compliment i can give.
This is a great start to an intriguing story. I hope the rest of the series will hold up to this opener.
I especially liked the lore building that Black has weaved through the plot. I am not familiar with all the traditional lore of the fae but it felt like she drew on it rather than creating a new tradition that made this new tale feel like it was set in a familiar and loved world. Really enjoyed this and will be recommending it to others.
It was amazing the amount of character and world building that was done in this short 96 pages. I am so excited to see where this story will go. 4.5/5 Stars.
This was great! The fake ads at the end of each issue about treible products that some sadly existed in the past (tapeworms for weight loss) and could very well exist (pills to make women more compliant, sound like frontal lobotomies anyone?) mixed in with sadly true stats about domestic violence.
Women are held to ridiculous standards by the “Fathers” and anyone who doesn't reach these ideals of feminine beauty, behaviour or stereotype is shipped off to the prison planet Bitch.
Keen to see where this one goes.
I listened to the audiobook version and it absolutely cracked me up.
Even having not read the first book in the duology didn't reduce my enjoyment of this book. I found all the characters to be well rounded if cooky and a little damaged.
The soul collectors have not been replaced and people's soul vessels are not being collected. But they are being stolen. The supernatural world is out of balance and something has got to give.
A great adult read with all the mythology of a Percy Jackson novel and wang jokes of a frat house movie.