Ian
Exceeded my expectations completely. I didn't know what to really expect, but being my favorite author, I knew it would at least be good. This was a rollercoaster of emotion. A lot of tough subject matter, as to be expected from King. The whole story really comes together and is so hard to put down. About as close to five stars as you can come. 9/10
A bit underwhelming. I started out liking the writing style but it got old very fast. The simplicity does make the parts that are well written stand out more. I just wish everything about this was done at a higher caliber and less reserved. The themes explored are pretty standard for post apocalyptic stories, but The Road doesn't take them any further than the basic presentation of them. My expectations were for something a bit more thought provoking.
Really quite good and I definitely loved the ending chapter. I wish the long flashback sequence was less than half the book, I had a hard time towards the end of it keeping up, but I also had some pretty heavy stuff drop on my while reading this to but me in not a good mindset. Maybe one day I'll reread it and get more out of it
Good enough. Not really anything special. Good enough to make me continue the series, but not good enough to make me dive deeper into Dean Koontz if I wasn't already familiar with him. I had a fair amount of pacing issues with this. For a relatively simple and fast moving novel, there was so much that I felt was over written and drawn out.
I made it. I saw it through to the end even though multiple times I was going to give up on it. I had no idea this was a YA novel until after finishing it, which explains why I spent so much time wishing things weren't so dull and uninteresting. But that's really no excuse. If you can't write an engaging story without writing it for adult audiences, maybe stick to writing it for adult audiences.
The bones of this novel are great, but that's all it is. All bones and no meat. Everything is painfully surface level and a drag to get through. I got invested in it at the end of Part 1, then Part 2 came to a screeching halt, then Part 3 got better, and Part 4 was really quite good. Which is even more frustrating, with such a strong ending, why did I have to fight so hard just to get to it. The whole book should be like this. Does the ending justify the slog of getting through 75% of a not so good book? Not quite, but maybe.
I don't see myself continuing with this series unless I find them dirt cheap. If things can pick up where this left off and deliver on the great premise it has, I'll be pleased, but this is just not it. Three stars is very generous as this is written well enough, but as of right now this is at the lowest end of three stars you can be without dipping into two. Two stars is a bit harsh and undeserved.
I do look forward to giving First Law a chance though.
My first Brandon Sanderson experience is an adaptation of a phone game and there's something very funny about that.
I definitely plan on reading more. It was nice to test the water with a short novella before diving into his grander epic fantasy. I definitely was not disappointed with this but can only rate it so higher being such a short experience.
