Meagon

This one truly surprised me. It is so haunting in its descriptions and prose. The terror of facing some supernatural evil that no one else believes in or sees, and having that compounded with how women have been treated for centuries… Absolutely chilling story. It does follow three different timelines and I know some people aren’t fans of that sort of storytelling, but it’s used so well here. The differing stories enrich each other rather than distracting from the mounting unease and helpless fear.

I’ll definitely need to read more of this series. This first installment does a good job of laying the groundwork of what seems to be a wacky, gory good time. I’m interested to find out more about the little task force Chainsaw Man finds himself a part of and what exactly their impact on devils is. The artwork is great, I love the character designs.

This was going to be 5 ⭐️s with the unique lore and world building; the characters were so relatable and I was SO invested in them and their struggles. Then that ending comes and punches you right in the chest. I felt like the ending took away the whole point of the story. If there’s ever a sequel, I will absolutely rush to snatch it up because I need closure. 😅🤣

3.5 ⭐️s

I don’t normally do .5 ratings, but this one is definitely better than a 3 but not quite a 4. I loved the unique lore and world building of this novel where zombies are sentient. Angel is a fun protagonist and I was absolutely rooting for her the whole way. The end felt rushed and I had figured out the “mysteries” pretty early on in the book. But I couldn’t put it down and will get to the 2nd in the series sometime soon.

5 ⭐️s

I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of Poe’s work. I tend to love the premise of gothic stories but end up let down by the end. This one wasn’t like that. I enjoyed the characters, especially their banter. Kingfisher does a wonderful job of creating a foreboding, damp, claustrophobic atmosphere that clings to the reader throughout.

I really love this time travel/alternate history series! Chomping at the bit for the third one so I’ll need to track that down asap. A LOT happens in this globe spanning epic w/ a large cast of characters, but it doesn’t feel bogged down. I adore many of the characters (especially the Hollard siblings and their royal love interests 😉) and I think the author does a great job of not making the ancients stupid or inferior to the Nantucketers.

5 ⭐️s

I honestly loved this book. As a mom, I can say this played strongly on my fears of my child being stolen from me. I know I would go to hell and back to get him and keep him safe, but would I have the capabilities? I really loved the descriptive writing, the way Hill slowly builds up the suspense and makes the reader worry for the protagonists. I liked the characters, especially Lou. It got me in the feels a lot, especially in the end. I knew it couldn’t be a sunshine and rainbow ending, but still… 😢

Unpopular opinion, but I really didn’t like this book. Ish is an absolutely insufferable protagonist and I couldn’t connect with him or any of the other members of The Tribe. Every time I thought something interesting was actually going to happen, it doesn’t or it’s skipped over. Ish’s self-importance and how he looks down on everyone around him drove me insane.

I was THRILLED when a glimmer of conflict came but that was also quickly washed away. The final section was the most interesting to me, but it couldn’t salvage the majority of the trudge through the most boring post apocalyptic story I have ever encountered. And I LOVE the post apocalyptic genre. From The Postman to The Stand, Mad Max to the Fallout franchise, I love it all.

I hated how Ish would think, “Gee, I should really do something about (insert x problem here),” and then proceed to NOT do anything about it. I’d rather read a book about Jack or the black family Ish contemplated turning into slaves than about the narcissist “god”.

The only good thing to come out of this book was that it apparently inspired Stephen King to write one of my all time favorite books ever, The Stand.

Little underwhelmed. This was another one where at the beginning, I really thought I’d love it. The author’s descriptive writing easily creeped me out. The unique lore that was brought into it had me intrigued. But by the 3/4 point, it felt like a lot of that was abandoned. I still don’t understand the real motive of almost anything any of the antagonists did. The leshii seemed to just be a spooky plot device. Much of the horror came from what two stupid, selfish men inflicted on those around them. It was ok, but not what I was really hoping for at the beginning.

One of the most beautiful, poignant novels I have ever read. This one will stick with me for a long, long time. I’m so grateful for book clubs/buddy reads because they expose me to the magic of something I never would have had on my radar otherwise. This will be another library loan that I need to hunt down and own. Wonderful message of what it means to truly know and embrace your place in nature. It’s impacted me greatly and I want everyone to read it.

This was a “bought it for the cover” choice and honestly I’m happy with that decision. The story’s a little dated but that sort of just adds to the fun of it. I kind of wish it was a longer book and that we got to spend more time with the characters exploring the huge planet and its extremely varied cultures. I figured out one plot twist extremely early but there were others that kept me on my toes. Will be eager for another read by Vance.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Can’t wait to read more of Asimov’s Robot series. It’s more of a collection of short stories or even thought experiments. My favorite of them all was “Liar”. It didn’t end up how I thought it was going to at first. The progression through the stories was nice, it kept them all connected. It definitely makes you think about the future of humanity and how it’s interlinked with AI.

A much better installment to the TNG book series. I enjoyed the focus on Geordi and Data, especially the use of Geordi’s visor! The moral questions brought up throughout the story were intriguing and made me think of a sci fi classic I read earlier this year, Way Station by Simak. But in this story, the threat of an alien conglomerate enforcing a handicap on a planets ability to govern itself and reach for the stars has become reality.

The scariest parts were the horrible townsfolk. The last few chapters are filled with some truly chilling violence. There were a lot of questions I had throughout and none of them are really answered in the end. Bit frustrated with how the story was told. The author originally wrote it in Dutch and then rewrote the ending when it was translated to English. I don’t know if that impacted the story for me since I don’t read Dutch. 🤷‍♀️

Read for #RoaringWolfFrightNight book club on Fable

4 ⭐️s

I really enjoyed this one. The descriptions of the tech and time dilation were fun. I honestly liked Will for the most part despite his personal hang ups on a few things. I appreciate the fact that the violence/war wasn’t glorified. The changes Earth went through over the course of the story were fascinating. There were a few things I rolled my eyes at, but they’re mostly products of the time the book and author come from.

*SPOILERS*

I saw the ending coming about halfway through. The Taurans seemed too inept to be an actual threat. But the clones were a surprise. I was extremely pleased with the happy ending for Will but the implication that people could just switch between hetero and homosexual when it suited society’s needs definitely got on my nerves.

(I entered the ISBN for Bluefeather Fellini in the Sacred Realm but Hardcover pulled up this which I believe is the first book in the set. So this review is for the above mentioned sequel.)

-5 ⭐️s (unfortunately Hardcover doesn’t have a negative or even zero stars option, sooo…)

I hate this book. I hate it SO much! Its meandering, plotless story had me questioning why I didn’t just DNF. The beginning is slow and uninteresting but I was holding out for the “supernatural/mythos” bit, hoping that would be a decent payoff. When you finally get to the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” fanfiction, it’s agonizing.

Have you ever had a young kid tell you about a creature they made up and at first it’s interesting but they just keep going and it doesn’t make any sense and they’re just meshing together random things like “and his arms were ketchup packets!” and you start to forget what they were originally telling you about? So like that, but SOOO much more boring and an adult that thinks they’re clever with descriptive writing is doing it, that’s what reading about the underground world Evans wrote in this book is like. At that point, you’re like, “Wait a minute, why are they even really down here? What’s the end game of the two rich antagonists?” I’ll get to that, don’t worry.

But first! Let’s segway into the love story advertised by the synopsis on the back! Calling it a love story is very generous. The two love interests are unlikeable and most of their time spent together is having random parties that don’t drive the storyline AT ALL. Copious amounts of burritos and alcohol are ingested and there’s literally no point. There are side conversations that the MC overhears that read like someone trying to attempt the entertaining random dialogs in a Tarantino movie but doing it SO badly. The MC has sex with just about every woman BUT his love interest while constantly thinking about how much he loves her. When they finally do it, it’s right after they hunt down and shoot a mountain lion and as their hunting dog is gnawing on its still warm body, they drop trow and have sex RIGHT NEXT TO IT! 🤢 That’s not the worst sex scene. Towards the end, there’s a big shootout. Bullets whizzing by, ricocheting off every surface. What do these two morons decide to do? That’s right! The thing that would be the furthest from any rational human being’s imagination in that situation. They have sex, finish, she says his name AND THEN GETS SHOT THROUGH HER EYE SOCKET!!! 🤮 Why?!?!?! What did you think was going to be the outcome?!?!

The teeny, tiny premise of the book is: two greedy old men are feuding, one has access to a totally cool and not in the least bit boring underground world with weird creatures and enough gold to buy the moon and maybe even Mars. Other old guy sends MC in on false pretenses (“I just want some super rare wine”), MC forgets about wine for 90% of the rest of the book. Old wine guy sends his version of Seal Time 6 in to steal all the gold, MC survives but overall there’s about a 90% death rate for everyone else (oh yeah, did I mention that greedy old guy that owns the “mine” has what basically equate to slaves living underground doing everything for him?). MC and another character decide to TNT the entrance so no one from the surface can go down and disturb the natural wildlife (by doing so, they potentially leave any other surviving slaves down below, without asking if they’d rather come live on the surface or not. The idea being that they have plenty of chickens to get by, but end up taking away their electricity and everything). Then MC goes to kill old wine dude and as punishment instead of stabbing or shooting him, he locks him in a cellar to die slowly. Kinda like what he JUST did to innocent bystanders.

I wanted the MC to die a slow, horrible death, but of course he gets to live out his life to the ripe ol’ age of “Omg, the new generations are ruining EVERYTHING”. He contemplates the greed of people and you realize this, THIS is the whole reason this almost 500 page book was written, to illustrate that greed = evil. No fucking DUH, Evans! Was this really the best way to make that point? The last few chapters of the book are him preparing for his death. He goes out into the desert to die because he’s, and I quote, “the last free man”. I think, great, at least he’ll die. But no! The book couldn’t even do me that one solid. Two practicing fighter jets go by overhead and this crotchety old asshole whines, “It’s too loud to die in peace!” and marches his ass right back down the mountain!

*screams*

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot about his useless spirit guide, Dancing Bear (easy to do because he’s barely utilized in any sort of interesting way even though he’s mentioned in the blurb on the back as though he were a pivotal character). He shows up now and then for the MC to basically have something to talk at and does funny little dances. He’s used as a plot device in an effort to make their escape from the underground have even an iota of tension.

This author has won awards and is in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. What happened with this one? I might give one of his other books a chance, probably one of the ones that were actually made into a film, but not until I’ve managed to erase most of this waking nightmare from my memory.

Don’t read this book. If you value your sanity at all, don’t read it.

There’s a lot going on and also not much happens… Many of the characters (especially these three doofuses) are very different than their tv counterparts. Data shows too much emotion, I especially hated the moments where he seemingly got his feelings hurt. I LOATHED the part where Carey says he actually pouts like a child. Riker’s an unprofessional lunatic. Geordi was just a tad bit too insubordinate. (Although I must say, his protectiveness over Data definitely fed my inner Data/Geordi ship demon.) 😅

The plot was meh. I still don’t understand how this entity swooped through Earth in the 1990’s, plucked one ship out of the ocean, then apparently left our solar system and didn’t come into human contact again until the Enterprise stumbled across it randomly out in the galaxy… 🤷‍♀️

I don’t know that I can blame Carey for not having a better grasp on the characters mannerisms. The show premiered in late September ‘87 and this novel was published in July ‘88. She had to have been writing it either before it premiered or just as it was airing. So I don’t know how much, if any, of the actors depictions she was able to see before writing this. Wesley especially seems like she wrote a completely different person in the role, down to his physical looks.

I absolutely fell in love with Rye, such an unassuming badass. Westerns catch a lot of undeserved criticism for being gun worshipping propaganda. This story follows the reluctant gunman, Ryan Tyler, as he navigates growing up as an orphan in the dangerous Old West. He fights to hold onto the morals instilled in him by his late parents, even when faced with the ultimate betrayal.

A novelization of the first TNG episode. There are some obvious differences that they changed later during filming of the show. Riker goes by Bill in this, but Will in the show. Data’s origin is different. Things happen in a different order and I definitely prefer the tv version of that better. But what I like better in the book are the thoughts of the characters. A fun look into how they think/perceive each other.

A decent collection of vampire lore from all the way back in antiquity up through to the 1900s. You can definitely see the evolution of these popular creatures of the night, especially the superstitions for dealing with them. My favorite was The Living Dead by Robert Bloch.

I love a bit of satire. Many parts of this book felt like a Monty Python skit or a Mel Brooks film. I’ve never been able to get behind the whole “everything is as it should be” way of thinking, and Voltaire does a really great job of skewering that philosophy in this very short read. The “tend your own garden” line at the end really stuck with me. I think it’s very important advice, especially in this time of social media oversaturation.

This was…interesting, to a point. Probably my favorite parts were the interesting twist on linguistics and Sumerian history/mythology. I’m a sucker for anything pertaining to ancient Mesopotamia. Probably the only reason I finished. The characters aren’t likable, they’re a Mary Sue and Gary Stu. 🙄 I really thought Stephenson was going to do more. The ending was so lackluster and felt very slapped together. Really hoped for more oomph…

I love this book SO much!! It's the 2nd book in Brin's Uplift series and I enjoyed it even more than the 1st, and I loved that one too! This story is set centuries later with an entirely different cast of characters. A spaceship with a crew of humans, dolphins and a chimp, stumbles upon a history altering find out in space. Now it finds itself the focus of countless dangerous galactic enemies. An epic science fiction adventure follows that had me turning page after page. The multiple POVs is done really well, especially with the different species. I look forward to the next in this trilogy.

5 ⭐️s  An absolutely amazingly well researched book that goes into the eight remaining bear species, their past, present and mostly bleak future. I cried several times. Had to stop taking it to work as my break time read. The bit about the sun and moon bears was especially hard to read. I knew the future of bears (like most things that share this planet with us) was dire, but this was certainly eye-opening.    April's #Naturalitsy read.

After my first Simak merely a week ago, I was nervous about how much I might like this one. I ADORE it! It's a library copy but I love it so much it's been added to my list of books to buy for my collection. Enoch is such a wonderful protagonist. Just enough of the old fashioned without being a patriarchal ass. His relationships with all the supporting characters were so lovely. I will absolutely be picking up more Simak in the future!