Megan
This is probably one of my favorite books now. I watched the anime after and didn't like it as much, the characters were too sickeningly, unrealistically sweet and boring. This had me laughing left and right, plus I was really attached to all of the characters. It felt like reading an old fairy tale.
I'm still in love with this world and these characters. I can't recommend this series enough. I feel like there was an incredible amount of development both in the overall world and for the characters and their relationships. That ending made me immediately pick up the next book because I need to know what happens next RIGHT NOW.
I read this book to gain foundational knowledge for my graduate school research involving honey bee scent foraging behavior. It is an excellent resource for honey bee biology education for apiarists, though a bit dated. It will introduce you to so many of the most important topics and historical research done with honey bees. As I mentioned, it is dated and will need to be supplemented with other texts to gain a complete picture of current knowledge in the field. The writing is really easy to follow and clear, even for non-academic folks. Highly recommend!
Contains spoilers
This is a 3-star book that I wanted to knock down to 2 because it includes a female character lying about being raped, a lot. I'm not okay with fictional stories including the narrative that women can easily make false rape accusations. But I'm going to stick with 3 stars after a day of waffling, mainly due to the intent of the author.
The rest of the book was okay. All the characters are unlikable, which works for the story. It was pretty predictable and unsurprising (which I was disappointed by) and the last half was a bit boring and uneventful. I kept waiting for a second twist that never came. I was intrigued enough throughout the story though, so that's why I lean toward 3 stars. It just wasn't as exciting as I was hoping it would be.
I get that this book is supposed to pit the misogynist against the misandrist. However, I didn't find the characters particularly complex, so this battle fell very flat for me. Instead, it landed in a weird spot that dangerously resembled fuel for misogynists. Maybe it's because cheating husbands and misogynists are less villainized in society, especially compared to women who lie about rape or “trap” a man with pregnancy. There was not enough discussion on these points to prevent it from easily fulfilling a misogynist's wet dream of a “feminazi” or evil women. Couple that with Nick being a mostly-innocent, framed husband whose only crimes were cheating and calling his wife names in his head. It's not hard to see which character is more “right” and sympathetic, at least on paper. When the goal of the book is to portray the clash between misogyny and misandry, but the misogynist commits lesser and fewer crimes, there's a foregone conclusion. Combine this with Amy's own internalized misogyny, plus other flat female characters, and I ended up very frustrated. I just needed much more complexity than there was, instead of walking stereotypes.
Like I said, these unlikable characters worked for the story, and I would be fine with Amy doing all the stereotypical “evil woman” things if there was more commentary on it. Same with Nick and his stereotypical “bastard husband” behavior.
Finally, I understand the love for the “Cool Girl” speech Amy writes and how women identify with it. I think it resonates strongly with a lot of people, and not many excerpts from thrillers accomplish that.
I found this conclusion to the series to be a bit too rushed. The setting and time changed so much that the story struggled to feel cohesive. Unfortunately this is the weakest volume of the series for me, but I loved the artwork and found the story to still be enjoyable. I just wish it hadn't been so rushed.
I think Kiley Reid is quite skilled at highlighting subtle things that people do in a way that brings those things much needed attention. So much of the actions and reactions in this book made me uncomfortable, which was the entire point the author was trying to make. It was well-executed and the biggest strength of the writing. I also loved the complexity that was shown in how the characters responded to the same situation. There are massively differing opinions, and it shows that people need to educate themselves on racism, performative activism, and microaggressions. You can't read one book about slavery and ask the opinion of your one Black friend and call it a day.
This was a pretty straightforward and simple story. I wasn't really surprised at any point, I wouldn't say that's a bad thing though. That just means it was more of a quiet story for me, much more slice-of-life/crossroads moment than I was expecting. I kinda wish it was shorter, closer to 200 pages or so. I didn't love being in Alix's head most of the time, but I know people like her exist (and many, many people possess her and Nick's thoughts/traits). It makes sense that we'd be in her head to hear how she justifies her actions to herself. I look forward to reading more from Kiley Reid.
I switched to the audiobook (narrated by Tim Curry) for The Reptile Room after not enjoying The Bad Beginning. This immensely helped with the repetitive writing, and I stomached the definitions and other such writing quirks a lot more. Tim Curry did a fantastic job narrating. I also love herpetology, so I was bound to like the setting a bit more. I liked that this book seemed a bit more dangerous (to me) and the orphans seemed quickly to understand they needed take matters into their own hands. I liked it!
I almost DNF'd this book in the first 20%, but I put it down for a bit, read another book, and came back to it. For some reason, I liked it so much more after that. I found it smartly funny at times, even laugh out loud, though it was also a bit dramatic at other times. Ultimately I found the characters interesting and their rich people drama was fun to spy on. It wasn't very surprising, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment. I think it might be more of a 3-star book, but the humor and family drama were quite enjoyable for me.
I did not know that this book would be funny. I expected a dry, overly descriptive, dense classic about not being a stingy jerk. But I laughed out loud and found the writing to be super accessible. I tend to struggle with classic writing, but this was great. It was heartwarming too, but everyone knows that.
This was an extremely fast read for me, and I really enjoyed it. It's a book about people who have private business that they think (or are told) they should keep private, and how those secrets affect their lives. It's not going to change my life or anything, but I really liked it and had a great time while reading it. Of course, it had some issues that you would expect from a debut novel, like the somewhat rushed ending, overly cheesy dialogue between Ruth and Hank, etc. It easily needed another 25 pages in the Fall/Winter sections.
But honestly it was an excellent debut as far as writing style goes, which I really liked. I particularly appreciated the no-fuss time jumps that let us skip to important parts of the year without slogging through every day in between. There are multiple perspectives, and I kept track of them pretty easily. There was a list of characters in the front of the book that I only had to refer to twice. Overall, I thought it was a really heartwarming and sweet story. I think it would be an easy book to recommend to a wide audience that most people would like.
The ending was a little eye-rolly, but I chalked it up to it being a debut. I also think the small Alaska town vibe made me less annoyed by how it all came together. It was a feel-good movie ending, and honestly I was totally fine with it. It was cute, and sometimes you just need a cute ending.
I think I would've loved this story a lot more if people didn't hype it up so much. It was more predictable (for me, though I recognize I'm an oddity here) and cheesy than I expected it to be. I found the section in which the two characters are figuring out how things work to be the most interesting and compelling. The end was exactly what I expected early on, but it wasn't bad. I wish there had been an epilogue about all the people left behind because I need to know how they handle that nonsense.
This should've been combined with Six of Crows instead of being a second book. It didn't pick up with the conflict I felt was needed, given how Six of Crows ended. Some of the stuff that was a cliffhanger was basically resolved off-page between books. That was pretty annoying. I lost interest near the end and didn't care for the characters as much as I did in the first book. But it was enjoyable for the most part and definitely readable.
We used this textbook in my Forensic Molecular Biology class. It's a tiny bit out-of-date with numbers and such here and there, but it is very readable. Concepts are explained quite clearly and thoroughly. I think it was a really good choice for the class. The questions at the end of the chapter are usually great review, but occasionally there is one that isn't addressed well in the chapter. The questions also sometimes differ from the questions at the end of the corresponding slide presentations on STRBase. If you're a student, just keep that in mind.
Those short chapters really help you fly through this book. I really enjoyed this one and loved the character study. You can look at the story from so many different angles and perspectives to create a totally different type of experience. I really liked it! I wish certain things had occurred on the page, but other than that it was a win for me.
I almost DNF'd this book and am glad I just stepped away for a few weeks. I was getting really annoyed with the time jumps and was frustrated at how long it was taking to connect parts of the story. I did not care about the lives of the characters before everything went down. Once things picked up I enjoyed it a lot more and flew through the end. It was predictable and the villain vanquished without much fanfare, but I wasn't disappointed. However, I wish there had been a tiny bit more insight for the reader about the lights at the end. I think I just wanted an extra dash of hope in my mind for the characters before closing off their story.
I had to think about this one. I loved that the magic system is influenced by folklore and that the consequences of Ged's actions follow him throughout the whole story. And boy are there consequences. There's no easy moral victory, and he has his fair share of growing pains throughout. I found the pre-Harry Potter “How do old, grey-haired, long-bearded wizards become who they are?” quite interesting. The classic style takes a bit of focus if you're just coming off a fast-paced thriller or YA fantasy, but it's worth the effort.
