Megan
Damn was I entertained with the plot and characters in this book. I could not put it down and needed to know what was going to happen next. And that ending! I think having the world and backstory established really helped with the pacing for me, and not having Miller's POV was a welcome change. Plus the new female POVs was also a nice addition. I agree with people who say this is like a blockbuster movie in book form. It was thoroughly entertaining and a fast read.
It's the writing again, like in the first book, that brings the rating down for me. There are a few bits of repetitiveness (in addition to the writing style) that I couldn't overlook. The authors sure do love to mention that humans still have gestures and motivations and other things that are “primitive” in the future. And primates. They LOVE to mention PRIMATES. I get why, but I really don't need the reminder that humans made it to space but are still humble creatures of Earth. We're two books into this space opera series, we established that a loooong time ago. It's a little irksome sometimes but generally not too hard to gloss over. I still think the writers squash each other's voices/personalities when editing rather than make them better, which is sad. The final downside to the writing is that it's just so obviously written by men. It's very noticeable throughout. But the plot kept me so entertained that the writing ultimately took a backseat and didn't really hinder my enjoyment too much this time around.
One major negative I have to mention though... I'm extremely frustrated by the two male authors' choice to make a female character publicly and falsely accuse a male character of sexual abuse. Though it's fiction, I feel it will feed the fire for people who love to not believe rape victims. It felt exploitative and very pointed, like the authors included it because, to them, it would be believable... because, to them, that's what women do. And that just a gross viewpoint. These are the kinds of stories that silence real life rape victims. Stop implying women cannot be taken at their word. Stop showing perfect men who are victims of women accusers. Just stop. That's not the story that needs to be told.
If it weren't for the false sexual abuse claim, I would rate this book 4 stars. I thought it was more entertaining and had better characters than the first.
This was a fun little story, but not what I expected given all the adaptations I've seen over the years. It was less spooky and more descriptive of other elements (particularly nature and food). There was a distinct atmosphere that I enjoyed, and the writing is very digestible. But man, Ichabod Crane is kind of a douche.
Something about the writing kept me from fully enjoying this book. It felt a bit empty and lacking in personality. Perhaps that's due to having two authors... neither got to give their full style or writing voice. But I enjoyed the characters and thought the overall story was an interesting set-up for the rest of the series. So overall, not bad, not great, but I'm looking forward to the next one and will definitely watch the TV series.
The Last Olympian was a fairly good end to an okay series. I liked that Riordan expanded his formula a bit, but I felt he went a little too wild for my taste. I appreciated that the prophecy ended up meaning something slightly different than what everyone assumed for the entire series. In general though, I feel pretty neutral about this book and already feel the details slipping away.
Angie Thomas is an incredibly skilled writer. The characters were so real and vibrant for me, and the topic is obviously (and tragically) still so relevant today. Starr was an excellent protagonist with so many layers. The family dynamics were super intriguing and kept my interest even though I don't usually care much about that kind of thing in a story.
The first story was silly, overly dramatic, and a good teen holiday time. And the good times ended there.
John Green's short story was incredibly, horrendously awful. It's dripping with misogyny. I hated the whole thing. It's never okay to have a female character say she's happy someone called her a slut because it means they view her as a sexual being instead of “one of the guys.” Plus everything felt forced and lame. The pacing was terrible. I hated everything about it. There are so many misogynistic moments that I almost threw the book away, but instead I rage-finished it. It was probably the wrong choice, but oh well.
The third story was somewhat forgettable, but I remember the characters buying a tiny pig. There's no such thing as a 5 lb fully grown pig. I hope people don't read this nonsense and think it's true.
This is a super cute story about Amelia Fang and her friends as they journey to Glitteropolis. I think it accomplishes exactly what I expect for the age level and is really wacky. Wacky has never been my favorite style for middle grade books, and this one fell much more on that side of things than the first volume. I think it lacked the punch of emotions I felt in the first book too, which is totally fine but will likely prevent it from sticking with me for any length of time. I still love the characters and the world, and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the series.
I'm thoroughly annoyed at myself for listening to this entire series while packing, moving to a new state, unpacking, and decorating my new house. Sure, it was mindless noise that required zero mental space to consume. My mind could wander and I wouldn't miss a single thing because everything gets repeated eventually anyway. But I regretfully didn't read anything else in between and was pretty sure I hated all books by the end. But that means I can tell you exactly how much of this series is comprised of repeated information Harris has already told the reader: 7 entire books. I'm serious. This entire 13 book series could be condensed into 6 books, easily, just by deleting every time Harris tells the same backstory or uses the same joke or descriptor. You could fill an entire book with references to Sookie's word-of-the-day calendar and another one with all the repeats of Bubba's backstory. I truly hoped Sookie would die at the end of this final book, but that was clearly wishful thinking on my part.
I'd give every book in this series two stars if the only problem was the horrible repetitiveness, but all of the characters are the worst, the writing is clunky and juvenile, there is no logic or consistency within the world (or with the characters' personalities and even names!), and there is serious misogyny and racism that is never challenged or called out. Sookie doesn't seem to like other women and is a classic religious hypocrite. With a series that has a fair amount of sex scenes, the main character sure isn't very sex positive when it comes to anyone but herself, and she seems to like slut-shaming. It was gross.
This book (and series) was bad, but hey, it got me through my move. And now I know who Sookie ends up with, which is apparently the only point of the series I guess.
The Titan's Curse follows the same tired formula as the first two books, but with a dash of attempted girl power thrown in. While I appreciate the effort, I think Riordan totally screwed up the message I assume he was trying to convey (strong, independent female characters who don't need men). It came across very much like feminism is good but ladies must remember that it's #notallmen. A female character literally says not all men like she's learned the error of her ways. It really rubbed me the wrong way.
Similar to the first book, somewhere deep down buried underneath the supremely awful writing is an attempted story about loss and heartache (at least for the first half of the book). I still think the way Meyer shows the passage of time was clever and sad. The logic, as before, is nonexistent. There is next level abusive behavior coming from two sides now. Sadly, the likable version of Jacob (who is not without unlikable qualities), disappears all too soon. Bella is a horrible person to pretty much everyone around her, knowingly using them throughout the whole book. The only reason to read this book is the conversation Bella overhears between Alice and Charlie. On the other hand, the whole “he permanently disfigured her face when he got angry, but he couldn't help himself and feels reeeeally bad, don't you see how much he loves her?” is enough reason to burn the book and never speak of it again.
The author doesn't even know her own characters' names! How am I supposed to care about them?
As usual, the pacing is atrocious. I couldn't even tell you what the main plot of this book was either. I liked having a break from at least some of the forced romance Sookie has with every single male character, but I could do without the rehashing of every plot point from every previous book. I don't need every character's back story every time Sookie interacts with them. I obviously already know, having read the books. It's like Harris thinks all her readers are Eric when he was under the witch's curse. She does it with everything too, not just the characters! It's all so dang repetitive.
Apparently Sookie's only character trait is her word-of-the-day calendar.
Please, please stop with Bubba. It wasn't even fun in the first book. It's just so dumb, and it adds to the repetition. Every time he pops up we get the whole explanation again about the morgue, how it didn't go quite right, his name, his living situation, cats, his singing, the sightings, etc. Just stop.
I liked learning about the pack rules and ceremonies, and I thought it was interesting seeing Sam deal with the consequences of his injury. I chuckled at him finding ways to still watch over the bar and be the boss even with a bum leg.
What a great glimpse into the lives of teenage girls around the world. I think this book would serve well as a book for middle and high school Social Studies/Geography classroom discussions. It's an easy read and you will definitely find at least one girl with whom you relate to a great deal, if not many. Each entry would serve as a great starting point for discussing different cultures and countries.
I liked the quick facts that help introduce each girl at the start of their section. They made it feel a bit like a fun magazine article and will make the format accessible and very relatable to teens (especially things like discovering they share a favorite musical artist with girls all over the world... things like that). The reader then gets a brief intro about the following diary entry with helpful background info. The diary entries are quite short, about 4 or so pages, and reflect every day life for each girl. They discuss their hopes for their futures too, which I think was the most interesting for me. I enjoyed the format and especially loved the inclusion of all the photos. This isn't necessarily a book I think should be read straight through, but rather one that benefits from dipping in every once in a while. I feel it helps keep the girls distinct and unique in the reader's mind.
I understand the nostalgia people feel for a series from their childhood. I was in high school when this series came out and read the first 3 books in college. Though I had fun at first, I got bored with the formula halfway through the 4th book and assumed it was an age issue. Recently, I've reread many of my favorite (and least favorite) books from childhood and have a really good grasp on what I would have liked and disliked as a kid. So I thought I'd give the series another go, almost 10 years after my first time reading it.
Unfortunately, I feel the same about the writing and plot progression as I did when I first read it. My younger self definitely would've been disappointed with it. Now, Riordan does a great job of incorporating elements missing from many middle grade stories, such as disability representation. However, I found this whole book really formulaic and lacking in tension. The kids would go to a new place, the place or host would turn out to be bad news, then they would escape. It took them far too long to be weary of new people. And considering how many dangerous situations they were in, I should have felt scared for them. I didn't though. It was very “after school special” with every chapter presenting a new problem and solving it within 10 pages. I also don't love Riordan's writing style and think it's a bit too robotic.
I really enjoyed the humor and characters and even laughed out loud a few times. I think the overall themes are great, but I feel there was a wasted opportunity to teach kids about dealing with real loss. Everything was just so very clean and easy. Kids books don't have to be that way. The action never stops, which is fantastic, but I would've loved fewer encounters with monsters and more development, more struggle, and higher stakes for those encounters.
I think it would also help if I found Greek mythology more interesting. I'm really neutral on it, so I didn't feel particularly invested in meeting all the gods and monsters. It seemed like the whole point was to pack in as many as possible to pander to readers who came in with existing knowledge of Greek mythology.
It's so bad.
If I ever see the word ‘chagrin' again, it'll be too soon. Somewhere in there, there's a fun self-insert escapism romance story, but I can't see it through the endless uncomfortable controlling stalker moments, cringey insta-“love”, and supremely bad writing. I'm always down for an original take on the paranormal, but there is absolutely no logic to any of the vampire lore.
Magic Bites is a fun urban/contemporary(ish) fantasy that mostly consists of groundwork for the series, which makes sense since it's the first book. I think there are the makings for some really solid characters and an MC I could really root for. I love the magic system and find it's implementation to be incredibly unique.
How have I never heard of this book before??? People are seriously sleeping on an incredible sci-fi story.
A Pale Light in the Black is an absolutely wonderful character-driven LGBTQIA+ story featuring one of the best and most believable found families I've ever read about. Wagers writes fantastic character development and never info dumps. I would recommend this book to fans of the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, especially fans like me who wanted a bit more of a plot in The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet.
The only criticism I have is that I would have liked to have more time experiencing the Big Game, the final puzzle team event, with the crew during the Boarding Games. I ended up liking the Games way more than I expected, and I was disappointed to miss out on that event in the final Games. The team works so well together and their dynamic really shines when shown on the page.
I love Jenks and Max with all my heart, and their friendship makes me so happy. It had such a realistic and natural progression. I cannot wait for the next book to be able to read more about these girls and the rest of the crew of Zuma's Ghost.
I love Amelia and the Truth Pixie. I wish this book had a different villain than the rest, but Matt Haig found a fun way to make it work with the Easter Bunny. I think children will really identify with Amelia's struggles to fit in with the elves in Elfhelm. Definitely a fun addition to the Christmas series!
Well apparently I'm a sucker for ‘stranded in space' stories - anything that reminds me of Apollo 13 just gets to me. Watney's monologue was too absurd for me with all the yay's, and he was such a bro sometimes it was painful. But I had fun with the overall story. The science was incorporated well and super easy to follow.
________________Reread #1: This is still super fun and addicting. I didn't even mean to read it again... I just couldn't stop listening to the audiobook after I put it on for background noise just before bed.________________
Reread #2 : Accidentally listened to the whole thing again in the minutes before bed over a few days. Look, it's just a fun book, and apparently I love it.