Nathan H
Definitely a hot take...
This book is less than stellar. Often meandering and lackadaisical in its plot. I enjoyed the episodic nature of Tom Sawyer, but this book has no real “interesting” developments and ends quite frustratingly.
I admire the honest approach of racism in society and how it can impact youth, but I really feel that the ending completely unravels all the good nature it had built in the pages before it.
Interested to see how my perspective changes on the story after I read James.
A book that gets better the farther into it you get and leaves you thinking after you've finished it.
Definitely a more enjoyable experience than my last Hemingway venture, A Farewell to Arms. Much more interesting, memorable characters with a fascinating narrator. The premise of Jake and his relationship with Brett was so well thought of and really made the novel worth reading.
In a lot of ways, this is just another boring hang out novel. In other ways, it is a deep dive into the relationship between man and woman, jealousy and love, and how many drinks someone can have in one sitting and not throw up or get in a fight. Good read!
I think this is the first Stephen King book I've ever read...
Off the bat, it was good! It was such a fascinating read because of the way King writes in his characters voices', no matter how fucked up it gets.
It took a while to get going, but when it did, the story was pretty captivating. I was not a fan of the finale though, to say the least.
At first, I wasn't sure I would finish this series but I'm leaning towards picking up the next book.
An incredibly frustrating book. It is ridiculously long and outstays its welcome, but not before completely fumbling the plot altogether. The entire cast of characters act unlike their previous iterations and subplots are even recycled (how many times will Hagrid be banished from the school??)
One positive, and perhaps the ONLY positive, was the portrayal of Black's death, especially compared to the film version. I was really struck by the sudden death without much dramatic buildup... Which only made it hurt more.
It does not phase me that I have finished this book on the eve of the anniversary of Hamilton's death. What a painstaking, masterful commemoration of a life this is. It's difficult to not rely on the musical's story as a crutch, but this book paints a clearer picture of history on a global scale, as well as the relationships that remain hidden from the main stage.
Well worth a read, even if it takes some time!
This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid, so I was pretty devastated by how much I disliked this book this time around.
First off, I feel I did no favors for Rick Riordan by reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone right before this... They are eerily similar and Percy Jackson is unmistakably the weakest of the two by a significant margin.
I'm a certified hater and with that already acknowledged— The Lightning Thief is just lazily written. Grover and Annabeth are basically just Ron & Hermione coded and even Percy lacks much substance...
In regard to the story, not much honestly happens. After the quest begins, it felt like the characters were simply just wandering around waiting for something to happen. Their encounters were random and lacked any sense of threat.
Worst of all was the finale. What the fuck was that? The betrayal from Luke was so haphazardly thrown together. Dude was fine and all the sudden he's an asshole? And of course, he's the villain that does the whole “I'm the villain and FINE I'll tell you my whole plan” routine... Ugh, just so frustrating that the ending was so messy.
From my memory, I think I remember feeling that the series gets better after each book— I really hope that's the case because this book has set such a low bar.
Really enjoyed this book! Surprisingly, I never read this series so it's my goal to do that this year.
I was shocked by how quick the pace was. It really only felt like there was maybe even one chapter of downtime. I know the books get longer as the series goes, so l'll be interested to see if that changes.
From my knowledge of the movies, I found it fascinating how many things are mentioned in this book that pay off at the end of the series.
Happy New Year!
