Nathan H
Yes, the misogyny, hyper fixation of sex, and cringy humor does seriously dampen many aspects of this book—
*But*
I enjoyed the concept and the world building enough that I will give future installments of the series a try. I’ve heard that the series and writing matures with each book, so I’m hopeful that this is true. Otherwise…
Contains spoilers
If you've been following my recent journey through the Percy Jackson books, you may have noticed how little my enjoyment has been. These were beloved books from my childhood that I have, unfortunately, really not enjoyed this time around. Both Titan's Curse and Labyrinth were the best of the series by far, but that isn't exactly high praise.
The fact that this series culminated in such an odd, anti-climactic way didn't help. None of the characters (outside of Percy or Annabeth) had much depth to them and both Luke & Kronos have really weak motives or strong decision making. The fact that the entire series hinges on Luke, a character that was in a brief supportive role in book one and only really present for two scenes max each book thereafter, is really shitty. He is a boring, fill-in-the-blank character who only has ties to Annabeth, who tells him that she never even loved him during his final moments. Cool.
To show some "positivity", I really appreciated the way that Riordan wrote about absent parent relationships and how strongly that can impact a young person. The final two chapters were nice as well, as Riordan tied up loose ends (though he did create another one because $$$).
Fine book, decent series. Disappointed nonetheless.
Informative to a fault. Lots of names, places, and dates where I just became utterly lost and confused. Lots of rereading and Google searching required.
A very unorthodox approach to a familiar story, which I appreciated. Wish there was a greater presence of stakes or consequences.
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 curse like a sailor and even I was turned off by the heavy, flippant use of curse words in this book. It's like the author watched Deadpool and thought, “I know how I can spice this up.”
Its as if the gratuitous language was an attempt to be funny and relatable but it just came off as cringey and absurd. In regards to the subject of the book, I felt like the author provided interesting and useful information regarding anxiety and how it affects people— It was just so annoying to get through.
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!
What does it mean to be a hero? How can one possibly measure sacrifice or success? Why do we focus on the what rather than who or why?
An excellent book and window into the life of a highly commendable average joe.
Contains spoilers
Way better than I remember it being. A very mature book that I really had no business reading at such a young age. Appreciated the way that Katniss’s father death was handled in conjunction with Rue’s, as well as the difficulty of being elevated to a motherly role at such a young age. I’m sure this book meant a lot to young folks dealing with similar situations.
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.
I cannot believe it took me so long to finish this book, though I will say I put a greater effort into reading in the last month and a half.
I really enjoyed this book! The amount of characters is so vast, it was a bit tough in the beginning figuring out who everyone was— I had to end up looking at a list with character definitions to get me through the first act of the book.
I really appreciated the journey that the characters went on and the people they transcended into becoming (and falling short of). Lonesome Dove is a great test of satisfaction because like life itself, there's a lot of closure left to be desired. That being said, I kind of appreciated that about McMurtry's novel. Not everything has to have a nice bow on it in the end.
Ultimately, I really appreciated the greater themes and messages that this book has. It's more than a cattle drive— It's about love, loss, someone's last great adventure, not being the person you wish you were, being satisfied with the life you've lived, and being willing to move on when it's finally time.
Really, really enjoyed my first McMurtry trip. Looking forward to more in the future!
A mixed bag... I enjoyed one last adventure with this crew of characters but I wish the series didn't turn supernatural. I think it thrived in the grittiness of the real world and just ended a bit silly.
Great ending though
Great introspection and quotes. Call me lame, but I find breakdowns of case studies to be really boring. Those chapters were a bit tough to get through. Maybe it's the school burn out (lol).
In some ways, better than the first book imho.
I enjoyed this one a lot. A different vibe, pace, and really fascinating new characters. Guess I might as well read the last book since I'm already here...
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.
Haunting, incredibly well written. Knew next to nothing about the story before I began reading it, so it was easy for me to get swept up in the twists and turns that Will goes through. Didn't like the ending so much at first but after a couple minutes, I'm beginning to come around on it.
I'm feeling pretty sad that I've now reached the end of Y: The Last Man. It was ten volumes but it honestly felt like an incredibly quick binge. I have to admit, the ending was not as satisfying as I'd hoped, but it was as realistic as I could have expected. I'll be interested to see what the new television show does differently from the book series.
Having a main character be this annoying from the jump was an early red flag that I ignored. It did not get any better.
Not as good as the Titan's Curse but still better than the first two books of the series. For a penultimate finale, I was disappointed by the lack of stakes... The new characters in this one don't really get to shine due to the constant flip-flopping of timelines and locations.
There is a mental-barrier I have when I encounter political books between Trump's 45th and 47th administration... The events of January 6th-- as significant as they felt at the time-- had more precedence in 2022 than they did in 2025. Unfortunately, people didn't care then and they definitely don't care now. There's a naive innocence to many of these post-1/6/21 books that just loses all messaging and severity in the 47th administration.
This book, specifically, falls victim to that naivety. It focuses on the radicalization of the Latino population, but offers no insight to improve the situation. It uses January 6th as a morality check, despite the corrupt pardons that took place at the beginning of the year.
I think back to The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, an excellent book by Tim Alberta that uses personal experiences to investigate the radicalization of the American Evangelical Christian community. That book carries personality and stakes, spanning the early '80s to beyond the 2024 Presidential race. Defectors does the opposite. It's solely focused on Trump-ism and lacks the personality and emotional depth that I was searching for, in addition to offering little insight to solving the problems it highlights.
Words cannot describe how frustrating this book was. Felt like the first draft was published... Little to no character development, overarching narrative, or stakes. Such a disappointing book.