Elli
I normally don't read the third book in a series without reading the other two but this was next on my alphabetical list and ain't nobody got time to read 3 books about killer spiders. That being said, I really enjoyed this silly apocalyptic story. There were a TON of perspectives that got a little confusing at times but the characters were likeable and memorable. A lot of this book focused on the politics of the situation and the science of how the “Hell Spiders” worked. I don't know if realistic is the right word but the dilemmas the characters faced were believable and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed how there wasn't a true “bad guy” because nobody really knew what the right thing to do was and everyone was just doing the best they could to save America.
I'm low key afraid of spiders (like most people) so the imagery did make my skin craw a few times. Picking up this book I thought the spiders would be giant, like kaiju size, but it was more about giant waves of millions of normal spiders with some giant queens here and there. I'm honestly not sure which would be scarier. The most disturbing element of the book was definitely the fact that half of the country was nuked and is now a nuclear wasteland. I was just imagining what that would be like and which relatives and friends I would lose (plus all the states I would never see).
My two main gripes with the story would be the Peru subplot and the ending. With the parts in Peru, I just didn't see the point in the characters. Pierre and Bea just bitched at each other the whole time and then Pierre got dumped by Julie in the end. They honestly served no major purpose to the plot. The ending I wasn't in love with because A. the “kill the queen, kill them all” solution was pretty cheesy and took away a lot of plausibility (they had me going with the explanation of hatching cycles and cicadas but this made them seem like robots instead of prehistoric creatures?) and B. the epilogue was very “Happily Ever After” cheesy with everyone marrying everyone and getting promotions etc. I'm not against happy endings or anything but considering what just happened to America I would expect a mourning period or something. Something a little more somber.
All in all this was a quick, entertaining read that I was able to zip through during my commute.
Hahaha how is this a kid's book? I mean, it doesn't have anything inappropriate in it but it's soooo dull. What kid wants to read about the settlement of a will? Nothing much really happens in this book really, it's just Nancy finding a will. Fun? Well I'm gonna chalk it up to how old this book is, entertainment was different back then after all. Thing is, I don't regret reading this because I really love Nancy Drew as a character and this is her first case. I imagine the cases will only get bigger and crazier from here. It's actually fitting that she starts out small since she's such an amateur in the first book. I guess I can forgive her first case for being lack-luster. I look forward to book 2!
P.S. I love the yellow hardcover copies I have of these books, they just feel and look really nice. Plus, the retro covers are really beautiful.
Well I don't think I will be writing a review for ALL of these books because I think they'll pretty much have all the same pros and cons. This book was just as enjoyable as the last one. The only complaint I have is that the ending wasn't as epic as it was in the first book. I don't think I've ever read a series as long as this one that has a continuous plot (instead of being episodic) and the pacing seems like it might suffer a little but whatever. It's still all very fun to read.
Most disturbing thing from this volume: The taxxons eating each other alive while the one being eaten screams -shudder- Of course I don't doubt kids can handle this. I can picture a little boy reading this being like “heh heh sweeeet.” Me, it kinda creeps me out.
This book was really fascinating and some parts were close to mind blowing but in the end I feel like it just reiterated the obvious fact that if you want to be successful you have to work hard. Still, I feel that I've learned a lot and definitely have gained a comprehensive knowledge of how success works. My favorite bit of the book was the “10,000 hour rule” chapter because I am currently studying Japanese and it's motivating to know that if I just keep studying and working hard for 10,000 hours, I could become an expert. Thanks Malcolm Gladwell! :D
P.S. The chapter on plane crashes COMPLETELY reminded me of Cabin Pressure
MY SOBBBBBSSSSS. This book was so soul-crushingly bittersweet. If you're going to read it, make sure you have some Kleenex ready. But seriously, this book was really beautiful. I can't say I had a whole lot of fun reading it, because it was very dark and realistic in a way and I'm more into fantasy books. BUT! I definitely don't regret reading it and would gladly recommend it to anyone. I think dog-lovers and philosophy-lovers in particular would really like it. :)
Ah, such a masterpiece. I kind of went in knowing I would love this because the movie is 10/10, but it was just so charming! It's so simple and wholesome with adorable characters, a relaxing setting and cute illustrations. Stories that partially star cute old people are underrated. I feel like I didn't know (or maybe I just forgot) that this was a British story, but that checks out. They seem to be good at family-friendly, picturesque, pastoral stuff.
Differences I noticed from the movie are that the movie added more animal characters and Babe stayed a piglet throughout the whole thing (which is kinda sad, justice for older pigs!) In the book Babe grows up but stays pretty lean because Fly “trains” him (I could hear the Rocky theme lol).
The way they end the book right on “that'll do, Pig” and Babe's 100 point performance is just -mwah- chef's kiss. I love it when stories end on a stunned audience, that's so powerful. We don't need to see anymore. It's like a sheep herding mic drop.
Anyway, Babe is perfect in both book and movie form and I can't wait to give the film a rewatch now.
Boy am I glad I got this from the library. $16 for a bunch of comics that you can already watch for free on YouTube kind of seems like a pointless money grab if you ask me. Every chapter I would be like “huh. Well maybe the next one will be an original,” only to be disappointed. All that being said, I'm an Odd1sout fan and it was nice to revisit some of these stories. I read the entire book in James' voice which felt kind of surreal. I would only recommended this book to diehard fans or people who don't watch YouTube but like humor.
Truth be told, his stories aren't even that interesting. I think that's part of the charm though. He's very relatable and down to Earth. His stories feel like stories I would hear from my friends.
Whelp, that was a decent YA novel. I find Cassandra Clare's work very formulaic and predictable but at the same time books like these are my favorite guilty pleasure. What can I say, I'm a supernatural/fantasy fan at heart. It's certainly not Twilight levels of terrible at least. Anyway, my favorite part of City of Bones was the interactions between the characters. I especially liked the surrogate family of the institution. I liked how everyone kinda hated and loved each other at the same time. Magnus Bane was, obviously, my favorite character and Clary was an okay heroine if not a little generic. I'm still shocked by the plot twist towards the end, it was kinda a risky move for a Young Adult novel. I'm really curious to see who the main love interest will be in this series now? I look forward to seeing the movie and reading book 2. :)
Fun little scrapbook but too much of it was filler and word-for-word taken from videos. Good to flip through but reading it from start to finish was a little disappointing.
This book was no masterpiece but that doesn't mean I didn't really enjoy it. I love young adult dystopian novels like these. Volume 3, like the other two was fast paced and suspenseful, a real page turner! My favorite thing about the “Uglies” series is the transformations the main character goes through in each novel. It's a rare experience for me to read a book where the protagonist is one of the “bad guys”. The whole time you read Pretties and Specials you know Tally is only being controlled by artificial thoughts and emotions. It's pretty creepy how easily you can become one with the enemy in the “Uglies” universe. It has sort of a Invasion of the Body Snatchers or zombie apocalypse feeling.
The ending felt a little sappy and rushed but then endings are rarely satisfying in young adult books. I didn't particularly like the environmental message yet still thought the idea of David and Tally becoming the new “Special Circumstances” was clever. I have no idea what will happen in the extra volume but I hope it's a worthwhile read. I also hope Tally grows to like David but not too quickly because hey, Zane JUST died.
Pretty good, full of imagination and weirdness. Pinocchio was far more naughty in the book than in the Disney version which kinda made the moral work better. In the movie he was kinda just cute and dumb so you forgave him. Here, you wanna smack him. As usual, Blue Fairy or “The Child with the blue hair” is the best character. Unexpected gore including a donkey getting its ears bitten off and a cat ripping of its own paw was unexpected...
I'm gonna give this book a “meh.” It covers a topic that I've seen a lot and seen tackled in more interesting ways (making it a plot twist felt kind of tacky to me). On top of that, the twist was spoiled for me in the author's preface which said it was a “Romeo and Juliet” remake. Romeo and Juliet is my least favorite Shakespeare play. I don't really buy into the “true love” stuff, especially when it's 15 year olds. Falling in love with someone based on a single glance is just stupid to me and not a healthy foundation for a relationship.
This book didn't have much substance other than being a sappy teen romance with a social message. The characters were okay but not super memorable and the fact that both of them were super rich made them hard to relate to or root for. I think this book's strengths are in its writing style, which is pretty and accessible, and its relevance. I would definitely recommend this to its target, teen audience but as an adult I think I would have preferred something a little more meaty.
First half of the book was a whimsical “haha Stuart is small” kinda kid's story. Second half was a train wreck and a waste of my time. Stuart falls in love with a bird and goes on a journey to find her...only to then fall for some random other girl (why is there a Thumbelina sized woman in this universe?) and then he acts like a total Nice Guy (tm) loser to that girl so she ditches him. He then continues on the bird journey...okay?? Was there a point to this book? How did this get turned into a movie? Why is Stuart not a mouse-mouse but a mouse-looking boy? I was very happy to fling this into the nearest little free library.
SNORE. This book was so disappointing! D: I've never read a “western” style book and this wasn't exactly a good introduction to the genre. The whole time I was reading it I was thinking “show, don't tell!” The majority of the book was written like “he did this, and then he did this and then this happened”. That kind of writing is so dull and does not hold my attention AT ALL. I like books that go into the characters' minds at least a little bit but this book was mostly action-based. It made the characters seem flat to me. The only thing I sort of liked was that the author played with formatting. The book was in third AND first person and he also utilized dialects pretty well. The no-quotation mark thing was a little questionable though. Sometimes I had a hard time keeping up with conversations and forgot who was talking. I thought I would like that the book was partially about a serial killer because serial killers are fascinating (Devil in the White City anyone?) but NOPE. I found him pretty boring and he didn't have much dialogue or many “scenes” that stood out to me. I can already tell that I will like the movie better than the book because the book was written like a movie! At least the movie will probably have some interesting visuals and good acting.
This was really fun! I bought this back in my BBC Sherlock days when that show was still decent. I figured it was high time to experience the real deal. As far as “classic literature” goes, this one definitely holds up and is very easy to get through with not-so-dense language and even some humor thrown in (mostly from Sherlock's sass). The mysteries made every short story feel like a game. I didn't really do a good job at guessing what would happen because I've always kind of sucked at predicting plot twists. On the bright side, things are more entertaining when you don't see them coming a mile away.
The best part of the anthology was definitely Sherlock himself and his partnership with John. Having only a knowledge of the BBC, Robert Downey Jr, and Disney Sherlocks, I was kind of comparing how successful each adaptation was along the way. I felt like ACD's Sherlock was far more suave and courteous than BBC's Sherlock but that might have to do with the Victorian setting. He definitely came off as more of a lovable eccentric than a “high functioning sociopath” but there were a few savage moments. It's pretty hilarious how he's constantly praising Watson and then making jabs about how he's completely oblivious to all the clues. He's also pretty blunt and cold to people when they're boring or no longer interest him because they're mystery's been solved. He had some line about hating invites to “social” events and I could relate lol.
I wouldn't really say any of the mysteries stood out as a “favorite,” I feel like were all at about the same level entertainment-wise. I was pretty alarmed by how gory the final one was (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches). It was even weirder when I picked up The Hound of the Baskervilles immediately after this and they both had giant dogs tearing open dude's throats. That's very specific, Arthur!
This felt like reading a YA novel without the shame. I had a lot of fun (and did a lot of embarrassing fangirling) reading this. Of course it's super problematic and the religious bits were bleh but all-in-all I really enjoyed Jane Eyre and would read it again. Now I want to see the movie version(s)!