RiffMonkey

For the first time in this series I actually really liked this book. I am glad I stuck with it, although I love most of what I have read from Drew Hayes this series started quite horribly in my tastes. But I know that that author can be great and my brother loves this series so I stuck with it and I am glad.

Especially the new edition of Lillian was great and I loved her character from the very beginning. Though just this universe and basically all the characters in it are amazing and I am really starting to fall in love with them. As I did not have with the earlier novels I cannot wait to read the next one. Luckily there is plenty to consume in this series as I wait for the next Villains' Code novel. 

I quite enjoyed the first book, however this one went a bit in a different direction. I felt like it was much less about the people around the druid than just about him. Which is fine but that is something I loved about the other book. The focus on sex was also kind of annoying to me. He was attracted to fucking everyone and sexual arousal was lowkey involved in so much of this book, which was boring and annoying. Not to mention the iffy consent during the scene with the morrigan. 

All in all it felt like not much happened even though actually a bunch of stuff happened. There was to little emotional depth for me and to much sex talk. Probably won't be reading the next book. 

I enjoyed this book very much and read through it in like 4 days. Which for me is very quick, especially for this many pages. I was apprehensive about the premise of the story, I feel it could have gone in a very bad direction and the topic is very delicate if some incorrectly. But it was done in a great way. 

Greaves does something I love which is, that she talks about heavy topics and very clearly unethical and morally grey things but doesn't make that the focus. We are not supposed to think something of it. The book doesn't push you into thinking this is horrible and great, it doesn't scream at you to look at society as something that many literary books do that I hate. It just lets you enjoy the story with these characters. It goes deep into this world but doesn't encroach on the real world. It doesn't puncture the story and sully it with pressing questions about how this should change your perceptions and shit like that. 

I noticed halfway through the book that these chapters are posted online and thus written a chapter at a time. It made me read the book in a different way. It felt very slow and didn't really have the arch or structure I would expect from a standalone or even a book in a series. But now that I know that it is just a much bigger story cut into pieces it makes more sense. Although I could argue this novel should have ended a chapter earlier for it to be more cenmented as a book 1, with a nicer ending line and closure I don't mind it as much as I would have had I not known the origins of the story in that way. 

This book was different than I had expected. I felt myself unable to keep up with the characters, them being seemingly unconnected and so many different names and people. However, I realised I didn't need to. This is a sort of collection of stories or anthologies about one event, with all different perspectives and experiences which delighted me. 

As usual, the religious aspects hit me the hardest. The Radhan and their need to see the land, the carving and recording of the names who had died of The Wrack is what made me cry. Magnificent writing and a hopeful end. 

 I had forgotten a bit how amazing Sanderson's writing is. I really had missed it. The plot got away from me in the middle a bit but int he last couple of chapters Sanderson delivered. The ending always feels like some cathartic and damn this twist. 
I also loved all the characters that came back even is only mentioned briefly. Absolutely loved it and I am going on to the next book as fast as is humanly possible. 

I have never read a book quite like this and I don't think I ever will again. It felt like this entire story was filled to the brim with countless metaphors and ways of viewing this story.  Every page felt like a poem, like the whole novel was one big poem. Or a love letter to love letters. 

Usually, I really enjoy it when authors explain every detail of their world and how everything works. Here their was barely any explanation and thought I understood everything I needed too, I still feel confused about how this world is supposed to work. But the beauty of it is that it's so important because it really doesn't matter for the story. I read the whole thing in one day, what a wild ride.  

One thing that did strike is that when reading the characters and the letters, Blue and Red did not have a very distinctive way of speaking, the letters could have been from the other person and I would not have been able to tell, which I found disappointing. But maybe that was the point? Honestly, thinking about this feels like interpreting a painting instead of reading a book. It was an absolutely unique experience I highly recommend. 

This gave me secondhand anorexa, my god the entire description is drenched in how thin and taught they all are. It was becoming kind of disgusting at the end. All the characters are generally the same and unlikeable. But also I didn't really get the point of the story.  Nothing changed throughout, no one learned anything. There is no character development at all. I didn't much enjoy the writing style or the story but it was very well thought out and written and made me feel super tense for what would happen. Though I still felt it went all super slow. 

I had some trouble getting through this book because it was more the revealing of facts than it really was a story. Up until the very end I was pretty uninterested as to who had killed Mr. Ackroyd. And I do not want to be one of those people who are very proud that they guessed the correct murderer. Except I am, regrettably, and I did.

The identity of the murderer is really the only thing that made the novel interesting, which is unfortunate since it is at the very end. So the whole thing was quite boring until the last couple of pages. I am glad I have read it but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be. 

This was very well written to my surprise. I haven't read anything else by chuck tingle but I have seen all the covers. I don't like erotica but fuck I like me some horror shit. The concept was interesting and a little silly but fun to read and discussed some actually serious and thought-provoking shit and had great insights. And of course the added bonus of seeing a bunch of straight people die and seeing the gays live. Hallelujah! 

I am a little disappointed considering how great the first book was. Although this one wasn't bad, it didn't really feel like a story. It felt more like a filler episode of one of those procedurals. In fact, the book itself has three literal filler stories told by characters to fill time. It's not as if this is a very long book either. So it really made it feel like nothing happened at all. I have read 100 pages books with more story than this.

The characters were still great, although I might have gotten more out of the iron druid crossover if I had read any of those books. Gladys is amazing. So it's not as if this isn't well written or anything like that. It's just barely a story. 

Starting this audiobook was a bit hard. I was never very good at accents and this really tested it but as soon as I got used to it I was thankful for it. I absolutely loved all the characters in this whole book. They were all separately very interesting and the story was also great.

Being totally thrown into the story worked really well in this case and it didn't make me very confused. It was also very funny and some comments in between the story about the world made me feel really safe with this author. I hope his other books are similar to this because this was great. 

I found it hard to get into this story, I was kinda uninterested in the beginning. I got into it slightly, but by the end I was really bored. The characters were also not very likeable to me. The only redealing quality would be Hero which I loved as a character both for its representation as well as their personality. I found many of the characters/the writing style to be overly dramatic, which is mostly what really bothered me. Not going to read the sequel. 

This was a fun story to read, I didn't super love it, but it was definitely entertaining. The historical aspects were a great addition, who know a bear fought in the war. 

The first chapter immediately shot me into the story. It was a great start and I loved the character introduction of Meave and Imogen immensely. Initially, the dialogue was a bit clunky and Meave and Imogen very quickly started their investigation together. I thought that went a bit fast and I was a little scared that it would be lots of interviews with various people and not much actual story but that was not the case at all. Although I had a little bit of a hard time getting through it in the beginning, later when more things happened it made it very exciting and fast to read. 

I enjoyed the various relationships between the characters and the institutions greatly as well. Meave and Imogen, Meave and Shivani, Orion with basically everyone. I love Orion the most but really all the characters were very fun and all had their own great aspects that made me love them. The way the different institutions interacted with each other was very well done and I loved how it was emphasised how little both knew of each other's theories and practises. Although I had wished for more explanation on how it all works I think it fits well in the story with how much everyone knows the world.  

The conflicts between characters and in general in the story were also really good. I wanted to throw away my tablet sometimes and other times I cried through the chapter. I always love books that make you feel something and this was no exception. Especially Meave's speech near the end made me weep. I am very glad I got to read this book and although it is a stand-alone I would read many more stories with these characters and this world. 

I loved this secret project. I read it quite slowly compared to normally. I enjoyed the story, although it did get a bit complicated at some point. Luckily, Hoid stopped a bit to explain exactly what was going on, which I believe he also did a little bit of in Tress of the Emerald Sea. Usually with Sanderson's books you really have to figure stuff out yourself, but this made it very clear, and it was a great addition in my opinion. 

This is definitely a different book than most of Sanderson's stories. I liked the setting and the fact we had to figure out the character along with him. It reminded me of Lightsongs search for his former self in Warbreaker, which I also really enjoyed. I didn't fully love John as a character though I am not really sure why. The beginning came off the ground a little slow and before I knew vaguely what was going on it was a little boring. After that, I quite enjoyed it, especially the inserts of the handbook. 

This is possibly my favourite ever Sanderson book. I loved the whole thing with the spores and how Tress wasn't scared and so was able to learn so much more than anyone else about them. But mainly I just really loved the characters. I wasn't really an immense fan of Hoid before but his narrating made the story really lovely and funny. And his references to the rest of the Cosmere delighted me. 

But also just Tress and Charlie were both great as well as all the other crew members on the ship. I usually love all the characters in Sanderson books but this one especially has a collection of such amazing ones. It is like the ultimate feel-good book to me, especially the ending. 

I was very annoyed by this book. The thing I love about little red riding hood is the mystery element. Finding out the grandma is the wolf, but also speaking to the wolf. I love the adaptations that make the wolf something other than the bad guy the most. 

This didn't really even have a wolf element. It was more just every bad guy was an animal or something. It was very mild. The main character was also really unlikeable. She was ‘so much smarter' than everyone else. The whole of the people apparently could not think of all the things she could. Honestly, it was so annoying. 

The whole he/she-ing of the kids was also super dumb. Have you ever heard of the word ‘they' perhaps. For fucks sake. We didn't even get to see the fucking grandma. The ending was anti-climactic and the way the story was told with all the flashbacks also made all the main plot points be right next to each other, even though they were really weeks apart. I didn't like that either. 

What a journey this book was. When the prologue started I was hesitant, but it was amazing. The scene performed merged amazingly with the situations and the emotions of the character I often didn't know if that was how the scene was actually supposed to go. If I have been a theatre person I might have enjoyed this even more but I know for a fact I missed no nuances at all, even without that knowledge. 

The ending was amazingly beautiful. Even though it ended sort of openly it also totally didn't. Everything about these characters and the way they interact with each other and in the story was amazing. I loved the hell out of it. 

The way they go deeply into Peter as a characte  was amazing. I loved the way he was really slowly discovered to be this psychotic child. And how the way he is describe shifted along with the story. I keep comparing it to Lord of the Flies even though its so different. Either way I far preferred this. 

I loved this. I have always loved the idea of concepts or entities like the darkness or the ocean being gods or consciousness with thoughts and feelings and needs and wants. And the way that the stories of both Addie and Henry are told with the time jumps and all that in between was amazing. It made me really inspired. 

I didn't like the thought of the darkness not being capable of love. And the fact that in all those years that Addie has lived she still thinks of all this as a game when he clearly really loves her. Just because he is a god and the darkness personified does not mean he doesn't love her. So the ending was a little disappointing to me, especially since Addie is supposed to have grown and evolved so much during all this time and she still holds to this naive notion that he can only be playing a game. But I still did really love it.

What a book. First off this was incredibly short. Which also means that the speed at which the story progressed was quick as hell.  The way the magic system is explained is great I love the endless possibilities this give. 

I also really love the characters. Tho I am not the biggest fan of Hughs self-doubting and general pathetic like behaviour and thoughts the ending gives me a hopeful outlook on the future books. I loved Talia, although I might be a little biased since she is eerily like me. And of course, Godrick and Sabae were also really cool. All the characters are diverse and have distinct features and traits. I loved seeing all of then evolved throughout the book. 

All in all, I really like it and was metaphysically on the edge of my seat at all times.  I was also screaming at it sometimes but regardless. 

The initial story was engaging, I'd thought that the fairytales they were supposed to be wouldn't be real in this world. When I learned that everything kinda went sideways. 

The dialogue was horrible and went immensely unrealistic. The story was heading so much towards an ending that the characters made assumptions and giant leaps in logic that no one would ever make in that situation, which made it had to empathise with the characters. 

Not to mention that the ending explained literally nothing of the magic or the curse or the book or anything. Like there is a curse but it's also just a normal person killing people? Pick one and stick to it. 

Besides the diaglogue being shitty the book in general was also just badly written. Many things were repeated multiple times which also just made parts boring. Not a fan

The descriptions and really anything that isn't dialogue I really didn't like. It was all so metaphorical that it was often hard to understand what was even going on. The characters were really not relatable whatsoever.  

Also, this is supposed to be a dark book, but all the elements that would make it dark or morbid or whatever are either glossed over or totally made light off by the characters reactions, actions of dialogue. They make the fact that Lina is going to be sacrificed seem like it's all just a joke. 

The magic system is extremely vague and not explained very well. It also seems to vary per person. Logistically a lot of the plot just makes no sense because of it. Among other things. Lots of cool things are left out and totally skipped and Lina keeps storing shit in her bra (even though it is also mentioned she has small ass tits so like how the fuck) which I could really do without. 

The ending was also extremely predictable from like 100-150 pages is which made the rest of the book really boring to read and hella hard to get through. 

I wanted to love this book so bad. But I really didn't. I mean it was fine in the beginning, although I usually prefer topics of queerness to be discussed without modern language. This might be a personal flaw though. I really like the ALC members and their group dynamic. 

However, it was a little too gory for my taste. I wouldn't even say this was horror really. It was just gross but nothing about it was scary. Especially in the end when the final showdown basically became Godzilla vs kong style. Only now it was Seraph and Dominion. It was very underwhelming. Plus how Benji moves and what he looks like is generally badly described. He is meant to be this monster now with a massive body but his friends can still casually put their arms around his neck? Fucking how. 

I was disappointed in the execution and ending and the gross descriptions aren't my kind of horror. I honestly wouldn't even describe this as dark.