Rob

Enjoyable tale through history with an original take on time travel but it was stretched out a bit too long and had predictable revelations.

I'm a bit shocked I gave this 5 stars, half way through it was feeling like a run of the mill 3 star book. The lack of the typical elements of a crime novel, investigation/evidence etc, disappointed me for much of the story but over time the book really snuck up on me and by the end this difference was it's greatest strength. It's rare that a book can make you care so much about its characters and rarer still for it to also surprise you at the end.

I didn't think I'd get much of this book given how well known the story and, more importantly, the ending is; however, I found it gripping and emotional and flew through it.

I guess it's called a classic for a reason!

Almost 5 stars but it slowed down around the middle, just dropping it down to a 4.

As enjoyable as the book was, the one thought I consistently had was why isn't this talked about more, as The Handmaid's Tale and The Power etc are. It touches on themes that have come to the fore over the past few years with the second half especially dealing with how men's behaviour/nature affects the world and the women in it. Whether you agree with the premise or not it raises some interesting questions.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the slice of japanese culture. The Prince gave Joffrey a run for his money in annoying-ness as well!

Looking forward to seeing the film now

Interesting but not entertaining enough for the some of the book. I'm glad I read this book but at times it felt like more of a theoretical essay instead of a novel.

Nothing like the first book as it revolves around togetherness and an expansive setting instead of the claustrophobia and dread of the first. Although at first this was a disappointment it turned into a strength. Similar to Alien and Aliens.

Good characters and a satisfying evolution of ‘The Shining'.

I really enjoyed this book from the get go. It has a cast of varied and interesting characters and the central concept is genuinely thought provoking. It inevitably got a little more predictable towards the end but for most of the book it was a real page turner. The short ‘chapters' also made it the perfect ‘pick up if you have 5 minutes' book.

For most of this book it felt like it was very much ‘of its time'. It used very familiar tropes that appeared everywhere 10-15 years ago, such as twilight and divergent. However, the last quarter introduced some more complex characters and the plot took off to the point that I was intrigued enough to think about reading the sequel.

Nice little story that does a good job making you feel for the central character; however, I don't feel there's enough in the book to justify some of the more interesting theories so I was left a little disappointed at the end.

I enjoyed this book but it felt a bit too much like Bridget Jones' Apocalypse at times. Sometimes the character felt like she was written in the 90's and all of the other characters fell into well worn cliches (apart from Susan, she's my favourite character by a mile).

Beautifully written with a vast imaginative world but I really struggled to care what happened to the characters and any time something interesting was mentioned about how things may have ended up like this it was never followed up. By the end I really wondered what the point was tbh.

Another interesting take on gender roles and how a massive shift in power can influence society. If that sounds a bit dry, swarms of Moths appear and nearly wipe out all men on the planet!

Half way through the book I was thinking it was barely going to scrape 3 stars as it seemed too simple with fairy 2 dimensional character, men bad women good; however, as the book went on it developed a lot more nuance and asked some interesting questions about whether gender or power is more important in society when it comes to how we act towards each other.

The Epilogue was the icing on the cake, making the reader reassess everything they've previously read and at the same time making another interesting analogy of how different genders have been, and are, treated.

Sometimes it's hard for an author to stand out in the crowded dystopian virus field but for me the author managed it. The combination of original virus mechanics and the father/son relationship at the heart of the story really worked for me in a way i wasn't expecting after reading the synopsis.

Solid 3 star book that finishes on a high. It's a shame the level of intrigue wasn't the same throughout instead of just the last quarter or it could have been a higher rating.

Not the best of the series but still a fitting send off for the characters in way that's consistent with their arc throughout. It also ties up all the loose ends of the plot in a solid if not a little predictable way.

It was enjoyable in parts but was a bit of a lacklustre end to the trilogy unfortunately. I felt the author went way to easy on the invaders and didn't explore the concept of free will given the very grey line of how the aliens get humans to acquiesce.

So disappointed with this book. It was so ponderous at the start and sooo drawn out during the epilogue. Its such a shame as around the middle I started getting into the old fashioned vampire tale and got pretty invested in the main characters but all that build up was thrown away so quickly that I almost gave up on it multiple times

Really enjoyable read with many more layers than you'd expect (much like an onion

This was my first time reading a Star Trek book so being a huge fan of the shows/movies I had high hopes. Unfortunately these hopes weren't met. The plot was good and the central mysteries were engaging but for some reason I found it a slog to get through and didn't really care about the non TV crew members. Funnily enough I would love to see a TV adaptation of the story but I don't think I'll be continuing with the trilogy

So nearly 5 stars but it lacked the emotional urgency of The Martian so just missed out. I still loved the problem solving, mathematical and scientific MacGyver genre though.

This was a typical Matt Haig book in that it deals with an extraordinary circumstance and how it effects the main characters mental health. Luckily I enjoy his style, not least due to the speed of the story telling and ease of reading; however, the ending was a slight let down as it felt like he ran out of steam and decided to just stop there and wrap it all up as quickly as possible.

The Shining is not a scary book but more of a psychological horror, which really got under my skin in a way no other book has. Having watched the film I was expecting pretty much that but what I got was a lot more depth about the Father/Son relationship and the devastating inner battle between the Fathers light and dark side. I now understand why King wasn't a fan of the movie as it barely scratches the surface of what King pinned the whole book on and what seemed to be a deeply personal journey.

P.s: I will never trust topiary again!

I was looking for a scary book when I stumbled over this one and judging from the reviews I thought I'd found exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, there wasn't an iota of scariness in the whole book but it still turned out to be an absolute page turner. The ending didn't quite live up to the promise of the previous pages but it was still an enthralling, intriguing and surprising book that I finished in 2 days.