Lucy
What a cracker book! The Year of the Locust starts off as a traditional spy novel, with a Denied Access Areas spy, Kane, travelling to Iran to meet a contact who can give the CIA information on a new terrorist cel. This part of the story takes most of the first 3/4 of the book and is a rollicking read. But then it gets weird, with a magical submarine, a time slip and zombie aliens... And then the ending is excellent, deep inside a Russian no go zone. All in all a non stop, intelligent, well planned thriller. 5 stars.
A pulsating mystical, magical historical novel about a stave church, a pastor, an architect student and a young woman. Mytting brings a small, remote Norwegian village to life as a new pastor seeks to modernise the ancient church but a love triangle threatens his plans and everything the villagers hold dear. 4.5 stars.
While I admired the clearly brilliant writing, I struggled to get into the story, convoluted and winding as it was.
Boring, saccharine and made me hate Lily. Dash and Langston were the only decent things in this pile of sugar coated shit.
Excellent premise, but disjointed and slow. I wanted to sink into one or two characters (Anthony or Corrine especially) instead flicked from one to another and back again through six or so storylines. Unfulfilling.
5 loosely interconnected stories of people struggling to find their ways at crossroads in their lives. While they were enjoyable I found them repetitive and a little preachy. Overall a bit boring.
An intimate and introspective look at one man's search for meaning in his life after a traumatic breakup. Millet writes with a delicate hand, Gil's story is respectfully told and his relationships with his neighbours and friends feel realistic and well thought out. An author I would definitely read again.
Excellent!
This is exactly what you want if you feel like a highly unlikely but enjoyable ‘lone wolf' style thriller. Plenty of twists and thrills and even a little humour. More please.
A perfect cosy-ish fantasy with demon chickens, bone dogs, sad rogue knights, goblins, fairy godmothers, lovely nuns and strong Queens. A brilliantly crafted and superbly weighted fantasy outing that made me want more.
A charming second book in the series that asks questions about humanity and our purpose via a buddy road trip. 3.5 rounded up.
I wanted to love this book, and I did love large parts of it, but ultimately it left me feeling a little let down. I wanted MORE of everything. And I felt it wrapped up just a little too nicely.
Got to be the most intricately detailed crime novel I've ever read. Higashino is a true genius of the genre.
Even better than the first book! A perfect mystery, with clever little red herrings scattered through out. I read it in one evening.
Nowhere Man, nowhere near as good as Orphan X. The author resorts to boring tropes, and there is no pace. The sole saving grace was the final 1/4 which zippped along. I won't bother to read any more of this series, which is sad because Orphan X was fun.
Definitely not one for me. Far too literary for my tastes. Also creepily Midsommer and a bit incesty.
A quiet and slow meditation on grief and survival. I struggled to see the characters in my mind, with the Auntie the only one I could fully understand her motives and actions. One for the squash players.
Beautifully written, but too far out there for me. Moments of stunning beauty surrounded by a lot of “huh”?
Interesting concept. I wish there had been less ‘characters' though. Some chapters were immersive if short while others were dull and a little tedious.
I picked up A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom based on a list of books to read if you loved Cloud Cuckoo Land and while I can see why it made the list, the millennia spanning ideas, it lacked the intimacy and personal nature of CCL.
A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks does a similar concept with more fluidity and less chaff
