Michael Best

Probably a 2.5 for me.

It is an easy read but not at all subtle or deep.

Starts off with an interesting concept but disintegrates in to an uninteresting romance.

This just missed being a 1 star because I could actually be bothered to finish it, but only just.

Not funny, not biting, just there!

I have loved the Catesby series up to here, but this one was less engrossing. I enjoyed it, but it seemed a bit messy, and less believable than the previous books.

I found it to be a slightly unsatisfactory mix of well drawn conflict scenes, sentimental family melodrama and heavy symbolism.

This was a real disappointment for me.

I had no issue with the reversed timeline structure, save: it simply seemed to be a device to hide the fact that there is no mystery, or complex tale here; it is not a true reversed timeline because having read the final chapter (about chapter 26) I had to go back and remind myself of how chapter 6 concluded in order to fit it all together.

I found the writing repetitive and, eventually, rather boring, which is why it took me a lot longer to read this book than it should have done.

For me, it all gets tied up a little too neatly and the antisemitism is hard to stomach but overall a very good read.

An initially interesting premise became a real slog for me and, eventually, surprisingly slight.

Not even one likeable character in this story. It was easy to read but I cared not for anyone in it.

I must have missed something. A world created by Satan or a world possessed by Satan needing a bit of good exorcism? The rest is just filler.

Torn between a 3 and a 4. I am feeling generous so I will give it a 4. A short, crisp story. A curious, though not entirely satisfying tale.

Reluctantly, I feel I must mark this as a 2 for me because, much as I learned so much from reading it, I did not like the book. When Mr Schama presents on TV, I find that sometimes I am riveted by his presentation but at others I struggle to stay awake. Sadly, though this book is packed with knowledge, too often I found my eyes closing because of the way it was all presented.

I came to this book with little real knowledge/understanding of the history of the Jewish people. Perhaps, if I had had a little more to begin with I would have enjoyed this book more.

Oh dear, I am trying to fathom out three things:

1. Why did I bother finishing this book, in fact why did I ever carry on beyond the first 15 pages?

2. How did John Scalzi get through school without learning that conversations can be described in more ways than “he said, she said”?

3. What on earth are the many readers who love this book getting from it that completely passed me by?

Although I am not a great fan of short stories, my experience has been that speculative fiction can be an exemplar of the positives of the format.

I enjoyed a lot reading Mr Chiang's stories - at times very thought provoking, at others simply fun to read.

This was disappointing.

I learned quite a bit about being rubbed down with a cold towel because of the intense, overbearing heat. In all other respects, it left me cold.

Battled hard against writing style. Finished. Thought story good despite everything.

This is quite a long book and I felt it almost overstaying its welcome. However, I loved Richard Zimler's writing style. There are some images he created in my mind which may stay with me forever.

For some reason this simply didn't catch fire for me.

I enjoyed this but not as much as the first in the series - perhaps because the plot and setting were far more confined. The ending, though reasonably complete, felt very much a set up for book 3. I look forward to reading that book, hoping that it may return to some of the scale of book 1.

Although this is a relatively short book, it soon wears out its welcome. It becomes evident very early into Robert's story what is going on, but it then takes a long time to get to the end.

A strange mix of gothic horror, morality tale and critique of extreme Calvinism.

I wanted to love this book, as I love two of Eco's earlier books, but I really struggled with it to such an extent that it was a real chore to finish it.

This was an enjoyable variation on the cosy mystery story. (My edition has two further recent conclusions at the end, which I found unnecessary).

Thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is not really a thriller, more a simply told tale of a young man being drawn to the “dark side”.
Probably a 3.5.

A big DNF.

I struggled on to nearly 40%, with an increasing loss of interest in the story, when yet another section of clichéd backstory prompted a desperate urge to skip pages.

For me, a desire to skip pages means it is time to read a different book.

What embarrasses me is that I read nearly 40% of this book. It reads like a classic writing school idea of how to write a book - multiple story threads (tick), new character new backstory (tick), introduce key past event(s) in character‘s life which will be used later to explain behaviour or purpose in life (tick). I just don't think it is any good.