Kelly Corn
Well, it's no surprise that this novel is about a very touchy subject. This is not a cozy mystery, not in the slightest.
Dr Alex Delaware: attractive, genius, smart, __ you can fill in the blank with any number of inspiring characteristics. He's a recently retired psychologist at the young age of early 30-something. He's also not hurting financially.
He has a perky, cute, tiny, wonderfully devoted artist girlfriend. He has a cop friend who gets him involved in a case that doesn't end up quite where I thought it would go.
The mystery is good, everything comes full-circle and I love that in a book. Something mentioned on page 3 will get resolved before the end, trust me. I did not really like Alex, I wouldn't hang out with this guy. But, I probably wouldn't hang out with Stephanie Plum either.
This book is ok. It's between and 2 and a 3, for now I'll stick with 3.
These books by Elizabeth George are my dirty little secret. Why? Because they read so much like soap operas. So many things that happen are far-fetched. Characters do things that aren't even remotely guessable by a reader. But I love them nonetheless.
Perhaps it is Barbara Havers, no nonsense woman that she is. She's pretty gross to be honest, she smokes like 2 packs a day and eats nasty food. I picture her just filthy and greasy. But I love her anyway.
Inspector Lynley, rich, snooty, quotes literature all the time, listens to opera, just all around d-bag. But I love him nonetheless. And even Helen is just so good as to be unlikable just because she is so damn perfect. And I love her too!
This novel made me cry at the end. I was misty-eyed when the true crime was revealed, and that is no easy feat. Maybe it was an emotional time of the month, but no matter the reason, I'm going with this being an awesome book in an awesome series, 5 stars.
I pretty much read the entirety of this book, which surprises me because it is long. It actually prevented me from getting through my 75 book goal this year. Frankly, this should as 2 or 3 books. I briefly skimmed this book at my library and was intrigued by all of the graphs and data and polls in the last section of the book.
The book covers the following topics:
1. Christianity, and includes chapters on each major sect of modern Christianity like Catholicism, Baptist, Methodist, Mennonite, Mormonism, and more. I learned a whole lot in these chapters. I was personally raised Christian in a very religious part of the country and so I'm kind of familiar with most sects / schisms, but not all of them. Now, I know more about most Christian churches in America.
2. Islam, just one large chapter including some about both Sunni and Shi'ite.
3. Judaism
4. Eastern faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and more
5. Other faiths like Native American faiths, nature-based faiths, and atheism (arguably not a faith per se, but deserving of a chapter in the book for sure!)
Each chapter gives history of that religion from it's beginning until today's “versions” of that religion or sect. Then, the history of that religion specifically in America is drawn out.
There are some essays, and then following all of that is a plethora of polls, statistics, and more awesome data. I spent a lot of time thumbing through these, and it was fascinating.
I was disappointed that I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped given it's GR rating and also the good reviews from reviewers I typically align with. Also, it's probably more of a 2.5 star book.
The good: the plot. The plot kept me intrigued and the pacing was decent. Kylar Stern and Durzo Blint are 2 wetboys (assassins) that are highly skilled at what they do (poisoning, sword fighting, perhaps even a bit of magic). This book is mostly the tale of the coming-of-age of Kylar, Blint's young apprentice.
The bad: the characters. Oh how I didn't like any of the characters. Kylar Stern, our hero, is just... ugh. And I hate that term: ugh, but it's just the best I could come up with. He's shallow. He wants nothing more than to be like his hero Durzo Blint the wetboy (assassin) and yet doesn't want to do the things a wetboy does. I guess before you decide what career path you want to take you should first know what that career is all about.
Durzo Blint was just an all around haughty drunk. Wetboys aren't supposed to fall in love, but guess what: he did. The women were terrible tropes, with Momma K being the all wise, kind, prostitute, keen businesswoman that she was. And Elena, Kylar's love from when they were kids, is an angel. And that's really it for those two women (who are literally all the women in the book, literally there are TWO). To be fair, I guess there were only about 5-6 men.
Something else that just really was like nails on a chalkboard for me are some of the author's choice of words / spelling. I don't know, maybe the term ‘wetboy' actually means something to someone. The interwebs say it is another word for an assassin but also not another word for an assassin. Either way, the word's a terrible choice. It sounds just awful, and I hated reading it aloud in my head. Another thing: the only word “fantasied” (like Edward = Eddard a la GRRM) was wytch instead of witch. Why just this one word? It bugged me constantly. Only fantasy-ing one word, why bother.
The plot was decent, though, which is surprising. As I reader, I enjoy a good plot just as much as anyone. Weeks is a good storyteller, but he really needs to work on characterization. I'll read the next 2 in the series and see if we get some better characters.
This review is disjointed and amateur but makes some good points. This book has disjointed and amateur characters, but has some good plot.
Alastair Reynolds is one of my favorite authors whom I stumbled upon quite by happy accident. I've read almost all of his novels, with one the best being [b:Pushing Ice 89186 Pushing Ice Alastair Reynolds http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309197028s/89186.jpg 2622804], and I'm also a big fan of his Revelation Space series and world. I had a very high bar set for this novel, the first of a supposed 10 I believe.At the beginning, we meet young Sunday and Geoffrey Akinya, siblings who live in future Africa. These two come across an antiquated tank buried in the earth with machinery that somehow gives Sunday a seizure. This is some foreshadowing of things to come. The rest of the novel focuses on the travels of Sunday and Geoffrey as they travel literally across the solar system searching for clues that their grandmother Eunice left for them when she died.That this novel is the first of a series is made pretty obvious by the author's inclusion of so much future tech. Geoffrey lives in the Surveilled World while Sunday chooses to live a little more incognito in the Descrutinised Zone (only on a certain part of the moon). The Mechanism is implied to some kind of thinking machine that watches all humans and can predict their behavior. For instance, at some point Geoffrey attempts to punch someone but is stopped by The Mechanism's communication with something in his own head. The Mechanism has drastically reduced crime on Earth, but there is an ominous feeling like that of Philip K Dick's Minority Report, which is why Sunday chooses to live on the moon.Like other Reynolds novels, there are plenty of heavily modified humans, especially the mer-people. They live in a city in the ocean. Also, there are intelligent projections that can live in golems, long lives, and an abandoned area of Mars run by robots. I love it.After finishing the book, it actually seems like nothing really substantial happened, but the journey there was awesomely adventurous. This novel lived up to what I hope it would be!
Reading books - fiction or nonfiction - about racism always makes me uncomfortable at some point, but it's worth it because I learn something new about America, myself, other people, and circumstance. Today, in America, racism in the ‘public sector' is illegal. Any race can own a home, go to any public school, apply for any job, and live anywhere (so long as they have the financial or academic backing). So why is it that there is still such glaring disparity in these areas? Neighborhoods virtually segregated, schools that favor a race by population, and professional career areas that do not match the racial makeup of America?
This book tries to answer these questions. And one of the larger differences between this book and most other books I've read on racism is that the writer is white. And in a way, doesn't that mean I'm racist for even pointing that out? Who's to say whether a white man can have any authoritative opinion on racism? Well, I generally believe that the best source of any life experience is one who has experienced it. In the author's case, he grew up outside of Birmingham, AL in a well-to-do white neighborhood in the 1980s. His neighborhood was heavily white (and still is), and his school was heavily white. His school was one of the schools that bused students in from black neighborhoods to comply with federal anti-segregation laws, or those laws that came after the famous Brown v Board of Education in Topeka, KS. So Colby's a white guy, but he does have a lot of experience with racism, albeit an informed outsider's perspective.
4 major perspectives are covered throughout this book. The first section talks of schools and forced integration post-Brown v Board. Most of this consists of Colby's high school and a few students he knew that he interviewed during the course of writing this book. There's a lot of history too, about Alabama, and about forced integration which resulted in the busing of students from black neighborhoods to white schools in white school districts. I really enjoyed this section, and the author gives some insight into the goods and bads of forced integration, many of which I'd never bothered considering before this.
The next section was my favorite - housing, home ownership, and the mortgage industry. I used to sell homes; I would proudly wear my little R (is for REALTOR) pin showcasing the largest professional association in America. Well, to my chagrin, I learned that much of my famed club's original Code of Ethics was chock full of racism. When I was taking classes to become licensed, I learned terms like blockbusting, redlining, and steering, and just memorized those definitions. Colby's chapters on housing get to the core of these terms, and how the past behaviors still produce barriers today. I really thought when learning about blockbusting for my license exam that surely people didn't get away with that? How could they? Turns out J.C. Nichols. He became so wealthy from his racist real estate business that he was able to build subdivisions, and build the famous Kansas City Plaza. A chapter like this makes me think we have a long way to go in America to fully get rid of racism. I mean, we have laws against this kind of stuff now, right?
And then chapters about those careers that continue to be segregated today. The last few chapters talk about segregation in church, and one town that has 2 Catholic churches almost across the street from one another, but one is black and the other's white.
Although I liked most aspects of this book, I did start to get a little annoyed with the author's overly chummy writing style. But overall, some excellent history and eye-opening perspectives can be found here.
What a scary little book! Other reviewers have said it better, but Hill House could keep you awake at night like it did me. A subtle psychological thriller, you won't find a lot of gore (there's just a little bit of blood), and you'll probably dislike the characters. Actually, I thought Dr. Montague seemed like an alright fellow, just doing some research into the paranormal like any good scientist. But Eleanor, Luke, Theodora, and Mrs. Montague seem to rub most readers unsatisfactorily. These are some strange folks.
But one reviewer touched on the Unreliable Narrator, and that really explains this book. After all, the entire story is straight from Eleanor's perspective, there is nothing omniscient or all-knowing, so the perspective IS skewed. Keep that in mind while reading. I think it's clear that Eleanor doesn't have the maturity or life lessons that many thirty-two year olds have since she spent the last 11 years of her life taking care of her invalid mother. She's almost a child, then, maybe a teenager. And so her impressions of Luke, Theodora, and Dr. Montague may not be the same as another narrator would see.
Excellent book, dark, scary, and a very worthwhile read.
Finally finished this book, it seemed to take a long time. I'm forcing some nonfiction into my daily reading because it just seems like a good idea. And this book also has a lot of great ideas, but a lot of them are ideas that just work so well when actually tested in reality.
This is not a completely neutral book by no means, but it does not outright bash either major political party. I think it does lean left, but not in an overpowering pundit-y way.
The author clearly did a lot of interviewing and research, and all that really shines. The book follows several projects that were born as soon as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (more commonly known as The Stimulus). Many of these projects also died or failed in less than 2 years.
I was continually stunned by the SIZE of some of these projects, and the big numbers. $100 million here, $250 million there, $40 million over there, and so on. All in all, the stimulus money totaled around $800 billion, which was considerably less than some economists recommended. Some suggested a huge stimulus along the lines of $1 trillion or more. ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Then to push all of that money into projects, projects, and more projects. And that means ridiculous, unfathomable amounts of red tape and hardly a possibility of transparency.
The type of projects that benefited from or failed regardless of the stimulus is really what this book explores. Everything from green cars to solar panels (ahem) to schools to airports to bridges saw money from the stimulus.
I feel much more informed having this huge book (well, it felt big to me anyway). I have some examples of where the stimulus fell short (Solyndra) but also where it worked well (Savannah River). The answer to the title question continues to be hazy - I really can't decide if it was a good idea or not.
This book encouraged me to think about the economy in ways I have never considered. I learned a lot of history too, mostly about the New Deal.
This is an intriguing story blending together science fiction concepts like time travel with actual history. It has a ring of alternate history to it, but it's certainly more than that.The story unfolds much the same as [b:2001: A Space Odyssey 70535 2001 A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #1) Arthur C. Clarke http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348775483s/70535.jpg 208362] with a look at some apes, Seeker and Grasper. This book has been described as A Space Odyssey, but instead a Time Odyssey, which the series name obviously suggests. So the parallels to that great series are several in number and fun to discover.This is the story of several groups of humans from a different time in history all meeting up in one glorious climax, real time unknown. Readers are treated to meeting Kolya, Sable, and Musa up in a space station; Josh and Ruddy in late 1800s India; Bisesa, Casey, and Abdi in a crashing UN helicopter somewhere near India; Alexander the Great; and even Genghis Khan. Surrounding this unlikely (impossible even) cast of characters are mysterious metal orbs that are unmovable and unpenetrable. I pictured them set up in a concise grid all over the world bigger than a human head but smaller than an exercise ball.Arthur C Clarke is one of my favorite authors. Of Stephen Baxter's work, I have only read one novel, and it was so long ago that I remember almost nothing about it. I have no doubt these 2 authors had a good time with this concept. If you like science fiction, then you probably like history too (at least, in my experience), and a time travel novel is a great device that brings these 2 concepts together: real history and science fiction.The characters are unfortunately a little flat. The evil characters are evil, and the good characters are good, sort of like a James Cameron movie. We aren't given much background on anyone, and at the same time, none really stand out. I felt also that the 2 female characters were not well developed at all. One is a good nurturing mother figure, and the other is has .... shall we say loose morals. The male characters aren't much better.But how much fun to have Genghis Khan's nomads and Alexander the Great's conquerors meet together in Babylon! I definitely enjoyed the historical aspects of this novel, and that balances out the lack of characterization for me.A good 3 star book, and I will be reading the next in the series.
Another great book in the Lynley and Havers series! This was the longest so far, coming in at just under 500 pages in the hardback library version I read. These books, and this one in particular, really kept me on the edge of my seat constantly. In a nutshell, the book is a murder mystery, but the reader is treated to a peak into the daily life of a small English town, and I wouldn't describe it as “quaint.” For readers familiar with Lynley and Havers from other novels, you'll get to add some more background and story to the relationship between Simon St. James and Deborah. I found that I didn't really care much about those 2 characters in the other books, but now I see that they have just as intriguing story as the “main” characters do. In fact, in this book, Barbara Havers has what feels like about 3 lines and a few pages, but otherwise doesn't make much of an appearance.
Deborah St. James has a chance meeting with the vicar of a small town, Mr. Sage. He briefly provides some comfort to her during a difficult time. Later, she and her husband Simon head out to visit the town and meet again with the vicar, only to find he's been dead from accidental poisoning several months. What follows is a complex tale about the love between a mother and child told from several different perspectives.
I really enjoy this series. I love the way the author weaves the story of the recurring characters in with the stories of the characters that make up the mystery. In that regard I think she's got a unique stronghold, at least in English mysteries. Where Agatha Christie's books, for instance, have the same cast but with little focus on the main recurring characters, George's novels spend just as much time, if not more, on the recurring characters. Also, George tells much of the exposition of the plot through the point of view of a non-recurring character. So in the end, the reader learns a great deal about characters we've come to know and love and also a great deal about the motivations and desires of the characters that are being investigated.
I'm not an expert on the English lifestyle, but I am continually impressed with George's ability to make me feel like I'm in England. I'm not claiming that she's accurate because I just don't know, but I feel convinced that she knows English lifestyle with great credibility, and that's all her doing. This is surprising because she wasn't born in England and doesn't live in England. When I read books that take place, say in the American Southwest, it doesn't take much to decide if the author knows the area or doesn't know the area. I'm curious how well George describes English life from the perspective of an English reader.
Once I pick up one of these books, I cannot read anything else until finished!
I love Daniel Abraham's fantasy. His Long Price Quartet [b:A Shadow in Summer 208 A Shadow in Summer (Long Price Quartet, #1) Daniel Abraham http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312020105s/208.jpg 1711253] was such a refreshing and fortunate find, and I have yet to read anything that's worthy of fewer than 5 stars from this author. Even his science fiction is great [a:James S.A. Corey 4192148 James S.A. Corey http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-4df4c878d4149c45fac159e88cb784ad.jpg], but I haven't read any of his urban fantasy yet (and may not, it's not a favorite genre) [a:M.L.N. Hanover 1868743 M.L.N. Hanover http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1344347872p2/1868743.jpg].Daniel Abraham is a man of many pseudonyms. He has said before at conventions that he likes to keep his author personalities separate, and I think it works well. What he puts his “real” name on is the fantasy like The Long Price Quartet and this series, The Dagger and the Coin. I had my hopes up high for this book considering how much I like his other novels, and it did not disappoint.I have to admit that the beginning seems slow in pacing. The writing and prose is well-written and so very thoughtful that even without any major action, it's still difficult to turn out the lights and go to bed, though.The perspectives of 4 major characters are explored. The first is Cithrin Bel Sarcour, a ward of a bank, and a banker-in-training. Next is Sir Geder Palliako, Heir of the Viscount of Rivenhalm who loves reading and is perhaps a little chubby for nobility. Next is Marcus Wester, a near-mercenary who has been traveling for years to avoid the pain of the death of his wife and daughter. And last is Dawson Kallium, a baron looking out for the King. These 4 lives converge, not necessarily together in location but more in time, and the book chronicles their paths.Abraham can create amazing characters. Each of these characters has real and believable traits. One in particular left me absolutely disappointed in his not entirely justifiable decisions. These characters are not without faults and are not easy to pinpoint as good people or bad people. I still can't determine who's the real “bad guy” and who's the “good guy” - probably because there isn't one of either. The line between the two is fuzzy and ill-defined, as it is in real people.The magic system here at work is barely explored, but is as unique as that in his other novels. The opening is about a priest who definitely appears to have some powers - he can know without a doubt if someone is lying or telling the truth. Also, there are vague references to dragons and the book itself is called The Dragon's Path, so I'm sure I'll get to have more dragons in my future.The action and adventure comes from Cithrin's needing to move a large amount of real money from one city to another, several days trip apart. Also, Geder is traveling with an army to the city that Cithrin has just vacated. The plot is filled with political and moral intrigue that is far more compelling than it should be (I mean, how exciting would a banker's life really be?)Like any fantasy that I love, there are many races and lands to learn about. Abraham has created 9 different races that all seem very distinct. Instead just having different skin colors or accents or clothing styles, some are hairy, some are scaled, and some are short. There's enough history of these different races to just intrigue me immensely, but not enough to satisfy me. So I will have to read more....
Something kept this novel from being a great read. It really started out with a bang – Kinsey Millhone travels to Mexico to verify that a man thought dead for 5 years is in fact alive. With usual Kinsey fashion, she eventually discovers the truth behind the sighting of the man and uncovers a lot of intrigue along the way.
I read these kind of mysteries because they are fun and quick. They keep me wanting to read more, they are hard to put down, but what separates them is their exposition, how they end. Do I feel satisfied? In the case of this particular Kinsey novel, I did not. The end of the book did not hold up to the trip there. Still, I enjoy this series and will read more!
The sun. It's not really a place I think about when I think of other places in space that might have life. This novel is all about the possibility of life on the sun. I think it's pretty clear that the author David Brin knows a lot of science, and I think he's better at writing the science than characters. The only aspect of this book that fellflat was in the characterization. But I love science and I love aliens, so those aspects kept the book great for me.
If one included the ions and electrons that forever stream out into space in the solar wind – to cause auroras on Earth and to shape the plasma tails of comets – one might say that there was no real boundary to the sun. It truly reaches out to touch the other stars.
The pacing of this book is just awesome. It was non-stop, and just the right mix of Poirot-ness, Hastings perspectives, and the other investigators (most of them related to the murder victims.)I just read [b:The Alienist 40024 The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1) Caleb Carr http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169386132s/40024.jpg 2266643] and was done with serial killers for awhile ... but wait! This Christie novel is about a serial killer, too. The killer has a unique MO: the first victim's name starts with ‘A' and so does the town in which the murder takes place, the second victim's name starts with ‘B' and so does the town in which that murder takes place, etc. Meanwhile, the serial killer is sending letters to Poirot before he kills his victim, and we know how much Poirot loves a challenge such as this.Also, I give myself some props since I was almost right in my narrowing down of possible suspects. I was definitely headed in the right direction, and that's a first.
This is an excellent historical mystery set in the mid 1890s in New York City. A serial killer is killing young boys who are associated with male brothels in a most terrifying manner. Theodore Roosevelt asks the famous alienist Dr. Lazslo Kreizler to lead an investigation that will result in the arrest of the killer. Kreizler enlists the help of his trusty friend and New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore (the narrator), a woman who wants to be the first woman police officer Sara Howard, and 2 detective brothers. Kreizler is perhaps INfamous really, with the average person being very wary of some of his “new” ideas about psychology.
I'm giving the book 4 stars simply because I was transformed to NYC 120 years ago every night that I read some chapters. The descriptions are vivid, and many of the characters are real people like Paul Kelly and Teddy Roosevelt. Also, the locations are real - the Paresis Hall was a male brothel at fifth street and Bowery.
I enjoyed the explanations from the Kreizler character about psychology, incorporating references to other serial killers like HH Holmes and Jack the Ripper. Today, we all know that a lot of the decisions we make are due to some experience in childhood, but that was a new concept at the point of this book. The investigation team surprises everyone by their unusual techniques, techniques which are commonplace today. It's a great historical romp into turn-of-the-century NYC, psychology, and the beginnings of the mob.
A lot of reviewers have criticized the characters (or lack thereof I guess). They are pretty predictable characters, but I don't read many mystery books that have really amazing characters that are incredibly unique, so that's par for the mystery course. Not ALL mysteries, but lots, use cookie cutter characters that are designed to represent some typical set of views and background. And I'm OK with that.
The serial killings themselves were.... pretty damn disturbing. So be prepared for some passages that aren't for the average cozy mystery reader.
I read this book because it hopes to answer a question that is stereotypical of liberal thinking: why are the poor or middle class conservatives actually helping Big Business continue to destroy the poor or middle class? And the answer is easy: because enforcing morality upon this country is more important than anything else to the religious right.
The other reason I read it is because I went to college in Lawrence, KS, which is a bastion of liberalism in a dark red sea (well, I guess there's Wyandotte county too). I was taken in by the liberal educators and left Lawrence a staunch liberal myself (having actually arrived a conservative in the economic sense).
The beginning of the book talks about Kansas as a fighter for workers' rights since it's inception, talks about the history of Bleeding Kansas. The city of Wichita is a good example, and the actions of Boeing are appalling. And of course, Wichita being a generally conservative city has actually voted to keep lawmakers in office who write laws that protect and encourage actions like those of Boeing.
There's a chapter on the agricultural business in Kansas that reinforces my reasons to be a vegetarian. The author writes of his own history, his own viewpoint changing from conservative to liberal at some point in his life. And the book has a lot of discussion about how the moderate and extreme conservatives work off each other to prosper.
And there's criticism of the left - not criticism of the philosophies, but criticism in the left's inability to stop the joining of a capitalistic economic views with conservative Christian views. They are intertwined as a party when what do they really have to do with each other?
It's a funny book, and I'll be reading more of the author's work. If you're liberal, you'll probably like it, if not, then you probably won't. I'm not going to read any Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly until I feel I haven't given enough 1 star reviews lately either.
This is the first urban fantasy book that I have finished (or at least today's definition of urban fantasy, which I won't debate here but I think of as either vampires or werewolves or the like in a more modern setting than typical fantasy medieval setting). Urban fantasy is not a favorite genre of mine, in fact, far from it. And my reasons all have to do with depth: depth of story/plot, depth of character, depth of emotion, depth of theme(s), depth of symbolism, depth of history, etc. I think urban fantasy has a definite place on the bookshelf, but generally not on my bookshelf. And I'm not saying that all urban fantasy isn't deep, but well, much of it doesn't appear to be, and that's most likely intentional.
So for an urban fantasy book, I liked this first book in the Kitty Norville series. Kitty Norville is a werewolf living in Colorado who works as a late night DJ. Eventually, her show becomes more of a talk show with interviews and callers and discussions about fantastical creatures such as Kitty herself. Now throw in an abusive pack leader, a hunky assassin, and a bossy vampire and the result is Kitty's first adventure.
The author has a story that ends at the end of this book but she also introduces what I bet will become an over-arcing story that later books will continue to visit. I really enjoyed the playlist that Ms. Vaughn put in the beginning of the book, explaining that these particular songs were playing while she was writing. I did not read to the songs, but I kind of wished I had, and maybe I will try it out.
I respect this particular author who I've seen at several cons, and that's why I read the book. I'm still not a big fan of urban fantasy, but I do enjoy this author, and will read more of this series.
So I was pretty sure I figured out the murderer early on. And then I realized I had fallen into Dame Agatha's trap because I was completely wrong.The murder takes place on a plane. We're given the seating arrangements of the passengers in the cabin in a nice diagram. However, unlike the seemingly similar [b:Murder on the Orient Express 16364 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1248645147s/16364.jpg 2285570], the passengers disembark and are questioned later. I preferred the train mystery more since part of it's charm was taking place entirely on a train. The plane ride had some historical relevance since I've never flown on a plane in the '30s, and it's a lot different than the flights I go on. Let's just say this murder wouldn't have happened with the current TSA regulations.The reasons behind and the method of the murder are a bit far-fetched, especially compared to other Christie books. This mystery had a lot of layers to try to figure out, and that's where I was tricked myself. Also, despite the murder being very very intricate, nothing actually went wrong except that Poirot did notice something odd. That's about all I can say about the plot without spoilers. Not my favorite Christie book, but it was worth the read.
I was so excited to read this book, and even with the great pedestal I placed it on, it was as good as it could be! I had high expectations, and they were fulfilled.
This second book in the Expanse series adds 3 new perspectives with only 1 perspective continuing from the first book. And 2 of these perspectives are women! Yay! I love that a book written by 2 dudes passes the Bechdel test. I don't think the first did so much, but this one definitely does, and both of the women kick ass, one literally so. The other is a powerful women in the UN who also happens to cuss like a pirate. Her name is Avasarala and she's my favorite perspective character.
The story is great – feels like a second book in the series for sure, but I think that's to be expected. The story picks up not too long after the first. Venus is a terrifying mess, and a new military monster is attacking a base. The UN on Earth gets involved in the politics of Mars and the outer solar system as well. There's a lot more Political Intrigue and less Action, but the suspense is still very much there. It also doesn't have that almost noir feeling the first one did, but this one isn't so much a detective novel. Although there is a crime (kidnapping) and some detecting, it's not the major story.
No vomit zombies in this one either.
I flew through this book just like its predecessor, and I am eagerly, eagerly, EAGERLY awaiting the third in the series.
Didn't like this one as much as some others in the series. I just didn't like any of the characters, I didn't feel much pity for any of them, except the murder victim. And even she had some issues. Lynley has a good side story with Helen, and Havers has life questions to find out answers to, so that was good. The mystery was OK at best, but I did like the overall novel with the side stories of our inspectors.
3 1/2 stars.
A few other reviewers have expressed what I felt after finishing the book: the first half is better (more satisfying?) than the second half.
That's not to say that the second half isn't great. But the first half has almost an otherworldly feel to it, something magical about the lives of a husband and wife trying to make a home on the frontier. The descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness absolutely chilled me to the bone, both with their beauty and with the cold, harsh weather.
The sadness of this childless couple brought tears to my eyes. Their disappointment of losing their only child was expertly described to the reader, and I really felt their sadness in my heart. I wanted them to make it on this Alaskan frontier, I wanted them to have a child of their own, I wanted them to be able to write home of their happiness.
And the Snow Child - is she real? She seems magical, a fairy tale, maybe a figment of the couple's imagination.
That's the first half. The second half is quite a bit different. There are more characters, another family befriends our pioneers. The pacing of the book seemed different. Time passed more quickly in the second half, years covered, while the first half included just one long winter.
A good read overall!
This novel goes back and forth with its pacing. Sometimes, it's a page-turner, and sometimes it's a thought-provoker, and frankly sometimes, it's dull.I don't care much for Harry Bosch. I don't really know why. Well, he's gruff, he doesn't follow the rules, he's got a violent history. But that explains a lot of investigators in books that I do like, so I'm not really sure why I don't like him.I would say I enjoy cozy mysteries and this one is too violent. But I like [a:Elizabeth George 1402383 Elizabeth George http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235518043p2/1402383.jpg], and her books can be violent. I may pick up another in the series. I may read some of the author's other series. Just not anytime soon.
A great end to a great trilogy! I could not put these books down.
Particularly satisfying is the lack of sexual violence that seems to be more and more common. Or maybe just in the books I'm reading lately. It's nice to a strong female character who doesn't get raped, and main characters who don't rape (good or evil).
That's just something refreshing about this trilogy, but it's definitely not even one of the best reasons to read it. The magic system is fantastic, well-developed, and well-researched. I think it's extremely clever and I enjoyed exploring it with the Mistborn characters.
Another great reason to read this book is the female lead Vin. I love her! She morphs from a streetwise tough to a nearly regal woman with power, and not even unwillingly.
And these books wrap up so well. The reader isn't left with hanging details, unanswered questions. It doesn't mean there isn't more potential for story in the world, but the major conflicts are all addressed. I love it when a detail in the first book gets re-examined in the third book, a clue perhaps a reader may have missed.