Hunter

I love how the story escalated throughout its page count! It was continuously intriguing with great action scenes, unique characters and realistic dialogue. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series :)

The recency bias is definitely real, but this may be the most useful book I've ever read. My perspective has shifted, and I feel excited to take on tomorrow :)

Since I first read it a few years ago, I've consistently said Gone Girl was my favourite book. Dark Places has been sitting on my shelf, and I've been itching to read it, putting it off so it'd be all-the-more satisfying when I got to it.

Ironically, I guess, I didn't really enjoy the book - although that might be a little harsh. For the first third or so, the pacing was sloooooow and I constantly had to force myself to keep reading. Most flashback scenes were boring, and I found myself annoyed by Libby's character.

Eventually, however, the pace started to increase and I became hooked. I read the second half of the book in one night, when I was in a foul enough mood to palate the horrible themes. I know dark content isn't a bad thing - hell, it's implied by the title - but I found myself uncomfortable for a lot of the book. If the mystery hadn't started to come together by the halfway point, I expect I would have abandoned the book, to the chagrin of my past self.

I'm unsure how exactly to score the book. The plot was interesting enough to keep me invested, and I enjoyed the changes in perspective. On the other hand, I found almost all the characters (in present-day, at least) pretty boring, and spent parts of the book actively disliking the time I spent with it. Whether or not that was Flynn's intent, I can't say. I'm hoping when I eventually get to Sharp Objects it'll have the same magic Gone Girl had for me years ago.

This series is absolutely incredible. Every piece of lore about the world fits so perfectly, Sanderson is such an incredible worldbuilder. His characters are fantastic, the growth of Vin and Elend and Sazed and Spook and many more were all so touching. I can tell there's so much content that will amaze me even more on a second reading, and I'm itching at the chance to begin this journey again.

This book is EXACTLY what I was looking for – a brief synopsis of humankind and how today's world came into being. I found myself increasingly engrossed in our story as I read, and it's concepts could be more directly applied to present society.

A must read for anyone looking for a fundamental understanding around history, economics, politics or the meaning of life.