Mercer

This was a well-written memoir. I appreciated the honesty and depth of the author—I trusted her, which I find hard to do with most memoirists at this point.

I appreciated that there was no tidy bow on this story.

This is more of a book for snacking than one for reading all at once, and I think trying to take it down all in one go ruined it for me.

Well-written but dull

Well written, but I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in the plot and it never did. I didn't find this story terribly compelling or unique, but the writing was quiet and delicate, which I appreciated. Stylistically it reminded me of Murakami, but it was not as interesting as a Murakami story.

I liked the science. The swearing was kitschy.

This is probably a 3.5. I liked that this wasn't a hero story. It wasn't the same-old like most of the books of this genre. However, the narrator was so annoying and I got about 3/4 of the way through before any thing picked up. That said, the concept of magic was unique! I enjoyed that.

Very good. If you have children, build products, or interface with customers/people regularly and want to do it better you should read this book.

A regular stand in for my son and I. Obviously some racist and colonialist tones, but even those make for important conversations.

There were some twists that I GENUINELY did not foresee in this book. Sanderson outdid himself, truly.

Another good book for kiddos. Definitely some nuances that were tricky to explain (how to explain the problematic prison system and lack of support for ex-incarcerated folks to kiddos?), but was entertaining, sweet, and sparked from great conversations.

I love this so much. I was surprised, actually, by how tender it was. A cross between Christopher Moore and Douglas Adams, I think, and tackling the tough topic of reaching “human perfection.” So, so good.

For YA, this series tackles some pretty deep philosophical questions. I thought this second installment did an excellent job continuing the tropes and themes from the first—especially because it moved away from the romantic aspects of the first book. The addition of a new, deeply complex character helped carry us away from this being a love story and brought us Into more morally exploratory territory. The ending feels like it jumped the shark, but I'm excited to see how the third book goes.

Wowie. I demolished this book. Very well-written about such nuanced topics. I'm not sure how one tackles class, race, privilege, abuse, queerness and small-town loyalty all in one book and still have it be cohesive, but this book did it.

It felt very true and very real and also very bittersweet. There were many hard pills to swallow but the author didn't feel the need to clean them away, which I appreciated.

Not sure I need more books in the series—not sure there even needed to be a series?? But this one is perfect.

Meh

This book was interesting to me because of the universe it is set in, but the plot moves too quickly and the writing is trite and simple.

This was my favorite so far. I think perhaps it was because it was written from the perspective of youth? A mother of young children, a teen, a young adult, and then characters that were older or “closer” to death. The play between innocence and death and everything in between was just...so excellent. It felt like there was more to this than your typical sci fi, and it definitely let me thinking.

More a three than a four to me just because the ending felt so rushed. That said, loved the narration and the tone and am excited to pick up the next one. Reminded me a lot of Kaiju Preservation society in tone and humor. Plus, can’t wait for Skarsgaard to play the titular bot.

Really interesting book. The text ran the gamut: drugs, love, phone, even borderline personality disorder and it's addictive tendencies. Very informative, though not with a lot of practical advice to overcome said addictions. That said, I really just wanted to understand the biology behind addiction, and this book fit that desire.

The craft of this book was excellent. I am torn between 4 and 5 because it feels like a specific type of book that I might not recommend to everyone. That said, there was a lot to love.

I loved the interspersed gossip magazines, I loved the love. There were some deeply tender and human moments, which I wasn't expecting in such a hyped book. I was surprised by how well complex and conflicting emotions were portrayed, as well. The author has a real mastery of words.

Just as with all Gladwell books this one left me thought-provoked and curious. I genuinely learned tons and shifted my perspective with this one, though. As a parent, it gave me things to chew on and contemplate; as a member of society, too. 10/10 recommend.

I learned quite a bit reading this book! I'm not sure that I would recommend it to anyone, or that I'd ever really want to read it or anything like it again. However, I did learn A TON. So, three stars.

Not as good as the other ones later in the series. Perhaps the author hadn't hit his stride yet?

Wonderful little nuggets of wisdom from inspiring people. Interesting stories, actionable advice.

What an ending. My gosh.

It felt like she just searched and replaced all names with this book. Was exactly the same until the end, at which point it became deeply uncompelling.

Gaiman does a great job putting his own spin on classic myths. Norse mythology is one of the ones I am least familiar with, so I appreciated his glossary and inclusions of stories from beginning to end.

I wish there was more to this book. Maybe that means I'm jaded? I felt like there was less content here that was new or refreshing or informative than I expected. There was a stint of about 5 chapters where I felt really engaged.