Erin

A Bit Thin

Revisado: 04-10-24

While I appreciate this was a standalone, it might have benefitted from being a duology to more fully explore the characters and their interactions. I read that when Leigh Bardugo was writing this story, it was partly inspired by her family history and so I will refrain from critiquing the material of the story, rather its execution.

The summary makes the book out to be more exciting than it is. I don't really feel stakes for the characters, the politicking feels hollow, and I ended up caring much more about the side characters than the main couple.

It has a similar feel for me that the Shadow and Bone trilogy did, where it seemed like it was taking place on a stage and if I peeked behind the set dressing I would find a crew waiting to slot the next scene into place. This is a sharp contrast to my enthusiasm for Ninth House and Hell Bent, where everything was vivid and engaging and felt real.

This book also tells you the tone of it explicitly from the start and despite that, the scenes where I know I was supposed to feel strong emotion didn't really land. I know some people will really enjoy this book, but it was pretty middle of the road for me.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Nice Tight Storytelling

Revisado: 01-25-23

A domestic thriller would have dragged this plot out over 8-10 hours along with boring flashbacks to someone's college days inspired by the sighting of a random bit of flotsam. I appreciated the brevity of this narrative.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

What Even Is This?

Revisado: 01-25-23

This book felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be. A treatise on human connection and interaction? The existential ennui of self doubt and self discovery in a Millenial's mid-twenties and not understanding yet how to manage work/life balance? A portal fantasy? A scathing commentary on corporate greed?

It did all of these things, but it did them all poorly. It felt like the mystery took too long to ramp up, then was abandoned. Ethan meanders through other people's lives in what seem to be pointless vignettes. Even when I put on a generous amount of suspension of disbelief and tried to convince myself these were character moments giving me a glimpse of how Ethan interacts with the world and himself, they were boring.

He drifts through experiences in Las Vegas, in Tokyo, in another parallel world and it is all cloaked in a miasma of self doubt and a certain amount of imposter syndrome regarding his interpretation of art and wondering if his interpretation is objectively wrong. Even in the most egregious cases I have seen of a character doubting themselves, they have one thing they know they do well and that turns out to be what changes the story for them. That is lacking here, and the only thing Ethan appears to do well is know about coffee varietals and pull a perfect espresso shot, both meaningless and pretentious when fit into the tone of the overall story.

The last 15 minutes of the book is Ethan trying to get over the loss of his friend who he wanted to be more but never told her that. She moved to an alternate universe to spend time with a little girl she used to babysit, who is stranded forever because the company with the resources to get her out is shutting down the project because they can't monetize it. It's more bland prose centering around him taking up photography (again?) Because this is hinted throughout as something he takes interest in.

Perhaps this is supposed to be a metaphor for him finally finding direction and knowing himself when he has defined his identity by the people around him, including his ex-girlfriend who he had dated for 5 years, and the monotonous tone of the novel is designed to express the crushing sameness of the work cycle and the dangers of falling into obsession when nothing truly excites you. At any rate, it was a disappointing book. The narrator gets 3 stars because he was pretty bland, but that's like giving Kristen Stewart 3 stars because her portrayal of Bella Swan was a little flat. You can only do so much with what you're given.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Interesting Premise, Lackluster Execution

Revisado: 01-16-23

I get that when you sign up for this kind of literary fiction novel, there's some suspension of disbelief that has to happen, but I was frequently jolted out of the story by how contrived everything seemed. Characters and their arcs and dynamics have to carry this sort of story, but I couldn't be bothered to care about anyone.

For how long it is, the "mystery" dragged, only for the answer to be info-dumped in the last ten minutes, and was personally not a fan of the narrators either.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Intense and Unapologetic

Revisado: 03-13-19

Even before you get to the chilling first line (“When I wake up, all my friends are dead”) you know that this is the sort of story where everything is eventually going to fall apart, and you’ve come to watch the train wreck and hope that something can be saved at the end, and you can’t be entirely sure that it will be.

I listened to this book in a single day, after seeing the prologue and first three chapters in a preview shared on Twitter last week. The first-person voice is made all the more powerful by the narration which pulls you in and adds depth you don’t get from a page.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Why was this book even here?

Revisado: 11-21-18

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books, and then I got to Heir of Fire. It is such a slog. I was worried I would blow through the first five books before I had new credits available to get new installments in the series. That was not a concern as I was dragging my feet every time I came back to this story like a cat who knows a bath is imminent.

I did not care about anyone or anything happening in this book until maybe the last 5 chapters. Everyone was moping or brooding.

I understand Celaena was mourning and that you have to show a character recovering from a traumatic experience, I just hate being there for that part of the story. She also has some weird platonic bonding with her broody mentor in a series of training scenes which I also hate reading/listening to. And then she pulled herself up, and started getting stuff done again right at the end.

I understand Chaol was coming to terms with his actions and the wedge they drove between him and those close to him, but I did not care.

I understand Dorian was making the best of his situation, and he even found some puppy love with someone who was far below his station, but I did not care, and the would-be punch in the gut at the end fell flat because I was not invested.

I understand SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT IS HAPPENING WITH WYVERNS, but the witch point of view we see everything through... makes me not care. And I care even less about her witch politics and relationship with her abusive grandma.

Points of view from minor characters were suddenly added without warning or transition. This is something the narrator is terrible about, by the way, she can do accents well, but is awful about assigning distinctive voices to characters and that has bothered me since Throne of Glass. There are so many POVs that can switch mid-chapter and I sometimes get lost for a few paragraphs.

I am on to Queen of Shadows now and back to the tightly paced, action driven narrative that the first two books had (even if Chaol is still being a little whiny). I am really hoping this was a one-off experience.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Started off well and then lost steam

Revisado: 04-10-18

The narrator was okay, she did a decent job bringing the first person POV to life. The world with towers of bone where the citizens of the city fly on silken wings was an interesting prospect, but I quickly tired of the protagonist. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Good book, weak series

Revisado: 09-14-17

So, I got this book because I was browsing through audible before my morning shower to get something new before my commute to work. It's a fun premise, first contact is made, humans get all gung-ho about defending our planet and "allies" and go off into the universe.

Then it takes a turn when the main character picks up a chrome plated talking beer can who is the biggest asshole in the galaxy. Still fun, it's a snarky AI who is trying to find his way home and recruits these humans, a paisley paramecium wears an eye patch, good times.

I stopped after the second book and returned it because the series got formulaic, and it felt like the author was dragging out conversations with dumb human asking questions to the super smart AI to info dump, and it took the tried and true method of space expedition sci fi where it leapfrogs from one emergency to another, but wasn't executed well. Don't have a problem? Find one. Don't have a solution? Pull one out of your ass. Oh wait, plan A won't work, because x, y, and z happened while you weren't looking. Rinse and repeat 3-4 times, then have someone run out of resources.... then start all over again. I enjoyed book 1, will not continue.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fantastic short listen

Revisado: 05-12-17

When I find a Sanderson title I don't have yet, I have no choice but to pick it up.

Snapshot is a great little story about what could happen if you had all the data to recreate a day, and send people from the real world in to observe it, particularly when those people are all too human.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Decent story, terrible narrator

Revisado: 11-18-16

I thoroughly enjoy Claudia Gray's style, ever since I started with the Evernight series. This installment of the Firebird trilogy feels like a penultimate novel, much the same way Brent Week's Blood Mirror and Sanderson's Well of Ascension do. Stakes are raised/antes are upped but it doesn't seem like anything earth shattering will happen.

Which is why I'm returning it half-listened to finish it on kindle where I can read in the voice in my head and no longer be punished by the tinny timber and breathy, shaky, whiny quality of this narrator when she tries to infuse intensity into a scene. Marguerite goes through a lot of scary stuff which might be forgiven, but this ridiculous tone carries over to her reading of the prose (perhaps because of the first-person POV of Marguerite) as well as her dramatization of Theo and Paul.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña