Take a photo of a barcode or cover
238 reviews by:
booksmithscientist
Mental Delight
Read this book while sitting outside and take in the world around you. This book make you take a step back and admire the world as it is around us. Following Emma Mitchell's footsteps across the UK in search of some of the most glorious sights, sounds and smells in nature. An inspiring read that discusses the importance of nature for mental health and clarity.
Read this book while sitting outside and take in the world around you. This book make you take a step back and admire the world as it is around us. Following Emma Mitchell's footsteps across the UK in search of some of the most glorious sights, sounds and smells in nature. An inspiring read that discusses the importance of nature for mental health and clarity.
The City We Became - Review July 2020
It's often said that the heart and soul of a city is it's residents. New York City is embodied by six residents, its avatars. When the city is born, its avatars are awakened with a sense of something amiss. Subsequent events allow the avatars to find each other and for them to work towards overcoming the challenge of maturing into a fully fledged city.
I chose to read this book as a means of diversifying the authors on my bookshelf and Jemisin certainly delivered! I really enjoyed the modern setting of New York for this fantasy and the clever use of the main characters to represent each borough. By basing each of the characters personalities on the stereotypes of each borough, Jemisin has created perfectly rounded characters who interact with each other as you would expect people from different areas to in reality.
Disclaimer: I cannot comment on the accuracy of this as I have never been to the US of A, let alone NY! As a complete outsider myself, I was fascinated both by the diversity of New York and it's history, both of which are wholly represented by the personalities and stories of each avatar.
My only gripe was the ending. For me, despite being the first book in a trilogy, the ending felt very sudden considering the amount of detail throughout the rest of the book. I am very ready for the remaining two books though!
The City We Became is the first book in The Great Cities Trilogy.
It's often said that the heart and soul of a city is it's residents. New York City is embodied by six residents, its avatars. When the city is born, its avatars are awakened with a sense of something amiss. Subsequent events allow the avatars to find each other and for them to work towards overcoming the challenge of maturing into a fully fledged city.
I chose to read this book as a means of diversifying the authors on my bookshelf and Jemisin certainly delivered! I really enjoyed the modern setting of New York for this fantasy and the clever use of the main characters to represent each borough. By basing each of the characters personalities on the stereotypes of each borough, Jemisin has created perfectly rounded characters who interact with each other as you would expect people from different areas to in reality.
Disclaimer: I cannot comment on the accuracy of this as I have never been to the US of A, let alone NY! As a complete outsider myself, I was fascinated both by the diversity of New York and it's history, both of which are wholly represented by the personalities and stories of each avatar.
My only gripe was the ending. For me, despite being the first book in a trilogy, the ending felt very sudden considering the amount of detail throughout the rest of the book. I am very ready for the remaining two books though!
The City We Became is the first book in The Great Cities Trilogy.
I never really understand the meaning behind this book but it is a beautiful story and always feels like a song.
Firstly, a little background... This is a short story collection that acts as an introduction to the main novel storyline of The Witcher, in the first book Blood of Elves. This is also the case with Sword of Destiny.
I was super keen to read this, being a big believer in the phrase "the book was better" and, now that I understand that this is more of an introduction to the series, I feel better about it!
Despite being a series of short stories, the book as a whole covers stories of Geralt, the Witcher, doing what he does best and slaying monsters. There is a general theme of fairytale retelling with magic and mythological twists, featuring classic monsters, beasts and more... think Vampires, Werewolves, Chimera, Djinn...
I, personally, found the narrative to be a little disjointed (although maybe that's the point?
I was super keen to read this, being a big believer in the phrase "the book was better" and, now that I understand that this is more of an introduction to the series, I feel better about it!
Despite being a series of short stories, the book as a whole covers stories of Geralt, the Witcher, doing what he does best and slaying monsters. There is a general theme of fairytale retelling with magic and mythological twists, featuring classic monsters, beasts and more... think Vampires, Werewolves, Chimera, Djinn...
I, personally, found the narrative to be a little disjointed (although maybe that's the point?
I know a lot of people struggle with this series. But I cannot lie, I absolutely adored it. I think it is important that Tolkien's work is read with the knowledge of when it was written. The Fellowship of the Ring was first published in 1954 and while I can't say that the writing is ageless, it's pretty close to it!
There are parts that are long and drawn out, for instance The Council of Elrond, but the writing and story are both so immersive and a completely different experience to films. The writing is beautifully desciptive and the reader feels very connected to all of the characters throughout.
My word of advice to anyone who wants to read The Lord of The Rings is to skip over the songs (unless that's your kind of thing), as I haven't found one yet that is critical to the storyline and skipping them makes it easier to keep track.
There are parts that are long and drawn out, for instance The Council of Elrond, but the writing and story are both so immersive and a completely different experience to films. The writing is beautifully desciptive and the reader feels very connected to all of the characters throughout.
My word of advice to anyone who wants to read The Lord of The Rings is to skip over the songs (unless that's your kind of thing), as I haven't found one yet that is critical to the storyline and skipping them makes it easier to keep track.