I stayed up way to late to finish this one. I just couldn't let it go. It was a great wrap up to the trilogy. A lot of series fade out in the end, stop short, or just don't have the same oomph as the beginning. This is not one of those cases. There was a lot of creativity and power in this book. The characters continue to be intriguing and the narrative just had me hooked. Riggs is a fantastic author. His books have been well-written and unpretentious. Hopefully he will continue to write and there will be more of his impressive imagination to enjoy.

3.5 star rating. Worth the read. This book provides another narrative with good writing from Taylor, just as expected. Taylor is a phenomenal author and has a mastery over words her ability to provide picturesque description is beyond the average and she creates a narrative that just sucks the reader in. Her stories always feel real. Devastatingly real. However, I ultimately had two primary issues with the book that prevented a 5-star rating.

Issue #1: The storyline was almost too full. I know, that's an odd thing to say. A good, robust story is a nice thing to have. But...pieces that seemed to have such large stories were meted out to just a few pages and I really found myself wanting so much more. It was as if Taylor had so much to say and yet it was edited out to keep things streamlined or provide the opportunity for connected works at a later date. (Let it be known that I would not be opposed to reading such works should they develop. Taylor's writing is really great.)

Issue #2:

Though I think it was a good attempt to address a very modern situation, the focus on Alex's gender queer nature is both too much and too little. Again, it's as if the subject wants to be told and kept secret at the same time. This is frustrating and almost works against the book by becoming more of a distraction than a way to understand Alex.

A full review of this novel will be available in November 2017 on my blog: http://erraticprojectjunkie.blogspot.com

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher as part of the Blogging for Books program. All opinions are my own.

I started this book knowing very little about its premise. This was a good choice and works well to make the story even better. I highly suggest reading this one WITHOUT reading the synopsis first.

I very much liked the way the book jumped right on in. There is little backstory and reader arrives on the scene in the middle of the action. It's an interesting approach, but it works oh so well.

Mitchell's writing and character development are fantastic. He does great using multiple narrators throughout the story, though I definitely enjoyed some narrators more than others. The choice of the last narrator fell a little flat for me. Though I understand why Mitchell chose to tell this piece in this particular perspective, for me it made the story fizzle some.

And, as usual for me, the sticky spot was the ending. I've been mulling it over for a few days to decide whether I like it or not. In the end, I found it a bit disappointing. I can't explain why without totally destroying the book, but I just wanted more...pizzazz.

A full review of this book will be forthcoming on my blog. However, the brief synopsis of my opinion is this: The Girl Without a Name is a decent read, but there are things that caused me pause and detracted from my ability to enjoy the narrative. It's not a bad book by any means, but I just felt based on bits of the story and sections of the writing, I think it could have been much better with some increased editing. It just needed a bit more sharpness.

Block very easily translates her profession into the novel, with medical expertise showing through her writing. This is definitely a strength as it makes the book much more believable. However, the primary character of Zoe Goldman is so incredibly lax with her adherence (or rather lack there of) to basic patient privacy rules for the medical profession, that I found myself inherently disliking her. Being a physician herself, Block should have been able to clean this up to be less offensive while still enabling events to take place that would properly move her plot in the correct direction. This was probably the largest issue I had with the novel and absolutely resulted in a large amount of the influence over my final rating.

Overall, the story has good bones and the ending is well structured. I was pleasantly surprised with it's originality. The writing has moments of being relaxed but intriguing, showing that the author definitely has a literary touch. Ultimately, I just felt that some pruning and fine tuning was necessary to make the book a more enjoyable read. The Girl Without a Name has a decent premise, but needed a bit more realism in character development and streamlining of plot. I didn't dislike it, but didn't wow me.

In something of a divergence from his past novels, Green presents a bit of a mystery with Turtles All the Way Down. However, the rest of the story is classic John Green. And it works well. His characters are real and honest. He has created teen characters that are not dumbed down or made overly juvenile. They are thoughtful, mature, and raw. Aza's mental illness is not shied away from, it is made front and center, both in the narrative and from Aza's individual point of view. She is burdened by the illness, but open about its existence and her recognition that there is a problem. I struggled with the concept of Davis's father, feeling as if he was over-exaggerated in a way that made him less believable. Granted, there are people out there who undoubtedly are made of the same character, but it just felt a bit much for me. This was the only thing that pulled me away from the narrative. Beyond this nagging irritation, I found Turtles All the Way Down to be thought provoking, well-written, creative, and enjoyable.

This one nearly felt as if it were written by two different authors. The portions of the book written in the past were beautifully written and stripped of any awkwardness. They were well-crafted and believable. The modern portions of the novel were something else. They seemed overly corny...too juvenile. The characters weren't as rich and the storyline was jolting rather than seamless. Thankfully, there was enough of the former to keep the book on track. I enjoyed the premise of the novel and very much found interest in the historical significance. It was a particular surprise to discover that a good portion of the book actually took place near where I currently live. This may have aided in increasing my tolerance with those portions that felt lackluster. Overall, I appreciate why the novel was written as it was, but still feel that the narrative would have been stronger with either full abandonment of the modern storyline or further development of the characters and plot in these pieces.

Up until the last few pages, I honestly thought this would become my new favorite John Green novel. But...nope. Still an excellent read, but the ending just left me wanting. The biggest issue was finding myself liking Quentin's version of Margo Roth Spiegelman. The actual Margo left a sour taste in my mouth. Damn you, realistic characters.

Like all of Green's novels, the characters are well done and well-rounded. They aren't dumbed down and they aren't oversimplified. They are "real" teenagers, not just cardboard cutouts or stereotypes. And they have realistic thought processes. His books are fun and good reads, but they aren't fluff pieces. They are cerebral narratives with excellent life applications for any age.

Paper Towns ranks up there among the best of his novels. No, it didn't become my favorite, but it's still up there. And I would still highly recommend it for fans of either Green or the YA genre.