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ellemnope's Reviews (2.4k)
4.5 stars.
Super late to the hype train on this one, but totally getting it now. The world is super intriguing and Bardugo's writing is just fantastic. There are a lot of complexities to the world that I'm sure I'll start to understand better as I continue to read books in this and adjacent series, but I can say that I now understand why everyone is so enamored with the Grishaverse and how it is that Bardugo could write so many books set in the same world without things getting stale.
The intersection of light and dark and the blurring of those lines is awesome. I love the moral struggles of the characters and the temptations they face. I really liked how the characters weren't just drawn out of a box and stuck being "good" or "bad"; there are a lot of layers and it had my head mildly spinning.
Some of the strengths of this book/series have been diluted since it is admittedly older and many books that have followed have taken inspiration from its construction, but it must be recognized that this was totally groundbreaking YA when it was first published. And I appreciate that. Looking forward to reading more of this world and getting myself "caught up".
Super late to the hype train on this one, but totally getting it now. The world is super intriguing and Bardugo's writing is just fantastic. There are a lot of complexities to the world that I'm sure I'll start to understand better as I continue to read books in this and adjacent series, but I can say that I now understand why everyone is so enamored with the Grishaverse and how it is that Bardugo could write so many books set in the same world without things getting stale.
The intersection of light and dark and the blurring of those lines is awesome. I love the moral struggles of the characters and the temptations they face. I really liked how the characters weren't just drawn out of a box and stuck being "good" or "bad"; there are a lot of layers and it had my head mildly spinning.
Some of the strengths of this book/series have been diluted since it is admittedly older and many books that have followed have taken inspiration from its construction, but it must be recognized that this was totally groundbreaking YA when it was first published. And I appreciate that. Looking forward to reading more of this world and getting myself "caught up".
A slow start and a lot of characters to keep track of, but I enjoyed this island resort version of a closed circle mystery.
The plot was fun and interesting with a lot of morally gray character work that I thought did pretty well at throwing some good red herrings around. The atmosphere was decent, though I do think it took a bit of a backseat to the petty issues of the characters. There was definitely some stereotyping of spoiled and entitled rich people in the overall cast. If you are bothered by unlikable characters, you'd best steer clear of this one.
Speaking of, there were some moderately annoying characters that even I could have done without (I typically enjoy unlikable characters) and some were easily confused to the degree that I felt they could have been merged to create fewer to try and keep straight. The stereotyping just led them to be a little too alike and I guess I didn't care enough to try and separate who was who.
The upsides were that the pacing moved fairly well once things got going and there were some good complexities to the twists and turns in the end. A decent beach read thriller, but not one that really kept me on the edge of my seat. Enjoyable, but not necessarily gripping.
The plot was fun and interesting with a lot of morally gray character work that I thought did pretty well at throwing some good red herrings around. The atmosphere was decent, though I do think it took a bit of a backseat to the petty issues of the characters. There was definitely some stereotyping of spoiled and entitled rich people in the overall cast. If you are bothered by unlikable characters, you'd best steer clear of this one.
Speaking of, there were some moderately annoying characters that even I could have done without (I typically enjoy unlikable characters) and some were easily confused to the degree that I felt they could have been merged to create fewer to try and keep straight. The stereotyping just led them to be a little too alike and I guess I didn't care enough to try and separate who was who.
The upsides were that the pacing moved fairly well once things got going and there were some good complexities to the twists and turns in the end. A decent beach read thriller, but not one that really kept me on the edge of my seat. Enjoyable, but not necessarily gripping.
4.5 stars.
What a beautiful debut! In the new tradition of fractured fairy tales, The Book of Gothel is a fabulous retelling of the tale of Rapunzel. There is such incredibly rich detail in the story and the atmosphere and the creativity is off the charts. I loved this.
Set in historical Germany and including great social and religious context appropriate for the time period, The Book of Gothel is a stunner. McMyne's writing flows without a hitch and weaves a tale that is so wholly itself that it leans only gently on the original story, something I have to give serious credit to. There is such gentle detail present and I loved the inclusion of all of the herbal and midwifery background to the story. There something to the feeling of the novel that gave me light Philippa Gregory vibes and I loved that.
The only thing keeping me from a 5-star read was the insertion of the story as a book within a book. Normally that is a trope that I adore, but in this case it was used too lightly and really had no bearing on the overall tale. It felt a little like wasted space and took away from the solidity of the ending for me. I would love for McMyne to take this approach and use it to further the story via a series...using Gothel to reveal the "truth" about oh so many other misunderstood tales.
Other than that minor speed bump, this was a near perfect read for me. McMyne's style is lovely, her imagination is impeccable, and I am already ready to read whatever she decides to put forth next. If you're a lover of fairy tales, this one is not to be missed.
What a beautiful debut! In the new tradition of fractured fairy tales, The Book of Gothel is a fabulous retelling of the tale of Rapunzel. There is such incredibly rich detail in the story and the atmosphere and the creativity is off the charts. I loved this.
Set in historical Germany and including great social and religious context appropriate for the time period, The Book of Gothel is a stunner. McMyne's writing flows without a hitch and weaves a tale that is so wholly itself that it leans only gently on the original story, something I have to give serious credit to. There is such gentle detail present and I loved the inclusion of all of the herbal and midwifery background to the story. There something to the feeling of the novel that gave me light Philippa Gregory vibes and I loved that.
The only thing keeping me from a 5-star read was the insertion of the story as a book within a book. Normally that is a trope that I adore, but in this case it was used too lightly and really had no bearing on the overall tale. It felt a little like wasted space and took away from the solidity of the ending for me. I would love for McMyne to take this approach and use it to further the story via a series...using Gothel to reveal the "truth" about oh so many other misunderstood tales.
Other than that minor speed bump, this was a near perfect read for me. McMyne's style is lovely, her imagination is impeccable, and I am already ready to read whatever she decides to put forth next. If you're a lover of fairy tales, this one is not to be missed.
I had high hopes for this Dutch translation. The premise is something similar to The Circle by Dave Eggers. An examination of working in the social media field and the resulting mental effects of being bombarded with traumatic videos on a regular basis. It's an interesting psychological exploration delivered in a tight clip that does result in a lot of thought provocation and has some incredibly smart ideas. This short novella had some interesting observations and some good psychological analysis, but in the end it ended up not really going much of anywhere.
Things start off well, with an introduction to the company and the requirements of the job. There is plenty of discussion of nondisclosure and privacy requirements along with the guidelines by which Kayleigh and her coworkers must decide what is allowed to be posted and what must be removed. This was thoroughly completed and really set a great tone for the story. However, it somewhat stalled out after that and became just a repetition. The discussion of the relationships between the coworkers was touched on lightly, with no real getting to know the characters. There was a lot of telling rather than showing and so the entire narrative felt a little less revealing and intense than it otherwise could have been. Though there were psychological effects of their employment that definitely intensified over time, they weren't demonstrated in a highly impactful way and I feel like they could have been written more intensely.
This is meant to be a shocking novel, but it just didn't meet that bar for me. Yes, there were mentions of violent issues and things that maybe didn't sit quite right, but it was done in a way that made it feel somewhat removed. Being a novella, I think there just wasn't enough exploration of the topic and development of the characters. The secondary characters were more extranneous and they really needed to be drawn more tightly into the plot.
The ending also did not help. I understand what it was meant to demonstrate, but it kind of came out of left field and didn't seem to give enough closure to the story. Instead, it felt like the tale just stopped right in the middle of a chapter.
The story does give a lot of information that stimulates thought and the writing was decent, so the concept itself was good. The execution just needed more fleshing out.
Things start off well, with an introduction to the company and the requirements of the job. There is plenty of discussion of nondisclosure and privacy requirements along with the guidelines by which Kayleigh and her coworkers must decide what is allowed to be posted and what must be removed. This was thoroughly completed and really set a great tone for the story. However, it somewhat stalled out after that and became just a repetition. The discussion of the relationships between the coworkers was touched on lightly, with no real getting to know the characters. There was a lot of telling rather than showing and so the entire narrative felt a little less revealing and intense than it otherwise could have been. Though there were psychological effects of their employment that definitely intensified over time, they weren't demonstrated in a highly impactful way and I feel like they could have been written more intensely.
This is meant to be a shocking novel, but it just didn't meet that bar for me. Yes, there were mentions of violent issues and things that maybe didn't sit quite right, but it was done in a way that made it feel somewhat removed. Being a novella, I think there just wasn't enough exploration of the topic and development of the characters. The secondary characters were more extranneous and they really needed to be drawn more tightly into the plot.
The ending also did not help. I understand what it was meant to demonstrate, but it kind of came out of left field and didn't seem to give enough closure to the story. Instead, it felt like the tale just stopped right in the middle of a chapter.
The story does give a lot of information that stimulates thought and the writing was decent, so the concept itself was good. The execution just needed more fleshing out.
Written in a novel style, this work feels a lot like a medical memoir. The story follows an unnamed narrator from her white coat ceremony through medical school and some clinical work. There are a lot of graphic events in the book, so trigger warnings may be important for some sensitive readers. Though I found some of the information interesting, the organization of the novel was a problem. The narrative is very jerky and jumps around without meaningful transitions. There isn't a cohesive flow and I was frequently confused by what turned out to be a transition to a new topic or pulled out the book by incoherency. Overall, the writing does have good qualities with an excellent ability to describe the medical context, but the organization of the information requires a heavy edit.
Though still a bit lighthearted and enjoyable, this second in the novella series was not quite what I hoped for. The premise starts out great and the interaction between the characters is well done, but it felt like it was missing the middle. There wasn't really any development of the situation and everything moved with jolting changes. I also didn't really jive with Sadie. I felt like she was a bit naive and should have known a few of the things that were used as plot devices. This made the writing feel a little lazy, so I was a bit disappointed. Buuuuut...I still enjoy Ali Hazelwood's writing, so it wasn't all bad.
4.5 stars.
There was a lot of nostalgia originally attached to this book for me. I couldn't remember much about it other than that I loved it as a young reader. Upon reread a few decades later, I still enjoyed the writing and the story quite a bit.
The writing is incredibly emotionally evocative. I found myself definitely invested in the story and feeling for Kit (and often Mercy) as the unfairness of the Puritan lifestyle kept revealing itself. The heavy-handedness of the patriarchy comes through very clear as does the atmosphere of 17th century America.
This is a quick read with a slightly slow start, but then it takes off with a gallop. There is a bit of an Austen feel to the romantic encounters and the miscommunication (or complete lack of communication) that results in a few blunders. I loved how strong Kit's character was and really admired the way she was written to accept others as they were, regardless of how their individual choices and opinions aligned or conflicted with her own. This presents a great lesson in tolerance and the importance of respecting the free will of others.
I enjoyed my reread and this still remains up there as a solid middle grade read. It's a great piece of historical work, but also has moments that are great lessons still applicable to modern day.
There was a lot of nostalgia originally attached to this book for me. I couldn't remember much about it other than that I loved it as a young reader. Upon reread a few decades later, I still enjoyed the writing and the story quite a bit.
The writing is incredibly emotionally evocative. I found myself definitely invested in the story and feeling for Kit (and often Mercy) as the unfairness of the Puritan lifestyle kept revealing itself. The heavy-handedness of the patriarchy comes through very clear as does the atmosphere of 17th century America.
This is a quick read with a slightly slow start, but then it takes off with a gallop. There is a bit of an Austen feel to the romantic encounters and the miscommunication (or complete lack of communication) that results in a few blunders. I loved how strong Kit's character was and really admired the way she was written to accept others as they were, regardless of how their individual choices and opinions aligned or conflicted with her own. This presents a great lesson in tolerance and the importance of respecting the free will of others.
I enjoyed my reread and this still remains up there as a solid middle grade read. It's a great piece of historical work, but also has moments that are great lessons still applicable to modern day.