So, I had never read Agatha Christie before. I decided to give her a chance with this book, knowing fairly well that detective fiction is not much something I enjoy or look for, but thinking I ought to discover new things, even if they’re ancient. This one’s a classic, it was obvious I had, at some point, to read it.
Well it was pleasant! I could envision the ending way before it showed up, but it’s probably someone has told it to me before, what with the popularity of the author and this specific story. Still, it was a nice book, with a great ending, a sympathic way of passing time for a few hours, really. Only issue, but it’s a big one, is that racism can we seen among the pages, and well… « old times sakes » does not justify it. Saying the Latin people are very into rage crimes, or Italians into stabbing, well, that’s a huge no. For that, it ought to lose points (and for the writing itself I did not fall in love with, as well as the chronological disorder of this book as I shall put it, meaning the « one chapter one character » thingy. Makes sense for a detective kinda story, it’s juste that I’m not into it as I assumed I would, but for that part, to each his own!). 
All that taken apart or into context, this book technically keeps its promise, giving us a short, efficient, detective fiction with an actually solved mystery at the end. 

As with the first book in the duology, this one did not disappoint. I got sad, frustrated, angry, furious at watching a world WAY too close to the real one unleashing hell on every character. This is, once again, a very necessary read for everyone, especially in these times of trouble. Also, I found this one more about religion than the first, and not being religious, I still insist: everyone should read this in order to understand how bad religions get, and how blind faith actually rules and derails planet Earth. This is not futuristic, this is the actual reality right now, and what’s unfolding in front of our very eyes while we patiently explain it all by « human nature » and other « it is how it is ». It shouldn’t be. Come learning about slavery, sexism, poverty, capitalism, and the global lack of human thought and soul, all together in a brilliantly written book. Please, please, also read between the lines. There’s more to it than simple ink.

I've been recommended this book for a looooooong time now, and finally got to read it. This is phenomenal! The author was a visionnary. Also, she wasn't blind at all to the issues of our society, whether we're talking of capitalism itself or the tools it uses to keep up enslaved: greed, racism, sexism/mysoginy... The list goes on and on, and Octavia E. Butler succeeded in her mission to denounce every single one of them problematic, egoistical behaviors, while never losing us, boring us, or overwhelming us readers. This is not "just" a post-apocalyptic, dystopian fiction book; this is the actual real truth of what is happening in front of our eyes... while we all bend down and take it. 

I started this book NOT liking it. The writing style of the first character's POV wasn't enjoyable for me at first, and I struggled to get into the story. Took me probably about 30 pages before...
HOLY MOTHER WTF OMG WTF OMG WTF OMG. Essentially, that's what I then felt, with an accelerating rythm until the end. Loved it! Though sometimes felt a bit too rushed. I wished it would have been slower in multiples chapters, but it was still a nice read, not a life-changing one but still a great, distracting time :) Also, a great source-for-thoughts about capitalism, or more precisely social medias and the "influencers". Finally, to answer the author's question... Yup, there is a character that's good in this book :) Not saying much in order to avoid spoilers, because this book is HEAVY on shocking turns-of-event. 

This was a heart-wrenching memoir. Beautifully written, this love-story made me cry. Sadly real, this between-the-lines study of capitalism and how it kills people through the american healthcare system gave me anger. Worrisome, the ever present homophobia and sexism in our society, showned through Deena and Ariel's experience, reminded me of the utmost importance of Pride Month, during which I read this book.
I'd like to thank the author and her belated wife for this sensational, feminist, thoughtful, educative, magnificient book. I loved everything in it, from the author's writing style, to the very original outline of this memoir. Deena, rest in peace. Ariel, thank you so much. 

One of these books who absolutely should be read by everyone. A gripping memoir, telling the horror stories of America's wrongdoings. How a country, thinking that its citizens are better than anyone else (while in reality being WAY dumber and less educated), was and still is busy torturing innocent people. Literally, Mohamedou's story is that of a regular, honest arab man, arrested for exactly that: being a regular, honest ARAB man. Without ever any actual charge to his name, he spent and still is spending nearly all his life in prisons, hidden from journalists and any resemblance of "justice", as the UInited States and its criminal allies keep torturing him, sexually, physically, mentally to get him to confess to anything as a mean to keep him longer. Mohamedou's being beaten up into submission, raped, forbidden from practising his religion or even from sleeping, he's being lied that his mother and family members are being tortured as well... He isn't even told where HE is on Earth for many years. And all that, in the name of racism. America, you suck; americans, you suck just as much. You're a bunch of worthless creatures. I have no words, other than Mohamedou, I'm sorry the world's such a horrible place full of terrible people. I hope someone, somewhere, gets him and his innocent brothers out of prison. That man wrote a memoir in a language he learned while unfairly imprisoned and tortured, and he remained throughout an incredible, thoughtful, empathic human being... to the utmost contrary of every single guard and american official cited (while their names get hidden by, well, themselves) in this book. Shame on you all. Hope you die a  very slow and painful death. Mohamedou might be a pacifist at heart, you'd do well to remember that not everyone is.

 Excellente conclusion de la trilogie et même des séries de trilogie dans l'univers fantastique/Gwendalavir de Pierre Bottero. Que l'auteur repose en paix, c'est avec une immense tristesse que je quitte de nouveau ses mondes et personnages hauts en couleur ! Il aura réussi à me faire rêver dans une spectaculairement horrible période, et ce n'est pas donné à tout le monde. Merci, encore :) 

Ecoutez, à ce stade vous l'aurez compris, je ne suis pas neutre quand il s'agit de Pierre Bottero... et j'entends par là que je suis admirative de son écriture et de son oeuvre ! Ca continue avec ce nouveau roman, tout en ombre, en sombre, en pénombre de l'âme et du coeur. Peu de rires, beaucoup de soupirs apeurés, c'est ce qui vous attend dans ce livre... mais c'est ce qu'on voulait, et ce que la trame de l'histoire demandait, donc c'est parfait :)

Pierre Bottero me manquait trop après la fin des aventures d'Ewilan et Ellana... Heureusement, la trilogie de l'Autre m'attendait pour que je me replonge dans ses écrits. C'est sans surprise que je ressors de ce premier tome rempli de bonheur d'avoir retrouvé l'univers si spectaculaire de l'auteur, dont la fantaisie est littéralement à l'apothéose du qualificatif "fantastique". Toujours aussi fan de ses mondes haut en couleur, et de ses personnages torturés !

So difficult to rate this book. First, I was very, very bored during the first quarter of it, which the author spent making allegories and metaphors for the art of writing. And it's alright, for she really knows how to write and even how to simply use words... But it was all so verbose, so purple writing, so heavy prose, you know? It's a personal issue, but I do not seem to enjoy that. I was afraid it'd go on like that until the end, but it didn't, and I finally discovered some of the "writing secrets" of the author, like, how she writes, how she feel inspiration, etc. It's what I was looking for, but it was quite fast gone already, and we were back to more comparisons and such. Once again, it's beautiful writing, it just does not resonate with me! So, I'll be leaving this book with this sentence, which I very much liked:

"The mind of the writer does indeed do something before it dies, and so does its owner, but I would be hard put to call it living."