Wow. Got this as a gift a while back. Found it in a box the other day. It is very pretentious and off the mark. Basically construes pop culture references considered nerdy and recontextualize them based on his own world views, which are deeply privileged and seem to have foundation in moral absolutism. The first page has him digging on Paris Hilton because unlike Spider-Man, she doesn’t take responsibility for her actions.

Yeah, that’s a miss, for me.

It’s actually about 50 pages. Lots of blank pages. A pretty expensive and decadent children’s book tbh. But heartwarming and plenty of nice illustrations. Solid 20 minutes of your time, whatever your age.

Interesting concept, neat and novel magic system, mostly liked the character work. There’s some very endearing interactions, but I found the plot wildly inconsistent and it to have some serious middle book syndrome.

Even breaking up the court intrigue twice, it still felt very long, I think due to the dialogue work there. A plus was that I think he writes women fairly well. Not crazy about protagonists that are just naturally good at everything - but it’s somewhat balanced with putting her out of her element, which tied into her character arc. I just wish it wasn’t such a trudge with those parts is all.

It does make up for it in the last quarter-ish of the book, when things finally come to a head. It’s very awkwardly paced for a heist book, because it’s not really one. So I don’t know why you’d set those expectations so early. It’s way too early to get anything out of the subversion, imo. But yeah, I’m into it. Feels a bit like some new author problems so I’m hopeful about the next one. Though somewhat balk at it being even longer.

A strange thing about this is people don’t consider this YA. Just YA friendly? I consider it straight up YA and that’s where my expectations were. That is where they should be. Sentence structure, dialogue, and prose are YA. Short, sometimes clipped, simple, accessible—but not conceptually complex or purple/flowery. I can see why people who expected adult epic fantasy would be cold on this. Something to be aware of.

I found I really liked the concept and magic system. The plot and prose is satisfying enough, but the ideas and themes are what elevate this, especially now with what’s going on in the world. It’s got great narration to boot! Will check out the next in the series.

Exactly why some fiction is thought provoking. The topic is is in the cultural consciousness, it demonstrates a more insidious villainy even while invoking some tropeyness. It makes a difficult topic much more accessible and it’s smart to target YA readers with it. Impressed.

It’s really fascinating reading DFW books having only learned about him in the first place not long ago via a piece about the author in some paper, can’t remember which. But it soringboarded me into reading In the Land of Men, which is a memoir of a woman who was EIC of Esquire’s fiction department as DFW rose to prominence.

Reading DFW with that context is interesting to me because so much of his work reads like a desperate attempt to come to grips with his own toxic masculinity, which is why some people are repelled by his preoccupation with his now sad subjects. It’s no wonder than white men would be his primary audience though. I can’t help but be interested in unspooling his work knowing exactly where it led and knowing the way in which he treated people despite his proclaimed aspiring viewpoint with This Is Water.

Mirroring in these interviews, it seems clear DFW had mental health problems similar to most men in society, but his wrestling with them became more acute as he accrued cache and power. The way he transcribes or translates these people was sure to be polarizing. It’s fascinating and horrifying to hear personal truths of a subject, especially when they are reflected onto the interviewer in a way only a book can be, since it’s filtered through the mind of the writer.

The structure of each piece I’ve read always has an inedible DFW mark on it that I find both easy to follow, even though it diverges from the typical—and also a weird kind of ownership or responsibility. Like he can’t actually formulate things in a manner too accessible to people because each piece is a very specific artifact of his thinking and thought process, even if it’s via other people, in this case.

The concept and prose are great, I just found it, at least on audiobook, despite the authors fantastic narration (which is kind of rare for an author reading their own book, so props for that), I found it difficult to absorb all the information. It’s a lot of facts about her homeland, and I love the connection being drawn between herself and the land as a singular self history, but in practice I just found that it was hit and miss.

I may like this more as a physical artifact because I tend to retain information like this much better when reading. But I also don’t seek out information like this because it’s not how I learn best. So it may just be for me specifically it was more challenging than for the average reader.

Either way, I can see why it’s a Canada Reads nominee and I like the concept and narration and prose enough that it was enjoyable. I just know that I did not retain a lot of the information imparted, which dampens the experience when reflecting on it.

Cute, fun, read by David Tenant.

Fun, and with a full cast production, easy to listen to. It’s a bit too over the top for me. I kept vacillating between 2 and 3 stars even though it was a pleasure to listen to because it’s almost like a soap opera in its twists and turns, not to mention subject matter just in the synopsis of the book!

There is quite a bit of padding when it comes to knowledge of trade craft and weapons and other tools of the trade that it clearly tries to give the plot a bit more credibility, but it just seems kind of odd to me to do that with such high drama. It’s certainly an odd pairing between that and the action. A fun read, but it tries to appeal to people who would need to turn off their brain to suspend disbelief regarding the family drama, but also the people who want so much detail it feels real, ala Tom Clancy, or something like it. Very strange.

A bit more of a fun romp compared to the pretty excellently concocted and well executed Hardwired. But thats not a bad thing in the least. There’s some fun action, some twists across the investigation. Betrayals and deaths; frenetic pacing and excellent prose. Its exactly what it says on the tin and holds up pretty well.

A fun addition to the official Sherlock canon. It keeps the format that I eventually found intensely repetitive, but actually manages to tweak it in ways I appreciated, as well as semi retcon some of the outdated aspects. Things like fat phobia descriptions and just things with the benefit of hindsight don’t look so good.

The dynamic is preserved, the plot is a good time, it’s well paced. It’s probably not going to blow your mind but it is comfortable and comforting, especially if you’ve read other Sherlock stories.

* be aware of a large content warning for that of multiple kinds of harm to children. It is somewhat veiled and not gone into into that much detail, but neither is it glossed over in the least.