nadia's Reviews (587)

What a fun, fast, quirky read.

The ending was a little disappointing/anti-climatic, but this book made me chuckle out loud quite a few times, and coming from a Nigerian family, I really enjoyed all of the references.

One of my favourite chuckle-inducing passages:

Three books into my King chronological read, and another success!

This was dark and tense! The slow build-up to something ominous worked so well. I really felt transported to the Overlook Hotel.

I didn't give it the full 5, as I did get a little lost with some of the hotel happenings towards the end and sometimes it was tricky for me to suspend disbelief — but overall, a cracking, gripping story.

Wow — this story and the writing were just amazing. It was slow, but I was captivated. The world and the characters that Hobb creates were so rich and detailed, yet the reading of the book just flowed so well.

I laughed, I felt tense, I was angered, frustrated, I felt sad — still yet to cry at a book..but that last paragraph... 😩

I'm so excited that there are 15 more books in this universe. I both want to hurry along but also take my time.

This book is packed with info, from the book trade and its history, to getting a book published, the rise of self-publishing, the growth in audio books, Amazon's business model compared to that of other traditional publishers, and the differences between children's and academic publishing.

It's written in a Q&A style, but the ordering of questions doesn't always seem to flow. And it doesn't lend itself to being read from beginning to end since there's a lot of repetition/not always much continuity. I think it's written so that you can jump into any question in isolation.

It was fun, but I didn't flow through the story as effortlessly as I thought I would. Maybe this suffered from being read in the same day as Saga Vol. 1! And also being read late at night when I was tired...

I don't usually read graphic novels but I've been hearing great things about this one from friends over the years. 

Love the unique cast of characters, the worlds created, and the artwork. I raced through it.

So glad I picked this one up and can't wait to continue with the rest of the series.

I got really sucked into this book. The story is a real slow-build and there's a tense vibe hanging over it the whole time, then the action picks up towards the end. I think this is the first traditional horror book that I've read and I'm excited to get to more — I could see it playing out like a film in my head.

Things that weren't always great: the pace — a bit too slow at times — and the portrayal of women in general left some to be desired. There was a lot of focus on their bodies and looks, and not always a lot on their characters.

However, bring on 'The Shining' month! I'm looking forward to more King.

This book took me by surprise. From the beginning, I felt drawn into the narrative of the protagonist. It was as if I was conversing with an old friend.

I did not expect to be laughing out loud on public transport at some of the interactions between the characters. I did not expect to be so moved and feel so sad at some of the conversations and reflections.

I can't give this book the full 5 stars since there were times that it felt too slow for me and I also had to re-read certain passages due to losing focus or getting a little lost during some of the ramblings of the narrator.

This is so beautifully written though. If you love slow-burn, character-driven novels, this is definitely one for you!

I thought there'd be a lot more drama and action in this book than there was.

While there certainly was intrigue, I did find the pace slower than I expected, especially with Ryan Holiday re-iterating multiple times the ideas around conspiracies and what happens when people feel wronged/vengeful, rather than focusing on the details of the story.

The book's narrative does take an interesting turn into politics and aims to inspire people to take action during those times when they want to but feel they can do nothing about a certain situation — however, it fell short for me in being wholly inspiring.

It does succeed in being reflective though — causing you to think: is it ever right to seek revenge when you've been hurt? Is it right to destroy an individual or institution that you think is incredibly damaging or hurtful to a wide range of people? The word 'conspiracy' tends to be viewed as automatically 'bad', but Ryan forces his reader to question that. Ultimately, I remain unconvinced with Ryan's hypothesis that we need more conspiracies in the world than we currently do.

There were a handful of extracts that were motivating with regards to my work. Turns out there are quite a few similarities between running a startup and pulling together a conspiracy. 😏