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natreviews's Reviews (445)
So what to say about this book. I like the short story format. I know once it gets to the main series that the story becomes linear, but it’s nice to see all of these side tales mixed in with the main plot. The main plot forshadows what the next story will be (how blatant differs).
There were a couple of things I wasn’t so fond of though. The first being opening on a sex scene. This is tricky for new readers sometimes. It’s a risk, considering some would be really turned off by it. Speaking of sex scenes, I found it was written how I find a lot of men write these scenes, pretty unrealistic to what women would actually do. I understand some of these are fantasy creatures (nymphs in particular), but still. Although, this could also be from my next point.
The translation isn’t the best. Some things mentioned are physically really awkward, or names (in particular Dandelion’s occupation) get switched out a lot. This is probably due to how it was translated, more than what the original text said. That seems to be a pretty common problem when books get translated, you lose some of the original story in order to translate it.
I think I will continue on with this series, as it is very well written and entertaining despite some errors, but I think I will let it rest for now and move onto another book before going into the rest of the series.
There were a couple of things I wasn’t so fond of though. The first being opening on a sex scene. This is tricky for new readers sometimes. It’s a risk, considering some would be really turned off by it. Speaking of sex scenes, I found it was written how I find a lot of men write these scenes, pretty unrealistic to what women would actually do. I understand some of these are fantasy creatures (nymphs in particular), but still. Although, this could also be from my next point.
The translation isn’t the best. Some things mentioned are physically really awkward, or names (in particular Dandelion’s occupation) get switched out a lot. This is probably due to how it was translated, more than what the original text said. That seems to be a pretty common problem when books get translated, you lose some of the original story in order to translate it.
I think I will continue on with this series, as it is very well written and entertaining despite some errors, but I think I will let it rest for now and move onto another book before going into the rest of the series.
Ted Bundy: Conversations with a Killer, Volume 1: The Death Row Interviews
Stephen G. Michaud, Hugh Aynesworth
I’m going to be honest, this book was really hard to get through. Not because of the content, but because of how disconnected the book felt.
The book is split into two parts; one where Stephen interview Bundy, the other where Hugh interviews him. It isn’t explained why this switch was made, which I would actually be really curious about.
I find that is one of the main problems of this book. They leave out crucial context. If I were to restructure it, I’d have part one be about Ted Bundy’s crimes. Not exactly a overview, but not in depth. Unless you know the case super well you will get lost. Sure, they bring up the cases and what happened here and there, but they don’t actually go into what happened, and then what Bundy admits (or lacks to admit) about the case.
I first read this book after I watched the Netflix series. The Netflix series does a much better job at balancing the context and the interviews. The interviews are also an interesting point to bring up. See, there is claimed to be over 150 hours of interviews, and yet they are cherry picked. I understand because the book would otherwise be 1000+ pages, but I would love to know which ones they left out. I wonder if that would’ve brought more context is more interviews were added.
Another important detail to note is the timeline. The interviews ranged from about 1980 (maybe 1979) to 1981. This differs from what the Netflix series implies (that they interviewd him pretty much until 1989), which is more of a critic of the show, but thought I should mention it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.
Unless you are really familiar with the case, I wouldn’t recommend reading this. Just watch the Netflix series instead. Or, pick up a book that details the cases, and have this as a companion piece.
The book is split into two parts; one where Stephen interview Bundy, the other where Hugh interviews him. It isn’t explained why this switch was made, which I would actually be really curious about.
I find that is one of the main problems of this book. They leave out crucial context. If I were to restructure it, I’d have part one be about Ted Bundy’s crimes. Not exactly a overview, but not in depth. Unless you know the case super well you will get lost. Sure, they bring up the cases and what happened here and there, but they don’t actually go into what happened, and then what Bundy admits (or lacks to admit) about the case.
I first read this book after I watched the Netflix series. The Netflix series does a much better job at balancing the context and the interviews. The interviews are also an interesting point to bring up. See, there is claimed to be over 150 hours of interviews, and yet they are cherry picked. I understand because the book would otherwise be 1000+ pages, but I would love to know which ones they left out. I wonder if that would’ve brought more context is more interviews were added.
Another important detail to note is the timeline. The interviews ranged from about 1980 (maybe 1979) to 1981. This differs from what the Netflix series implies (that they interviewd him pretty much until 1989), which is more of a critic of the show, but thought I should mention it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.
Unless you are really familiar with the case, I wouldn’t recommend reading this. Just watch the Netflix series instead. Or, pick up a book that details the cases, and have this as a companion piece.
This is one of my favourite books, hands down. It’s a short read, only 200 pages, and tells the tale of heartbreak, tragedy, and a haunting. I haven’t seen the movie (starring Daniel Radcliff) that was based off of this book, but I daresay this is better. It is honestly horrifying to imagine what is happening. It is grounded, and the writing is absoloutly beautiful. If you’re going to read this book for one reason alone, it’s for the writing. The descriptions of the settings are beautiful, the story isn’t overly complicated, and the word choices are deliberate.
Just go read this. It is worth the time.
Just go read this. It is worth the time.
I wish Goodreads allowed half stars, because I would actually rate this 3.5/5.
TW: One of the stories shows sexual assault for no reason other than to have it. It’s acknowledged in one paragraph, and completly dropped in the next never to be really addressed. Basically to reach the nudity/sex quota. Please be advised.
The translation was quite weird again. More descriptive than the last, but still had some obvious things lost in translation. I believe somethings that we are supposed to know from Poish culture wasn’t written/explained for english audiences so I felt left in the dark for a bit. There are also moments that it seems they don’t explain what happened to some objects? For example, Yennifer has a gag in her mouth and can’t speak, but then magically can speak clearly and the gag is never explained to have been taken off, or she somehow loosened it and it fell, or what. This is going to sounds ironic since it’s a fantasy novel, but it really takes you out of the reality of the story.
I will quickly review the last short story, as all of the other updates had a bit explaining the story as soon as I finished it. The last story was... quite weird. It time jumped a lot, and sometimes would announce that it’s time jumping, and other times not, which made it hard to follow at times. I liked the ending, but of course I did.
Now onto the collection as a whole: I liked 3/6 of the stories, which is an improvement on The Last Wish, where I think I only liked one or two of the stories. I still understand we have sex for the sake of the target male audience, but the majority of the time (with exception to 1 1/2 times) it didn’t feel earned. I feel like if sex doesn’t need to be included, than it shouldn’t. It feels like you have a producer on the side saying “We need a sex scene in this episode!”, or “Hey, what if we showed boobs for no reason other than to meet the quota?” This may just be from a female-ish perspective, but I don’t know.
I appreaciate how these stories seem more linear in time than the last, which really jumped around. It was also easy to see that this collection takes place 6-10ish years after The Last Wish. Although, this can also be tricky. Some of these stories seem to align with Geralt actually choosing not the neutral choice, while others are just Geralt being like I don’t care. I know he isn’t a “good” guy, and it shows, but it seems his characterization flip flops at times.
These stories also took a shorter time to get through, but I did have to put the book down for long stretches of time. Again, I think I will wait a bit before reading Season of Storms (which I’ve read is the correct reading order, and takes place either during or right after The Last Wish, but you need the context of this book to understand? I really don’t know).
TW: One of the stories shows sexual assault for no reason other than to have it. It’s acknowledged in one paragraph, and completly dropped in the next never to be really addressed. Basically to reach the nudity/sex quota. Please be advised.
The translation was quite weird again. More descriptive than the last, but still had some obvious things lost in translation. I believe somethings that we are supposed to know from Poish culture wasn’t written/explained for english audiences so I felt left in the dark for a bit. There are also moments that it seems they don’t explain what happened to some objects? For example, Yennifer has a gag in her mouth and can’t speak, but then magically can speak clearly and the gag is never explained to have been taken off, or she somehow loosened it and it fell, or what. This is going to sounds ironic since it’s a fantasy novel, but it really takes you out of the reality of the story.
I will quickly review the last short story, as all of the other updates had a bit explaining the story as soon as I finished it. The last story was... quite weird. It time jumped a lot, and sometimes would announce that it’s time jumping, and other times not, which made it hard to follow at times. I liked the ending, but of course I did.
Now onto the collection as a whole: I liked 3/6 of the stories, which is an improvement on The Last Wish, where I think I only liked one or two of the stories. I still understand we have sex for the sake of the target male audience, but the majority of the time (with exception to 1 1/2 times) it didn’t feel earned. I feel like if sex doesn’t need to be included, than it shouldn’t. It feels like you have a producer on the side saying “We need a sex scene in this episode!”, or “Hey, what if we showed boobs for no reason other than to meet the quota?” This may just be from a female-ish perspective, but I don’t know.
I appreaciate how these stories seem more linear in time than the last, which really jumped around. It was also easy to see that this collection takes place 6-10ish years after The Last Wish. Although, this can also be tricky. Some of these stories seem to align with Geralt actually choosing not the neutral choice, while others are just Geralt being like I don’t care. I know he isn’t a “good” guy, and it shows, but it seems his characterization flip flops at times.
These stories also took a shorter time to get through, but I did have to put the book down for long stretches of time. Again, I think I will wait a bit before reading Season of Storms (which I’ve read is the correct reading order, and takes place either during or right after The Last Wish, but you need the context of this book to understand? I really don’t know).
First off, this story was a great one to kick off my 2021 reading list (although my reading of it started in December 2020)! I think anyone born in my generation has heard about Battle Royale, but a lot of us haven’t read the story or seen the film based on the novel. It also gets a lot of comparisons to a popular North American book, so I think I’ll address that quickly.
No, The Hunger Games is not a rip-off of Battle Royale. At most, you can say it may have been inspired by Battle Royale. Other than it being young people fighting to the death until there is one winner (which isn’t a new concept), you can’t really compare the two. As an aside, the blurb on the back compares this to Lord of the Flies, which again, other than kids killing each other on an island, there isn’t really any connection. DON’T GO INTO THIS BOOK THINKING IT’S LIKE THE TWO OTHERS MENTIONED!
Now with that out of the way, this book is a highly important read. Not only the story, but the greater context of the world within the story. I understand why it was initially banned in Japan for a while, they don’t shy away from gore in this novel. It is ment to be there, and it is ment to make you feel something. The brutality of the novel is strategic. It’s not there to be there, it has a purpose and a message. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a Grade 12 or College reading requirement. When I was in Grade 12, we read George Orwell’s 1984, which from a society standpoint shares a lot of the same message, but this hit closer. Yes, it is working with 1997 technology, but it hits home more when they are talking about 14-16 year olds. Even at 21 (weeks away from 22) it hit so much more.
No, I’m not going to spoil the novel. This is one of the books that I don’t want to talk about the plot in a review since that would give it away (other than what is widley known). Although for English/Not Original Lanugage readers, I would highly recommend taking a photo of the class list (included in this remastered edition), printing it off, and keeping track. With 42 people to keep track of in such a small period of time, I ended up creating a death order (just putting their death number and in the order they died in the story), and had the boys and girls lists on two sheets of paper. There I tracked the death number they were, and who/what killed them. It really helps for when characters are mentioned in passing.
No, The Hunger Games is not a rip-off of Battle Royale. At most, you can say it may have been inspired by Battle Royale. Other than it being young people fighting to the death until there is one winner (which isn’t a new concept), you can’t really compare the two. As an aside, the blurb on the back compares this to Lord of the Flies, which again, other than kids killing each other on an island, there isn’t really any connection. DON’T GO INTO THIS BOOK THINKING IT’S LIKE THE TWO OTHERS MENTIONED!
Now with that out of the way, this book is a highly important read. Not only the story, but the greater context of the world within the story. I understand why it was initially banned in Japan for a while, they don’t shy away from gore in this novel. It is ment to be there, and it is ment to make you feel something. The brutality of the novel is strategic. It’s not there to be there, it has a purpose and a message. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a Grade 12 or College reading requirement. When I was in Grade 12, we read George Orwell’s 1984, which from a society standpoint shares a lot of the same message, but this hit closer. Yes, it is working with 1997 technology, but it hits home more when they are talking about 14-16 year olds. Even at 21 (weeks away from 22) it hit so much more.
No, I’m not going to spoil the novel. This is one of the books that I don’t want to talk about the plot in a review since that would give it away (other than what is widley known). Although for English/Not Original Lanugage readers, I would highly recommend taking a photo of the class list (included in this remastered edition), printing it off, and keeping track. With 42 people to keep track of in such a small period of time, I ended up creating a death order (just putting their death number and in the order they died in the story), and had the boys and girls lists on two sheets of paper. There I tracked the death number they were, and who/what killed them. It really helps for when characters are mentioned in passing.
If I’m being perfectly honest, this book is probably a 3.8/5.
I did enjoy the story, especially at the beginning. Some of the twists were easy to figure out with throw away lines. The ending of the book just left me wanting more. It felt like we had only 5 minutes left in the episode, so let’s quickly wrap everything up!
I noticed a few spelling errors and a TON of grammar errors. Honestly, this book has so much potential. It felt like it could’ve used one more read through and edit before publication, or just a bit more time before it was published. It felt like the ending was written on the last week before it was due. It would be interesting to see this be re-written in due time to fully unlock its potential.
Overall, enjoyable, and a good read. As long as you let the story take you, it’s a sharp (haha, get it?) read.
I did enjoy the story, especially at the beginning. Some of the twists were easy to figure out with throw away lines. The ending of the book just left me wanting more. It felt like we had only 5 minutes left in the episode, so let’s quickly wrap everything up!
I noticed a few spelling errors and a TON of grammar errors. Honestly, this book has so much potential. It felt like it could’ve used one more read through and edit before publication, or just a bit more time before it was published. It felt like the ending was written on the last week before it was due. It would be interesting to see this be re-written in due time to fully unlock its potential.
Overall, enjoyable, and a good read. As long as you let the story take you, it’s a sharp (haha, get it?) read.
Honestly, I would give this book a 2.5/5
If you’ve just started watching Ghost Adventures, then ya sure, read this. The book mainly just goes over prior investigations, although there is a whole chapter on the Science of it... kind of.
Well, the chapter calls it “science”. Really it’s just Zak taking different science theories that have been proven, and said “but what if ghosts???”. Like, don’t even get me started on the water holds memories theory (he goes on about this for like a good page or two, and I was laughing so hard).
As someone who actually watches Ghost Adventures, this book makes Zak look worse than he does in the show. You have to remember this book was published in 2011, which in his defense, is very different from 2020 Zak. This is prime level “I fight ghosts and everyone wants to have sex with me” Zak Bagans. Like, I counted at least 4 red flags in regards to Zak that apparently make him desirable in his eyes.
Also, this book is said to be written by both Zak and Kelly Crigger. Now, I don’t know who Kelly is. Like... there is no mention of her other than in the acknowledgements so I have no clue why she is credited as a co-author. I have a theory that Zak wrote a draft, handed it off to Kelly, and major edits were done. They legally had to credit her as well from all of the changes made, so it wasn’t fully Zak’s writing? I don’t know because it is never mentioned or explained.
I got this book as a birthday present that’s a running joke between my brother and I (weird, I know, but it’s our thing), and honestly... I don’t regret reading it (since there are some funny bits and Zak is a TM Chad that it’s honestly funny at points), but I don’t think I will ever read this again.
If you’ve just started watching Ghost Adventures, then ya sure, read this. The book mainly just goes over prior investigations, although there is a whole chapter on the Science of it... kind of.
Well, the chapter calls it “science”. Really it’s just Zak taking different science theories that have been proven, and said “but what if ghosts???”. Like, don’t even get me started on the water holds memories theory (he goes on about this for like a good page or two, and I was laughing so hard).
As someone who actually watches Ghost Adventures, this book makes Zak look worse than he does in the show. You have to remember this book was published in 2011, which in his defense, is very different from 2020 Zak. This is prime level “I fight ghosts and everyone wants to have sex with me” Zak Bagans. Like, I counted at least 4 red flags in regards to Zak that apparently make him desirable in his eyes.
Also, this book is said to be written by both Zak and Kelly Crigger. Now, I don’t know who Kelly is. Like... there is no mention of her other than in the acknowledgements so I have no clue why she is credited as a co-author. I have a theory that Zak wrote a draft, handed it off to Kelly, and major edits were done. They legally had to credit her as well from all of the changes made, so it wasn’t fully Zak’s writing? I don’t know because it is never mentioned or explained.
I got this book as a birthday present that’s a running joke between my brother and I (weird, I know, but it’s our thing), and honestly... I don’t regret reading it (since there are some funny bits and Zak is a TM Chad that it’s honestly funny at points), but I don’t think I will ever read this again.
I have to say, this is the first self-help book I’ve managed to get through. This had a nice balance between advice and being personal, yet not overstepping boundaries.
The only thing is that if you’re a bit more along in your mental health journey, some of the advice can be a bit stale, heard it all before type advice. I would reccommend just reading it for her story though. I found more towards the later half of the book I started to really identify with it.
The only thing is that if you’re a bit more along in your mental health journey, some of the advice can be a bit stale, heard it all before type advice. I would reccommend just reading it for her story though. I found more towards the later half of the book I started to really identify with it.