odettebrethouwer's Reviews (1.95k)

Well, this was a disappointment.

I LOVE the cover, and I really love the idea of the book. I also do understand why so many publishers are attracted to this book: they can relate very well to the concept of this book. That does not happen very often.

But the idea of manuscripts is overdone, because the manuscript in this book (so far so good) point towards an other lost manuscript. Too much bookinception for me. 1 time this idea: cool. 2 times: overdone it.

But the writing style was the thing that put me off most. It is so passive, and in the past time. i got the feeling of that history teacher/grandpa that is sitting down and telling you what happened all those years ago.

I do like the 3 perspectives, with each it's own truth. That, and the manuscript idea, makes it more than 1*. but I did not enjoyed reading this at all, it felt so boring and it all felt 'told', no more than 2* for me.

So, usually I'm a big fan of reading books in Dutch. This has several reasons. I am partly working as a writer. When I read a lot of English I start to use English grammar in Dutch articles. I hope I don't have to explain to you why this is bad :) But overall, I think it is good to stay connected with your mother language.

Second, I'm a member of the library. They have much more Dutch books than English, which is very comprehensible. And I love to be able to read so many physical books for so little money a year. You can think the library is expensive, but if I buy all the books I borrow from the library, it pays of in less than 3 month. OK, I admit, I read A LOT, but I think that for most frequent readers it can pay of.

But that is not the only reason I love being a member of the library. I love the idea of the library and I think it is important there is one. We may all take it for granted, but if nobody is paying for it, how can it stay in business? You have to pay for what you want to have in your city.

It is the same with the local bookstore. If you love to have a bookstore in your town, visit it and buy your books there. In The Netherlands, books online are NOT cheaper than the ones in the stores (this is by law). And often, you can also buy them on the website of your local bookstore. In that case, the book is still delivered at your home, for the same amount of money when you buy it at an online-only shop, but at the same time you support your local bookstore. If you want your local bookstore to survive, act on it :)

I do understand that English books are cheaper online, and that the days and days of waiting are worth it. I also do that. I'm talking about Dutch books here ;) And often, Dutch books are being translated really well lately, especially from publisher BlossomBooks. I often don't even notice I'm reading a translation when I'm reading a book from them. But other publishers are hitting the right spot as well.

Oh, how different was this book. I'm sorry my review of this book started of as a rant on reading Dutch and shopping local, sometimes I just have to vent all my thoughts on those topics :P It all came out while reading this translation and making the decision to switch, hence the rant in this review and not in the review of a translated book :) I typed all of this after reading the couple of pages in Dutch :)

This book was translated so poorly, it sends shivers down my spine. Quite an achievement. But, I switched to the English version of this book after a couple of pages and it was all fine.

So, now that I've finished the books, let's continue this insane long amount of text by telling that even though I disliked the writing less, I still did not really enjoyed this book. People told me this was something like The Selection, but darker. That got me all excited. But it was one big disappointment. I don't like the setting, the world building is boringly explaining stuff I don't need to understand and I don't understand the important things, I don't really like the main character, I did not cared for any of the other characters, and the romance/intimacy scenes made me want to scratch my eyeballs out. So no, I will not read on in this series.

So, all toghether, 1*. The English book deserves 2 bevause it was an easy and quick read, but the last star down is because of the poor translation.

This was a bit weirder then I expected. But also really predictable. So I did not really enjoyed reading this that much. It felt like a 3* book, but I did not enjoy it as much as other 3* books, so the result is a 2* rating.

Another enjoyable read (or rather, listen) during biking to work. I really like this series! It a good adventure series, suitable for boys and girls (12+) and I'm really happy there are so many more books :D I liked the humor and the plot, and oh my that ending!

This review is in Dutch because this is a Dutch book.

Heerlijk dat er zoveel Nederlandse YA-thrillerschrijvers zijn! Ook dit boek is een aanrader voor liefhebbers van [a:Mel Wallis de Vries|1609922|Mel Wallis de Vries|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1328376848p2/1609922.jpg]. Iedere bladzijde is spannend. Je wilt continu tegen het hoofdpersonage roepen 'Doe dat nou niet! maar toch snap je dat ze het allemaal wel doet. En hoe je er in vast kan geraken.

Een pageturner, ik had hem ook heerlijk snel uit. Daar kan ik echt van genieten, op 2 avondjes zo een spannend verhaal in zijn totaliteit consumeren ;)

Just like the first book, this was an enjoyable read. I like the scifi part of this, it really adds to the story. Some things in the story line could have been done better. The dialogues are very unrealistic, some actions or events caused eye-rolls with me. So, quality speaking it is more like 2*, but I enjoyed it, I want to read the last book and I like the scifiish things so 2* feels to harsh :) It is a worthy sequel to the first. it has all the same elements, it is not less of quality or anything. Just an enjoyable read :)

This review is in Dutch because this is a Dutch book.

Ik heb al vaker een essay van de maand van de filosofie gekocht, maar aan een deel daarvan ben ik nog niet eens toegekomen, en meestal ook niet in dezelfde maand. Nu werk ik als boekverkoper, en hij staat op de toonbank. Ik heb hem meteen aangeschaft en ben meteen begonnen, zodat ik er wat over kon zeggen tegen mensen die er in geinteresseerd zijn.

En wat ben ik blij dat ik er meteen in ben begonnen. Wat is dit een prachtig essay. het behandelt allerhande zaken uit onze samenleving, maatschappij, ons zijn. Ieder hoofdstuk is een nieuw onderwerp, en toch is er samenhang. Het laat je anders tegen zaken aankijken en zet je aan het denken. En dat dan ook nog eens prachtig opgeschreven. Excuses aan iedereen die ik afgelopen dagen heb lopen spammen met fragmenten uit dit essay maar het is gewoon zo mooi en zo raak geschreven. Ik ben zwaar onder de indruk van dit werk en van wat het met me doet.

Als mijn review je aanspreekt, druk ik je op het hart om zo snel mogelijk, in ieder geval dus deze maand, naar een boekhandel te gaan en dit essay aan te schaffen. Maar 4,95! (Dat was de boekverkoper in me, sorry.)

Not as good as the first two, but will definitely continue this series because I can listen to them when I bike to work.

I even loved this book better than the first one, [b:Unplugged|15751616|Unplugged (The Wired, #1)|Donna Freitas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459694856s/15751616.jpg|21446041]. I think this is the first time this has ever happened.

What I love so much about this series is that it makes me much more aware of the world we are living in. About all the little beautiful wonders we experience every single day. How much we do with and depend on technology every day.

This aspect of this book was even better worked out in the second book than in the first. Because of this, I forgave the fact that the female main character was trying to save the world and that there was a love triangle. Some books have such awesome aspects that I love them anyway, despite their faults like that.

So yeah, I cannot wait for the last book in this series!

This is an extraordinary good book!

The beginning of this book reminds me of the recent books by [a:Liane Moriarty|322069|Liane Moriarty|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1459827224p2/322069.jpg]. You know something went terribly wrong, but what happened and how and to whom, you will find out. I love this concept somehow.

Than, the book itself. It was a bit unrealistic here and there, especially with the characters, but that is something not uncommon in a YA thriller somehow. What I LOVED is how things happen in the story without being described in the book, it is just mentioned that it happened. This is a bold way of writing and I love it. There are some beautiful pieces of writing at some points (and they are translated to Dutch very well).

And I love the ending. Oh that ending. So genius! I was going to rate 4* because of the unrealistic things and actions, but that ending completely made it a 5* book for me. I am not easily pleased with thrillers, YA thrillers have an even tougher job to please me but gosh I love this book! I highly recommend this.