reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

I liked the premise of the story, but felt it wasn't executed well. I did enjoy some parts, however I felt absolutely nothing once finishing it. Probably one of the least impactful books I've read in a long time - I barely felt anything reading it.

It was also fatphobic, and included a lot of other body shaming. 
Both of the fat characters in it were the 'villans', and described as physically disgusting people, but only due to their size. 
The book also opened with the narrator stating people are 'afflicted' by hairlips and 'unsightly' strawberry birthmarks. This isn't addressed as part of the narrative, just stated as fact, which I think is pretty disgusting, especially as these are perfectly natural things that cannot be changed.
And the love interest, who is meant to be, in effect, the 'perfect' woman, is disgusted by a wart on someone's face, and verges on being ableist about autism. Why I'd root for her as a love interest I don't know.

It also annoyed me that Guylain moaned about his job for the entirety of the book, but did nothing about it, and no reason was given as to why. 

If it wasn't for all the body shaming it would rate slightly better, but not by that much. If this was meant to be a book about horrible people, then it didn't go far enough. If it was meant to be a book about nice decent people, the author has got a twisted sense of morality.

Holy flying f*ck.

I see what people say now about Sanderson's endings. 

AND it made me cry, which I hardly ever do.

I did struggle to tell the two city plot lines apart sometimes, but that was probably just me being a bit thick. 

Feel like I need to re-read the whole series again now!

The most deranged and pretentious fantasy series out there, yet inexplicably I still love reading it. 

I did feel like Linden 'fixing' Pitchwife at the end verged on being abelist, but I'm in no way an authority on the subject.

This installment didn't satisfy me as much as previous ones, but I still had a great time reading it. I think I prefer the stories set outside Ankh-Morpork, and with more magic.

Having said that, I felt the humour really got going towards the end, and I laughed out loud on nearly every page, which isn't normal for me. 

Wow. Just amazing.

I've rarely felt so sad that a book is over. 

So compellingly written, and such a powerful read. 

Just one thing that confused me, which is probably my own fault, but WHEN was the TV show filmed? It seemed like it was broadcast live, but Elizabeth came home once when it was still on TV? If anyone reads this and can clear it up for me, I'd be very grateful!

An easy read with nice landscape descriptions, but I feel like there's not much else good to say about it.

- The first half was so similar to 'The Guest List' that I just felt like I was reading the same book.
- Pretty much all the characters were childish and insufferable (I know that's the point, but I didn't enjoy it in this case) - I did like Doug and Heather though.
- I never believed the red herring storylines had anything to do with the murder, and it felt like they were just taking up space.
- The ending dragged out for so long with explanations that I had already assumed enough of that just one page to confirm would have done for me.
- This one is nit-picky, but in most remote locations, you can still call the emergency services, even without normal signal. If they could get signal at the top of a mountain, the likelihood is they could have called the police on the estate grounds. 

I was so disturbed and impressed by this book.

It was such a well realised future world, which we caught such interesting glimpses of through Klara's eyes.

For the most part I enjoyed all of the open ended questions/informaton withheld from us. However, the manager's limp in the end is really annoying me! Was it Josie? Was it the manager? Then why did she have Josie's limp? 

I believe Josie wasn't replaced. 

I was also infuriated by never getting a proper description of the 'Cootings Machine', but for no real reason.

A really beautifully written book, with one of the most unique unreliable narrators I've read.

It had a good, strong ending as well, when endings for books like this can often be a letdown. 

Only two slight annoyances:

- The Molly/Juan romance was a bit coincidental. In real life no-one is that similar

 
- What hotel staff get all evenings and weekends off?? Especially three staff having every Sunday off? 

The book focuses on my least favourite characters, hence knocking half a star off. But I still really enjoyed it.

Never have I been so captivated during such a long book. Think I could have read it in one sitting if I had the time.