shelfreflectionofficial's Reviews (844)

I was disappointed by this book. The title intrigued me, and the premise of how the war affected the main character in relation to memories. However, it fell flat. The main character was kind of boring. A lot of the references and writing was lost on me as it was written by a British author so I didn't understand some of it. I've read a few books that explore memory, and thought there were a few hidden gems in the book. I liked how they talked about how whenever we revisit a memory we change it. And I think it's true, when we remember we are approaching the memory with a new self, one with new insights, feelings, and circumstances. We see the memory in a new light and change how we perceive it from then on and so forth whenever we do this. The book had potential but I guess it just wasn't my style of writing, it lacked character development, and had a decent amount of references or passages that I had to just skip over.

The ending was a bit abrupt and anticlimactic for me, but I still really enjoyed this book. The premise was intriguing and I loved how she went back and forth between past and present, slowly revealing the pieces of the story. It was an interesting and novel perspective on the seemingly common dystopian plots. I also appreciated that it wasn't bogged down in excessive detail but was still easy to picture and experience the scenes she created.

Second book in the trilogy- I would recommend reading this right after the first one. I read two other books in between and it took a little bit to get my mind back into the story and plot. It is a bit complicated- I was confused sometimes but didn't get too caught up in the details. You still understand what's going on and can follow it. I think reading it the second time around will be even better. I love how he takes historical events and then takes liberty in speculating and creating a fiction story around it. I was googling gene therapy, Malta, the Black Plague, the Justinian plague, etc. I love when I can learn things while reading. There was a lot of action and I read this book fast- a good page-turner. I think the author showed a lot of creativity and intelligence, as well as a good grasp on what makes a good story. I'm glad I own this series and am looking forward to reading the third installment.

I only finished this book because I am doing a reading challenge that required me to read a book that I started but never finished. There are very few books that I don't finish. But this started out as one of them- for a good reason. Lots of reviews say this book is a comedy, but I wouldn't necessarily agree. They try to hard to be funny and witty. And then the main character (it's told from first person perspective) talks about how funny he is and how his partner and him laugh at his humor. If characters use wit or humor, you don't need to tell the reader that they were laughing about how funny it was. The reader will know it's funny and will know they laughed. We don't need to be told what's witty- we don't need to be told when they were joking or being sarcastic or ridiculous. The banter would have been good if it was like 80% less of what the author used. I prefer Harlan Coben's use of wit and humor by far.

The writing was very disjointed. It might be partly due to the fact that I started and stopped reading so many times, but the writer had a lot of unnecessary dialogue and information. Like telling us the main character went home and pulled out some DVDs he got from Christmas and listing them all off and then telling us which DVD he decided to watch and what the Three Stooges did in the show and then the character turns it off and goes to sleep. We don't need to know all those details.

They also had this theme how each day one of the partners always got a 'message from God' that acted as a clue to help them solve their mystery. This was tacky and unnecessary. They would have been fine solving the crime without it. It was a cheesy addition- not sure if they threw it in there so they can call this a 'Christian' book, but it wasn't doing the book any favors for being classified in that genre.

The title is clever but I got tired of them talking all the time about how they hated climbing up the steps and all the jokes around climbing them and falling down them. It's a lot of steps- we get it, find something else to talk about.

And then there was the ending. It happened so suddenly. One moment nothing makes sense, and then all of a sudden they arrest someone. Without giving too much away, there is a recording used at the end and the conversation that is overheard is completely unnatural. They 'overhear' the murderer telling exactly how everything went down. No one describes details of their master plan to each other afterwards- they both know what happened, it sounded very unnatural. And then the main character's partner keeps saying 'you never cease to amaze me' about how awesome he is at solving crimes.

If you haven't figured it out by this review yet, I did not like this book and most likely never read this author again. I did not like his reading style at all and found it very annoying, tacky, unnatural, and disjointed.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that I didn't know 'whodunit' until the very end. There are plenty of other books out there that give you that without wading through the nonsense.

The final book of the trilogy. It's shorter than the previous two. I was happy with how they ended it and wrapped things up. Don't want to say too much and give away any details. I loved the whole series and am glad to own it. I'm sure I will read it again and catch more intricacies and connections the next time. Am already on the lookout for another A.G. Riddle book!

What I love about Steven James' books is how he wrestles with morality, ethics, belief, etc. He likes to ask questions. And a lot of times it's the questions everyone is thinking but no one wants to ask. I appreciate that about his writing. In this book, the issue is Artificial Intelligence, robotics, what rights would AI have if we have the ability to insert consciousness into it?, what is the difference between AI and humans?, what does it mean to be human? I honestly don't know how close we are in reality to needing to answer these questions, but I still think they are worth asking and worth pondering. What DOES it mean to be human? In not so many words, he also includes a discussion on our sin nature and God's purpose of redeeming our souls. Here are a couple quotes from the book I really liked:

"We are broken gods, fallen princes, with animal instincts and divine desires. Incongruous."

"- 'To create truly 'human machines,' they'd need to be able to worship or rebel against their creators.'
- 'But what kind of a creator would ever be bold enough to give his creation free will and the opportunity to kill him off if they chose too?'
- 'The real one.'"

As always, it was a fast-paced book that was fun to read and goes deeper without being obvious or cheesy. He weaves the 'pondering' into the story brilliantly!

This was a really great read. I think I will find another Zusak book. I really liked his writing style and descriptions. (My one qualm with this book is stated at the end of this review.) His words are beautiful, especially in such a heavy story. Every story I read about WWII offers a new layer, perspective, color, and emotion to that time, and this one was no different. A struggling girl in Germany, no stranger to pain and destruction, yet recognizes and is strengthened by the power of words. Yes, words can hoist an executioner to rule, but they can also heal, sustain, warm, and tear us apart in the best way. Here are some words from the book thief:

"The fire was nothing but a funeral of smoke."

"The words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."

"I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate."

"Two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann's feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy. I'm sorry."

Yes, you should read this book. It was surprisingly a fast read for over 500 pages.

The one thing I did not like about this book, was the commentary and narration of 'Death' as a personified being. To the author, maybe that was a profound aspect to the story, but for me, I did not find it helpful. Death is not the end all, be all, and I don't really care what Death thinks or feels. It has no power. There is life and there is eternity, but how we meet death is not worth describing, even if it is the sky. Plus, Death kind of ruined a lot of the mystery. He kept telling us things that would happen and then digress, saying he was getting ahead of himself. If I'm going to read this event in a few pages, I don't want a preview of it. Also, Death, I don't really think a sense of humor looks good on you. Your presence on this Earth is actually quite minute and inconsequential. An unidentified narrator could have pulled off the same effect in this book.

After all that, though, the Book Thief is a worthy story. Read it.

It was a pretty fast read. I enjoyed the storyline and the progression through the book. It was interesting and enlightening for me to explore the issue of race in the setting of St. Louis.

I think this quote sums the book up pretty well: "The news reports were caricatures- information and images manipulated to support the political priorities of either the Left or the Right. I felt the humanity fade in the numbers and the conflict."

Regardless of where you fall on the political scale or the social issue in general, I think we all need the reminder to not let the humanity fade, that people are valuable and important and are not just statistics.