shidoburrito's Reviews (1.54k)

Cute, a good read, kinda wordy but deep at times. I wasn't left amazed, but happy to have read it.

I loved her last series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but I think Laini has really found her voice and writing style in this new series. She's definitely an artist with her descriptions and the way she builds her world through imagery. Her characters are once again unique and wonderful (and one of the main characters is a LIBRARIAN). I truly can't wait to see where this series goes. I just hope I haven't forgotten half of it by next year...

Okay, I had to read it, especially with the new movie coming out in a few months, but this book took me freaking FOREVER to read. I've read King before, but I don't remember him being so rambly about his characters. It seemed for every one main character we were introduced to (and there were plenty of those) you were also given a detailed backstory for everyone that main character has ever been involved with and their mother. Jeebus...
Scariest chapter was for sure the one with the ticks. UGH.

Bah, I'm wavering on 3.5-4 stars on this, but only because it took me a while to read this, but the book is not at fault. Distracting fanfiction, which doesn't count here on Goodreads, got in the way of things.

While this book wasn't scary enough to keep me awake at night (maybe if I had read it in one sitting rather than half hour lunch-break bursts) it would have immersed me some more, but it is a good read if you want something gruesome and ancient-evil, it-dwells-in-us-all, there-is-no-God, kind of scary. Oh, and some great illustrations, that's a bonus as well.

OOOMMMMGGGGGG, I just seriously love this series SO FREAKING MUCH. This book did not disappoint. I was just a roller coaster of emotions with this one. ARGH! Also, could this possibly be the last book in the series?

It wasn't bad, not as scary as the first book, but a lot more philosophical than the last one. Is possession really just the Devil? Is it part of God's plan? Lots of questions like that. Also going on is a trial very similar to Trayvon Martin, in which the main character spends a lot of her time slowly obsessing over to try and keep her mind from the terrifying reality her own life is turning into. Wasn't expecting that. So not a scary scary book per-se but some delicate subjects handled pretty well for a teen book.

Woooo! What a great read for the Halloween season! And a very quick read too. Like Hugo Cabret, it draws you in and makes you feverishly read page after page with it's beautiful artwork and then intriguing story text to go along with it. Probably best for grades 5+, it is certainly creepy (towards the end) but deals with heavy stuff such as bullying and death.

I can't really pinpoint what it is about this book that didn't make it PERFECT. It was really good. Really sad, too. But there's something that left me wanting more. Maybe it was the fact that we knew Julian's thoughts and his character was very much in depth, but was Adam as well rounded? Sure, he's a happy-go-lucky ball of energy, and yes he finally discovers that he can have feelings towards the end of the book, but while Julian's struggles were slow and realistic, I felt there needed to be more to Adam's journey through his senior year. And the ending.

Spoiler

It felt like it was almost sort of tacked on. Everyone was recovering at their own pace. Things were starting to feel confined,
and then Julian finally goes outside and, gosh darn, wouldn't you know it? Russel, whom no one has seen hide nor hair of in months, is just suddenly there! So...has he been hiding in the bushes,
waiting for the moment Julian steps outside to take him away? And the whole gun scene was rushed.
It was almost like an anime. Gasp! Who was the one that was shot-oh, don't worry it was Russel.
Okay bye, thanks for showing up so you can get shot and die. Was it for the sake of closure? I dunno,
I'm all for happy endings, but what if the author didn't need to tie up that loose end? Russel stays away, but the book ends without us knowing for how long. Also, Adam can always come to Julian's rescue with the flash drive he found with the video evidence. Or am I sadistic in wanting a book that doesn't wrap everything up neatly and lets the readers wonder?

Either way, don't let my nitpickyness get in the way of anyone reading this book, it really was good!

I suppose this is a very clever way to get Angie to read her historical fictions (it's like getting me to eat vegetables). Start it off as a sci-fi because it's set in the year 2065 and then get your history in through letters and diaries, reading about the Dust Bowl and then further still after the first World War. Then string you through the decades and centuries with a family of strong women, making sacrifices and decisions that may affect just the life of a sick sister or the lives of an entire planet. This book did a great job not only creating some wonderful, strong, and dimensional female characters, it also is a great book about how we treat the planet. It was the removal of the grasses for farming that caused the dust bowl, and it's our current negligence to do something about global warming that creates another disaster like the Dust Bowl, but on a global scale. Very good, Jodi Lynn Anderson, very creative.