shona_reads_in_devon's Reviews (529)

I don't know how I feel about this book.

To say I enjoyed it would be weird, but the narration was lively and engaging and I found the subject well presented and interesting.

I don't know much about Columbine so I went into this without any preconceived ideas about the school shooting.

This book is mostly mulling over the why. And seems to come to the conclusion that Eric Harris was a psychopath and Dylan Klebold was depressed.

I'm not sure I found the argument entirely convincing all the time, but have no real evidence or solid ground on which to base that view and neither do I have any more compelling arguments to offer.

I just can't do it.

I have been dragging myself through this series, it gives just enough to keep you interested while disappointing you enough to promise not to read the next one.

Well, I've reached my limit. 

I'd have said, they got marginally better from first to third. I really hated the first one and then disliked the second one slightly less. The third one I disliked less than the first but more than the second.

As I suspected, all the plot drive that finally came to head in book three has disintegrated yet again into nothing in book four.

These books need some *serious* editing. I opened this one on Borrowbox and it's 700 pages long. I've managed probably less than 100 pages and I couldn't care less about any of these characters any more. NOTHING HAPPENS. I've had 10 chapters of Slade berating himself and whining and swearing. I literally couldn't care less. 

You could have fit the last 3 books into one action packed book and still managed the same character development. It's so repetitive. I have definitely given this series enough of my time and so I'm out!

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆

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North Woods is almost a collection of short stories; shining spotlights onto a selection of lives lived in and around one house in the remote Western Massachusetts countryside.

And in this seemingly simple premise, Daniel Mason has packed a punch of such profundity that at times it took my breath away.

Beginning in the early days of colonial settlement and travelling through the centuries up to the present day, the reader accompanies men, women, beetles, squirrels and spores, among other things. Through these characters lives' Mason explores ideas as wide ranging as the cycles of nature, love and desire, crimes of passion, loneliness, mental health, ghosts and the occult. And overarching all of this are ideas of separateness and connectedness. A sense of both atrophy and also continuity and eternalness. 

I started this novel feeling a sense of disconnection - the frequently changing perspectives were jarring and I struggled to settle in, but I put my trust in the process and was rewarded for my efforts. As this story develops, and we travel through time in this rural New England home, the strands of each story weave together and the sense of a history - a natural, a personal and a national one - coalesces.

An incredible read, and one I'm likely to return to, as it is ripe for drawing out further connections and deeper meaning.

Ah, this was a disturbing little tale. 

Narrated by the wonderful Merricat this is a story from inside the haunted house. Merricat and her sister Constance live a life of isolation with their uncle Julian.

Though the thrust of their isolation becomes quite obvious, and the truth of the story is not difficult to unpick early on - this is not really the point of the story. It is never about who did it. But rather the myth and rumour and suspicion and the damage this can do.

Merricat is a compelling protagonist, trapped in a world of make believe and fairy tales but you begin to absolutely root for both her and Constance, and uncle Julian and pray that nothing upsets their quiet and isolated harmony.

𝒔𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍. 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌. 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒆. 𝑵𝒐, 𝜤'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒅'

'𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 '

'𝑭𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝐳𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈'

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Oh it's very very good, this. As I was led to believe.

Darrow is a Red. Toiling away under the surface of Mars, sacrificing his freedoms to create a better life for future generations. Or so he thinks. 
When tragedy strikes, and the blindfold is lifted from his eyes, how will Darrow utilise his rage to free his peoples?

This book is great. Darrow is an utterly brilliant protagonist who combines a breathtaking vulnerability with that striking vein of cockiness and assurance of youth. You can forget that he is a child easily enough at times and then a moment of self doubt and vulnerability reminds us that he is a child. He has lived and loved like an adult but he is a child. 

The politics and machinations here, that overarching idea of found family is all weaved together brilliantly - and that tension over it all about the larger implications of Darrow's false relationships with them all make me nervous to continue this series. 

There were some clichés here. And I felt the plot drag a smidge in the middle but it quickly ramped back up and my heart was up and down like a yo-yo towards the end.

I'll be picking up the next one in this series sharpish.

𝑵𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌'

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Thrum, is a short and not so sweet sci-fi that packs a real punch.

Ami wakes up from stasis in deep space, her crew all dead. Alone, no fuel and comms, what are the chances of rescue? 

This was a really unexpected hit, moving out into a genre (sci-fi/kind of horror) that I don't usually pick up. 

I loved the creepiness of this, but it really doesn't strike me as just a creep fest, this novel has LAYERS that are begging to be unpicked. Someone else described this as what happens when a ship gaslights you, which is just perfect.

The Borg always really creeped me out in Star Trek and now I remember why.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝜤 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓?

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Okay, this book. This book has just crowned Xaden as my number one book boyfriend. That burn the world trope has got me good.

I have to say I think the tension in their relationship is being stretched *just* a little bit beyond believable because we know this man is a good guy and I do struggle to maintain believable when Vi whines about him keeping secrets. I do have a small eye roll at the self sacrifice stuff because, let's face it, you're both cray cray for eachother so just do the trust thing.

However, none of that matters because this book STRUNG ME OUT. The STRESS. It crawled along a bit at the start and I was missing my fix of shadow daddy but the second half ramped it up seriously and from halfway onwards it was all good.

Leaving the relationship aside (I know, how dare I) I am loving travelling further out into the world and seeing some life outside Navarre. It's still kind of single minded and we don't get enough of life in general but the plot is plotting, the dragons are delightful as always and there were some great characters introduced here and some of them actually survive until the end!

Come on Onyx Storm that ending had me wanting I hurl this book across the room.

'𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆’𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕.'

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It baffles me that there exists people in this country who believe the history of black people in Britain began with Windrush.

This phenomenal account of black British history is staggeringly well researched, utterly engaging and markedly measured in its delivery.

Firmly refuting a notion that black Britishness is a distinctly post-war idea Olusoga carefully and thoughtfully plots the historical impact that Britain has had on the lives of black individuals in Africa, the US and the UK. Through a charting of British involvement in the slave trade, in the ending of slavery in the UK, the idea and exercise of British colonialism and fighting in both world wars , this fascinating study identifies and delineates a notion of black Britishness dating back hundreds of years.

This is essential reading for anyone interested in ideas of identity, and anyone looking to be informed on a black history that is not whitewashed and 'sanitised' of the more uncomfortable truths that Britain needs to face up to.

𝜤 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒆

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I had high expectations going into the second part of this duology. The heartbreaking end to the first installment had me not feeling optimistic about our girl Elspeth.

My main grouch about part one was the lack of development of the side characters. Ione, in particular. Well this was fully addressed in book two as Elm and Ione become more central to this storyline. Which is great, I get the Elm love now! I will say, the rest of the side characters still get short shrift - Jespyr, mama and papa Yew. Hauth becomes a stock villain by the end and I don't think the *why* of the way he is is fully addressed or explored meaningfully. He's just a bad guy™️ and that's a bit of a shame because the motivations of everyone else are better explored.

But, the goth vibes were still vibing, I absolutely *ate* up the last third of this with my heart in my mouth. I thought the end was a bit convenient, and I prefer my HEA to have a bit more compromise in them but it was a great conclusion to this haunting little tale.