Covering a history of quantum mechanics leading into an explanation of entanglement The God Effect does a good job at explaining why the concept is exciting whilst keeping expectations realistic. The book shows its age in some places, the fact it was written on a 256mb computer for one, but also he talks about the Higgs Boson & the implications that would have if it is proven to be real, which of course it now has been. Whilst I understood the vast majority of this book some parts remain confusing though I suspect a 2nd read would be enough to fill in the gaps. The main problem with the book I found was the ballance between theoretical physics and history / simple mathematics. I would say 50% of the book is history, 25% explanations of existing maths / computer science and then 25% on the entanglement itself. I would prefer much more on entanglement, either a longer book or just editing out some of the history or the simple maths parts. 

Having read quite a few dystopian books, I found this one to be quite a good one. It's much more metaphorical than others though has a few plot holes you have to look past and accept it's all a metaphor. I personally was a bit disappointed with the end however from the way the book was written it was really on the only way it was going to end. Definetly happy I read it, and the book within a book was quite a nice device, highly recommend it if it's you're genre niche, it's not one I plan to read again though as it's definitely a slow reflective read 

Cloud Atlas is impressive as a work of literature, each story is well done and written in a variety of styles. I particularly enjoyed Sonmis and Zacharies stories which were the most connected of the 6. The connection between the others was quite loose, vague, and abstract. I was hoping some complex connection between the stories would appear but it didn't really, and having read people's reviews online I don't think I missed anything. I wasn't a great fan of splitting the stories in half's with such small connections, it felt like reading 5 books at once a d forgetting the first one by the time you get back to the 2nd half. 

Palins way of constructing a narrative from historical letters of the crew and their relatives is really well done. The inspirational tale of the voyage to the Antarctic constrats so well with the sad final voyage through the northwest passage. The final section going into the early rescue searches driven by the tynasity of Franklin's wife and its ultimate discovery 160 years later is equally inspiring. Palins ability to bring history to life is truly remarkable and I'd highly recommend this book. 

I normally really enjoy Iain m banks works but I found this one quite hard to follow. I think a bit more universe building in the early chapters would have gone a long way as it wasn't until the end of the book I really understood what was going on. The phonetic writing style for some chapters takes a bit of getting used to but I didn't really find it too distracting though I would have preferred it without it. I think I actually might like it more a second time through now its clearer but I can't give it more than 2.5 unfortunately. 

This is such a fun book it read and it's clear why it's a best seller. The level of luck he has throughout requires some suspension of disbelief but it works. Each character is distinct and believable though there isn't much development. One of the funniest books I've read and would highly recommend for some lighthearted down time. 

This unique fictional story told in a historical context was a great read. You could empathise with all the characters despite their diverse backgrounds and their different experiences of the holocaust. The book explored the horrors of the concentration camps to drive the plot without doing it just for shock value. Highly recommend it. 

As with his other works the style of rotating between characters each chapter is nice. All the characters are well done and overall the book is a good read. I found the ending a little bit abrupt and flat and would have liked a bit more plot, which again I've found with his other works. It's worth a read and only takes a few hours. 

This is the first book I've really struggled to finish. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and honestly wasn't sure who was speaking half the time because of the style of writing. Spelling says "sez" the entire book got old very fast. The tech jargon was a mix of old pop culture references and made no sense half the time. I got quite a lot of 911 was an inside job vibes as well. Since I struggled through this book I can't really comment on the plot as it was just too hard to engage with. Wouldn't recommend it unless maybe you've read others by the author and like their work. 

This is a very easy to read book. If you need a break from grand epics and just want something simple this is the book for you. It's not going to win the booker prize but there's a nice mix of characters and the plot is good if not a little predictable sometimes. As far as young adult books go its not a bad one