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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Viper's Daughter (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #7) in Books

Sep 24, 2020

Viper's Daughter (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #7)

Michelle Paver | 2020 | Children, Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The protagonists in this book were Torak and Renn, and the book was mostly told from their perspectives. Renn leaves Torak unexpectedly, when Torak finds out where and why Renn left, he follows her to the Far North, where everything is completely different from the forest, where he grew up. I adored the characters in this book, they are very mysterious to me. Reading their thoughts about hunting, offerings and general respect to the mother nature is so refreshing and new to me. I am not a very big fan of stories based on folk stories and spirituality, but this book really captivated me.

I really enjoyed the narrative of this book, it is set in the antarctic kind of place, where ice covers everything. It has plenty of adventure, wild and dangerous animals, spirituality and inner thoughts. I really loved the human-nature balance and relationship portrayed in this novel, I think it is a very important thing for us to remember because we do take nature for granted. Even though this book is a part of the series, I was able to read it as a stand-alone.

The writing style of this book is exquisite! The author portrayed the nature in this book with such great detail, I felt like sitting on the boat with Torak and witnessing everything with my own eyes, the experience was incredible! For some reason I really like books set in north and cold climates, people’s survival skills really amaze me. The chapters have a very decent length, and constant change of the perspectives doesn’t leave the reader bored. I liked the ending of this book as well, I think it rounded the story nicely.

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated You Will Be Safe Here in Books

Jul 10, 2019

You Will Be Safe Here

Damian Barr | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry

9.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Moving and thought provoking

I can’t lie, history isn’t a strong subject of mine so I knew very little about the South African concentration camps and these New Dawn Type camps when i first started this book. So for me, the events detailed and unfolding in this book are a disturbing revelation. It might be fiction, but it’s based on historical true events so I know it’s not far from the truth. It’s shocking and immensely moving, reading about the plight of a number of characters from 1901 to the present date. At first I didn’t understand why this started off in 1901 and worked it’s way through different characters to the almost present day, but it all makes sense and intertwines in a way as the book goes on and it’s a great way to tell a story. This is wonderfully written, bringing out a number of reactions and the emotions in the reader as it goes on and I felt a mixture of sheer anger and frustration and sadness reading this. The characters are all well developed, with their own flaws and traits that make them both intriguing and sometimes frustrating (but in a good way) to read. My only criticism would be that the ending seemed a little rushed in comparison to the rest of the book, and I wouldn’t have minded a slightly longer book at the benefit of a less rushed ending.

This isn’t a book I would have ordinarily thought of reading, but I’m glad I did and would highly recommend reading it!