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A classic
Dune has been on my reading list for quite some time, and it's only after seeing the trailer for the new film that I finally caved and decided to buy this. I didn't even read the synopsis until the book arrived and when I did I was sceptical to say the least, especially as this had comparisons to the likes of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings.
However despite my reservations I was hooked from a few pages in. This is definitely a marmite, love it or hate it kind of book, and the comparisons to Tolkien are very much justified as there are similarities in their writing styles. Whilst there is action in this book, there's also a lot of world building, descriptions and dialogue. This might seem boring to some, but for me i loved every minute of it. Barely any of it was superfluous or unnecessary, and the characters and world that Herbert has built are hugely detailed and well developed. If possible I actually wanted to read more about certain characters than had already been written.
It's taken me longer than normal to read this book. Not because it's bad but because it was that good that I wanted to take my time and relish every chapter. My biggest disappointment about this book was that it ended. There are sequels to this that I've heard don't match up to the this and get progressively worse, so I'm in two minds about whether to read further. But I honestly loved this book and I'm a little ashamed that it's taken me so long to read it, and now I can't wait for the new film..
However despite my reservations I was hooked from a few pages in. This is definitely a marmite, love it or hate it kind of book, and the comparisons to Tolkien are very much justified as there are similarities in their writing styles. Whilst there is action in this book, there's also a lot of world building, descriptions and dialogue. This might seem boring to some, but for me i loved every minute of it. Barely any of it was superfluous or unnecessary, and the characters and world that Herbert has built are hugely detailed and well developed. If possible I actually wanted to read more about certain characters than had already been written.
It's taken me longer than normal to read this book. Not because it's bad but because it was that good that I wanted to take my time and relish every chapter. My biggest disappointment about this book was that it ended. There are sequels to this that I've heard don't match up to the this and get progressively worse, so I'm in two minds about whether to read further. But I honestly loved this book and I'm a little ashamed that it's taken me so long to read it, and now I can't wait for the new film..
An Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata
Mario Cleves, William Gould and Yulia Marchenko
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An Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata, Revised Third Edition is the ideal tutorial for...
Nutrition for Dental Health: A Guide for the Dental Professional
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Reflecting significant changes in the industry and the latest research in the field, this fully...
Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Blessings in Books
Mar 15, 2018
I had been hearing some positive things about this book around the library and so I decided to give it a read, not knowing what to really expect. It wound up being a very relatable and enjoyable book. There isn't really much by way of a plot, rather each chapter winds up being basically a short story about one member of a very close, extended Irish Catholic Philadelphia family over the course of several decades. They are all connected, and so answers that aren't necessarily provided during the course of one person's "story" wind up being provided during someone else's. Each character is both different enough from the others and fully fleshed-out enough to keep things interesting, and the choice to follow different people in each chapter makes it hard to guess where things may be heading next. There are certainly some surprises in store for members of the family throughout. Growing up with a large family that was very close makes many of the moments immediately resonate with me, and some of the problems faced throughout the course of the novel strike close to home as well. Still, the aforementioned lack of plot makes it feel somewhat uneventful when all is said and done. The Blessings do wind up being a great cast of characters though, and the family's unwavering love for and faith in each other no matter how much life throws at them is a joy to behold, and that alone makes this one of the better works of fiction you might run across this Summer.
MF
Managing Financial Institutions: A Sustainability Approach
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This book goes beyond traditional financial institutions textbooks, which tend to focus on...
Animal Knits for Kids
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Animal Knits for Kids takes us on a journey around the zoo. Starting with a safari outfit to get...
Solving Complex Industrial Problems Without Statistics
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Presenting: Problem Solving Sans Statistics Enhance your problem-solving skills, and improve your...
The Paper Office for the Digital Age: Forms, Guidelines, and Resources to Make Your Practice Work Ethically, Legally, and Profitably
Edward L. Zuckerman and Keely Kolmes
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Significantly revised and updated to include online and computerized aspects of private practice,...
Modeling and Simulating Software Architectures: The Palladio Approach
Ralf H. Reussner, Steffen Becker, Jens Happe and Robert Heinrich
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Too often, software designers lack an understanding of the effect of design decisions on such...
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Stone of Destiny: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure in Books
Jul 30, 2018
Fans of Sherlock Holmes, fans of mystery, fans of adventure and suspense - this might be your next favorite book! Now, I have never read a Sherlock Holmes book before, so I can’t compare this book to the original books from Arthur Conan Doyle. But, what I will do for you is tell you all I thought about this book!
The story begins when during the funeral of Queen Victoria, a group of Irish separatists steal the Coronation Stone, on which every royal has been crowned. To retrieve this important object, the royals will hire Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. Holmes and his friend Watson travel to Ireland and try to infiltrate the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a group they think is responsible for all that happened.
Even though this is a Sherlock Holmes book, we actually unravel the story through a Watson-first-person point of view. He, to me, is a very interesting character, even though he follows Holmes like a puppy and doesn’t seem to have a personal opinion.
As for Sherlock Holmes, even though I really like the mysterious aura about him, and how smart he can be - I also see him as one of the rude aristocrats that refuse to speak to other people that seem to be lower in the hierarchy to them. This is of course, not presented in the book in any way - but I simply had that impression.
I loved the beginning, and I loved the mystery and suspense throughout the whole book. I was never ahead of the book, and my assumptions were never correct. I loved how the author kept us in the dark right until the end.
The small things I didn’t like though, were the slow pace - I have to admit, the pace was really slow for me, and I couldn’t wait until a chapter is finished to see if there would be more action. Then, even the action scenes weren’t as thrilling as I would expect them to be. And finally, there were no big plot twists, which I think we might have used in the book.
But - we did have a lovely mystery solving story, and we had a lot of history information floating around. We also had another book with Sherlock Holmes, that for you - lovers of the Sherlock Holmes books will of course be something you enjoy.
I greatly recommend it to you if you love the good old Sherlock Holmes adventures!
Many thanks to the author, Richard T. Ryan, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins when during the funeral of Queen Victoria, a group of Irish separatists steal the Coronation Stone, on which every royal has been crowned. To retrieve this important object, the royals will hire Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. Holmes and his friend Watson travel to Ireland and try to infiltrate the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a group they think is responsible for all that happened.
Even though this is a Sherlock Holmes book, we actually unravel the story through a Watson-first-person point of view. He, to me, is a very interesting character, even though he follows Holmes like a puppy and doesn’t seem to have a personal opinion.
As for Sherlock Holmes, even though I really like the mysterious aura about him, and how smart he can be - I also see him as one of the rude aristocrats that refuse to speak to other people that seem to be lower in the hierarchy to them. This is of course, not presented in the book in any way - but I simply had that impression.
I loved the beginning, and I loved the mystery and suspense throughout the whole book. I was never ahead of the book, and my assumptions were never correct. I loved how the author kept us in the dark right until the end.
The small things I didn’t like though, were the slow pace - I have to admit, the pace was really slow for me, and I couldn’t wait until a chapter is finished to see if there would be more action. Then, even the action scenes weren’t as thrilling as I would expect them to be. And finally, there were no big plot twists, which I think we might have used in the book.
But - we did have a lovely mystery solving story, and we had a lot of history information floating around. We also had another book with Sherlock Holmes, that for you - lovers of the Sherlock Holmes books will of course be something you enjoy.
I greatly recommend it to you if you love the good old Sherlock Holmes adventures!
Many thanks to the author, Richard T. Ryan, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.