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Meg (47 KP) rated The Cruel Prince in Books
Sep 11, 2018 (Updated Sep 11, 2018)
Characters (2 more)
Tropes
Romance
Good but not amazing
Contains spoilers, click to show
3.5/5 stars
So I ended up liking this more than I thought I would. It took a while to pick up and get properly into the plot line, the first 40% took me ages to get through but I ended up finishing the last 45% or so in one sitting. The book was fast paced and well written, however I found the language to be very basic in places, I would have liked a little more sophistication or development in the writing. For me it felt more like a children’s book than a young adult in terms of the writing style and vocabulary.
The plot was good, predictable in places which I expected considering I’ve read so many YA fantasy, many of the tropes and plot twists are similar. There was still an element of surprise when it was most important and I still found myself enjoying the book even when I knew what was coming.
I found some of the characters to be quite two dimensional and in all honesty I wasn’t fond of many of them and didn’t have the same attachment to the characters that I usually would in other books. I found it predictable that Cardan would not be a true villain and that Dain was not as he seems, the characterisation of Cardan is typical to that of YA fantasy; misunderstood, mysterious and handsome boy that is cruel but somehow every reader seems to love him. I couldn’t understand how Black could make the reader hate him to such a strong capacity and then completely turn it around within a few chapters. It seems unrealistic to me that Jude, who is such a strong minded and brutal character herself, would instantly forget all the pain and anger than Cardan put her through, as soon as she gets an indication that the only reason he did it is because he likes her. To me, that incredibly weakens her character and undermines her whole character development; I dislike when authors weaken their female protagonists with an unnecessary romance.
I would have liked a little more character development for Vivi and Oriana, both of whom I really liked by the end of the book.
All in all, I think I would continue with the rest of the series, but I hope that The Wicked King is a bit better written and we get more from the other characters.
So I ended up liking this more than I thought I would. It took a while to pick up and get properly into the plot line, the first 40% took me ages to get through but I ended up finishing the last 45% or so in one sitting. The book was fast paced and well written, however I found the language to be very basic in places, I would have liked a little more sophistication or development in the writing. For me it felt more like a children’s book than a young adult in terms of the writing style and vocabulary.
The plot was good, predictable in places which I expected considering I’ve read so many YA fantasy, many of the tropes and plot twists are similar. There was still an element of surprise when it was most important and I still found myself enjoying the book even when I knew what was coming.
I found some of the characters to be quite two dimensional and in all honesty I wasn’t fond of many of them and didn’t have the same attachment to the characters that I usually would in other books. I found it predictable that Cardan would not be a true villain and that Dain was not as he seems, the characterisation of Cardan is typical to that of YA fantasy; misunderstood, mysterious and handsome boy that is cruel but somehow every reader seems to love him. I couldn’t understand how Black could make the reader hate him to such a strong capacity and then completely turn it around within a few chapters. It seems unrealistic to me that Jude, who is such a strong minded and brutal character herself, would instantly forget all the pain and anger than Cardan put her through, as soon as she gets an indication that the only reason he did it is because he likes her. To me, that incredibly weakens her character and undermines her whole character development; I dislike when authors weaken their female protagonists with an unnecessary romance.
I would have liked a little more character development for Vivi and Oriana, both of whom I really liked by the end of the book.
All in all, I think I would continue with the rest of the series, but I hope that The Wicked King is a bit better written and we get more from the other characters.
KittyMiku (138 KP) rated World, Incorporated in Books
May 23, 2019
World, Incorporated by Tom Gariffo is a sci-fi novel set in the near future where the world is run by businesses instead of government officials like we have today. I found this book to be rough the first half, but entertaining in the second half. I had felt like the story had been lackluster in the beginning but picked up towards the end. Although the ending was fairly decent, I still can’t say that this is an amazing read.
In World, Incorporated the reader is mainly following around Agent Silver, who is just a complete dissident. He ends up acquiring some travel companions who had tried to kill him in one way or another without his boss knowing while his aircraft is keeping information from him. You learn the history of the world through weblogs and news articles that the Agent had acquired in his own personal research. He used them to try to inform one of his companions, Kelly, about the world around her. Kelly lived in the country side where her parents kept her from the new world that existed around her. As you follow the main characters around, you are able to witness battles, suspense and plain human emotion as they grow into better people. Towards the end you find Agent Silver’s real goals and how he changes from the beginning of the novel.
At first, I had found the book boring and hard to stick it out. The articles on the history on how the world had become to be what it was just didn’t hold my interest. I understand their purpose; I just wish Tom Gariffo had chosen another way to convey the information to the reader. Even though that information had help shaped some of the way the reader was able to understand that way the supercorporations had been able to take over the and control areas and such and why it was so, it still left quite a few questions about certain topics revolving around the supercorporations. However, for the few things that had been left without answers at the beginning, I found some answers were revealed in the last chapter of the book.
The last chapter of the book, you got to really see how friendships of all kinds can really help a person grow and change their own ways. Although Agent Silver had been a loner, seeing how his perspective changed over time was a very realistic touch to a character that I personally believed was just a cold killer beginning to grow soft. I found that World, Incorporated was fairly interesting in how the world and how society could change in just a few short decades due to how corporations merge and became bigger and ultimately supercorporations who would end up ruling over areas and zones of the world that they would have agreements with the other supercorporations to have control of. This brought up the idea that money and businesses are what our world is slowing turning towards for power. Though, it is already a topic among some people around us now, to see how that could easily be a reality if we keep up with the way things are going now.
I would rate World, Incorporated 3 stars out of 4 stars. As I had stated earlier, I had some troubles getting through the first half of the novel, but found the second half to hold my interest. Though the novel wasn’t a real page turner in my opinion, I still found the story line very good, if you make it past the history lessons. I would probably recommend this to a few of my friends and family, but only to the ones who I know would stick it out to get to the amazing parts of the story.
Though I don’t believe this is a must read, I found World, Incorporated to be a fairly decent book with a lot of thought on how our world will turn out to be in the fairly near future. Though some of it seems unlikely to ever come to pass, it does cause the reader to think deeply on the said issues and what they would do should something similar come to pass for real. It does follow its sci-fi genre requirements and causes a lot of questioning to happen within the reader’s mind. Once again, I enjoyed most of the book and the thoughts it provoked in me, and I hope that you will as well.
In World, Incorporated the reader is mainly following around Agent Silver, who is just a complete dissident. He ends up acquiring some travel companions who had tried to kill him in one way or another without his boss knowing while his aircraft is keeping information from him. You learn the history of the world through weblogs and news articles that the Agent had acquired in his own personal research. He used them to try to inform one of his companions, Kelly, about the world around her. Kelly lived in the country side where her parents kept her from the new world that existed around her. As you follow the main characters around, you are able to witness battles, suspense and plain human emotion as they grow into better people. Towards the end you find Agent Silver’s real goals and how he changes from the beginning of the novel.
At first, I had found the book boring and hard to stick it out. The articles on the history on how the world had become to be what it was just didn’t hold my interest. I understand their purpose; I just wish Tom Gariffo had chosen another way to convey the information to the reader. Even though that information had help shaped some of the way the reader was able to understand that way the supercorporations had been able to take over the and control areas and such and why it was so, it still left quite a few questions about certain topics revolving around the supercorporations. However, for the few things that had been left without answers at the beginning, I found some answers were revealed in the last chapter of the book.
The last chapter of the book, you got to really see how friendships of all kinds can really help a person grow and change their own ways. Although Agent Silver had been a loner, seeing how his perspective changed over time was a very realistic touch to a character that I personally believed was just a cold killer beginning to grow soft. I found that World, Incorporated was fairly interesting in how the world and how society could change in just a few short decades due to how corporations merge and became bigger and ultimately supercorporations who would end up ruling over areas and zones of the world that they would have agreements with the other supercorporations to have control of. This brought up the idea that money and businesses are what our world is slowing turning towards for power. Though, it is already a topic among some people around us now, to see how that could easily be a reality if we keep up with the way things are going now.
I would rate World, Incorporated 3 stars out of 4 stars. As I had stated earlier, I had some troubles getting through the first half of the novel, but found the second half to hold my interest. Though the novel wasn’t a real page turner in my opinion, I still found the story line very good, if you make it past the history lessons. I would probably recommend this to a few of my friends and family, but only to the ones who I know would stick it out to get to the amazing parts of the story.
Though I don’t believe this is a must read, I found World, Incorporated to be a fairly decent book with a lot of thought on how our world will turn out to be in the fairly near future. Though some of it seems unlikely to ever come to pass, it does cause the reader to think deeply on the said issues and what they would do should something similar come to pass for real. It does follow its sci-fi genre requirements and causes a lot of questioning to happen within the reader’s mind. Once again, I enjoyed most of the book and the thoughts it provoked in me, and I hope that you will as well.
Book Divas (227 KP) rated Everealm (Everealm, #1) in Books
Dec 12, 2017
I received a free copy of this book when I signed up to host the review tour via YA Bound Book Tours. I made no guarantee of a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are my own.
Before I begin let me say that I found the cover of this book to be pleasing to the eye.
Now, if you love reading books about royalty and their drama filled lives then you will definitely want to read this and if you also enjoy romance, then know that you have hit the jackpot. The story line kept me glued to every turn of the page and the author's world building creativity made me feel like I was there experiencing it all. Instead of telling you who my favorite characters are I will tell you which characters I hated with every fiber of my being; Vacilla and Silas as they truly made life a living hell for the people around them.
I found the characters to be well written and I loved reading this book. This book contains just the right amount of romance, drama and adventure. I will definitely be reading the second book. Kudos to J.D. Wright for a fantastically written fantasy.
Before I begin let me say that I found the cover of this book to be pleasing to the eye.
Now, if you love reading books about royalty and their drama filled lives then you will definitely want to read this and if you also enjoy romance, then know that you have hit the jackpot. The story line kept me glued to every turn of the page and the author's world building creativity made me feel like I was there experiencing it all. Instead of telling you who my favorite characters are I will tell you which characters I hated with every fiber of my being; Vacilla and Silas as they truly made life a living hell for the people around them.
I found the characters to be well written and I loved reading this book. This book contains just the right amount of romance, drama and adventure. I will definitely be reading the second book. Kudos to J.D. Wright for a fantastically written fantasy.
Book Divas (227 KP) rated Fjord Blue in Books
Dec 12, 2017
I received an eARC via NetGalley and made no guarantee of a favorable review. The opinions expressed here are unbiased and my own.
I've never read anything written by this author so I picked this book based on the description. I'm happy that I was able to read it as I found it to be a beautifully written story.
Benjamin is sent to Norway to work on his grandparents farm after some reckless behavior gets him into trouble. He's a young man dealing with his sexuality as no one knows that he is gay. Once he gets settled in and begins working side by side with Even who is employed by Benjamin's grandfather he starts falling into a routine while secretly fantasizing about this gorgeous eye candy. Unbeknownst to Benjamin, Even has his own secrets and demons. The characters are strong and believable. The use of Spanish and Norwegian words in this story line were excellent and it was a well-rounded read.
I found myself laughing and at times crying but most of all I loved the emphasizes on family and even though they aren't always perfect or always accepting, they are truly an important part of our lives. My only gripe is that the cover should be more appealing.
I've never read anything written by this author so I picked this book based on the description. I'm happy that I was able to read it as I found it to be a beautifully written story.
Benjamin is sent to Norway to work on his grandparents farm after some reckless behavior gets him into trouble. He's a young man dealing with his sexuality as no one knows that he is gay. Once he gets settled in and begins working side by side with Even who is employed by Benjamin's grandfather he starts falling into a routine while secretly fantasizing about this gorgeous eye candy. Unbeknownst to Benjamin, Even has his own secrets and demons. The characters are strong and believable. The use of Spanish and Norwegian words in this story line were excellent and it was a well-rounded read.
I found myself laughing and at times crying but most of all I loved the emphasizes on family and even though they aren't always perfect or always accepting, they are truly an important part of our lives. My only gripe is that the cover should be more appealing.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Kill (Maeve Kerrigan, #5) in Books
Jan 12, 2018
I received a copy of this book from the Dead Good Crime Book Group on Goodreads and I want to thank them, once again, for introducing me to another new author that I may never have found.
I haven't read any of the preceding books in this series so started reading with no background or information on any of the characters at all. In hindsight, I think it would have been better to have that knowledge as I did find myself wondering where some of the characters were coming from. Having said that though, I thought it was well written with engaging and complex characters. The storyline was great, delivered with good pace and with interesting twists. I like the relationships between the various characters and despite Derwent being a chauvinistic pig, he was the cause of an internal battle I had with myself - one minute I liked him, the next he was a total [insert appropriate swear word]. Derwent was also the one who made me laugh out loud by his ludicrous statements and the situation he found himself in towards the end of the book.
Overall, a good read but one that would probably have been much better had I read previous books in the series.
I haven't read any of the preceding books in this series so started reading with no background or information on any of the characters at all. In hindsight, I think it would have been better to have that knowledge as I did find myself wondering where some of the characters were coming from. Having said that though, I thought it was well written with engaging and complex characters. The storyline was great, delivered with good pace and with interesting twists. I like the relationships between the various characters and despite Derwent being a chauvinistic pig, he was the cause of an internal battle I had with myself - one minute I liked him, the next he was a total [insert appropriate swear word]. Derwent was also the one who made me laugh out loud by his ludicrous statements and the situation he found himself in towards the end of the book.
Overall, a good read but one that would probably have been much better had I read previous books in the series.
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Safe Haven in Books
Jan 15, 2018
Wow! This book was a powerhouse. About halfway through, it got so good I couldn't put it down for anything. The ending built up suspense in such a wonderfully tantalizing way. I was so sucked in to the story that I really did find myself transported to another place. It is truly a rare book that can do that.
I found myself wanting to kill Kevin myself. I was rooting like crazy for Katie. She was so likable...strong & vulnerable all at once. I could really feel her pain & ached to see her finally happy. But I also found myself, much like her, waiting for the other shoe to drop as it seemed inevitable. Alex was a great character too. If I were to describe him you'd likely think of him as that dream guy that doesn't exist in the real world. And you'd be right, he does sound too good to be true. Yet at the same time, he did seem real & so genuine.
The plot was well written. I was kept guessing for some time as the pieces gradually fell into place. Once they did it started to make sense, but it wasn't too predictable either. All in all it was a fantastic read!
I found myself wanting to kill Kevin myself. I was rooting like crazy for Katie. She was so likable...strong & vulnerable all at once. I could really feel her pain & ached to see her finally happy. But I also found myself, much like her, waiting for the other shoe to drop as it seemed inevitable. Alex was a great character too. If I were to describe him you'd likely think of him as that dream guy that doesn't exist in the real world. And you'd be right, he does sound too good to be true. Yet at the same time, he did seem real & so genuine.
The plot was well written. I was kept guessing for some time as the pieces gradually fell into place. Once they did it started to make sense, but it wasn't too predictable either. All in all it was a fantastic read!
b.Young (97 KP) rated The Wordsmith in Books
May 15, 2018
Horrifying in a good way
Have you ever wondered how famous authors pump out great book after great book? Well, it's probably not quite how Walt Erickson does it...or is it???
I read this book because I found it offered for free in the Amazon Kindle store. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. Y'all! I was wrong to set my expectations so low!
This was a truly horrifying glimpse into what one famous author does to keep writing those best-selling books of his. And (spoiler): He's. Not. Writing. Them.
So who is? How does he keep from being found out?
My first thought was that his typewriter is bewitched and doing the writing for him.
My second thought was that he had a ghost writer that he pays very handsomely to keep quiet.
I had some other thoughts about it, but they were just too PG.
Let me just tell you, that NONE of my thoughts were what was actually going on and I was beyond freaked out when I discovered the truth!
This story reminded me a little of Secret Garden and a little of some episode of The Twilight Zone I saw when I was like 10.
If you read this and you will think you entered The Twilight Zone.
I read this book because I found it offered for free in the Amazon Kindle store. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. Y'all! I was wrong to set my expectations so low!
This was a truly horrifying glimpse into what one famous author does to keep writing those best-selling books of his. And (spoiler): He's. Not. Writing. Them.
So who is? How does he keep from being found out?
My first thought was that his typewriter is bewitched and doing the writing for him.
My second thought was that he had a ghost writer that he pays very handsomely to keep quiet.
I had some other thoughts about it, but they were just too PG.
Let me just tell you, that NONE of my thoughts were what was actually going on and I was beyond freaked out when I discovered the truth!
This story reminded me a little of Secret Garden and a little of some episode of The Twilight Zone I saw when I was like 10.
If you read this and you will think you entered The Twilight Zone.
Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated A Note Of Madness in Books
Feb 9, 2019
Mental health awareness (1 more)
Likeable chapters
This novel was the authors debut, for a debut novel it's well written and flows fairly well. The portrayal of bipolar disorder / manic depression is realistically unsettling. It really shows how damaging a misdiagnosis could be and the serious effect of being dismissed. To avoid spoilers I'm not going to say if this story ends with a happy or an unfortunate end. I will advise you NOT to read this if you suffer from a mental illness and are triggered easily, this could be a serious trigger.
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Following on, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really appreciate the mental health awareness in it which is a rare find in a book, I found this a hard one to score higher than 7/10. This is solely due to the fact that the chapters are long, ranging on average at about 25+ pages. This made it difficult to stay focused and I found myself having to read back a couple of pages to recap. This is completely my own problem as I enjoy shorter chapters and I really dislike stopping half way through a chapter.
.
Overall I 100% recommend this book. It's very underrated and deserves more awareness
.
Following on, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really appreciate the mental health awareness in it which is a rare find in a book, I found this a hard one to score higher than 7/10. This is solely due to the fact that the chapters are long, ranging on average at about 25+ pages. This made it difficult to stay focused and I found myself having to read back a couple of pages to recap. This is completely my own problem as I enjoy shorter chapters and I really dislike stopping half way through a chapter.
.
Overall I 100% recommend this book. It's very underrated and deserves more awareness
Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated Good Omens in Books
Mar 3, 2019
Pros:
▪ Laugh out loud dark humour
▪ Footnotes
▪ Set in England
Cons:
▪ I didn't find it sooner?!
Why have I not known about this book until now? Please someone tell me! I picked this up in my local bookstore last week for £1 (mainly due to the intriguing cover) and I quickly found out it's actually very popular.
One thing I loved about this book was that it was set in England, reading such a classic with local town names and even roads and motorways that I know very well really made it for me.
The dark humour in it is absolutely laugh out loudable... some people have compared it to hitch hikers guide humour which is odd because I'm not actually a fan of the hitch hikers... but good omens just had me from page 1.
There are quite alot of characters which can make it a little tricky to keep track but I didn't have too much trouble with this as I took my time reading it.
The added footnotes I found really helpful, some funny and others were genuinely helpful with extra information.
I'm quite excited to hear that Amazon are currently making this into a show!
I 100% recommend GoOD OMeNs!
▪ Laugh out loud dark humour
▪ Footnotes
▪ Set in England
Cons:
▪ I didn't find it sooner?!
Why have I not known about this book until now? Please someone tell me! I picked this up in my local bookstore last week for £1 (mainly due to the intriguing cover) and I quickly found out it's actually very popular.
One thing I loved about this book was that it was set in England, reading such a classic with local town names and even roads and motorways that I know very well really made it for me.
The dark humour in it is absolutely laugh out loudable... some people have compared it to hitch hikers guide humour which is odd because I'm not actually a fan of the hitch hikers... but good omens just had me from page 1.
There are quite alot of characters which can make it a little tricky to keep track but I didn't have too much trouble with this as I took my time reading it.
The added footnotes I found really helpful, some funny and others were genuinely helpful with extra information.
I'm quite excited to hear that Amazon are currently making this into a show!
I 100% recommend GoOD OMeNs!
Mariafrancesca (30 KP) rated Gemina: The Illuminae Files: Book 2 in Books
Mar 30, 2019
I really don't know what it is about this series. If I think about it, it just a collection of all the biggest and most common themes in sci-fi, but somehow it works. I couldn't put this book down!
The story starts 5 seconds after the end of the first book, and it focuses on the events happening on the station where the Kady and the Hypatia are headed. There is no need to say that things goes as wrong as they can.
I have to say that I found this book a bit slower than the first one, and if readers thought that characters in the first book were fake, they will probably found the ones in this second book even more so (even though I think that the problem is the narration more than anything else, we always see these characters through a filter, we never know how the feel directly from them). However the more you get into the story the more gripping and eventful it gets, there are a lot of plot twists (again they may be cliches but the do work inside the story) and the book ends with a huge cliffhanger. I can't wait for part 3!
The story starts 5 seconds after the end of the first book, and it focuses on the events happening on the station where the Kady and the Hypatia are headed. There is no need to say that things goes as wrong as they can.
I have to say that I found this book a bit slower than the first one, and if readers thought that characters in the first book were fake, they will probably found the ones in this second book even more so (even though I think that the problem is the narration more than anything else, we always see these characters through a filter, we never know how the feel directly from them). However the more you get into the story the more gripping and eventful it gets, there are a lot of plot twists (again they may be cliches but the do work inside the story) and the book ends with a huge cliffhanger. I can't wait for part 3!