The Shooting Party
John Sutherland, Ronald Wilks and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Book
Anton Chekhov's only full-length novel, this Penguin Classics edition of The Shooting Party is...
Counting the Ways
Book
Grace Barnes, living in her subterranean one-room flat at the nether end of Earl's Court, feels out...
Return of the Hustle: The Art of Marketing with Music: 2016
Book
Has a commercial ever brought you to tears? Has a movie ever inspired you so much you change your...
Sarah (7800 KP) rated The Last Librarian in Books
Jul 24, 2020
The good thing about this book is that the idea behind it. Set in a futuristic society where a pandemic has wiped out a large part of the population, the thought behind it is fairly relevant and in keeping with today’s events and you can almost imagine that this could’ve easily happened today. That however is where the good stops. The story is far too overly complicated and predictable, and also pretty dull. It doesn’t help that the author has decided that despite being set less than 80 years from today, everything has changed - the language, the continents, technology to the point where everything has a ridiculous and laughable new name. I never understand why authors try and rename everything just because it’s classed as a futuristic book, it’s entirely unnecessary. And then there’s the acronyms. Within the first half of the book so many silly acronyms are introduced that I quickly lost the will to even try and remember what they stood for, it’s far too many.
The characters are whiny and self absorbed, with a large part of the chapters taken up by their monotonous and rambling inner monologuing. And then they all seem to inexplicably talk in literary quotes all the time, to constantly stress their self importance and the worthiness of the books. The relationships between characters also seem poorly developed yet progress far too quickly.
Overall I really didn’t enjoy this book, and the fact that it has been set up for 2 further sequels doesn’t interest me in the slightest. I’d have to be very desperate to read those.
Frank Carter recommended Hope Six Demolition Project by PJ Harvey in Music (curated)
Change: What Really Leads to Lasting Personal Transformation
Book
Change is often a mystery, one that baffles doctors, therapists, teachers, coaches, parents-and...
The Mindbody Self: How Longevity is Culturally Learned and the Causes of Health are Inherited
Book
In these turbulent times, just about every solution you can think of has been put forth by someone,...
There is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love
Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell
Book
The creator of the viral hit "Empathy Cards" teams up with a compassion expert to produce a visually...
Brexit
Book
In the referendum of 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union. However, in...
Intimacy Post-Injury: Combat Trauma and Sexual Health
Book
Since September 11 2001, or "9/11", approximately 2.7 US million service members have served in the...


