ashleydillinger's reviews
397 reviews

I have never marked a book up like I did with this. I read this book with my RA staff in college. Shauna was my Resident Director's absolute favorite and I had never heard of her before. Every two weeks, we would have a set amount of the book to read and then we would come together, in place of a staff meeting, to discuss the book. Some parts were dry and didn't resonate with me, others made me bawl. Shauna has a way of writing that is poetic and almost reminiscent of reading a letter from a friend. This book blessed me through some stressful times and brought our staff closer together.

I would have given it 3.5 stars if it would have let me. This doesn't stand up to [b:Cirque Du Freak|9640837|Cirque Du Freak|Darren Shan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1323738970s/9640837.jpg|14528262] in the slightest. I'll admit that the mention of familiar Cirque characters gave me goosebumps and some of the more intense moments really pulled me into the story, but the ending did nothing for me. It was a sad excuse for an attempted cliffhanger. I'm not overly interested in this devil-may-care lifestyle that Larten is adapting. After skimming some reviews for [b:Ocean of Blood|9456611|Ocean of Blood|Darren Shan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1291003680s/9456611.jpg|14341432], I'm not sure [b:The Saga of Larten Crepsley|21402035|The Saga of Larten Crepsley (Birth of a Killer / Ocean of Blood / Palace of the Damned / Brother to the Death)|Darren Shan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427262399s/21402035.jpg|40700222] is good enough for me to continue reading.

This book is so far ahead of its time. Incredible. The writing style of this novel is amazing. It is more or less a jumbled mess of Offred's thoughts and experiences. It is almost like being directly inside her head. Sometimes it can be difficult to follow what is actually happening, what is a memory, and what she is imagining. But I think that is the whole point of it. I wish the book was longer or there was a sequel. The ending definitely gave closure, but I still have so many questions about Gilead.

I was worried that I wouldn't like this novel because I have already watched all of season 1 of the Hulu show. But in all actuality, reading the novel gave me a whole new respect for Hulu. They kept the show quite accurate compared to the actual novel. I recommend to everyone who read the book, watch the show. And I recommend to everyone who watches the show, read the book.

YES! Everything about this book was perfect. We didn't get much of Hurt's War Doctor in the series and yet, George Mann was able to perfectly capture exactly what I expected the War Doctor to be. After reading this, I even have a slightly different view of 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. because that I know more about the Time War than the TV series ever provided. The only thing that kills me is that we never again get mention of Cinder. Her legacy remains within this book, never to be included on screen or mentioned by any other Doctor regeneration.