dana_naylor's reviews
467 reviews

Collection of content of four Discworld Diaries: Unseen University, Assassins' Guild, Thieves' Guild, Post Office.

These diaries were written during Pratchett's lifetime and were designed for the year. I have the Assassins' Guild diary (2000). The collection includes most drawings from the diaries and all the written content. Some of the fonts were easier to read in the original diary, but I love being able to read Pratchett's words. There are some quotes from books, but most of the material was new to the diaries. There's no story here, but bits did have me laughing aloud. The volumes are worth reading for a Pratchett completist and would rank higher than the maps.

This book has been sitting on my TBR pile for a year. I haven't been too interested in picking it up, because (ugh) "A Novel of the Nutcracker"? But it's so much more than that.

The book is divided into five Acts, with an Overture and a Curtain. Each of the divisions begins with an epigraph from The Wasteland, which gives a real glimpse as to the tone of the book.

The Overture and Act One are very much a version of The Nutcracker - but a darker version where Clara has a twin. The book is told from the point of view of Natasha, and I just adored her as a character.

I loved the use of words through the book, often commenting to my husband on just how much I liked a particular word. The book felt more like a horror book to me in its use of comparison. In one point we have laughter "as cold and crystalline as the deadly icicles that hung from our house's roof, waiting for unwary passersby." :)  There are also some disturbing scenes and quite a sense of dread.

I think the book settles more on dark fantasy than horror. I absolutely adored it. I love how the real world meets the fantasy world, how imperfect and real the characters are, and how the story was told.

Really cute picture book.
Rhyme and rhythm works very well. I don’t think this is a book I’d mind reading aloud repeatedly.
(I was willing to read Bear Snores On over and over but I dreaded the requests for Best House Ever by Richard Scarry).

I saw the book on a list of books banned at the state level from our stupid state department of education. I couldn’t figure out why this is on the banned list, but I expect it’s due to two dads.

I had fun with it, possibly because I had been looking forward to it so much after book 1.
Drawback is that is definitely the middle book of 3 and it ends with a lot unfinished.
I enjoyed spending time with Ada and Rian again and look forward to book 3.

Spoilers about other characters.

We do have an evil trilionaire clearly modeled after Musk and with the first name of Strom (which I will always have tied in my mind with the likewise evil Strom Thurmond). So I didn’t enjoy spending time with him.

Book will make sense when read alone.
Unfortunately it ends very abruptly.
Writing is good and story moves along, but this feels very much like just a piece of a puzzle-very limited view.

Spoiler for end of book and reminder for me in series

book ends as soon as main character realizes that the suit is converting the soldiers as they are wounded and that they will never be set free of the suit.  Kind of naive of main character not to realize he’s never seen anyone retired from this service. “War changes people” is the  message?

Ohhhh….fun!
I haven’t watched the tv series and didn’t know anything about plot when I picked this up.
I just couldn’t put it down and had a great time reading it!

Told in alternating viewpoint between two main characters, I didn’t get a good feel for the grand picture of the story until over halfway through, but that was fine as the characters were also figuring things out. Some pretty descriptive gore and body horror in a few parts.

I’ve got book 2 on hold at library and am looking forward to starting it soon!

I liked the part of the dedication:

I think I would have enjoyed the book more if the afterword had been a preface.
I read in some reviews people saying they had a tough time placing the locations in the fantasy into corresponding locations in reality. I think the afterword goes a long way to explaining where the comparisons are (and I wouldn't have found it as a spoiler at all, but just in case...)

Persia (Iran) is the empire that is then conquered. How do you reconcile your country's imperialism when it is later conquered?

I think the questions raised are interesting. I think the magic in the world and the fear of blood magic has great potential. I think the worldbuilding is interesting. I think this book tries to do too much in too short a length and isn't terribly effective. I was more frustrated with unanswered questions or confused with place names while reading. 

I am interested in seeing where Jamnia goes with future writing and will be looking for more of their work.

I have not watched any of the tv series but have read bits about it. The book is a series of interconnected stories with different main characters. I preferred the stories with supernatural horror to the real-world horrors and wish things had changed more in the 70 years since the setting of the book. 

It took me a couple of tries to finally progress in the book, but I'm glad I did. I likely will read Destroyer of Worlds relatively soon as well.

Told in a 5 Act structure, this is a love letter to Shakespeare and the theater.
Each act begins with a prologue which takes place 10 years after the events of the book.
I had fun with it and want to reread and watch some Shakespeare :)

An earlier book by Hibbert, this is more erotica than romance. Characters are especially light, but you can see the spark that she'll develop as she writes more. Made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Enjoyable.