lizziepurpleserenity's reviews
341 reviews

I enjoyed this. The pacing was a little slow at times (and it took quite some time to get to some proper action from the deep), but I really liked the husband & wife team, and the exploration of how the press and government might handle such events, from the POV of a journalist. The narrative of the husband occasionally came across as a little patronising about his wife, but this was possibly intentional or else a product of the time it was written - however, despite this being written in the '50s, she was in fact the cleverer of the two of them, who played an important role, something the narrator (her husband) does acknowledge a few times.

I particularly enjoyed when he called the doctor because he thought his wife was finally losing it and it turned out he was the one who needed a break :D .(PTSD basically) And the end, when she reveals that she'd built her arbour brick by brick by herself in order to hide stores of food in case it was ever needed.

In short, she was pretty cool. I also liked that they had a nice, gentle relationship but with conflicty cracks here and there.

The scientist Bocker was pretty cool too.

The end, when the ice caps melt and sea level rises, could have been a description of what is literally going to happen to us all for real one day. Considering this was written before climate science started really taking off and becoming a concern, it's kinda prescient and chilling - and we even have people in power arguing about it!

I'm not sure Wyndham was completely scientifically accurate about how it would all go down, and at times (especially in the last third) the narrative feels a bit detached from the real action and everyday people, due to the privileged/lucky situation of the protagonists, but nevertheless I did enjoy it.

I LOVED this!!! I listened to the audiobook (Ray Porter) and I would highly recommend reading it that way, Ray's performance is great, I was fully engaged throughout and he really brought the important characters to life and with perfect comic timing and nuance. As long as you expect to suspend disbelief, enjoy a bit of info-dumpy science now and then, and like a more optimistic heart-warming story, this will not disappoint.

I thought Andy Weir made a couple of good choices that gave this story a winning formula (for me personally) - there's an unfolding mystery because our main character remembers nothing when he first wakes up, and so we gradually learn alongside him who he is and what the hell he's doing there... and he's

a middle school science teacher

and is telling his story to us, Joe Bloggs, so the way the science is explained is at a level that is easy to understand and in a fun way.

The end:

I cried, a lot. I was happy with the ending.

This might even be my favourite audiobook so far (though it's fighting The House in the Cerulean Sea for that spot!)

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Fellowship of the Ring, probably mostly because the Fellowship are now split up, but I am still loving it. There are a few moments in this part of the whole where it dragged a bit for me, and other parts that were quicker-moving, fun or tense or interesting. Always magical and atmospheric and immersive. And Samwise Gamgee is ADORABLE.

I don't think this one is as enjoyable as the first two books, mostly because of Maxwell.

It feels so ridiculous that he isn't instantly dismissed towards the end when the teachers discover he stole the money (and had from his previous school too), and that he had simply guessed (wrongly) whose maths paper was whose. He was even sent to send Rebecca to the principal's office just after his telling off and to continue teaching?! And the favouritism he showed 'Bobbie'... He was so dodgy lol.

Otherwise, it's still a nicely put together story. 

This was such a smooth read, with simple, pragmatic and unsentimental prose perfect for the subject matter. It's more historical (fiction... but fiction that's real) than sci fi. The characters are all complex, the situation well-researched, the story harrowing. Such an important book that perfectly lays out the complexities (and nightmare) of the situation at a plantation in the Antebellum South, and the thread that connects this past to the present day ('70s, in the book). I "enjoyed" (that's the wrong word, but you know what I mean) every minute of it and will definitely be reading more Octavia E. Butler. 

This is a well-built world and includes, objectively, interesting characters, and a tense, political plot, but for reasons I just can't put my finger on, I simply could not engage or care. I just kept on thinking, but why?. It ended up being quite a drag for me to get through (I was determined to complete it for a challenge prompt). I suppose I am glad I finished it, there were aspects of the ending that I liked, but I am not interested enough to continue on to book 2. Objectively though, it's definitely a good book and interesting world.

Disclaimers:
- I don't usually like short stories, nor do I usually enjoy fairytale-style prose.
- I know next to nothing about our real life stories of saints nor how they came to be, so I have no idea how faithful this is to how that kind of story really works or how/why saints are created...
- I read the Kindle version, not the full colour hardback, the pictures of which I've seen online do look lovely so I may buy a hard copy to add to my collection, it would admittedly have added to my enjoyment...

I was mostly a bit baffled reading this, I didn't really get it because other than the obvious connections with characters or Saints that pop up in the books, I couldn't for example really see connections to the 'real' magic, that we know about, in the Grishaverse.

and to be honest I'm still baffled about the Thorn Wood events in the King of Scars duology, cool as Zoya's dragon is.

Maybe that's the point, these people became Saints in this world because their magic was inexplicable (as well as the fact that they usually either sacrificed themselves, or were killed, in some way), and stories passed down through generations get skewed or more mysterious or told wrongly

like Ilya's

. Also, it wasn't always clear about which country the events were taking place in (nor which time period, given the last couple obviously took place much, much later), unless we were to assume Ravka if not told otherwise...

In general, I dunno, it all felt a bit odd to me and I didn't really connect with it at all and for now, it hasn't added anything to the Grishaverse for me. The one story I did like was that of Sankta Marya, who created the caves, but that's because I love geology...
Perhaps if I get a hard copy and read it more slowly rather than quickly all in one go, I'd get more out of it.

This was quite a charming book, with Maia's story based around one of my favourite themes for children - educational freedom, experiential learning - but I can't say the book wowed me. Maia herself is a breath of fresh air in the context of the book - sunny and optimistic, open and adventurous - and there were times the plot gets moving but it also fell a tad flat for me at times too.

TOP MARKS on my rating system!
I loved this so much! In a gooey warm feelings kinda way. I need a Ring of my own, complete with its Elvish carvings.

I'm going to be honest, I read The Hobbit several years ago and then tried this but gave up early on. I've only returned to it because it is the grandaddy of what has become my favourite genre, and I was fully expecting to find it a drag, especially given it's a quest story, which I'm not normally a fan of (I'm a big fan of DNF'ing when you're not enjoying a book, but this is one book - the whole Lord of the Rings I mean - that I decided I would force myself to read in full, just so that I can say I have read it and have an informed opinion and knowledge of the biggest historical influence on the genre). But, my reading skills must surely have developed thanks to my prolific reading over the past couple of years, because I loved every second and can't wait to continue with the rest. (I will add that it helps that I know the movies well so that would have helped me to visualise everything, and I already know all the characters.)

What's great: The immersive descriptions of location and landscape; the characters (I knew Sam Gamgee is everyone's favourite but he is to die for); the awesomeness of the very soft magic (when I'd thought I was more a fan of hard magic systems); the creepiness and constant sense of threat, from the Black Riders, and of being followed (

Gollum - can't wait to meet him!!

); the world-building, of locations and languages and races... what more can I say?!