What an excellent piece! I have not feel this satisfied with a book in quite awhile. Highly recommended =)
Austen's first published novel, [b:Sense and Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309203534s/14935.jpg|2809709], depicts the life of two Dashwood sisters, the rational Elinor and the passionate Marianne, as they experience the joys and the grieves caused by love. While I appreciate the idea behind this book, I still find it severely lacking the charms and sensible plot that made [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320399351s/1885.jpg|3060926] interesting, readable and a more humourous read. The eloquent language is no doubt beautiful and the sparse social commentaries are certainly intriguing but those are not enough to thoroughly immersed and glued me into the story.
I never thought that a book can get even worse than [b:Halo|7778981|Halo (Halo, #1)|Alexandra Adornetto|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278885735s/7778981.jpg|10695325], but Hades proved that I was totally wrong. Filled with ostentatious religious rhetoric, stereotypical, absent-minded characters and storyline that was barely there, I found the book to be really immature even for the intended audience. A painful book to get through. Absolutely horrendous.
A theatrical, less than satisfactory ending to an otherwise good, albeit clumsily written and not wholly convincing story. The dialogues used in this book feel fabricated somewhat and most of the stories told here were simply a rerun of those that were written in the first two books in the trilogy. If you liked Pelzer's earlier works, I advice you not to read this book as it didn't really add anything much nor answer any "why's" from the original story. Disappointing.
Flowers for Algernon is an amazingly poignant story that follows the rise and fall of one Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old mentally challenged man. The book explores a number of important themes that include the effects of intelligence to a person, to the way a person sees another person and the way society reacts to a person that is mentally disabled. It is true that this book is merely a work of fiction but in some ways, I do feel like it depicts the story of us these days, the way we see ourselves and the way we treat each other. A short read, yes, but a very touching and depressing one. Definitely an important book despite of its small size.
A tough, exhausting read that is choke full with repetition, which in its own awkward way draws readers into the heart of the story and keeps us in trepidation of the doom that we know is approaching from the very beginning. I can't really say that I "liked" this book but it is surely impactful in so many ways.
First Comes Marriage is basically a retelling of Austen's Pride and Prejudice only without a fascinating, witty heroine and any sparks between the two main characters. I suppose that this book does have potential if I judged it from the storyline alone but the combination of a Mary Sue type of heroine, an unlikeable, cold, arrogant hero and a rather repetitive writing just didn't cut it for me. As the first book in a series, it surely is off to a poor start.
World Without End could be a great book on its own, I think, but when compared to its predecessor, it falls WAY short.The book is simply the cardboard copy of the first novel only without any likeable, well developed characters, concrete themes and satisfying ending. Plus, the explicit scenes that can be found in abundance here are down right nauseating.I gave this book two stars instead of one just because I liked the way Follett depicted the life of people in the 13th century. Other than that, I don't think that the book has anything worth mentioning.
This was my first exposure to Kay's work, and I've to say that I've already fallen in love with his writing. In A Song for Arbonne, he created a dazzling and extraordinary tale of mere mortals, whose life were entangled by malevolence, political intrigue and love. From this overtly distinct mix, Kay managed to weave such a convoluted story that acquire a life of its own. This, coupled with the story's multi-layered characters, interesting plot and Kay's very own magnificent prose produced an awe-inspiring, emotional and immensely satisfying novel. If you are among those who enjoy historical fiction, sprinkled with a little bit of magical element, I dare say that reading Kay's A Song for Arbonne is a definite must.
Despite its cliched storyline and amateur-ish writing, Flynn's debut, Term Limits, turned out to be a pretty decent book with an interesting political view. With its fast paced and action packed scenes, Flynn sure knows how to maintain the suspense and keep readers at the edge of the seats, craving for more. I'm definitely looking forward for further works by this author.
The Power of Six was an easy read that comes with number of shortcomings. Like the previous installment, this book lacked in details on background of its characters, fulled with plot-devices and was tainted by unnecessary romantic scenes. The only thing that this book never short of is the action sequences but even that felt rather repetitive at some parts. Fun and mindless read, yes, slightly better than I am Number Four, perhaps, but there was really nothing remarkable in it that I could think of.
Blood and Bone was an uninspired story starred by a couple of uninteresting and forgettable characters. The core idea of the book, the one that has to do with Kyle trying to unravel the mystery that involved his late father, was interesting but the way it was presented to readers was very subpar. Coupled with its sleep-inducing pace and at times maudlin tone, Blood and Bone was certainly not an engaging or memorable read.
The author's attention seemed to be focusing too much on the action sequence and little on anything else in Furies of Calderon. Nothing spectacular could be seen in term of character development and world building, making it difficult for readers to be emotionally invested in the story. It was indeed a tedious, exhausting read and Butcher's attempt to make this book sounds "epic" by using overly verbose prose didn't really help - at all. Disappointing.
Overrated. Lola and the Boy Next Door is simply the remake of its predecessor Anna and the French Kiss but with a more clichéd storyline and melodramatic characters. My biggest issue with this book was Lola, the main character, as she was continuously portrayed as a whiny, selfish teen that always wanted herself, her feelings to come first without thinking much about others'. I dislike the way she treated her parents, the lies she told her boyfriend and how she played with Cricket's - the boy next door - feelings. What made it worst was that, despite all these mistakes that she made, she still thought herself as the victim and that was so immature and wrong.Another thing that irked me was how forced and contrived certain parts of the story felt especially those that have to do with Lola's boyfriend, Max. Perkins used the easiest way to kick him out of the equation and I found this to be both frustrating and rather unreasonable. I wish that the author could think of something more mature in handling this issues with their relationship but alas, the way it was dealt with was so clumsy and absurd. All in all, Lola and the Boy Next Door was an OK, entertaining read but I wish that there is more substance and a little less lust and teen angst in it.
Going through Halo was an incredibly agonising experience. The pace was too slow, the characters were way too shallow and the plot was simply non-existent. Halo paints a disturbing picture of an unhealthy relationship and an ugly portrayal of today's teens. There is no redeeming quality in this book that I think worth mentioning.
It is difficult to believe that Among Theives is the author's, Douglas Hulick, first novel. The writing maybe concise and simple yet the storytelling is really brilliant. It is refreshing to see a fantasy novel that does not really have any romance part being pour into the mix and it works - superbly - with this novel. Kudos to the author for creating such a fun, adventurous read.
