The Handmaid's Tale is a truly chilling story.I loved this book. It did start a little slow and the first bit was on the painful side to read, if only because you want to know more about this world and how it became the way it is. On the other hand, I loved how things slowly sunk in as you read through the pages. You're presented a world and gradually you learn more and more, and the more you learn, the more horrifying it becomes.My only complaint is that sometimes the world didn't quite seem real, or plausible. Perhaps this is because it's an extreme take on something subtle in our society. The ending certainly clears things up, but I can't help but want more, as I don't feel that I truly understand the world presented in The Handmaid's Tale. There's something missing and that leaves me feeling unsatisfied.
Hemlock Grove
I watched the show before I read the book. I should have avoided both.Strike 1: The overuse of the words retard and f***** in both speech and narration. Thanks to the crazy POV flopping about I couldn't tell if this was coming from the character's mouth or if the author felt that both words were peachy keen to be used with little thought.Strike 2: He said. She said. Peter said. Roman said. Said. Said said said. This was so obvious that I took note of it 10 pages into the book. I honestly can't remember if any other dialogue tags were used, it was that bad.Strike 3: What. Is. Going. On. This story has a lot going on and none of it makes sense. At all. There are so many different plots and bits and pieces introduced in the novel and none of it makes sense. None of it! The strange going ons are either hand waved by crazy Gypsy magic or not expanded upon at all. I realize this is the first in a planned trilogy, but the first book should have enough to stand on it's own legs. It doesn't. Nothing is explained. AT ALL.So there it is, Hemlock Grove, which would have gotten one star if it wasn't a genre I love love to pieces. Props to it for putting a new spin on werewolves and vampires. Thumbs down at everything else.(Don't put bacon grease on your face. Don't.)
2.5/5Uglies was a book I heard about here and there and never got around to picking up until recently. It sounded like it was right up my alley but, after reading it, I'm really glad I didn't pick up the three book box set like I initially planned.I didn't find Tally all that interesting of a character, I certainly didn't feel attached to her or particularly invested in her troubles. She felt too much like a perfect heroine, in that she succeeds in everything she does without trying all that hard. The romance with her felt really forced and the book would have benefitted without it. Even when she messed up (most noticeable with her constant worrying over betraying the Smokies) she never faced any real repercussions. People forgave her and loved her because they were supposed to, because she was the main character, and it felt cheap to me as a reader.This book touched on serious subjects such as conforming and body image without any real depth. The author built this world with so much potential to critique our current society, yet went nowhere with it.The main pull when I started to read Uglies was Shay and Tally's friendship. Girls being awesome friends and rebelling against the norm? I'm totally here for that. Girls bickering and ruining their friendship over a guy? Not here for that. At all. It was so obvious to see what was going to happen once David was introduced to the reader and it's so boring. It's all too common to see girls in fiction squabbling over a guy and David's dismissal of Shay's feelings completely soured my any sort of sympathy I had towards him and his plight.In conclusion: Tally, you achieved a lot i this book without really doing anything. Shay, you deserve better. David, you're boring.
3.5/5I like this book, but, I also don't like this book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading John Dies at the End. It's odd and darkly humorous with a lot of out there ideas. Every page was entertaining and I had a lot of laughs while reading it. Looking back on it, however, there's something that just bugs me and left a sour taste in my mouth as I was reading it.Perhaps this has more to do with the audience this book is for, but to me, it's clearly a book written by a guy for a guy. That is to say, female characters fit into one overused category and that's it. You have John and David, two irresponsible but very different guys, and then you have other characters such as Marconi or Morgan Freeman or Shitload or Arnie. They're all colourful and different with very distinct characteristics and goals. The girls, however, are either love interests (Jennifer Lopez and Amy) or a dog. ...That's it. You have a book with such a wide array of characters but it ends up turning into a giant accidental sausage fest.This happens a lot, and perhaps I'm unfairly taking it out on John and company here. It just bothers me that the most fleshed out female character in the book with growth and development was a dog, Molly. I really wish I was joking. Amy has some substance, she truly does and I was surprised when she appeared, but she's only relevant in the last fifth or so of the book and she ultimately boils down to being another damsel in distress for them to save. I enjoyed John Dies at the End but I was disappointed. It's my brand of humour, but, as a girl I just couldn't enjoy it completely because of the lack of complex female characters.
1
Mermaids! Sisterhood! A little bit of darkness, I can get into a book like that.Only, oh. :( They're mean mermaids and the whole book is a bunch of catty passive aggressive arguments with sprinkles of undying love that makes no sense at all. Even our main heroine, who is above all this petty arguing and competition (only she's not really), can be rather cruel and thoughtless. It doesn't feel like a deliberate move on the author's part, it comes across as weak story telling and enforces the good old fashioned stereotype that girls cannot get along with other girls. This book had some interesting concepts, only it was ruined by unlikeable characters. Blech.
Of Blood and Honey isn't a terrible book but it also isn't all that good either. There were bits and pieces that I thoroughly enjoyed and found interesting but altogether the book failed to leave any sort of impression on me. It all felt very formulaic and for the life of me I couldn't connect to our hero, Liam. The story was driven so much by his emotions yet he felt very bland and one dimensional to me. I couldn't grasp the rest of the characters either, they all felt half finished and unformed. Nearly 300 pages and in the end I didn't feel as if I knew anybody or anything about their world.When Mary Kate joined the league of women stuffed into refrigerators I knew the story wasn't going to improve. And I was right.
I have never read a book in which the stunningly good looking hero's eyes were described at "the color of canned peas". My Name Is Memory, ladies and gentlemen!There's good buildup in this book. There's good backstory in this book. The first 3/4ths of the book are what I expected and wanted and enjoyed. The ending... not so good and completely unsatisfying. The climax felt out of place and the conclusion gave you nothing. This could have been such a good book and it only proves that a bad ending can completely sour the rest of an otherwise enjoyable read.