Melissa
Dismal. Poorly written and rife with grammatical errors. When I reached the second misplaced apostrophe on a single page, I knew I was done.
Disappointing. Lackluster mystery, lack of character development, and continued grammatical errors did me in. Oh, and the author's note was poorly researched, referencing Katharine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich as primary influencers of women wearing trousers in the 20s, when neither of them actually became well known until the 30s. The editor thought they should be called pants!?! Good gracious, get a better editor...even this American knows that pants are underwear in the UK!
Could not get into this book. Writing was bland and smacked of an American trying to write as a Brit. Very slow and uninspired plot;29% in and the mystery has not begun other than minor hintings at a death. Life's too short to read boring books.
Just not my cup of tea. A little too gruesome & dark, a little too much incomprehensible science-speak.
I find Andrews' self-importance distasteful. He supposes to be able to put words in the mouths of the greatest minds the world has ever seen; even a spokesperson of the almighty. I also abhor this particular brand of motivational-speech-based faith. It's neither good self-help nor good spiritual doctrine. Marshmallow fluff of the “chicken soup for the soul” variety. Two stars only because the concept was interesting.
Ok. I didn't think I'd like this book. I sort of forced myself to start it for lack of anything else to read. Boy howdy was I wrong. So wrong that this is my very first review on goodreads. I feel compelled to share my reader's high!
I loved this book. Devoured it in less than 24 hours, in spite of laundry and dishes and 3 kids. It sucked me in. I love Emerson, not only because I desperately wanted to name one of my girls that, but because she's feisty and funny and vulnerable and scared and angry. And short :)
It had romance, mystery, intrigue, decent depth for a YA novel, and a couple nice plot twists to keep me on edge. A winner in my book.
This book confused me. I couldn't ever quite grasp the game, nor the real connection between many characters. And most of all, why?? The motive behind the game was never clear. Disjointed.
The solution to the clues was obvious early on — ok, it's a children's book— but the bombs and the pointless misdirection at the end were just...bizarre. The concept was good, but in the end I was disappointed.
Meh. Promising start, but dragged on way too long. Lots of cheesy cliches. Not my cup of tea.
Mostly enjoyable, with some fairly large exceptions. As others have noted, an odd and unexpected tale, which left me feeling befuddled at times. I'm not a huge satire fan, so that may have been part of my feeling lost occasionally. There is one giant glaring plot hole that drove me nuts and was never resolved, but overall the twists were fun. I saw the culprit coming a mile away, though not the motive and backstory. All in all, a story characterized by contradictions.
3.5 stars. Would have given 4 but for some irksome writing errors that increased in frequency throughout the book. Plot was fairly good and characters engaging. Pacing was good, so giving the next book a shot.
These books are amazing. So well-written and the plots are always intricate and highly detailed. It's become one of my favorite series.
I feel like this series is getting cheesier by the book. This one was just about unbearable. Will not continue series
Interesting concept, but poorly executed. Cheesy and self-important, not to mention the religious fluff. Disappointing.
Poorly written
Not terrible, but the punctuation errors made it hard for me to enjoy. Plot and characters were lackluster and period language wasn't consistent. Won't continue the series.
4.5 stars. Fabulous! A bit slow to start but after the halfway point I couldn't put it down. Amazing writing, and character development so strong I missed them at the end.
I don't know if it is the state of the world, or the unlikeable protagonist, but I did not enjoy this book like I did the original trilogy. It was pretty well written, albeit wayyyy longer than needed and oddly paced, but terribly depressing. Insight into Snow? I guess, but not compelling enough to merit an entire (long) novel. Overall it feels like an attempt to milk the popularity of the series for one last time, which I suppose it achieved.
3.5 stars. Pretty well written and mostly compelling but the mystery was predictable and there were several plot holes.
Awful. Silly, but not in a delightful, quirky way. Badly written, poorly researched and poorly edited.
I tried, I really did, but after reading 15% of the book I still had no idea who was who or why I should care. Flat and boring. Dnf
Really wanted to love it, but it's poorly written, very slow, and hard to follow. The content itself is fascinating, so much so that I'm planning to read a different book about it. Hopefully it will be more enjoyable.
Enjoyable. I found the verbal sparring between Violet, Sebastian and St. Sevier entertaining, although it could easily become tedious. Decently woven plot and interesting, fairly developed characters; most importantly, no glaringly obvious missteps about the time and place, which are all too frequent in this genre.
I'm super torn about this book. First, it's definitely not cozy. Second, the relationship with Alaric has been exhausting from the start. I'm completely over it.
But. The mystery itself got really good towards the end, with multiple twists that had me gripped. Not sure I'll continue the series, but decided the writing at least deserved its due with the rating.