Tadhg

I was excited to read a fantasy book set in a Chinese based culture rather than the usual European culture found in most fantasy books. However I couldn't get past a certain event that happens early in the book, and was clearly going to have ongoing effects on the character. The descriptions are very evocative, which probably didn't help me in this case. And I could see the book turning into a great read.

I really liked this; it dove straight into the plot and jumping back and forth in time worked well as the different POV. I appreciated the language/pronouns used for Avery throughout and the shocked reaction of Imogen. The introduction of Elizabeth's POV was a bit jarring but once her role became clear and the fact that although the chapters were nominally POVs, they weren't first-person, her chapters advanced the plot well.
Still have questions, but we shouldn't expect stories of people's lives to wrap up neatly

Easy to read, and first impressions are that it is generally respectful with only a couple of pronoun errors (the decision to use female pronouns before he started transitioning is the better one from a readability POV). There were several statements in the book which made me cringe in their attitude, but given this was originally published in 1989 it is to be expected I suppose. They will likely annoy me more once I've had time to absorb the book, but given that I read it in one sitting, I felt how to give it at least 4 stars for now

I liked this better than Snuff, though that may be largely because I listened to the audiobook which allows me to get through books I would otherwise lem.
This was an ode to trains and I don't have much interest in trains. There was a sense throughout the book of times changing/ a new era beginning which makes me wonder about the discworld itself.

Right now I feel like Joshua did towards Lopsang at the beginning of the book except about Jansen.
These books seem to be very much about the world-building and I need more plot. I suspect that if I'd read this, rather than listened to it, I would have given up on it a while ago. Don't know if I'll bother with the next one

More of a 2.5 stars, but I'm feeling generous.

This could have been a damn good story if it had been....less. If I had been reading it rather than listening to it I doubt I would have made it to 30% (my cut-off point - if I'm not into a book by 30% I ain't gonna be). As it was, listening to it I drifted a lot.

A good depression memoir. I found the passages where she wrote about religion difficult, but I recognise that this is my issue rather than a problem with the book per se. I did find some of the parallels she drew between aspects of christianity and mental health thought provoking.
I like that she presented depression as having a positive effect on life, forcing us to identify where we're pushing ourselves in the wrong direction; this is what I found to be the case with my first ‘big low'.
I appreciated the humour in her writing, though I'm not sure it lives up to being “a cheerful book about depression”

This book broke down the various medications available quite well. Though, I am coming from the perspective of someone who has had lectures about them; I don't know how easy it would be for someone completely unfamiliar with physiology to understand.
A major criticism is the amount of “I believe...”; I don't care what you believe, I want to know the facts and accepted hypotheses based on said facts. This marked down my rating from a 4 to a 2.
I do feel much more knowledgeable about the medications, am disgusted by the lack of information my doctor gave before prescribing me one of the mentioned drugs, so for that I'm very grateful for this book, enough to give it 3 stars.

This would be a 3.5 for me. I, in no way agree with everything in this book and don't know enough about economics or policy to have a good understanding of the basis or implications of these proposals. A good few of the suggested policies seem naive to me and to ignore basic human nature. I've never made so many notes or highlights in a book before.
I think this could have been set out better, sentences tended to be quite long which was more problematic given there was a (required) need for specialist language. Still, for a political/sociology book, this was easy to read with more substance than the white paper which admittedly I have only read a few pages of.

This was so awful I couldn't even force myself to read up to 30% which is my minimum before quitting a book. So much glorification of ‘simpler times' when we were happier and ‘aren't animals so happy in their ignorance of awareness'. I couldn't take this seriously with so much bullshit in it. I wanted to like this, I even laughed a few times but no, just no.
I tried skipping ahead to see if it improved but it did not seem to get better.

The last third of this novel really came together for me; I don't know if it was that the pace picked up slightly or that it became a simpler narrative, but when it finished, I literally stopped cycling on the bike path (listening to the audiobook) and said “it can't stop there!”.
Style-wise it reminded me of Ringworld in that it was more about the concept of the world-building than a plot. That really bothered me in Ringworld, which I lemmed, but there was enough plot in this to keep me going. The concept of the long Earth was really cool and thought-provoking, especially the thought of how different colonies of humans will evolve differently, potentially even becoming different races with time.

Had I been reading this, rather than listening to an audiobook, I'm sure I would have lemmed it - though that has been the case for the whole series. It's particularly the case for this one. Whereas very little has happened in the series, as in there has been no clearly defined beginning-middle-end plot, nothing happened in this one. Obviously things happened, but they didn't really have much impact on me.
Whilst I'll probably listen to the audiobook of the next one (I don't know if another has been announced, but I'd be surprised if there isn't another one), I'll not be impatiently waiting for it.

I did not find the dialogue realistic; this was also a problem with Blood Slave though not as much and it had a more compelling plot. People do not usually stand up for themselves in the way Roseau writes them and do not articulate their needs so well. This makes it difficult to stay in the plot when I'm thrown out of it by thinking “no one would ever say that”

I made the mistake of starting to read this at 11pm and read it in one sitting, so I am knackered today.
This is an abusive relationship, but it doesn't pretend not to be (although given how the book ends, that is perhaps not accurate - at least it doesn't pretend to be healthy). It would be difficult to pretend otherwise given the premise is that Melissa is made into a ‘blood slave' for a vampire as punishment for breaking the law. Therefore this book is extremely dark and not easy to read in places, though the fantastical setting mitigates that somewhat. I like that the abusive elements were not treated as non-abusive and had addiction involved. I also liked that Lady Dunn (the vampire) is not overly humanised for most of the book; she has almost no empathy, enjoys many aspects of owning a blood slave and she is a predator which is reinforced throughout the book.
I did see Melissa's ‘turning point' coming a mile away and Lady Dunn's part in it (cryptic, but trying not to have spoilers) and the ending was too neat with Lady Dunn changing too much for my liking, becoming more human in her interactions. Also, while Stockholm Syndrome is mentioned earlier in the book it is not mentioned towards the end when it is perhaps more applicable.
There were several errors in the text which were annoying, discrepancies with dates in Lady Dunn's life for example. These pulled me out of the narrative and were easily avoidable.
Overall a very enjoyable read.

This is a brief overview which is fine, overviews have their place as ‘gateway' books. I found the bits about the rise of Scottish radicalism particularly interesting, probably because it doesn't get much focus in ‘popular' Scottish history.
This did feel a bit propaganda-esque to me and I'm pro-independence. There is, at least, no pretence at objectivity, it is campaigning for it's objective.
There were parts, particularly regarding wars where the author spoke about Scotland being dragged into England's wars. I doubt there was a significant difference in the attitude of the English working class and the Scottish working class; and the Scottish aristocracy/'rulers' were involved in the decisions to go to war as well.
The better-known aspects of Scottish history were covered fairly quickly, which is good, no point rehashing stuff; but some of it made me question it's accuracy. I am no expert so I'm not saying there were mistakes, but parts of it didn't seem to match what I remembered. The more radical parts of Scottish history is something I would like to read more about, and this book has encouraged me to do so, particularly about John MacLean.
I would rather have given this 2.5 stars, but as that's not an option I'll try to be more positive :)

I really wanted to give this 3.5 stars, but had to round up because 3 stars was too low.

I'm not generally a fan of books which have a subtle story (sounds better than saying nothing happens). I've recently read a couple of books like that, such as Post Office which I did not like at all. I think the main difference for me is that I identified with Mori; I suspect you have to care about the character if the book is about the character rather than about a big event/quest.

I really enjoyed all the book references even though I haven't read most of them

This isn't holding my interest anymore. I guess I'm at the stage of the overall story where the scene is being set of how the keys are harming their lives but the story should be moving along. Maybe it's just me though: I read the first three whilst travelling so I don't have to like the story as much for it to hold my interest