Deanna
This book was a slog for me and felt like the plot didn't begin until about 200 pages in. However, the issues touched upon in the book provided interesting and insightful discussions for our book club.
I read this right after Ender's Game, which was interesting to compare and see a more fleshed out view of the story. It's a good read, but where Ender is logical and emotional, Bean is pure logic so I wasn't as drawn in to his character as I was with Ender.
Fun and quick, I enjoyed this book although it is a change of pace from Vampire Academy. Where Rose is fiery and driving, Sydney is cool and logical, which changes the pace of the book (note that this changed for me with book 2, where Sydney comes into her own and Mead seems to really find Sydney's voice). As always, Mead doesn't shy away from tougher subjects and for Sydney that is addressing her body image issues. While it's a smaller aspect of the series, I appreciated that Mead put it in the story in a realistic way. I enjoyed the look at a new section of the VA world.
This was the book that really changed things for me as a young reader and introduced a whole new world and genre. I love it. The story and the emotions are strong and engaging. Madeleine L'Engle is a favorite.
I didn't enjoy this story as much as The Golden Lily, but it was still a good read. And there is more Sydney and Adrian, which is always good. The end is a nice set up for the next book and I'm excited to see what Mead has in store.
I think Mead really found Sydney's voice here (plus Sydney is coming out of her shell and her world views are being challenged) and therefore the book moves at a much faster pace than Bloodlines. I really enjoyed the story.
Enjoyable and engaging. I really loved the characters and the world Harkness created. Looking forward to the next part of the story!
An amazing–albeit heartbreaking–end to the series. Each time I finish, I miss the characters and the world.
A solid start to the series. I loved the premise and the mixed mythologies. The world building was rich and detailed, but felt a little slow at times. Looking forward to the sequel.
3.5 stars, really - An enjoyable story, but because it centers around the same central idea as Ender's Game–compassion and knowing strangers–it didn't have quite the same effect. Both the human and piggy stories are engaging and interesting. Worth the read.
I loved being back in the Old Kingdom with Lirael, but the climax seemed to happen far too quickly and the romantic plot line felt unnecessary.
At almost double the length, Authority loses most of the eerie drive that made me devour Annihilation. It regained the feeling somewhat at the end, but for the most part, this book felt mired in small details.
I really enjoyed this last book in the series. Watching Katniss deal with the aftermath of the events in the books was interesting and sad and realistic. I have heard comments that the writing in this book feels so different from the first two that some readers didn't enjoy it as much. I did not feel this as much as others because I think Katniss is a different person from how she first started and so the stylistic change made sense to me.
Just when I thought the story was getting a little long, the author???s twist hit and left me making ridiculous shocked faces as I read the final chapters in public. A fun, quick, and engaging read.
A fun, quick read, although the story felt watered down to me at times and I would have liked more depth to the characters.
Peters's formula for writing both the Vicky Bliss and Amelia Peabody books is transparent after so many novels, so the twists and turns did not take me by surprise as much as they did when I first started reading both series. The book is fun and we get to find out what will happen between Vicky and John, which is, of course, the most important reason to read the book if you're a fan of this series.
I went back and forth in my enjoyment of the book, although it was interesting to read something set in the Aztec Empire. I sometimes found her word choice and descriptions simplistic, which felt jarring against the complexity of the world she had built and would therefore pull me out of the novel. The characters lacked depth for me, and so the emotional highs and lows the author wrote for them didn't register for me as intended.
A weird story about a HS student with a terminal disease who has to come to terms with who he is and who he wishes he could be. And getting the chance to be that person, even if it's not exactly how one imagined it would happen.
An intense, sad story. I really enjoyed the artwork and the way it was used in shaping the story and conveying many shades of emotions.
A sassy version of the Odyssey as told from the perspective of a postmortem Penelope. If you enjoy reading different perspectives on the Iliad and Odyssey, this is a fun one to pick up.