Shitij N
Overall good world building; it left some things unanswered which I imagine will be cleared in subsequent books, but I loved the overall setting and world building. I don't think I'm reading the subsequent books, I gave them a try but couldn't really get into it.
Overall: 6.5/10
- World Building: 1.5/2 (Quite liked the setup of space faring necromancer civilization, the general idea behind different types of necromancies, well established differences between physical traits and magical capabilities)
- Characters: 2/3 (I think the one thing that stood out is that the world is inconsistent in the type of characters introduced. They are individually great, but the fact that all of them co-exist in the same world at the same can be a bit jarring)
- Writing: 1.5/3 (Some parts were great - e.g. the initial problem solving. Other parts became hard to track; overall some more polish would have helped)
- Fun: 1.5/2 (I had a ball reading this in the initial parts. However, some bit of extended battles really dragged on with detail which - when you're extremely invested in a series, can pay off, but when you're new to a trilogy, can feel dragged out. Gideon as a character is fun)
Gladwell writes well - but treat everything you read here with a pinch of salt, as always. As Perks of Being a Wallflower said - be a filter, not a sponge
Mind blown at how good it is. Not sure how to process the ending, but I have never been as stressed reading a book as this. Ties with Troubled Blood (TB) for my favorite Strike book (TB may be a smidge better).
Overall: 8.5-9/10
- World Building: 2/2 (incredibly believable; steadily ups the stakes)
- Characters: 2-2.5/3 (some characters questionable; most very believable)
- Writing: 2.5/3 (incredibly lucid but had to really focus on details in some parts)
- Fun: 2/2 (stressful & good)
I think the problem with writing book reviews is that you don't really expect people to read them. Whenever you're writing, there generally is a sense of expectation - what will people think, how will they react? Will they react?
So upon finishing Vaishnavi's book, I had a good dose of expectation on both sides. On one hand, I really really wanted to review the book. On the other hand, I felt too much of my friend in the book. And it only burdened me to think that I was perhaps reading the book only to get a glimpse of her life since she left Singapore. When I first arrived on this island, people told me that it was a very transient place. Or perhaps I arrived at the conclusion myself; I'm really not sure. In any case, in the last 7 years - as much as I've had a chance to meet incredible and new people - I've lost quite a few too.
“OK Now, Who's My Santa?” is wonderful and quick, like a good cup of masala tea. Probably because it's written by a close friend, a lot because I can see a lot of her in it, and a little because I can see glimpses of other people in it too. When I started the book, I didn't enjoy it because I saw too much of her in it. When I finished, I enjoyed it because I saw so much of her in it. In the 3 years that she's left Singapore, I felt like I'd caught up with everything that was happening in her life since she flew away - despite her lackluster emails, Facebook updates, and her activity on the World Wide Web in general (She works at Google.). The same whimsical girl in the early pages of the book appears mature and sort-of-but-not-really changed by the end of it. She holds on to most of her ideals, but does end up breaking a few - much like promises and growing up.
If you do have a chance to get a hold of the book, do it. It's not Shakespeare, it's not Sylvia Thorpe either. But it's cute, whimsical, pleasurable, and most of all - personal.
