I almost quit this one about halfway through. Tikany, Sinegard and Rin's military school experience just weren't cutting it for me. The second half waI almost quit this one about halfway through. Tikany, Sinegard and Rin's military school experience just weren't cutting it for me. The second half was much stronger and almost seemed like a different book. It was like *this* was the story Kuang wanted to write and the exam and academy bits were necessary background that her editors wanted inserted. What it ended up doing was making the book and characters more juvenile (a big negative for me). This would have been much better if the ferociousness and brutality of the second half had been incorporated into the first half. Kuang definitely should have followed Pierce Brown's lead in the RED RISING series - *that* is how you write a military academy book.
This book went to dark and fantastical places I wasn't expecting, and honestly while the concepts were very strong, I just don't really care for Rin and I.don't really find her journey and motivations and actions during the war believable. I wish this book had a main character I could get behind and follow to the ends of the Earth and into the kindgom of the Nikan gods, but it just doesn't....more
It took a while to get through this because it's packed with so many references that stopping to Youtube a song or interview led to an hour spent immeIt took a while to get through this because it's packed with so many references that stopping to Youtube a song or interview led to an hour spent immersed in archives and music videos... you get the picture.
This book is excellently written. The writer is very talented. He collates the interviews into topics and adds a lot of great prose that frames Paul's words and colors in the background with interesting facts.
Definitely worthwhile reading for any fan.
Now excuse me as I must do some more Youtubing on McCartney's prolific ouevre and endlessly fascinating life....more
A pretty light-hearted look at pregnancy that's full of sometimes brutally accurate truths mitigated by Vicki Iovine's sense of humor and practicalityA pretty light-hearted look at pregnancy that's full of sometimes brutally accurate truths mitigated by Vicki Iovine's sense of humor and practicality. The book is well-written and moves along through a lot of topics thoroughly, but also at a good pace. I appreciated the irreverence as so many books wallow in drippy pools of sincerity and preachy upbraiding.
Yes, the book is definitely dated (there's a whole section about the pregnancy wardrobe and it does make serious reference to shoulder pads), but all-in-all it was a fun book to dive into at various stages of my pregnancy....more
A solid guide for a first-time mom, from latching to weaning. It also includes tips on pumping and what can go wrong. The chart in the back - the "BreA solid guide for a first-time mom, from latching to weaning. It also includes tips on pumping and what can go wrong. The chart in the back - the "Breastfeeding Record" - is great!
It was a bit heavy-handed with the push to exclusively breastfeed, but I was expecting that....more
About 50 pages of this book are actually relevant.
Hearing the author describe what a "bond" is (she actually attempts to discuss this on a mo2.5 stars
About 50 pages of this book are actually relevant.
Hearing the author describe what a "bond" is (she actually attempts to discuss this on a molecular level to make a point - and she is not a scientist) and report findings in monkeys was not helpful.
The parts about massage, and massage/techniques for various scenarios such as colic, were very helpful. These sections included illustrations, explained the proper order of techniques, and which techniques in which sequence to use for various infections/chest colds/stomach troubles.
It would have been interesting for the author to have expounded more on her own experience working with Mother Theresa and in Indian orphanages, but sadly she did not....more
Methinks this doctor has stocks in "smart sleeper" cribs. They're mentioned about 50 times throughout the book, along with his DVD and his book on todMethinks this doctor has stocks in "smart sleeper" cribs. They're mentioned about 50 times throughout the book, along with his DVD and his book on toddlers.
I didn't find this nearly as well-rounded or enjoyable as Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby, but this book obviously works. There are videos all over Youtube of people using the 5 S's to soothe their fussy newborns and babies - and I'm definitely going to be applying these methods, too.
The book was just too long-winded to warrant a higher rating. The beginning is padded, information is repeated over and over, and he bonks you over the head again and again with his conclusions. Maybe it's just what overtired "drunk" newborn parents need, but for this reader it was a little much....more
Before I had a baby, I didn't know how to read this book. I was reading ahead into the very first leaps and found the format of the book to be extremeBefore I had a baby, I didn't know how to read this book. I was reading ahead into the very first leaps and found the format of the book to be extremely confusing.
But after I'd had a baby, I could suddenly understand this book perfectly. I found it to be extremely accurate and very comforting. For those weeks when your baby stops sleeping, starts clinging, has extraordinary mood swings, cries for no reason at all, and doesn't seem like herself, this book helps explain why it's happening and that, yes, it WILL stop. These are very important messages for a new mother to hear! And the leaps - from the baby's mental and physical development, to new games that can help engage them in exploring their new skills, to checklists of behavior that is associated with each leap - are explained very well in a way that helps you really understand what your baby is experiencing and how to help them process these often overwhelming changes.
This book is a must-read for any interested or concerned or frustrated new parent....more
There's a lot of logic here and a lot that I already agree with, such as organizing hanging clothes by type (I naturally do it in an arrow that pointsThere's a lot of logic here and a lot that I already agree with, such as organizing hanging clothes by type (I naturally do it in an arrow that points up to the right side as she recommends) and doing it all in one go. Stage-by-stage, or room-by-room, is not the way to go. If I had my way, I'd kick my partner out of the house for 4 days and redo everything. I have a feeling that he wouldn't even be able to name 10% of what I threw away. If I lived alone, my apartment would be sparkling with joy, but I don't live alone, and my partner is not interested in going on a 4-day holiday while I redo it all.
I draw the line at thanking my handbag for doing its duty while tucking it in under my bed for the night. At some point in this book, the deeper you go into Marie Kondo's mind, the more you have to wonder: is this her entire life? It's kind of weird. She ends up hospitalized due to helping a client move his furniture, and her first point of duty upon entering any home is to bow to it and thank it. It seems like she lives alone and these rituals bring her a lot of... well, comfort? peace?, if not joy. To each his own.
All in all, it seems like she has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people. It might seem like bunk to some, but good for her and good for them.
I'm really hoping that somebody makes this into a kick-ass TV series and just does away with all the dorkiness in thA disappointing end to the series.
I'm really hoping that somebody makes this into a kick-ass TV series and just does away with all the dorkiness in these books. Please, somebody - up the sexiness factor in these books! They're about power and heists and for God's sake they leap from rooftop to rooftop throughout swirling mists using incredible Allomancy powers. How can Brandon Sanderson have reduced it to something so lame and scholarly? This is badass material!
Pretty early on I knew that the "diary entries" at the beginning of each chapter were not in Vin's voice. They were way too minutely detailed, too repetitive, and too focused on the explanation rather than the action of the story. Of course, they were written by Sazed. Of course, it makes sense that Sazed - like Rashek before him, the "pack guide" to the supposed Hero of Ages, a Terrisman - would take the power. All of this makes perfect sense. And that's part of the problem.
I didn't want to read an Encyclopedia entry about Hemalurgy. I didn't want to read a "Guide to Making Inquisitors". I wanted to read a fantastic fantasy novel full of characters I love and action that stops my breath and a group of underdogs who somehow manage - against every odd - to save the world even though it's a crappy world and it might not even be worth the risk. But I got journal entries. From Sazed. I got reason and endless pages of the how and what about this world rather than the passionate why it needs saving. I feel like Sanderson and his editor just said, "We're not going to let any flaw in logic destroy the experience of this world" and they proceeded to just build the world so that it made perfect sense. And it does. Hats off, Sanderson and editor. But you still destroyed the experience of this Allomancy world for me, because all of the beauty and magic of being Mistborn was just reduced to scholarly explanation and a heavy overdose of boring logical problem solving.
The first book is by far the superior, and the series deteriorates from there. This could have been incredible, but the more time that passes after closing the final pages of Book 3, the more dissatisfied I am with this series....more
Not much happens in this book until about page 500. Still, I was easily absorbed back into the world of Luthadel, now run by the crew that to3.5 stars
Not much happens in this book until about page 500. Still, I was easily absorbed back into the world of Luthadel, now run by the crew that took down the Final Empire. Brandon Sanderson's writing is just as smooth in this second installment as it was in Book 1 and the pages almost turned themselves.
I also want to say, now that (view spoiler)[Elend Snapped and became Mistborn through whatever metal healed him at the Well of Ascension, his name and the previous Hero of Ages' name - Alendi - just seem too close to be coincidence. Who is the real Hero of Ages? (hide spoiler)]
Very curious to see where this goes in Book 3....more
I just cannot push myself through this one. I have loved some of Hoover's books (Ugly Love and All Your Perfects being my favoDNF @ 135 pages 1.5 stars
I just cannot push myself through this one. I have loved some of Hoover's books (Ugly Love and All Your Perfects being my favorites), but I'm just not connecting with this one. First of all the protagonists are 21 and so this feels a little like some of her younger, and my least favorite CoHo, books (Maybe Someday). It jumps from perspective to perspective (his and hers), which is a storytelling device I do not usually enjoy. And while there is obviously something darker going on here, the book itself is all surface - the characters, the emotions, the scenes CoHo chooses to share versus the ones she omits (and there are a lot of gaps in here that could have been fleshed out to make the jumps less jarring).
I am really not feeling it - immature, boring and shallow are three words that keep surfacing - so I am going to pass on this one. I may be done with CoHo. Or maybe I only love her books in audio, as I listened and loved my 2 faves. On the page, I just find myself rolling my eyes and losing patience....more
Started out sweet and simple. From the beginning, when Fabiola arrives in Newark from Haiti, we know we're going on a journey. Though her tra3.5 stars
Started out sweet and simple. From the beginning, when Fabiola arrives in Newark from Haiti, we know we're going on a journey. Though her travels end in Detroit at the home of her aunt and cousins, the 3 B's, Fabiola's spiritual and personal journey takes off in Detroit. Where it ends is surprising and intense.
I think that if I would have read this book, I'd have settled at 3 stars; however, the audio by Robin Miles is delightful, each voice of each character is distinctive and spot-on, and she made this book that much more enjoyable that I'm going with 4 stars....more
Not my favorite book, and not the most enjoyable reading experience for me. It was well-written, and, while I could appreciate the author's talent, itNot my favorite book, and not the most enjoyable reading experience for me. It was well-written, and, while I could appreciate the author's talent, it didn't all come together for me. I found myself bored throughout much of my time spent within these pages....more
Stiefvater is probably the best writer currently writing YA (up there with Laini Taylor), yet I never became enamored in this series, in spit3.5 stars
Stiefvater is probably the best writer currently writing YA (up there with Laini Taylor), yet I never became enamored in this series, in spite of immersing myself in it for the past 6 months. This final installment represents everything that failed to convince me to love this series: a) well-drawn but not-for-me characters, and way too many of them (and the fact that they are 16 - now 17 - irks me to no end); b) a hot mess of a world and magic system, with enough loose ends to keep a litter of kittens busy for days (proven by (view spoiler)[the utter disappointment of finding Glendower's tomb; and - come on - it was that easy? All Gansey had to say was, "Take me to Glendower"? Sheesh (hide spoiler)]); c) lengthy tangents and roads taken that end up leading nowhere - this series could have easily been 3 books instead of 4.
That being said, I can totally see this as a Netflix or a CW series, with a cast of Riverdale-esque characters chasing a mystery. It's the perfect format for the many tangents down which Stiefvater leads the readers, and for the cultish urgency and obsession with which Gansey & Gant pursue Glendower and his mysteries. Done well, the effects, the magic, the fish swimming through the air, the Orphan Girl and demons, would make for great viewing.
For the scope of what Stiefvater dreamed and for the accomplishment of the Cycle as a whole, I'm going for 4 stars instead of 3.
I did not enjoy this. Holly Black is not a great writer; in fact, much of the book is terribly written, to the point where I had to reread sentences bI did not enjoy this. Holly Black is not a great writer; in fact, much of the book is terribly written, to the point where I had to reread sentences because I couldn't catch her meaning the first time around. Maggie Stiefvater and Laini Taylor are really the best YA fantasy writers out there, in my opinion (and I'm not even a big fan of The Raven Boys, but I recognize style and talent when I read them), whereas this is my second Holly Black book and it's another 2-star rating (the first was The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, which was pretty lame). She's just not good enough to tell the stories that she plots.
Jude is the quintessential YA cardboard cutout character: a 17-year-old girl who just continues to wish for things she can't have yet and thinks she deserves solely by virtue of being 17-years old. Here are the other characters ripped right out of the pages of "how to build your own YA fantasy world" (*spoilers ahead*): - Madoc, the father she calls "dad" one day while claiming she isn't his daughter the next. - Taryn, Jude's twin sister, the character so one-dimensional she actually has zero bearing on the story. - Cardan, the prince/villain whose "charm" can supposedly win over a banquet hall full of enemies, but whose "charm" was utterly lost on me. - The Prince's ring of spies, each with a ridiculous nickname such as Ghost or The Bomb (no, seriously, those are their nicknames). - And the list goes on
There was so much more that irked me: - The fact that Jude took on Madoc in a head-to-head swordfight and was actually surprised that her father, a redcap general who could live forever and had weathered hundreds of battles, if not thousands, was a better swordsman than she was. GASP. - Jude trying to save Sophie, a human slave in Balekin's household. Um. Why? No good reason was provided. "I can't leave her behind." She is one of dozens if not hundreds of human slaves. Jude has zero connection to this girl. She's on a mission and this will seriously endanger her mission and her life. Please, somebody, help me - why does Jude do this? And further to that, this plotline has zero bearing on the story; it's just another wayward path down which Holly Black leads the reader in her attempt to twist, twist, twist the story until the reader is so dizzy they don't know which way is up or down. - Locke's double-dipping amongst the twins. Huh? and Why? That was utterly pointless, and every scene in which Locke and Jude are making out was so devoid of any emotion that it was obvious Holly Black was just trying to make a point and move on. I'm still confused about what the point was. - Jude killing Valerian. And burying him next to her father's stable (a plot point explained in exactly one sentence). And nobody caring. - The fact that faeries live their lives at night, yet Holly Black consistently made mistakes with the timing, for example saying that Jude returned at dawn to have a few scraps of sleep... if she was returning at dawn, she'd actually have all day long to sleep. - How complicated this became. Plot twist after plot twist, with little to no explanation as to how Jude figured these things out (things which no one else seems to have caught onto... she's a 17-year-old mortal, so, yeah, it's pretty damn shocking that she's the only one who figured out Madoc's plan). - Why was Cardan surprised when Oak crowned him? Wasn't that the plan all along? Didn't Jude tell him that was going to happen? Totally confused by this "twist".
All in all, I'm super disappointed. I simply do not understand the hype. ...more
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