manorclassics's review

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DNFd in chapter 2

I really wanted to love this but the writing style didn't gel with me.

riaryan's review

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4.0

Such a good book, and extremely well written. You feel like you are journeying with the author on her travels that you feel almost sad when it comes to an end, and you're left to go it alone. But journey we must, as there's so much still to be done as you realise when you read this book! Highly recommended.

kait_lost_in_books's review

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4.0


Sophie takes a low-carbon journey around the Uk to visit ten habitats and animals which are threatened by climate change.

Featuring such gems as:
“When you get pollen on your nice white trainers, you are essentially facilitating floral sex.”
And:
“For bees as furry as the bilberry bumblebee that can mean that they eave a flower looking as though they’ve donned a pair of sunny pantaloons, a boob tube and a bucket hat - festival ready!”

What could be an incredibly dry lecture is filled with chuckles, snarky asides and pleas to the gods old and new. A captivatingly charming piece of nature writing

insectinthecity's review

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

bookish_spoonie's review

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slow-paced

2.0

2 Stars

Absolutely gutted to be rating this book so low but I have to be honest. I really struggled with the author's writing style. It was all over the place, went off on random tangents, talked in slang and was generally badly written. I'm honestly not sure how this got past the editors at Bloomsbury as it makes the book seem very childish and to not be taken seriously. 
I also struggled with the fact that about 70% of this book is Sophie talking about how she travels to the places she is visting, random stories of her past and general talk about every single thing she saw on her journeys. This got old really quick and it was not what I wanted from this book. I bought it as I thought that it would primarily be about these ten species that are at risk of extinction. Unfortunately there is very little information about them compared to the length of the book. 
I'm gutted as I was really wanting to love this and support a young female nature writer. But this wasn't a nature book in my view, it was more a journey book (which I always avoid). 
Sadly I don't recommend this book and there are so many much better books about the UK's wildlife and climate change. 

rosiev425's review

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

odyssia's review

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.5

While the writing style didn't always work for me, with its anthropomorphism based on pop culture references and the 'babe/hun/mate', etc., it has inspired me to explore natural spots in the UK to seek out more diverse species.

Also, I learned some new things about conservation and the state of the natural world in the UK, though I would like a list of references (without emailing the author, as she suggests at the end...), especially because there is some likely misinformation, such as stating that in 100 years there won't be any insects at this rate. Dave Goulson rubbished this claim in his book Silent Earth and I suspect her reference is a Guardian news article. Newspapers don't constitute scientific sources.

marthamay2001's review

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adventurous hopeful informative fast-paced

rogue_runner's review

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hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

This was absolutely delightful. I adored Sophie's easy, engaging style and the fact that every chapter was distinctly different, with a real joy that shone through the pages. Probably one of my favourite nature books so far!

entangled_bookshelf's review

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adventurous informative fast-paced

4.0