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pantsreads's review
3.0
Wholly bizarre, nonsensical, and confusing. But at the same time, utterly delightful, engaging, and hilarious.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
shoosha's review
3.0
What a fun read! It was a tad hard for me to get started, and it's heavy... like literally heavy. Which made it difficult to commit to before bed, my arms usually saying 'we out' before I could gettsome good work in. But that's not the books fault, I need to get back into "Tome Reading Shape"
owlyreadsalot's review
3.0
This book had me everywhere, mixed in those pages with the bizarre, the eerie, the ever-growing beings that seemed to have no end in sight. And even when that sounds a bit troublesome, it proved to be quite fantastical. Yes, I may have been fighting a battle with this novel (the areas that went on without needing to, or the moments that clarity was needed more than anything, even the kookiness that should have made it unforgettable that became mildly muddled).
There was so much more to keep the mind wondering, fascinated, and reading through (even with a few of those tidbits above). One area I enjoyed most out of this novel, were the chapter setups, plus the titles that were given to each one of them. It made for an even more interesting read. It was a good thing also, because the chapters jumped from one place to another, always showing the reader something different (creatures are really the most bizarre things I've read in awhile).
At times though, the characters introduced in here were not always the most memorable, but in other instances they really shined... such as Jonathan and his friends fighting some of those creatures I mentioned, or Wretch and Crowley venturing into the other worlds and finding their way to the land "of men, war elephants, and strife. Once more.", or Crikey the giant talking marmot that knew more than he was saying. So much in here to be discovered.
So yes, I can't say I was completely swayed one way or another, but it did keep me reading on, even when the story left me a bit frazzled at times. But, I can't say there wasn't enough supernatural, sciency goodness, or realms that weren't peculiar. There was so much of that in here that will leave the reader reeling for days. Even with those bumps on the road, I was glad to have gotten to experience the world within those walls and doors.
***I received this copy from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
There was so much more to keep the mind wondering, fascinated, and reading through (even with a few of those tidbits above). One area I enjoyed most out of this novel, were the chapter setups, plus the titles that were given to each one of them. It made for an even more interesting read. It was a good thing also, because the chapters jumped from one place to another, always showing the reader something different (creatures are really the most bizarre things I've read in awhile).
At times though, the characters introduced in here were not always the most memorable, but in other instances they really shined... such as Jonathan and his friends fighting some of those creatures I mentioned, or Wretch and Crowley venturing into the other worlds and finding their way to the land "of men, war elephants, and strife. Once more.", or Crikey the giant talking marmot that knew more than he was saying. So much in here to be discovered.
So yes, I can't say I was completely swayed one way or another, but it did keep me reading on, even when the story left me a bit frazzled at times. But, I can't say there wasn't enough supernatural, sciency goodness, or realms that weren't peculiar. There was so much of that in here that will leave the reader reeling for days. Even with those bumps on the road, I was glad to have gotten to experience the world within those walls and doors.
***I received this copy from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
coralinejonesss's review
4.0
What a weird, weird book. But that is the point I guess right? I found it absolutely impossible to get through in the beginning because I was trying to understand what was happening. I later found that just giving in to not understanding what was happening made things make more sense especially near the end. This was so unlike any of the other Vandermeer books that I have read and so I think when you go into this book you can’t read it expecting getting something that you’ve ever read before, whether by Vandermeer or not. I have no idea what drugs Jeff is on but this book feels a little bit like you’re taking some of them too. It did give me headaches in parts because it literally sounds like Jeff was using some sort of word randomizer to write this book. It is very whimsical and I think if you were fond of Alice in Wonderland type books, you may enjoy this, but it is quite a long slog. What surprised me the most though is that when it ended I was very curious about what would happen next because this book is so long and such a slog but I guess something must’ve worked along the way to get me enamored with at least the writing style, and Ruth Less. What a weird, weird book.
ilnadurn's review
4.0
This was fun! Love a portal fantasy, love a talking vegetable. The humor/general absurdity reminded me a lot of a Series of Unfortunate Events. I think I would have enjoyed this a bit more if I had read it a few years ago, but I still had a good time!
jen286's review
4.0
I am normally a huge fan of this author, I love how weird and interesting his stories are, but I could not get into this book. I kept going back and trying to read it and...I just couldn't. I finally gave up at only 17% (though that is over 100 pages so I guess that is something). It is billed as YA and I am curious if any young adults actually read/enjoyed this story. I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about anything that was happening (if there weren't so many Crowley chapters I might have made it farther, though reading some other reviews it seems like later in the book it makes sense why there are), I just couldn't stay focused and interested in anything that happened, it all was just pretty boring. Oh well.
dorseycwin's review
2.0
I wanted to love this book, but at the end of the day it was a challenging read. I started and restarted this book several times because it took so long to get into it. There were several POVs, but they were hard to follow and get into. I felt like there was not enough world building at the beginning, which meant that I struggled for the first half to understand what was happening. The last 150 pages were great, but since it’s such a thick book, there’s a lot to struggle through before that point.
rdyourbookcase's review
1.0
The description was deceptive and the world wasn't what I thought it would be. The right audience for this book will adore it, but I'm not a part of that. It's definitely not a mainstream read.
radbear76's review
3.0
Has the VanderMeer trademark surreal/abstract style but not to the extreme of the Southern Reach trilogy. Entertaining but the absurdist tangents could have been safely pared back.