Reviews

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

magikspells's review against another edition

4.0

To be honest, this wasn't a bad book. If you can trudge through the constant introspection of the main character and info dumps about traps and evasive maneuvers, then it does get better. It's by no means a mystery though. Nothing that happens is a secret. I feel like every 'plot twist' could be seen a mile away because the details that lead you to predict them aren't introduced organically. Like suddenly we start hearing about Carston's granddaughter. Gee, that will probably come up again later.

Also, this book has the same problem as Twilight, a pretty ok story if they would have had a different main character. Kevin is definitely the star of the story, he's easily the best part.

All and all, pretty good, pretty predictable.

ganiara's review against another edition

3.0

Gaya penulisan Meyer bakal selalu jadi favorit saya. Meyer selalu berhasil menuliskan detail-detail yang jarang orang perhatikan, atau banyak orang yang memerhatikan namun tidak tahu cara menuliskannya. Buku ini membuat pembacanya tidak hanya mengenal alur cerita, tetapi juga mengenal perbedaan kecil karakter tiap tokoh. Sayangnya cerita ini terlalu bertele-tele. Temanya menjanjikan, namun tidak ditepati. Tema utamanya kurang mengena, lebih berfokus pada romansa yang datangnya mendadak, yang seharusnya menjadi tema sampingan. Intinya, karena gaya penulisan dan keunikan isi cerita dari buku inilah yang membuat saya bertahan untuk tetap membaca.

ruxiemcgouth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

andrewmf's review against another edition

2.0

Cheese McGee. Unidimensional characters and not much for plot. Mostly you read about the shallow internal debate of the protagonist. Book could be half the pages and still not a lot happens.

sarap_reader's review against another edition

1.0

No. just... no. This has gone bad exactly as J.K.Rowling writing a bunch of boring "thriller" novels that don't thrill so much.
Abandoned after chapter 3.
Just. Boring.to. Death.

a_reader_obsessed's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 Stars

I guess it doesn't take much to entertain me. This was fast paced, playing on my paranoia to the max, as obstacle after obstacle is thrown across the MC's path. Apparently, I'm a wimp too when it comes to this sort of nail biter, and there were several twist and turns, where putting the book down was nigh impossible, despite my extreme anxiety.

Admittedly, the lure of finally being free from the target on her back, the MC somewhat (ok, a lot) naively agrees to do one last job. One can hardly blame her, having been on the run for over three years. However, by doing so, she places herself in even more danger than she could possibly imagine, uncovering secrets desperately trying to remain unknown. Many powerful players are covering their tracks, wanting all those involved to be obliterated. Of course they do.

What won points for me is the romantic angle in this story. Though I hardly read M/F anymore because many "heroines" are TSTL, I'm a sucker for romance and I want it any way I can. This did not fail me despite all the improbabilities. Though Meyer's library of works isn't huge for comparison, I do think this was well written, with a mostly plausible storyline. I was only mildly frustrated here and there with the protagonist (minus her one big mistake that needed to happen for the story to exist). Overall, I call that a win.

heyhay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

daniellefenton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

kaleyamo's review against another edition

5.0

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

I went into it a little wary just because it was Stephenie Meyer. I mean, I love [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258].... but in a guilty pleasure type of way. I don't try to fool myself into thinking it was written brilliantly or that it was clever. I just knew Stephenie Meyer was a good storyteller. I also enjoyed [b:The Host|1656001|The Host (The Host, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1318009171s/1656001.jpg|3328799], which I thought was written better than the Twilight series, but still wasn't super clever....and by the description of [b:The Chemist|32940867|The Chemist|Stephenie Meyer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494338235s/32940867.jpg|51814255], I knew that to be successful, Meyer would have to step up her game.

And she did. The Chemist was so smart. There are so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, wouldn't even have imagined coming. (Well, except one...

Spoiler

We all knew that Daniel being a mirror twin where all his organs were on the wrong side wasn't just a fun random bit of trivia she threw in, right?

) There was so much more knowledge and detail that I wouldn't have expected from her.

I really have to commend Stephenie Meyer on this piece. It was fantastic.

mogffm3's review against another edition

5.0

This was my kind of book. I listened to the audio version.

I love strong, smart, yet socially awkward heroines. And this book never disappointed. It was fast paced, yet light enough, it never caused enough emotional angst that I was uncomfortable reading it.

And I love happy endings!