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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
The Calling by James Frey
This concept was super cool, interesting, but it was poorly developed in my opinion.
This concept was super cool, interesting, but it was poorly developed in my opinion.
why did you have to go and do that thing at that moment when happens that to that person?!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
(NL-editie) I didn’t like this at all. Too many flat and unlikeable characters. The writing style was really off. The plot was really vague.
I wanted to DNF because I was really struggling but decided to give it a chance because I own the whole trilogy. Won’t be reading the other 2 books..
I wanted to DNF because I was really struggling but decided to give it a chance because I own the whole trilogy. Won’t be reading the other 2 books..
Probably the biggest surprise read of the summer - picked it up cause it was $4 at BAM...ended up not being able to put it down. Ordering the second one pronto.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I found the book really violent. I wish there was more egnimas to solve and less ok we need to kill this person, less hunger gameish*. And the characters were for the most of them irritating to follow, always going for violence, never taking the time to listen to the others. It was frustrating
Ok so let me tell you about this book called Endgame. As a hard-core Hunger Games fan let me start by saying : this is not Panem. Not even close. In Endgame it's about the entire world. Yes, there is 12 participants but they represent 12 CIVILIZATIONS (selected from hundreds) in the world. For me this truly was where all parallels with the HG ended. I swear. Believe me.
The plot is 'simple'. The gods, the creators or whatever you want to call them ("Sky People" in the book) like to have fun with humans. They created the earth but now the humans are destroying it AND are way too numerous. So the Sky People went "Yeah you guys suck so every few thousands of years, one descendant of each of the twelve most important civilizations will need to compete (not necessarily die FYI) and succeed in finding three objects. The Player who wins will see their civilization live. For the eleven others and their kind (aka billions of people): you die." This is Endgame.
The Players are
Aisling : the mysterious girl from NY with the Celt Heritage
Jago : the most lovable character for me and he's from South America
Chiyoko (my love, my favorite, my everything) : the mute from Japan
Markus : the sociopath from Turkey
An : the shy (and wonderfully weird) bomb maker from China
Shari : the sweet girl from India
Maccabee : the twisted Jewish guy from Russia
Kala : the merciless girl from Saudi Arabia (loved. her.)
Hilal : the blue-eyed wise Christian dude from Ethiopia
Sarah : the all-American girl-next-door who may or may not have Native American heritage #mystery
Baitsakhan : the young little fucker from Mongolia
Alice : the aboriginal girl from Australia
WHAT I LOVED :
Honestly the first 350 pages or so were SO good, I couldn't read fast enough. They all meet, they get some cryptic clues and then all hell breaks loose. Alliances form, strategy emerge and what was so good about it was that EACH character had their chapter so you know what is happening to everyone at all time.
The characters are soooooo specific and different and weird and twisted and intelligent it's like you get a sample of everyone that ever existed. Some were frankly evil (Markus, Baitsakhan), others were ready to do everything to survive (Chiyoko, Kala), others were just there to annoy me and make me roll my eyes (Sarah), and some you will be worried about because they're just too nice or lovable (Hilal, Shari, Jago)...
Basically you can't not root for some of them and whoever your favorites are YOU WILL GET INVESTED and I loved it.
I thought that the metaphysical theme of "are we masters of our destinies/ is life is an endless cycle" was original and very well written for a YA novel. There was a lot of actual references to monuments and events and that's part of what made this book so scary but in a good way...
The action.
I'm not quite the action-junky when it comes to my books but while I was reading I had to admit there was A LOT of jaw-dropping moments : hookups, revelations, deaths and very graphic violence... I saw it all in this book.
For me, all of this made the book quite spectacular. But then....
WHAT I HATED:
Christopher.Why were you even there Christopher?
Christopher is Sarah's very Abercrombie & Fitch-esque and very ordinary boyfriend. He didn't know anything about Endgame and thinks Sarah's being silly when she tells him about it. So he follows her to China. That's when I started resenting him... Then Kala kidnaps him (I loved her for that so much even though she was 'bad') and blackmails Sarah. But little do Kala and Christopher know, she's having sex with Jago and they had decided to try and play Endgame together.
Hear me out : I like impossible love stories. I do. I liked Sarah very much when she was with Jago and I shipped them but if there's ONE thing I can't stand in books whatever the genre, it'sLOVE TRIANGLES. Yet that didn't keep it from happening in Endgame.
I know it wasn't a Edward-Bella-Jacob situation but it almost ruined the entire book for me. Almost. It was seriously sooooo unnecessary. And very very useless considering (MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) the fact that Sarah SHOOTS the poor Christopher in the head at the end. Yeah you read right : she kills the "love of her life". Why. Who does that!? At night I wonder what went through James Frey's head to create such a suck-ass subplot (whyjameswhy)
Which brings me to my second and most unbearable setback : Sarah.
Oh Sarah.
Page 17 (yes that early...) I told my best friend (the one who made me read this book) that I didn't like the fact that Sarah's chapter was almost twice as long as every other characters chapter's I've met at the beginning of the book. I told him she was the "hidden" heroine and that I didn't like the fact that I could already tell.
- He told me I was overreacting.
Next, I told him that because of her inability to be practical, she'd soon be the center of yet another love triangle from hell.
- He told me I was way over my head.
Then I told him that I hated the fact that even though she'd be training for only FOUR YEARS she was as good (or better) as characters that had trained their entire life (13 to 20 years).
- He told me it was just a minor detail.
Finally, I told him that Sarah was gonna be yet another American character written by yet another American author and that she and only she will always beat the odds, survive, and find the first Key.
And guess what? SHE DID ALL THOSE THINGS AND I HATED IT.
It was so predictable I was so pissed. The idea of the book is pure genius but then you have this character you don't care for that much but no no the author constantly tries to shove her down your throat and it gets bad.
Was the book a roller coaster? YES.
Were the characters (most of them) original? YES.
Was the plot captivating? Y.E.S
But did one of the subplot ruined the book for me? *sigh* Yes.
And finally did I hate the ending? I HATE IT WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY.
Here's my advice. Read this book if you love action and diverse characters and a lot of mystery... Avoid this book at all cost if you don't have time to waste on graphic violence and dumb characters and predictable plot (not all of them but some. Yes I mean Sarah)
Was it a rip off The Hunger Games? No, it very much was not.
Was it predictable for me? It totally was.
The plot is 'simple'. The gods, the creators or whatever you want to call them ("Sky People" in the book) like to have fun with humans. They created the earth but now the humans are destroying it AND are way too numerous. So the Sky People went "Yeah you guys suck so every few thousands of years, one descendant of each of the twelve most important civilizations will need to compete (not necessarily die FYI) and succeed in finding three objects. The Player who wins will see their civilization live. For the eleven others and their kind (aka billions of people): you die." This is Endgame.
The Players are
Aisling : the mysterious girl from NY with the Celt Heritage
Jago : the most lovable character for me and he's from South America
Chiyoko (my love, my favorite, my everything) : the mute from Japan
Markus : the sociopath from Turkey
An : the shy (and wonderfully weird) bomb maker from China
Shari : the sweet girl from India
Maccabee : the twisted Jewish guy from Russia
Kala : the merciless girl from Saudi Arabia (loved. her.)
Hilal : the blue-eyed wise Christian dude from Ethiopia
Sarah : the all-American girl-next-door who may or may not have Native American heritage #mystery
Baitsakhan : the young little fucker from Mongolia
Alice : the aboriginal girl from Australia
WHAT I LOVED :
Honestly the first 350 pages or so were SO good, I couldn't read fast enough. They all meet, they get some cryptic clues and then all hell breaks loose. Alliances form, strategy emerge and what was so good about it was that EACH character had their chapter so you know what is happening to everyone at all time.
The characters are soooooo specific and different and weird and twisted and intelligent it's like you get a sample of everyone that ever existed. Some were frankly evil (Markus, Baitsakhan), others were ready to do everything to survive (Chiyoko, Kala), others were just there to annoy me and make me roll my eyes (Sarah), and some you will be worried about because they're just too nice or lovable (Hilal, Shari, Jago)...
Basically you can't not root for some of them and whoever your favorites are YOU WILL GET INVESTED and I loved it.
I thought that the metaphysical theme of "are we masters of our destinies/ is life is an endless cycle" was original and very well written for a YA novel. There was a lot of actual references to monuments and events and that's part of what made this book so scary but in a good way...
The action.
I'm not quite the action-junky when it comes to my books but while I was reading I had to admit there was A LOT of jaw-dropping moments : hookups, revelations, deaths and very graphic violence... I saw it all in this book.
For me, all of this made the book quite spectacular. But then....
WHAT I HATED:
Christopher.
Christopher is Sarah's very Abercrombie & Fitch-esque and very ordinary boyfriend. He didn't know anything about Endgame and thinks Sarah's being silly when she tells him about it. So he follows her to China. That's when I started resenting him... Then Kala kidnaps him (I loved her for that so much even though she was 'bad') and blackmails Sarah. But little do Kala and Christopher know, she's having sex with Jago and they had decided to try and play Endgame together.
Hear me out : I like impossible love stories. I do. I liked Sarah very much when she was with Jago and I shipped them but if there's ONE thing I can't stand in books whatever the genre, it's
I know it wasn't a Edward-Bella-Jacob situation but it almost ruined the entire book for me. Almost. It was seriously sooooo unnecessary. And very very useless considering (MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) the fact that Sarah SHOOTS the poor Christopher in the head at the end. Yeah you read right : she kills the "love of her life". Why. Who does that!? At night I wonder what went through James Frey's head to create such a suck-ass subplot (whyjameswhy)
Which brings me to my second and most unbearable setback : Sarah.
Oh Sarah.
Page 17 (yes that early...) I told my best friend (the one who made me read this book) that I didn't like the fact that Sarah's chapter was almost twice as long as every other characters chapter's I've met at the beginning of the book. I told him she was the "hidden" heroine and that I didn't like the fact that I could already tell.
- He told me I was overreacting.
Next, I told him that because of her inability to be practical, she'd soon be the center of yet another love triangle from hell.
- He told me I was way over my head.
Then I told him that I hated the fact that even though she'd be training for only FOUR YEARS she was as good (or better) as characters that had trained their entire life (13 to 20 years).
- He told me it was just a minor detail.
Finally, I told him that Sarah was gonna be yet another American character written by yet another American author and that she and only she will always beat the odds, survive, and find the first Key.
And guess what? SHE DID ALL THOSE THINGS AND I HATED IT.
It was so predictable I was so pissed. The idea of the book is pure genius but then you have this character you don't care for that much but no no the author constantly tries to shove her down your throat and it gets bad.
Was the book a roller coaster? YES.
Were the characters (most of them) original? YES.
Was the plot captivating? Y.E.S
But did one of the subplot ruined the book for me? *sigh* Yes.
And finally did I hate the ending? I HATE IT WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY.
Here's my advice. Read this book if you love action and diverse characters and a lot of mystery... Avoid this book at all cost if you don't have time to waste on graphic violence and dumb characters and predictable plot (not all of them but some. Yes I mean Sarah)
Was it a rip off The Hunger Games? No, it very much was not.
Was it predictable for me? It totally was.
