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gmwells's reviews
87 reviews
The Stray by Jason M. Ford
3.0
I'm going to start this off by saying that I am glad to have been able to be among the first to read this book. It kept me on my toes, the chapters varied in length and had vivid descriptions, and overall it's a pretty good read. You'll love this book if you like dystopian future mixed with Synths from Fallout 4.
However, The Stray seems a bit... incomplete, if you will. The story is a little too fast-paced and has the reader jumping ahead through time almost every paragraph, at times. It's great if you like that sort of thing, but it's really not up my alley. The author also seemed to switch back and forth between voices and genres. One chapter, it's a romantic comedy, the next it's a dystopian thriller. Again, it's really great if you like that sort of thing, but I, for one, do not. Some authors can really pull off mixing together multiple genres, but the way that he presented it just seemed confused.
There's also a couple of unnecessary explanations that could've been left up to the reader to decipher. I often found myself skipping over the incredibly long paragraphs explaining things that I had already inferred or things that I would eventually come to assume.
What's strange is that there are longer chapters with tons of unnecessary explanations (and even sometimes unnecessary descriptions), and then there are short chapters that are so short, they seem completely unnecessary to the storyline - almost as though they were added as an afterthought.
I wish that I could rate this book more than three stars, but I really can't bring myself to do it. The author seems generally confused about how his voice should sound throughout the story.
Despite all of the negative aspects, I really quite enjoyed some of the passages in this book. I've gotten more than a few wise quotes from these pages and I found the story itself rather insightful. If you overlook some of the fallbacks, you'll find a really amazing and creative story.
However, The Stray seems a bit... incomplete, if you will. The story is a little too fast-paced and has the reader jumping ahead through time almost every paragraph, at times. It's great if you like that sort of thing, but it's really not up my alley. The author also seemed to switch back and forth between voices and genres. One chapter, it's a romantic comedy, the next it's a dystopian thriller. Again, it's really great if you like that sort of thing, but I, for one, do not. Some authors can really pull off mixing together multiple genres, but the way that he presented it just seemed confused.
There's also a couple of unnecessary explanations that could've been left up to the reader to decipher. I often found myself skipping over the incredibly long paragraphs explaining things that I had already inferred or things that I would eventually come to assume.
What's strange is that there are longer chapters with tons of unnecessary explanations (and even sometimes unnecessary descriptions), and then there are short chapters that are so short, they seem completely unnecessary to the storyline - almost as though they were added as an afterthought.
I wish that I could rate this book more than three stars, but I really can't bring myself to do it. The author seems generally confused about how his voice should sound throughout the story.
Despite all of the negative aspects, I really quite enjoyed some of the passages in this book. I've gotten more than a few wise quotes from these pages and I found the story itself rather insightful. If you overlook some of the fallbacks, you'll find a really amazing and creative story.
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
adventurous
funny
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The classic fairy tales that we were all told as children which filled our heads with hopes and dreams of a sweet and good life without much real danger are great, but can never compare to the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
This collection of fairy tales is incredibly well-written. Some remind me of Aesop’s Fables, and some are longer and teach more valuable lessons. It’s also interesting to see how a story morphed into three or four different fairy tales over time and by having different generations pass what they could remember - I really love looking at that aspect of it.
The only forewarning that I have is that there are a lot of misogynistic tendencies in these stories (as they were recorded in the late 1700s - early 1800s in Germany and passed down for several generations before then, I expected nothing less). Still, this was a great read and I am overjoyed to have been able to read them in their English translation as they were told to children hundreds of years ago.
This collection of fairy tales is incredibly well-written. Some remind me of Aesop’s Fables, and some are longer and teach more valuable lessons. It’s also interesting to see how a story morphed into three or four different fairy tales over time and by having different generations pass what they could remember - I really love looking at that aspect of it.
The only forewarning that I have is that there are a lot of misogynistic tendencies in these stories (as they were recorded in the late 1700s - early 1800s in Germany and passed down for several generations before then, I expected nothing less). Still, this was a great read and I am overjoyed to have been able to read them in their English translation as they were told to children hundreds of years ago.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I HAVE NEVER FINISHED A BOOK SO QUICKLY!
I DEVOURED this book in the span of merely a few hours. From the perfect word usage to the points of view that the story is told in, from the emotional rollercoaster that this book took me on to the relatability to my own life events - it was all completely and utterly captivating.
Never have I been able to feel emotions such as these so strongly from a story. I laughed, I smirked, I fell in love, I cried my ugly cry... it was exciting and pleasantly surprising. I normally am one who expects every single twist in the plot, but this book threw things at me that even I wasn’t expecting.
I easily got lost in the story and lived through three months of life in merely a day, which is always a must when you’re reading a story. I could smell the many scents Maggie described, I could feel the scruff under my finger tips, and I could visualize the golden woods.
In addition, this seems like the perfect book for someone who fell in love with Jake (Taylor Lautner) when she watched the Twilight movies for the first time - specifically “New Moon” (ahem, points to self, ahem).
I don’t think I will ever get enough of my copy of this book, and I cannot wait to get the sequel.
I DEVOURED this book in the span of merely a few hours. From the perfect word usage to the points of view that the story is told in, from the emotional rollercoaster that this book took me on to the relatability to my own life events - it was all completely and utterly captivating.
Never have I been able to feel emotions such as these so strongly from a story. I laughed, I smirked, I fell in love, I cried my ugly cry... it was exciting and pleasantly surprising. I normally am one who expects every single twist in the plot, but this book threw things at me that even I wasn’t expecting.
I easily got lost in the story and lived through three months of life in merely a day, which is always a must when you’re reading a story. I could smell the many scents Maggie described, I could feel the scruff under my finger tips, and I could visualize the golden woods.
In addition, this seems like the perfect book for someone who fell in love with Jake (Taylor Lautner) when she watched the Twilight movies for the first time - specifically “New Moon” (ahem, points to self, ahem).
I don’t think I will ever get enough of my copy of this book, and I cannot wait to get the sequel.