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pulp_fiction_books's reviews
493 reviews
D. B. Cooper and Flight 305: Reexamining the Hijacking and Disappearance by Robert H Edwards
informative
slow-paced
5.0
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Firstly, this is the first book I've ever buddy read with someone and that was quite a novelty in itself, getting to bounce back and fourth in real time with someone else reading it for the first time was fun. Secondly, this is the first book I've ever read that was entirely mixed-media. I've read books that were spliced with media to varying degrees and really enjoy it as a storytelling device. Whilst I enjoyed the journey of reading this book, I feel the overall story was a little lackluster. One other small issue I have is we are meant to believe that friends, husbands & wives, parents & children and siblings in this community all converse with each other through email. I just found it so unbelievable and didn't see why the author couldn't have just had some of the correspondence be it by text messages, WhatsApp groups etc... Overall I thought this was an ambitious debut by Janice Hallett which I mainly enjoyed but found the resolution a little convoluted. That being said, I look forward to reading 'The Christmas Appeal' this holiday season.
There's Something Strange About My Brain by R.L. Stine
3.5
Stine gives tips for writing children's books but he doesn't follow 90% of them himself. If he did he'd probably be a better writer.
Slime Doesn't Pay! by R.L. Stine
fast-paced
1.5
Oh boy. So let me start off by saying I love R.L Stine but I think it's fair to say for all the amazing work he has put out over the years, he has also been guilty of phoning it in, from time to time. This book while not the worst thing he has ever written, is an emalgimtion of every bad Stine trope you've ever read. All this is, is panks and fake-outs the whole way through, the "set-up" is 90% of the book. It has a semblance of an idea that goes nowhere, it's boring repetitive nonsense and the ending is one which stine uses over and over again, in fact he uses it so often that it only appered a couple of books ago in one of the final Slappyworld entries.
What makes this feel worse too is the fact that this story title first came about in the 90's when Scholastic ran a competition for people to name a goosebumps book (the winner of which was a kid named Jim Smylie) but the book never got published, so Stine has been sitting on this for almost 30 years and this is the story he decided to go with after all that time.
What makes this feel worse too is the fact that this story title first came about in the 90's when Scholastic ran a competition for people to name a goosebumps book (the winner of which was a kid named Jim Smylie) but the book never got published, so Stine has been sitting on this for almost 30 years and this is the story he decided to go with after all that time.
Camp Fear by Carol Ellis
1.75
Firstly this book has a group of 8 main characters and I cannot tell you anything about any of them. I actually thought there were six until over half way through. they were all just one big, bland meld of nothingness. They have no personality, no distinguishing features and we never get any discriptive writing whatsoever to the point where, when we get the villain reveal I didn't even know which one they were😂. The stakes are so low here too, that every so often we start a chapter from the antagonists pov and the one scene that actually could have had consequences, they tell us that it was an accident and they had nothing to do with it but would take the credit. Sheesh.