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stormlightreader's Reviews (934)
I really appreciate this series for it's consistency and for how much of a comfort read it is. I've read the books in amongst watching the series (I still have the Netflix movie to watch, though) and I will definitely be reading the series again (and again).
War Lord has a surprisingly well wrapped up finale butit's so sad that his oldest son died RIGHT AFTER THEY'D MADE UP !!! It makes sense to let Uhtred rest in his old age at his beloved Bebbanburg 🥰 I get such a warm and fuzzy feeling when I think of Uhtred resting at his beloved Bebbanburg . Also, Finan lives until the end as well 🥰🤸♀️🤗🎉😍
I highly recommend this series for people who are interested in the history of England. I'm not normally very interested in English history (despite living in England) but this series has fascinated me and piqued my interest from the first book (and the first episode of The Last Kingdom). Even though Cornwell acknowledges that he has strayed from history in the books, it's still obvious how much research he did for these books. In every TLK book review I have commended Cornwell on his writing, but it is particularly his battle scenes that I find to be so well written - they are engrossing.
While, the show has also deviated from the books, I like that and it's good to see the two iterations of this story. I've enjoyed both and I believe I read somewhere that Cornwell has said that he is happy to see the different direction that the show takes too. It's highly likely that I've missed some details but I'll pick these up on the multiple series rereads I plan to do.
Wyrd bið ful ãræd 🥰
War Lord has a surprisingly well wrapped up finale but
I highly recommend this series for people who are interested in the history of England. I'm not normally very interested in English history (despite living in England) but this series has fascinated me and piqued my interest from the first book (and the first episode of The Last Kingdom). Even though Cornwell acknowledges that he has strayed from history in the books, it's still obvious how much research he did for these books. In every TLK book review I have commended Cornwell on his writing, but it is particularly his battle scenes that I find to be so well written - they are engrossing.
While, the show has also deviated from the books, I like that and it's good to see the two iterations of this story. I've enjoyed both and I believe I read somewhere that Cornwell has said that he is happy to see the different direction that the show takes too. It's highly likely that I've missed some details but I'll pick these up on the multiple series rereads I plan to do.
Wyrd bið ful ãræd 🥰
Shift gives us the origins of the silos and the events that led to humanity's downfall. The book alternates between different timelines, showing the construction of the silos and the early days of the silo's inhabitants.
The premise of Shift is intriguing but it felt a little long and reading it felt like a formality. I might appreciate it more on reread, but jumping to a different timeline with different characters was an interesting choice for the middle book of a trilogy.
The premise of Shift is intriguing but it felt a little long and reading it felt like a formality. I might appreciate it more on reread, but jumping to a different timeline with different characters was an interesting choice for the middle book of a trilogy.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this. The writing is lovely but I prefer a more structured writing style.
It had glimmers of promise but too much of the book was spent being reflective , before really giving me anybody to connect to.
"Be in the lookout for bad Mexicans"
What are "bad Mexicans"? "They were the poor men and women, mostly miners, farmworkers, and cotton pickers, many of them displaced from Mexico when the President Diaz gave their land to foreign investors. They wanted their land back and they were willing to fight for it. For challenging his rule, the Diaz administration dubbed them 'malos Mexicanos' (bad Mexicans)."
It is obvious that this book was meticulously researched, it is incredibly informative, but from the perspective of someone new to reading about Mexican history, there was a lot to keep up with. Nevertheless, it is an interesting history of the 1910 Mexican revolution and of Mexican American relations.
The author says early on in the book that "we cannot understand US history without understanding Mexican history" and that sentiment was present throughout the book.
Not my favourite of the series so far 😕 but I thought the author's note was cute. On to the next...
I was less of a fan of the Parisian setting (like I was when DCI Ryan went to Italy) but it was a comfort read. Ross is good at creating characters that I can become so invested in and Douglas feels like the Alex Gregory equivalent of DCI Ryan's Frank.
My initial feeling about this series after book 1 is that this shouldn't really be referred to as a thriller, when it has very similar vibes to the DCI Ryan series; a mystery series. That aside, I was a bit hesitant about going into this series as I'm a fan of the DCI Ryan books, but I had faith in Ross that she would introduce me to more characters that I can get invested in.
Alexander Gregory is well written and someone I can see myself getting invested in. Gregory briefly appeared in a DCI Ryan book and I already liked that team up (so I'm hoping for a DCI Ryan appearance in this series). As with the DCI Ryan books, the story flowed easily and it was a complete comfort read. It feels a lot like the DCI Ryan series but it also feels distinctly different. I also didn’t figure out the ending of the main plot, so that was nice.
Note to self:
-Colm having a heart attack after his wife, Aideen died 😢
Alexander Gregory is well written and someone I can see myself getting invested in. Gregory briefly appeared in a DCI Ryan book and I already liked that team up (so I'm hoping for a DCI Ryan appearance in this series). As with the DCI Ryan books, the story flowed easily and it was a complete comfort read. It feels a lot like the DCI Ryan series but it also feels distinctly different. I also didn’t figure out the ending of the main plot, so that was nice.
Note to self:
-
"There are such people as those who are pure evil, who do not accept any of the standards the rest of us live by"
Inside Wakefield Prison (a.k.a. Monster Mansion) is the follow up to Inside Broadmoor. Inside Wakefield didn't grip me as much as Broadmoor did but there were chapters that piqued my interest (Ian Watkins 👀). Because Inside Broadmoor was such a pleasant surprise, I did go into this book with moderately high expectations and as with Broadmoor, it was an easy listen (in terms of narration) which was what I needed since I haven't really read anything for a month.
This book discussed a lot of topics that were discussed in Broadmoor e.g. whether maximum security is worth for someone who cannot be released back into society. The book is something of a highlights reel, serving as more of an overview (like Inside Broadmoor) but that really didn't bother me. I would like read a more detailed account of both Wakefield and Broadmoor, along with Belmarsh (which was mentioned a few times).
I can easily devour a Chris Carter book in a sitting, but this wasn't one of those books, but this isn't to say this book isn't good. Carter is known for his graphic crime scenes (which is why I gravitated towards this series in the first place) but I felt that this book was missing this element.
The plot is dark and Carter does what he does best, delving into the mind of this killer. However, one aspect of thrillers I'm often let down by is the killer's 'reveal' of their motive, and this book was no exception. The reason behind the motive is definitely not nice but I do struggle to suspend disbelief enough to believe that a person would experience this and then go down this path (even though there is an element of 'based on true events' to this particular novel).
Regardless of plot, I will always enjoy my yearly Hunter novel. Garcia, Hunter and Blake (she needs to be highlighted as an important character now, I think) are great characters. I have really come to love the relationship between Garcia and Hunter, they are a great duo, and Blake is a supporting character that I thoroughly enjoy.
I am committed to this series but I am hoping for a bit of the horror that Chris Carter used to bring in his earlier books.
The plot is dark and Carter does what he does best, delving into the mind of this killer. However, one aspect of thrillers I'm often let down by is the killer's 'reveal' of their motive, and this book was no exception. The reason behind the motive is definitely not nice but I do struggle to suspend disbelief enough to believe that a person would experience this and then go down this path (even though there is an element of 'based on true events' to this particular novel).
Regardless of plot, I will always enjoy my yearly Hunter novel. Garcia, Hunter and Blake (she needs to be highlighted as an important character now, I think) are great characters. I have really come to love the relationship between Garcia and Hunter, they are a great duo, and Blake is a supporting character that I thoroughly enjoy.
I am committed to this series but I am hoping for a bit of the horror that Chris Carter used to bring in his earlier books.
Murder in the Family is a mixed media thriller (a format I believe is pretty standard for Hunter). I do like this format and I think this may be the biggest thing that appealed to me. It is fast-paced and the full cast audio is a strong point of my reading experience. However, the intrigue felt almost non-existent and instead, it just felt like exposition followed by more exposition, with low stakes twists. I also figured out the killer early on and that's never good for my enjoyment of a book, because I'm not intelligent when it comes to figuring out book plots.
I don't know whether it was the mixed media format or just the execution, but I was never really invested in the plot, however, it was a quick read and what I needed at the time. The mixed media format was good in speeding up scenes with conversations, meaning that sentences are not constantly being broken up with "they said" or "they shouted". I also think that some of the cutaways to interviews felt a bit stilted and this added to the lack of intrigue.
I don't know whether it was the mixed media format or just the execution, but I was never really invested in the plot, however, it was a quick read and what I needed at the time. The mixed media format was good in speeding up scenes with conversations, meaning that sentences are not constantly being broken up with "they said" or "they shouted". I also think that some of the cutaways to interviews felt a bit stilted and this added to the lack of intrigue.