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stormlightreader's Reviews (936)
A cosy mystery with the impending threat of a looming asteroid which is due to collide with earth in just over 6 months. There wasn't as much sci fi as I would've expected and the asteroid seemed secondary to the mystery but I also liked that it showed life in the face of this threat. The mindset of living with the knowledge that life will come to an end before the year is out and how people respond to that.
What is The Farm about? Outsourcing pregnancy. Golden Oaks provides surrogates for people who can't have kids but also for people who are too busy with work or "changing the world" to stop and carry their own child.
This book wasn't as dystopian as I would've liked but definitely felt like something that could happen. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single character I gelled with (possibly because I don't relate to the need to have kids) but the premise of the book (and the fact that the book is pretty short) is what convinced me to see if the ending was worthwhile. It wasn't.
This book wasn't as dystopian as I would've liked but definitely felt like something that could happen. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single character I gelled with (possibly because I don't relate to the need to have kids) but the premise of the book (and the fact that the book is pretty short) is what convinced me to see if the ending was worthwhile. It wasn't.
It's been a while since I've read a Robert Hunter novel and after a fantasy-heavy January, it was exactly what I needed.
Genesis has some pretty shocking crime scenes, which is one reason I love Carter's books. That and Carter does home invasion stories so well.
It was so good to be back with Hunter, Garcia and Blake and while the ending felt a little out of touch with the rest of the story, finding out the killer's motivations, in relation to kids and their use of social media, felt very relevant.
I'm looking forward to the next Hunter novel!
Genesis has some pretty shocking crime scenes, which is one reason I love Carter's books. That and Carter does home invasion stories so well.
It was so good to be back with Hunter, Garcia and Blake and while the ending felt a little out of touch with the rest of the story, finding out the killer's motivations, in relation to kids and their use of social media, felt very relevant.
I'm looking forward to the next Hunter novel!
Loved the writing. Very cosy sci-fi. Just can't get on board with the different character types.
The Rain Wilds have been mentioned for three trilogies now and it's great to finally get to the Rains Wilds quartet and meet a new set of characters and get a dragon POV. I found the first half really slow though it definitely picked up in the second half, but it does a great job of setting the scene for this series.
I struggled for at least the first half of the book to connect with any of the human characters but as is usually the case with Hobb, there is already a character I dislike and by the halfway point I really started to like Alise and Leftrin, and Thymara grew on me more by the end.
The tone of this series feels quite similar to Liveships, which I really like. I'm enjoying the continuation of the serpents' story from Liveships but I had to work harder than I expected to get into the dragon POV. Hobb gives great descriptions of the dragons and their behaviour but I am surprised that Hobb doesn’t go into as much detail as she did in the previous trilogies.
A good introduction to the next part of the Realm of the Elderlings and if the pace of Dragon Keeper is any indication, the Rain Wild Chronicles will be the fastest paced series of The Realm of the Elderlings.
I struggled for at least the first half of the book to connect with any of the human characters but as is usually the case with Hobb, there is already a character I dislike and by the halfway point I really started to like Alise and Leftrin, and Thymara grew on me more by the end.
The tone of this series feels quite similar to Liveships, which I really like. I'm enjoying the continuation of the serpents' story from Liveships but I had to work harder than I expected to get into the dragon POV. Hobb gives great descriptions of the dragons and their behaviour but I am surprised that Hobb doesn’t go into as much detail as she did in the previous trilogies.
A good introduction to the next part of the Realm of the Elderlings and if the pace of Dragon Keeper is any indication, the Rain Wild Chronicles will be the fastest paced series of The Realm of the Elderlings.
My first Leigh Bardugo book was a success and I'm pleasantly surprised.
The story is interesting. There wasn't as much fantasy as I expected, but the dark academia vibes are definitely there. The murder mystery was intriguing and the magic system was good. The jumping timeline kept pulling me out of the story to begin with but it did keep the story moving. I was disappointed with the resolution of the Bridegroom plot, it was underwhelming. However, the twist at the end (for one character in particular) was really good, but I'm disappointed that we didn't get more of Darlington.
The story is interesting. There wasn't as much fantasy as I expected, but the dark academia vibes are definitely there. The murder mystery was intriguing and the magic system was good. The jumping timeline kept pulling me out of the story to begin with but it did keep the story moving. I was disappointed with the resolution of the Bridegroom plot, it was underwhelming. However, the twist at the end (for one character in particular) was really good, but I'm disappointed that we didn't get more of Darlington.
A Killer By Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind
Steven Constantine, Ann Burgess
This book was great! I've read Mindhunter and found it far too difficult to enjoy because of John Douglas and his "I'm so fabulous" schtick. Instead, A Killer By Design is written by a woman who was involved in developing criminal profiling alongside Douglas and others but is told in a much much better way. There is no hint of that "I'm so fabulous" attitude. She refers to low-profile and high-profile criminals to illustrate how the science of criminal profiling evolved during the development of the Behavioural Science Unit at the FBI. This was a fascinating read. It was scientifically written (but not obnoxiously scientific), with focus on victimology rather than glamourising the actions of serial killers and shows how effective criminal profiling is in a range of cases.
informative
slow-paced
This book started off really strong with the history of the Sackler family but goes off on tangents towards the middle and doesn't really get back on track. It was hard to follow the timeline. In terms of the writing, it goes back and forth between factual writing and descriptive like a story (not something I enjoyed) and it did get a bit repetitive towards the end, so could have been shorter but there was lots of interesting detail and worth the read.
fast-paced
First read: Really good and not slowed down by unnecessary detail that slows some other Reacher books down. I can see why it was adapted (5*)
Re-read: multiple POVs - increases intrigue. Reading the descriptions of gigantic Reacher, knowing Tom Cruise played him in the film adaptation of this book is absolutely hysterical to me! I really enjoyed this again. It feels straight to the point. Some more background on Reacher (which I always enjoy) and I got some giggles too. Reacher: "4 in the morning is when the KGB went knocking on doors" Me: *pictures*: "the KGB will wait for no-one" from The Office. (5*)
Re-read: multiple POVs - increases intrigue. Reading the descriptions of gigantic Reacher, knowing Tom Cruise played him in the film adaptation of this book is absolutely hysterical to me! I really enjoyed this again. It feels straight to the point. Some more background on Reacher (which I always enjoy) and I got some giggles too. Reacher: "4 in the morning is when the KGB went knocking on doors" Me: *pictures*: "the KGB will wait for no-one" from The Office. (5*)
I jumped at the chance to request A Day of Fallen Night when I saw it on NetGalley. Unfortunately, I don't have the patience with this prequel that I had for the main novel. Firstly, I'm surprised that the prequel is longer than the main novel at 880 pages. Secondly and most importantly, I cannot get myself to invest in any of these characters. I made it 12% (over 100 pages) through and have decided (unpopularly, I imagine) to DNF.