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stormlightreader's Reviews (934)
Fast paced and interesting enough to keep me reading and the audiobook was good.
The book is pitched as Dark Academia but I think that's a stretch. Yes, it's set at a uni and we get a sprinkling of Greek mythology throughout, but other than that, it's a mystery/thriller.
Not mind blowing but it's off my TBR now.
The book is pitched as Dark Academia but I think that's a stretch. Yes, it's set at a uni and we get a sprinkling of Greek mythology throughout, but other than that, it's a mystery/thriller.
Not mind blowing but it's off my TBR now.
The Pirate didn't grab me but I like the shorter format and I'm looking forward to continuing with the Prime Reading series.
I came across Beyond Suspicion on Audible Plus and it was an interesting collection of true crime cases, which focused on normal everyday people who committed awful crimes. This led me to Making Evil, a deeper dive into the ‘dark side’ of humans. This was an interesting read.
I came across Beyond Suspicion on Audible Plus and it was an interesting collection of true crime cases, which focused on normal everyday people who committed awful crimes. This led me to Making Evil, a deeper dive into the ‘dark side’ of humans. This was an interesting read.
I started reading Slaughter's Grant County series back in 2016 and finished it (or did it finish me?) in 2017. Following this, I immediately picked up the first Will Trent book and DNFed it, but I went back to that series in 2019 and now I love the series. This time, I started with a mix of excitement and hesitation, but I would like to get into another thriller series by a trusted author.
The main character Emmy didn't grab me straight away and even by the end of the book I was still quite lukewarm about her. Honestly, no single character stood out to me in this book. The story starts off with lots of characters and lots of details about these characters. Slaughter definitely does try to nail down that small town vibe very early on, but I think this was done much better in the Grant County books, because it felt like an avalanche of information in this book.
I struggle anyway with certain plots:kidnappings, missing kids and narcotics and this story had all of these to varying degrees (albeit, the drugs aspect is pretty inconsequential) . I am hoping the next book may be easier to get into and hopefully that one may hook me and get me invested in this series.
Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The main character Emmy didn't grab me straight away and even by the end of the book I was still quite lukewarm about her. Honestly, no single character stood out to me in this book. The story starts off with lots of characters and lots of details about these characters. Slaughter definitely does try to nail down that small town vibe very early on, but I think this was done much better in the Grant County books, because it felt like an avalanche of information in this book.
I struggle anyway with certain plots:
Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
"She hadn't had an easy life, but it was the one she'd had"
This. Was. Confusing!
When I finished this, I was so baffled, and then I reread the synopsis, which pretty much cleared up what had happened.
After realising that it's basically a re-writing of the conclusion of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, I immediately loved the premise and my immediate thought then was that I need to watch some YouTube videos on the conquest.
It was a challenging read, but I definitely came away with an unexpected appreciation for it and I think I'll need to reread at some point to fully appreciate it.
The Way the World Ends gives you a glimpse into the messy lives of a few higher education professors. It was a good quick read and even though the environmental stuff wasn’t the main focus, I’ll take what I can get.
Falls the Shadow wasn’t what I expected. It did show how corrupt and misleading the world of conservation can be and makes you second guess the information you’re being given.
I have a lot to say about this short story...
Halfway to Free is one of 7 short stories of Amazon Original Stories Out of Line Collection. It is an apocalyptic short story centred around the government's control of the population through incentives for people who choose to remain childfree, in order to do their bit for climate change and get the world population back down to the 'optimum' (around 3 billion).
The way pregnancy is described by AI was definitely done so from a scaremongering angle. I think it felt just futuristic enough and I can totally see how the government could lean on this angle, in the hopes that the population could be guilted into not contributing more to the climate change problem. It's a little all over the place, and even though it's a short story the speed at which the couple go from barely speaking colleagues to starting a family together is astounding.
The premise was really good, but I feel very let down by the ending. It starts off advocating for female agency and before you know it, we're straight back to the 'kids are the only thing a woman can do that is worth anything' narrative. We also end up swiftly moving away from the opening motivation for this dystopian world, which is the impact that overpopulation has on the environment.
Once again, a story starts with a childfree character just for them to end up having a kid. Disappointing...
Halfway to Free is one of 7 short stories of Amazon Original Stories Out of Line Collection. It is an apocalyptic short story centred around the government's control of the population through incentives for people who choose to remain childfree, in order to do their bit for climate change and get the world population back down to the 'optimum' (around 3 billion).
The way pregnancy is described by AI was definitely done so from a scaremongering angle. I think it felt just futuristic enough and I can totally see how the government could lean on this angle, in the hopes that the population could be guilted into not contributing more to the climate change problem. It's a little all over the place, and even though it's a short story the speed at which the couple go from barely speaking colleagues to starting a family together is astounding.
The premise was really good, but I feel very let down by the ending. It starts off advocating for female agency and before you know it, we're straight back to the 'kids are the only thing a woman can do that is worth anything' narrative. We also end up swiftly moving away from the opening motivation for this dystopian world, which is the impact that overpopulation has on the environment.
Once again, a story starts with a childfree character just for them to end up having a kid. Disappointing...
I was drawn in by the cover and the description that I'd heard circulating online. But, I'm not echoing the popular opinion on this book. But it was just too much of a slow burn. I think it may have worked better as a short story. I just wasn't excited to pick it back up.