I was given this book as a teenager and am only just reading it as an adult which has probably affected my reading experience.
I thought the interpersonal conflicts between characters were a bit childish and poorly explained/developed, overall the relationships did not feel like they were substantive or due to character traits/interactions we saw (e.g. Olivia and Grace's fight, Grace and Sam's InstaLove that spanned species and puberty). Sam's character had a lot more depth and I enjoyed his struggle with his personhood - some really great reflection and content on this point (even if the song kyrics were a bit cringe). The adults were nearly all detestable and I found very little redeemable about them.
There was a consistent narrative direction however I feel like very little was actually accomplished/took place. I was a bit dissapointed with how the paranormal element was incorporated as didn't really add much to the tension/excitement of the story beyond the minor conflict it introduced into the relationship.
Overall, it was nice but nothing especially compelling, exciting, or captivating.
Artemis is the first of Andy Weir’s books that I’ve read so, perhaps it’s a good thing I can’t compare it to The Martian like many other people seem to have done so. Set in the future, on our Moon’s colony, the book follows Jazz’s life as she continually fails to live up to the expectations others have for her. Except she still manages to succeed?
She’s young but determined but also willing to do nearly (emphasis on nearly) anything to get the Slugs (the moon’s currency) that she’s after.
Except of course not everything goes to plan and she ends up on the run and in a tiny base where nearly everyone knows everyone that’s really hard thing to do.
It was a predictable read and an easy one at that but it was fun.
It was also very lazily written at times. The MC is a female but she is very stereotypical female and while being a Muslim she doesn’t follow her religion to the point that she doesn’t know the basics that she really should know.
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did.
Der Bestsellerautor Daniel Glattauer lässt in seinem neuen Roman Menschen zu Wort kommen, die keine Stimme haben - ein Sittenbild unserer privilegierten Gesellschaft.
Die Binders und die Strobl-Marineks gönnen sich einen exklusiven Urlaub in der Toskana. Tochter Sophie Luise, 14, durfte gegen die Langeweile ihre Schulfreundin Aayana mitnehmen, ein Flüchtlingskind aus Somalia. Kaum hat man sich mit Prosecco und Antipasti in Ferienlaune gechillt, kommt es zur Katastrophe.
Was ist ein Menschenleben wert? Und jedes gleich viel? Daniel Glattauer packt große Fragen in seinen neuen Roman, den man nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kann und in dem er all sein Können ausspielt: spannende Szenen, starke Dialoge, Sprachwitz. Dabei zeichnet Glattauer ein Sittenbild unserer privilegierten Gesellschaft, entlarvt deren Doppelmoral und leiht jenen seine Stimme, die viel zu selten zu Wort kommen.
That opening? Absolutely iconic. I was sat immediately. 📚 The way this story kicks off is so strong and sets up one of the best parts of the book, the female friendships. Watching those relationships form and grow was easily my favorite element.
📚 The characters are interesting and layered enough to keep things engaging, and the MMC is genuinely sweet. He brings steady, supportive energy to the romance.
📚 The overall plot is fairly predictable, which is not always a bad thing, but there were not many surprises along the way.
📚 The forgiveness near the end felt very quick compared to the buildup of conflict. I wanted just a little more processing and emotional depth before everything wrapped up. A solid, low spice romance with standout female friendships and a sweet love story. Predictable, but still an enjoyable read.
The plot was super interesting and so was the magic system but the book was so focused on moving from one point of the plot to the next that none of the characters or systems got explored. It felt like everyone except the main character was incompetent and fumbling around without her. Even when she struggled with something, it was always overcome almost right away and with little challenge. She was barely curious about her own magic and when she learned to use it more effectively she just…didn’t? Her most developed relationship was with a guy who randomly became evil with no explanation later in the book. And even though it says repeatedly that she’s the most hated woman in the kingdom, almost no one cares about what she’s done to her beloved son.
A tale of the apocalypse, this book bounces around in time to tell the story of a group of people from before the end, during the end, and after the end.
I had a little bit of a tough time getting started, dreading yet another grim tale of the end of the world, but this is a refreshingly optimistic book, lovely prose, character driven, hopeful apocalyptic tale. As a SF fan I had some nitpicks about some of the details, but overall they did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.
Well worth a read, though I don't know it deserves all the awards it got so be warned not to expect too much.
P- 5. Engaging the whole way through and action packed in the second half. E- 5. Always a pleasure to return to one of my favorite universes. A- 5. I am always impressed by Collins' writing, both in terms of style and the way she weaves plots together. C- 5. Always loved Haymitch, so glad to have more of his backstory. Effie and Plutarch get great development too, with appearances from Mags, Beetee, and Wiress. H- 5. SO much love for this book and this world. Will absolutely be rereading, considering rereading the series again.
An all around pleasant and hilarious read. The broad cast of colorful and lovable characters is one of its strengths, though the narration hopped among them enough that just when I was invested in a character, it would switch to someone else. Gaiman and Pratchett's voice and humor is, of course, the biggest draw here. In the end material, the authors mention that the writing process mostly involved trying to come up with scenarios that made the other one laugh—and that sort of animated, tongue-in-cheek energy shines through in this novel.
Almost nothing was resolved at all. Seemed like it'd be the first book in a series that has multiple more books but no. The few things the audience thought we knew were blown to pieces at the end and nothing was properly explained. Very disappointed it ended so ridiculously abruptly. I kept reading since I though the story had such potential but in the end I really shouldn't have. This is the most *stock* YA dystopian I've ever read, it's like it took the main ideas from multiple other ones but didn't bother adding the twists that would make it unique, just left it as the stock idea.
A very bizarre narrative. Only at the very end with In-hye's sisterly narrative voice do I start to see how this novel is a poignant attack on the patriarchal society of South Korea. The first two parts are exploitation and outcasting of Yeong-hye through this twisted view of dietary choice as mental illness or challenging authority. It is only in the third part where we realise the burden of suffering the women of South Korea have to carry with themselves. Suffering takes on a psychological and environmental depth through the intelligent use of vegetarianism and dreams as a foil.