Nic > Recent Status Updates

DNF
Thought this book was going to be about Christmas 1944 in Bastogne, but 39 pages in, and so far it's just the author dropping every commander's name while reporting the sniping and bitching and blame game between the British and Americans. There are so many good books about the battle in Bastogne that I don't see the point in continuing with such a pointless account.

A little over halfway through, and the story has lost all momentum. It's as though it stalled out and can't get going again. I don't know whether to skip ahead and hope it improves, or DNF it and move on to another read.

I find the dialog pretentious. All these obscure references to people and places that you'd have to know 1945 Berlin to understand. I am leaning towards DNF with this one.

I am struggling to read this one. I've read over 100 pages, and I am not even into December 1941 yet. Nelson has a habit of using very long quotes that would be better if he paraphrased or shortened them. An example is a quote about Nanking that is half a page long. If I wanted to read about that, there are books about it. He needs to focus on his subject.

I think this one is going to end up on the DNF pile. It failed my rule about being hooked by the first 50 pages, but I kept at it because I am reading it for a book club. 160 pages in and the pace is like molasses in winter, the promised premise hasn't even been touched yet, the characters are awful, and I really don't care what happens to any of them. I think it is time to throw in the towel.

DNF

This is going to be yet another failed attempt at reading a Tom Clavin book. Typical of Clavin's glacial pacing and inability to stay on topic, there are 170 pages before the book mentions anything specific about McNelly, the man the book is supposed to be about. I find it so frustrating that what is promised in the description hasn't been discussed yet despite having read half of the book.

60 pages in, he isn't even a pilot yet, and all he does is complain. I hate not finishing books that I purchased, but I also hate forcing myself to read books that aren't engaging or interesting.

This book doesn't know what it wants to be about. Does it want to be about a serial killer or a girl with a sixth sense or a couple who lost their baby or a spiteful mother who can't decide if she loves or hates her daughter? The short chapters make for a choppy, glacial pace, and the plot doesn't move forward.

I do not care for the writing style. Wordy and repetitive.

The pace is glacial, and the entire book is absolutely glutted with details that bog the story down until it almost doesn't have any momentum at all. I don't think I can read almost 500 more pages of this.

This is the slowest, dullest end to a series I have ever encountered. 800 pages and so far, I think half of them could have been cut.

I wish I had something positive to say, but this book is boring and the pace is glacial.

This has got to be the dullest start to a new series I've read in a long while.

When I said I wanted Nikolai to have his own series, this is definitely not what I had in mind.

Has there ever been a more useless heroine than Alina? She's supposedly a Saint, the most powerful Grisha alive with her two dead-animal trinkets, yet there is Nicholai attacked and begging for help, and all she does is stand there, calling his name instead of using her power. Useless.

I'm only on the second page of the Introduction, and I've already laughed out loud four times. I am going to love this book!

This author uses exclamation points far too much. He also tends to patronize readers with his over-explaining. Trust me, Lee. Those of us actually taking the time to read this book are not as stupid as the people discussed in your book.

This book has too much present day and not enough of the 1940s and the Resistance. I find Evie dull and do not care about her budding feelings for the curator. The pace is quite glacial.

I'm having so much trouble staying interested in this book. So far, none of the stories are all that interesting, the pace is glacial, and it's getting rather repetitious with all the reminders that Simon doesn't remember anything and isn't the hero he once was.

After reading A Higher Call, I thought there was nothing Makos could write that I wouldn't enjoy reading, but I am roughly halfway through this one, and so far there is a lot of fluff and not a lot of substance. I find many of the chapters contribute almost nothing to the actual story of America's first black carrier pilot.

DNF
I lost all interest in this book about halfway through. I found the letters home to be patronizing and silly, and I got tired of reading how much he disliked his duties and missed his family when it was his choice to serve and be separated from them.

I am not sure that I am engaged enough in this story to keep reading. So far, it seems like a list of her many, many run-ins with police and is becoming repetitive.