![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Kiwiria's May Reads
Jun. 6th, 2024 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwiriaA bit late, but at least I'm still within the first week of June ;)
The Last Murder at the End of the World - Stuart Turton, 4.5/5, 330 pages
I really liked it, but it didn't blow me away the way "The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" did.
It was a fascinating concept though, and I got more and more intrigued as the chapters went by and I felt like I had more questions than answers. Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on, some new twist occurred and I was left trying to puzzle it all out again.
At the end of the day, I think the mystery was more interesting than its solution, but it was a feasible solution and not too far fetched, so the book ended up really working for me, and I'm amazed that an author can write two books as different in style and yet both complete page-turners!
I'll have to pick up his third book now, and see if that can live up to the others.
The Devil and the Dark Water - Stuart Turton, 4.5/5, 576 pages
Yet another 4.5 star book by Stuart Turton! So far I've loved everything I've read by him and am really impressed at how effortlessly he switches between settings and atmospheres.
There are a LOT of details to keep straight, and a lot of random asides that suddenly become plot points 3 chapters later, so I'm glad I read it as quickly as I did, as it wouldn't have taken much to forget . As it was, I had to refer back to the passenger list quite frequently during the first half of the book, until I got everybody sorted in my head.
Fortunately, I like detective novels with a lot of details, as it keeps me thinking that I might be able to solve the mystery myself alongside the detective, so I enjoyed all the puzzles and the twists and turns the novel took along the way.
Opposites Attract - Camilla Isley, 4/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
Really cute story. A bit too run-of-the-mill to deserve 5 stars, but I enjoyed it a lot, and found myself listening to it at every chance I got.
Of course, it's one of those stories where you can guess the outcome from the very first page, and that requires absolutely nothing of the reader - but sometimes, that's just the kind of fluff I'm in the mood for, and I did feel that this delivered quite nicely without being too trite. And for once the third act breakup made sense ... even if I did think Vivian should have been able to guess the explanation without it having to be spelled out.
I loved Teagan, and loved the growing relationship between her and Luke :-)
The end wrapped up things nicely, without being too rushed. There was certain plot point I felt lacked a proper resolution, but there is an exclusive epilogue on the author's web page, which covers that quite nicely :)
This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron, 3/5, 363 pages
Warning: this book ends with a HUGE cliffhanger! And the annoying thing is that it really didn't need to. Kalynn Bayron could easily have paved the way for a sequel without leaving the reader without an ending, but once I had 20 pages left I realized there was NO way they could wrap up everything in such short time :-( So that definitely subtracted a star or two.
But up until then I loved it. I really enjoyed reading how Briseis grew and learned more about herself - even if there were constantly more questions than answers. The answers we did get came organically, and I was eager to learn more. There were lots of twists and turns I hadn't guessed ahead of time, but which worked within the scope of the book.
And I guess that was the problem - there were SO many twists and turns that Ms. Bayron couldn't get everything sorted by the end of the book, and chose to save the answers for the sequel, leaving an - IMO at least - much too open ending.
Delayed Admission - Heather Renee, 3/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
This could have been an amazing book, but unfortunately the author couldn't quite deliver. There were some pacing issues along the way, and the ending was a lot more open than the story warranted.
Which is a shame, because the world building and character building was really well done! I very much enjoyed reading about life at Shadow Veil Academy, I loved the friendship between Raegan and Gemma, and was very pleased that the "mean girls" weren't irredeemably so (shades of Viv in "Legally Blonde).
At the end of the day I enjoyed the book, but due to its flaws I can't rate it higher than 3 stars. Especially as I didn't find the villain interesting enough for me to immediately reach for the second book in the series.
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon* 5/5, Audiobook ~33hrs
I have read this more times than I can count - enough to know parts of it off by heart by now - and it remains one of my all-time favourite books. It has action, comedy, romance, tragedy... everything a girl could wish for. By far the best of the series. I know that some people find it too lenient in its depictions of the darker aspects of life in the 18th century, but I disagree. Life WAS different back then, and we shouldn't try to hide that.
Books Read: 46
Book of the Month: One of the two Stuart Turton books. I honestly can't decide as they're so different.
Biggest Disappointment: Probably This Poison Heart. It could have been fantastic, if it hadn't had such an open ending.
The Last Murder at the End of the World - Stuart Turton, 4.5/5, 330 pages
I really liked it, but it didn't blow me away the way "The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" did.
It was a fascinating concept though, and I got more and more intrigued as the chapters went by and I felt like I had more questions than answers. Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on, some new twist occurred and I was left trying to puzzle it all out again.
At the end of the day, I think the mystery was more interesting than its solution, but it was a feasible solution and not too far fetched, so the book ended up really working for me, and I'm amazed that an author can write two books as different in style and yet both complete page-turners!
I'll have to pick up his third book now, and see if that can live up to the others.
The Devil and the Dark Water - Stuart Turton, 4.5/5, 576 pages
Yet another 4.5 star book by Stuart Turton! So far I've loved everything I've read by him and am really impressed at how effortlessly he switches between settings and atmospheres.
There are a LOT of details to keep straight, and a lot of random asides that suddenly become plot points 3 chapters later, so I'm glad I read it as quickly as I did, as it wouldn't have taken much to forget . As it was, I had to refer back to the passenger list quite frequently during the first half of the book, until I got everybody sorted in my head.
Fortunately, I like detective novels with a lot of details, as it keeps me thinking that I might be able to solve the mystery myself alongside the detective, so I enjoyed all the puzzles and the twists and turns the novel took along the way.
Opposites Attract - Camilla Isley, 4/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
Really cute story. A bit too run-of-the-mill to deserve 5 stars, but I enjoyed it a lot, and found myself listening to it at every chance I got.
Of course, it's one of those stories where you can guess the outcome from the very first page, and that requires absolutely nothing of the reader - but sometimes, that's just the kind of fluff I'm in the mood for, and I did feel that this delivered quite nicely without being too trite. And for once the third act breakup made sense ... even if I did think Vivian should have been able to guess the explanation without it having to be spelled out.
I loved Teagan, and loved the growing relationship between her and Luke :-)
The end wrapped up things nicely, without being too rushed. There was certain plot point I felt lacked a proper resolution, but there is an exclusive epilogue on the author's web page, which covers that quite nicely :)
This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron, 3/5, 363 pages
Warning: this book ends with a HUGE cliffhanger! And the annoying thing is that it really didn't need to. Kalynn Bayron could easily have paved the way for a sequel without leaving the reader without an ending, but once I had 20 pages left I realized there was NO way they could wrap up everything in such short time :-( So that definitely subtracted a star or two.
But up until then I loved it. I really enjoyed reading how Briseis grew and learned more about herself - even if there were constantly more questions than answers. The answers we did get came organically, and I was eager to learn more. There were lots of twists and turns I hadn't guessed ahead of time, but which worked within the scope of the book.
And I guess that was the problem - there were SO many twists and turns that Ms. Bayron couldn't get everything sorted by the end of the book, and chose to save the answers for the sequel, leaving an - IMO at least - much too open ending.
Delayed Admission - Heather Renee, 3/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
This could have been an amazing book, but unfortunately the author couldn't quite deliver. There were some pacing issues along the way, and the ending was a lot more open than the story warranted.
Which is a shame, because the world building and character building was really well done! I very much enjoyed reading about life at Shadow Veil Academy, I loved the friendship between Raegan and Gemma, and was very pleased that the "mean girls" weren't irredeemably so (shades of Viv in "Legally Blonde).
At the end of the day I enjoyed the book, but due to its flaws I can't rate it higher than 3 stars. Especially as I didn't find the villain interesting enough for me to immediately reach for the second book in the series.
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon* 5/5, Audiobook ~33hrs
I have read this more times than I can count - enough to know parts of it off by heart by now - and it remains one of my all-time favourite books. It has action, comedy, romance, tragedy... everything a girl could wish for. By far the best of the series. I know that some people find it too lenient in its depictions of the darker aspects of life in the 18th century, but I disagree. Life WAS different back then, and we shouldn't try to hide that.
Books Read: 46
Book of the Month: One of the two Stuart Turton books. I honestly can't decide as they're so different.
Biggest Disappointment: Probably This Poison Heart. It could have been fantastic, if it hadn't had such an open ending.
