Rate the Last Book You Read #4

Plasma

Plasma

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Black Thorn
Last thread had hit 200, time for the next! 🙂

The Da Vinci Code - Recommended!

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Good book! I really enjoyed my time reading this, after I was recommended it by @Cohen . The pace felt good, the writing didn’t bother me (a pain point in online critique), and I was engaged throughout. I gladly read this in 100+ page sessions. I also really enjoyed some of the characters, with the Opus Dei monk Silas in particular being a very interesting and sad character.

A few massive complaints do really hold it back for me, sadly. The ending reveals are either really corny/predictable or make very little sense given what we’ve been told throughout the novel. The characters also make some enormous jumps in logic and knowledge to facilitate pushing the mystery forward (ex. “Oh well I know that this thing is actually a symbol for an ancient secret society but has a double meaning that tells us what button to push on this console”. That sort of stuff). It works, but it does kinda fall apart at the end as it’s rushing to finish.
 
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

No idea how to rate this, but I read it in 2 days.
 
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I'm annoyed that I wasted time reading this crap. First of all, that's NOT Stevie on the cover. Also, the author threw in a few already well known facts about Stevie, Lindsay, Mick, John, and Christine...then obviously decided, "Screw it, I'm gonna make some stuff up."

For some reason, he seems to know exactly what the band members were thinking at any given moment. Yes, he was apparently inside their heads or something. 😄 What a douchebag.

This is a work of fiction, with a few actual facts. Its DEFINITELY not a biography
 
Salem’s Lot - 9/10

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Phenomenal second outing from King. There’s a lot of subtext and theming here, as there is with any excellent vampire story. The destruction of small town America, at least as it was known before the turn of the century, is spot-on. The characters are mostly well-drawn, aside from the rather one-dimensional/useless Susan. Barlow and Straker are both good villains, even if they don’t appear all that often.

And the visuals in this book…just amazing. Barlow at the dump fire, the hanging body of Huber Marsten, Danny Glick outside the window, the cellar steps that abruptly end and send you into a floor full of upturned knives, Susan and Barlow leaving no footsteps, and the list goes on. It’s no wonder this has been adapted to the screen 3 times already.

King’s prose and decisions in this one are just excellent too. Later on there’s a bit that describes a man dying of a heart attack, with the small addition of it being “the only natural death that day”. How he describes the town is just perfect. The way things look and the layout is easy to see and visualize.

For a second novel, he did an outstanding job here.
 
T
thrasherpix
I saw the first movie at age 10, read the book at 13. It shaped how I see vampires (as demons rather than romantic figures).
Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood

The third in his Marlow Murder Club books, and just as good as the rest if the series. Nothing particularly deep in these books, just cosy crime, if that's a thing!
 
Carrie - 8/10

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Good and brisk read that honestly runs a little too short. There’s a lot of interesting story potential here and I wish King had spent more time setting things up instead of jumping us in at a specific point in time. Other than that, really great. I felt this captured that ostracized teenage mindset perfectly.
 
RachM
RachM
Personally, I find Carrie to be the perfect length, the short, snappy style makes for such an intense read!
The Shining - 9.5/10

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I had read this one several years back and loved it then. A lot of images stuck in my mind, none of which were in Kubrick’s adaptation. Most of all it felt like a scary book.

When I read it this time around, I walked away more thinking that the real horror is the sadness and depression of a broken home, and the desperation with which the parents try to make things work. There’s good scary moments, absolutely, but also an intense and sad family drama about the sins of the father. Whereas originally I liked Jack, reading it this time I sort of came to the conclusion that he didn’t really love Wendy anymore. And as much as Wendy wants to force things to happen, she doesn’t love Jack either. Their son is the only thing keeping them together.
 
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter

1*

Great idea for a dystopian book, but I did not enjoy the writing style, the plot was barely there and I just did not like it. It was short though and I did finish it, so it got a star for that!
 
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Easy reading, I find that her books are quite visual so I can see why they're adapted for tv shows.

4.5/5
 
Carrie, Stephen King

Now I reread this book most years, I do enjoy it except for one line. When Margaret is describing baby Carrie holding the bottle up and she was going to kill her with the knife, she says Ralph stopped her, but Ralph was dead by then!

So it only gets 4*
 
The new Richard Osman one, We Solve Murders.

It was okay, but felt more like a prequel book, a this is what happened before, so now we're doing this.

4/5
 
What Matters Most. Courtney Walsh.
Probably wont finish it. Too slow and simply boring.
 
Monstrous by MarcyKate Connolly 3/4


For younger readers, but I enjoyed this a lot. Much of my praise and criticism is too trivial or personal to share, so I'll give why I'm sharing it here.

A Frankenstein monster type girl is the protagonist, a monster girl into a boy. Not a beautiful monster, either, one that inspires horror in many who see her. Refreshing and interesting to me. Not that it's entirely focused on this, and is family friendly, but it's important, and figure it would appeal to a few others.

Ah, wizards, or why Dark Willows are unsunstainable. Like Dark Willow, they mess with your mind and memories, your very identity, and the monster girl breaking free of such magic was a big part of why I liked it. (Also like DW, they drained others of magic, thus the extinction of magical critters and also other wizards, Highlander style.)

The ending is too brief and sudden (continued in the sequel, some of which should've been in the original), and instead of chapters there are "days." Have to dock it a point for that (on top of the stuff too trivial to share).
 
Recently started re-reading the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Just finished book 3 which is still my favorite in the series, because it's a simple murder mystery.
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs - 9/10 Full review
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs - 6/10 Full review
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs - 8/10 Full review
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
It has been a while since I read any of that series; I bet there are some I have not read.
@NotASlayer It has been a while since I read any of that series; I bet there are some I have not read.

Yeah, There was a new book that came out either in 2022 . And I think another new one, this year. Haven't read the new one. The series has it's ups and downs, but overall I really enjoy it.
 
NotASlayer
NotASlayer
I checked and I appear to have read the first four. I am a little behind!
X-Files: Ground Zero by Kevin Anderson 4/4

www.goodreads.com

The X-Files: Ground Zero

Investigating the death of nuclear weapons researcher D…
www.goodreads.com www.goodreads.com

Would've been one of the better stand alone eps (parts 1 -2, perhaps 3). Character is spot on and character driven for even many side characters. The blend of administration and odd paranormal phenomenon is X-Files at its best (when not focused on the overall story). This could've easily been made for the screen.

Early season, shortly after Dana's father died.
 
Image by Mel Odom. 2.5 out of 4. Perhaps I should list it elsewhere since it's for Angel. Buffy wiki entry:

buffy.fandom.com

Image

Image is an Angel novel. Written by Mel Odom, it was originally published on May 7, 2002, by Pocket Books. PICTURE PERFECT Cordelia has a vision of a young child being attacked by a squid-like demon at the same time that Gunn is rescuing a young artist whose studio has been attacked by vampires...
buffy.fandom.com buffy.fandom.com

I think it would've worked better for TV (early s2) given the action, especially in the first half before they took a breath. Still, once the 3 intertwining stories turn into 1, I found the payoff worth it. I'd rate it higher if it were on TV.

If anyone reads this, I suggest bookmarking in the middle of a chapter. It had the bad habit of trying to end each chapter on a cliffhanger.
 
A court of thorns and roses. Twilighty YAYyyyyyy! Nice easy read, my kind of book series so far. 3/5 I gotta love the characters more to rate it higher. Setting is good, characters not as strong or loveable. Feyre is dumb and far more annoying than Bella. Too much trying to be mystery for not enough pay off, but maybe later. I'll be reading the lot for sure.
 
Well I finished it. It doesn't excite me much, definitely prefer the non main characters, but I might read book 2. I hope Feyre improves as a character as she's definitely the weak link in it.

@November you're more generous than me, I doubt I'll even rate it as high as a 3/5
 
November
November
I know I rare it high cos its my kind of fun fantasy so far, Im more hopeful than realistic with these things 😂
Ok second book is better, I'd go as high as a 3.5/5 it's still very much a fanfic cliche, but it's enjoyable enough.
 
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