Athena Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 Regarding Jump the Shark........ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark That's pretty cool . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 I thought Sister was excellent, Afterwards was good too but haven't bought The Quality of Silence, something about it didn't appeal. It's hard I find when an author does a particularly good book and then the second isn't as good, I then find it hard to be bothered to try any more, it's as if they've peaked (or jumped the shark as Steve always says! Strange saying!) It's taken me a while to get into Sister, but I'm enjoying it now. I much prefer the concept of The Quality of Silence, but so far Sister is better written. Agreed, I've read the same two of hers and enjoyed them. I have The Quality of Silence started, but it didn't grab me. Something in it discomfited me. I'll pick it up again, could have been my mood. We'll see. It's disappointing when that happens with an author one likes (so far). Regarding Jump the Shark........ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark I read the bit in bold all in once sentence because I missed the full stop, and you sounded like Yoda in my head! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 I read the bit in bold all in once sentence because I missed the full stop, and you sounded like Yoda in my head! !! You said in the Your Book Activity thread you were behind on reviews. Do you know how many? I'm curious . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 Five, not including ones I've decided I'm not going to bother doing. And there's one I said here I wasn't going to do but did, so I've 6 to post here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 That's pretty cool . Yeah, gotta love The Fonz! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days It's taken me a while to get into Sister, but I'm enjoying it now. I much prefer the concept of The Quality of Silence, but so far Sister is better written. I read the bit in bold all in once sentence because I missed the full stop, and you sounded like Yoda in my head! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Five, not including ones I've decided I'm not going to bother doing. And there's one I said here I wasn't going to do but did, so I've 6 to post here! Did you finish The Girl with all the Gifts? I'm curious to see how you felt about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Five, not including ones I've decided I'm not going to bother doing. And there's one I said here I wasn't going to do but did, so I've 6 to post here! Good luck ! I look forward to reading the reviews. Yeah, gotta love The Fonz! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days Very interesting ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Did you finish The Girl with all the Gifts? I'm curious to see how you felt about it. Yes! I'll be writing a review soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 #44 The Quality of Silence - Rosamund Lupton Genre: Fiction/Mystery/ThrillerSynopsis: On 24th November Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby arrived in Alaska. Within hours they were driving alone across a frozen wilderness. Where nothing grows. Where no one lives. Where tears freeze. And night will last for another 54 days. They are looking for Ruby's father. Travelling deeper into a silent land. They still cannot find him. And someone is watching them in the dark.*** Review: There was a lot I really liked about this book. Being me, and a fan of the cold, I loved the setting, and I also thought the premise was great. In fairness, to be able to spend an entire novel describing cold, snow, and darkness without being repetitive requires talent. The writing was engaging, enjoyable to read and I tore through it fairly quickly because I was dying to find out what happened in the end - which means the mystery behind Ruby's father's disappearance was compelling. All of these are signs of a good book, but unfortunately a poor ending can really let down any good writing that has gone before, and that is definitely what happened to me with this book. There was too much explaining, which is not something you want towards the end of a book - you want the pieces that have been building up all along to fall into place. The main characters were mostly likeable, even if Yasmin made some seriously questionable decisions. You're stuck with just Yasmin and Ruby for a significant portion of the book, so it's pretty important that you don't hate them. Ruby is impossible not to like - she's intelligent, sweet, and her unique view of the world is captivating. I loved the inclusion of her tweets, but did feel they were too few and too sporadic to really any anything to the book. The villians I really didn't care for at all, and their intentions fed into what I felt was a convoluted ending thrown on the reader at the last minute.I've swung back and forth between three and four stars on this novel. Initially I thought three, then I thought four, and now I'm back to three. The reason is I'm mentally comparing it with other books I've read recently and and am rating it relatively, which is not something I want to do. Objectively speaking, I think good writing versus mostly unengaging characters and a real let-down of an ending means I have to only give it three.Rating: ★★★✰✰ (I liked it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 #45 The Dumb House - John Burnside Genre: Dark Fiction/HorrorSynopsis: In Persian myth, it is said that Akbar the Great once built a palace which he filled with newborn children, attended only by mutes, in order to learn whether language is innate or acquired. As the year passed and the children grew into their silent and difficult world, this palace became known as the Gang Mahal, or Dumb House. In his first novel, John Burnside explores the possibilities inherent in a modern-day repetition of Akbar`s investigations. The unnamed narrator creates a twisted varient of the Dumb House, finally using infant twins as subjects in a bizarre experiment.*** Review: Well this was.... bizzare. I love a good, really dark story that is psychologically messed up (I don't know what that says about me but let's not dwell on it!) and this book definitely met both of those criteria but... I just don't get it. I don't get why people think its such a magnificent novel. I didn't *not* like it - the writing is absolutely fantastic (and I plan to read more by Burnside based on this alone) but the plot never really grabbed me. While I was fasincated enough by the idea to want to finish it - and it was easy to finish because of the writing - I came away feeling unaffected.It's a pretty bleak, graphic novel in places, depiciting both animal and human abuse, and while those parts were naturally unsettling, I couldn't relate to the bigger picture. Our narrator remains nameless until the end, though we come to know him quite well through his descriptions of adult and childhood life, and I just never really related to him or his goals. I know nothing about language, so my enjoyment of the novel may have been handicapped by ignorance, but to me language and communication are two distinct things - the former rising from the latter, and while I don't think any one language is innate, the desire to communicate is and therefore will give rise to some form of language. None of what I just said is ever mentioned in the book - it is only referred to as 'seeking to determine if language is innate'. Granted, our narrator is very disturbed, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.The other thing I think which may have affected my enjoyment is that the Goodreads synopsis tells you THE ENTIRE PLOT. I have modified the synopsis on this review to lessen spoilers, but I would still be inclined to let potential readers know that the bizzare experiment with the twins only occurs towards the very end of the book - it is not the focus, as I thought going in. I was pretty disappointed by that, as I was expecting much more of a straight up horror. Rather than being any kind of horror, this is much more an insight of one guy's twisted mind and life.Enjoyed the writing, but fairly indifferent.Rating: ★★★✰✰ (I liked it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 #46 The Missing - C. L. Taylor Genre: Mystery/ThrillerSynopsis: You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them. Or do you…? When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire Wilkinson, blames herself. She's not the only one. There isn't a single member of Billy's family that doesn't feel guilty. But the Wilkinson’s are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn't until six months later, after an appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the truth begins to surface. Claire is sure of two things – that Billy is still alive and that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance. A mother's instinct is never wrong. Or is it?*** Review: This was a pretty enjoyable, easy to read and (for me, although that's not saying much!) unpredictable thriller. Initially I had rated it four stars, but upon reflection it hasn't really stuck with me sufficiently to warrant that rating, so I'm knocking it down to three. All the same, it is absolutely perfect if want you want is an easy thriller to blaze through in an afternoon or evening, and I definitely want to check out more by this author.The characters in the book are pretty likeable for the most part, but I did feel they suffered a little from the paranoia found in The Ice Twins - a family who thought they knew each other breaking apart due to the loss of a child and suddenly nobody knows who to trust in the family. That said, this book is infinitely better than The Ice Twins, so if you're stuck between the two, pick this one. Seriously.The only thing that causes a real mystery here is the blackouts the main character, Claire, has. These make her an unreliable narrator who knows as little as the reader about both her own actions and what is going on around her. It also makes the book pretty compelling - more so than wanting to know what happened to Billy, I wanted to know why Claire was having these blackouts and why she was doing the inexplicable things she was doing.I found the ending very underwhelming though, and I think that might have been the deciding factor in my decision to knock it down to three stars. It's grand, but nothing amazing.Rating: ★★★✰✰ (I liked it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 I can't account for all my books, it's cracking me up! I've read 50 books, but I can only count up to 49 with reviews and ones I've opted not to review. Argh, where's the missing book?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Great reviews! Shame all 3 books got a 3-star rating, that none of them were brilliant for you. How annoying about the missing book! That would really annoy me too. I hope you find what the missing book is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 The missing book would drive me crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 Great reviews! Shame all 3 books got a 3-star rating, that none of them were brilliant for you. How annoying about the missing book! That would really annoy me too. I hope you find what the missing book is. Yeah, a lot of books are getting 3 stars this year, and I'm starting to think maybe that's more me than the books, I'm not sure... The missing book would drive me crazy! Yep. I even went through all my reviews, but I post them out of order, so say my #26 review is not actually the 26th book I read. Argh. Think I'm gonna need good ole pen and paper for this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I can't account for all my books, it's cracking me up! I've read 50 books, but I can only count up to 49 with reviews and ones I've opted not to review. Argh, where's the missing book?! Sorry, I laughed at the thought of a book mysteriously vanishing into the ether! How frustrating though. Hope it appears! I've been catching up on your log and as usual enjoyed your reviews. We often have different tastes but I always enjoy reading your thoughts on things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 (edited) Think I've solved your missing book problem.On 23 Feb, in post 150, you wrote review #16. Then on 25 Feb in post 153, you jumped to review #18. Then on 6 March in post 161 you jumped again to review #20. You've thus missed out reviews #17 and #19. The missing books that you don't mention at that stage are Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe and Deadpool Classic #1.Otherwise the only books you don't mention are the recent Sleeping Giants, Hex and The Girl With All the Gifts - presumably to come.Hope that helps! Edited May 24, 2016 by willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Aww, bless you willoyd for doing the detective work for another forum member! I hope that helps Nollaig A missing book would haunt me, too.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Willoyd, I hope that solves Noll's problem. How good you spotted those things! Very kind . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 . That's awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 I'm not sure it does, I knew I skipped the Deadpool books because I didn't want to review comics, but if everything else is accounted for with those extra three reviews to come, that adds up to review #49. And I've read 50 books. It is definitely possible that I mis-numbered somewhere else, though! Thanks for having a look Willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 I FOUND IT! It's a review I posted on my blog, but forgot to transfer over here. It was actually like #43, but now it is #47! Then, Hex, Girl and Sleeping Giants will bring me up to 50. Lo and behold, the missing 5-star review. #47 The Thing Itself - Adam Roberts Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller/PhilosophySynopsis: Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters' The Thing. Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant. As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.*** Review: This book was not at all what I expected, and while the 5 stars I'm giving it are somewhat tacit, I do feel they are deserved. This is another novel, a little like Radiance in structure, where you have to take the relevance of some seemingly irrelevant sections on faith, until everything comes together in the end. Admittedly, I didn't get quite what I was expecting given the cover and opening (and I know this is something other readers felt 'misled' by), but once you know not to come into it expecting an Artic-based horror, then you should be okay.The writing is great - multiple narratives spanning centuries are represented by distinct voices whose stories are interesting and almost work as short stories in their own right, but they mostly do not outstay their welcome in the bigger picture of the central plot. There are some really creative threads woven through these smaller stories - I particularly liked the one set in a futuristic utopian society, although one of the ones set in the past was a little bit too long for my liking.This is essentially a sci-fi thriller based off a philosophical idea (or two), and as I studied Philosophy during my undergraduate degree, this book brought back some familiar ideas and ran rampant with them in a genuinely compelling, fast-paced thriller. It's possible that I found it a little easier to digest for having heard the theories before, but I found the philosophical explanations to be very clear (if not a tad repetitive at times), so i'd like to think this book is pretty accessible to anyone willing to sit down and give their brain cells a bit of a work out.My only real qualm is the ending is a tiny bit open ended, and for all the discussion that occurs throughout this book, it would have been nice for it to be a little more pinned down. All the same, thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's one I'll return to sooner rather than later.Rating: ★★★★★ (It was amazing) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Phew, I'm glad the issue is solved ! Great review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on Hex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on Hex. The tl;dr version is I wanted to love it, I initially loved it, and then it just went way too arthouse for me. It went almost metaphorical towards the end, and I wished it had stayed more grounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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