Can't believe I never read this as a child. What a splendid, funny, heartwarming, beautiful book! Anne Shirley is a delight: passionate, energetic, fuCan't believe I never read this as a child. What a splendid, funny, heartwarming, beautiful book! Anne Shirley is a delight: passionate, energetic, full of hope and dreams and optimism -- her shining faith that the world is a wonderful place, full of joy and magic and endless possibilities, is just the antidote I needed to the bleak horrorshow that is Amerika 2025. Thank you, Anne ...more
Loved it! Stiefvater's agile and energetic prose is great fun: sharp, clever, biting, inventive, hilariously funny, touching. Reminds me occasionally Loved it! Stiefvater's agile and energetic prose is great fun: sharp, clever, biting, inventive, hilariously funny, touching. Reminds me occasionally of Joss Whedon's playfulness with language in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Glad to see Ronan's brothers Declan and Matthew more fully realized, and the new characters (Jordan, Hennessey, Farooq-Lane, Liliana) are intriguing. Even minor secondary characters like Adam's Harvard friends ("the Crying Club"), poor Parsifal Bauer, and the little old lady with her dream teapots are richly drawn. Chainsaw continues to delight :) Most fascinating of all is the chance to delve more deeply into what exactly it means to be a dreamer, how it works, what it can and can't do, and (perhaps most importantly) the responsibilities that come with it.
Can't believe we have to wait months and months for the next one, grrrr!!!...more
Rich, complex, funny, touching, bittersweet, clever, sweet, warm...from the modern urge to find your "bliss" to the true bonds of sisterly affection tRich, complex, funny, touching, bittersweet, clever, sweet, warm...from the modern urge to find your "bliss" to the true bonds of sisterly affection to love and marriage to facing death with courage, this book has it all. It's an enduring classic for a reason....more
I tore through this in about four hours, unable to put it down. I've read a huge number of books that are YA or dystopian or both so I find most of thI tore through this in about four hours, unable to put it down. I've read a huge number of books that are YA or dystopian or both so I find most of them predictable, but I'm delighted at the way Shusterman continues to surprise me. Nothing happens the way I thought it would, and plenty of things happen that I did not see coming at all. The best part was the fascinating exploration of the nature, character, and thoughts of the nearly-omnipotent, nearly-omniscient, possibly-omnibenevolent[?] Thunderhead: its reflections on its creation and purpose, its musings on the existence of god, its search for meaning, its capacity to feel emotion.
As a bonus treat, the book is liberally sprinkled with treats, homages, and Easter eggs for close readers, such as nods to the Wizard of Oz and at least one very-nearly-explicit reference to current U.S. events.
In short, this fully lives up to the expectations set by the first novel, with more twists and turns, rebel Scythes back from the dead, a vigilante quasi-Scythe determined to return honor to his profession, last-minute sneaky procedural methods for suspending a vote (!), and a watery catastrophe, not to mention OMG YAY A VISIT TO THE SCYTHE JOURNAL ARCHIVES ::does happy dance::
Sorry, as an archivist I had to shout that :)
Shusterman does a masterful job weaving together all these separate strands to build a story that's compelling and believable, both intellectually challenging and emotionally satisfying. I await November 2019 with eager anticipation...
Plenty of SF novels have explored, or at least included, the idea of immortality, but other than Scythe I can't think of one that focuses entirely on Plenty of SF novels have explored, or at least included, the idea of immortality, but other than Scythe I can't think of one that focuses entirely on humanity's relationship with death. I found this book to be unusual, interesting, well-written, and well-paced, with compelling/sympathetic main characters. The secondary characters are a good variety, if a little flat. The reflective and philosophical elements are balanced with plenty of action and surprises, and there's some very clever outside-the-box thinking by the main characters that's impressive but still plausible.
The few holes in worldbuilding are small and easy to overlook -- Shusterman has thought through the implications of his world pretty thoroughly and fleshed it out with creative details. The Scythes' tradition of taking the name of a historic person was a nice touch, perhaps intended to hint at their character (I was, however, a tad annoyed by the little jabs at Ayn Rand!), and the political infighting and jockeying for power in the Scythedom is all too credible. I also really liked the interspersed journal entries; the fact that by law all scythes have to keep a journal, which is open to anyone who wants to read it, is very cool. I wish they'd played a larger part in the action rather than mostly being used to add nuance and provide insight into the characters. Maybe in a future novel we'll get to see the Archives :)
Had I known ahead of time this book was a series I might not have picked it up, but I'm glad I did and will definitely read the next one. The snippet of book 2 provided at the end of this one feels a bit Dark Knight/superhero-ey -- I hope it doesn't go to far down that path, there's plenty of that in the world already. Given that the title is Thunderhead I hope to learn more about that mysterious entity....more
Several of my friends had recommended this series to me repeatedly over the past few years and I'd resisted because I felt like I'd read so much YA, iSeveral of my friends had recommended this series to me repeatedly over the past few years and I'd resisted because I felt like I'd read so much YA, it would be too predictable. It was, in the sense that events did not surprise me, but the story was so well told and the characters so engaging that I enjoyed it thoroughly. With its interweaving of myth and embodiment/incarnation of mythic figures, it reminded me a bit of an American version of The Dark Is Rising Sequence but with much stronger and more central female characters. I adore Blue, but I adore just as much (if not more) her mother and aunties and their chaotic but delightful house. Setting it in the American South is lovely and adds just a hint of Southern Gothic to the tale. I finished this on the train on the way home from a business trip and immediately went out and bought the remaining three :)...more
I pretty much saw the end coming from the first, but this is still well written and well told. Focusing on the silence that continues to surround sexuI pretty much saw the end coming from the first, but this is still well written and well told. Focusing on the silence that continues to surround sexual assault, despite the best efforts of victim advocates and the #metoo movement is a good pathway into the story, and lends a claustrophobic sensation to the story -- appropriate for a girl who feels trapped in her own inability to speak. My only issue is that it felt like it was told in a way that's a bit too PG for the topic. For those who want a harder-edged version with a slightly older protagonist, try Why Me, the Story of Jenny....more
Intriguing and complicated story of friends forced to come to terms with a traumatic event in a strange, surreal landscape. Engrossing, touching, and Intriguing and complicated story of friends forced to come to terms with a traumatic event in a strange, surreal landscape. Engrossing, touching, and thought-provoking....more
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