I liked this and read it in big, compulsive gulps. It's sort of Anne McCaffrey meets a darker, more dystopian college version of Hogwarts. It has romaI liked this and read it in big, compulsive gulps. It's sort of Anne McCaffrey meets a darker, more dystopian college version of Hogwarts. It has romance, government cover-ups, family drama, and all sorts of good stuff going for it. I will absolutely be reading the next book in the series to see where things go.
But...three stars. It felt a little emotionally immature and uneven, like a teen book masquerading as one for adults. I get that the heroine is 20, so she legitimately probably would be emotionally immature and uneven to some degree, but I wanted more depth from her especially. And the author did not succeed with her Dain character; he was an utterly one-dimensional plot device. The "marked" characters make up for it enough to carry the book, but I feel like a better editor could have made this book tighter and more satisfying.
Great nerdy fun. I like this author - his books are always exciting, fast-paced reads. All the science talk sounds convincing enough to my non-professGreat nerdy fun. I like this author - his books are always exciting, fast-paced reads. All the science talk sounds convincing enough to my non-professional ears that it keeps the plot going without gaping narrative holes. I don't always read science fiction, but when I do I prefer Blake Crouch and Andy Weir :)...more
I know I'm the last person in the entire world to read this, but I'm so glad I finally got around to it. I could not put this down. This story was griI know I'm the last person in the entire world to read this, but I'm so glad I finally got around to it. I could not put this down. This story was gripping to me because the author and I are more or less contemporaries - I kept thinking about how I had grown up at the exact same time as her in the same country with the same world events going on, but somehow in an entirely different universe. Such a vivid and compelling story....more
Completely charming. Leo never seems even a little bit like a real person to me, but it's fun all the same. I'm looking forward to Monaghan's next oneCompletely charming. Leo never seems even a little bit like a real person to me, but it's fun all the same. I'm looking forward to Monaghan's next one this summer....more
This was absolutely nuts. I feel so comforted when I read historical stuff that feels so modern to me. Sometimes I think about internet trolls and guyThis was absolutely nuts. I feel so comforted when I read historical stuff that feels so modern to me. Sometimes I think about internet trolls and guys who make deepfake videos of female politicians they don't like and think that maybe things are uniquely really, really awful right now. But, it turns out that revenge trolls have always existed, as evidenced by Procopius and his absurd "History" of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora.
There is likely a fair amount of fact mixed into the heaps of furious vitriol presented in this book. I would need to know a lot more about the period than I do to tease out these threads of truth. What it seems like from the laywoman's perspective, however, is that Procopius was living during turbulent times, had enough education and proximity to power to feel like he should have more power himself, got sick of writing official praises of the emperor and his building projects, and just snapped. He decided that everything that was wrong in the Eastern Roman Empire was due directly to the perfidy of Justinian and the wickedness of Theodora.
He accuses Justinian of outright theft, disinheriting his nobles, draining the treasury, submitting to the demands of barbarians, and otherwise driving the empire into the ground through prideful disdain of good governance. I expect it's very possible he did a lot of these things, but I doubt very much that he was purposefully trying to do a bad job. He might have been fiscally incompetent. He might have had a different philosophical approach to taxation and public spending than Procopius. He might have been lazy, surrounded by yes-men, and interested in quick fixes. But Procopius paints him as a literal devil bent on destroying all the good things around him.
And then there is Procopius's treatment of Theodora. Why is it exactly that so many men, historical or modern, always seem to fall back on the strategy of painting any powerful woman they dislike as a whore? It's lazy. She may or may not have been a terrible empress. She might have been a Lady McBeth whispering malice in her husband's ear and having people arrested and tortured for her own ends. Or, she might just have wielded her influence exactly as any man with the same power would have done. But Procopius doesn't bother examining much of that - he just calls her a prostitute and tells long, detailed stories about all her depravity.
It's so disappointing. Even in the 6th century.
I don't know if I felt like I learned much history in this book, but it was certainly an interesting peek into the mind of a disgruntled courtier. ...more
I really liked this one - this was my second Eleanor Catton novel, and she's going to be an automatic read from now on. Her characters are interestingI really liked this one - this was my second Eleanor Catton novel, and she's going to be an automatic read from now on. Her characters are interesting, her plot is a bit wild but kept me guessing what would happen, and the ending was killer. I love when books are completely impossible to describe to my husband - i was all "so I'm reading this book about a guerilla gardening collective that's in cahoots with a menacing billionaire secretly mining a New Zealand National Park for rare-earth metals". He looked like I'd gone crazy, but my kids just nodded and wanted to know what happened next...especially after I said things had gone completely pear-shaped and Shakespearean toward the end. Great read, great writing, and some very thoughtful political/cultural commentary that doesn't preach. ...more
What a great book! I read this with a view to recommending it to middle schoolers, and it was a really fun read. This book is basically a reworking ofWhat a great book! I read this with a view to recommending it to middle schoolers, and it was a really fun read. This book is basically a reworking of Mary Poppins. The Jones family is struggling - the house is chaotic, the kids don't help out, and dad's deployed overseas - and then out of the blue, an English butler shows up on the doorstep saying he's here to sort things out. It is hilarious. The butler has an obsessive relationship with the Queen's English, insists that things be done properly, that dinner be eaten in the dining room, and that Carter behave like a gentleman. And then there's the cricket. Somehow the butler manages to create a cricketing culture in a suburban American school. It's all wonderful. There are life lessons about taking responsibility and acting like a man (in the wholesome and non-toxic sense of the phrase), being a good brother and teammate, and about how life can be really unfair sometimes even when you don't deserve it. But it all is done naturally with a light touch and no preaching. I really recommend this for the tween crowd....more
I read this on a recommendation from my daughter, and it was wonderful. Great characters, fun plot, and there is a lot of emotional intelligence in thI read this on a recommendation from my daughter, and it was wonderful. Great characters, fun plot, and there is a lot of emotional intelligence in this. While it is clearly a middle-grade book, there was plenty that resonates with adult audiences; all of the stuff about "The Emergency" and its attendant anxieties probably resonates much more with me than my ten-year-old. The Orwellian doublespeak at the Institute was also super entertaining to me. ...more
This was an interesting read for a Yale Open Course (The Early Middle Ages, 284�1000) I'm doing this winter. However, if I'm honest, this was the liteThis was an interesting read for a Yale Open Course (The Early Middle Ages, 284�1000) I'm doing this winter. However, if I'm honest, this was the literary equivalent of a horse tranquilizer - I fell asleep so fast reading this it took a while to actually get through.
I liked the idea of this book more than I probably enjoyed the actual process of reading it. However, it was fascinating to look inside the mind of a person living more than a millennium and a half ago. So much was foreign, and so much was the same. One doesn't expect to hear a church father effectively saying, "Mom! Like literally stop!" like my tween daughter, but here we are. ...more
The central conceit of this novel didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. That said, I don't really read Sloane Crosley for her plotting. I read her bThe central conceit of this novel didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. That said, I don't really read Sloane Crosley for her plotting. I read her books for their pitch perfect voice, and this was perfect in that regard. She's so bright and wry and just the right amount of droll. So much fun....more
This one took me half a year to get through, but it was a rewarding process. This time period always seems to get either glossed over or dismissed in This one took me half a year to get through, but it was a rewarding process. This time period always seems to get either glossed over or dismissed in most discussions about European history in order to get to the "good parts" of the ancient world or the high middle ages. Wickham is enjoyable to read and his arguments are straight-forward, logical, and delivered in style. What was tricky about this book was that it was largely about people I knew basically nothing about. I minored in history, and still - nothing. I started off alright, with the sub-Roman period, but I got well out of my depth in a hurry. I really liked Wickham's measured tone; it's not all upheaval, nor is it all continuity, it's...complicated. This was educating and, as promised, illuminating. ...more
Another wonderful, gorgeous Minalima-illustrated classic I read with my kids. We were so delighted by the interactive art, and my kids got a kick out Another wonderful, gorgeous Minalima-illustrated classic I read with my kids. We were so delighted by the interactive art, and my kids got a kick out of spotting the differences between the Disney versions of these stories and the more original and gruesome Grimm versions presented here....more
Another teen read for work. I really like this one. It's fun and engaging, and the premise is classic. Another teen read for work. I really like this one. It's fun and engaging, and the premise is classic. ...more
Kasie West delivers a very reliable product in her novels. I read this for work to present as a recommendation for Jr. High students. It's sweet and rKasie West delivers a very reliable product in her novels. I read this for work to present as a recommendation for Jr. High students. It's sweet and romantic, but also captures the awkward realities of teen life....more
Loading...
