Had to pace myself...
930980
... and re-read all the other books in the series before I read this one, because I knew it wouldn't be long before I started and finished this book.  Absolutely enjoyed this book, sorry that I couldn't stretch it out - I just had to read it in one sitting!  I LOVE this series - and the hardest thing now is the wait for the next one!
1383973
I really enjoyed the first half of this.  Then something happened and I found it becoming a bit of a chore to read.  I don't know why.  The story was strong. I ended up listening to the last 30% via audiobook on double speed just to get it finished quickly.
Again,  the story and concept was good, but just maybe not my cup of tea.
3840957
I may have to read it again as it was sort of dragging.  Could have just been my state of mind at the moment.
1504092
Good reading but needed to move a little faster.
3912051
Ok, I admit it, the serial nature drove me crazy because I want to read ALL OF IT at once.  In the future I think I shall have to force myself to patiently wait for completion before devouring the story...but of course I wolfed down every word as soon as it dropped onto my kindle.
1283800
I found this one to move slower and be harder to keep track of.  Would be a better read if all done in two days, but if it would have been a "couldn't put it down" I guess I would have.
2143110
It's so hard to get started! I love the challenge though! I had to put it away for awhile to regroup!
4243983
You know, I wanted to like this book, I really did.  I adore "The Fountainhead" it has to be one of my top ten favorite books of all time. I then tried my hand at "Anthem", not as interetsing character development, but I got a much better understanding of Ayn's egoist philosophy.  I then figured I was ready to tackle "Atlas".  Thus began my four year struggle with this book that has become my nemesis.
The first 250 pages or so are reasonably intriguing, it was at about page 375 where the downward spiral began.  I kept wrestling with this book, not wanting it to defeat me being the egoist it had made me, but I couldn't. It wasn't the length of the book, I made it through "War and Peace" as well as "A Tale of Two Cities" (the latter begrudgingly I might add), and it wasn't really the dry non-emotional characters (after all, as I mentioned I adored "The Fountainhead", can't get less emotional really). There was something that was blocking me, some sort of force that did not want me to finish this. However, I pressed on, out of sheer spite almost taunting the pages as I turned them. The problem was, I was so fixated on "conquering" this book, I didn't absorb a damn thing so the further I got, the more frustrated I became till one day, I decided I would have to for the sake of my sanity go on in life and not know who John (bleedin') Gault is/was or if he even actually existed, it was going to be o.k!
I am giving this book 4 stars for a few reasons.  First, it managed somehow to suck me in, for four long and arduous years.  Second, this seems to be one of those books that you "should" read, or at least the "learned" should read...and understand it I suppose would help matters.  Last, but certainly not least, this book got me, it won, it is the ultimate winner..the supreme egoist!
4702227
Took me a while to get into this book - about half way actually - and then the action takes off and it was worth the wait. Could do without the head hopping from character to character. Pet peeve of mine with authors. I like to hang out with a character for a few paragraphs, get to know them. And the pacing in the first half of the book is super slow BUT hang in there because its absolutely worth it and I've pre-ordered book 2 on the strength of it.
4781784
But definitely worth my time!  I felt the book started out a little slow.  The characters were interesting and engaging but I felt there wasn't enough development with the women the main characters were writing about.

Good read, though. Highly recommend.
177710
As a person who used to pick up books as a kid without much thought, I wanted to be spontaneous again and enjoy this book, it left me kind of "ehhhh" and mostly uncomfortable. I'll have to now examine everything I'm interested in closely once again.

The novel is very well done and each of the main five characters are well rounded within Tokyo. It's just that....the pacing was so off to me personally. It would go from mundane to disturbing to shocking then back down to mundane and then sort of weird and back again. And I almost feel like Yoshida included things just to shock as readers, which unfortunately I'd what most contemporary authors fall back on nowadays.

The pacing picked up towards the end but then fell flat in the last page and I felt like I wasted my time after the middle of chapter 3. I really wanted to enjoy it!
2778799
I'll be honest: I only made it halfway through this novel. While I agree with other reviewers that the writing is beautiful and descriptive at times, I just did not have the stamina or willpower to finish the book. The story felt a bit sprawling and long-winded to me--and reading it was beginning to feel like a chore. I wouldn't go so far as to not recommend this book to other readers, but I would warn them that they should mentally prepare themselves for a taxing read.
2130836
**WARNING: CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS**

This is quite a tough review to write because my head knows that this one is an easy three stars, but at the same time, it's difficult to figure out why.

I mean, there were a lot of issues that ensured I struggled with the book for quite a while.

Like the POV's used--the omni stalled me from connecting with the characters for a seriously big chunk of the book, and also gave me motion sickness with head hopping from one person to the next and back in a matter of sentences.

Or the multiple POV's where it switched to 1st person present--the fact this began happening so early in the book means the reader is introduced to a lot of characters in a short space of time and it was very hard to keep track of who was who as well as trying to figure out the importance/relevance of each character we were introduced to.

Or the pacing--because the first 50% of this book seemed incredibly slow.

But, I still somehow enjoyed the read--despite the fact I'd have preferred if the author had chosen 3rd person limited, or the fact I didn't click that quickly with the writing style and it had to gradually grow on me throughout the book, or the fact that the topic of fighting demons isn't exactly original.

But then, in all fairness, the author did put an original spin on the demon hunting angle, and she did eventually get me to care about the characters, and she did get me to smile when Harry finally kissed Sarah, and she did get me to frown when he got outed and to feel his pain when Sarah rejected him, and to feel angered when Leaf wormed his way in, and to want to read on to discover what on earth's going to happen next.

So, despite it taking a little while to get my attention--because it took me almost 3 days to read the 1st half, and only hours for the final 50%--I suppose I have to concede that the author has won me over. So, when's book 2 out then?
346333
I had high expectations but I've had to start it over a couple of times because I put it aside for so long that I needed to refresh myself.  I hope I can make it through.
1532016
.. to keep reading this book.  I am not even a 1/3 of the way in and feel like I'm walking in quicksand and the further I go the more I sink and all I can feel is the terror of drowning so slowly and boringly that people will just stand and laugh at me.  I may be able to pick this back up later .. maybe.  I realy feel that this book (even more so than one of the others, which I can't remember at this point as my mind is filled with sludge minutae) was drawn out purposely.  Don't keep dragging things out, man.  Give the story some peace and end if it you need to and move onto another project.  That slow, agonizing, dying death sound is me suffering through the pages.
3332276
I felt the hunger to read this book.  Could not wait to finish the book I was on and begin this one.  And so I started my journey and I enjoyed the book until I got 3/4 of the way into it.  It started to feel like I read this book before, it felt like I was pushing myself to end this book almost knowing what the out come was going to be.  Even with that all important twist you figured it out.  I wish that the romantic novels would switch up and the formula somewhat.
3421692
...but when I do bother to get it all going, I'm glad I took the time. Easy to customize. I do feel it eases wrist pain and I like its sleep look. One thing: I seem to have to restart every time I want it to get going, if I have had to unplug it for any reason. I use Windows 7 64-bit. Certainly not a deal-breaker.