Not As Good As The Author's Usual Offering
934718
Author Colleen Hoover is usually masterful at capturing the intensity of the relationship between her two main characters, but this feeling was largely absent in November 9.  Although I did like the premise, the story was too dragged out.  The big reveal was telegraphed and I only kept reading to see if my guesses proved correct.  I never really got the feeling that I knew Fallon and Ben inside and out and, instead, only received a small snapshot into their lives.

As I have enjoyed all of Colleen Hoover's other books thus far, it is my hope that November 9 is just an anomaly.  Readers who enjoy romance with a darker edge might like this book, as well as the others in Colleen Hoover's extensive shelf.
2583122
Not as good an effort as her previous books.  Needed editing for far too lengthy descriptions that added nothing to the story. Also, character development was lacking and the only main character in this particular book was the Hangman.  His daughter and her husband were annoying and whined constantly. At some points I felt that someone else other than the original author wrote this book  Sorry I got this one, was expecting better.
4390148
Interesting read - not quite up to the quality of some of her other books.
2414932
I would say all the readers that enjoyed the previous books from the author probably would more or less disappointed by this one, at least I am one of them.  The typical ghost stories in the big old house didn't become anything more than that in this book,  if not a bit of too long. I enjoyed all her other books, this one makes me feel that author is experimenting on stories that are non-lesbianism related or something new/different from the previous books(notice the narrator is a male character in the book). I don't think the attempt is very successful. Don't get me wrong, she is still wonderful at writing, it is just she choose a boring story to write this time in my opinion.
1344291
Cinda Williams Chima writes excellent fantasy stories for younger readers. I didn't think this one was up to her usual standard. It didn't seem very focused
About ten years before the Dragon Heir the massacre of Thorn Hill took place. An entire commune of sorcerers was massacred. the survivors and their weirstones have mutated, which means they possess powers that are hard to control. Jonah is one of those survivors. Since the massacre his touch kills, so his career development as an assassin would seem an obvious one. In fact that is all he seems to do throughout the book. Kill people and play his guitar.
He connects with Emma on a musical level and because they share a similar history. The musical aspect seems to be linked to something other than just a talent for music.
Overall it doesn't match the previous books in the series and I found this book very disjointed and wishy-washy. The Thorn Hill plot could have been expanded upon a lot more. The mystery of who set the massacre in motion and why or looking into the new mutations instead of following around one character predominantly.
It is possible that this is what I would call an interim book, which is giving the reader enough info to lead onto the next one, which would explain the info dump and vague plot.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.
4730056
I have really enjoyed this author's previous work, but this one not so much.  It isn't easy to both authentically show a character's social anxiety issues.  I understand the trope but it just didn't work I finished about a quarter of it and gave up.  Given I read a book or two a day it takes a lot for me to actually not finish a book.
2993427
Not one of his better efforts. Grisham is a superb writer who in the past, has crafted so many memorable characters and plot lines. This time though, the depth for which he has become known is missing. This novel feels rushed, like he was anxious to meet a deadline. There is a ton of potential here but it doesn't quite provide that extra "oomph". The formulation of the backstory falls short of engaging the reader and that's something that you're aware of from the get-go. When that happens, it's hard to recover and move forward with the book.
383641
Readable adolescent sci-fi from an author who has done much better work.  There are good ideas here and some likeable characters, but most of the good stuff is is insufficiently developed and subordinated to the rather psychotic, stunted viewpoints of a couple of main characters.  We sort-of care about the characters - but not as much as we could.  Meanwhile, the conflicts seem increasingly shallow as we learn more about them. Many events seem unnecessarily contrived, and the final resolution is unsatisfactory.
If I sound disgruntled, it's because I really like this author and felt let down by Kingdom.  This novel doesn't measure up to her earlier rough-but-thought-provoking Reclamation, her excellent Fool's War and Playing God, or (my favorite) Quiet Invasion.  By comparison, this one is a waste of time.
1013814
Interesting but not as other books from the same author.
1157535
I was disappointed in this book. I had enjoyed the others in this series but this one just wasn't as good. I don't know if this is because it was set in the US, if elements seemed rather implausible, if there were too many competing story lines, some of which seemed rather unnecessary - all of these issues contributed to my lack of enjoyment of this book. I finished the book because I was curious how it would end but I am not nearly as excited about the next one.

Of course there has to be a certain amount of suspension of disbelief with books like this but it was needed much too often in this book. The author was certainly trying to make some social statements but that wasn't really what I was looking for in this series. I also felt that the author was rather lazy in tying up some plot lines that I felt remain unresolved. I wish I had waited until this book was available from the library rather than having bought it.
1082694
I have read a few of Tami Hoag's books and while they are typically crime page turners, this one wasn't as good as some of her others.  In Cold, Cold Heart, she introduces the main characters and a few auxiliaries in the first few chapters.  Some of the early characters seem useless to this story (I believe they may have been from a previous book)  and referring back to them later in the book is pointless.  As the story progresses, her development of her main character is good, but there isn't enough development for some of the other characters that play important roles later.  She seems to introduce characters to try to divert the reader's attention from the main antagonist in an effort to make the story less predictable but it is not particularly successful and leaves the reader more confused as to why they are introduced at all. It would seem that the book had a great story plot just not enough long term development to keep the reader from guessing who the bad guy is mid- to two thirds of the way through the book. Not her best book, but entertaining for a beach read on vacation.
914012
This author is a great writer and i love her other books but ths one was not as good as her others. I was kind of bored with this one
1798923
I'm a big fan of Baker having read all his previous books.  I do appreciate some of the day to day instances that make up our lives (I even laughed a lot while I read them -- the piece on peeing standing up at night is quite funny) and love Baker's writing, but overall I found this a rather trite literary exercise in making small details central.  Again, Baker manages to be witty and clever in spots, but as a novel, albeit a short one, this one falls short of his other books.  Maybe it was the ranchy plots of Fermata and Vox that made those short novels more interesting than this one?  In any case, you'll feel that you're reading Baker's real life thoughts as he lights the fire every morning at roughly 4am and that's less interesting that you might think.  On the bright side, it won't take anyone more than an hour or so to read this novella, so you can't get too angry at the author for taking up your valuable time.
1668453
The story does not make it up to the quality of this author's other books I have read.  It is not a book I have marked as a potential re-read for myself.
2909979
I was excited about picking up a new book from the author who wrote great books like The Fan Man, The Exile, Dr. Rat, etc. but---

This one had promise for a while but then gets muddled in the middle and didn't really keep me interested. Characters like Oldcastle and Lizardo seem to be the heroes, but they take a backseat to others like The Observer, who, I think is the only interesting character in the story. There are others who are introduced, like Man O' War, but their impact on the story is unclear.

There's some interesting robotic encounters and other-worldly concepts that keep the reader involved, but, overall, the story is pretty anti-climatic. The theme of humans (or aliens) playing with mortality works well, but the story becomes made-for-tv and fizzles.

If you're looking for good Kotzwinkle, I'd recommend the books mentioned above as well as some earlier titles like The Midnight Examiner and The Bear Went Over The Mountain.
4488496
Definitely not the author's best work. I purchased this after reading (and loving) THE TROOP, but was quite disappointed. I can see where the author was trying to go with this--a cross between THE ABYSS and a dreamy, otherworldly novel like Greg Gifune's LONG AFTER DARK. Possibly a more effective, introspective version of Lincoln Child's somewhat slapdash DEEP STORM (though I doubt that novel was any inspiration for this gifted author). Unfortunately, it didn't work out as planned. The pacing is a mess--occasionally rushed, but more often completely stagnant. The important bits are glossed over with a strange disinterest from the author. Long stretches meant to be dreamy are instead frustrating and awkward. The characters are quite flat, and despite the copious amounts of juicy exposition, the story doesn't satisfy. There were more grammatical errors in this than THE TROOP, but the copy was still very clean in general. I will certainly be reading more from this author, but I recommend giving this particular piece a miss.
109593
As a long time Tepper fan, I looked forward to this latest book, despite reading very mixed reviews here.

I left it with mixed feelings of my own. I am used to Tepper writing long, dense stories, with interwoven characters and plots that only reveal themselves slowly unless you read diligently and think closely about what is happening, with her strong feminist and environmental themes as part of the story and background.

Here, you get some of the same, but it is the weakest of all her works I have read, including her early works, rather than being the scintillating read I am used to. It is 500 pages long, which is actually short for Tepper, but was painfully slow in places, and felt like it was padded to meet an arbitrary page count; it would have made a good 350-400 page book instead. Themes and plotting are more linear and the characters shallower than I am used to. The first 300 pages were often hard going; the end gets tighter, with a few of the usual surprises, and almost makes up for what has gone before.

Despite this I give it three stars as a general read by any author; but by Tepper's usual high standards it would deserve two.