I'm not sure how to classify this book. I ...
930072
I'm not sure how to classify this book.  I was hoping for  more of a calligraphy style book that gave you the letters in various fonts from A to Z to practice. She writes a sentence using a random style and says now you write something creative it's just odd and not at all helpful to learn from.
3350198
Cause I sure can't make sense of the book.  Know the theme from reviews but first part of book is too confusing to figure it out.  This book was chosen by our book club so I will pass it along to another member to see if they can explain it to me.
3822853
I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book or not. I think I'm sitting on somewhere in between. I found it interesting. It is certainly concept that captures your attention, but I did struggle with some aspects. Firstly the writing style. I found this book to be a fairly slow read. There were sections of this book that felt long. During excessive and sometimes repetitive recountings I would find myself thinking, I know this already, we've covered this before. Also, there is a whole lot of introspection in this book. Not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I found there was just too much and it slowed the book down. The ending seemed abrupt in comparison to the rest of the book - a quick resolution, of sorts, that didn't fit with the rest of the book. Although, I'm not sure how else it could have been handled, and it does work.

And now to the plot itself. This storyline seems to have captured people's attention - how will the topic of immaculate conception be handled? What angle with the author take? Well, this is not a retelling of the story of Mary, mother of Jesus. This book does not set out to prove the existence of God. The main character struggles with these questions herself and seems to settle on almost the opposite conclusion. Instead this book is about the reactions of Mina herself and the reactions of her friends, family and that of the wider community. It's about choosing to believe in something, anything, even if you yourself are unsure about what that is. And ultimately, I hope that people find it's about not casting judgement - not judging people for having faith and not harming others if they have a faith that differs from your own. Maybe that's not what the author set out to achieve, but that's what I took from it.

Is this book sacrilegious? I can't answer that. I think it's important to remember that this book is filed under fiction. It's a story, just like any tale about dragons, time travel, or a boy and a girl falling in love. It asks the question What if?

The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
317183
I'm not sure how I feel about this book.  Do I want to read the set?  Have to think about this one for further consideration!
2098921
I can't rate it because it was bought as a gift for my husband who loves these kinds of books.
132741
It's a difficult book to place ... so unusual. The closest comparison I can think of is 'Candide' in style, but not philosophy. I'll read it again.
3364887
So I ordered this book, and the description didn't say anything about being in a different language. I'm sure this is a great book, but I can't find out since its in a language I can't read.
1210782
I have read 80+ pages of this book and have no idea what it is about.  Could someone tell me what is supposed to be going on?  It jumps around so much.
2781936
Or at least i can't figure out what it is.  The story is wandering about the life of girl & her grandfather but i'm not getting a clear sense of direction on where the story is going.
3534842
This has to be the most confusing book I have ever read.  I can't put my finger on what exactly caused the lack of flow in this book.  It wasn't the fragments that others are mentioning.  Fragments.  I like them.  The more the merrier.

About a third of the way through, I read the end of the book to see if I'd have a better clue what was going on.  I didn't.  So, went back and continued from where I had left off.

This is also the only book I've read that you can't tell from one minute to the next if somebody is a good guy or bad guy, since perception changes frequently on each character.  Not a seesaw ride I enjoy.  A few times, maybe.  Constantly, no.
3949936
Still reading the book.  I am so confused as to what it is supposed to be about, but hopefully by the end, I will understand it.  I am not really into this kind of reading, but it was required as a summer read for my grandson's school.  Not sure who chooses these books, but I for one am not impressed with this one so far.
3204109
Reader thoughts:
This is a hard book to classify. I first thought it was about a girl wandering through a barren landscape, encountering adventures. I was partially right.

Then I thought it would all about the magic sword she found, and that she'd have to defeat a great evil or be chased by enemies. Also partially right.

Then I thought it would be about her friendship with the half-fox Leo, and the two of them would be adventurers together. Also partially right.

Then, when she was kidnapped by the army and rescued by the rebellion, I thought it would be about stopping the war and the north. I thought there would be spying and furtive reconnaissance. Not really.

Then she set off to find a wizard, and I thought the book would be about her apprenticeship and learning spells and facing other magicians and perfecting her magic. Mostly right.

But she gets caught by a dragon first, and I thought the book would be about living with dragons and raising the day-old dragonet to be her companion and friend. Partially right.

Then Leo shows up and takes her to a secret valley with other wizards, and all those assumptions were thrown out. Miranda's life kept changing so dramatically, and I never knew what to expect. I don't think I will read the rest of the series, though. Miranda will be fine, and she's too powerful to get into any real danger. Myn is interesting, but not enough to bring me back.

There were a few typos, nothing too distracting. There were a couple of neat lines I'll have to record later. My favorite scene would have to be Myn practicing flying by crashing into Miranda.

Writer thoughts:
Usually, I can pick out the shape of a tale and where the plot is or at least the rising action and climax. With this book, I couldn't.

Where was the midpoint? The inciting incident? The pinch points? This was sort of frustrating, but also sort of refreshing. Part of the problem was that I read this book in a boxed set with other volumes, and I didn't know how close I was to the end of the book. Was I at 30%? 50%? 90%? I didn't know until the end.

So, it didn't feel like most books, with intro, rising action, conclusion and all. It felt like part of a larger epic, and it ignored certain conventions. Maybe I'll be able to pick out more plot elements if I read the other books in the series.
2924208
I don't really have any words to describe this book... But I have to use 5 more words... So... Hi!
474537
Okay. So in the strangest of all review requests I have ever received... I was asked to write a review on a 3-chapter preview of Julia Suzuki's The Gift of Charms. Review requests are usually for the whole book but... since this was what was requested, here goes:

The Gift of Charms is a story of a dragon - a dragon with strange heralds from birth. Will he be a gift or a curse? It feels like the beginnings of another coming-of-age story, as well as a prophecy/omen-fulfilling story, and maybe a little epic-type fantasy. It is, after all, a story about dragons. I don't know how epic it will be since nothing much happens in the first 3 chapters except Yoshiko's strange birth, and the opening set up of him as a typical middle-school kid (dragon) being teased for not being able to make fire.

The writing itself seems to be targeted at a younger age group than I am currently interested in reading (I do read children's books, MG and YA, with a stronger preference on YA) so whilst the preview was pretty engaging, this may not be one that I will actually get round to buying anytime in the near future seeing that my to-read list is getting exceptionally long.

In terms of rating, at the moment it would be somewhere between a 2.5 - 3 star book (out of 5). It sounds like something I'd be interested in reading at the end of a long, stressful day, when I don't actually want to think and need something quick, simple and engaging. I won't have a final rating until I actually read the complete book. If I ever do.
3307455
WHY IS THIS BOOK LISTED UNDER THE "HUMOR" CATEGORY????? THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST. I DONT THINK THATS CONSIDERED HUMOR...
1260469
No explanation, other than what I've written above.
Our book club loved the book, Warmth of Other Suns.
I cannot keep writing to just have more words on a page.  Thanks
2625053
Since this book was requested, I don't know if this book was what the recepient had expected it to be.