I am gladly surprised to find this book to be much better than the first installment. Just like the first one, it is an easy and entertaini3.5/5 stars
I am gladly surprised to find this book to be much better than the first installment. Just like the first one, it is an easy and entertaining read, however this time I found the story and characters much more engaging. I recommend the audiobook, it goes by fast.
I am moving on to the last installment.
P.S.:I do think that had I read these series of books without knowing anything at all about what was going on because of the TV series, I would likely have giving it a higher rating. After all, knowing all the spoilers always takes away most of the excitement for me, and these books are based on the not knowing.
It's fine, although I wound't say it was exciting enough or emotionally engaging for me. I saw the Wayward Pines TV series a few years back2.5/5 stars
It's fine, although I wound't say it was exciting enough or emotionally engaging for me. I saw the Wayward Pines TV series a few years back and I remember really enjoying it, specially the second season. I was very disappointed when the show was cancelled, and that is what brought me back to the books.
This is not my typical reading genre and experience has shown me that I tend to have a hard time connecting with male writers' work, so I was worried I wound't care and so that I would DNF it. As expected, I didn't care much for it, I had a hard time connecting to the male protagonist, and I already knew what was going on with the plot because of the TV Series, so no mystery for me there. However, I was able to get to the end effortlessly since it was an easy and fast read. Overall, I think is a cool concept and I liked the idea, kind of like Planet of the Apes/The Truman Show/1984 reimagined. By the end though, there are way too many holes that makes the idea of that society working very hard to believe.
I'll move on to the second book.
P.S.:I do think that had I read these series of books without knowing anything at all about what was going on because of the TV series, I would likely have giving it a higher rating. After all, knowing all the spoilers always takes away most of the excitement for me, and this book is based on the not knowing.
I enjoyed this book quite a lot, specially because of what it made me feel and think. Thrillers are not the kind of genre I usually readWow, just wow.
I enjoyed this book quite a lot, specially because of what it made me feel and think. Thrillers are not the kind of genre I usually read, so for a while I was sceptic I would be interesting in the story. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was, big time. The narration style is everything here. The way this story is told, the first person narration, being in Joe's mind, knowing his thoughts and wit, the way he sees the world and the people in it, that is what this is all about, is what makes the book.
THIS IS SOPHISM AT ITS FINEST.
I don’t want to give much away, but to give you some context, this is a story about a guy, Joe, that is obsessed with a girl, Beck. This is not a love story, this is a story about that obsession. Joe made me laugh, made me sympathize with him, made me not despise him as much as I should. Since we are seeing everything through Joe's eyes, we are already in a position that situates us with him, so that makes you want to sort of root for him although you know you shouldn't. Another reason you might find yourself at times cheering him on, or wanting him to not be caught, is just plain morbid fascination, this disturbing interest humans have for things that are “bad”, just like when there is an accident on the road and some people find themselves wanting to see the state of the people that got hurt, the blood, the glass, the chaos. Morbid Curiosity. Then, there is the fact that the more we know about Beck, the less we like her. Little by little we find out more things about her, her personality, her character, traits that are not usually seen with good eyes by society, (although many people might actually be more or less like that) or are unlikable. So, we start to loose sympathy for Beck, we start to not like her, and all the time, our complicity with Joe rises the more we are with him, and we are, all the time, his path is our path. But Beck, the innocent, the one who can not be fault by Joe's twisted machinations, starts to appear more and more unlikable, which can make us not care as much about her wellbeing as we should. And this not only happens with Beck, it also happens with all the other characters surrounding this story, surrounding Beck. They all appear as not likable or not good people. We loose sympathy for the victim while we have it for the perpetrator. As a result, your thoughts and feelings are all a mess, this book tricks us. It is hard to remember that the reason we see those characters that way, is because Joe sees them that way. It is not how we feel about them, is how he does and what he is making us believe. But we get immerse in the story and forget ourselves, because our eyes are Joe’s. Everything in the book is taking you in a direction, a direction that goes against our minds and believes, and you find yourself having to fight against that current the book has taken you into. Some succeed, some let themselves go with Joe, maybe some both at the same time. I want to believe I succeed in the end, but I confess that at the beginning, morbid curiosity was riding my wagon, it was what kept me interested in the story, in Joe. So as I said, Sophism at its best.
I highly recommend to get this book in audiobook. Santino Fontana does an excellent job as Joe, and I don’t think that actually reading could have been a better experience. Listening to Joe out loud was part of what made the narration so great. So, get the audiobook!
Although this book works perfectly as a stand alone, I can't wait to start the next installment.
Now, just look how funny this is: “In my defense, I love the book in a postmodern kind of way where I've always sensed that it contains something that I relate to. I think it's the kind of book that echoes my beliefs and my sentiments and I've always related well to people who have read the book and I've written about the book. You know, I majored in comp lit and it's possible, it's very possible to read a book without reading it in the traditional straightforward manner. You can read about a book, Joe. Do you know what I mean? Do you understand?” ― Caroline Kepnes, You...more
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heActual Rating 2.5 stars.
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heard about it, I wasn't that impressed by this series. The books have interesting facts and happenings, a very entertaining premise, and they are based on a truly fascinating historical moment, but to me, they lack enthrallment.
They do draw a picture of the world back then, the struggles, the people, important historical events, different societies, and they give you and overall understanding of the american colonization from a fictional and adventurous perspective, all motivated by the background of a love story. In many ways, these books can be somewhat instructive, which makes them very valuable. However, they failed to capture and addict me. Although the adventures and survival aspects are good, I needed more deepness and emotional development. Somehow, just a bit of a feminine perspective here and there would have suffice for me I think.
I would recommend them to a young adult audience....more
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heActual Rating 2.5 stars.
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heard about it, I wasn't that impressed by this series. The books have interesting facts and happenings, a very entertaining premise, and they are based on a truly fascinating historical moment, but to me, they lack enthrallment.
They do draw a picture of the world back then, the struggles, the people, important historical events, different societies, and they give you and overall understanding of the american colonization from a fictional and adventurous perspective, all motivated by the background of a love story. In many ways, these books can be somewhat instructive, which makes them very valuable. However, they failed to capture and addict me. Although the adventures and survival aspects are good, I needed more deepness and emotional development. Somehow, just a bit of a feminine perspective here and there would have suffice for me I think.
I would recommend them to a young adult audience. ...more
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heActual Rating 2.5 stars.
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heard about it, I wasn't that impressed by this series. The books have interesting facts and happenings, a very entertaining premise, and they are based on a truly fascinating historical moment, but to me, they lack enthrallment.
They do draw a picture of the world back then, the struggles, the people, important historical events, different societies, and they give you and overall understanding of the american colonization from a fictional and adventurous perspective, all motivated by the background of a love story. In many ways, these books can be somewhat instructive, which makes them very valuable. However, they failed to capture and addict me. Although the adventures and survival aspects are good, I needed more deepness and emotional development. Somehow, just a bit of a feminine perspective here and there would have suffice for me I think.
I would recommend them to a young adult audience....more
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heActual Rating 2.5 stars.
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heard about it, I wasn't that impressed by this series. The books have interesting facts and happenings, a very entertaining premise, and they are based on a truly fascinating historical moment, but to me, they lack enthrallment.
They do draw a picture of the world back then, the struggles, the people, important historical events, different societies, and they give you and overall understanding of the american colonization from a fictional and adventurous perspective, all motivated by the background of a love story. In many ways, these books can be somewhat instructive, which makes them very valuable. However, they failed to capture and addict me. Although the adventures and survival aspects are good, I needed more deepness and emotional development. Somehow, just a bit of a feminine perspective here and there would have suffice for me I think.
I would recommend them to a young adult audience....more
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heActual Rating 2.5 stars.
This is a review of all the books of the series as a whole, not just this particular one.
Despite all the good things I had heard about it, I wasn't that impressed by this series. The books have interesting facts and happenings, a very entertaining premise, and they are based on a truly fascinating historical moment, but to me, they lack enthrallment.
They do draw a picture of the world back then, the struggles, the people, important historical events, different societies, and they give you and overall understanding of the american colonization from a fictional and adventurous perspective, all motivated by the background of a love story. In many ways, these books can be somewhat instructive, which makes them very valuable. However, they failed to capture and addict me. Although the adventures and survival aspects are good, I needed more deepness and emotional development. Somehow, just a bit of a feminine perspective here and there would have suffice for me I think.
I would recommend them to a young adult audience....more
Before Delfines I had read two other of his novels Tuareg and El Perro, and I absolutely loved them. I thoughtHuge, huge, huge disappointment. [image]
Before Delfines I had read two other of his novels Tuareg and El Perro, and I absolutely loved them. I thought they were incredibly original, raw and out of the box. They had such a powerful impact in my preteen self that I though anything Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa wrote I will devour. Oh was I wrong! [image]
When I finished this book I was horrified.[image] I couldn't believe the same writer who created those two books I adore so much wrote this…thing, for lack of a better word. There is no quality here anywhere, the story is weak, the characters are bland and I am quite sure I saw a TV movie when I was a kid pretty similar to this book. I swear is like the author suffered a personality transplant or a possession because there is no explanation for the “book” I read, to say it was bad is an understatement. [image]
My heart was in shambles after I finished reading it since I knew it was going to be a long, looooong time, until I could make myself pick up another book from Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa. [image]
Since this book, I have read some more of his work, all from the Cienfuegos series, and although it has amazing reviews in Spain, I wasn't that impressed by those books, they have interesting facts and happenings but they lack enthrallment.
So I guess, I am not much into this writer any more. His books might have better success for young adult readers....more
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