carahamelie's reviews
303 reviews

This is great for what it was intended for. A quick rundown on what feminism is for people that aren't super familiar with it, but that's about it. This book clearly isn't intended to dissect the entirety of feminism.. but it's a great start, and I think for people that are aloof to the topic would benefit a lot from reading this.

I think I'm giving this 3.5 stars. It was cool quick read, with dark and mysterious elements. The art in this novel is insanely good... I have never seen better art in any graphic novel or comic, and I have seen a lot since my husband is a huge comic book nerd. I would 100% pick up more graphic novels illustrated by this artist because I was blown away by the detail. It made for a great reading experience. I enjoyed this story a lot, but found it to be a little muddled at times... especially in regards to the characters which made me feel a bit disconnected at times.

This book wasn't what I expected and I feel like the title is a little misleading. This book started off very strong and I enjoyed what the author had to say about octopuses. She opened with interesting facts and information which I really enjoyed. However, about 1/2 the way through, it crashed and burned. This book suddenly turned from an interesting non-fiction read about these amazing creatures into a memoir of a woman's personal experience being obsessed with octopuses. It was very repetitive, and oddly pretentious. It became a story of personal growth and personal experiences through her love of octopuses. The second half of this book was mostly conjecture, with A LOT of feelings and adjectives sprinkled on top. Not saying there is anything wrong with a book like that.... I have read fact-based non fiction with a memoir twist that I have really loved, but this one just didn't do it right for me. There were a lot of pacing issues, and I honestly felt pretty bored most of the time. There were small interesting nuggets of information hidden through out the book, but the writing style just wasn't for me.

This was enjoyable for the most part. It got me inspired to try writing my own 55 word story. It’s honestly a fun switch up for people that like poetry. The first story happened to be my favorite:

“Careful honey, it’s loaded,” he said re-entering the bedroom.
Her back rested against the headboard.
“This for your wife?”
“No. Too chancy. I’m hiring a professional.”
“How about me?”
He smirked. “Cute. But who’d be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?”
She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel.
“Your wife.”

This is cute..... but not the depth I was expecting based on the hype it has received. I was kinda waiting for this POW moment but it was just basic ideas and simplistic ways of explaining the human condition. I could see this being great for teens.... a younger version of myself would have liked it.

I’m going with 3.75... and rounding up to 4. This was a fun read for me being that Girl, Interrupted is one of my favorite movies. What I want to know is... who read this book and thought, “Wow! This would make a great movie!” Because that’s not the feeling I got while reading it

I gave this 3 stars... but I lowered it to 2....

Definitely not my favorite out of the 3. I found this book to be a little slow and meandering. This is one of those books that feels like a whole lot of preparing/planning for one big scene at the end.... and I'm not usually fond of books like that. I also didn't feel as connected to the characters as I did in Gemina and Illuminae. I found that the romances/couplings just did nothing for me and I felt very detached from the characters and the relationships between them. But AIDAN saved it for me.... I will always love AIDAN. Also, this book was painfully descriptive at times. I found myself easily skimming full paragraphs that weren't even pertinent to the storyline. I didn't feel this way with the other two books... or maybe I just cared more. This is the shortest book in the trilogy but it felt like the longest. I really did like how this trilogy ended though... so I can definitely give it that. Illuminae in my opinion is the best book in the series and will always be a favorite of mine.

3.5 stars...

Didn’t hate this book but also did love it. Slightly one dimensional for my taste. This series focuses heavily on politics.. which I don’t mind politics as long as it’s rounded out by other elements like action and/or romance.... this book TRIED to round it out but didn’t quite do it for me. In fact, it was a pretty slow book overall. The ending was entertaining... but it took a lot out of me to get there. The middle was mediocre and not a lot happened to be honest. With that said.... I enjoyed the characters and I’m invested enough to read the last book... I just hope she brings more to the story in the last book. Maybe elaborate on some relationships between a few of the characters a bit more.... I feel like she is with-holding this from us... but not in a “good slow-burn” kind of way. It’s more of a “trying to stay away from romance but keeping it open just in case” kind of way. Also... a bit more action through out the story might help push it along at times.