Scan barcode
dsbalakas's review against another edition
4.0
It was good, but not as good as HMT; but what really could stack up to that? I, erroneously, read a review that stated they felt this book was written like a YA book, and based off some of the POVs used it would tend to lean that way,but I couldn't get that out of my head reading the entire book. It's very good, but not what I was anticipating or wanting.
frabottina's review against another edition
4.0
Ho fatto fatica a superare le prime 100/150 pagine, ma successivamente il libro mi ha afferrato e ho letto il restante in pochi giorni. Mi è piaciuto tanto, i complotti e i misteri sono stati interessantissimi. Mi ha fatto piacere tornare in questo mondo e vederne un'altra faccia, quella delle Mogli e, in particolare, delle Zie. Ho apprezzato molto anche seguire tre, apparentemente, diverse storylines che finiscono per intrecciarsi in maniera sorprendente. Ed è anche il primo libro dove una mia teoria risulta vera. Mi è piaciuto!
ptenorio71's review against another edition
4.0
Good sequel and provided a good ending to books and series.
terryh's review against another edition
5.0
Fab book & finished now just in time to complete 2019 reading challenge
Phew!!
We get to hear from different characters in another scary version of The handmaids. The 1st made me look at our world & this has done exactly the same.
Phew!!
We get to hear from different characters in another scary version of The handmaids. The 1st made me look at our world & this has done exactly the same.
divyareadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5)
I’m so unsure about how I feel about this book. I loved The Handmaids Tale and the show is fantastic but this just felt like an unnecessary addition. It didn’t feel like Atwoods writing either.
Having said that, it was a page turner and full of gossipy secrets and I did get through it very quickly! I have mixed feelings about the ending too, I would’ve liked some reality thrown in.
I’m so unsure about how I feel about this book. I loved The Handmaids Tale and the show is fantastic but this just felt like an unnecessary addition. It didn’t feel like Atwoods writing either.
Having said that, it was a page turner and full of gossipy secrets and I did get through it very quickly! I have mixed feelings about the ending too, I would’ve liked some reality thrown in.
honeypamda's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. I'm going to give 2 separate opinions on this book. One on the book itself as if it were a stand alone and one as the sequel it is.
As a stand alone I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I would have been more generous and given it 3.5 to 4 stars had it not been a sequel. The perspectives of the 3 very different characters were interesting, but often not quite different enough in voice. The ending seems rushed. The challenge for the outsider from Canada infiltrating the Aunts was not explored nearly enough and it read more like an uncomfortable interlude than a seriously dangerous mission. Danger was hinted at, but until the end of that part of the book none materialized. However, the overall story of the crumbling of the hierarchy of Gilead and the interpersonal relationships of the main characters was interesting.
In either review the book starts out slow. It picks up, gets slow again, then picks up. If I wasn't already emotionally invested, as a viewer of The Handmaid's Tale, in seeing how the story ended I don't know that I would have finished before I had to turn the book back in to the library.
As a sequel this book was a 1.5 to 2 stars. It adds nothing to the original book. It reads like fan service to viewers of The Handmaid's Tale. I am a loyal viewer of The Handmaid's Tale and as such I recognized the main characters right away. I was happy to see them at first, but over time that happiness dulled. The writing style was so much more polished than the original book, which I shall now refer to as THT. I understand the change as these are 3 new perspectives in 3 different circumstances, but part of what I found that made THT so emotionally engaging was the disjointed and sometimes visceral impact of the gritty style of a story being told by a fugitive refugee.
Also, some things happen too easily for the characters. They have struggles, but some of the solutions are unbelievably easy or simply unengaging. The ending is too neat and clean. It's not 100% Pollyanna happy, but it's close. Too close for a sequel to THT.
I don't know that I think THT really needed a sequel, but I do know that if it did this wasn't the sequel it needed.
As a stand alone I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I would have been more generous and given it 3.5 to 4 stars had it not been a sequel. The perspectives of the 3 very different characters were interesting, but often not quite different enough in voice. The ending seems rushed. The challenge for the outsider from Canada infiltrating the Aunts was not explored nearly enough and it read more like an uncomfortable interlude than a seriously dangerous mission. Danger was hinted at, but until the end of that part of the book none materialized. However, the overall story of the crumbling of the hierarchy of Gilead and the interpersonal relationships of the main characters was interesting.
In either review the book starts out slow. It picks up, gets slow again, then picks up. If I wasn't already emotionally invested, as a viewer of The Handmaid's Tale, in seeing how the story ended I don't know that I would have finished before I had to turn the book back in to the library.
As a sequel this book was a 1.5 to 2 stars. It adds nothing to the original book. It reads like fan service to viewers of The Handmaid's Tale. I am a loyal viewer of The Handmaid's Tale and as such I recognized the main characters right away. I was happy to see them at first, but over time that happiness dulled. The writing style was so much more polished than the original book, which I shall now refer to as THT. I understand the change as these are 3 new perspectives in 3 different circumstances, but part of what I found that made THT so emotionally engaging was the disjointed and sometimes visceral impact of the gritty style of a story being told by a fugitive refugee.
Also, some things happen too easily for the characters. They have struggles, but some of the solutions are unbelievably easy or simply unengaging. The ending is too neat and clean. It's not 100% Pollyanna happy, but it's close. Too close for a sequel to THT.
I don't know that I think THT really needed a sequel, but I do know that if it did this wasn't the sequel it needed.
tchristman's review against another edition
2.0
I always feel a little discombobulated when I don’t like a book that so many do. I have no idea how this could have a 4.22 star rating! Did I miss something?? This story barely held my interest and the writing was cliched and immature. The only reason I even finished it was because my library loan was expiring and I felt pressured. I am not sure how someone who wrote such a profound story as the Handmaid’s Tale could have produced this barely adequate piece of completely predictable, teen dystopian fluff. The “what happened after” story, really? The focus was all wrong. Atwood breezed over the interesting bits, while focusing in on completely uninteresting details, like how a wedding dress looked. Who cares? Where is the big picture? Aunt Lydia’s story was by far the most interesting. Without this, the book was a complete goner. You got a bit of the Handmaid flavor. I found her story compelling and her character briefly bloomed to life. Although, again, too much minutia of detail and not enough digging into the engaging story line of her conversion. Agnes’s story was just boring. I had no interest in what was happening with her. At all. And Daisy was actively unlikable. What made the Handmaids Tale interesting was the how and why, which was completely glossed over. The transcript ending, which summarizes the most interesting aspects in a few badly written paragraphs was so infuriating to me (Laughter). It went round and round in circles, as if even it could not believe how badly it was going. What I wanted to know about Agnes was her reaction to and her process of integrating into a less repressed society. What I wanted to know about Daisy was nothing. Daisy’s role was completely irrelevant. I am not understanding why so much was made of who she was (big surprise!), when it just completely fizzled out. She had no impact on the story line whatsoever. She literally could not have existed and the story would have been the same. And the most intriguing part should have been the fall of Gilead, which was completely ignored. It fell. Ok. That was a whole lot of build up to a tiny, tiny climax. I’m assuming there was some kind of pressure on Atwood to write this due to the Hulu series, but she should have left well enough alone. I am now questioning if maybe the Handmaid’s Tale wasn’t actually as good as I remember.
kld101's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. I liked the voice actors on the audio book a lot too.