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sscoltock's review
2.0
I sort of enjoyed Bubble in much the same way I enjoy a leave your brain at the door, dumb blockbuster movie with someone like Bruce Willis and a load of explosions. The writing isn't great but it had me turning the pages.
But oh dear oh dear The plot is a mess, the writing dips to almost Dan Brown levels of bad, Rebecca continues to be 'a male character with tits'. HP has ludicrous abilities, he chain smokes (and it appears it's important to know they are Marlboros) eats bad food (mostly gorby pies it seems), and he slobs about playing computer games and wanking. However when called for can run at incredible speed for long periods of time. When I smoked I could hardly run for a bus. He also appears to be immortal I thought the Kergan would show up and lop off his head
The 'twists' were signposted and obvious and ultimately not very satisfying.
But oh dear oh dear The plot is a mess, the writing dips to almost Dan Brown levels of bad, Rebecca continues to be 'a male character with tits'. HP has ludicrous abilities, he chain smokes (and it appears it's important to know they are Marlboros) eats bad food (mostly gorby pies it seems), and he slobs about playing computer games and wanking. However when called for can run at incredible speed for long periods of time. When I smoked I could hardly run for a bus. He also appears to be immortal I thought the Kergan would show up and lop off his head
The 'twists' were signposted and obvious and ultimately not very satisfying.
go_jan's review
2.0
The action was no longer gripping in this third installment... I really just wanted to get to the end and find out what story the author had concocted that could explain everything. I guess I was a little disappointed and so would give this book just 2.5 stars.
wilovebooks's review
4.0
I enjoyed this conclusion to the Game trilogy. HP finally realizes that he was never really out of the game. He and Rebecca aren't in contact, but they are both working to figure things out. It is hard to know who to trust, and there is really no one that can be trusted. There is a lot of action and twists that kept me guessing. I enjoyed this one as much as the first.
sarah1984's review against another edition
4.0
27/7 - Due to some hasty hold placing at the library I somehow ended up with this book (#3) borrowed before the previous book (#2). Then I did it again with Richelle Mead's Blood Promise and Shadow Kiss, somehow mistaking Blood Promise for the third book in the series, when it's actually the fourth. So I had to quickly get a hold of the next books in both series and read them, so I could get to this and Blood Promise before they were due at the library (they're obviously popular as they immediately had further holds on them). Didn't quite get all that? Don't worry, it's a bit strange and complicated and comes from placing a hold through the library's computer without access to GR to check the true series order (no, I don't have an iPad or phone with internet access), instead of doing it at home with GR open in another tab, as I usually do.
Oh well, it looks like it's going to work out fine in the end. I have until the 4/8 before this and Blood Promise are due back and while this is a decent sized book, I managed to read Buzz (which is only slightly shorter than Bubble) in just two days earlier this month, so I think I can get all three books finished before I have to start paying fines for them. Plus, I'm really pumped for the big ending, how everything's going to be wrapped up.
Will HP finally manage to kick his fame addiction (or any of the others)? What's going to happen to Rebecca when she starts working for the company that runs The Game? Will they beat The Game? Or will the ending be like those horror movies where you think the final characters have managed to kill the unkillable bad guy, only to have him prove he truly is unkillable (think Jason Voorhies) by popping back up again to chop off one more head before disappearing back into the forest. I think I sped through my last book Whisky Charlie Foxtrot so fast because I knew that this was next on my internal list and I could not wait to get started.
Although, now that I could be seconds away from doing just that (depending on how fast I type) I'm nervous it won't be as good as the first two, that it'll be a let down after all the tension of The Game and Buzz. I guess there are only two ways to find out, read the GR reviews (obviously not going to do that because not only will I ruin any plot twists, but I also still won't have a definitive answer because what one person one stars another five stars) or read the book. I'm going to read the book and try to forget the fact that I happened to catch a glimpse of the average rating for the book. 3.65 is a good book, just good, not great or fantastic or amazing, but I'm not going to think about that I'm just going to trust that my opinion is usually the opposite (or at least different) of a lot of others and read with an open mind. To be continued...
28/7 - As I exhibited with my pre-review ramble last night, I was a little bit excited and nervous about starting the possibly climatic, or possibly disappointing, final book in this fast-paced series. Now I don't know if it was a symptom of that mix of excitement and nerves, but I didn't really notice or become annoyed by the quick POV changes that I felt a little plagued by in Buzz and Game. I wonder whether, now that I've gotten over those first date jitters, the lightning fast changes will become more apparent and irritating. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about it.
Oh, before I go I just want to mention that I just realised that with 400 pages to go in Bubble, approx. 450 in Shadow Kiss and a little over 500 in Blood Promise that I've got about 1300 pges to read in six days and a few hours. With a little rounding off that works out to around 200 pages a day, which doesn't sound too hard, until you know that you're reading to a timetable and know that if you only manage 100 pages on one day that means you'll have to make it up somewhere in the remaining days, either with pages added to every day or just a chunk to one day. All that mathematising could lead to stressful, rushed reading. I think, if it comes down to enjoying my reading or paying a small fine (and at only 50c a book per day it would be small), I'll pay the fine and finish the book happily rather than hurriedly skimming it in the car outside the library (my 'I have to return this book today' last chance reading spot).
Later - How bloody stupid can HP be? Imagining that, after being bitten by a rattlesnake and passing out (supposedly due to the effects of the venom, not sure how fast rattlesnake venom would take to kill you, but that's another discussion) he would be able to successfully inject himself with multiple syringes of antivenin, then collect all his breaking and entering tools and a loaded gun and get back to his apartment before once again passing out. It certainly seems crystal clear to me that the bad guys came back, fixed him up and deposited him back on his own bed, all for some nefarious ulterior motive. Possibly so he can be setup as their patsy in whatever terroristic act they're planning. I really shake my head at HP's stupidity, stunningly bad decision-making and blindness to what's really going on around him. I was very pleased when I read that he hadn't smoked marijuana since it got him in so much trouble in Dubai, over six months ago, because really, look at the trouble he gets himself into when he's not high. To be continued...
30/7 - I feel like HP, with no idea of who to trust, whose story, or how much of it, to believe, constantly jumping from theory to theory about what's really going on and who's behind it all.
Was Uncle Tage telling Rebecca the truth and he's being set up by de la Motte to appear sinister? Or has he cleverly revealed just enough of the truth that his story will sound plausible to Rebecca, encouraging her to help him 'help' HP. Also Nora and Jeff... they don't seem all that innocent and straight forward. Some of their answers, like how they found HP so easily, give me suspicions that they're actually working for the Game and have been tracking him for days, or even weeks. How do we know that they're not the next door neighbours and aren't guiding HP towards their intended target for assassination/detonation, all ready for him to be the fall guy? Everything about them is just too convenient for my suspicious mind. To be continued...
31/7 - Well, it looks like I've jinxed myself with all that talk of needing to read 200 pages a day for six days. I am down to two days and a few hours (this is being written at approx. the same time as my update on the 28th) and I haven't even finished the first book - AAARRRRGGGGHHHH READING STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!
In regards to the book itself - exciting, tense, complicated, keeping me guessing at all times. Also the quick-fire POV changes seem to have mysteriously disappeared (or I'm so involved in the story that I haven't noticed them, not sure which), for which I'm grateful. Manga has returned and I'm not sure I believe what he's saying anymore than I believe Uncle Tage's spiel. I'm getting paranoid over fictional character's true motives and I can't stop wondering about who the real Game master is - not knowing is making me a bit insane, also as I read back what I've just wrote I realise that I'm repeating myself, sorry about that. To be continued...
2/7 - The last 10 pages I spent the whole time going "No! This can't be the way it all ends." I was so disappointed thinking that it was going to end the way those annoying horror movies do, with the bad guy rising back up and escaping only to live another day in the next movie, or book, only we know that this is the last in the series and then we would have ended up with a very unsatisfactory ending. Fortunately, that wasn't exactly how things went - the 'bad' guy did rise up to fight another day, but he also died. Eventually, it all made sense, but it's still very complicated, especially HP and Rebecca's father and Sammer's involvement during the 60s. I now have over 900 pages to read in 1.5 days. AAARRGGHH MORE READING STRESS!!
Oh well, it looks like it's going to work out fine in the end. I have until the 4/8 before this and Blood Promise are due back and while this is a decent sized book, I managed to read Buzz (which is only slightly shorter than Bubble) in just two days earlier this month, so I think I can get all three books finished before I have to start paying fines for them. Plus, I'm really pumped for the big ending, how everything's going to be wrapped up.
Will HP finally manage to kick his fame addiction (or any of the others)? What's going to happen to Rebecca when she starts working for the company that runs The Game? Will they beat The Game? Or will the ending be like those horror movies where you think the final characters have managed to kill the unkillable bad guy, only to have him prove he truly is unkillable (think Jason Voorhies) by popping back up again to chop off one more head before disappearing back into the forest. I think I sped through my last book Whisky Charlie Foxtrot so fast because I knew that this was next on my internal list and I could not wait to get started.
Although, now that I could be seconds away from doing just that (depending on how fast I type) I'm nervous it won't be as good as the first two, that it'll be a let down after all the tension of The Game and Buzz. I guess there are only two ways to find out, read the GR reviews (obviously not going to do that because not only will I ruin any plot twists, but I also still won't have a definitive answer because what one person one stars another five stars) or read the book. I'm going to read the book and try to forget the fact that I happened to catch a glimpse of the average rating for the book. 3.65 is a good book, just good, not great or fantastic or amazing, but I'm not going to think about that I'm just going to trust that my opinion is usually the opposite (or at least different) of a lot of others and read with an open mind. To be continued...
28/7 - As I exhibited with my pre-review ramble last night, I was a little bit excited and nervous about starting the possibly climatic, or possibly disappointing, final book in this fast-paced series. Now I don't know if it was a symptom of that mix of excitement and nerves, but I didn't really notice or become annoyed by the quick POV changes that I felt a little plagued by in Buzz and Game. I wonder whether, now that I've gotten over those first date jitters, the lightning fast changes will become more apparent and irritating. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about it.
Oh, before I go I just want to mention that I just realised that with 400 pages to go in Bubble, approx. 450 in Shadow Kiss and a little over 500 in Blood Promise that I've got about 1300 pges to read in six days and a few hours. With a little rounding off that works out to around 200 pages a day, which doesn't sound too hard, until you know that you're reading to a timetable and know that if you only manage 100 pages on one day that means you'll have to make it up somewhere in the remaining days, either with pages added to every day or just a chunk to one day. All that mathematising could lead to stressful, rushed reading. I think, if it comes down to enjoying my reading or paying a small fine (and at only 50c a book per day it would be small), I'll pay the fine and finish the book happily rather than hurriedly skimming it in the car outside the library (my 'I have to return this book today' last chance reading spot).
Later - How bloody stupid can HP be? Imagining that, after being bitten by a rattlesnake and passing out (supposedly due to the effects of the venom, not sure how fast rattlesnake venom would take to kill you, but that's another discussion) he would be able to successfully inject himself with multiple syringes of antivenin, then collect all his breaking and entering tools and a loaded gun and get back to his apartment before once again passing out. It certainly seems crystal clear to me that the bad guys came back, fixed him up and deposited him back on his own bed, all for some nefarious ulterior motive. Possibly so he can be setup as their patsy in whatever terroristic act they're planning. I really shake my head at HP's stupidity, stunningly bad decision-making and blindness to what's really going on around him. I was very pleased when I read that he hadn't smoked marijuana since it got him in so much trouble in Dubai, over six months ago, because really, look at the trouble he gets himself into when he's not high. To be continued...
30/7 - I feel like HP, with no idea of who to trust, whose story, or how much of it, to believe, constantly jumping from theory to theory about what's really going on and who's behind it all.
Was Uncle Tage telling Rebecca the truth and he's being set up by de la Motte to appear sinister? Or has he cleverly revealed just enough of the truth that his story will sound plausible to Rebecca, encouraging her to help him 'help' HP. Also Nora and Jeff... they don't seem all that innocent and straight forward. Some of their answers, like how they found HP so easily, give me suspicions that they're actually working for the Game and have been tracking him for days, or even weeks. How do we know that they're not the next door neighbours and aren't guiding HP towards their intended target for assassination/detonation, all ready for him to be the fall guy? Everything about them is just too convenient for my suspicious mind. To be continued...
31/7 - Well, it looks like I've jinxed myself with all that talk of needing to read 200 pages a day for six days. I am down to two days and a few hours (this is being written at approx. the same time as my update on the 28th) and I haven't even finished the first book - AAARRRRGGGGHHHH READING STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!
In regards to the book itself - exciting, tense, complicated, keeping me guessing at all times. Also the quick-fire POV changes seem to have mysteriously disappeared (or I'm so involved in the story that I haven't noticed them, not sure which), for which I'm grateful. Manga has returned and I'm not sure I believe what he's saying anymore than I believe Uncle Tage's spiel. I'm getting paranoid over fictional character's true motives and I can't stop wondering about who the real Game master is - not knowing is making me a bit insane, also as I read back what I've just wrote I realise that I'm repeating myself, sorry about that. To be continued...
2/7 - The last 10 pages I spent the whole time going "No! This can't be the way it all ends." I was so disappointed thinking that it was going to end the way those annoying horror movies do, with the bad guy rising back up and escaping only to live another day in the next movie, or book, only we know that this is the last in the series and then we would have ended up with a very unsatisfactory ending. Fortunately, that wasn't exactly how things went - the 'bad' guy did rise up to fight another day, but he also died. Eventually, it all made sense, but it's still very complicated, especially HP and Rebecca's father and Sammer's involvement during the 60s. I now have over 900 pages to read in 1.5 days. AAARRGGHH MORE READING STRESS!!
fionabond's review
3.0
A disappointing final part. The overuse of exclamation marks became something of a running joke, not to mention the typos and errors in the text. The story has become a case of HP being chased, or ending up unconscious and every single time he's fine, regardless of how seriously he's injured. I was disappointed with the fact that he 'died' but just as disappointed with the fact that he lived. The final book was more a case of who is screwing over who and are they really, or is it the other way around? I enjoyed the first book but it feels like the whole series lost its way after that and I was very disappointed. I reached a point where I just didn't care what was going to happen anymore, which is probably why I didn't finish the book as quickly as I could have done. And not to mention the ridiculous portrayal of mental health issues, I do not understand how or why Rebecca was supposedly depressed/anxiety. I've suffered depression (one of the milder forms) and that was definitely not depression. I've enjoyed the characters (aside from the startling issues with some of them), I was even jumping on the Henrik/Nora bandwagon until she screwed him over, and whilst the conversational tone of the writing isn't necessarily the most technically well written, it was still an enjoyable way to experience a story. I just wish that the first books arc had been the full story and the conspiracy theory didn't have another conspiracy theory on top of it.
scarlettletters's review against another edition
4.0
So this is the third and final book in this Swedish thrill-ogy. It ties up everything that has been introduced in the first two books and definitely keeps you guessing. It's always pretty clear who the bad guy is, but you aren't really sure why or what is really going on.
One interesting thing I learned from this book is that in 1986, the PM of Sweden was assassinated, and they still haven't solved the case. It comes up as a plot point in this book, kind of. I think there were certainly references to Swedish culture and geography that I didn't "get," but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story.
One interesting thing I learned from this book is that in 1986, the PM of Sweden was assassinated, and they still haven't solved the case. It comes up as a plot point in this book, kind of. I think there were certainly references to Swedish culture and geography that I didn't "get," but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story.