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peggyt's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book kept me guessing in all the best ways. The characters were nuanced and interesting. The world was mysterious and well-thought-out. Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
bookforthought's review
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Beautifully written and developed marvellously, this is an original and intriguing book which defies genre labels (primarily mixing sci-fi and fantasy) and challenges beliefs and preconceptions. I was very confused at times, but losing myself in this story was nonetheless a beautiful experience. That ending is brutal though - I’ll need to pick the next book up soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Death, Racism, and Classism
Minor: Slavery
pidgepodge's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Xenophobia, and Classism
Minor: Slavery
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
I'll be honest I don't have much to say because I don't really remember much that happened/I honestly don't really think much happened?
This book was so very long, and so very slow and dry. I thought I was enjoying it still though because, well, I kept reading, but after needing to renew it twice at the library and the finale kinda just being.. nothing big I realised that I just don't really care for this aha..
The characters were ok, the world was quite neat as well. The writing though I think just really didn't mesh well with me. I also have no idea what the title is referring to considering what the ending is lol. I think this book really could have been so much shorter and like nothing would have been lost. We don't need super long books, this is a pretty big issue with a lot of the long books I've read, they just seem really padded and not well edited.
This book was so very long, and so very slow and dry. I thought I was enjoying it still though because, well, I kept reading, but after needing to renew it twice at the library and the finale kinda just being.. nothing big I realised that I just don't really care for this aha..
The characters were ok, the world was quite neat as well. The writing though I think just really didn't mesh well with me. I also have no idea what the title is referring to considering what the ending is lol. I think this book really could have been so much shorter and like nothing would have been lost. We don't need super long books, this is a pretty big issue with a lot of the long books I've read, they just seem really padded and not well edited.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia, Blood, and Classism
Minor: Racism, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail
xvicesx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It's an excellent bit of mind f*ck, as any Mark Lawrence book always is, but I didn't find myself drawn to it as I would normally expect to be.
I think I'll need to read the second book to make up my mind about the series.
I think I'll need to read the second book to make up my mind about the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Slavery
aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
What a meta read this was. A really well done time loop/travel story. All the little reveals had me gasping aloud and I feel immense sadness for our main characters. I also liked the little tidbits of our world reflected in the library and just the whole "whose the real enemy" thought experiment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
idkimoutofideas's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, War, and Classism
Minor: Fatphobia
dkamada's review
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Time is trippy and so is love
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
angorarabbit's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Context: So I read my Libby books on the Kindle app and now I want to get all the silly achievements. Without giving Amazon any money.This was one of the five books on my GoodReads want to read list that was eligible for the Series Pioneer achievement and I only had to wait one day for my hold. So there you have it. Three of the other books still have holds, the fourth is not available at my libraries.
Clark Tech: The existence, maintenance and power supplies of the mechanism, assistants, and portals.These things have been running for thousands to tens of thousands of years. No explanation as to how the portals transport living beings instantaneously through time and space to where they need or want to be.I’m not certain, but I think a time travel rule was broken in the last chapters,
In many ways this reads like a YA book.We first meet the main character when she is 10. In the first third of the book we spend most of our time with children. The adults do not have much character development. The children as they age do not seem to change much except to mildly flirt. The protagonist has a “chosen one” vibe and also “she is not like other girls”. Boys pretty much exist to help her with her explorations. Serious rule breaking is follow.jAlso I didn’t learn one new word.
I really had high hopes for this book. I loved the ideas regarding the library, mechanism, and assistants., Although I’m always hesitant with time travel, the author does handle the time travel part better than many (time turners I’m thinking of you).It’s just that somehow the execution didn’t work for me. The writing was fine and for the most part the action taking place was clear. I was confused as to some characters motivations. The book was 3 stars going towards 4 until I got to the last 10 chapters (there are 70 chapters) then it starting slipping to 2 stars. It felt as if they were just the set up for book 2.
I also twigged two major plot twists in the first 10-20 chapters. I hate it when that happens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing
One character has an intellectual disability, though it is not part of the plot. All characters are heteronormative.musebeliever's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.0
The premise of an infinite library connecting different worlds and different times is really interesting. However, I grew tired by the author's choice to painstakingly relate andnexplain every single feeling, memory, and action of the two main characters. This considerably lengthened the book and diluted the story so much that it just became the background of the characters' never-ending inner monologue.
In addition to that, the author does the very creepy thing of having a 20yo man (who is in reality, probably 30 yo because of time stopping shenanigans), meet his soulmate when she is 12 yo. But because of time travels shenanigans, he actually met her first when he was a child, and she was an adult and could not recall it. I just can't with this type of meeting setting.
In short, the setting was interesting, but this was definitely not for me.
In addition to that, the author does the very creepy thing of having a 20yo man (who is in reality, probably 30 yo because of time stopping shenanigans), meet his soulmate when she is 12 yo. But because of time travels shenanigans, he actually met her first when he was a child, and she was an adult and could not recall it. I just can't with this type of meeting setting.
In short, the setting was interesting, but this was definitely not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Fatphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia