What an exhilarating journey this was! The author has an incredible way of painting interactions and framing the scenes, and making a story about divine beings and their goings-on seem so utterly believable. I found myself spending hours reading up on the many minor characters featured in the book, because unlike in most other retellings of the stories, here they mattered and are actually interesting. Looking forward to her next book!

Almost a thousand pages later and one of the most gratifying vampire stories comes to an end. These are the dark, fearsome Bram Stoker vampires that you hardly see around nowadays..but they are, after all, experts at blending with the shadows! The characters are fascinating, the plot moves swiftly forward, and no matter which side you‘re rooting for, the ending feels hard-fought and acceptable.

This was a fun read - especially because it brought together some unlikely pairings (MMORPGs, badass special forces action, international cooperation?, family struggles, multiple characters coming into their own) - so ridiculous yet so believable.. The story arcs are incredibly fast-paced and action-packed that it feels as if these people are the only ones in existence!

I‘ve read a few of the author‘s novels, and this is by far my least favorite...so it goes. It reads fairly monotonously, and the plot is forgettable. In all honesty it was my hope that each next page would bring some fresh twist or revelation that helped me make it all the way through. I would recommend spending time on his other books instead of this one.

Wow - where do I even begin?? The purity of the narrator, the innocence of his friendships, the epic, larger-than-life scenes and exploits on the Ancient Greek canvas...glad to see I wasn‘t the only one crying hot, heavy tears by the end. My favorite book of 2019 so far.

This was an interesting one by one of my favorite authors, and one that introduced me to the “hard sci fi” genre. It‘s thoughtfully-written, and almost entirely believable as a possible future, albeit one with some conveniently-interesting developments. Neal‘s ability to start wide and bring everything together is definitely apparent in this book, and though long, was an easy and enjoyable read!

Managed to make it through the book as I am personally quite interested in Roman history, but it certainly wasn‘t easy. While extremely informative and fairly well-organized, it tended to drone on monotonously, and struggled to keep my attention. Granted, I might be expecting too much of a history book, but it might‘ve benefited from a different sort of voice than the one the author provided.

I read this after reading a reddit thread in which it was recommended, and enjoyed it immensely. It was a steady-paced journey from beginning to end, and the concept of having to conjure up mental images (instead of seeing it with your eyes) of something you‘re trying to focus on adds an interesting immersion element as you read this book. The feeling of dread and uncertainty persisted for some time after the last page!

Definitely an apt read for the present times, though don‘t hope for answers to questions it leads you to ask. The despair I felt when I finished the book was like biting into a grapefruit - though you expect the sourness, it still hits surprisingly hard, and it‘s so deliciously sweet.

A few pretty interesting concepts covered in this book e.g. gaming currency “farmers” (professional gamers that don‘t necessarily play games for fun) which doesn‘t sound all that bad in all honesty. A good book to read if you‘re a gamer for the relatability, but probably wouldn‘t feature in Obama‘s list anytime soon!

This book was like a warm embrace from a long lost aunt! As a longtime MMORPG player, the setting of a persistent virtual reality world was of particular interest, and the author truly did it justice. Story was slightly generic, but did the job. Fans of 80s culture would also appreciate the references woven throughout the story - I‘m not particularly interested in it but got caught up in the fun all the same!

I‘m really into mythology, and also into medieval Norse/Viking history, and this book scratched ALL the itches. It‘s well-written, as you‘d expect, and while it doesn‘t cover everything, it includes the stories that the average person would care about. It‘s also not too long - recommend reading it in a warm cafe as the snows fall beyond the window by your side.

I‘m not the biggest fan of the author‘s Sandman series, but have loved some of his other works (e.g. Norse Mythology), and can‘t deny that he has the gift of storyweaving. Still, this book was a leap of faith and one that ultimately paid off! Bringing together characters from world mythology was not only skillfully done, but also made for a genuinely fun read! If you have yet to both read the book and watch the show, please read the book first.

Reading this book was my first exposure to the story (I haven‘t seen the movies and don‘t plan to) and for the context - pets and horror? How would that work? - I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it certainly lived up to the hype. The mounting dread was delicious, and so was the climax - something that made perfect sense given the premise of the story, but one you pray would never happen in real life.

Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming hype that I picked it up in the first place, but it‘s probably also due to the hype that I finished it feeling extremely unsatisfied. Compared to other “popular history” books like Mary Beard‘s SPQR, this was surprisingly touch-and-go, and tried to cover too wide a range of topics in too short a book. Still, it was a decent read, but rather disappointing.

I read this for a book club, excited that it was something different than my usual go-to genres, and was so taken in by the journey that I didn‘t even show up to the discussion, not wanting to sully the purity of my experience! The subtle dread that gradually builds was done perfectly, and this was my gateway book to the horror genre, which I never knew I‘d enjoy to this extent. A good book to read on long transits in my opinion.

For the subject matter this book was easy to read. Extinction events, especially those potentially occurring in the near future (and affecting us!) can be spoken about in a bunch of ways - I confess that as someone who reads mostly fantasy and historical fiction, I was hoping for more excitement and drama. What I got instead were well-organized, matter-of-fact summaries of how certain species went extinct and why we should care! Not bad at all.