Peter

Feels Liked A Selfpublish

Reviewed: 02-24-25

I love or like almost every book I read. I am not a picky reader, but this felt like a story written by a high schooler with some promise as long as they get much better over time. So many unnecessary adjectives and it felt like a thesaurus was used for reference on every one. The unnecessary wordiness, coupled with a constant stream of information dumping made this book painful to read. I understand that the author wished to give us a sense of the world she was attempting to build, but the constant interruption of the action was distracting and annoying. Nothing felt like it was introduced to us organically.

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Truly Disturbing

Reviewed: 03-28-24

Just finished...new fear unlocked...this book might have disturbed me more than any other SK book I've read and at this point I've read quite a few. If you haven't read The Bill Hodges trilogy, The Outsider and the short story If It Bleeds and gotten to know Holly Gibney don't begin with this book.

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Tired of the nonlinear narrative

Reviewed: 01-12-24

Love the story...not a fan of the writing. The author over uses the nonlinear story telling and it constantly pulls you out of the story. A lot of the choices don't serve the narrative at all, but they feel very random...let's jump ahead a 100 years to describe a traveling storyteller entertaining some children with the tale of Geralt and Yennefer. Let's jump ahead 100 years and describe an archeological find, or let's just jump ahead and tell you what happened and go back and forth in a series of confusing flashbacks to explain how it happened. This is the first book series I've read where I think the TV version is better.

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This is where it all starts

Reviewed: 08-29-23

I think the hype around this book is justified. I truly enjoyed it, and I can't wait for the next in the series. The only critique I can make is that the narrator, while very talented, could tone down the intensity of her delivery from time to time. Most of the line deliveries lean into the dramatic, and I think many of the moments could have been delivered with more emotional nuances.

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If Agatha Christie Wrote a Fantasy

Reviewed: 08-15-23

This one is a mystery set in a castle where all the suspects are trapped until it's solved, An entertaining set up to a much more entertaining complete series. Very YA, and I'm never a huge fan of first person narrative, but it isn't hard to get over it and enjoy the story. I'm not sure I'd choose the same voices for the characters as this narrator does, but they do have a good range and for the most part every voice is distinct enough.

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1 person found this helpful

This is where it really comes into it's own.

Reviewed: 03-30-23

Once you get through the first half of the book, which is essentially Beauty and the Best retold, this book really takes off. I loved the darker latter half of the book far more than the first, even though it was an enjoyable retelling of a familiar story with some additional elements to help build to the books conclusion. It's the latter half of the book which really sets up the other books in the series, but without that first naive romance the characters eventual disillusionment and subsequent growth wouldn't mean as much.

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Don't give up too quickly

Reviewed: 03-30-23

The only reason I would give this half of the first book a lower rating is, because you will realize very quickly that it is a blatant (I'm sure intentional) rip-off of Beauty and the Beast. You may think to yourself, 'Why is this series so popular when it isn't even original?!' While the author does draw heavily from other much lesser known mythologies in her other books, the story within the first book really comes into it's own during the latter half. I hate to think of readers giving up before they have a chance to experience the true depth of the story. After that point this series became truly addicting for me.

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A Wandering Narrative

Reviewed: 03-10-23

I truly enjoyed the story. It might, however, be better if you read the book instead of listen to the audio. It's ironic that the main character is called "Wandering Jack", because the narration seemed to wander off track so much it was hard to follow at times. I haven't had this experience with other King books and I'm not at all familiar with Straub befor now. Jack's inner monologue constantly overpowers the storyline, and the narrative takes unnecesary leaps forward and backward in time. At one point the story seems to jump a week forward so the character could reflect on the past week and relive it in his memory up until that time again, meanwhile, we're simultaneously having the present and the past conveyed to us. There were also several moments when I wished to throttle certain companions of the main character because they annoyed the hell out of me, not because I didn't understand their trauma and the extremity of their fears, but because it felt so overused and redundant. Before Jack does anything, no matter how desperate the moment should feel, he seems to contemplate his feelings, his surrounding, and his actions longer than it takes to watch every ending of the last Lord of the Rings movie...Anyway, it's a good story, but it needed A LOT of editing in my opinion. Frank Muller was amazing as always.

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A Brilliant Story, One of the Best!

Reviewed: 03-03-23

Truly enjoyed The Institute. Love the characters and their development, and I loved the premise of the story. I felt like this book was more streamlined than perhaps some other of King's novel that enjoy meandering a bit too much sometimes. Perhaps it sometimes has to do with the urgency with which the narrator reads through some sections. There have been times in the past where I felt there should be a sense of urgency that seemed contradicted by a characters internal dialogue, and I would get frustrated and think, 'For the love of God! Just go get help!' or 'What are you waiting for?'. This book on the otherhand didn't give me that emotion, and perhaps we can credit that to the narrator. On the other hand, I did fee the voices for some of the characters just didn't seem right, but that's a matter of debate I suppose. Overall I think a person would enjoy reading or listening to this story immensely.

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The Book is Better than the Movie

Reviewed: 02-20-23

This book brings an excellent closure to The Shining story, and I would recommend reading both books over watching the films; though enjoyable in their own right. The differences between the book details and movie details speak volumes about what the producers of the two mediums believe their respective audiences want to see. The readers typically crave richly developed characters, plot details and descriptions, as well as, a peek into the complexities of the human psyche. Typically all this serves to satisfy the reader without having a ton of unnecasary action or a high body count, at least it satisfies this reader. The movie producers believe, however, (perhaps it is true) that audiences want action, gore, and a higher body count or the movie won't bet successful. (SPOILER without details ahead) I'm glad fewer characters die in the book than the movie, and I found the ending a lot more uplifting and satisfying. I think Will Patton does an excellent job narrating as usual and overall I think the characters make understandable choices. For all the fans of the films I say, take the good and the bad in both, but in my humble opinion of you are going to watch a version of The Shining...watch the miniseries instead of the Kubrick film, it's far better.

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