[books 2008] More fluff
Nothing of any substance of here, what with the flu and all.
56. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Certainly nowhere near as gripping as volumes 4 and 5, but I still got through it at lightning speed. More comments below.
57. Indelible by Karin Slaughter
This is in a different format to the other books in the series - there are two strands to the plot, one an incident that happened to the main characters in the early 1990s, and a hostage situation in the present day that is somehow related to the other strand. I wasn't convinced by the idea, but switching between the two works quite well as a way of holding suspense levels.
Main characters are still all whiny and annoying, but less so than in the other books in the series I've read.
58. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
I probably wasn't as disappointed by this as a lot of people, but it's definitely the weakest in the series, and is the only one I could really put down for any length of time and not care.
Now, I'd already realized way back in volume 4 or 5 that at the rate the struggle against You-Know-Who was escalating, that there was no way Harry and pals would be finishing their time at Hogwarts, but the book still loses a lot by not being based at the school.
There is no need whatsoever for the Deathly Hallows subplot. It took away from an otherwise pretty decent quest story.
I'm not sure at what point in the series I realized that Hermoine is not a character, she's a plot device to impart all the knowledge about the wizarding world to bring the reader up to speed. It's especially apparent in the last two volumes.
I don't know whether it says more about me or about the book that the deaths that upset me most were Hedwig and Dobby, rather than any of the human characters.
I can tell you that I will not be rushing out to buy The Tales of Beadle the Bard.
59. Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
She's not even trying any more. Were it not for the fact that a) I was too ill to move or read anything more substantial and b) there's not much here, I might not have even finished it. I am frankly mystified that a story based on the finding of human remains in a cellar in a Santerìa-type scenario can be made to be dull. The moralizing at the end was neither subtle nor effective, yet if she'd left out the explicit sermon it could have been.
If the picture in the back cover is anything to go by, Reichs has had some Bad Plastic Surgery since the last book.
All I can say is I'm glad this baby came from the library. I'd be cross if I'd even paid charity shop prices for it.
I'm a sad completist so I'll probably take a chance when the next one comes out.
56. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Certainly nowhere near as gripping as volumes 4 and 5, but I still got through it at lightning speed. More comments below.
57. Indelible by Karin Slaughter
This is in a different format to the other books in the series - there are two strands to the plot, one an incident that happened to the main characters in the early 1990s, and a hostage situation in the present day that is somehow related to the other strand. I wasn't convinced by the idea, but switching between the two works quite well as a way of holding suspense levels.
Main characters are still all whiny and annoying, but less so than in the other books in the series I've read.
58. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
I probably wasn't as disappointed by this as a lot of people, but it's definitely the weakest in the series, and is the only one I could really put down for any length of time and not care.
Now, I'd already realized way back in volume 4 or 5 that at the rate the struggle against You-Know-Who was escalating, that there was no way Harry and pals would be finishing their time at Hogwarts, but the book still loses a lot by not being based at the school.
There is no need whatsoever for the Deathly Hallows subplot. It took away from an otherwise pretty decent quest story.
I'm not sure at what point in the series I realized that Hermoine is not a character, she's a plot device to impart all the knowledge about the wizarding world to bring the reader up to speed. It's especially apparent in the last two volumes.
I don't know whether it says more about me or about the book that the deaths that upset me most were Hedwig and Dobby, rather than any of the human characters.
I can tell you that I will not be rushing out to buy The Tales of Beadle the Bard.
59. Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
She's not even trying any more. Were it not for the fact that a) I was too ill to move or read anything more substantial and b) there's not much here, I might not have even finished it. I am frankly mystified that a story based on the finding of human remains in a cellar in a Santerìa-type scenario can be made to be dull. The moralizing at the end was neither subtle nor effective, yet if she'd left out the explicit sermon it could have been.
If the picture in the back cover is anything to go by, Reichs has had some Bad Plastic Surgery since the last book.
All I can say is I'm glad this baby came from the library. I'd be cross if I'd even paid charity shop prices for it.
I'm a sad completist so I'll probably take a chance when the next one comes out.