I really enjoyed this book! To be honest, this is what I had wished I had gotten out of Olivia Munn's book. I love Olivia Munn but dear god her book w...moreI really enjoyed this book! To be honest, this is what I had wished I had gotten out of Olivia Munn's book. I love Olivia Munn but dear god her book was a terrible, unfunny, poorly written mess of a tl;dr blog post.
Mindy Kaling takes this sort of informal blog-ish style and actually makes it into a decent book! Plus she's a hellovah lot funnier, intelligent, and clever in her execution. It was a mistake for me to read parts of this book at work because I came pretty close to choking to death while trying to hold in the loud guffaws trying to burst out of me at any given moment.
The only bad thing is that you don't get a lot of bang for your buck. The book and writing and humor is worth the asking price, but the length of the book is not. I would have expected something twice as long/dense. There are a few moments, like when she's listing her favorite moments in comedy, that you wonder why she's listing such commonly known moments in comedy and what the book really gains from it. However, these moments are few and far between. Most of the book is a hilarious look back on her life and career.
I borrowed this book from the library, but I am very tempted to buy it just to support her. This feeling partially comes as a possible way for me to pay penance for constantly thinking of her as "that crazy Indian chick from The Office" when I feel like she deserves more respect than that in my thoughts after reading her fantastic book.(less)
This was a fun read! I honestly wasn't expecting much out of it, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I have no idea how well the author did w...moreThis was a fun read! I honestly wasn't expecting much out of it, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I have no idea how well the author did with mixing real historical fact with vampires, but it felt like he did a great job, so someone with more extensive Lincoln and American History knowledge can feel free to refute me on that without argument.
My only criticism is that the book gets a bit rambley at times which made me want to put it down and do something else. Most of it is worth pushing forward to though. Oh, I also didn't like the obvious way he handled Booth that I think everyone can predict, but I wish he had done something even remotely more creative with.
The very end was also extremely predictable, but still a cute touch.
I would probably recommend this one, but as a library book or borrowed from a friend. (less)
Eh...it was OK. It was interesting. There is a lot of unnecessary repetitiveness that makes me think that either the author mistakenly thought that wo...moreEh...it was OK. It was interesting. There is a lot of unnecessary repetitiveness that makes me think that either the author mistakenly thought that would be good to add to the experience of the book basically being the main character's train of thought or she just isn't that great of an author yet and should have had a bit more practice before getting published. It's the kind of book that's suppose to seem unpolished but it's clear the author didn't do that on purpose, she just didn't get the writing quite right. Or at least, it's not done with any finesse.
The story itself is the interesting part and a couple of the characters make it worth sticking around to the end. There are quite a few boring bits that are easily skipped over; this is especially true for some of her remembered "flashback" moments. Some of them matter in a "how did she get to this point" kind of way but a lot of them are just pointless filler.
The ending was weak which was the real disappointment because a strong ending really could have saved the book for me. It was too rushed to be very meaningful.
I will probably watch this author. I hope she writes more, because I think she has an interesting writing style that could be very gripping. She's just not there yet and this book really shows that.(less)
I am a pretty huge Borderlands fan. In fact, I would go so far to say Borderlands is my all time favorite video game. So, when I saw that a book had c...moreI am a pretty huge Borderlands fan. In fact, I would go so far to say Borderlands is my all time favorite video game. So, when I saw that a book had come out I had no choice but to pick it up! Unfortunately, I more or less had to force myself to get through it. Borderlands: The Fallen is an extremely disappointing look into the Borderlands universe.
From the cover and the description one can be led to assume, as I was, that the book has the potential to perhaps be the first of four going into the history of our mysterious Vault Hunters. That was not the case. The book barely looks at Roland's history and is not even about him. At all. The story revolves around a family who gets in over their heads looking for some rumored new alien technology that isn't Eridian. The whole thing ends up feeling like a long fanfiction story where the author decided to insert himself in a corny fashion into the world and "play" with his favorite character from the game.
Not that I can assume the author of this book even played the game. The way he writes about the various Pandora inhabitants it comes off like he was provided a list of people, creatures, and places from the world so that he could write this book without actually having to play Borderlands. It was especially distracting when he messed something up, like for example, having a Badass Psycho speak when in the game they just sort of grunt madly at you. Yes, it bothered me. Yes, I am in love with Borderlands and I don't care if that seems like a small mistake. The whole book is riddled with small mistakes that make you wince as you read them. At one point the author accidentally puts a character's name in a scene that he's not actually in.
The dialogue of this book is painful. I mean, really really painful. It's hard to read. The author throws around the one-liners from the game wildly throughout the story as if to say "Look look! Look nerds! It's about your video game! See? See how they say the same things!" Roland has little to no personality, which more or less goes for the majority of the characters in the book. They all fall pretty flat and all the enemies sound the same. I had to grit my teeth to get through any long conversations.
Also, here's the thing, grim things happen in Borderlands and Pandora is clearly not a place you want to vacation. However, the video game gives you this fun dark humor throughout the whole thing that the book completely abandons. If the author attempted humor at some point, I never saw it. His story is extremely grim and barely entertaining. It does not even remotely come close to the same feel you get from the game.
Then you have to endure the ending, which turns out to be a Star Trek ending - the humans have to prove themselves worthy to a mysterious superior being who is too vague to have much real motive for anything and to save the author from having to be creative with the alien creature. (Note: That is not a criticism of Star Trek. I love Star Trek. I just think the author was using a Star Trek ending because he couldn't think of anything interesting on his own. Works great for hour long Star Trek episodes, works pretty horribly for this kind of novel.)
There is a small amount of good to combat all this glaring bad. The scenery of Pandora is written beautifully. I really felt like I was on the planet's surface every time he described the surroundings. I also loved getting a little bit of depth to why Pandora is the way it is. The author sadly doesn't take much time to go into these details, but what he shells out is very interesting and makes me wish I could know more about the world.
Unfortunately, the good does not quite balance the bad. I would love to give this at least an OK/Average rating, but I just can't quite do it.
If you are a huge Borderlands fan like me, I mean, completely obsessive about the game, then you might like to pick this up. However, it currently costs $10 which is way too expensive for what you get. Wait until it goes on sale on Amazon and pick it up for less.(less)
This book is basically 3-4 chapters just repeated over and over and over again until the end. It drove me mad having to read them talk about how they...moreThis book is basically 3-4 chapters just repeated over and over and over again until the end. It drove me mad having to read them talk about how they needed to talk. Seriously, just the exact same dialogue. She could have copy and pasted most of the book. Then in the end they use sex as a weapon against each other to find out what is finally going on when they really had no reason not to tell each other from day one. They just kept finding these pathetic excuses like the author just couldn't think of anything legitimate and she had so little plot that she had to stretch it so thin it was transparent and ripped a little.
Their relationship was barely a romance and the "revelations of love" were bull. They didn't love each other. They loved having sex with each other, which was made very clear throughout the book. Everything about this was contrived from the dialogue to the just terrible descriptions of seduction. If I saw people acting the way described in an attempt to be sexy I would burst out laughing. And I can not stand books the toss out the "I love yous" without any cause or reason; just because the author knows it's a romance novel and the characters should probably say I love you.
The characters are also awful. The author tries to make it seem like the man learned something from the woman about how she's strong and women can do anything, but really he just learned to be bored with her attempts and ignore any lesson she was hoping for. She in turn was suppose to be a strong liberated woman...who acted like a whore and constantly used sex to get what she wanted. Yes, that's clearly the only weapon women have in their arsenal. Forget intelligence, just use your boobs.
Even the sexual encounters were written terribly. You had to constantly deal with the copy/paste paper thin "plot" throughout and her descriptions felt very awkward and rough. It went back to the same thoughts when reading the "seductive" moves - I just kind of wanted to laugh at how ridiculous their encounters sounded.
Overall, pretty terrible book. Do not recommend. (less)
It wasn't bad but I don't think it was particularly good either. Too many contradictions without a good balance. A heroine who thinks for herself but...moreIt wasn't bad but I don't think it was particularly good either. Too many contradictions without a good balance. A heroine who thinks for herself but defaults to the hero to save her. A hero who worships her but treats her like a possession and belittles her accomplishments. First several chapters are extremely confusing to the point of almost being just gibberish. The heroine focuses too much on her perceived failings and really, seriously, needs to let go the fact that she use to have a big nose. I wanted to tear out my hair every time she mentioned it!
Interesting book to read to see where McCaffrey came from and the book gets much better and more interesting in the second half. However, it is unlikely I would ever read it again.(less)
I really liked this one! It was clear through the whole book that Michael only wanted to do what was best for Hannah no matter what it was that he wan...moreI really liked this one! It was clear through the whole book that Michael only wanted to do what was best for Hannah no matter what it was that he wanted for himself. He let her make all the important decisions which was especially wonderful given how she'd grown up under everyone else's thumb. The story had fantastic pacing and the romance/love felt genuine. This series has turned out to be really great so far. I believe this is the second book of it, though each book stands on it's own.(less)
I'm not going to pretend like I know what is going on in this book most of the time, but there is just something about it that has sent me back to it...moreI'm not going to pretend like I know what is going on in this book most of the time, but there is just something about it that has sent me back to it a billion times. BILLION. I absolutely love it. I love the characters, I love the crazy technology and ideas, I love the impossible situations they get into, I love the contest and resolution at the end. It is worth every minute.(less)
Absolutely amazing! I loved almost everything about this book. The characters are deep and fantastic and you want to spend as much time as possible ge...moreAbsolutely amazing! I loved almost everything about this book. The characters are deep and fantastic and you want to spend as much time as possible getting to know them. The setting is wonderful with the world's sort of subtle magic. The unraveling of the main character's tale is just brilliantly done with breaks and flashbacks at all the right moments. My only criticism of this book, and the reason I'm knocking a star, is I disliked the girl/woman the main character is/was in love with. I thought she was shallow and annoying. I thought he could do better and spent a lot of the book wishing he would. That is pure opinion on my part though and most definitely should not stop anyone from picking up this book. I can't wait to get to reading the second one! (less)
A really fun book! Not to be read if you can't handle ridiculous amounts of 80s references though. This book was definitely written for a certain gene...moreA really fun book! Not to be read if you can't handle ridiculous amounts of 80s references though. This book was definitely written for a certain generation of people; it won't age well. I did enjoy how lighthearted it was though and there was just enough going on at all times that it remained interesting. I have to agree with one of my friends, however, when they mention that one huge problem with this book is you're never really invested in the action of the game world because...well, it's just a game. The real world dangers are there but seem just thrown in because the author knows the book needs something real. I think Cline tries a little too hard to make the situation in the game world into this life threatening thing that it just isn't. As a hardcore gamer myself, it was difficult to feel like the world would end if they lost the video game and a major internet company got to run it. I get that to the people of that world it was much more than that, but I just never felt the sense of urgency the characters tried to relay to me.
Overall though, I would read it again. It's full of fun references that I'm old/young enough to have been immersed in and the gaming angle is cute and enjoyable. (less)
The interesting and story driven parts of this book could probably be condensed to a few chapters. At first his explanations of the historical signifi...moreThe interesting and story driven parts of this book could probably be condensed to a few chapters. At first his explanations of the historical significance behind some of the events is interesting, if for nothing else you get to learn something, but as it goes on it gets mind dullingly boring. I felt like the characters weren't very fleshed out, they read like he just kind of winged it. I ended up not caring about them in the least and not even remotely understanding their actions. This book reads like a poorly slapped together series of awkward events and it seems like the author only put up with his half assed characters so that he would have an excuse to expound on the strange ideas and tell us all how clever he is.(less)
Extremely weird and kind of hard to follow but it has this quality you often find in good books where despite how you might feel about the actual cont...moreExtremely weird and kind of hard to follow but it has this quality you often find in good books where despite how you might feel about the actual content you can't seem to put it down. The ending was fitting and the ideas fascinating to a point. I had to skip the sections of text describing the manual of the "rebels" because it was very dry and not as interesting to read the ideas spelled out for you as it was to see them in action. Overall I was entertained but I can't say this book has aged well.(less)
The one thing I liked about this book was that for once the man was obsessed with the woman. Usually it's the woman who has an encounter with the man...moreThe one thing I liked about this book was that for once the man was obsessed with the woman. Usually it's the woman who has an encounter with the man of her dreams in her youth and pines for him for years. In this case the situation was reversed which was a nice refreshing change. Unfortunately, it's pretty down hill from there. Most of the plot, action, and sexual experiences is reserved for the second half to third of the book. When you finally get there it feels a bit rushed and a couple of events seem haphazardly thrown in and out of place as a result. Even the sex is squished into a few consecutive chapters, absent before or after.
The female protagonist didn't shed her haughty attitude until the ending which was pretty annoying and I didn't like how the author made blatant attempts to snub other romance novels with thinly veiled comments from the characters about how dukes don't marry servants in real life. A lot of the book is dedicated to trying to explain how society in that era really worked and ended up feeling very hypocritical when it seemed like the author realized she would have to bend a few of the rules herself to get where she wanted to go. In historical romance I am always happy to suspend belief for a Cinderella ending.
I will probably read the second book of this series only because I have it from the digital library but I'm not expecting much. The author very loudly declared constantly throughout this book who the next wallflower's suitor would be and I'm not really invested or interested in seeing what comes of their slow matching.(less)
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