SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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The Last Cuentista
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"The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera (BR)
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I’m going to be listening to this one through Libby! Looking forward to it.
I read this a few months ago and thought it was absolutely lovely. Looking forward to seeing what you folks think.
I really wanted to love this one because of the comparison to the Giver. But it lacks the same subtlety. There’s no slow dawning of what’s happening or even fully fleshed characters and the plot holes were tough to get around. Not sure if it was because it was written for MG/YA, but it didn’t do justice to the incredible ideas behind the story.
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Here! I started listening a few days ago and have been making rapid progress.
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Melanie, the neutral party
(last edited Feb 17, 2024 10:56AM)
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rated it 3 stars
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I actually already checked it out on Libby, and it’ll be my next listen. Probably starting tomorrow.
I am probably starting tomorrow as the audiobook becomes available on Everand then. I will read from KU.
I’m finished! Anyone else!
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Oh absolutely, Alison. And I loved this book. I was worried at first, because the beginning was almost exactly the same as another YA novel I read last year. But they quickly diverged.
I loved this one’s focus on our stories making us who we are, and that culture/history and individuality are also important aspects of personality and growth.
Started. Breaking up into 3 sections. I have just finished the first 10 of 30 chapters. This is just the point where the story will speed up, so good place to stop.
I waited until tonight to read so that I could listen to the audiobook that became available today on Everand. . . . I found listening irritating as I wanted to constantly stop and contemplate. Reading this novel works better for me.
I’ll add one comment about the audio/book. The narrator was fantastic and this is not a fault of her work, but I found the sentences in Spanish difficult to comprehend and there was no paraphrase. I speak Italian, so I sort of got the gist, but I wonder about people who don’t speak any Spanish at all.
I just finished. I really liked the narrator and it worked for me as an audiobook but totally understand the want to eyeball read it instead. I liked the inclusion of Spanish, it was important for the ambience of the novel; although nothing was ever said that was critical to know if you don’t know the language. If I listen to an audiobook and it has snippets of a language I don’t understand I just go with it but if I’m eyeball reading it I’ll usually highlight and translate. Since I’m doing this on my phone I’ll just say some generalizations: thought it was a solid middle grade book, but the bad people/adversaries were a little too simplistic or rather one dimensional. How I wish I could download information into my brain like with a scientific process I don’t know or understand but I wonder if downloading a story takes the magic away because you lose the suspense etc from knowing it’s entirety immediately?
Does anyone think another book is coming or for sure it’s a stand alone?
It does dangle the possibility of a sequel at the end, so here’s hoping? I loved hearing the Spanish too, and didn’t have much choice but to just go with it, but I was a bit frustrated because I understood most of it, but felt a burning need to confirm and fill out my understanding. It was not a deal-breaker though.
The one-dimensional quality of the baddies was also part of their altered state too.
Paired with The Giver - discussion (January)
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