I was looking for an audiobook to listen to during a long drive. A review from the New York Times Book Review caught my eye. ”Imagine The Life of Pi, The Alchemist, and The Midnight Library rolled into one fantastical fable.” I laughed out loud and thought there is no flipping way someone hit that on a debut novel. When I went into Story Graph, their synopsis started with ”The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut…..” Needless to say, I downloaded the book.
I finished the book yesterday and I’ve got to say NY Times and Story Graph were right. There were elements of all four books without being a copy job. It can definitely stand up with all of them. I would put the writing style closer to Invisible Life with flashes of The Alchemist from time to time. I was very happy to be proven wrong. I gave it 5 stars.
I was proofreading this and almost hit send before realizing I never told you the name of the book. Oops! It’s A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke.
by LadybugGal95
9 Comments
Not exactly what you asked, but I read Verity because I had to know what the big deal was. Yep, as bad as everyone said!
I only read books based on the summary blurb, or if I already trust the author.
I’m on no crusade to prove why my opinion of a book is superior to others’. Might do a “what’s the big deal” read to confirm my opinions of other readers, though (e.g., group x claiming deus x machina ending completely missed multiple instances of foreshadowing … meaning do not trust group x).
Nope.
I don’t read reviews. They’re worthless when it comes to books.
I decided to pick up Fourth Wing because I kept seeing people talk about how supposedly amazing or awful it was and wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I can safely say that I lean more towards the reviews saying it was awful. Probably not the *worst* thing I’ve ever read in my life, but definitely not nearly as great as people on Booktok would have you believe.
I often pick up books because a negative review points out things that sound like positives to me.
No. Reading books (or listening to them) requires too much time for me to try and prove anyone wrong. Though, at the same time, I have started books solely based on the cover art and description on the back, which I guess is just another form of “giving a chance to something that I might love OR I might hate”.
Ehh…to answer the question, no, I have never done this.
I don’t typically judge a book by reviews. I get most of my recommendations from r/suggestmeabook and I generally feel if someone felt interested enough to give the recommendation in the first place, and it doesn’t have any of the content warnings I have flagged, then it’s worth considering.
I try to skim non spoilery reviews of books before I buy them, just to make sure they don’t have some of the glaring flaws that always annoy me with a book. Every… single… time… I consider a book and find out it has the Glaring Flaw I Hate, I never learn my lesson and think well it can’t be thaaaaat bad….. and it almost always is….. why do I torture myself