en-US Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:14:08 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9535909024 Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:14:08 -0700 /review/show/7646648389 John is currently reading The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
]]> Review4258525773 Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:06:31 -0700 /review/show/4258525773 John gave 4 stars to The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams (Paperback) by Nasdijj
]]> UserStatus1077536060 Mon, 09 Jun 2025 22:24:40 -0700 John Hieb is on page 72 of 224 of <a href="/book/show/240449.The_Blood_Runs_Like_a_River_Through_My_Dreams">The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams</a>. ]]> ReadStatus9528287240 Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:04:02 -0700 /review/show/4258525773 John started reading The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams by Nasdijj
]]> Review5651348864 Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:59:37 -0700 /review/show/5651348864 John gave 2 stars to Chain-Gang All-Stars (Hardcover) by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Disappointing

My first issue with the story is that there is very little that hasn’t been done before. Gladiator, the Hunger Games, etc. You know this from the jacket, but there really isn’t much that is unique. I also didn’t have a lot of empathy for murderers who agreed to the conditions of the game.

My second issue is that there is a lot of narrative soap boxing. The narrator shouldn’t have to directly tell the reader what to think or what is right or wrong…let this come through the story.

Lastly, using “non-fiction� annotations bugged me as they detract from the narrative flow, mix a fictional world with some grounding in a “real� other world, and the reader can’t be expected to fully trust the annotations since most were not cited. This is clearly a work of fiction, so why subject the reader to sidebars from our actual world? In comparison, The Handmaid’s Tale is a great book because it invites the reader into the alternative fictional universe, and it lets the reader consider the implications of the fictional world with the real world. ]]> ReadStatus9483614752 Thu, 29 May 2025 10:54:39 -0700 /review/show/5651348864 John started reading Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
]]> Review4259634028 Wed, 28 May 2025 13:29:39 -0700 /review/show/4259634028 John gave 3 stars to The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity (Paperback) by Amir D. Aczel
]]> Review4243150047 Tue, 27 May 2025 07:02:57 -0700 /review/show/4243150047 John gave 5 stars to The Lincoln Lawyer (The Lincoln Lawyer, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #16) by Michael Connelly
]]> Review4259634453 Mon, 26 May 2025 21:48:01 -0700 /review/show/4259634453 John gave 3 stars to The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that Changed the World (Paperback) by Amir D. Aczel
]]> Review7565910001 Thu, 22 May 2025 15:29:29 -0700 /review/show/7565910001 John gave 5 stars to The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (Hardcover) by Hampton Sides
]]>