nathanjhunt's reviews
111 reviews

This was my 34th book finished in 2024.

This was surprisingly short. I enjoyed how it rounded off in the last chapter; a great ending. But getting to that point was very confusing. I'm not sure everything tied up neatly...

This was my 33rd book finished in 2024.

An improvement on the past two books. Entertaining as always; perhaps slightly less confusing "plot wise" than the last. It helped to feature fewer characters this time round. 

A very intriguing final scene... What does it mean?!

This was my 32nd book finished in 2024.

This is becoming very confusing and convoluted! I think the things we love the most about Belinda Blinked are being lost slightly. Although I'm surprised that there is actually a bit of plot going on, and I love the new spy character.

One thing I have to mention, is that

the cover art

completely spoils the reveal at the end!

This was my 31st book finished in 2024.

I'd say this is the weakest one so far. It was all over the place; one might say "erratic". It just moved far too quickly and started to get a bit confusing. 

The twist final chapter came out of nowhere, and has me hooked for the next book!

This was my 29th book finished in 2024.

I listed to this book in podcast form. It was very entertaining like the first, and it's interesting to see Rocky begin to include actual literary devices. I enjoyed the first book just a little bit more, as, oddly, it seemed to have a more concise "plot".

This was my 30th book finished in 2024.

The content was very fleeting. I found it barely explained anything about each monarch, and more often lay into legends or unproven rumours. There was surprisingly little detail about the monarchs in question.

This book was published 29 years ago; it's obviously going to be out of date. The most obvious ones being that Elizabeth II and Lady Diana are now both dead, but still referred to in the present in the book!

It also has a crazy amount of fatphobia within the pages. This seems to be a theme of children's books from the 20th century, I've noticed. I mean, "the prince of whales", seriously? Jesus. 

I found it funny that the author kept referring to "mistresses" as "girlfriends" and "favourite woman friends" hah.

The thing that bugged me the most was saying Edward VII was the last king to have a beard... His son George V is well known for his beard and moustache. There's literally a drawing of him ten pages earlier!

Fun to read, I suppose, but a bit dull.

I found this book a bit of a slog to get through, which is the complete opposite to how I felt about the first book.

It's strange, this book seems to reboot the series; it doesn't feel like a sequel. I struggle, in general, with these books because they have an ensemble cast of characters, but most of them are extremely under-developed, and you spend barely any time with anyone other than Sookie, Bill and Eric.

I've watched all of True Blood, so naturally it was time to turn to the books. I was disappointed with how dull this book was compared with the second season of the TV show. I didn't care about the majority of the plot - we've never met or heard about these Dallas characters, so why should I care about any of them? Being through Sookie's POV meant we didn't really get to know anything about them. I would have much preferred the plot to have taken place in Bon Temps.

I thought the maenad was wasted in the book, despite it being potentially the most interesting thing. You only get a very short scene right at the end, almost as an afterthought. I still don't really understand exactly what happened at the end. Please develop your characters more; I want to know more about the maenad!

The inconsistency with the chapter lengths irks me so much! There was a 50 page chapter in the middle, followed by one with 16, and then one with 9. The breaks in the chapters also make no sense, some will flow from scene to scene, day to day, but then others will just randomly stop in the middle of a scene. It makes no sense and I found it very distracting.

I was eager to read the series, but I'll give it a break for now. I hope the next books are set in more interesting locations. The main plot of this book felt like a side-plot! Also, is it wrong to admit that there wasn't enough smut in this one compared to the first book?

My 34th book finished in 2023.

I bought this book in a second-hand bookstore in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I read it in Da Nang, Vietnam and left it in a book cafe in Hoi An.

Entertaining to read, especially after visiting the same places Michael did and comparing it to my own experiences, nearly 30 years later.

It definitely adds to the show. A little slow in places, and some of the language is a bit dated in the 2020s, ie use of "Indians" to refer to the native Andean people etc.

My 33rd book finished in 2023.

I brought this book with me from the UK; travelled with it through the Caribbean and South America just so I could read it in Thailand! I read sections of it in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Da Nang in Vietnam. I left it in a book cafe in Hoi An.

I can't fault it. I genuinely felt like I couldn't put it down. For such a thick book, it's so easy to read and enjoyable. 

Reading it in Thailand and Vietnam really added a new, relatable depth to it. Probably my favourite fiction book of all time. SO much better than the film.

My 10th book finished in 2022.

This book was very informative and interesting, and I have few faults with it. I'd say the biggest problem is that it tries to brand itself as a "funny book", and the attempt at jokes and puns are very distracting. It would work so much better as a straight-up information book. There's just no need to attempt comedy - I'm already engaged.

The introduction admitted that this is just a 'short history', which is a shame as I would love to know more about certain things.

Ultimately fairly well-written, concise and very interesting.

As a short criticism, I'd say that the author tries too hard to find synonyms for "alcohol" and "drunk", and sometimes it's just cringey and unnecessary. Also some words were randomly capitalised for some reason. A small criticism, I know...