nathanjhunt's reviews
111 reviews

My 7th book finished in 2022.

Generally this was an enjoyable book, but you can't help but compare it to the film. This is great source material that inspired the first 3 films, but the original Jurassic Park movie streamlines this book into perfection.

I will mention some criticisms I have of the book:
The scenes switch too often, which makes it a little hard to follow as there are a lot of characters and it can be hard to remember what cliffhanger each one was left on. Related to this, some characters just seem to be forgotten about in a scene - like Hammond during the raptor attack. His name wasn't mentioned for pages and pages.

Additionally, the tension builds and then suddenly anticlimactically, it just stops. Crichton is great at building up suspenseful scenes but doesn't seem to be able to pull them off well.

I find the character of Lex the most annoying. Also, I find with all of Crichton's child characters, they are unrealistically smart and know too much about very specific things that is only there to help move the plot. Additionally, everyone seems to be a computer scientist, no matter their profession. 

Naturally for a book heavily revolved around computers, it hasn't aged too well in 32 years. The scene about the revelation that it's a touch screen computer just made me laugh. It's definitely a snapshot in time to the late 80s.

Lastly, I found the last 30 pages with the raptors were unnecessary. If this was inserted somewhere earlier in the book, it would be fine. But it just didn't make sense being tacked onto the end. I'll also say that the way the velociraptors act throughout the book was inconsistent and becomes quite distracting.

SPOILERS:
<Spoiler>Malcolm died! How on earth can Crichton explain making him the main character in the sequel?! It just doesn't make sense! It also ended with a cliffhanger that wasn't resolved in The Lost World - this lowers my opinion of that book even further.

Original review:
This was my 1st book finished in 2022.

Endlessly entertaining to listen to in podcast form. My pages were sticky by the end. Rated 4.25 star.

***

Latest review:
This was my 28th book finished in 2024.

I decided to start the Belinda Blinked series fresh from the beginning, as I never finished the second book. There's something very comforting and wholesome in the filth that is this book. It would obviously be nowhere near as good if it wasn't for the "My Dad Wrote A Porno" podcast, but this rating is all about the enjoyment factor. I even ordered a physical copy of the book from Amazon to read along with. It's iconic and very memeable. Rated 4.5 star.

This was my 27th book finished in 2024.

The text, for the majority was well-written and easy to understand; some other Penguin Monarch titles are definitely not like that.

Unfortunately, I just found it quite dry and dull. Obviously, there was a lot of military talk, but not so much of other specific things (y'know, the only things I actually know about Cromwell). 

I thought the author weirdly justified some of the bad things Cromwell did. It's okay that he massacred innocent people, because everyone did at the time (and they did it much more in Europe). 

I don't think the Civil War is my cup of tea. I'm definitely a Restoration Era girlie.

This was my 26th book finished in 2024.

I was a bit disappointed in this book. It was published in 1993 as the first in the series, so it was still finding it's feet. Unfortunately I didn't learn much at all, and it felt more like an activity book than a history book in places.

The chronology was all over the place, but I know that it is in all HH books. This felt more like a book about Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I know Deary seems to hate "boring dates", but some would have been useful to give context to the period. He even said in the beginning that the beginning and end of the Tudor periods were very different (there's a great drawing to demonstrate this), so I just felt it needed distinguishing more.

There are a couple paragraphs that cover the Stuart period and even modern history; was it necessary?

It spends a bit of time in places talking about tales that are just myths or not true - why bother giving any time to things that are misconceptions? Also, in a couple places, the author says things that are simply false - such as Henry VIII writing "Greensleeves"; this was written in Italy before Henry was born. Stop repeating myths!

This was my 25th book finished in 2024.

This was easily the weakest book in the trilogy. There was no fun; it was just so boring.

I care about the "men" the least in the trilogy, so naturally I found the beginning of this book so boring. At least they don't burst into constant songs like the elves....

The way the male characters spoke about and to Éowyn was really quite icky at times. I like the whole "I am no man" part, and her desire to escape the role of a woman; it is a good commentary, but it could have been done a bit better. Of course, the story as a whole just needed more women. But this stuff has been said again and again...

Why is Tolkien incapable of using the word "before"? Why is it always "ere", and other repetitive phrases like "they were come", "anon", "at length", "thither" "or no", "nay", and so many other archaic terms that were no longer used when Tolkien wrote these books. I get that he's trying to echo a bygone age, but I just find all the conversations so unbelievable - no one in reality talks like his characters do. It's so distracting.

Wow, the story just kept going, didn't it! The ring was destroyed in the third chapter of the sixth book, and there I was questioning what the hell the last 30% of the book would be about? The events after that were easily the most dull and anticlimactic. What a boring end to the book! And the appendices at the end were the worst thing of all.

I truly have a whole new appreciation for Peter Jackson after finishing the trilogy. He turned the most underwhelming and convoluted books into a masterpiece of cinema. Now I must have a rewatch! 

I'm just glad I have finally finished The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, and I never have to read them again. I'd say this series is by far the most overrated piece of writing I've ever read. I've given the whole of the Lord Of The Rings series a 2.83.

This was my 24th book finished in 2024.

I feel like this book wasn't too sure what it wanted to be. It's branded as evolution, but it's more like a palaeontology book, with bits of biology thrown in. Maybe that is evolution summed up, but I just thought the theme was all over the place.

Obviously I'm an adult with an interest in evolution, so I didn't really learn anything new. Also, as a science book that is now 25 years old, it's going to be a little dated in places.

It was fine, nothing mind-blowing.

This was my 23rd book finished in 2024.

This book was alright; it was better than the previous HH books I read. I've been in a real Ancient Egyptian mood after watching The Mummy, so this fitted the bill.

Over all, I'd say it was interesting and engaging, but there were near-constant quizzes, a few typos, and the author repeated himself on about three occasions. I guess I'm saying it could have done with a couple more proof-reads. There also seemed to be more drawings than usual, which ended up feeling like filler for the lack of text.

Overall, good and not dull in any places. 

This was my 22nd book finished in 2024.

This isn't something I thought I'd read. I watched the movie a couple years ago, and wasn't blown away by it. In fact, I wasn't keen on the casting, which hindered my enjoyment of the themes and messages.

My girlfriend loves the series, so with her encouragement we read the book together. I was surprised at how much I did like it. I thought it was exciting and easy to read, and admittedly unexpected.

There's just something I can't put my finger on, that stops me liking it more. And I don't know what that is. I suppose I have to just accept that I'm not the target audience (M30).

Katniss is much more likeable in the book. I still don't like Peeta. And I refuse to accept he can disguise himself as a tree or rock because he worked in a bakery... Easily the silliest part of the book.

Would probably read the next books in time.

This was my 20th book finished in 2024.

Okay, so it's an improvement on "Fellowship". There are less of the worst things, but it's still laden with such boring chapters.

It frustrated me so much the way Tolkien writes sometimes. Instead of writing first hand an exciting scene, it gets described by one character to another. God, I'm so tired of these exhausting monologues. My main example being the mind-numbingly long chapter of Treebeard, which culminates in a battle that is completely missed. Instead we have it spoken about in retrospect. Ugh!

There are far fewer songs in this book, so that's a huge plus. Gollum is my favourite character in the films, so it's no surprise I enjoyed the second half of the book. Although it went on for too long, with the three characters having seemingly the same conversations over and over.

The problem, shared with the first book, is that it's just too long. It's far too slow-paced, based in heavy confusing lore, with far too little going on. Just one book to go...

This was my 19th book finished in 2024.

This book is excellent and exactly the history book I've been asking for for years! Being a long-time fan of David Mitchell, it's clearly evident he is a massive nerd, which makes me like him even more. I too am really into the monarchy, and history in general, but I've found the vast expanse of Plantagenet monarchs so hard to tackle.

Firstly I want to say how much I appreciate the fact that the words inside match the description on the cover! How many books am I going to read claiming "English monarchy", but start with William I and going to Elizabeth II? David absolutely knows what he is doing here: yes, this history ends with Elizabeth I because after that, the crown of England was held in a personal union with Scotland, and then became British a century later. That is BRITISH history, not English.

But more importantly, David starts during the post-classical era: what happened when the Romans left, and what exactly were the origins of kingship? This is a period of time I know virtually nothing about, and he is so good at explaining it. I found it really inspiring and interesting, and I want to read more in-depth about it one day.

Plantagenet history is a blur to me. I've read a few short biographies in the past, but I really struggled to understand them. David has a very engaging and clear way of explaining complex stories, and I rarely struggled to follow. I did on a couple occasions where the names of people were the same, and so I wasn't 100% sure which person he was referring to. So it wasn't perfect.

The pacing of the book was a little strange in places. I was absolutely hooked for the first 100 pages, but then at about a third into the book, he goes off on quite a few long tangents that didn't seem too relevant. The middle seemed a lot more cohesive, but the last quarter seemed a little rushed.

I really hope David decides to write more history books, because I would absolutely buy them. A book about the Scottish or Welsh monarchy, perhaps? Now that is something I would love to read about.

It's interesting to read reviews for this book seeing people complain about the swearing. I guess you people aren't familiar with David Mitchell, then?