Vivian Halim Halim itibaren Kanai, Gujarat 394620, India
I was warned Ender's Game would mess with my mind. Obviously, I didn't take these warnings to heart, since I got within the last thirty pages and started flailing with realisation. The end is a nice twist. If you go through the story complacently, if you identify with Ender and see things the way he does, it comes out of completely nowhere. But it also makes sense and works and is good, and I don't think I've read a better ending for a book in quite a while. Ender, as a character, is pretty likeable despite his darker side. I loved the fact that his brother and sister had such an effect on him, and I loved that he and Valentine ended up in the same place again in the end. The last chapter feels quite rushed, but it does show us Ender growing up and changing, and presumably bridges to other books in the series. I don't know whether I want to read more right now, but I'll definitely pick the other books up if I see them on the shelves. Other characters, such as Bean and Petra and Alai, were quite in the background, but I kind of wanted to know more about them, too. One of my friends credits this book with changing his life. I wouldn't say it's been a life-changer for me, but it's very good sci-fi and very interesting and you could also have moral debates about a lot of it. Good book for discussion, I think.
I was reluctant to read this one, having skimmed the back page and seen the word "execution". If you can't get your hands on the next book immediately, like me, it is a cruel, cruel cliffhanger. This book has much fewer battle scenes than the previous book, and isn't focused as much around the war, although several important events happen to do with the war. Temeraire and Laurence return home in triumph only to find that a contagion has swept through the dragons in Britain. It was referred to in the previous book, and some things about the previous book are explained by it, which I thought was pretty good, although Novik isn't bad at continuity anyway and this is obvious stuff. Rather than be hailed as heroes and relax for a bit, they have to go in search of a cure for the other dragons. I was glad that the women return to having a more prominent place in this book, particularly Catherine Harcourt. I was somewhat less pleased with the fact that she does cave and get married, when she gets pregnant, which isn't really in line with what the Corps think of it. I was glad, though, that Laurence's qualms about unmarried women having children remained. Such values are an important part of his upbringing and the era, so that makes sense. The themes of the slave trade continued, too. It was good to see repercussions of it in their relations with other countries. I'm of mixed feelings about the end. Of course I'm glad that Laurence and Temeraire do the honourable thing, both in going to France and returning, but I'm sad that they have to and I wonder what will come of it.
I loved this book. It’s about an intelligent, imaginative, dramatic, kindhearted, and resourceful New York girl named Susan and her adventures “at the top” This takes place in New York in the early 1960s and goes back about 100 years. It’s an adventure tale for girls. Interesting that in the early 60s the author and Susan were talking about how the pace of life was too fast and there seemed to be longing to long ago more peaceful times. This is a fun read and I’ve read it many times. One of my favorite books from childhood and worth a reread at least once every decade.