Anybody here read
1984 or Animal Farm by George Orwell
11.22.63 by Stephen King
?
Planning on reading them.
The first two are on my reading list.
The last one I don't think I'll read, I've attempted to read a few Stephen King books and they bored me to death.đ
Yes to both Orwells though Animal Farm was ages ago. 1984 was more recent, Had to write an essay on it for a course I was taking so went really deep into that one! đ Nope for the Stephen King book..Anybody here read
1984 or Animal Farm by George Orwell
11.22.63 by Stephen King
?
Planning on reading them.
Originally posted by: LizzieBennet
Yes to both Orwells though Animal Farm was ages ago. 1984 was more recent, Had to write an essay on it for a course I was taking so went really deep into that one! đ Nope for the Stephen King book..
Since 1984 was recent for you, how was it though?đ
I am planning to step out of my comfort zone and try to read classics literature but donât know where to start.
I read A tale of two cities last year and realized historical fiction was not really my cup of tea. Not a history buff kinda person.
1984 is an experience. Thereâs a whole lot of world building in there including famous neologisms like âdoublespeakâ and the whole âBig Brother is watchingâ phenomenon which led to the reality shows we see these days. So, yeah, in that sense, if you want to get a grip on that whole world then itâs a must-read. Also forces you to think a bit. Or perhaps I feel like that because I had to dig deep into it! đ But yeah, overall as a piece of classic fiction that holds quite a bit of relevance even today I guess itâs worth reading. It wasnât quite my cup of tea though, I donât like dark and dystopian worlds much. And even if a book is bleak I want to leave it with a hopeful outlook. This one is bleak and then some. So yeah, wasnât for me. I wouldnât read it again. But as a one-time read, I would say itâs worth delving into. ..
Since 1984 was recent for you, how was it though?đ
I am planning to step out of my comfort zone and try to read classics literature but donât know where to start.
I read A tale of two cities last year and realized historical fiction was not really my cup of tea. Not a history buff kinda person.
About historical fiction- I like âem but more Jane Austen and contemporary HR authors than Dickens (who can get quite bleak) or Shakespeare đ
Since 1984 was recent for you, how was it though?đ
I am planning to step out of my comfort zone and try to read classics literature but donât know where to start.
I read A tale of two cities last year and realized historical fiction was not really my cup of tea. Not a history buff kinda person.
Not sure if it counts as historical, but have you read Of Mice and Men?
Book Title: The Fourth Wing (Empyrean # 1)
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Year Published: 2023
Genre: Fantasy/ Romance [this is being sold as a Romtasy but the romance forms so little of it that I would class it more as a Fantance (if that is a thing! )
Maturity Rating: Adult
Book Rating (out of 5): 4.0
Synopsis:
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding generalâalso known as her tough-as-talons motherâhas ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when youâre smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons donât bond to âfragileâ humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her motherâs daughterâlike Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
Sheâll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agendaâbecause once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die
Review:
This was described to me as the 'Book that broke the internet' and I saw so many people online go crazy in the reviews (GR gives this a staggering 4.66). I saw it was available as a skip-the-line copy in my library and borrowed it on a lark, not sure if I'd finish it.
The first few chapters were pretty meh for me: It was just LOTR, GoT, HP and a lot of other fantasy stuff recycled. But I got hooked somewhere at the 30% point and couldn't put it down. It dipped again at around the 60-70% point & picked up towards the end again.
I was surprised I picked this up knowing
a)it is a series and the second book isn't even out yet 
b) it's fantasy, a genre I don't normally read a lot of, &
c) it's popular (cos I usually end up disliking popular anything 
).
And then even more surprised that I
a) did not DNF it,
b) read through it in a matter of 3 days (despite it having a complex narrative and a whole lot of world building unlike the easy romance book I usually read and therefore requiring more of an attention span than I normally have to give...I read to relax my brains & not to work them up
c) loved it and cannot wait to read the next part!
So yeah, this book blew me by surprises!
It had my favorite Enemies-to-lovers trope although I felt a little deflated by the romance. Not the build-up.. that was delicious. But the way it all plays out.
Xaden is your typical Alpha MMC, tall and strong and brooding and harbouring secrets.
Violet is small, feisty and frail (I found later that the author has alluded to her as having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disease that affects connective tissue).
There are a bunch of ancillary characters who are all interesting in varying ways and degrees.
The dragons too. The bonding/ connection is very well explored.
I wasn't truly invested until the Threshing began. Then, boy, did it ramp up. So I would advise patience to anyone who's reading or planning to read.
I was also bummed that we only get Violet's PoV. Only the last chapter is Xaden's PoV. It leaves the narration kind of one-sided and biased in my view. I want to know what Xaden is feeling, his past, his thoughts. There's so much about him that the reader doesn't know.
There are some ingenious twists, but I wasn't really wowed by the twists as much as I was by the action. I thought the author described the action very well. I could see it playing out before me. This would make great material for a TV series!
All in all, very engaging. It could read almost as a YA book except for a couple of explicit scenes.
Has anyone read this yet? If yes, I would love to hear thoughts.
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