Tag: 3 Star Reviews

All 3 Stars Reviews In One Place

“Thinner” By Stephen King Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , , Leave a comment

Billy Halleck, good husband and loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American good life: He has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer but he is also fifty pounds overweight and edging into heart attack country.

To be honest this book doesn’t feel like a Stephen King book maybe because Stephen King tried to write it as Richard Bachman. This book is a fiction book and not a typical Stephen King horror book. 

This book is very quick to read due to its size. But it is still enjoyable and interesting. If you are a hardcore Stephen King fan like me you all find his book a little bit unusual because as I’ve said before it doesn’t seem like a typical Stephen King book. 

The characters in this book are okay but there were something missing and they just didn’t work for me. Because they didn’t have the depth which most characters in Stephen King’s books have. There are very few characters in this book and for the most part there are good characters but none of them aren’t super memorable. 

The plot here was okay for the most part but still it wasn’t on the level with some other Stephen King level when you compare it with the books he had written under his  real name. 

The premise of the plot was interesting but the way it was presented to us was some how boring in a way. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Old School” By Jeff Kinney Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

Life was better in the old days. Or was it? That’s the question Greg Heffley is asking as his town voluntarily unplugs and goes electronics-free. But modern life has its conveniences, and Greg isn’t cut out for an old-fashioned world.With tension building inside and outside the Heffley home, will Greg find a way to survive? Or is going “old school” just too hard for a kid like Greg?

This book is the 10th book in the “diary of a wimpy kid” series. And to be honest I haven’t gotten to this book before so this time around it was my first read of this book. 

I need to say that this book must be the best book in this series so far (for me). 

The whole plot of this book is that Greg goes for a car ride with his grandfather in his father car and the car ends up in a ditch. So because of this Greg decided to go to a school camping trip with his class.

To be honest I really liked this book because it showed me that I would be the same as Greg on a camping trip. Because I have no knowledge of surviving in the woods for a longer than a couple of hours.

Greg isn’t learning anything after getting into trouble, book after book. And he just continues to blame other people for being an idiot himself.

Of course Greg is 12 years old but still he shouldn’t blame everyone else but himself for his stupid plans and getting into trouble. 

Another problem with this series so far at least is his parents are really bad at parenting. Because they threat Manny (Greg’s younger brother) as a god and they just end up not caring what Greg and Rodrick are doing most of the time. They only get reminded of Greg and Rodrick when they get in trouble at school or with other kid’s parents.

This book wasn’t as funny as the 4 previous books because most of the moments were pathetic.

This book has around 220 pages (depending on which edition you get) and there is at least one illustration on each page which means that this book is really quick to read. And it can be fully read in one hour or so.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Night of the Living Dummy” By R.L. Stine Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , 1 Comment

When twins Lindy and Kris find a ventriloquist’s dummy in a Dumpster, Lindy decides to “rescue” it, and she names it Slappy. But Kris is green with envy. It’s not fair. Why does Lindy get to have all the fun and all the attention? Kris decides to get a dummy of her own. She’ll show Lindy. Then weird things begin to happen. Nasty things. Evil things. It can’t be the dummy causing all the trouble, Can it?

When I was a kid I loved Goosebumps TV shows, which of course made me read this book and start the adventure with this book series. 

I really wanted to rate this book high, but I just couldn’t because there were a lot of things that didn’t go well with me when it comes to this book.

One of my main problems with this book is the 2 main characters. Which are Lindy and Kris which are twins and 12 years of age. Every time we get both of them in the same scene in this book they are arguing about something or making a challenge about who of them is better at the thing they are doing. 

And if they aren’t together, they complain about each other to their friends. Which really made me so bored. It was like the main problem in this book was that the twins hated each other. And the spooky dummies which came to life was just a side plot.

The plot here was okay, but it could have been better if the twins weren’t arguing all the time, pulling rude pranks at each other or just complain about each other. It felt like I was reading a drama book about twins hating each other rather than a horror book.

May second problem with this book is the parents. They blame Kris for everything when Lindy is seen as the golden child to the parents. Which really made me angry because Lindy made much worse things than Kris but the parents decided to blame Kris for it rather than Lindy.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Young Zaphod Plays It Safe” By Douglas Adams Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

Young Zaphod Plays it Safe is a novella by Douglas Adams set in his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy universe. It doesn’t appear as a standalone work, but is included with several collections. The story is a prequel to the events in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and has the young Zaphod Beeblebrox working as a salvage ship operator. He guides some bureaucrats to a crashed spaceship which may be leaking some hazardous materials. The bureaucrats are determined to “make it safe”. The comic asides in the story include some of the time travel paradoxes which are a common running theme in Adams’ SF work, and plenty of material about lobsters

This short story is a prequel to the first book in this series. Which really surprised me in a good way of course. 

The characters in this short story were okay but I didn’t care about them at all. I wish that they could have got more time in a way.

The plot in this short story was really interesting and it annoyed me that it was so short. 

I expected this short story to be bad, I don’t know why. However it have surprised me because it was good. 

This short story was interesting, entertaining and intriguing. But at the same time I felt like there was something missing in it.

The writing style here was okay. But it had the potential to be so much better which the author didn’t use.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Life, the Universe and Everything” By Douglas Adams Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads—so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation. They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler who tries to learn how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing; Ford Prefect, his best friend, who decides to go insane to see if he likes it; Slartibartfast, the indomitable vice president of the Campaign for Real Time, who travels in a ship powered by irrational behavior; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-president of the galaxy; and Trillian, the sexy space cadet who is torn between a persistent Thunder God and a very depressed Beeblebrox.

To be fully honest after reading this book I can honestly admit that I don’t understand the hype with this series. In my opinion it’s okay and nothing more than that. 

The plot in this book was weaker than the previous book, and somehow I found the majority of this book edging on the side with boredom. Of course it had some good moments here and there but nothing more than that. 

The writing style here were okay. I wish it could have been better because it would have made this book and the entire plot better. 

The characters here, I became bored of them pretty quickly which I don’t know why. It felt like the character development didn’t happen and that the characters were just as the same as they were in the first book. 

In a way this book felt very confusing and I found myself zoning out while reading this book and starting to think about other things than this book.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” By Douglas Adams Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , 1 Comment

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

The reason why I decided to pick up this book and start this series is because ive heard a lot of good things about this book. 

The plot was really unique and it blown my mind. Because its really good. I might not love it but I like it a lot. 

The plot in this book is very strange because it reminds me of every other sci-fi book but at the same time its different because of the way it is presented to us which really engaged me.

The characters in this book wasn’t the best. But I came to like them by the end of this book. 

This book contains some humor here and there. Some of it I came to like but the majority of it just didn’t let with me. 

The writing style here was good, at times it felt like the author knew what words to use to fully grab my attention but at other times the opposite happened. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2001–2016” BY Steve Coll Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

In the wake of the terrible shock of 9/11, the C.I.A. scrambled to work out how to destroy Bin Laden and his associates. The C.I.A. had long familiarity with Afghanistan and had worked closely with the Taliban to defeat the Soviet Union there. A tangle of assumptions, old contacts, favours and animosities were now reactivated. Superficially the invasion was quick and efficient, but Bin Laden’s successful escape, together with that of much of the Taliban leadership, and a catastrophic failure to define the limits of NATO’s mission in a tough, impoverished country the size of Texas, created a quagmire which lasted many years.

This book was so helpful when it comes to the 9/11 and the whole USA – Afghan situation after the attacks because it gives you a lot of behind the scenes info. I personally wasn’t so up to date with all the information involving 9/11 and what role the 9/11 played in the Afghan war but this book gives us a nice and clear view on what really 9/11 meant and how USA resolved the whole Osama bin Laden situation.

This book covers 15 years in 700 ish pages which means that these 15 years which this book covers aren’t super detailed and it focused on the same situation throughout the years and what happened after Osama bin Laden was excused. 

This book is filled with names & personages and many different government offices like NSF, NSC, ISI and ISAF and this is mixed with different military terms like MICLICs and APOBS which I personally needed to Google because I had no idea what they meant because I never been in the military or super interested in it. 

The writing style here was pretty good for the most part but there were times were the writing style was super advanced and I needed to take a second to think about it to actually fully understand what I’ve just read. 

There were some parts of this book which for me personally were super boring and there were some parts who h were super interesting for me. So for the most part this book for me was a half boring and half interesting. 

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Aftermath” By Chuck Wendig Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.

This book takes place some time before the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And it was relatively a good book.

The plot here was good, interesting and enjoyable. However the plot kept changing between characters which was really hard to keep up with this. Near the ending we got one short chapter about Han Solo and Chewbacca. But this chapter wasn’t relevant to the book and it was like just giving us a hint that the OG characters are still around.

There are many moments in this book that were super unnecessary and should have been skipped. But of course they weren’t.

This book gives us new characters but it keeps talking about the OG characters like Darth Vader, Leia, Luke, Han, Chewbacca and Darth Sidious. Which really pissed me off because if the point of the author was to give us new characters then he shouldn’t keep bringing the OG character in almost every sentence.

The new characters in this book were very flat. And the fact that the book is mentioning the original character almost in every sentence doesn’t make it better. Because it didn’t give us the chance to like the new character but this book is rather throwing at us memories of the original character like “remember when Han Solo did that?”, “Remember when Darth Vader killed Darth Sidious?”.

The writing style here was very simple and easy. Which really made it good mix with the easy plot in this book.

To be honest this book feels like its meant for teens since nothing bad happens in it and it has the huge hope vibe to the entire book. And both the plot and the writing style are very easy and they dint require a lot of brain power to it.

To be fully honest this book should have been written by a author who have written good star wars books in the past like Timothy Zahn, R.A. Salvatore and some other authors.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” By Oscar Wilde Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , , Leave a comment

In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde’s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

To be honest this book was okay. I had some high expectations for this book because I’ve heard amazing things about this book but of course this book didn’t live to all of my expectations. 

There are some parts in this book which dragged on too long and they really could have been cut down in my opinion. But I’ve found it very interesting, enjoying and engaging overall. And this book gotta be one of my favourite classics so far in my reading journey.

The characters here are okay. I liked them but nothing more than that. Some sides characters felt like the same characters but in different clothes. But they main characters in this book were amazing 

The main character is one of the best characters I’ve seen so far. Because we easily see his development from going being the nice and kind guy to his downward into cruelty.

The writing style here was amazing. It was very gothic which I always enjoy in horror books.

The ending here was very sad, but it was an ending which was very good to this book and it was an ending that the book and we as readers deserved.

I Give This Book 3 / 5

“Quidditch Through the Ages” By Kennilworthy Whisp / J.K. Rowling Review

Posted in Book reviewTagged , , Leave a comment

If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the Bludgers came into existence, or why the Wigtown Wanderers have pictures of meat cleavers on their robes, you need QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES. This invaluable volume is consulted by young Quidditch fans on an almost daily basis.

To be fully honest with you here I think that this book was the weakest book in the written in the Wizarding world yet. But of course it comes from somehow who isn’t a fan of Quidditch. But if you are a fan of Quidditch you will pretty much enjoy it much more than I did. 

This book gives us the history of Quidditch and how it changed throughout the time and how things were added to it. Which really brings much more dept to the Wizarding World. 

Overall this book was a fun, enjoyable and interesting read but still when you compare this book to other books in this series you will notice that this book is the weakest book in this series.

There were a lot of effort put by J.K. Rowling to make this book funny which wasn’t funny because it was way too forced to actually be funny. 

The writing style was okay. You can easily tell that this book was meant for children which is still fine for me.

I Give This Book 3 / 5