Tag: 3 Star Reviews

All 3 Stars Reviews In One Place

“Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins Book Review

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The final book in the ground-breaking HUNGER GAMES trilogy, this new foiled edition of MOCKINGJAY is available for a limited period of time. Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12 

This is the third book in the “Hunger games” trilogy. And by far it is the second best.

This book is good at pointing out wise things about propaganda, grief, war, trauma and power of healing. But of course it is a fictional book so these things are good enough for a fictional story which in the end doesn’t mean anything.

It is a YA book, and I know that not everyone is the biggest fan of these kind of books. So keep that in mind.

The characters, are almost the same persons as they were in the first book. So the character growth is very poor in this book. There are some annoying characters, and almost all characters take very stupid decisions. The only character in this book who is reasonable and thinks logically is Gale and the rest of the characters have lost their brains somewhere. The descriptions of the characters isn’t better. 

This book is a good example that the author put quantity over quality. This book would be so much better if it had less characters and if these characters who were in this book would have more depth. 

The writing style in this book is more or less decent and nothing to really be hyped with. Writing style is on the level with something a high school student would write. 

There is a huge drag in the middle of this book, which really brings this book down. And it feels like the author tries to drag out this book for so long as it is possible. 

The ending wasn’t satisfying or at least it wasn’t for me. The ending we got wasn’t something good. It was for the most part disappointing and boring.

Plot holes are very relevant in this book. Probably the most important thing in this book wasn’t shown to us, I’m talking about the trail of Katniss. We only got shown the days before and after the trail. 

Katniss in this book, felt like she forgot everything she been through in the past 2 books. And in this book she turned into a very boring and annoying character. 

The PTSD in this book was so poorly done, it basically felt like someone was just sad after failing an exam. 

However I need to say that this book was probably the best book of the whole trilogy. 

I give this book 3 / 5

“The Gold Bug” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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Believing William Legrand to have gone insane following an insect bite, his friend initially decries his quest for gold as the ramblings of a madman. Yet when Legrand’s conviction fails to waiver, they set off on a bizarre journey, accompanied by Jupiter, Legrand’s loyal and equally skeptical servant. What follows is a strange tale of coded messages, hidden treasure, and uncanny prophecy that will both enthrall and baffle even the most perceptive readers.

It wasn’t the best Edgar Allan Poe story which we can find. But it is the best treasure hunting stories ever written. 

The characters here are oh boy. The main character which is William Legrand is actually pretty well written. But his servant is written the most stereotypical black character style which you can possible imagine. We can say that his character didn’t age well.

If you keep in mind that this story was written before Civil War, where slaves and all that were legal. Then you will see that this story is actually pretty good. And you will also see that this story is a pretty fun and enjoyable adventure story.

This story needs to get points for involving treasure maps, ciphers, pirate gold and buried treasure. Which every adventure book fan will more or less appreciate.

This story also needs to get points for the moody and gothic vibe to it which every horror, mystery, adventure fan will appreciate no matter if they are 10 years old or 80 years old.

Edgar Allan Poe manages in this story to make you unsettled describing the most basic aspects of everyday life.

The writing style is brilliant. The writing style in this story is so good that it makes you feel that you are a part of the story which you read. 

I give this story 3 / 5

“The Turn Of The Key” by Ruth Ware Book Review

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When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant. 

The whole plot that the big and isolated mansion which might be haunted together with the concept of a new nanny coming to this house to work there is brilliant. The thing that the nanny is left alone with kids without any adults around expect of the handyman for weeks at a time makes this plot and story more interesting.

There is one plot hole which I at least have noticed while reading this book. But I won’t say what the plot whole is because I don’t want to spoil the book for you. However this plot hole isn’t that big that it will destroy your experience with the book. 

The whole story is dark, it involves a lot of deaths and if you get triggered by child death or death in general then maybe you shouldn’t read this book. But if you have no problem in deaths in fictional books then I guess that you won’t be disappointed in this book. 

For the most part this book is creepy, atmospheric and it has a creepy mood to it. This book reminded me at the beginning of the “The Haunting of Bly Manor”. This book makes you question if there is actually something paranormal involved in it or if it is just the kids doing pranks on the new nanny. This book also makes you think if the new nanny is overreacting some stuff or if her behavior is on point. 

The whole book have sort of an old timely hasted mansion to it with the modern technology which is smart house and a Tesla model X in the background. 

The characters are pretty good. There feel some how realistic, there are only few of them and two of them are in this book briefly. For the most part in this book we have only 2 adult characters and 4 child characters. Characters in this book are well written and also very well described. Every character here feels like she / he have it own soul and they are for the most part different from each other. 

It is important to say that the format of this book is through letters of the nanny’s writing to a lawyer from prison. In these letters she is describing what had happened since day 1 and why she is innocent. So there is no chapters in this book, the chapters in this book are in the form of a new letter being written to the lawyer. And we get to know this story through what the main character written in the letters. 

The ending comes with a twist in it, which maybe will surprise you because we get to know what really happened and why the nanny decided to take the job opportunity at Heatherbrae House. I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of the twist but I had appreciated it because it was for the most part okay. 

However this book doesn’t have any scary parts, but it doesn’t fail to keep you on the edge of your seat. If you are looking for a scary book then pick something different. 

If you are looking for a decent and quick read, then this book is for you. I think that if you enjoyed “The Haunting of Bly Manor” series you will also enjoy this book. And of course if you are a big fan of Ruth Ware then I will also recommend this book to you.

I give this book 3 / 5

“Misery” By Stephen King Review

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93Paul Sheldon. He’s a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

Another classic horror novel written by Stephen King.

The story in this book is marvelous, and its defiantly interesting. The whole story is told from an author’s POV.

The writing style is of course typical Stephen King. Which more or less means that it was good. But in the end it could have been better, because there were parts in this book which could have been cut out. And the action could have happened faster, because there were chapters which felt like a huge stretch of time.

The characters here are meh. Annie was brilliant and Paul was annoying at times. Annie is sort of a Norman Bates gone completely wild. There were times when Paul makes some really dumb decisions, which felt like a 10-year-old would take smarter decisions.

The writing style is of course typical Stephen King. But, which for me personally was a huge waste of story because the whole story could have been written from Annie’s perspective and at the end we could shift to Paul’s perspective. But that’s just my opinion.

This book isn’t scary, it is rather unsettling and have some strange vibe to us that makes us think that there are a lot of strange people in the world.

I give this book 3 / 5

“A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success” by Maye Musk Book Review

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When Maye Musk decided to make gray hair glamorous, she became an international supermodel and worldwide speaker in her sixties – a far cry from the young divorcée living in Durban trying to make ends meet to provide for her three children. Things have not always been easy for the mother of South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk. She struggled emotionally and financially as a single mother to Elon, Kimbal and Tosca, battled weight issues and had to restart her life and her practice as a dietician in numerous cities over and again. In her compelling memoir, Maye shares hard-earned wisdom and frank, practical advice on careers, health, adventure, and more.

This book is a biography book, but this book would be better under the category of advice book or self-help book. This book is sort of a mix between memoir book and a self-help book. So it is kind of hard to pin it down to a specific genre or field.Because Maye Musk gives us succinct and practical advice from her life so that we may avoid some situation which she been through. 

Maybe Musk shows us that she have been through some shit in her life and she is trying in this book to show us that there are always a solution to every bad situation we get into. She are showing us in this book that there are always we can do in a negative point we get into to make it out of it and make our lives to some kind of better. 

By telling us all the shit she been through, Maye is trying to show us that we need to open out eyes fast and trying everything we can to get out of it. 

This book might be a little bit over hyped but it doesn’t make it to a good book which many woman might enjoy.

This book begins with Maye Musk introducing us to her current day career which she haves and her opinion about aging which a lot of people are afraid of. Then the book goes to a brief summery of her life and what she been through in both a abuse marriage and in her career. She also gives us a lot of advices on that we can’t accept negative situation and make them to our day to day life.

We also get in this book a brief summery on how she was raised by her parents and how she raised her own kids which of course are Tosca, Kimbal and Elon Musk. She describes in this book her approach to parenting, instilling autonomy and allowing them to pursue their own interests. She tells us how she raised her kids in an abuse marriage and how she was trying to make things work.

She is telling us how she get out of some very dark points in her life and how she was capable of move to new countries and new cities.

She is telling us how many times she was rejected in different fields but it didn’t never stop her to trying to get what she wants. 

Chapters in this book are very short, every chapter isn’t longer than 10 pages. Which makes it very fun and quick read if you looking for something which you may read in one or two sittings. There are also several pictures in this book which makes the chapters even shorter.

The writing style is pretty okay, it almost seems like the writing style was chosen specifically for people who are learning English. Because the language is very basic and everyone who is learning English will be able to understand. The writing style feels like she is talking to you or like you are listening to a very chill podcast.

The plot is great. It is a little bit different than other biographies / autobiographies out there. Because she is only giving us the brief summery of her life and career. And she isn’t going deep into her life experience and everything which she was doing. 

This book would be great for you if you are looking for a short read or if you want to get to know Maye Musk in a brief summary without worrying if the thing you are reading on wikipedia is bull shit or not. 

There is something missing in this book. The thing which the book is missing is that Maye Musk could have explained more her life and not just give us a brief summary of everything. 

There were times where this book was more or less like “42 years of age this happened, 45 years of age that happened, 69 years of age cover girl etc”. There were times where this book felt like she was listing everything which she have achieved throughout the years. 

However this book is aiming at showing woman that they are worth more than they think they are. But also showing woman that they need to take care of themselves and not care about what some toxic people have to say about them. She is showing us in this book that our health is much more important than some of us may think and that we need to take care of our health everyday. 

Maye Musk is showing us in this book that not everything is glamorous in your personal life or in your career life. She also doesn’t fail to show us that woman shouldn’t beg man to be in their life. Maye Musk is showing us that woman shouldn’t be with a person who isn’t treating them good enough and give them the respect they need. 

I give this book 3 / 5

“The Oblong Box” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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Typical of mystery stories of the Victorian Period. The narrator is an observer to the main action, while trying to solve the mystery of the oblong box. The reader follows the narrator’s view point as he makes assumptions and finally learns the truth.

For the most part this is a short and captivating read. Which once more can be read in 1-2 hours.

The narrator is on a sailing trip from Charleston to New York. Aboard is a friend of his, an artist named Wyatt and his entourage. A very inquisitive unknown narrator tells the story of his voyage, which happens again in a Edgar Allan Poe tale.

Baffling right from the beginning with a delayed voyage, a mysterious box, strange nightly noises followed by muffled sobbing, and then dead stillness.

At first it seemed like a detective story with a touch of supernatural. But it turned out to be of a completely different type. Even though this one is predictable.

However this tale dont feel like the typical work written by Edgar Allan Poe. Because instead of the foreboding atmosphere of horror, this felt more inquisitive.

I give this book 3 / 5

“The Phantom of the Opera” By Gaston Leroux Review

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95First published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine’s childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous ‘ghost’ of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.

One of these famous classics from way back in the day. There are a lot of good things about this book out on the internet and they aren’t wrong.

This book has around 360 pages, which are pretty much readable in around 3 days.

The old timely language makes reading this book to a pleasure, and it takes it to a whole another level. And together with the setting of the story is just priceless, and it is definitely a must read. The whole mystery of Opera Ghost who lurks in the shadows of an opera is amazing.

When you first begin to read this book a chilling paranormal tale with an element of friendship in it. In the end this book is a dark tale of a man’s descent into violence and madness, and the woman who forms the obsession at the centre of his life.

If you want to read a book about greatest tragedy in life then consider reading this book. Because this book is a fantastic ghostly tale of love with so much more depth and evilness to the storyline than you almost cant forget about it when you read it.

Most of these characters in this book felt like they were overdramatic but they are likeable and fun to follow throughout the story.

However if you decide to read this book then be prepared for murder by hanging and a lots of cries of terror from death in this book.

I give this book 3 / 5

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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A murderer is convinced that the loud beating of his victim’s heart will give him away to the police.

Another incredible tale written by no other than Edgar Allan Poe.

It is more or less a perfect haunting short story that will allow you to examine madness and wickedness at the depths of the human soul. I wouldn’t call this tale a horror story, because it is more a psychological tale.

It is a strange story, but it is an easy and good read. And no less it is a quick tale, which again can be read in just 1-2 hours.

This tale is a written from the first-person storytelling. And the writing style is almost too perfect to be true.

The story itself is intense and will make you ponder for a long time. The whole tale is a typical Edgar Allan Poe tale.

An unnamed narrator who is telling this story plots to kill an elderly man because he hates his horrible and scary “vulture eye” makes this story unique at least .

More or less this tale is a dark tale, which is about a man’s descent into madness

I give this tale 3 / 5

“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe Review

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The story follows Prince Prospero’s attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, has a masquerade ball within seven rooms of his abbey, each decorated with a different color. The story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the titular disease

This whole tale is realistic, it almost sounds like the Black Death case. Because one family member could be perfectly healthy in the morning, start feeling sick at noon, spit blood and be in excruciating pain in the evening and be dead by midnight. 

This book shows the Classic Edgar Allan Poe foreshadowing of denial. Which is brilliant, if you want to taste the classic work of Edgar Allan Poe this tale is something to pick up after “Raven”.

This one was short, straight to the point. It is also creepy and it is giving an unsolved murder vibe, which could have happen now on days.

Fascinating and lurid allegory about a group of people who, on the invitation of “Prince Prospero,” lock themselves within a “castellated abbey” to escape the Red Death.  The whole story is unique and very fun to read. It is short which means that you can read it in 1 hour or so. And the mysterious illnes ravaging the country and a rich leader decides to deny reality by partying with his croonies adds even more to the story.

This tale is really good at showing that death waits for no man.  Time can’t stop the inevitable; it can only delay it

I give this book 3 / 5

"The Shining" by Stephen King Review

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92Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote…and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

One of the classic in the horror field now on days. This book is a typical haunted house story which a lot of things go wrong in. However, this whole book have to it an very fun old timey tone to it.

The characters are again very well done. The descriptions and the tone to them are just through the roof. It feels like every character have its own soul in this book and it also feels like every one of these characters in this book are different from each other but at the same time alike at the same time. The characters are just wow and they feel like real people and just fictional characters in a Stephen King book.

The characters are so well done that you cant just don’t like them. The relationship between the characters was also incredible. You can feel the dynamic in all relationships and you can relate to both the relationships and the characters in this book.

The fact that it takes Jack so long time to turn into the psycho who wants to murder his family is amazing. It would have ruin this book if he had turned to the insane psychopath over night.

The thing with this book is the huge involvement of hallucinations ish in this book. Who doesn’t love a doze of hallucinations in books and movies?

In the end it isn’t a great horror story because its not that scary as people claim it is. But the story and overall everything in this book are an amazing piece of art.

Danny is sort of a main character and a lot of this book is written from his perspective. And here is the thing. Everything which happens when you are a child are sort of much scarier than it actually is. However there are times when Danny feels like a complete pain in the ass.

The point that there are very few characters in this book, makes it even more fun to read it. Because you don’t have to remember every character. And as we all know there is much better with having few characters but good characters than a lots of shitty characters who are poorly done. There is around 15 characters in this book,

In the end this book isn’t that scary, for the most part this book about family drama and how someone can go insane if they are isolated.

As someone who had read this book, I can tell you that this book is way overhyped. This book is not that scary and it is not that good as everyone is saying that it is. Of course it is a MUST READ, but let’s not get crazy. This book shows that Stephen King is one of the greatest authors of all times.

There are couple of boring and annoying parts in this book. But for the most part they are survivable. There are parts of this book which could have been cut out because they pretty much put anything to the story of this book.

The writing style itself is on point with Stephen King. Which means that it is advanced and good. It feels like every word was specially chosen to be there.

I give this book 3 / 5