It’s time again to ask ourselves the three W’s:
What happens when you die?
Would you want to know when it’s your time?
Would you greet Death as a friend?
Wait, no, that’s not right. We ask these three W’s:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Perry
★★★★✩ || Goodreads
I so wanted to love this and give it five stars, but … it didn’t quite make it. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. Loved Inkheart? If you’re looking for something similar in adult literature, this is for you. Love Dickens? Also for you. Most of the characters revolve around Dickens and Victorian literature. You don’t have to know a lot about Dickens (I certainly don’t), but I think you’ll get more out of the book if you do. The protagonist is Rob, the older (and slightly overprotective) brother of Charley, who can read characters out of books. The sibling interactions in here are just pure gold. If you have siblings, you’ll recognize them, and it was one of my favorite things about this whole book. The choice to have the story told from the point of view of a non-reader was also such a poignant one, because as a reader, this is a new perspective for me. Understanding Charley was easy, but getting to see everything from Rob’s point of view was new and great and, oh, the poor dear, having to put up with bookish people like us. So where did it lose a star? Well, the climax started out awesome (I admit, I may have fangirl shrieked just a little at one reveal) and then it was just sort of … resolved. A bit too easily. Also, I’m usually really good at working out plot twists and picking up contextual clues, and based on the narrative, I was so dang sure that a certain character would play a role in a big way, considering he was always one step ahead and so logical and calculated. I was wrong, and what actually ended up happening to him really chafed, because as a highly logical person myself, I couldn’t understand his decision. It was illogical and silly and I’m sure he had to know it. It may be a petty thing, but he was such a big influence for a lot of the book that I was just annoyed with his arc and the fact that it never amounted to much.
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Status: 65%
OK, so, don’t hate me, but … I’m not completely in love with this, like everyone suggested? Maybe I haven’t gotten to the part that will destroy me yet? There’s been some really touching scenes so far, and I love the scenario and all the philosophical questions it raises, but … it’s a little slow? I guess that’s to be expected, given the subject, but there are just an awful lot of places that drag and lose my attention.
That being said, I love Mateo. I mean, I basically am Mateo. So that’s fun. And I don’t dislike the book. I just don’t love it as much as I thought I would. I’m still eager to find out how they actually end up going, and this has been a really quick read for me, so there’s that.
Assuming I can get my act together and get back on the reading horse, now that there are no more big plans coming up for a while, I hope to get back to three-ish books a week. I should be starting Shatter the Sky tomorrow, because I’ll be finished with Silvera’s book by then.
I also need to finish The Night Tiger by the end of the month, because I’m teaming up with the wonderful Leelyn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads for a discussion post, which should be a ton of fun. I was meant to have read this forever ago, but you know what? This works out better. I’m all sorts of interested in men turning into tigers and a bit of Chinese historical fiction.
Since Milton in Purgatory comes out on the first, I should probably get to that one and write a review. I’m slightly behind where I expected to be. I blame my family, obviously, for coming to visit and then insisting that I, like, spend time with them? How weird is that? I’m really looking forward to meeting Milton, and I’m really interested in how the themes from The Divine Comedy will come into play. Color me intrigued!
I like your review of Uriah Heep! I’ve never heard of it before. I’m kind of intrigued, especially a bookish themed book being told from the POV of a non-reader.. although not as !! as I’d be if it was the non-reader who could read them out of books.
Also yeah I… 2 star’d They Both Die at the End. I wasn’t here for the insta love or the gaps in logic, although I do think the premise is interesting and I wish it’d been taken in a different direction.
It was such a good read, especially seeing the characters come to life and take on their own personalities, both similar and slightly dissimilar from in the books as they settle into the real world. It was a lot of fun. That’s true, but it’s too easy to solve the problem if a non-bookish person reads things out. Like they need a reason to read less haha.
So far, unless something major changes, it’ll be probably a three-star for me. It’s sweet, but not exactly what I expected. We’ll see. It has a little while left to change my mind still.
… this is a good point, yes. Huh ok I will keep an eye out for this book, then.
👍🏻
I’m very curious about The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep. It sounds like it might be my kind of story😁
I think you’d like it! You should give it a try. :3 It was a lot of fun and a pretty unique take on the whole reading characters out of books thing.
Ahh I’ve heard so much about They Both Die at the End! Looking forward to reading that one too.
I hope you enjoy it! A lot of people love it, and it was so highly recommended to me.
Shatter the Sky looks good!!! Happy Reading!!
Omg, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep sounds so good! 😱All I needed to read was “Charly, who can read characters out from books” and I was sold! I will definitely be adding this one to my list. I also love good sibling relationships in books!
Sorry to hear that you’re not really feeling They Both Die At the End! I’m a sap and I really liked the idea of the book. Yeah, it’s a bit insta-love but I didn’t seem to mind it as much? It might’ve helped that I really loved Mateo. He has this purity about him that just makes me want to squish him up in a ball and hug him forever 😭 Looking forward to seeing if how you feel about it changes! Happy reading 🙂
It really was a good book! I think you’d like it. 🙂 The sibling thing was so relatable, it hurt. xD
I think it’s a little different for me because Mateo is so much like me, so I feel that instant connection to him but not in a protective way or anything like that. I don’t mind the insta-love so much, though. I mean, it makes sense given the context, you know? The whole live your whole life in a day thing.
I’m still quite intrigued by The unlikely escape of Uriah Heap,
they both die at the end does not sound like my kind of book – unless I WANT myself to get all upset and then I’ll do something stupid like watch Artax drown in the Swamp of Sadness or Steel Magnolias etc ☺️
Highly recommend it! I wasn’t a huge fan of Inkheart, because it seemed a little too middle grade (the stakes were just too low for me and the bad guys didn’t seem all that bad). This took the same concept and put it solidly in the adult lit world, so it felt much more relatable to me, with real stakes and personality.
So far, honestly, it’s not been too bad. There are some sections that hit me really hard (especially as a parent). But the focus mostly is on the living and less on the dying. So there’s that.
Ok the hitting hard as a parent sounds a possible dealbreaker for me and self-care then which is a shame.
It might be. If you’re prone to anxiety and/or bad depression, it may not be a good read for you. My anxiety tends to be pretty mild. Just enough for me to relate to Mateo, but not bad enough for the book to trigger anything, but I could see how it might. And the depression thing is just yeah because death and such.
Thank you for the heads up- that will definitely be a no for me
Yeah, I started thinking about that after you mentioned it. Probably a good idea to pass on this one.
I haven’t read any of Adam Silvera’s books yet – they don’t really appeal that much. I am really good at not loving the books everybody else loves though…. I think it’s a special talent!
I find it’s really hit or miss for me, too. That’s why I tend to rely more on recommendations from people with similar tastes. I do much better with those. Silvera does have a fantasy book coming out next year that I got an ARC for, though, and that sounds more my thing (since I don’t read a lot of contemporary in general).
Yes, I heard about that. Quite interesting indeed!. I have always been more of a fantasy reader myself, but I am reading more contemporary these days. I do seem to have pretty specific tastes though 😉
I enjoyed TBDATE but it didn’t blow me away the way I expected.
I’m just finishing the last few pages now, and that’s pretty much where I’m settling with it, too, I think. xD
Family is so rude when they make you spend time with them, aren’t they? Lol
Glad to hear that you enjoyed The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep! And I can’t wait to hear your final thoughts on They Both Die at the End! And yesss, the protagonists, especially Mateo, are so lovable!
And I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Shatter the Sky!
Right? I told them how rude they were, but they seemed unfazed. Which I also find rude. They could at least pretend to be sorry. xD
I’m actually really on the fence, waffling about whether to DNF Shatter the Sky or not, which is so disappointing. I hit a snag and set it down because I just couldn’t right then, and now I don’t want to pick it up again. xD
So rude and so true! 😆
And oh no! I don’t how far you are into it, but I thought it was a really quick read and I found the dragon training super interesting! I did find the plot to be rather…immature? underdeveloped? but I would recommend giving it a 2nd chance?! It later on also gave me The Dragon Prince vibes if that’s any motivation for you.
I hope it picks up for ya if you decide to continue with it!
I’m about 66% through it. It was a fast-ish read so far. It just feels like nothing much at all has happened, and I’m not at all for the love triangle that’s forming. It does seem like where I stopped, it’s gearing up to become more active. And I hate to stop so close to being done, so I’ll probably push through and finish it. xD
Yeah, Shatter the Sky was weird in that it felt like not much happened, yet Maren was also bouncing around all over the place. And ughhhhh, that love triangle, I have so many mixed thoughts on it. I like how it started to challenge Maren’s relationship with Kaia and how much Maren stakes her identity on it, but I think the author should have waited until later in the series to have this internal dilemma.
And there’s a decent amount that happens at the end with some interesting twists so I think I would recommend pushing through??? 😬
I’m so torn because I actually like the male love interest, and I like seeing the relationship develop. Like, I think they’d make an awesome couple, and I think Maren really needs to evolve to be more than Kaia, since her whole perspective and worth revolves around her. Her relationship with the male love interest feels much more equal and evolved. But on the other hand, I went in thinking that it was going to be, like, a damsel in distress being saved by the woman who loved her so much that she refused to give her up. So the love triangle caught me by surprise, and that annoyed me. xD I think I just expected something else going in than what I got.
You’ve convinced me! I’ve got some downtime today between errands, so I’m going to push through and try to finish it today. :3
(sorry for the late reply)
I wasn’t so sure about the male love interest (maybe, because like you said, I wasn’t expecting it either?), but other than that I 110% agree with all that you just said about Kaia and Maren! Ahhhh, I’m SO CURIOUS to see how Maren’s character development will be in the sequel.
I’m definitely interested in how you will react to the final bit of They Both Die At The End! I loved Mateo as a character as well. Have a wonderful weekend!