5.0 out of 5 stars
This isn't my normal genre to read, but I'm glad I did read it
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 4, 2022
I'm a firm believer in the Mark Twain quote: "Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." And while I'm too broke to travel, I live this idea by occasionally reading books in a genre/point of view I don't normally gravitate towards. This book was one such purchase after stumbling upon it in a local bookstore, I later bought it on Amazon so I could judge it's worthiness before recommending it to my wife. I don't like to reread books in a short amount of time, usually I'll give the reread a few months to a year before I consider picking it up again. I finished this book a day before this review and by God I've barely resisted the urge to reread it again the day I write this review.
I like the characters, I like the plot and I like the multiple not too subtle, but not too preachy messages this book conveys. It is going onto my list of best books I've ever read, which includes such classics as: All Quiet on the Western Front, The Dresden files series, The Eternal champion trilogy, Vampire Hunter D, The Great Gatsby, World War Z, Anne of Green Gables, Wizard's First Rule, The Golden Compass, The Corpus Hermeticum, The Han Solo Trilogy, At the Mountains of Madness, Our Man in Havana, Monsters you've Never Heard of, Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody, The Hobbit, Annie on My Mind, Dave Barry does Japan, Shulz and Peanuts, and my all time favorite Belinda.
My only complaint is that the book isn't longer and that the odds of a sequel are slim to none. Also, Spoilers Ahead; seriously Spoilers Ahead: It's set up that the main two characters have had intimate relations before they met, so why don't we get a scene like that involving these two? I wasn't looking for full blown NC-17 but something sensual without being explicit. The kind of thing that raises the eyebrows and causes the imagination to wander just enough that your motor gets running.
If your on the fence about whether or not to read it because either it's a topic you find stale or a topic you don't normally have interest in; take it from this libertarian, gun loving, small government believing doesn't care about gays except for a select few friends, only votes for the right because the left wants to turn all Americans into Shoggoths, long haired, hard rock fan that also loves Celine Dion, foul mouthed alcoholic: if you like a good novel regardless of what your personal beliefs may be, buy this book. You can thank me later with a bottle of Jim Beam Devil's Cut. I'm glad I travelled out of my little corner of the world and I have no regrets that I read this book. It will forever have a place of honor on my hall of fame shelf on my bookcase. My hat, if I wore one, goes off to the author. She wrote a damn fine book.
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