This was a fast, exciting, enjoyable read with admirable but flawed characters, good plotting, and good characterization.
A librarian friend once recommended April Henry for reluctant young adult readers, and I have to agree. I've read a couple of her other books and they've all been good.
The writing was engaging, but I didn’t love spending time with the main character at first, and her personality seemed a little hard to pin down. That, however, turned out to be the brilliance of the book. Stick with it. The reward is well worth it.
4.5 stars
I would definitely read more by Gail Honeyman.
First, a few stats:
Total books read in 2024: 50
70% were fiction
38% of the novels were middle-grade (the consequences of working at a library and seeing so many great books in the children's section)
Again, one of my biggest non-fiction categories was Grand Canyon books, followed closely by history/bio/memoir, animals, and language/writing.
Best/most memorable books: (And because I'm writing this in 2026, these book really stood out for me)
How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims. Slow-burn thriller taking place mostly in a library.The Last Human, by Lee Bacon. Middle-grade science fiction with reluctant friendships.
The Last One, by Will Dean. A cruise ship where everyone has disappeared. A great survival thriller until it sort of went off the rails.
Five Epic Disasters, by Lauren Tarshis. Very readable non-fiction disaster tales for kids.
49 Miles Alone, by Natalie D. Richards. A tense YA survival thriller.
Of a Feather, by Dayna Lorentz. A warm middle-grade contemporary novel...with birds. And no, that wasn't a mistake. I for some reason read these back to back, and enjoyed both.
The Memory Palace, by Nate DiMeo. Hands down the best book of the year: short non-fiction accounts of strange historical people or happenings, based on the author's podcast.
I just stumbled on a review of "Must Read" short stories from November last year. And my story's there on the list!
Read it here: https://reactormag.com/must-read-short-speculative-fiction-november-2024/
.jpg)
I really enjoyed this. I sometimes wished it were a little more about the animals and the running of the Funny Farm, but the family history/autobiography was really well written and powerful.
And now I want to plan an entire trip around visiting the Funny Farm.
I picked this randomly off the library shelf because I love animals, and I'm so glad I did. I did the same with another book about a bird sanctuary once, and it too was one of my favorite books of the year.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Very well written, very interesting. I loved the weaving of biological facts with
the myths we've developed around these creatures and the history of our
interaction with them.
But…it's also profoundly sad. I hope it helps change some people's minds about what we're doing to this planet and her inhabitants, and I hope that changing of minds leads to action. Half the proceeds go toward charities working to push back on climate change and environmental destruction.
Rating: 4.5 stars
I enjoyed this. I'm a sucker for man vs nature and working-together-to-survive books, and this delivered.
I did find a lot of things hard to believe. [MINOR SPOILER ALERT] One of the major ones was the issue with directions. It's like day 8 or something. They're intelligent, with some outdoorsmanship between them, and they've had several days with at least partial sun, and they're all like "I wish we had a compass to figure out which direction is which." And I'm thinking, um…look at the sun! No, it won't give you an exact direction, and a lot depends on the season, latitude, etc., but if all you want is—for example—to head eastward to eventually run into a road or something, the sun will give you a pretty good clue. But none of them even think about that? And the solution they eventually come up isn't hugely more accurate, so why on Earth does one character keep asking the makeshift compass holder if they are still going east, when I get the distinct impression the compass holder is actually leading them south? Can't the others tell, more or less, if they're going generally in the right direction or not? This was a major plot point, so it really bothered me. [END SPOILERS]
A lot of other things stretched believability (the cliff thing, the wolves, etc), and the characterization could have been a little deeper, but it was a fun read, a good adventure, with the situation getting worse and worse. The writing was smooth.
[SEMI SPOILER ALERT]
And I liked the way it didn't go all fantasy but stayed grounded. [END SPOILERS]
Recommended for people who don't mind a bit of unbelievability in their survival stories.
Oh...and I like the author's name. :)
Dear Nate DiMeo,
I'm very upset with you. Your book was just not long enough. I wanted more, more, more. I have listened to approximately three podcast episodes in my entire life. They're not really my thing. But I am totally going to go out and listen to yours.
I loved this book. The subject matter was fantastic—interesting and varied. The writing was creative. At times the style got a little more experimental or grandiose than I like, but that's very subjective, and I still enjoyed it even in those bits. I loved how you made these unknown people and strange moments in history so real.
The length, however, was terrible. I wanted it to be about three times as long. I'll forgive you, however, if you write a sequel.
I don't give a lot of 5-star reviews, because I think 5-star books should be pretty near perfect. But there's not even a question here. FIVE STARS!
Sincerely,
Melinda Brasher
I really enjoyed this middle-grade novel of love, belonging...and birds of prey.
The writing was engaging and I loved the characters. Rufus’s point of view chapters were a little uneven as far as the bird-ness, but I still enjoyed them.
4.5 STARS. I will certainly read more by Dayna Lorentz
The style was very readable, and I liked knowing more about Harvey’s early life and later life, as well as the lives of some of his contemporary hiker/explorers. I also enjoyed the authors’ attempts to recreate some of the routes/climbs Harvey did.
I enjoyed the pictures. I wish there had been a few more maps (the famous one on the inside cover was too tiny to be terribly useful)
Overall, a slightly long but very interesting read for someone already interested in the topic. It might be a bit much for those who aren’t already a little obsessed.
And Harvey…though this book did keep him a bit at arms’ length, it worked for me, because it kept him larger than life.
4.5 stars
It was a bit repetitive, and some readers might not find it exciting enough for them, but I really enjoyed it.
The cover is beautiful, and of course I loved the details about the birds, the quest to protect endangered wildlife, etc.
4 stars
The desert setting was awesome, and though a few too many dangerous things happened on their trip for it to really be believable, other aspects of the desert WERE believable and well drawn.
The backpacking details were interesting for me, giving it good pacing throughout, even before the creepy, suspenseful part really started.
The backstory/underlying themes were strong, and I loved the exploration of the cousins’ currently strained relationship.
My only problem was the alternating first-person points of view. They weren’t always distinct enough, so I kept forgetting whose head I was in. However, it didn’t seriously affect my enjoyment.
I will read more of Natalie D. Richards.
4.5 stars
I found a few little things silly or repetitive, but it wasn't a big deal.
The ending was satisfying.
Overall, a really great book about difficult issues.
4.5 stars
The subject matter was fascinating. The writing was engaging. The extra facts at the end of each chapter added great depth. I've been a little fidgety lately with reading, not finding anything that will keep my attention for too long, but I read about 70 pages of this in a row, and finished the book in three sittings.
Well done.
5 Stars
I enjoyed this for the Grand Canyon setting and the explorations of the type of medical problems that happen there.
So if you're looking for/don't mind a romance, I think you'll really enjoy this.
Newbery Award Winner, 2024:
With all books like this, it's sometimes hard to suspend my disbelief when, for example, a dog understands that stars are actually suns burning far, far away, but the same dog doesn't know what the mainland is. The dog understands all sorts of complex English words and scientific and culture concepts but does not know what art is? Yeah, it's a little hard to swallow. But if you can go with it, it's just fun.
And the pictures are beautiful.
I really like books like this, with short chapters on different related subjects—in this case interesting events (not broad cultural/historical/geological overviews, but specific EVENTS) that took place at Grand Canyon.
A few chapters didn't hold my interest super well, especially the ones that got a little long on the politics or engineering, but other readers will really like those. MOST of the chapters, however, were fascinating. I already knew some of these stories, but even the ones I knew were told interestingly enough to keep my attention well.
The book was well written, with an easy flow and none of the pretentiousness of some similar books.
My only real complaint was that it wasn't long enough. I wanted more, more, more.
I would certainly read more by Todd R. Berger.
4.5 stars
This is the second book I've read this year with the same title! The first was The Last Human, by Zach Jordan, which started out really, really strong: amazing sci-fi world-building and creativity, very interesting characters. One of the characters was so culturally, mentally, anatomically, and ethically different from humans, yet the author made her very relatable, which is no small feat. Then the book turned metaphysical and fantastical and kind of lost me (thought others love it, so give it a chance if you feel inclined).
It was a cute book, by turns funny, touching, and exciting.
I loved the little bits of culture clash, of the robots and humans learning about each other, trying to understand each other, and learning about friendship.
I did find a few things unrealistic, like the sheer number of solar panel the main character and his two coworkers had installed (about 1.3 million, added to an already-large sea of solar panels) while still being able to conveniently walk to work. I also questioned whether any [logical] robot would design another robot to only use emojis. Sometimes his coworkers knew exactly what he meant, inexplicably extrapolating a great deal of info from a couple of little emojis. Other times they didn't know what he meant at all. It seemed very imprecise in a very unrobot-like way. [SPOILER ALERT] It also felt too easy how the three robots immediately believed and trusted Emma and dropped everything to help her, considering how they've been programmed and brainwashed. [BIGGER SPOILER ALERT] The ease of the solution at the end also felt too easy.
That said, there was a lot to like about the book. The adventure was good. The writing was engaging. I loved the characters.
A really fun read.
I look forward to more by Lee Bacon.
You can tell the author works in a library, and I loved the details about the job.
I also thought the characters were very interesting. Maybe a tad one-note, but that note was very interesting, so it didn't really matter to me. Seeing a glimpse into the thoughts and needs and motivations of a character like Margo was fascinating.
The prose was good.
The pacing worked for me, but some people looking for a twisty, edge-of-seat thriller might not like it as much as I did.
I did wonder about the practicalities of a couple of things. Like how did Margo get a new ID and employment references and such? Not super important; I was just curious.
The ending felt rushed, but the very last lines…suitably creepy.
Overall, a great slow-burn psychological thriller with an awesome setting (for library lovers) and an interesting premise and POV. I will definitely read more by Laura Sims.
More accurate rating:
4.5
Some of the plot was a bit confusing to me—mainly how the mythology worked into the dimension they were in. But that's probably my fault for not paying enough attention.
There was more repetition than I liked, especially about how the main character is such a failure. I didn't need it pounded home quite that much.
But overall, I enjoyed the adventure, the humor, and the relationships.
Note: I've never actually read any other books by Brandon Sanderson (gasp), so I can't compare.
