Wait, what opinions?

In my opinion, the book reads like a soap opera with some light sci fi elements. I really disliked it and don’t get what people see in it.

I don't do it purposefully but I usually can't resist skipping to the last page and reading the last word, and then maybe if I get the urge later on I'll read the whole last sentence. Usually it doesn't spoil anything. Sometimes it summarises the message of the book. The rest of the time it is completely random and unsatisfying.

I would press on! It is well worth it! Incredible book.

Agree. Also want to echo the part about the pay-off coming much later. Yeah, the second person narrative is weird and distracting to begin with, but there's a point to it, it's not just the author trying to be edgy.

Maybe I'll have the time to

My Ma and my aunt were really into his books so I wound up reading almost everything he wrote. I remember she had the Dark Tower books with the illustrations and I was fascinated with them. I actually still have those very books.

Definitely in the top five books I’ve ever read. Absolute masterpiece.

I do not really like N.K.Jensin as a person and many of her opinions are making me wanna throw up. That said, the broken earth trilogy is an absolutely great trilogy and while the second Person Narrative is unusual it is not a self purpose tool and everything comes together. If I were you I would definitely give it another shot because it is one of the best stories I ever read. So yeah, your are MISSING OUT.

That's awesome. I hope this is translated one day!

Fahrenheit 451 really stuck with me, I didn't expect it to impact me that much

I had some trouble with the second person narrative and ended up switching to audiobooks. Having the books read to me by someone using "you" rather than reading it myself in my head made it so much easier to follow and fall into the story. Mileage differs of course, but I'm so glad I did. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking story

I don't expect much of anything from self-published works. That doesn't mean they're all, or even mostly, bad; I just assume that if a work is self-published, it was unlikely to have been professionally edited and may have never been read by anyone but the author.

In terms of traditionally published works, I expect correct grammar and spelling and for the writing to be coherent/easily understood/clearly edited. That's honestly about it. There are enough sucky books that were published traditionally that I'm not surprised if a character's motivations don't make sense or whatever. That doesn't mean I like every book I read, just that I don't consider a book unfinished or unpublishable or whatever because of bad characterization or a lack of worldbuuilding, etc.

I don't wanna slam you and I was initially slightly disappointed with it too but I just find that it sits in me still after months and my mind keeps returning to it. I definitely think it's worth it but I was also initially a bit underwhelmed.

Technically true but the delivery is just such that it has the same effect in practice of completely switching the perspective.

Yeah, but like, that's also pretty fucked up, ain't it? Both as a sort of gawking at strangers and blaming them for not seeing something which is obvious in hindsight, and also a perceived need to equip oneself with a constant paranoia against an incredibly uncommon risk.

Also, if I got murdered and some true crime huckster tried to make a buck pawning me off as a cautionary tale for scared suburbanites, I'd haunt the fuck outta them

As long as the spelling and grammar is in order, I am not super picky about the choices the author makes. I might put something down because I don't like it, but I don't think I am the person to judge that something is not publication ready.

It's personally my favourite series, and I remember being a bit weirded out my the narration style at first. Might I recommend leaning into it all the way by listening to the audiobook? They're really well done, the narrator was what brought me to the series in the first place. Smart vibe as a guided meditation, but much darker lol.

I was floored by this book, especially since I had read the author's The Buried Giant years ago and had been underwhelmed. This book is so subtle. It reminded me a lot of Hemingway in that not much appeared to be happening on the surface, but so so much was going on underneath.

As for the "twist", I figured it out about halfway through the book, but it didn't undermine my enjoyment of the work as a whole.

Sorry you didn't like it, but I think this book is a masterpiece. Second person narration is a device, and it used for a clear purpose here, but you won't know that until the end of the book.

I read that book in college, and really liked it. I need to actually get around to watching the movie though. I think I prefer Dr Sleep to The Shining, but part of that is the movie hadn't been announced yet, so it felt like a hidden gem

Try rewatching the Dr. Sleep movie now. In my opinion it’s actually one of the more well done King movie adaptations, while also still being a sequel to the film version of the Shining, rather than the book.

That book was extremely boring, DNF for me

I’ll have to check it out next! Thanks!

Remains of the Day is one of my all time favorite novels but I haven’t read this one yet. The book description just didn’t sound like something that would interest me. Is it fantasy/sci-fi? I’ve heard so many good things that I guess I should just read it.