Part memoir and part exposé, I feel like this book could be alternately titled Leah Remini: Giver of No Fucks. First off, I have been fascinated by Scientology for years now; more specifically the mindset behind the religion, how it came to be created, and how it has flourished over the years. It is straight up bananas. It’s like a real life science fiction story come to life. I think my first big introduction to it was Paul Haggis’s essay about Scientology after he left […]
Dear Pierce Brown, I love you, but sometimes I don’t like you all that much.
Man, you guys. I liked this book overall, but sometimes it was rough going. The third installment in the Red Rising trilogy, this book wraps up the storylines of all the characters we’ve come to know over the last two books. Seriously every damn character. I think Brown used his down time in between books 2 and 3 to attend the George R.R. Martin School of Overwriting for Serious Writers. Brown is at his best when he’s exploring the politics of the worlds and the […]
A satisfying conclusion to the trilogy
This is book #3 in a trilogy, so if you want to take a look at my thoughts on the first and second books you can go here and here. Obviously, SPOILERS AHEAD. We pick up with Ruby and the gang a few weeks after the bombings in L.A. Pretty much everyone is still trying to use the kids for their own gain, so Ruby and co. hatch a plan to get to the safe house and ditch their Children’s League companions who seem to have less than […]
“Optimism is a sliver of glass in your heart”
This is a rare book that blends both mystery and character building in equal parts. I had never read Karin Slaughter before, but I think I will be remedying that soon. The style of this book and Slaughter’s writing reminded me of the better elements of Tana French and Gillian Flynn. Start to finish, this book is fast-paced and unflinching in its portrayal of pure evil. The story revolves around the disappearance of Julia Carroll in 1994. It looks at the ways her disappearance affected her family […]