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What makes a book a good retelling (mild spoilers for A Whole New World by Liz Braswell)?
I have read two retellings recently.
The name drop by Susan Lee and A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
The name drop is a retelling of the prince and the pauper story and given that story has been told a million times I think there's a lot of leeway. The book can have the premise and basic switch of the two MCs and be considered a retelling while being almost completely beat by beat different than the source material.
A whole new world is very specifically a retelling of the Disney movie Aladdin. Not a retelling of the Arabian nights tale or one thousand and one nights (which is what Disney's Aladdin is).
I listened to the audiobook of A Whole New World. The first two hours are a beat by beat retelling of the first act of the movie. Which you go through a lot faster by watching the movie. Plus you don't get the great songs in the book. The book is middle grade and has a bit of an edgy PG 13 vibe. I can't imagine any teenager interested in the book hasn't seen the Disney movie at least once.
I picked it up because of a storygraph book club read and one person DNFd it because it was beat by beat the same as the movie for so long.
I am struggling to decide if this is good or bad or neutral storytelling.
It could have been different from the start but given it's a specific Disney retelling would it be disrespectful to the source material to have a different plot from the start? Would it be better for the twist to come sooner?+
If you've seen the movie you can skip the first 2 hours of the book and lose out on nothing. Is there some benefit to having essentially the script of the first act of the movie in the beginning of the book?
I haven't read a lot of retellings and I'm curious on other people's thoughts on this.
+I'm giving the book some grace here because once we get to the twist Jasmine doesn't feel like the same character from the beginning of the book. It maybe would have been a better story had Jasmine had more tweaks to be consistent or show a clearer character growth through the film.
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What book you read that was saved by the ending or one specific moment?
I often read many people who say that a book was ruined because of the ending and how some novels lose strength when they reach the finale, but I'd like to know the other way around. Has there been any book that has been boring, or not just satisfying but the ending (or even some fragment, dialogue, even a phrase) has made it worthy of reading for you?
In my case, I can say that the Road by Mc Carthy was not as endearing as I thought it would be; I honestly did not like it, found it too dry and felt that the topic was something I had seen several times before. But the ending when the father says to the kid that once he dies he can still talk to him, was really precious and I was like ''this is what I was waiting for so long!'' (it wasn't that long given the book is actually short).
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks was another let down. I appreciate Banks and his freedom in which he can dwell between normal topics and tackle sci fi whenever he wants to, I admire that of him, but I can't seem to truly enjoy his works (something that saddens me, because I'd love to). However, the plot twist of Wasp Factory was really intriguing and had me reading deeply for like 10 pages and wishing the entire book had been like that.
I have other examples, but I'd like to read yours.
Do you happen to have experiences like those? Where you hate a book but you rescue something really valuable out of it?
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After Ready Player One and Armada I'm so glad I picked up Dungeon Crawler Carl.
I really enjoyed Ready Player One—the nostalgia was great, and it was a dumb, fun ride. But as much as I liked the references, the book made me cringe more times than I care to count, and everything outside of the nostalgia was either bad or forgettable. Still, I decided to give Ernest Cline another shot and read Armada, another video game-centric novel—this time with absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Cline has an obsession with making his protagonists know-it-alls who are effortlessly amazing at video games, and while that was off-putting in RPO, I didn’t realize how bad it was until I started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. This is my first book by Dinniman, and I’m only a few chapters in, but wow—what a refreshing change. The protagonist isn’t some flawless genius, the game mechanics are well explained, and the humor actually lands. You can tell that Dinniman is genuinely funny and well-versed in modern culture, with references that feel natural rather than forced.
Dungeon Crawler Carl feels like everything Ernest Cline wanted to write but completely missed the mark on—though if making millions and getting a decent movie adaptation counts as failing, I guess we should all be so lucky.
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Biologists ability to slowly realize she will never get home, never reconcile with her husband, and never truly understand the world she was in nor the one she is in now, was done very well. It will help readers reflect on their own lives, and maybe make an effort to connect with those close to them, while they still have a chance.
I feel the reference to not ever really being able to understand meaning/direction in Area X is very translatable to our world, as we will never truly understand and find meaning while living here on Earth.
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Waterstones is no longer shipping to the US Because of Latest Tariffs
https://www.waterstones.com/help/delivery-options/19#:~:text=We%20are%20happy%20to%20offer,compliant%20with%20the%20new%20tariffs
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Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovers - How many of you prefer it when the Sun is called something like "Sklerith's Eye" and Queens are called something like "Thirteenthbern"? Why or why not?
Do you prefer it when every day words are changed? Does it make the fictional world feel more real?
Or is it simply a barrier to entry, and to the extent there are fantasy words you would prefer them to be limited to the stuff that is really different - the magic system, different magical races, etc.
Special thanks to The Bone Ships by RJ Barker for inspiring this question.
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Awards honor Spanish-language/bilingual literature, poetry that portray Latino families and histories
https://www.tpr.org/arts-culture/2025-04-03/awards-honor-spanish-language-bilingual-literature-poetry-that-portray-latino-families-and-histories
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The Nickel Boys is one of the most powerful books I've read so far
During the Oscars buzz, I saw many people talking about the movie "The Nickel Boys", the adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel. I found the book in my university's library in February. I want to expand my horizons by reading more books written by POC and since I wanted to watch the movie as well, I decided to pick up the book.
If only I knew what I signed up for.
From the very beginning, I felt a pull towards Elwood and his life. He quickly became a character I became attached to. I felt for him and the conditions he had to live in. I remember myself smiling at his admiration towards Martin Luther King and his determination to fight for his people's rights, like his teacher and peers did. And above all that, he remained a kind and compassionate person. He cared for his grandma and friends and he had a strong sense of justice. Although he quickly learned that being ethic wouldn't always get him where he wanted, he didn't lose his humanity even when he was at his lowlest.
Elwood desperately tried to cling to the hope of his release. He wanted to believe that his grandma would manage to free him and that justice would prevail. But alas, that only remained an idea. Justice never came. Elwood realized that no one cared for the future of a black boy. The longer he stayed at the Nickel School, the more his eyes opened to the cruel world around him and the painful truth: black people were treated as something disposable and they were inferior to white people. And that truth crashed him. All of his dreams about a better world were in vain. Martin Luther King's speeches were for nothing. The future of black people could never change and they would always be ridiculed by the whites.
I felt despair while I was reading about Elwood's change. I wanted him to not lose hope and continue his fight for a better world. But how could he after everything he had endure? How could he find the strength (mentally and physically) to strive for freedom and justice in a world ruled by "the white House"? Thus, Elwood became a shell of his old, optimistic self. And yet, not everything was lost, for there was someone who tried to cheer Elwood up and support him: his friend Turner.
Elwood's friendship with Turner was one of the best aspects in the story and one of the few positive ones. Despite the circumstances, the two boys became close friends. Their shared pain and abuse during their serving time made them bond quite quickly. Turner, who had been in the Nickel Academy longer than Elwood, always tried to find some way to help Elwood and make him adjust to the new environment while navigating in the horrors of the Academy.
It was very interesting to observe the personalities of these two boys. While Elwood appeared to be more naive and optimistic at first, Turner was more pragmatic and down-to-earth. Since he had experienced first-hand the cruelty of the Nickel School and the racism from white people, he didn't believe that there was a chance of justice and freedom for black people. On the other hand, Elwood tried to maintain his optimistic ideas, believing that he would be free soon to pursue his studies and go back to his family, only for him to realise how wrong he had been. The boys came to accept the injustice and abuse and together they endured it, in an attempt to take comfort in their friendship and similar experiences in the Academy. They found refuge in each other and their bond helped them endure the constant abuse and mistreatment.
The writing was simple and straightforward. Whitehead did not go that far into details about what happened in the Academy, leaving the reader to imagine the atrocities that took place there. His tone was pretty much journalisting and honestly, I think it worked. I didn't need to read pages upon pages of sexual assault, beating, mockery or constant discrimination. Even the few passages that tackled Nickel's racism were very disturbing. I could hardly read them, let alone imagine the rest of the abuse. Additionally, there were
Can we discuss AI Books appearing on Bookshop.org?
Has anyone else noticed this?
I just searched for Emily Wilson on Bookshop.org, because I was looking for her translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey. I didn’t find either of those books on the first page of results. Instead, I found dozens of obviously fake books with publication dates in the past two months.
I searched for a few other authors, but did not find the same results. I don’t know if this is a widespread problem, or if Emily Wilson just happens to be the name chosen by a prolific AI author.
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Middlemarch is the best book I have ever read (spoilers in the text!)
At the start of 2025, I decided this would be my year of reading classics (inspired, of all people, by Matt Yglesias!). I wanted to ease myself in, so I began with a couple of Agatha Christie novels, followed by Pride and Prejudice as a warm-up. Then I decided to read Middlemarch as an act of radical self improvement - although all I really knew about it was that it was by George Eliot, whom I (fairly, I think!) assumed was a man!
I found it a real slog at first, but something happened at the end of book 1 and I was hooked. There's not really a plot as such; just the lives of people in a provincial town, but what reels you in is the characters. Eliot describes their inner lives, their motivations so clearly and so directly you feel as though you're standing in the room with them, inside their heads, feeling their thoughts. At many points I felt as though I was watching a film with narration - the book was incredibly cinematic for something written in the 19th century.
On the non-literary side of the spectrum I'm a sucker for a Ken Follett novel, and in many respects George Eliot reminded me of one of his books (or vice versa!). There are no easy romances but people making mistakes and living with mistakes, people getting second chances at love and taking them despite the sacrifices that involves. No one in the book is perfect (except maybe Caleb Garth) but everyone's motivations are so clearly described that you often feel some sympathy for them - even the wrong'uns.
As ever when I read a fantastic book I'm desperate to discuss it - anyone else read it recently and have any thoughts?
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Romani Literature: April 2025
T'aves baxtalo readers,
This is our weekly discussion of the literature of the world! Every Wednesday, we'll post a new country or culture for you to recommend literature from, with the caveat that it must have been written by someone from that country (i.e. Shogun by James Clavell is a great book but wouldn't be included in Japanese literature).
April 8 was International Romani Day and to celebrate we'll be discussing Romani literature! Please use this thread to discuss your favorite Romani books and authors.
If you'd like to read our previous discussions of the literature of the world please visit the literature of the world section of our wiki.
Nais tuke and enjoy!
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Gatsby at 100: on April 10, 1925, The Great Gatsby was published by Scribner.
https://theconversation.com/the-great-gatsby-at-100-the-jazz-age-novel-that-helps-explain-trumps-america-247698
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SF novelist's debut ‘Big Chief’ illuminates modern life on a Midwestern reservation
https://localnewsmatters.org/2025/04/01/sf-novelists-debut-big-chief-illuminates-modern-life-on-a-midwestern-reservation/
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Has anyone else read Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou?
I LOVED this book and no one I know has read it and I am dying to talk about it. I searched the title and nothing cam up in this sub, so l am starting a thread. The ending really threw me off but also felt so grounded in reality. I was devastated but also happy for her, I feel like the author did so well at making the ending feel both good and bad. I also found that throughout the book the author made me really care about this fairly unloveable main character, and by the end I was really rooting for her. I feel like I haven't read a book with such a good character arc in a long time. The arc also felt completely believable and well done.
This book has stuck with me so if anyone has read it I would love to hear your thoughts!
I just got Yellowface by R.F. Kuang from the library and am excited to start it because it seems well received and has similar themes. I am curious if Yellowface will cover a lot of the themes that disorientation did, I feel like Hsieh Chou covered so much in Disorientation: discrimination, yellowface, fetishization, hypocrisy in academia, model minority myth, and so much more!
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A MADMAN CANNOT SURVIVE HIS OWN MASTERPIECE An excerpt from ATTILA by Javier Serena, recommended by Katie Whittemore
Attila by Aliocha Coll has gone back into print today and for the first time it’s been translated into English. I enjoy difficult thought provoking literature but so far this novel is about as comprehensible and coherent as Finnegans Wake. credit to the translator because translating this labyrinth into English couldn’t have been an easy task.
Also apologies, the excerpt is from a different book also named Attila that also released today written by the author’s friend that is basically a memoir about his friend’s slow descent into madness and depression writing his final novel before his suicide. The publisher didn’t do a very good job clarifying they are two separate novels especially considering the book art is nearly the same.
Edit: for some reason it didn’t let me post the link the first time
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Tana French Dublin Murder Series - Okay to read out of publication order?
I have heard good things about Tana French’s books. I was at the library, and I picked up and checked out “Broken Harbor.” I realized just now that it is #4 in the series. For fans of Tana French or for those who have read some of her books, should they be read in publication order? Or, is there some wiggle room in your opinion? I have plenty of stuff on my TBR to pivot to if I should wait to read the first installment in the series. Just wanted to ask your opinion. Thanks for your help.
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The White Male Writer is Fine, I Promise
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-white-male-writer-is-fine-i-promise
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I underestimated Red, White & Royal Blue
When I started reading this novel by recommendation of a friend, I expected a simple novel centered around a power fantasy. I'm glad to report that I was so very wrong. This is a sweet and very catchy story, with the struggles of the LGBT community and the centuries of oppression maskerading as "tradition" interwoven with the plot in a spectacularly intelligent way. I liked Heartstopper, but it felt too preachy at times. This, instead, taught me about queer history in a very subtle way, making people from centuries ago feel like living links in a very long, wonderful chain.
This might be my favourite queer romance yet, and inspired me to up my game with the gay romance novel I just finished writing and I have now to edit. I'm glad I read this and sad that I didn't read it sooner.
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Annihilation By Jeff Vandermeer
This story begins by leaving so many different important factors out. I know that this is intentional, but I find because it is so imaginative/far-fetched it becomes hard to really become emotionally invested in the book and follow the constructed narrative.
1. Is the real world like our world? Why did we leave Area X? Why is there a border? Why does the Southern Reach make the border a complete mystery?
2. Character development - Seemingly (on purpose), this book lacks the ability to connect you with any of the characters, and this is obviously intentional because we see that none of the characters are given names.
3. Area X - The Introduction to the novel creates this idea that the story is going to create this elaborate and complex world in your head. Which I do think "atmospheric creation" is this books bread and butter - but thats about the only thing it does exceptionally well.
4. The ending - The book lacked much emotional connection to the Biologist and her husband - with only a few excerpts and passages within the book that actually hinted to their relationship. What Vandermeer failed to do as well - was create emotional depth within the Biologist and her husband. Not that I didn't enjoy reading about her and her husband (they were actually the only parts of the book that were grounded in reality) - but to make the entire ending about them, when the book failed to show depth in their connection/story, I felt it was a bit lackluster.
5. Area X (locations) - The three main locations in the book are the Lighthouse, the Tower, and Base Camp. These three things didn't really have much connection, and the book failed to grasp me on why they were connected and what they really meant. What I think I mean by this is that the mystery of Area X was a bit too vague, as in one moment she is fighting off a boar in the reeds - to her climbing up a lighthouse on the beach. I think if there was more backstory of Area X and what it was, it would be easier to find the emotional connection to the story. It became to the point where you do feel you want the mystery to be solved, but it is also in tangential that we don't even have a clue what the mystery even is.
6. So what even happened? Too many possibilities - Besides the fact we never find out what Area X is, Why they are there, or anything in the "before" the expedition sense, the narrator is difficult to follow, and there isn't really ever any actual resolution. She is exposed to the fungal spores early on, and we never really find out if the things she is seeing are real, or different from everyone else. We never really get a grasp on what the psychologist knew, why she was using hypnosis, or what her last conversation with the biologist on the beach really meant. Long story short, they all die off, without much explaining, and no depth. If the ending had tried to make sense of it all - given any type of purpose, I felt it could have worked and flowed much better.
The locations are disjointed, and don't really seem to make sense together. It was hard for me to imagine why a lighthouse, a underground tunnel, and a beach with moaning monsters and reeds had to do with each other - and how they flowed together. The Introduction makes it seem Area X is entirely different from our word in its entirety, but for me it seems that the only location that differentiated from how our world looks, is really the tower. or the tunnel. or whatever it is. The only other thing that she points to being different is the animals, and how their cells become (or always were) human.
I still did enjoy this book and felt it did one thing really well: setting an atmosphere.
I felt as though I could relate a lot to the biologists solitude, and interest in the ecosystem/animals around her. The Tower and Crawler were given a beautiful way about them, and in the sense of the nothing about this book makes any sense, I did really enjoy the description of the Crawler, her drowning, and her inability to get to the door.
I think the atmosphere of the animals, and the
For “Project Hail Mary” fans…
Sounds like Amazon/MGM discussed and showed a trailer for PHM last night at Cinemacon…here’s a link to the John Campea Show on YouTube where they discuss it…go to the 1:08:00 mark: https://www.youtube.com/live/cSe4MtTygPg?si=hwSs0jqyScTNJ2GM
I know Robert Meyer Burnett is a huge fan of the book and has some very interesting things to say about the movie…and I hope it all comes true.
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Favorite Books with Transgender Characters: April 2025
Welcome readers,
March 31 was International Transgender Day of Visibility and, to celebrate, we're discussing our favorite books with transgender characters!
If you'd like to read our previous weekly discussions of fiction and nonfiction please visit the suggested reading section of our wiki.
Thank you and enjoy!
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many beautiful and powerful quotes regarding racism and black people's right for equality which really resonated with me.
Don't get me on the ending! Omg, that ending! I really didn't see that coming. When it was revealed that Elwood had been dead and that Turner had taken Elwood's identity after his death, I was shocked. I frantically read the lines over and over again but when it became clear that Elwood had been killed, I burst into tears and wept for almost one hour. I cried and cried not only because of sadness but anger as well. I kept thinking that it was not fair, that Elwood deserved to live a full life and that he deserved to be happy. But Whitehead painfully reminded me of the injustice that prevailed (and still does). How many other boys have been robbed of their lives? How many people have cut the thread of black people's lives simply because they had committed the crime of being born a different race? And how could society turn a blind eye? These are some of the questions that were brought up in my mind.
I'll be honest, the Nickel Boys was a pretty much frustrating read. Not because it was bad but because it made me want to smash the head of every single person who mistreated the boys. But the thing that made my heart drop is the realisation that while I was reading, I could recall similar events in today's world. Even now, in the year of 2025, racism is still pretty common and while the circumstances have improved, prejudice and hatred continue to occupy people's hearts. I feel sick seeing people treat POC like they are below them. I am from Greece and let me tell you that it's gotten really annoying to see people making fun of POC, calling them names or insulting their intelligence, skills etc. What more must it take to put a stop to that?
But besides that, the book made me feel more positive emotions too. The interactions between Elwood and Turner put a smile on my face and their relationship felt like a breath of fresh air. And I always liked reading about the white people being put on their places. I was ecstatic when Griff won against the best white student boxer(let's ignore the aftermath) and the few scenes of the black students interacting and acting like a team put a smile on my face. But above all, I felt hope. Yes, even among the bleak setting, there was a ray of hope about a better world, one where people would push for what is right.
If I had to point out an aspect of the book that could have been better, I would say that I would have enjoyed a little bit more of emotional depth. While the simple and journalistic format serves its purpose, there were times when I was kinda apathetic at first, like I was reading a history book. And that's not bad per se, it's just that it made me feel disconnected from the characters at times. I felt like I was reading an academic book instead of a novel and I almost felt guilty for not experiencing more emotions resonance.
Despite that, The Nickel Boys remains one of the most powerful books I've read. It will live in me for a very long time and I cannot help recommending it enough. I know that we cannot change the world rapidly. But we can still make it a better place for all people if we inform and educate ourselves about discrimination and racism.
Let's keep fighting for a world where Elwood could live happily.
>Make a career of humanity. Make it a central part of your life.
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I'm Simply Floored By Stephen Markley's THE DELUGE 2023
I truly can't believe it, but I came across this book by accident. I'm sure I would've discovered it eventually because I'm a huge fan of environmental or ecological themes/subjects in novels [stuff like A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle or Monkey Wrench Gang\]. But I hadn't heard of The Deluge or Stephen Markley. I just like long books! and I happened to pass by it in a book store aisle on the way out of town. The cover caught my attention and it sounded interesting and I needed a book for the trip, so I picked it up.
Now it's quite possibly my favorite novel! The subject is pretty simple: what might the world and especially America look like and go through due to climate change in the next 25 years or so. But it's told from a slew of different characters' perspectives [I usually am not a fan of more than 3ish narrators, but T.D. pulled it off\] from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds--a scientist, a wealthy socialite, a young climate activist, etc. It's so spectacularly rendered. The writing is incredible. The characters are even better. And the plot/themes may be best of all.
I've read the 800+ page book in paperback and listened to a third or so of the audiobook--some of the narrators are really good, a couple of them not so much. My wife absolutely could not stand the chapters voiced and "written" by the Asperger's character [Asher\], it just grated on her too much.
Do you think it presented a realistic portrayal of things to come? Did you have a favorite chapter/section narrator? I really liked Shane's, and Mathew Stanton [Kate's boyfriend\]. I've definitely met woman who have the same kind of intensity and passion and devil-may-care insouciance. WHAT a character! I'm also very curious to hear people's thoughts on the different narrators, and which of them represented, in your mind, the most effective or accurate perspective on things as their world got worse and worse?
I just adore this book so much and want to share the joy and get some other perspectives on it--I certainly come at it from a very particular angle, so it's POSSIBLE I'm more likely than most to fall in love with it...
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China Miéville says we shouldn’t blame science fiction for its bad readers
I was looking for the status of Miéville's next book (soon!) and came across this article.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/30/author-china-mieville-says-we-shouldnt-blame-science-fiction-for-its-bad-readers/
An interesting take on us sci-fi fans, how sci-fi shapes our dreams and desires, and how idealism crosses over into reality.
It's a long read for Reddit standards, but the TLDR quote would be:
"...even though some science-fiction writers do think in terms of their writing being either a utopian blueprint or a dystopian warning, I don’t think that’s what science fiction ever is. It’s always about now. It’s always a reflection. It’s a kind of fever dream, and it’s always about its own sociological context."
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Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
Have had this on my bookshelf for nearly 10 years and decided to give it a go as I’ve banned myself from buying new books until I finish the ones I already have.
The premise is very interesting (Italian resistance during WW2) and the reviews for this on goodreads and on reddit are glowing. However, I’m DNFing at 200 pages.
The writing feels so clunky and unrefined. For example, there is one scene where the protagonist is helping a pregnant Jewish lady cross over the Alps into Switzerland and the dialogue is literally her going “Ahhh!!” and “Wheeee!” as they go down a mountain slope. You can definitely tell this was self-published. I looked into it more and the only accolades it received was “No 1 on the Amazon charts” which feels strange for such a highly rated book.
Pino’s story is fascinating (whether or not it’s actually a true story) but the quality of writing just reads like fan-fiction.
Am I just being a snob?
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Why is A Little Life so highly regarded?
I can't understand why this is so highly regarded? I find the abuse so excessive it borders on disgusting by the author, like its such a stupid degree of abuse it feels like she's enjoying writing it?
Maybe its because the trauma depiction is good? People like a good cry? I cried a bit but not enough for this to be worth it at all, although my life has been pretty trauma free so maybe this wasn't for me, I just found the level of the endless abuse disgusting by her. There really didn't need to be that much to get the point across. Did not need to be 800 pages at all either.
The fact that the 3 other characters really don't matter that much (or at least 2 are essentially worthless) doesn't bother me, or that they all become omega experts in their fields is fine, but how much Jude gets the shit kicked out of him incessantly is far too excessive for me.
To be honest my hatred of the book has been recursively incrementing every time I think about it so I have biased myself out of any real positives from the book.
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US nonprofit National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), recently embroiled in AI and content moderation scandals, shuts down after 25 years, citing financial issues
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/01/nanowrimo-shut-down-after-ai-content-moderation-scandals/
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Can you put aside some outdated ideas to enjoy “classics” or really good books?
In terms of racism, sexism, classism, etc.
For example, you read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and notice some racist tone in certain phrases. Do you automatically assume the writer is racist and does this affect how much you enjoy the book? Do you take into account the time period it was written in?
Or Gabriel Garcia Marquez and notice inappropriately aged relationships (14 yo with an elder man).
What’s one book where you see an issue like this, acknowledge it, but still enjoy the book because of style or content?
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Small bookstores are coming back with a vengeance in Houston, Texas
https://houstonlanding.org/houston-is-experiencing-a-reading-renaissance-as-small-bookstores-open-across-the-city/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=%F0%9F%8F%A1%20Tax%20dollars%20pile%20up%20as%20Colony%20Ridge%20delays%20spending&utm_campaign=2025-03-31%20Colony%20MMD%20-%20PS&vgo_ee=yRkSNqeX1DtoEgef2mnrxQq4ouVjKj5iw2NRL7R6G5G6uP4PDVBgpVE%3D%3AniMEzAvWJ2eXCaIGdydKOpYvIV%2BO8OX0
https://redd.it/1jp6mjd
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Fairy Tale by Stephen King – A masterpiece or just rehashing the same thing
Hi everyone! I just finished reading Fairy Tale by Stephen King yesterday, and while I really enjoyed it (I love King’s style and his characters, so it’s hard for me not to like one of his books), I’ve started to notice a certain repetitiveness in his recent works.
Let me explain: even though the settings, plots, and various narrative elements change, his protagonists always seem to share very similar traits. On one hand, I don’t mind this because I easily grow attached to that kind of character, but on the other, I worry that over time it might become predictable and therefore less engaging.
Am I the only one who feels this way? Has anyone else noticed this trend in his books?
https://redd.it/1joxk97
@r_books