"Pomiędzy nami góry" to historia dwójki dorosłych ludzi, którzy spotkali się na lotnisku w ogromną śnieżycę oczekując na powrót do domu. W końcu zniecierpliwieni wynajmują awionetkę. Zrządzanie losu sprawia, że awionetka rozbija się w górach, gdzie od tej pory, kompletnie odcięci od świata Ben i Ashley muszą stawić czoła wszelkim przeciwnościom i niebezpieczeństwom, jakie czyhają na nich w tej mocno śnieżnej, mroźnej głuszy.

Lekkości tej książce nadaje postać Ashley, której ironiczne, sarkastyczne dialogi z Benem sprawiały, że nie zasnęłam przy [często] monotonnym, bardzo techniczne brzmiącym języku Bena. Ogólnie to właśnie dialogi między tą dwójką są według mnie najlepszym elementem tej książki. Ten humor był bardzo przydatny, choć po połowie książki zaczął być przewidywalny.

Cała historia jest ciekawa, ale chwilami "zabijają ją" fragmenty, w których Ben zmaga się z naturą. A są to niekiedy dość długie fragmenty, bo obejmujące połowę rozdziału bądź cały rozdział. To samo tyczy się wstawek z życia Bena i jego żony Rachel, o których Ben opowiada mówiąc do dyktafonu. Nie byłoby w tym wszystkim nic dziwnego, gdyby nie to, że około połowy zaczęło mnie to już męczyć. Książka stała się przez to mocno nużąca. Najprawdopodobniej niektórym czytelnikom mogłoby się to spodobać i zdaję sobie sprawę z tego, że te opisy pewnie nie stanowiłyby większego problemu, aczkolwiek ja liczyłam w tej historii na więcej emocji, więcej akcji (choćby takiej jak to  niebezpieczeństwo/zagrożenie, jakie czułam przy opisach ataku pumy...). Chyba moje oczekiwania były zgoła inne niż to, co autor zaserwował.

Daję ocenę "przeciętną", ale gwiazdki u mnie oznaczają ostatecznie książkę niezłą, dzięki paru pozytywnym aspektom, które tu zauważam. Krytykuję bo lekko się zawiodłam, i choć samo zakończenie, które było dla mnie zaskakujące (gdzie otrzymałam w końcu emocje, których wcześniej gdzieś po drodze zabrakło) jest według mnie dobre, to jest to dla mnie trochę za mało, aby wystawić wyższą ocenę. To jednak tylko moje subiektywne zdanie o tej pozycji. Każdy powinien ocenić ją według siebie.

Opinia opublikowana na moim blogu:
https://literackiepodrozebooki.blogspot.com/2021/12/pomiedzy-nami-gory.html

John Boyne ukazuję nam trudne karty historii XX wieku widziane oczami małego dziecka. 

Pierrot to siedmioletni chłopiec, pół Francuz, pół Niemiec, mieszkający w Paryżu. Przyjaźni się z żydowskim głuchoniemym chłopcem - Anszelem, który wychowuje się bez ojca. Ma szczęśliwe choć biedne życie. Wszystko uległo zmianie po śmierci rodziców. Zostaje przygarnięty przez ciotkę i znalazł się w Niemczech. Razem z nią zamieszkał w posiadłości...Adolfa Hitlera.

Dla Pierrota Hitler to miły pan, który go lubi i robi mu prezenty. Pod wpływem obcowania z Adolfem mały Peter zmienia się. I jest to przemiana raczej tragiczna w skutkach. Przymusowy dom staję się dla chłopca więzieniem. Dzieciństwo pełne niespodziewanych wydarzeń i braku miłości oraz szybki start w dorosłe życie w imię ideologii staje się dla niego zgubne. 

To poruszająca historia o moralności. Czasami w trakcie trudno mi było zachować dystans do zdarzeń. Jesteśmy świadkami przemiany uczynnego dziecka w samolubnego i egoistycznego potwora. 

Książka napisana jest prostym językiem, więc czyta ją się dosyć szybko. Powieść pouczająca i ma dla czytelnika ważny przekaz, który zostaje na długo w pamięci. Jest to historia od której trudno się oderwać. Naprawdę polecam!!!!

I knew there was a chance that I would be disappointed when I decided to purchase Sawfish, given what I've read from the author in the past. However, I really like his ideas, and this sounded like the perfect sort of relaxing monster novel to listen to. It's been a while since I had one of those, so I decided to give Mr. Chesler another chance.

I wish I hadn't.

Sawfish has a great concept. It sets up perfectly to be this rip-roaring, monster-of-the-deep sort of novel. It had the potential to be so-bad-it's-good. Instead it was just bad. The sawfish was cool, don't get me wrong. The problem is that the author spends way too much time on the two main characters. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except in this case both of the main characters are unlikable idiots!

For fans of The Walking Dead, Raymond is an evil Eugene. At least that's how I pictured him in my head. It didn't help that the narrator had that sort of nasal tone which built the ticked-off nerd image in your head. (The narrator was a perfect choice for this book, actually. I think it made it feel a bit more believable being told in that particular tone.) He wants revenge and then he wants to get back the attention he feels he rightly deserves. He's a toe rag.

But I will give Rick Chesler this: Even though Raymond is a douche, I still found myself rooting for him. When he's going up against the sawfish, I was hoping he'd win. He's not a likable character by any means, but you do find yourself cheering for him occasionally.


Elise is worse than Raymond is, and that's saying something. It's been a while since I disliked a female character as intensely as I disliked her. At least he had intelligence going for him, even if his personality and ego often overruled it. I spent too much of the book actively hoping something gruesome happened to her.

My favorite chapters were the sawfish attacks. The characters in them were often throwaways, but I didn't care. Those were the sections of the novel that I wanted to read more of. Anything so that I wouldn't have to listen to Raymond whine, boast, and plan.

Most of the ending was pretty good. The location and how things got rigged up was unique. The author did a great job of painting the scene in my mind. But the last few pages ruined it for me. My opinion already wasn't high on the book, and then we have something completely unbelievable happen from one of the characters. The twist wasn't believable. Not even a little bit.

Overall, it was a great concept and was voiced by a good narrator. I just didn't care for the actual execution or the characters. Can't recommend it.

Forget clawed mutants and moody men of steel. Jake Bible’s Grotesques are the heroes this world needs. Stone Cold Bastards is outright bloody fun. I love zombies, and I’m a fan of the author’s Z-Burbia series, but I think this was much better. It is a gust of fresh air blowing away some of the rancid post-apocalyptic rot pervading the genre.

Sometimes you just want to watch the world burn. If you cannot watch it burn, then you at least want to see geysers of blood and rib-cage battering rams. If none of those are available, chocolate will suffice. Luckily for me, I didn’t need to resort to chocolate. Jake Bible’s Stone Cold Bastards gave me all the head-bursting violence my blackened heart could want.

It also appealed to the teen in me. The one who discovered the show Gargoyles and sat in front of the TV for hours on end, watching the protectors of New York kick evil guy butt. Though you daren’t call the Stone Cold Bastards anything other than Grotesques, it’s clear there is a resemblance. Living stone attached to a sanctuary are moved halfway across the world to America and take up their positions as guardians.  These herculean heroes of various proportions are a bit cruder and less puppy-doggish than the Gargoyles I knew and loved, but they have an undeniable appeal. Especially the shotgun toting fairies with mouths that would make a sailor blush.

Though Stone Cold Bastards doesn’t exactly hit the ground running, by the time you’re halfway through the book, you’ve forgotten the real world exists. A literary treat that will have you on the edge of your seat, always ready to do a fist pump and cheer the Grotesques on. Morty and company burst to life in your mind’s eye. As tension builds and the violence becomes almost non-stop, it’s impossible to put down.

And Bible’s world in Stone Cold Bastards is a scary one. There are no zombies, but instead, there are demons. In this new post-apocalyptic world, the gates of Hell have opened and demons are queuing up to take their turns in the meat bags there were inheriting the earth. But human bodies can’t contain the festering rot of evil for long, and as the book opens, there’s only one Sanctuary of uncorrupted humanity left.  What makes this so scary, though, is that in this world all it takes is eye contact to become possessed. Bible takes something that we take for granted and twists it effortlessly into something with terrifying consequences.

By the time I was 30 pages from the end of Stone Cold Bastards, I was grinning like a loon. After it had finished, I went full on fangirl squealing and bugging my book-reviewing compadres to put it on their To-Read list immediately. I haven’t shown so much geekish excitement over a book since I read Andy Weir’s The Martian a few years ago.

Even a few days later, I still grin every time I think about the awesomeness that is Stone Cold Bastards. It’s an unashamedly campy, no-holds-barred post-apocalyptic thrill ride that will make you cheer. And maybe do a little Snoopy dance. (Or maybe that’s just me. What can I say? Some gals go gaga for romance, some go nuts for butt-kicking.)

This book started out so good I was sure I’d be giving it at least 4 stars. The first half of the book is a very suspenseful cat and mouse game between a damaged woman and a deranged psychopath. I was on the edge of my seat reading. And I never saw the twist coming.

But once that twist comes, the book turns into a gore fest. At that point, it just became another horror book with over the top violence. It was still suspenseful but the acts of torture were truly hard to read and I felt it became predictable.

One element of the book that I felt the author handled very well was the flash backs to show why the main female character Kristine was so damaged. She did a good job in fleshing out this woman and the strength she had drawn from the horrendous events in her life. But I don’t think she handled the flash backs to show the development of a psychopath as well.

All in all, due to the edge-of-your-seat beginning and the development of Kristine, I’ll give the book 3 stars.

This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.