Status Updates From The Scholomance

Going to pause this and come back later. For whatever reason I’m not enjoying this read

This is very very very slow. The reviews critical of pacing were on to something

Starting another Smith book and I’m nervous

I think R Lee Smith has burrowed her way into my skin, like a bot fly.

This is one of my favorite authors, and I am utterly horrified by what she writes. I couldn’t even finish one of her books because it made me nauseous. And she doesn’t seem to know a trigger or a limit to what she will put on paper.

There are few writers who can build a character from bone to nerves, muscle, flesh and hair, like her.

All she knew was that it didn't feel like just forgiveness in that outstretched hand, it felt like finality. She could step up and meet him shout for shout in even the worst of his rages without hesitation, but she shrank from him quiet on his knees, and she feared his open, empty hand.

He thought of Connie again, the way she'd been on the aerie he'd made for her, with the sun behind her hair, and it occurred to him that she'd looked beautiful, if only for that moment.

Then the spears withdrew, torpidly pouring themselves back into the Threshold and taking the body with them, until Venice was scraped off against the unfeeling door to land in a meaty heap at their feet, dead.