Evan > Recent Status Updates

I'm having a hard time with this book even as I enter the final quarter, presumably the "home stretch" but I'm not discounting the possibility that this is a false peak. I find it surprising that anyone finds this book "laugh-out-loud" funny. Certainly I've gotten a good chuckle or two but most of it I have found dry and nearly incomprehensible, though I'm not given to schadenfreude so maybe the humor isn't for me.

I'm listening to the Audible version and I'm not sure if it's the narration or the first story or some combo of both but I'm not finding it particularly enjoyable at this point. I've put it on pause for a while and will come back when I've finished some other books.

The author seems to be increasingly focused on making a political statement to the point where it is taking away from the story. A more competent writer would be able to weave the two together but right now it seems like every few minutes of story is book-ended by about 5 minutes of political commentary and racism pushed beyond the bounds of caricature.

So far it feels appropriate to be reading this before Halloween but the narration is a little dry and the story is not the most engaging. Fortunately it's short so I'm going to stick with it.

Just finished "book one".
The male narrator's voice reminds me slightly of Bryan Cranston which is rather enjoyable.
The penny dropped (as it was clearly intended to) as we neared the end of this section and this book is WILD.

Still enjoying the story but the chemistry pedant in me is a little peeved at the loose/incorrect usage of the words element and compound that seems to be heavy in the later chapters.

The "not-quite-cyberpunk" aesthetic is still working for me, though it's starting to feel familiar in ways that aren't particularly comfortable. Jane feels like an audience-insert trying to wake Paper up to the bizarre and awful realities of her world and I wish more of her message was getting through at this point.

So far the universe feels like a version of the cyberpunk America of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash seen through the lens of the main character's twee optimism.