Jack > Recent Status Updates

Really excited to try this, often described as Barker's best. May even get Simon Vance's audiobook to consume alongside, as this is a big book. Early signs are of intriguing characters and some great flourishes of prose.

Started yesterday afternoon and found this easy to drop into. I really like how fast the creepy things start happening in this book - it often seems to take a good third of the book before spooky hauntings occur, but Hill gets right into it.

Listening to this on Audible. I'm in Chapter 19, enjoying the building atmosphere and the dynamics of the friendship group. Arthur is a decent main character, if a little passive, but perhaps that is the point so far.

Probably won't finish this until I've read more of ASOIAF. Enjoyable, but secondary to the main event, IMO.

I've recently completed my mission of acquiring pristine/near-pristine second-hand copies of all the books in ASOIAF (maybe a photo at some point) - each for £2.49 other than this, a beautiful Folio Society edition of the one that started it all. I did get it from a second-hand shop and at a discount, but it was brand new.

I've read this before but find Martin's writing very easy on the eye regardless.

A slight lull, perhaps deliberate for some breathing room, since the most interesting character in the book (high bar!) died a while ago. Just now feels like it's picking up again after rumours of an earlier marriage by Lady Boleyn, and much smashing of furniture.

The famous "he" pronoun is more familiar, almost comforting, than anything. Enjoying the slow developments through dialogue; every scene seems to hold deep conversation, even if covered by surface wit.

As suspected, I'm enjoying this more now that I'm investing more time in it. The interiority is the defining characteristic so far, bordering on claustrophobic at times but always a deliberate choice. It's easy to lose timelines in Cromwell's trains of thought, written in a way that captures how our minds wander.

I'm keeping this as my sole read until I either finish or put it aside for good. It's too involved to have as a "read when I feel like it" book and there's no chance of getting the full amount from it when only dipping in from time to time.

Over the last hundred pages or so, things and characters have started to fall into place!