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End chpt 4. It’s sad to see how the military and government totally ignored the nasa engineers when designing the space shuttle. More focused on cost and military use instead of making a safe aircraft, like they never learned from the 012 or x-15 disasters. Again, also shocked at how much power the ex-nazi was given over creating american rockets.

End chpt 3. Explained how various early shuttle planes/models were developed. Very mechanical jargon heavy chapter with lots of players and time jumps. I was shocked at the heavy influence of german nazi engineers in the creation of the early shuttle prototypes and nasa. Also shocked by how involved yet quiet the air force was at trying to make a military space presence despite that not being the goal.

End chpt 2. Covered the investigation into 012’s fire accident and how the space program fell out of favor. I liked seeing the parallels between what the space program was doing and how the country was also struggling with so many social issues that it affected the favor of nasa to the people. It makes sense the insane budget nasa had would have been a point of contention with struggling Americans.

End chpt 1. I had no idea about spacecraft 012 and this tragedy. The author has an uncanny ability to write very matter of factly yet still makes ur heart race because you know whats coming and the tiny details leading up to it makes the final act just so much more tragic. What horrific incompetence from all involved except the 3 astronauts that advocated until the end.

Prologue. I wanted to highlight the last sentence. I was born when this tragedy happened, but i have heard this exact line many times in songs, movies, ect and never knew what it was originally from. Gives a much more haunting meaning to most of those media pieces now. How gut punching

End of book. The last half was so good! I did cry a bit at pete’s death and was shocked at the violent ending. But i’m glad that pontiac, her dad, and mrs. ward survived. The monster was depicted very differently at the end but i dont think it was bad. A lot of strings tied but and crossed pretty well at the end which I enjoyed. It was a good final half i’d say.

End chpt 47. The last half of the book is significantly better than the first. I feel like the characters are finally real. I believe this is the half written by the second author because it feels a lot different, but much better writting. I love the chapters with pete, mrs. ward, and pat (city detective). Showed a lot of emotion and character change and laid down the reasons for future reconnings.

End chpt 42. I actually like the last few chapters with pontiac, her father, and his mother reuniting in a FL trailer park. It was sweet family caring, despite his alcohol withdraws. Theres a certain homie feeling in trailer parks thats rough but sweet and these chapters captured that a lot, reminded me of my own sweet childhood memories. I liked this section a lot

End of part one. This book is weird which keeps my interest. It’s like nothing is happened while everything is happening. Nothing that happens seems like it should be and just feels thrown in for the sake of it. I still like doc and mrs wards characters though.

End chpt 31. This chapter was so stupid. Why was the monster seducing a 9-10year old girl wtf? Who writes that into a book. The chapter before was sweet with doc and pontiac though. But im really uncomfy with the seducing chapter.

End chpt 29. I hated this entire last chapter. This interaction seems very unnatural between pontiac and doc. Also random zombie is introduced for no reason at all? This whole interaction seems forced. And why did pontiac fall out of friendship with saphir? I don’t think that was explained at all, they seemed fine? Doc is an interesting character himself but i dislike the way this is all written.

End chpt 26. The swamp monster is honestly terrifying. Its the only great thing about the book, the descriptions of how the monster kills. Its truly awful. But every thing else if fairly mundane. It takes a long time to get anywhere with these characters because most of the chapters are just describing bits of the characters day to day life. I also found more spelling errors and editing mistakes. Not a great look

Start chot 27. The book has taken a sharp turn i was absolutely not expecting. Cult behavior, secret lesbian relationships, cheating, a home takeover, grooming. It really is such a shame they all met Jodie because it seems like things would have been fine if they hadn’t. What a narcissistic individual, like a parasite.

Start of chpt 17 found first proof of poor editing. Words that should have been deleted were left in making for poor sentence structure that makes no sense.

End chpt 14. Shari is a fabulous writer especially when describing complex feelings of a teen. So far I’m waiting for the shoe to drop, while her family dynamic so far is not healthy, it isn’t overtly scary or outright abusive. It’s sad to think it gets so much worse compared to what her life was like at this point in the book. I relate a lot to her depictions of teen depression and anxiety. Very well written

I feel like there is something missing to this book that makes me not connect with it. Pontiac having a sudden mood change while fishing with Saphir came put of no where and was confusing. Some of the characters seem to move and talk like robots doing something they have to and not like fleshed out characters acting in their own right. Im not sure how much I enjoy this writing style.

A swamp demon is waking up and seeking retribution. Introduction to the deputies and little girl protagonist Pontiac. Book starts out very violent, first child murdered by the creature. I don’t know that I enjoy knowing the monster so quickly in the book, doesn’t leave any suspense or wonder. Some sentence structure is hard to read (this is separate from the accent it almost seems like it was edited badly)

Somehow this last chapter seems like a totally different author wrote it? Not sure if Blake had a pause between this part and the last but it reads very different. It’s more clunky and hard to follow. The time skip doesn’t help, I’m used to the present being described in great detail and now shes using Libby to summarize the past? It’s a strange choice and feel jarringly different

End part 3. First battle, got to see unlikely pairings working together. The author isn’t great at describing fighting and action, instead focuses on internal monologue and feeling. So far Tristan and Reina are intriguing me the most. They seem like underdogs and Im curious where that will go. Still greatly enjoying the story

End part 2. This part only focused on the brief period after orientation and before they gave their acceptance. Theres already scheming happening and I find it amusing. I’m still liking everything s far.

End of Parisa’s intro. This girl in conniving! I like her attitude and the sexual appetite she has honestly. And telepathy is something interesting. Shes scary but seeing others thoughts helps flesh out the other characters a lot. Makes me really interest in the naturalist woman and Tristian now. End of part one.

End of Callum’s into. This guy is a prick, i can tell he is going to ruffle my feathers a lot. I can’t tell what his ability is but I think it is persuasion. Just a real entitled prick if a guy this one.

End if Tristan’s intro. I like this guys background the best so far. And his magical ability the best, and illusionist that can see all magical spells others didn’t think he could see? I like these drawn out introductions so far a lot.

End of Reina’s into. I like this girl too. A girl with magical ability to make nature grow or die at whim? Pretty cool. I also love that she has shunned her talent and instead is in love with books and mythology. Reminds me of a more apathetic version of myself.

End of Libby’s introduction. I love Libby and Nico’s into so far. I think its funny and intriguing. I can see how reviewers said it is banter heavy but I like it. Makes me feel at home like I get to actually learn the characters.

I love the librarian describing monsters of inter-dimensional space in a library as normal scary book related things. Such as a thesaurus, literary criticism, ect. Very funny to me

Notable quote: when he flexes his shoulder muscles, other muscles have to move out of the way first.

Notable quote: a young man heading for the city with all the openness, sincerity and innocence of purpose of an iceberg drifting into a major shipping lane. The young man is called Carrot.

End part 3. This part delt with different parts of the concepts of fear and change. Primary point was to not let your general fears control your life. Instead sit with them and the discomfort and let it move through you so that it wont be trapped forever in the mind and heart. Remember you are observer and not your fears. This could have been one chptr max. Its very drawn out and repetitive sadly.

End chpt 11. Skim read and feel like I actually got the concept better than reading every word since I passed up all the fluffy BS. Deals with the discomfort of change and psychological pain. He says we should relax into the pain to let if move through the body so it isn’t stored up. He doesn’t explain how exactly to do this, only to let it flow and don’t store it.