Chris > Recent Status Updates

I'm having a tough time with this one. So much gratuitous violence. Characters are pretty one dimensional. Am going to try to stick with it as reviews indicate it gets better... But I'm skeptical.

I'm struggling! First 30% was terrific. I'm now at a point where there are long ambling looping descriptions that repeat and don't really propel the story forward...which I've started to take as a sign that the story doesn't know where its going - I call this "Under The Dome syndrome." I shall brace for deus ex machina. The only thing keeping me engaged is I'm slightly curious where Charlie ends up at the end of it.

Another fun installment in the series. Venice is the delightful backdrop to this installment. I enjoyed this one... not sure I loved it. I need to think on that a bit.

How could something so fascinating be made to be so dull! Am going to slog through to the end!

Had Heard this was a bit of a slog the first 200 pages. So far, I'm enjoying this far more than I thought I would. Am glad i opted to read rather than listen... there are many footnotes, and that just doesn't work well in audiobook format.

Bobby Shaftoe is now interesting. But so very many authorial digressions. I've happily found the 'go forward 30 seconds' button on my steering wheel... which I have to incorporate often at the oft-mentioned points where whatever character is being featured fights off yet another "full salute". Said "issue" does absolutely nothing to move the story along...and ceased to be amusing back in the first 100 pages. Annoyed.

Bloated. I swing between being highly entertained and being utterly bored by lengthy passages that do little for the storyline. I'm listening to this one in the car... I suspect being able to skim the actual pages might be a better approach to this one. Oh - and there are no women - except those few that are there to service the men in some way. Eyeroll.

I'm enjoying this... most of it. There's a lot of interesting world building when you wave away the gratuitous steamy bits. On that note - I'm astonished at the sheer number of 'wardrobe malfunctions' Clair has... her boobs are either flying free (giving a wider definition to the term 'bodice ripper') or her skirts are up around her ears (cue the SNL Alien Abduction sketch writers! There's humor to be mined here).

I'm enjoying this much much more than I thought I would. The Audiobook version is very well done!

I'm convinced it's never going to end.