Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine) > Recent Status Updates

This is such effective horror. The bodies, the feeling that the Aurora is alive and just knowing that Claire is almost broken by what she hears and sees here.

Nysus is such a neurodiverse coded character. He's hyper intelligent and gets so distracted and excited by reseach. Lourdes really doesn't deserve what she has found herself in. A young religious women in a graveship? Nope. Voller is just a dick.

Oh jeez that death... Voller's death, is brutal. But why is Nysus not haunting her? I mean it suits his character but why?

I really don't like or trust Max. He's manipulative.

I can see Claire being something of an unreliable narrator. I don't hate it.

I already adore Nysus. My fave kinda tech nerd with a tad of an isolationist side.
I feel for Lourdes poor girl did not know what she was getting into when she told Claire about that signal, or you know the whole run, really.

Still doing audiobook. Cisi has her own pov now. I think it's Emily Rankin narrating, so she is doing two (Cyra).
I really like Ast, a blind mechanic friend of Isae. I love the tech that is used to make his life easier.
Oh and I adore Teka's currentgift.

Mom's back! Love her.

These two are going to break my heart. Cyra and Akos are lovely together. They are the only ones who can keep each other stable in the mess that is Ryzek's regin.

I'm guessing Ryzek and Eijeh are essentially becoming one and the same. Eijeh has so many of Ryzek's traits and worst memories now. The question is how far is the tyrant going to go with this.

Oh...
I did not expect to be going into a flashback situation. Or to have the brothers essentially ending up as the same person.

There are pilgramige vibes to the Carve the Mark. I really like the blood language idea, I don't think I've ever seen anyone write it. Certainly not like this. Making language such a basic and important difference is very smart, it's done well.
I definitely did not understand Akos's currentgift until her started using it, but his really is a gift.

How had I completely forgotten Austin Butler was one of the voices in this?
I already kinda like the lore in this. The sibs (twins?) have equal yet opposite magics makes 100% sense.

Tembi has a really nice voice. Her story as I've heard it to this point is lovely. I can already see how this is going to hurt.

Well... that's one way the show the toll of war. And I believe it's true to life. That's well written pain. I'm glad Kate didn't dwell on it there would have been little time for that.

Oh and Mila's husband is damn cockroach. Can you please just be ended already. It would be safer for tweenage girls anyway.

Well the husband may be a dick but he is damn good at his job.
The mercenary's opinions are interesting to hear. Though not always correct.

I really like Mila. I adore Kostia. We've just met Alexei, a friend of Kostia and the love interest as the book goes.
This book seemingly has such a short time frame, about 18 months.

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a scary woman. But in In The Diamond eye she is just Mila, an occasionally amusing, mother of one just doing what she needs to do in the face of the Germans. And proving her idiotic tosser of an ex wrong.
I like Kate Quinn's take on Eleanor Roosevelt. She feels right. So does the mercenary.

This is possibly one of the more unusual books I've listened to. From what I can tell, it's going to follow the astronauts as they travel around the globe for 24 hours (16 rotations). I like the mix of characters, there are six of them, and they are a true melting pot of types/personalities.
But hey, in the wake of PS2026 being released, I can tell you this fits one of those prompts.

The differences these women experienced between their foreign ports must have been whiplash. The difference between Rio and Cape Town in the 1780s? Dramatic to say the least.

But now we are in the final stretch for Sydney Cove, the end of their journey. For most their final home.

😔 It's taking me way too long to read this.

Rees spends a brief moment discussing the 1780s rebellions in Brazil. How is it I know so many of these names? These failed revolutionaries.

There is a reason for the brief segway the Lady Julian took supplies and rest in Rio de Janerio in 1789.

The contrast between Neptune's party (the celebration for crossing the equator on the Lady Julian) and the miscarriage of the unnamed woman is so, so stark. But a perfect way to show the differences between men and women. Not just convict and gaoler.

They legitimately turned it into a floating brothel, in Santa Cruz. It's sheer guess work as to who was facilitating, acting as Madam or Pimp but there is records of it.
Good for you ladies using your gods given assets for the potential revenue that can achieve.

Thd discussion about pregnancy prevention is interesting. How they did it, how much the women may or may not have known.
The muster for the ship's sailors is missing. We know who we know from Nicol and baptism records.

Huh 4 women escaped the night before the Lady Julian sailed. But uncharacteristic piss poor record keeping means we don't even know who 3 of them were.
Actually we don't even know how many women sailed on this boat at all. It could be anywhere between 245 (remembered by the steward) and 172 (the official number).

Well... well...
That was a rather blunt description of burning of the stake. Something I didn't expect to read today. Margaret Sullivan was condemned to that brutal death for treason.
For making fake coins

Her male conspirator hanged.

It's a struggle not to judge these people through modern eyes. The first girl woman on the ship to find herself pregnant was 17 yo Sarah Whitelam. The father? 34 yo steward and cooper, John Nicol. He's double her age and the only person able to free her from the chains.
Chirst.

Bringing Lydia Bennett into this is quite smart. We all remember her actions, having read or seen them but few realise this was a potential penalty without the interference of Mr Darcy.
It brings it to a reality of a form for the reader.

"Anyone who's ever read medieval visions of the afterlife knows that the authors always spend more words on the suffering of hell and purgatory than they do on the glories of heaven. Hell has conflict: the torturers vs. The damned. Purgatory has an arc: the eventual redemption of souls. But heaven is endless, unchanging bliss. Narratively, it doesn't have much going on."
All very fair and it explains the book.

I love the choice to include Sto-Vo-Kor and Gre'Thor. The two potential afterlife's for those from Star Trek's Klingon Empire. It is much like Valhalla but with perfect wolf like twists.

I quite like the worlds created by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger for A Matter of Life and Death (akaStairway to Heaven).

The worlds aren't so different from many in the book but the way they were filmed was. Like The Wizard of Oz they took advantage of Technicolor as it contrasts to black and white.

I'm pleased that Ken Jennings decided to include all three of Dante Alighieri's afterlife worlds from Paradise Lost.
I di appreciate the xhoice to include two from C.S. Lewis. They are different as is only befitting their different intended audiences.