Marla Moreau > Recent Status Updates

The second half of this collection seems to have one story after another about women being abused in some way. Each story is well written, but it's hard to appreciate when I'm burned out on the topic.

Finished, just working on my review.

This is terribly written and full of holes, but super fun at the same time. Perfect for a brain break.

A literary speculative fiction and an introduction to yogacara (a tradition within Mahayana Buddhism) and the eight consciousnesses. I'm really enjoying this.

I love Vellum so far, but it's *dense*, taking a break from it to read this fun South Korean work. It's really good and making me glad I avoid sugar, LOL.

This is okay so far, a perfectly decent and fun romp but not something that seems like it will stick with me. It's hovering around a 4/5, but there's still plenty of book left for that to change.

This is brilliant. The author is either a chaos magician or an armchair occultist with impeccable research skills. The Sumerian mixed with everything else is *chef's kiss*.

I'm finished but can't leave a review until tomorrow. This one was a surprise. My rating is going to be in the range of 4.25-4.75, I just have to let it settle.

My reaction to the twist in the first story was "Dumb." so it's not boding well.

So because of the cover and the authors name, I was totally expecting this to be splatter punk adjacent. It's not. This is literary experimental... what a nice surprise. 👍

All the stories have been winners so far. Big thumbs up. This was a good choice to kick off spooky season.

Finished the first novella, Yellow Mud Street. I understand why it's so incredibly gross and the point it was making, but that doesn't mean it was a treat to get through. Eugh. Could have been half the length and not lost anything. Hoping Old Floating Cloud has fewer maggots and pieces of excrement. :/

The first 2 stories were great - 4.5 and 4.25 respectively.

I suspect this was not the best Can Xue to start with, besides needing a strong stomach to get through, the first novella also requires a good deal of knowledge about the Cultural Revolution to get why a strong stomach is needed/why it is told as it is. Powerful work, but man.

still just okay, but it's quite a mix of ratings so far, from 2 all the way to 4.5

Just okay, the stories are falling into the 2/5 to 4/5 range so far.

Wonderful so far - sparse, bleak, and surreal.

This is why I don't usually do series. This whole concept and world was great for the first 2 books, and while this one is technically good, I'm now bored. There's nothing new.

Done, will leave a review tomorrow. Surprisingly excellent, 4.5/5.

Opens with Borges having a conversation with his younger self - delightful.

Nothing has been as good as the opening novella, but there are some great stories in here.

Holy crap, the opening novella, 'Indiana Death Song' was amazing. 5/5. I didn't know Max Booth III was capable of such writing.

There are some pretty absurd things going on, but this is also a bit terrifying and a bit sad. 👍

Good so far!

Listening to this one on audio, it's okay so far. Just slowing making my way through the series.

I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed so far. I usually enjoy Evenson, but I'm not really feeling these stories. A lot of fragments, and the fully realized stories just aren't striking me.

I finished, but I'm going to reread it before I leave a review now that I know the conclusion. That's not a bad thing! My rating will be somewhere between or equal to 4.5 and 5.