chychy > Recent Status Updates

11/3: didn’t listen today but remembered to log it in Goodreads. We’ve met Jim Nightshade and Will not-as-cool-last-name who are best friends. We’ve met their families and the circus/carnival is getting ready to roll into town. There was also a guy selling lightning rods and I swear I’ve seen a similar character in a Stephen King novel…maybe Dead Zone? I’m getting bad vibes from Jim.

10/27: this dude Ernest is an idiot. Insisting on playing Sherlock because you’ve been in a locked room mystery once before is ridiculous. Ignoring your partner and relegating them to side character only to later interrogate them for a murder is actual dirtbag behavior. I hope Juliette has the self-respect to stay away from him. He can have his book and stay single.

10/25: we’ve met the cast of authors and our main character, Ernest, is a bit too sensitive for my taste. I get feeling disappointed that your idol rated your debut book poorly (a 1 star rating is just being petty tbh) but don’t let all these other people know you’re feeling insecure! As for plot, I’m expecting MacTavish to die. They alluded to his cane so now I think he’s getting his head smashed.

10/21: we’ve met Maeve and the disastrous July 4th celebration that has resulted in her cursed and hiding in the woods. Let this be a lesson to mind your business and run away from threats rather than trying to be a hero. It looks like the touch is what kills people, but the curse is also transmitted through contact. And yeah the whole town gotta be quarantined at this point.

10/19: didn’t read it today but I made progress with this book during my last few shifts at Sheppard. It’s sorta an anthology. And the stories are sufficiently eerie. I see how it could’ve grown out of SCO lore.

10/19: okkkk it’s finally coming together now. I gotta give props to Kurihara, the boy is wicked smart to piece together these 11 stories. I could make connections between the obvious ones and how the cult is at the center of it, but I’ll need to see how the cult relates to the rich girl and her grandmother that fell down the stairs.

10/19: we’ve listened to all the files and now we’re going to have draftsman Kurihara piece the puzzle together for us. Several of the stories have mentioned this Cult of Rebirth with their one-armed/one-legged goddess and many of the families in the files seem to belong to the cult, so I imagine that will prove relevant. I was most disturbed by the story of the starving boy.

10/14: just finished listening to file 4, the Mousetrap House and it’s an interesting thought that Mitsuko may have played a role in killing her grandmother. The narrator talks about how she belonged to the poorest caste in her school, and quickly adopts all the signs of wealth once she becomes a CEO. But internally, it seems she is still that “poor” kid pretending to fit in. Must be exhausting.

10/12: a bit outside my usual zone but I was curious about the concept. A series of slightly creepy short stories. Tale #1 centered on a woman whose childhood home had a hidden chamber.

10/10: just finished Ch. 153 and Cui Buqu is not messing around with these elite scumbags. Straight up executed Wu Yi and Li Yan, Yang Yun’s accomplices behind the grain hoarding endeavor and then had a fake Feng Xiao kill one of the heads of the wealthy families in the assembly hall. This must be what people mean when they say ‘eat the rich’

9/26: Charlie has officially inherited his uncle’s villain business and he might be kinda dead after another unfortunate fire at the local inn.

9/23: turns out Charlie’s cat is sentient and has her own place. Which is incredibly fortunate for Charlie as his childhood home just went up in flames. Also the stabber is named Tobias and he seems to have a history with Matilda. Rough 24 hours for my boy Charlie

9/22: set this one down for a bit but finally reading it again! We’re at the funeral and learning that all the attendees are actually hitmen tasked with ensuring Uncle Jake is dead…🫢 In other news, Charlie has been visited by the cat delivery system—welcome Persephone to the plot!

Just met antimemetic Gage and holyyy what a creepy one! Something actively erasing your existence from a conversation is terrifying. Curious to see how/what Mr. Lee is able to do to fight back

8/20: just as I suspected, Dr. Ross was correct in predicting that Benson would go off the rails and now he has murdered his girlfriend. I’m concerned that she made no effort to contact the hospital the minute Benson arrived at her house and instead she tried to conduct a psychotherapy session with a clearly unstable man. But maybe that’s an advanced psychiatric technique I haven’t learned yet.

8/18: Benson got his surgery and we’ve seen that at least one of the electrodes triggers an arousal response…I can’t foresee any negative consequences of that! (/s)

I think the psychiatrist is disillusioned by her male-dominated sphere. Her concerns are not valued and her suggestions are sluggishly implemented. I anticipate she’ll be the only one to see Benson spiraling before it’s too late.

8/13: the procedure has been completed in Benson and we’ve met a new guy who is eager to have the same procedure. They call him an ELAD (electricity addict). I wonder if he will become the antagonist of this story or if Benson will. The psychiatrist on the team is frustrated that her warnings were ignored, we shall see if her frustration is warranted.

8/6: ok so we’ve met Benson and the medical team attempting this novel operation on him. He’s being labeled as having a personality disorder (not sure which one…maybe schizoid given the delusion that computers are overtaking the world?) and some type of epilepsy that predisposes him to violent episodes. The psychiatrist is opposed to the endeavor but the neurologists are hellbent. We shall see what comes.

7/23: knew I loved Carl for a reason. His approach to the Maestro and his piglets or wtv he calls them was *chef’s kiss*. And I definitely prefer Zev to Mukta because Zev at least tried to collaborate. And yuck to seeing Frankie/Maggie again. Sorry for their loss but it’s literally HER fault! I’m just glad Carl didn’t kill the kid, he would’ve felt bad for ages

7/22: ahh! I didn’t realize I was so close to the end of the book (chapter 40 of 47). We’ve learned that Carl and Donut are so popular as to have a specially designated agent who will field interviews for them. Unfortunately, the issue of “be entertaining for the masses, even if you’re staring down your mortality” is an issue in the Dungeon like it was for our peeps in the Hunger Games.

7/21: ok I’ve made it through a couple (read: a ton) more chapters and I’m still enjoying the story. Donut has become more likable (and her hysterical voice is still funny). Carl desperately needs a pair of pants. And no, underwear 🩲 doesn’t count. We’ve made it to Floor 2 and met a group of senior citizens and their wranglers. We also met a homeless woman, Agatha, but I think she’s dead now.

6/26: ok so it’s been a minute since I last touched this book lol, but it looks like we’re having more dead people popping up in Ascension. Now the town doc is half alive after his suicide attempt via ingestion. It also looks like all the undead are highly irritable. And we know Benjamin already killed Lucy. Oh and Moses found this little girl who was being kept in a cellar.

6/25: This was a nice evolution of their relationship. I was very happy to see this book was more Ilya-centric and getting to see Shane as Ilya’s support for a change. I liked the depiction of depression (+ Ilya’s hope that he could find enough happy moments to stave off the negative feelings). Having seen the near plane crash in the last book, it was nice to see how it also accelerated this relationship

6/23: I’m hoping this story is a bit more centered on Ilya compared to Shane since I feel the first book was very Shane-centric. I’m a bit worried about the restrictive eating we’re seeing in Shane already. I also don’t like the hints of depression in Ilya. I hope the angst isn’t too heavy on this one lol, I’m not built to handle heavy angst 😅

5/15: ok so now it seems like the undead are going to become irritable/mean to the living. I wonder if this tension will escalate into violence. I’m also glad Moses ditched Frank Smiley (the horse thief). He was a comedic character (like Tom the witch hunter from Red Rabbit), but equally frustrating (again, like Tom).

5/13; got a chunk of reading done at the hospital. Turns out Moses is dead and he’s run into another dead man named Frank. And despite knowing Frank can’t die again, Moses still shot this other guy that came to kill Frank to avenge his brother (whom Frank had shot). Also the animals can’t die either, so Ascension is going to become very crowded very soon.

5/13: So it turns out it has been several years since the events of Red Rabbit. Moses got married, grieved his wife’s death, and shot the Angel of Death. Sadie and Rabbit have discovered an angel (or something masquerading as one) in the attic of Bethany Hill. Rose’s cousin Clarice was on death’s door but is now walking again. Same for Clarice’s son. Oh, and there’s a guy hunting witches.