chychy > Recent Status Updates

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.

5/1: Just started and im realizing how much I’ve forgotten of the original story. But it seems like we’re meeting Moses, Rose, Rabbit, and Sadie Grace again. I just can’t determine if this is before or after the events of Red Rabbit (I suppose it has to be after since Rabbit and Sadie have found each other). Not sure what’s happening, but we’ve got a haunted house and a dying mother

4/28: The fact these two had beef since age 17 is ridiculous. I’m curious to see how long they do the enemies with benefits schtick before transitioning to boyfriends. Also Ilya is much nicer/more considerate than I was expecting from the TV clips. Like his first time with Shane is actually quite sweet.

3/18: interesting premise and reads like someone who wanted to create their own video game universe. Carl seems to be a reasonable protagonist and the world building explanations have been interesting thus far (little Hunger Games vibe with the patron boxes). Would be curious to see if anyone Carl knows ended up in the dungeon, or if he’s truly on his own.

2/2: Really loving this pick and our cast of characters. I actually started second guessing that Grub/Q was the lost prince since Loth was “so sure” that he couldn’t be. I like the budding dynamic between Q and Loth also.

1/28: boy King really wants you to feel the hundreds of miles trekked by the groups as they make their way to Nebraska. Namely Stu’s group consisting of Stu, Glenn, Harold, and Frannie. We’ve just met and dispatched a group of warmongers who I guess are rounding up women for kicks? It’s shocking what people get up to in crisis. And Harold’s heel turn is being heavily foreshadowed

1/27: Just started the book on a whim in the gym and I think it’s gonna be a fun ride. We’ve met Loth, a pickpocket recently jailed for attempting to steal from the wife of a guard. And his cell mate, who we only know as Grub since Loth finds him to be shabby in appearance. And now they’ve escaped the jail with the assistance of an orc, elf, and human. I’m pretty sure Grub is the missing prince.

1/21: steadily trudging along. We’ve gotten quite a lot of backstory for Mama Abigail. Nick and Tom met Ralph, Fran and Harold have met Stu, and Larry is now with Nadine, Joe, and another girl whose name I keep forgetting. I’m not sure King needed to toss in such a large helping of the N-word to communicate the harsh life Mama Abigail lived. I think her father being the first black man to own land clued us in

1/21: fun read so far, really love the narrator. Samwise is actually a bit of a donut I cannot lie. I get your employees have sob stories and don’t deserve to live on the streets, but they actually are expected to work while at, yknow, work! Bryon should’ve been fired ages ago and Tiff shouldn’t be able to rant and take nonsense breaks just because she wants to. Jonathan is not the bad guy here (business-wise)

1/13: almost done with Ch 43 and we’re finally into Part II of this epic. We’ve met the main cast and just met Julie, who is as despicable on the page as she was in the series. Kinda shocking that Nick slept with her. Also saw the interaction between Stu, Fran, and Harold play out in more detail. While I side with Stu (bc Harold is just awful), him taking a liking to Fran will definitely be a source of misery

1/11: I think it was Ch 37 where we meet a bunch of one-off characters to illustrate the notion of “no great loss”. It’s one of my favorite King tropes as he manages to create fairly complex characters that are inconsequential to the plot, but feel real. Some make you annoyed and some make you sad, but they all pass in the span of a second. Oh, and Rita is dead so…maybe we will meet Nadine?