Dave Stone > Recent Status Updates

Why do I do this to myself?
Knowledge may be power, but knowing the truth doesn't always bring happiness.
I like Stan Lee. I've actually seen Stan speak at a ComicCon. Yeah I knew he too more credit than he'd earned, but I saw him as a co-creator who took full credit, not as a guy who had contributed nothing and took full credit.
Maybe don't read this if you don't want to see Stan as a schmuck.

haven't read a page of this all week.
Seems unlikely I'll ever finish.

The humor is similar to Magic Murder Cube Marine,
but just doesn't grab me the same way. The story / plot is better but it's not as much fun.

Might get back to it later. I got so sick of the "I'm not worthy" and the "I'm just a dirty peasant" and even the "I defile this place with my presents"
I get that the author is setting up to contrast with the future, but there won't bee no future if everyone quits in disgust.
A little goes a LONG way, and you laid it on way too thick.

10%, unlikely to finish, the self loathing of the MC is hard to stomach.
Yes, as a peasant he was conditioned by the state sponsored religion to view himself as unworthy but Jesus Christ does Icalos rub it in over and over.
Secondly, this is not cozy. There are serious stakes, like the end of the world serious. There are massacres, tragedies, despair, and violent death. -How the hell is that cozy?

It pains me to say it, but I'm struggling with this book. I went back and read Goblins & Greatcoats (the prequel/intro short story), that helped some but I just can't seem to warm up to this and I wonder why Travis Baldree wrote such a bummer story.
The words themselves aren't individually sad, but all of them together fill me with nameless dread.

It's better, but...
There are still a lot of amateurish writing tricks, an over reliance on 'tension', and the padding out of some thin ideas.
Overall, I like the larger story arc -but I'm not enamored with the details.

This Magical Academy book is borrowing heavily from Chamber of Secrets. But then while he's at it, why not borrow from all the other HP books too?
So he did. -also, it's boring me to tears. caring less and less about each character.

The first two books in this series are moody and atmospheric, but at they have comfort, hope, and descriptions of good food smells.
-Therefore: Cozy.
This one went right past moody & atmospheric and into gloomy & sad.
From comfort, hope, and good food -to- lost in the wood, despair/regret, and bad food.
...and it's just more sad than I want to deal with on top of autumn where the sun sets at 4:25pm.

I'll be back after a short break.
Just can't seem to engage with this one. It's classic Fred right enough, but I'm finding it irksome reading.

This really isn't working for me.
I'll finish it, but it seems off like bad milk.

I'm at 90% and I've lost almost all interest in this book.
I don't care how it ends and I'm just reading it for it to be over.

After all the clechés this book had at 20%...
The MC meets a pandaren on "Brewery" highway, quotes LotR with "pandarens are wasted on marathons, were natural sprinters", and then a wizard literally drops down from the sky and turns this into a Magical Academy book where the mean teacher is called Professor Worm.

I'm at 20% and I've almost quit this book 4 or 5 times.
Cliches, lazy tropes, Lines stolen from sitcoms, bizarre escalations, and scenes so out of place I was sure they were a dream sequence.
I can tell this guy watches a lot of TV

Change of Status
Good news / Bad news kinda' thing
As of Friday Oct 17 I will no longer have the truck driving job that allowed me to listen to audio books all day. This is going to seriously cut into the number of book I can read/ review going forward.

I still read in my spare time and every chance I get, but it wont be at work on the bosses dime anymore. To think this had to happen to me.

This guy is cynical crossing occasionally into nihilistic,
...but man can he write.
You will come across a phrase or passage that makes you catch your breath and want to run across the apartment and read it to your partner.

After reading volume 2 I realized I couldn't remember half of volume1, so I went back. I especially want to reread the story of the super villain as a fantasy world hero.

This is a book of short stories, almost novellas. The first one is giving me trouble. The premise is SO contrived that it just couldn't happen. And then the reactions of the NPCs is so unlikely that adds another layer. What could be an interesting character study / homecoming story is just author forced horseshit. The suspension of my disbelief is severely taxed.

Jacob is right, this is pretty good.
Don't know if it's 5 star good, but I'm enjoying it.

Jacob is right, this is pretty good.

Jesus Christ I forgot how much rape this book had in it.

Okay, it's getting better.
The rough start of this book is that it doesn't seem to have a point.
but the wheels are starting to grip and we're getting some traction.
Sadly, the unstated romance thing have never been less interesting. it's really bugging me this time.

This book isn't really going anywhere. The case they are working is kinda' bullshit.

Yes, I know what she is. No, I don't agree with her about trans people...
But you can't deny this author can write one hell of a book.

This thing is so flimsy, I can NOT focus on this book
This is a GREAT housework book, because you will literally clean your house to avoid reading it.
I would have quit so many times already but I'm trying to get to book 6.
now I wonder why

This book is forgettable.
I read it two and a half years ago, and I can't remember a single thing that happens. Even now as I re-read it I'm not getting any "Oh yeah" moments as I remember events just as they are revealed.
Additionally, I feel like I'm forgetting it all over again as I go.

-Second Reading-
This book made me very mad the first time I read it because it went from great to garbage.
-But on the second reading I see that... it wasn't so great after all.

A friend of mine asked me to read this book.
It has some very clever writing. Mick Herron has a sharp wit but the over all mood of this book is dark and cynical.
All the characters hate each other, and I find that so exhausting. But if you like bitter, snarky, and sometimes down right nasty, here it is.

Suspicion is not proof. but I've seriously wondered if Edwin M. Griffiths didn't use a little Chatbot, or AI to ghostwrite this series.

Newt & Demon 1 November 19, 2024
559 pages
Newt & Demon 2 February 19, 2025
644 pages
Newt & Demon 3 May 28, 2025
676 pages
Newt & Demon 4 announced for August 27, 2025.
No page count yet,
but if it comes in at the low end of 550, That's 2,430 pages in less than year.
-Sus AF