Vicki > Recent Status Updates

The overarching plot is happily heading towards the direction I was hoping it'd go in a very general sense, which was bringing some humanity to the Hedeni and calling out the Omehi for their colonization. I had faith it would, and I'm glad to see it being rewarded.

Tau as a protagonist is a fantastic treat. Definitely one of the more complex fantasy heroes I've come across.

While the first third of the book was pretty great, the past 87 pages have left me wondering if I should DNF. I think I'll give it one more try tomorrow maybe I'm just in a slow part of the book.

Really enjoying this African-based fantasy, and the narrator for the audiobook is fantastic, but I'm really hoping we get some gray areas/explanations wrt the Hedeni. I think we'll get there, though.

The fact that I'm skimming a lot and am still able to keep up with what's going on in the story is probably a sign there's a lot of fluff in the writing. It's still pretty compelling, though, I can see why it's so popular a book.

The language is a little too flowery for an audiobook, which probably means it's a little too flowery generally. But I'm still liking it so far.

Finishing this chapter with a compare/contrast of Japanese views of death and the dead body vs. the American views struck home for me. More when I review the whole book either tonight or tomorrow. I really appreciate also Caitlin's sensitivity to and knowledge of the Japanese culture, and her pronunciation of the Japanese words and names. They weren't all perfect, but better than most English-speakers' attempts!

Now it's time to talk about my culture, I am excite.

Today I learned that my home state, Colorado, has the only open air pyre for cremation in all of the U.S. and I'm jealous that only community members (for understandable reasons) get to partake in it, because the more I learn about it, the more I want it for myself. I guess I know my retirement plan?

I'm really not a fan of the whole 'figure out the world-building from context clues' thing. I HATE spending the first chunk of the book utterly confused. This is the exact reason I gave up on Monstress. But it's easier to figure out than Monstress, at least, but come on, this is a situation where I prefer the hamfisted explanations of the world-building.

That.... was the longest and most drawn-out death scene of all time, wow.

"This is just a fish. I mean, we could clean him and eat him with a little lemon juice. Maybe some fries on the same." Is Marco me when it comes to fish? Because I also look at a fish and immediately think "food." XD

*cackles* How did I miss this when I was young, Tobias wanting to mate with a female hawk? More, how was this allowed to be included in a middle grade book? (Answer: it was the 90s) OMG, I love this series so much.

“Maybe this is why, I realize now, it mattered to you what they called Tiger Woods on TV, how you needed color to be a fixed and inviolable fact.”

Is A.J. Hackwith a Neil Gaiman fan because now there's also American Gods influences and again, I'm living for it.

You know what's annoying? Life getting in the way of my reading this faster. (Okay, a lot of that Life is my own fault and I regret little of it, but still.) I'm completely in love already: the blurb calls it a sort of mash-up of The Good Place and Law & Order "Bibliophile Crime Unit" but there's something vaguely Good Omens-y about it, too. And it's fun. And funny. So everything I love in a book.

I do not regret my decision to read this book. This is possibly the most gloriously hilarious yet informative books I've ever read, and it feeds wonderfully into my on-the-down-low fascination with the macabre. (I've also started watching Caitlin Doughty's YouTube channel. I think I have a new favorite human now, too.)

Instead of a m/m romance with an aroace female character as our main trio make-up, this is apparently going to give us the inverse: a f/f romance with an aroace male character as our main trio. Let's see how this goes!

This reverie is mocking the YA heroine joins the revolution trope in the best way and I am laughing so hard, I am loving it! 🤣

Okay, this is a really cool premise and is being executed in a way that I don't want to put the book down so I can go to bed. Stupid adulting.

When everything you've been reading the past week has been full of murder and darkness and very little that is happy, you just need to detox with some apocalyptic humor from the point of view of a pet crow.

“So if we’re finished making vows and being honorably dramatic, perhaps we can leave?” Reika is the best character and I will hear no arguments to the contrary.

Oh, okay, we’re still liberally using unnecessary Japanese like an anime fanfic. Cool cool cool cool cool cool. 😑

I will not gripe about the excessive Japanese word I will not--

"Daikon radishes"?

Look, either say daikon or say radishes, Redundant Department of Redundancy. (And using daikon instead of radish is one of the few instances outside of suffixes/proper nouns/terms of endearment where the use of Japanese would actually be appropriate.)

I'm really enjoying the use of Japanese mythology though, so that's a positive!

The use of random Japanese still bothers me (it makes me feel like I'm reading anime fanfic every time anything other than a suffix or pronoun is used), but I'm having an easier time getting through it this time. I think reminding myself that this is fantasy BASED on Japan, not a historical fantasy set in ACTUAL Japan, is helping me with most of the rest of the language things. The cultural things are great at least.

OMG, following the tale of Narcissus, Stephen Fry talks about narcissism and throws some amazing British shade at a certain American (without naming names but he doesn't need to) and I'm dead.

FTR, I'm already loving this book, but there was a chapter where they were discussing video game storytelling and it felt like a sort of homage to Bioware, and then I peeked to the Acknowledgements and Morgernstern calls out Dragon Age: Inquisition as being her muse, and with one of the main characters being named Dorian (who is my favorite in DA:I)... YA'LL, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS ALREADY.

YES! Kylee is confirmed aro ace. I love me a story with a female aro ace lead. 💜

Reading this in honor of Native American Heritage Month. I just watched a quick background video to give myself an overview of what went down with these murders, and hooo boy, time to gear myself up for some "White People Suck" rage. Might be a slow read because of it.

You ever read a book that makes you so happy that you're torn between hurrying to read the rest of it, or slowing down so you can savor it for as long as possible because you don't want it to end? That's how I'm feeling right now about this book.