Majel > Recent Status Updates

Finally we get to an airplane. Im enjoying the early 1900s passages a lot more than the modern passages. I even like the author's descriptions of the geological history of the area or the feel and workings of steam liner ships. But the modern character is abrassive, buffeted by the partiarchy and abuse and is jaded. I will say, there is a little too much of abuse of women, as well.

I like this quote a lot. "Boys who want for nothing but still found something to take"

I liked Leigh Bardugo's other duology, but not really enjoying this one. Its really, really dark. Human sacrifice, child rape, overdose. None of the humor or charisma of the Six of Crows duology. The time jumps and flashbacks are too frequent and too far apart, it's confusing. And also, the narrator is awful; she sounds soft, plodding, whispery, fragile. Is she trying to give mysterious? She should be giving edgy.

Its like the author had written a beginning, but then the editor said no, and so the author scrapped the entire thing and hastily rewrote the beginning chapters. The narration and descriptions are uneven. The beginning without almost any dialogue so I don't have much of a sense of who the main character is, setting and people without much description. And full of contradictions in descrptions for the protagonist.

Best part is pg. 225.

Im so surprised by the frequent repetition i wondered if it was serialized, published one chapter at a time. How often we hear about doc roberts being a klan member but the only doctor, chona being a "cripple," Moshe is from the old country, etc. Where was the editor?

You can tell an author spent so much less time on the sequel than the first one. Gone are the poetic beginnings of each chapter, gone are the particularly complex and dark description of magic or people. I mean, the author fast-forwarded, montage-like, thru the Shepard King's memories of creating the cards. Pure exposition. Not utilized well, such as for more creepy reveals or King's character development.

How like how one review put it, "Big on vibes, not on details." I thought it was strange how I felt lost in what to imagine, kind of stateless and placeless and faceless. Nope, others agree, the author just doesn't describe the world much. A poor choice, I think. It makes the story feel very detatched. Ungrounded.

The ebook on libby has messed up the chapter headings and it says all the dates at the top of a chapter. Luckily from the first couple sentences you can tell what time period its supposed to be, but still. Annoying.

Good story, good writing, but too many characters and too much jumping, both between pov and timelines. Im starting to confuse who grew up with what background and how they knew each other

The ceativity of the rationalization by the protagonist for her actions is gobsmacking. My jaw drops. The shift in possessive language (Alethans book to My book) is both subtle and not subtle and so revealing. Well done so far, by the author.

This is great. Totally living up to the hype. I should have read this sooner

Quick notes before i forget:
- his quick work of finding how to make friends eith Angus is an astute display of his people-intelligence and survival skills. Also heartbrakingly sad
- his remarks on meeting his grandmother and then moving into the mansion were hilarious. Quick witted. Sharp. Unexpected.

The writing. YA sickening. "He's the most exquisite man I've ever seen. And living in a war college means I've seen a *lot* of men....Flaming hot. Scorching hot. Gets-you-into-trouble-and-you-like-it level of hot."
A lack of immersion into the world. E.g., a cadet runs screaming from the dragons and is scortched to ash. The reader is not given enough description/feeling to be afraid of the dragons to understand why.

This woman is detestable. Lying. Egocentric. A portrait of a self serving tortured artist. Fuck off.

Writers need to stop hanging out with artist types and them writing them into their books. I swear, if I was hanging out with some man, and he launches into a treatise on "how there are two types of people: drivers and parkers," I would stare at him like he had 2 heads and then laugh in his face. This kind of armchair philosophy that poses as creative is shit.

Wow! The aunt was a WASP! How did the author know of them? They are so overlooked in history!!

New word: maundering

Im very done hearing about the high school immaturity and identity formation stuff. I dont connect with and I dont really care. Slow pacing.

uh.... what? protagonist is big yikes. Wouldn't wanna be in her orbit, dayum.

Can someone explain the magic rules to me? Hahha. So a scribe "cant touch or be touched by magic." But they can write magic spells? They dont "hear" books, or do they? They can destroy books with spells in progress, whereas regular people can't destroy books? And books need to be written by scribes blood, but also, books need the readers blood to work? Or they dont? Joanne can set wards, but herself is not a scribe?

What a fucking legend, man. To come from all that. To be what an accomplished person she is todag. Damn.

In Jane Eyre, the person behind the mysterious locked door is the master's mad wife.

I kinda feel like this has elements of Jane Eyre, Get Out, Parasite, Klara and the Sun, and M3GAN.

Wow twist. Spoiler

Favorite quote so far: "We have all been waiting for the men's final to end. The party can't start until then. The finalists were Andrew Thomas and Jadran Petrovich, neither one of whom would set a record by winning. We live in a world where exceptional women have to sit around waiting for mediocre men." 💯💯🔥🔥

Its good. Even if I don't understand a damn thing of what people are talking about. Do tennis people get this book? Lol

Right at the moment that I was bemoaning how quickly people turn on others, and I was thinking, is this book just gonna be one whole bummer??? The author has Dante recall that in the Song of Roland, the protagonists die (foreshadowing?), and that the lesson is that suffering teaches you things. Well placed, author, well placed.

Stories like Herakles are a mix of origin stories, value teachings, and character instructions, so its hard to know what to get from them. Freeman is pretty funny, but I also wish he did some explaining

I creepy story set in a Welsh backdrop??? YES!