Zhi > Recent Status Updates

FONDA LEE. i know that her writing (and plotting!) isn’t exactly for everyone but me? if i can power through 80 pages on a weekday night i’m fairly confident to say that it has caught my attention. climate scientists might possibly cry reading this though but i am darkly amused by how the way to warm up a planet to a temperature suitable for humans is to emit (as much) greenhouse gases (as possible?)

honestly not sure if I’ll finish this given how much I don’t like the author at this point - not because this is markedly different from what I expected, but because the author is sometimes self-righteous and rancorous and fairly off-putting as a result. I don’t agree with some of his views
after the intro & chapter 1 - but seeing as this is meant to be a Different look at things I shall hold my judgement.

Okay there’s so much political upheaval (not so) quietly happening at this point in the novel but also Dekkard greeted Ysella with “good morning, lovely lady” for the first time and I can’t. #priorities

After 395 pages, we finally got… a kiss on the cheek. The slow burn is truly real.

Everything and nothing has happened and I’m only halfway through, though the Dekkard/Ysella ship is finally starting to unfurl its sails 🚤 the slow burn is real on ALL counts

I feel like I’ve been reading this forever but I’m still only at 14%… because this is a RIDICULOUSLY long novel. The politicking and the sheer number of characters name dropped etc are killing me but… I’m actually enjoying this despite myself. WILL I ACTUALLY GET TO FINISH THIS THOUGH.

this is a mad, mad book, and I’m just here for the ride.

i’ve seen adrian tchaikovsky recommended on reddit for quite some time and finally decided to give this a try - was very lost at the start but 1/4 in and i’m hooked. the worldbuilding is dense but the single best part of this book so far. loving the introductions at the start of each chapter too.

my thought while re-reading this: what a masterpiece.

picked this book up with the hope of manifesting a true geographical romance irl (i’m kidding okay) but this has been such a nerdy rom(p)-com so far: light-hearted fun with tongue-in-cheek references to geography and academia. what’s not to love about a book that starts with “a geographer behaves with quiet dignity at all times”? i laughed so hard; i definitely don’t deserve to be one then.

taking time to slowly savour this again, 5 years on; i’d forgotten how Romantic / romantic this actually is.

october is nearly upon us; a fitting season to return to this bittersweet, reflective meditation through pico iyer’s narration of life in a quiet suburb in nara in autumn - on grief and grieving, of living with the acknowledgement of mortality, of farewells and transitions. the season of fire and farewells.

october’s nearly upon us; it’s a fitting season to read this again. as wispy, dreamlike and meditative as i remembered it to be - this slice of life collection centered on grief and grieving, the knowledge of mortality, the fleeting wistful beauty of autumn, of farewells and transitions.

flipped the page and burst out laughing - “a haphazard stack of paperbacks was piled next to it. i squatted down and had a look. - it was ninety per cent manga - my hero academia, one piece, and something called ancient magus bride which I’d never heard of.” SNNNRK. (i don’t actually know what the ancient magus bride is about though.)

enjoying this more than i thought i would, though aaronovitch is writing abigail almost as though she is peter (after the first few pages of her first pov chapter), just with teenage raging hormones. there’s more nightingale than i expected - so nostalgic for the older books in this series! generally a v pleasant change from the misery of ‘the hallmarked man’, with a genuine few LOL moments.

the mystery’s defo become less messy and way more compelling by this point, but a part of the problem is simply that C & R themselves don’t have the heart for this investigation, and it’s spilling over to the actual narrative. the writing is as compulsively readable ever, but the moments of levity and connection can’t elevate the miserable will-they-won’t-they shtick that’s long stayed past its welcome.

this is shaping up to be my least favourite entry in the series because of the constant useless pining, convenient plot contrivances and character butchering that have prevented cormoran and robin from having an even remotely straightforward conversation with each other. oh gosh this has been SO FRUSTRATING to read. this ridiculous development has gotten in the way of my enjoyment of the plot even.

a long time ago this was my go-to for the “came for the crime / stayed for the tale as old as time” trope but it’s been 8 books and cormoran strike and robin ellacott are clearly headed for a trainwreck ending AGAIN. similar plot points similar behavioural patterns just dressed in different robes - it’s as though we sat through 7 books of character / rs development for naught.