Nicole > Recent Status Updates

I very much enjoyed the juxtaposition of the first scene in the Elders quarters vs the Elder and Alexi taking a break to meet with the townspeople waiting by the gates of the monestary. I felt like I was Alyosha in this chapter and it was cool to watch the Elder do his thing. Also, Fyodor is so embarrassing. He kind of reminds me of Frank Gallagher from Shameless.

It took me a couple hours to read 40ish pages, frequently rereading many long sentences to fully grasp and understand. I also learned about 10 new words. I was originally intimidated by the prospect of learning and remembering many Russian names but so far it's not too bad. I heard the first 150 pages can be a slog but I'm enjoying this. I've even detected a slight dark humor that made me smile a few times.

So far so good! Page one starts off calm and serene and by page 3 you are sucked right into the madness. Clay is very relatable and Tom is the perfect companion, I love how they balance eachother. On to Tom's house with our sandwiches haha

I don't love this book, as of now, but the story is progressing very well. It's definitely a page turner, I'm sad I have to go to bed after 4 hours of reading. History

1 knock for yes 2 knocks for no.

Sucked in by the first scene, a hundred pages in i catch my thoughts slowly drifting back to this book throughout my day. On our way to the cabin

reread about 50 pages since I somehow forgot about this book for a couple months. Jumped right back into the story. Walking on smoke was fun to reread