Joni Graybill > Recent Status Updates

Wait, what do you mean Boq is a munchkin in the original book?? 😳

I really loved the first three books in this series that expertly retold the Phantom of the Opera story, but this 4th that continues the story is a slog. At this point point all I can think of is this old LiveJournal bit:

THE PHANTOM: Too bad you’re going to have to look at my HIDEOUS FACE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

CHRISTINE: Seriously? It wouldn’t be that hard if you weren’t SUCH A WHINY BITCH ABOUT IT.

Seriously.

This may have started out as a clever re-telling of David Copperfield in 1990s Appalachia, but the shtick got old around page 250 or so and it’s just been a slog of misery porn ever since. I agree with those who have said the idea would have worked much better as a novella.

Im finishing it, but it’s a struggle.

This is one those books with beautiful writing and interesting characters, but not a whole lot happens, so it takes me a long time to get through them.

Came here to say though, every time they spell Lowcountry Low Country I twitch a little. Someone shoulda known better.

So far, I've been pleased with this as a finale for the series since it is delivering the promised answers and its always nice to be proven right about theories!

That said, my goodness these are the stupidest collective group of characters ever. Even Twilight had Alice for goodness sake. There is not one bright bulb here, including Atlas.

Kreeg took Elle. You all are so dumb. You are really dumb. For real.

I can't. I have to take a break.

I want to know the answer to the mysteries, but at 800 pages this has been another painful, boring slog that cleaves much closer to the dreaded Moon Sister than the Sun or Pearl Sister. And nary and answer in sight... just a whole lot of weird foolishness.

My mom, aunt and sister have all read and loved these books. I'm pretty excited to dive in!

I hate these characters. I'm going to finish it because it's just not that long of a book, but what a disappointment.

This is... not what I was expecting at all based on everything I've read about it. I'm not sure I like it. The style and characters are pretty tedious.

This series may be a bit goofy and derivative, but it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.

That said... I think it would have been much better if Rhiannon was the main character. ANYONE but Violet. She is Bella Swan all over again in all but name. The longer I read, the more I realize I don't like Violet at all. She is one big contradictory mess. Honestly, *I* have trouble believing Tairn chose her most of the time.

I cannot believe how much trouble I'm having getting through this one.

I can’t think of a better way to start the year, especially with the shiny new Disney+ TV adaptation reminding me of all the things I loved so much about the original serious.

I've always loved Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shallot (and Loreena McKennit's hauntingly beautiful musical rendition of the same) Of course, this book caught my eye right away.

Alas, it's a DNF for me. I know Marion Zimmer Bradley is the worst, but I read and adored "Mists of Avalon" before I knew that and anything in the same vein always seems like a pale imitation.

The more of this I drag myself through the less I like it. I thought it would be like some heady mix of The Night Circus and Ready Player One. Instead it’s a flowery romance hung on a paper thin plot. 😝

“But the family tree stopped growing long ago, it’s canopy thinned and frayed, not a single sap springing from the old rotting truck. Some trees aren’t meant to sprout tender new branches, but to stand stoically on the forest floor, silently decaying.”

Wow. This powerful paragraph stopped me in my reading tracks.

Inspired by Katie Porter, natch. And a recent incident at work where I realized I have got to stop giving so many fucks about minutiae.

Sadly, I yield.

I thought I was over the hump with this series when the first one finished so strong, but here I am again unable to stick with this second one longer than 5 minutes because the pace is just so glacially slow.

So, to the DNF pile it goes. For now. I'd like to return to it one day when I have more time and focus.

Lawd, look at that page count. Lesssss go.

I finally got my library card working again and am trying out their eBook offerings. I watched this movie many times when I was too young to begin to understand what was really happening, but somehow I never read the book itself.

Turns out I DO still have the attention span to read an 800 page book in the span of a week, if it is the right book. I think it really does come down to nothing bogging down the prose to give my mind a chance to wander. This is every bit as tightly written and enchanting as I remember it being. Please, please let the sequel be even half as good. I'm so wary about being hopeful for stories these days.

I don't often take the time to re-read books these days since my TBR pile is hundreds deep, but if ever there was a book worth re-reading, it would be this one. With the sequel finally a reality after eight years, I want to be sure I remember all the wonderful little details about this one in order to properly enjoy the next one.

I'm having the same problem with this one that I had with much of Six of Crows. The pacing is sooooo slllloooowwww. I find it really difficult to stay focused when so little is actually happening. It's taking me twice as long to read two of these as it took me to read the whole original trilogy.

The books are good, no question, but I’m really struggling with the central mcguffin being hunting down & killing a different rare animal in each book to achieve greater and greater power. TBH, I may not have read them if I knew that was the case. Killing animals never sits well with me, even less so when it’s for pride or power. If the amplifiers were inanimate objects, I would be enjoying the books much more.

Oh! It has a “This book belongs to:” plate! I haven’t seen one in a “modern” book before. And just like that it’s grabbed my attention quicker than most.

On the other hand, this is as atmospheric and interesting as advertised thus far!

Oof, now I know why I was never able to get through this when I was a kid, despite loving adventure stories. It's the same problem I have with many classics from several centuries ago. The writing is so dense, I lose interest in trying to parse it.

Confession time: I've never read this book before. It was assigned to me my Freshman year in high school, but I objected to assigned reading where we then picked the book apart on principle, so I didn't read it. Not sure how I passed the tests, but here we are.

Of course it's wonderful and ripe for discussion. I don't know why 14 year-olds have to be so difficult. X-D