Luz Balthasaar > Recent Status Updates

Reaksi 25%:

Baca karena napsu sama covernya.

Holy shit.

What is this awesomesauce Imperial-Chinese-Court-inspired setting.

What is this RATIONAL YA Characters.

What is this intriguing murder mystery plot/courtroom trial drama.

IS THIS THE REAL LIFE

IS THIS JUST FANTASY

... sign me up for the rest of the book, Judge Bao!

***

Interesting note: I actually kow that "shadow" is "skuggi" in Icelandic. Some more Google-Translate-fu explainded that "shadow" is "skugga" in Swedish and "skygge" in Norsk. I'm learning new things everyday...

End of Prologue. So Thorrald basically came home carrying a tailless female infant. Being tailless is considered 'malformed/bad luck/monstrous in the world of Ym. To explain her taillessness to other people, he made a wound near her tailbone and cooked up a story that her tail was taken by a wolf.

He was also worried about something called "the Shadows."

Exhibit A: "Thorrald managed to get through the door, but he could not close it behind him. The snow kept the pressure on against the door frame faster than he could kick it away. He pressed the bundle to his chest and threw himself against the door as (like) an ox."

The Prologue. I was surprised that the Google Translate results of the first few paragraphs were actually kind of... intelligible, with a little guessing and some help from a Swedish-English dictionary. Huzzah!

.... aaaand done. Writing my review tonight. will maybe put it in GR tomorrow.

"Bakteri pengguna oksigen ketika menginvasi bakteri lain akhirnya menghasilkan mitokondria..." :v :v :v :v *menenggak air mata 100.000.000 guru dan ahli biologi.*

"Gabungan dua sel menghasilkan bakteri bernukleus..." Bukannya SEMUA bakteri itu prokariot yang berarti mereka nggak punya nukleus sejati? Sel yang punya nukleus itu eukariota, yang berarti bukan bakteri oi!

Saia suka "opto ergo sum" itu, beneran. Tapi ngerasa Reuben ma Dimas lebay amat. Gushing about meta as if it were a divine concept? It's just meta, you know. Common literary device?

... Schrödinger's Cat itu bukan eksperimen pemetaan lintasan partikel dengan menggunakan kucing sebagai detektor pengganti geiger counter, Reuben. It is a THOUGHT EXPERIMENT. Do you even know what a thought experiment is? No? And they say that you are a scholarship student...

Arwin masih berasa too good to be true/too self-sacrificing. The melodrama chokes me half to death, but the logic behind the conflict resolution is seemingly sound... although I still hate Rana for being so passive and has no role aside from an object/prize. :/

"Reuben, kehomoan kita perlu penegasan lagi!" "OK, let's do it LOL."

Rana is asking the wrong question to her Mom. IDK, barangkali lebih jelas kalau ybs bilang jujur tanpa preambul, "Mam, saia selingkuh/vengen selingkuh sama cowok lain karena saia verlu adrenalin sementara Arwin bosenin. Menurut Mama gimana?" Cowardly indeed.

Huh? Jadi resolusi perselingkuhan ini adalah asspull dengan justifikasi "Arwin rela karena cintanya yang begitu besar?" I honestly think this veers on bad, bad writing...

More Gratuitous Portuguese. Dan elitist thinking/pukul rata soal kebebasan. Sebanyak apapun ke-manis-an yang diinvestasikan pada hubungan Rana dan Ferre, it is still playing the victim card sementara mereka menjahati Arwin.

Oh wait. It was Gratuitous Portuguese. My bad.

Dimas memakai Tuhan untuk menjustifikasi telenovela starring Diva dan Gio dengan bumbu Gratuitous Spanish. The corniness didn't just kill me; it murders me.

Tujuh respons otak terhadap dunia, ya? After all the science mumbojumbo, are you ripping off the Indian concept of chakras here, Reuben?

Sebelumnya dibilang kalau atraktor asing itu adalah suatu tanda tanya ilahi. Tapi di halaman ini disebut soal "siklus atraktor yang terbatas." Jadi yang ilahi itu terbatas? Oleh apa? Atau, kalau melihat makna kata "ilahi" itu sendiri menyiratkan ketunggalan yang sekaligus ketidakterbatasan, apakah frasa ini mengingkari premis sebelumnya?

> Supernova, you are not a virus. You are Captain Obvious wearing a Stripperiffic outfit made of 100% Purple Prose.

Ini ada soal 'marital rape' dan saia nggak simpati sama 'korbannya'. Why? Satu, Arwin nggak tahu Rana nggak mau berhubungan seks karena Rana nggak ngomong, DAN Arwin ga terkesan maksa. Dua, Rana itu selingkuh sama Ferre, yang berarti menyalahi Arwin. So, maaf Rana, anda bilang "tolong aku diperkosa" itu berlebihan banget. You are the victim only by your own choices.

Ferre manggil Rana "Putri." The sheer corniness is killing me.

Dimas: Have I mentioned that we're gay? Reuben: Yep! Dimas: Let's mention it some more! In case the audience forgets! Reuben: Sure LOL. Me: *shoots self*

Mbak Diva ini ngeritik akademisi, tapi attitudenya dia sendiri kayak berdiri di menara gading dan menghakimi semua yang hidup di bawah sana, sekalipun dia nggak hidup di antara mereka. Apparently, she can name-drop Marx and Hegel, but is not smart enough to understand them.

"Diva teringat tubuhnya yang ceking, membentuk kurva ketika tubuh teman2nya rata, rambutnya yang lurus, wajahnya yang tirus dan kakinya yang terlalu panjang ... semua orang mengejeknya jelek." Oh really? Berapa banyak orang yg pengen kurus, berambut lurus, dan berwajah tirus? I call bullshit, yo.

"Make up diperuntukkan bagi perempuan-perempuan yang merasa jelek." Hah? Saia selalu mengira make-up itu nggak cuma buat cewek. Buat cowok juga ada. Dan make-up dipakai bukan karena kita merasa jelek, tapi karena ingin tampul lebih menarik. Itu salah ya, wahai Mbak Diva yang Oh-So-Cantik?

Mbak Diva ini bikin kepala saia sakit. Dia mengkritik ketimpangan upah buruh pake ngutip2 Helmut Kohl, tapi merasa entitled untuk dibayar lebih tinggi dari pelacur lain. Kenapa? Karena dia cantik dan pintar. Jadi, perempuan yang jadi pelacur karena dipaksa/terjebak human trafficking itu pantas dibayar dibawah dia? Practice what you preach, Girl.

Using Abraham Maslow to justify a snarky Mary Sue character. Dan kalau Reuben berpendapat pelacuran raga tidak hina, tapi menyiratkan bahwa pelacuran waktu, jati diri, dan pikiran adalah hina, bukankah itu nggak ngubah fakta bahwa dia adalah judgmental person?

Alasan Rana jatuh cinta sama Ferre adalah karena cinta itu chaos, dan komponen fraktal, yang merupakan representasi chaos, adalah strange attractor, dan strange attractor itu adalah... Tuhan? Pretty roundabout way to say "Rana selingkuh karena itu kehendak Tuhan." Sounds like someone is trying to find scientific excuses to do some extramarital porking.

Pertemuan Ferre dengan Rana ini ada bau2 Fifty Shades of Gray. Saia nggak bilang ada plagiat, tapi good-looking, ultra-successful young man meets pretty ordinary love interest and promptly acts like a jerk to her? The melodrama is strong with this one.