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“The problem is that everything is chronic, not acute. The pain in his head the same as on other days, his despair the same, the feeling of sinking and regret and guilt and self-pity and anger. But not enough to make that trigger pull. He could drift in this region forever, which is the most frightening thought, far scarier than death.”

Reading the large print edition of this for work and it is incredibly fun so far, just a hundred or so pages into the story! I am loving the incorporation of Latin and Gaelic.

Modern historical / fantasy authors really need to cut back on the cOrSeTs aRe tHe wOrSt eVer shtick because man, it is tiresome and poorly researched.

"...whereas the loss of a loved one has a sense of finality, the loss of *self* from chronic illness can feel never ending."

I began reading this for work a few weeks ago and it's both beautifully written and ever so bittersweet.

Y'all, I had to give up at 73%. Too Much was just too much.

Romanticizing self-harm and mental illness, romanticizing (and maybe-almost-sort-of excusing adultery as some kind feminism ra ra pushing back against the patriarchy)....uh, no. I'll pass.

The author kept almost hitting on some VERY salient points, but instead repeatedly lept into TMI personal hot takes.

This is a memoir pretending to be otherwise.

I will never understand audiobook adaptations where some part of a book's story involves characters who learned Classical Latin and yet the narrator is coached to use ecclesiastical pronunciations! Ahh. My little nitpick.

With that said, I'm over 2 hours into this book and it has been a slog so far...the premise is interesting, so I hope something actually happens soon in the narrative!

DNF at almost exactly halfway through (8 hours left on the audiobook version...).

I loved the premise (psychopomps! snake oil medicine practices! vampires! bear societies!), but the story felt like it lost its way the further I got into the book. I just lost interest, tbh.

So. Much. To unpack.

I am oh so slowly reading this tale, and not because I don't like the plot, characters, or writing (all of which are fascinating--and the writing itself is so deliciously fun). My brain has been overloaded with back to school thoughts, and it isn't too conducive to reading quickly (or much at all).

Real talk: Where is the HBO series about all the political drama and intrigue that was happening in Mexico during the 1400s, pre-Spanish arrival!?! The history of the Triple Alliance is *full* of all of the great elements that get tossed into period pieces...

Come on, y'all. Let's make it happen.

Bede! Abelard! The first separation of Church and State that necessitated, and positioned, the (head of) the Church as wielding political power over the State!(?) Tom Holland really knows how to make a *lot* of interweaving historical facts fit nicely together in a narrative-style format that has been a delight to read thus far!

Bede! Abelard! The first separation of Church and State that necessitated, and positioned, the (head of) the Church as wielding political power over the State!(?) Tom Holland really knows how to make a *lot* of interweaving historical narratives fit nicely together in a nearly narrative-style format that has been a delight to read thus far!

Adolphe Sax defied death like a billion times before he was even out of childhood. HOW did one kid manage to get poisoned SO frequently??? I'm still astonished by that opening chapter.

Poetic, tongue-in-cheek humor, and Pan just arrived to the death's day party. I'm here for this.

I started reading this late last week, and so far, it's been pretty fun. There are, however, several moments within the first couple of chapters that were unexpectedly graphic/brutal. Otherwise...Greek gods going a bit up the wall as they lose their power in modern times? I'm down to clown with this concept!

Recommended reading that isn't easy to stomach but should be more widely taught.

Oh lord, this is dense. Short, but dense.

I'm having a really difficult time, emotionally, during this quarantine period (for various reasons). But, in an effort to give my overly busy mind something to do, I'm going to start listening to audiobooks again while working remotely. Bug facts--yes, please!