Yanik > Recent Status Updates

It's been getting progressively better and I'm quite enjoying it now.
Characters are quick to perish, but for the most part, they get decent amount to shine and build up to their demise now. Tensions, mysteries and dread are being build up.

It's been a bit of a slow burn, which I generally don't mind, especially when the characters are this inflective, but the plot felt kind of floaty and couldn't grab me too much until now. These new revelations are putting some real strain on sore points though, and I like it.

It's doing a lot of classic sci-fi writing; barely any character building, semi-big ideas it wants to get to but not the means to tell the story to get there.
If you want to do psychological horror with people's minds being altered, we need a bit more groundwork to show who they are to see what they are turning into.
Same with the plot, it starts off running, sprinting. Prose is okay, sometimes quite good.

-Poof-

I love how many influences are being pulled in.

The quote on the back cover is apt. This is all about the Jedi striving for what is right, having good intentions and choosing the light every day, BUT being flawed, struggling and faltering as anyone. Yes, the decline of the Jedi Order is evident, but is also on a personal level that these people are just coping to their abilities.
Gray is such a master of writing Jedi and their connection to the Force.

Not too convinced yet.
I like the Yucatan setting, that's cool, but there very little tension being build and zero foundation being made for any of it to make technical sense. I hope we're meant to feel this grasping for reason. I am sure we're not meant to feel like this stale.

It's nice, I love how much internalizations we get from Qui-Gon; Claudia is perfect for these kinds of character-driven Force-musings.
Having Rael Averros back after reading Dooku is cool too.
Not too sure about Prax, he is very autistic coded, and the bond between him and Rahara seems genuine and well developed. But him being raised by protocol droids being the reason for his behavior and mind kind of rubs wrong.

What a fever dream.:')

Almost there.
Like with Sheepfarmer's Daughter, it can be quite jarring how often Moon switches pacing and changes out entire cast sections.
It is not that interactions and relations feel shallow or simple, far from it, Moon revels in minute social and cultural arguments.
But it is hard to keep track of entire crews of multiple ships when the story can leave them behind at a moment's notice.

Very glad with how those story threads ended up being resolved and tying back to the larger plot and back to the minute business of space travel again. Love it.

O
M
G

What do you mean only 5 more pages??

Gehe, holy trinity.:')

I am in the mood for this again but have been reading it so fragmentedly that it has been hard to really bond with. The focus on escalating manipulation, misunderstandings and social conflict have also been kind of off-putting.
The arguments have valid reasoning, but it all gets very muddy and mogged down and I feel like we've kind of lost track of a larger plot.

I love the heavy focus on Obi-Wan's introspections and doubts. The foundations of what he will become and the unstable first steps on a long journey.
The balance between heavy inflection and mystical adventure on a bizarre planet is very well done.

I don't like how Asha was such a cool and badass character on the Iron Isles side of the story and even , but she just vanished and now we're stuck with bloody Victarion and the rest of the absolutely awful POS . I guess writing powerful enough to have me physically relive memories is impressive.

Holypoop.
That was intense.:')
Also, can perfectly relate to 6 day sleep deprived Harrow fighting to remember what a spoon is.

Oh no, Ortus finally found a reason and target for dueling.:')

Alright, took a long break from this and had to refresh the last 2 chapters, but we're back.
Let's go crazy cakes!

I'm enjoying it (bar the action sequences). Seeing Dooku and Qui-Gon interact is very valuable.
Was not convinced by some these last couple of 'investigation' plot points that came out of nowhere. But eh.

Gehe, always fun when people are playing a tabletop wargame in a Warhammer novel.

Oh, I am loving how Lee writes the Skaven!
Very different from the Saturday morning cartoon villains they often were in Skavenslayer I just finished.

Ah, wonderful to have a recap like that in mythical form.

Okay, wow, the culmination of the anthology goes full-on grimdark again.
Things had been turning more serious with each story and this is truly horrible.
Coincidentally, I was browsing through my Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying collection and found I have the campaign that is set during the events of this book taking place in Nuln.

Hell yeah, a Clan Moulder story, let's go!
Most of my tabletop Skaven army is Moulder.:3=

I keep wondering if this new world order situation is going to bring about a new era of cold war-like spy novels but then with the utter insanity of it all in the backdrop.
Crack private investigators brought to tears because nothing makes sense.
Plot threads of races against time before ultimatums, cut short 5 pages in because the leadership has the attention span of guinea pigs.
High stakes, low IQs.

Enjoying it quite a bit, even if it is more on the adventure serial side than the first book and Gotrek doesn't have nearly as big a role. Exploring the Skaven through an escalating short story series is fun and the right amount of horror and goofiness.
Plague Monks of Pestilence especially has been leaning into the horror, both gothic and existential, with some real Covid reminiscent themes.

Was really enjoying the narrative heavy framed story segments.
This frantic little action sequence not so much. It is an issue I often have with Scott: he dials things up to 11 in a marvel-esque chain of escalating action scenes and quippy character interactions. It doesn't make me invested in the moments or characters, it just makes me roll my eyes a lot.