Yanik > Recent Status Updates

I've only seen the first season of the show (I think), but it is only now that I appreciate how it introduces some of these OPA storylines that early instead of this relative out of the blue character and plot development.
That said, I know the show deviated a lot from the books too, so eh. Also, I caught a show spoiler while looking up an image so, now I'm dreading it might have spoiled one of the book plotlines.

Oh wow, 5,3 books in and (aside from her cameo introduction in the short story) we get our first real entrance of Drummer.
I should finish the Tell Tale game.

" I made my name with the story of the Behemoth. Aliens and wormhole gates and a protomolecule ghost that only talked to the most famous person in the solar system. I don't think my follow-up to that can be Humans Still Shitty to Each Other. Lacks panache."
Bit on the nose, but I like it. Gets to the core.

I'm liking it, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of room for non-big name characters to breathe. Besides Neferata's handmaidens (which are cool) it's all been huge name Vamps taking up space and making the world feel very small.
There is no need for that, I hope we get more time to let things develop more naturally, but with 3 timelines being narrated page space will be at a premium.

Oooh, what the HELL.
You tease us with a dinner with Bobbie and it happens off page?
Not cool.

Excellent start, liking the writing style, action sequences feel good!
3 different timelines feels a bit too convoluted, and I'm not sure how long the references to things yet to happen past timelines will stay their welcome, but it can be a cool narrative structure when applied well.
Also, hell yeah, Mourkain.

This has been by far the most hilarious Genevieve story so far, and probably the most humorous Warhammer story I've read.
But between the lines it is laced with melancholy over heavier themes like xenophobia, witch hunts, the hate mongering that is so prevalent in society today and, above all, the steady atrophy of the things that made life good once.

Oh shit. So, every single short story is interconnected and has been leading up to this last one. Brilliant!

"In an ever-changing world, some delights were eternal - like a warm bath after a dirty spell."

That one hits hard. I read this series for spoopy month every year.
The first two years I did so often during baths, sometimes by candlelight, as the days grew darker and colder as one of the few ways to truly relax and shut out the world.
I no longer have access to a bath, and the world grows ever-more darker and colder.

A Warhammer Batman story is such bizarre idea, but it works so well.

The Ingorant Armier was fantastic.
Dark, bizarre, violent. Full of mystical symbolism.
While it perfectly stands on its own, it is a direct prequel to Beasts in Velvet.

"Settling Tsarina down, he saw the frozen blood around her hooves."
What an absolutely wild first sentence.

No Gold in the Grey Mountains was fantastic. Masterful use of the short form and a true vampire story. Super cool to return to Castle Drachenfells!
Listened to Mercyful Fate's Melissa during the day.

Chemish is such a fantastic character. Desperately clinging to the false peace and security of the Empire. Enforcing it through one of its most insidious arms.

Red Thirst is interesting so far. Modern Warhammer pretty much shuns sex and the erotic side of its storytelling be that in a more romantic form or the darker side, which is such a key element of many cults.
Either way, there being a Morality Police crusade going on and one of our two POV characters being hypocritical, judgmental pos there are certainly some themes in here that ring true in the fandom today.

Feels like the Nehekara side of the story is winding down.
We know what part has to come next. Quite exited for how those pieces will be put into place, even if there isn't a lot of room for them.
I have been deliberating what Warhammer to read after this, which will probably be my annual Halloween Genevive. But that would be perfect to follow up with Blood of Nagash: Neferata.

Very strong start. (That dedication to her daughter had me tearing up too)
Having both Saw with Jynn as his daughter actively helping with his activities and having Bail with Leia being squarely between the events of the Kenobi series and Princess of Alderaan is such a perfect timeframe.

Wow, marching Nehekarans. Haven't had that since book 1.
Note: switching to percentages as page count is wildly different in the omnibus I'm reading.

So good to be back to this.
Again, a very different premise, but I like the full-on focus on the Roci crew.
This one will be very world and character building heavy, and I'm here for it.
Every single one of my Expanse novels has a George R R Martin quote on the front, but I feel that this one might come closest to following the SOIAF format.

Have been making slow but steady progress on this and mostly really enjoying it. Just that other books have taken priority a lot of the time which kind of hinders the flow. But then again, there is sometimes decades between chapters so the internal flow of time isn't that minute anyway.

Enjoying the flow more, if not for the plot, definitely for the journey.
Rey quoting an ancient text:
"Jedi were taught to let go of all attachments, but everyone needs something to fight for, and more than ideas, people."
Pretty sure that is a direct line from a THR novel, though I'm not sure which.
TotF, LotJ?

Oh, all 'Electrosecreteries' were 'She'.
That will probably not balance out pretty much everything else and their dogs being men though.

That action sequence was simply bad. I often use the term Marvel-esque for these kind of things where quippy, shallow dialogue is thrown around and meaningless, showy action moves are displayed. Roux has written a lot of Marvel, so I guess that checks out.
But this was simply written badly as well. No sense of location, scale, momentum, or even real danger. This reading experience is a real whiplash of quality.

That action sequence was simply bad. I often use the term Marvel-esque for these kind of things where quippy, shallow dialogue is thrown around and meaningless, showy action moves are displayed. Roux has written a lot of Marvel, so I guess that checks out.
But this was simple written badly as well. No sense of location, scale, momentum, or even real danger. This reading experience is a real whiplash of quality.

Temples, puzzles, traps, tombs, ancient texts and mysteries.
All perfect for the Tomb Raider mood I have been in!

Back to 'what if' dreams and visions.
But, for the last 40 pages it book directly addressed my criticism by focusing on grounded, emotional storytelling and connecting the characters' internal struggles to their daily life and situation. Loved it.
As long as we can keep this balance, I can keep up with this more floaty, slightly fan-fan servicey storytelling.

Plot isn't really grabbing me so far, it's hard to connect to. There is a lot of 'what if' visions and dreams going on, a lot of verbatim movie scene qoutes, sometimes with only the slightest of inflected twist. Part of that is the Dagobah Cave effect going on at Tython, but as a story vehicle it can only interest me to a certain extend.
It's all super portentous and grand with force powers dialed up to 11.

It's fun, a decent disaster story, though pretty much fully outdated in pre-Apollo tech and morals. One of the first points of action was to ask the present woman to help make lunch.
A lot of time is spent on evaluating the progress of humanity and that of the male POV characters. As a result, the word 'man' often is splattered about a dozen times on the pocked sized pages which gets quite tiresome.