Daniel Chen > Recent Status Updates

Girl... the steering of this novel is truly wack.

End of Part II: Very dull training wheels stuff. I don't like any of the three plotlines now. The characterizations are so... flat and simple? I don't feel any of the propulsion from the first book and I feel like the prose is spiraling into YA drivel.

End of Part I: the Caeror dimension is the most unique but only barely. The other two sections are really spinning their wheels as awkward Wheel of Time tutorial chapters instead of deepening sequel adventure. Hope it picks up soon.

Episode Noctis was much cheesier and thickly-unoiled, but it has some great visuals of the Crystal and battle scenery.

"Death came for all, leaving only lifeless husks to pile in the earth." Is there a piler? Or things pile by themselves? In a fantasy world, how do metaphors preserve their assumedly realis origin?

Episode Lunafreya was an utter delight. Followable action, meaty philosophical introspection, a chance for the women of FFXV to finally shine. Really a stellar job.

Aranea's chapter was more along the lines of generic action shlock, but it was fun and breezy to read. Great for what it is. The book overall is very readable and fits the game like a glove.

For how nondescript the action and how tropey the characterization can be, the im-pulse of Ardyn's despair has a lot of layers. A nice twist on how fast a Man Out of Time can adapt and seethe to modernia.

The prose is stunning. Somber, flowery, eviscerating, tortured, desperate. It's magnetic, electric, soft swirls of color and interminable freeze frames. I wish the cover art was as beautiful as the words.

Very powerful and evocative, observant essay in 3.14 called Winter in Sápmi, by Elin Anna Labba. Found a beautiful (double?) middle for my dissertation: "When the snow packed harder as winter wore on, the reindeer stretched up towards the lichen in the trees."

End of Part II: some of the character webs feel a little too paper thin for the length of the book, but the action and settings always change fast enough to keep a steady pace flowing. Islington’s prose is consistently engaging and plays tropes up with ease. He can’t avoid clean philosophical dumps (presumably for the publishers) but it doesn’t feel out of place with the story’s propulsion.

End of Part I: The book is extremely entertaining and the unique plot structure has kept me guessing all the way through the prologue. Although many characterizations and dialogues ring familiar (and thus one could argue, flat), the presentation of them, and in the context of worldbuilding, is frankly infectious. Color me very intrigued to see what this series is building up to.

End of Chapter 1: The prose is BEAUTIFUL.

End of chapter 8, my eyes are brimming with tears. I had to cover up the lines on the page for the verdict so that I could follow along with my heart and not my eyes. It’s a real gift to be given, to see humanity so close. Miller is transcendent in her mastery of words to parse through and coagulate the incalculable standings and reavings of disgusting, blanketed, openly smug injustice.

End of Book V: The sentiment of the final passages is very beautiful and poignant, but I feel that it is an ending lifted from another story and grafted onto this one. I can see how the first 1/2 of the book leads here, but the way in which Kuang brings us there doesn't land in the "can't stop reading" way. Who are Ibrahaim / Juliana? Who is Prof. Craft? Why do they make the choices they do? Really hard to say.

The story is going off the rails, the narration and decisions are becoming a little too clean and clinical for my tastes. The observations about capital and racism are sharp and to-the-point, but they are a stated in a way that doesn't seem consistent with the characterization. Something about the finale is ringing false in general, lots of big action, little character development.

End of Book III: It's very cleanly choreographed, but fuck it, I'm not gonna deny that I was fist-pumping at the end of this segment. I just had a storm of emotions today (10/29/24) and Kuang really helped me let out some of it through Robin's indignation at the blatant cruelty of his world. Good storytelling is classic for a reason. Good on her. She got the emotion down.

End of Book II: As deftly paced as Book I, but fraying at the seams of its character webs and story intricacy. It feels like Robin is following the templatic bildungsroman of dystopian empire instead of organically wrestling with the incongruities and impasses of his education. The omniscient narrator is doing a lot of heavy lifting when the unsaid gaps between headlines, to me, can more lovingly reveal themselves.

Book I: Compelling introduction, Kuang's worldbuilding is crystal clear and it's easy to find value in the literary world Robin finds value in. I like how academic and storied the footnotes feel too. Not a huge fan of the "prophetic doom" omniscient narration, hopefully that doesn't become a recurring trend. Rooting for continued (hopefully not endlessly one-sided) Robin-Ramy sexual tension!

It's morbidly funny that you can write passages of extremely graphic violence that would push the high edges of an R or M rating, but you can't use any sort of swearing. America y'all.

The beginning was a little contrived but now in the mid-200's I can't stop reading. Collins's action sensibilities are fresh and engaging even 12 years after the first Hunger Games was published. Excited to see what the ramifications of the 10th Annual Hunger Games will be.

This feels much more like a set-up book than a final book. I guess that's why it's double the length of the previous 2 entries. The main characters have had maybe 10 pages apiece, and the other 260 have been about secondary, but honestly mostly tertiary characters. Curious as to how the plot threads will come together for a finale.

Um this book is fucking amazing so far and everyone should read it.

John Green is doing that exact same prose-as-dialogue shtick from Fault in Our Stars and I am NOT here for it. It immediately pulls me out of the narrative, it’s so jarring.

This book is so well written.