Barely Competent > Recent Status Updates

I suspected it before but it's the legacy pendant isn't it?

So the whole class of 300 remaining aspirants is on this one mission? This is a big gripe I can't blame on the publisher. The number of people in these trials is too high. It makes the majority of the group nameless faceless goons we won't care about if they die. This should have been a small intimate class where each death is felt. That would also make sense for how elite this position is supposed to be.

I will say that too much of the death happens off screen for the full impact of how deadly these trials are to sink in. I'm sure a big part of that is having to cut a full book's worth of content from this series.

Harper Collins, I have beef with you for making this two books instead of three!

I assumed this book would be YA but the amount of fucks is giving me pause

I think this book has used two different sets of pronouns for the character of Mars. I'm confused about their gender

I'm not sure what book I thought this was when I picked it up but it wasn't this one. I'm still undecided on whether or not I like it, I like the idea but the book itself is throwing me for a loop

In less than 20 pages I feel more for these characters than some books manage in their entirety

Having read and enjoyed The Names which too features an abusive man what is it about this depiction that makes my blood boil? I think it may be how pathetic these abusive men are, wanting pity and coddling while inflicting harm. Turing themselves into a creature so pathetic it is almost insulting that they exercise such power and abuse. Maybe it's that the abuser in The Names was more a plot device than a character.

I hate Ilan so much. This character is making me wonder why I'm reading this book at all

Of all the books to learn from what CPR stands for, I had not expected it to be this one.
It is quite funny to see how medical advice changes between the 1800s and the 1970s and even between the 1970s and now. The changes in the last 50 years aren't as big but still interesting to note.

I have to admit I'm quite confused and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of characters with quite similar names

Welp, chapter 14 hit me like a truck. Not sure if I read it at the right or the worst time

I'm sorry but no. That's not intimate, that's not sexy. That's stressful and bordering on a crime

Something I really appreciate about Kinsella's books is how many Britishisms she uses. So many little turns of phrase that anchor the book in Britain. As much as globalisation has its perks sometimes I miss the regional quirks in language and attitude that make the world so diverse and fun.

In a book about languages the way the audiobook pronounced 'pretoogjes' is diabolical! An affront to the Dutch language, the country and its people. I am disgusted and appalled. That singular word was even spliced in and no one thought to consult a Dutch speaker!? Abominable!

The first chapter is ROUGH. There is little to no context or information given and it seems like it expects you to have a basic understanding of the book before you start reading. My personal belief is that a piece of media that isn't a direct sequel should be able to stand on its own and need no prior context or information, which doesn't seem the case here. Once you get through that, it's quite fun.

Fist page and I'm already not really a fan. The writing is sparse and choppy and wouldn't give me enough information had I not already watched the show.

I don't want to say the narrator is mispronouncing words necessarily but there have been quite a few pronounced differently than I would expect.

As much as I do love Britain and it's culture as it does feel like home to me, it's books like this that do force me to face the classism and racism that the culture and country are built upon. I'd like to defend it but it is basically indefensible.

The audiobook for this uses a different narrator to cleverly differentiate between the text and the footnotes. This naturally involves splicing the audio but is otherwise undisruptive. The clear splicing in the main text, where I assume mistakes were corrected, however, is quite jarring.

Fun fact: Dining in courses was taken from Russia and developed into the manner of service we know today in France. The traditional French way of dining was to offer all courses on serving platters on the table at once.

So many stories that don't seem all that relevant to the plot being told in this novel

Book: I'm from Sheffield, she said in a thick northern accent
Audiobook: speaks in vaguely Irish accent

If the seizures are an indication that she's involved I'm going to be annoyed

The way that this book is written it seems like it's third person limited but then it will add the thoughts of a character we're not following (usually using a third person pronoun) and it's quite confusing

This book does seem a little self indulgent with the world building. It's good all of these things were thought and worked out but I do wonder if we as the reader needed to know, if it serves the story we experience for us to be told.

Kissing has always seemed strange to me. Who came up with it and why? How does something that seems so fundamental to romantic love not exist in every culture? Why is it so ubiquitous in ours?

It is rare for my heart rate to be this accelerated while reading. An excellently written battle scene. Might need a break to get my pulse back in control

As much as I admire the world building there's a lot to keep track of. And the differing units of time really takes me out of it every time