Shelbie > Recent Status Updates

It’s getting better but the exposition is still terrible and the writing style gives the MC a very juvenile/cartoonish feel.

I think having watched the anime is really saving me right now. This is SLOW going and I’m not a fan of the writing style. There’s a ton of exposition and the perspective will change mid-paragraph. I know it’s mostly because it’s a Chinese to English translation, which I haven’t enjoyed in other books. Not sure if it’s just hard to find a novel/writer translator or if the two really don’t mesh.

Audiobook so far is sassy and a lot of fun.

I’m hating the writing and the sporadic Spanish sprinkled into every paragraph is jarring when there’s no translation. I also discovered this was originally written as fanfic for a Harry Potter parody I had read and hated back in 2021 so…I think this will be a DNF soon.

Still trying to figure out how “four horses all in a line pulling a carriage” is supposed to work.

I loved Serviceberry but this one has me tuning out. Maybe it’s because it’s more meandering and repetitive? Serviceberry focused on a very specific topic, whereas this feels more memoir/philosophical/lyrical.

I’m going to push as far as I can but beginning to think this one won’t be for me. I really don’t like the narrative approach of, “and this happened then this happened then this,” versus actually living in and experiencing a scene. Characters I know purely by name and I have no impression of what they look like or who they are. And this feels extraordinarily wordy for the sake of trying to be fancy.

Men have always been so dramatic.

There’s a ton of information here and it’s interesting. However, it has not escaped my notice the author talk of Muslim leader atrocities during times of war, but western rulers are simply off “Crusading” like it was a summer holiday.

When the audiobook is 20 hours. Ooph.

There’s a ton of tell and little show and several things just don’t make sense. MC was ostracized for being a bastard but premarital sex and married lesbians are fine (and as an adult no one cares about his parentage). Music is super important but only the MC was sent to study it. Kids vanish and not one person considers if a human did it. No one can cross the border but we can send mail. Make it make sense.

I somehow missed how this is marked as a cozy read, a genre I don’t mesh with. It’s basically a fictional tale of how to sell books. There are moments where I appreciate the bookstore/cafe vibes, but usually it’s a monotonous nothing burger