Albert Elrod > Recent Status Updates

In which Matrim supplants Nynaeve as the most foolish, most arrogant, and least likeable character in the series.

"Slashing [...] as if its own tentacle were a sword to slash enemies with."
"The pain hurt"

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The author uses odd words choices, suchs as "it fueled him out of his shock." I understand the meaning, but fueled doesn't make sense in context.

Also, there is poor sense of timescale. The main character is sent back in time by five years, yet he says that an event that is currently reoccurring had haunted his nightmares for many years. It's just odd.

So, the author apparently thinks that arrows can be lot on fire to create flaming projectiles. I'm sorry, but arrow heads aren't flammable. Flaming arrows require more preparation than finding a torch and touching your arrows to the flame.

Five chapters in. Scalzi can write well, but that isn't on display here. So far, it feels like a procession of left-wing political check marks. Smug pandering.

That aside, so far no character has their own voice. They all read the same. I feel like Scalzi intended for the dialogue to be witty, but it's just one shallow one-liner after another.

I hope it picks up.

Why do some many LitRPG authors not know the difference between wary and weary? It's an infuriatingly common mistake.

Oh goodness. Off to a rough start. The most dullard of ears? 😭

Not very good at all. I like the Community reference (Magnitude, Pop, pop!), but that's all I'm liking so far. Nothing makes sense, from "gameplay" to character interaction. It ranges between boring, and mind-numbingly stupid. I'll finish, because I am a masochist, but really, best to avoid this. It's a mess.

The writing vacillates between mediocre and abysmal. First-person perspective is often stilted, but this is some of the most awkward writing I've seen. I'm very tempted to just stop reading.

Also, why do I care what Chen thinks about gay people? That whole section where he logs out to avoid talking to a previous guild member is just weird. Like, stupid weird, not good weird.

Yeah. No. Reducing carbohydrate intake doesn't help you lose fat, and build muscle. Muscles need protein (and consistent progressive overload) to grow, and they need carbohydrates as fuel. All cutting carbs will do is reduce water weight short term. All you need to do to lose fat is cut overall calorie intake. This book is so full of woo. It's hurting my brain.

Character with a severely compromised immune system eats "probiotic gloop"? Does the author not realize that this could be deadly? That said, it was "uv sterilized". I suppose that would destroy the probiotics anyhow. I feel like the author just uses pop science terms without really understanding them. It wouldn't frustrate me if I didn't like the series so well.

Really trying hard to suspend my disbelief. I can buy neural interfaces. I get the autocar idea, I can ALMOST believe that people would use a wrist implant to scan for payments (ALMOST). But I CANNOT understand why ANYONE thinks the hyperloop is ANYTHING but snakeoil. Cripes. At least there aren't Solar Roadways to go with it. 😑

How does one "crumble down" when one has an arm through their chest? Go limp as a noodle perhaps, but crumble down? In addition, I have a feeling the word wanted here was crumple.

The overuse of I, me, my and we are excruciating. It's like someone is playing D&D while they DM and simultaneously roleplay each character.

I feel like I'm trapped in a desolate wasteland of literary garbage. I dread each new sentence, as it could spell the end of my sanity. I see new atrocities on each page, as I continue turning in morbid curiosity. I wonder how bad it could get...

Goodness. Self-indulgent, and poorly written. Bereft of any semblance of rational thought. This reads like the fever dream of a teenaged girl fantasizing about handsome men (who also happen to subsist solely on blood). Zero characterization so far, just a special Mary Sue who has been kidnapped by paper dolls (with teeth) who want her for a yet unspecified reason. It's great for a laugh!

This book almost fooled me. I ALMOST thought it might be good. The weeaboo like descriptions of everything "Japanese", and the painful fanfic-like character names should have tipped me off, but the story was interesting. At first. Now it's a stereotypical "Mary Sue with OMG special powers who is magically (literally) better than her peers who have been training for years" story. And the band scene... Ugh. Why?