Sylvia > Recent Status Updates

What an absolute delight to read. This is my third book from R. F. Kuang and each one has been so different from the others. Some authors I like to read because I like the types of stories they write and I want more of the same. When it comes to this author I want to read whatever new novel concept she’s come up with. I want to read it precisely because it won’t be more of the same.

Eye opening. A ride of absolute horrors.

RF Kuang has done it again - I enjoyed Babel and this novel has been quite good so far (though very different in almost every way).

It can be painful to read from June’s perspective. The mental gymnastics she does to justify her choices to herself, & the truly repulsive way she doesn’t hear her own bigotry (while seeming to view herself as progressive) just makes me want to reach through the page and shake her!

This is starting to smell like a DNF...

While it started off strong with a grungy 90s Hong Kong Kowloon vibe, it is falling apart so quickly now.

- very poorly propped up motivations for all the main characters
- so many things are put forward without explanation. Calla refuses to jump, but we have yet to learn her reasoning
- you can't hide out after jumping, but why can't you just target someone with the same or similar eye color?

I'm disappointed because the first book was so good. The world building is still fantastic, but the ensemble cast all suffer from main character syndrome. They make impulsive decisions in silos without communicating and while they have tumultuous internal emotional lives do not bother to communicate that emotional nuance to those around them or bother to listen in those rare moments someone does try to reach out.

Enjoying it so far, and finding it highly quotable:

Sometimes it is hard to know if someone is insulting, or just American

The war had been hard on my feet and my knees, and my faith in humanity

[Asked] with gentle malice

I'd been tired of it a decade ago, now I'd moved to some other state entirely. Transcendent exhaustion, perhaps

I admit I am reading these books because of how beautiful the cover art is ...

"lavishing her with their disappointment" was alone I enjoyed. This is not my normal read