David > Recent Status Updates

Gah, chap 2.2 "Where Have You Been All My Life" just destroyed me. Poor, poor Quinn. You are taking more of a beating than Collins did to Katniss, only you share in the agency.

And that last story ("Immemorial", Oli Morgan's tale) ends on such a gut punch. This one's been haunting me for a week.

Chap 2.1 Immemorial: "An idea is alive. It can mutate, it can replicate, it can predate on other ideas…and it can hide." Oh this book. My brain is expanding into a new orthogonality.

Outstanding. 3 stories in and my brain is reeling. More, pls.

Well this is new. A secret organization that manages secrets that keep themselves secret. I'm hooked!

"A saint sent a set of devils to turn a thief into an Empress?" Well, duh.

"What did you do?!" Wtaf Joe.

Battle scene #4, and not the one we expected!

Wow things sure are falling apart fast.

Welp didn't see that coming. Nice one, Joe.

Bombshell time. What? No, no, not crying. Allergies. My kingdom for a Kleenex!!

Another son of Eudoxia, another fight scene. Round 3: begin! And just like that, the excommunicated congregants of the Chapel of the Holy Expediency are back together. Sweet Beatrix! Brother Diaz punches air!

Lol, Shaxep's visit. Definitely reminiscent of a cut scene in BG3.

What is it with Abercrombie's fascination with spit?

In Part 3 our heroes pair off into the obvious matches. Except maybe Jakob, who remains MIA? Really enjoyable banter, here. These characters are typecast, but I just love them. Still feeling Baldur's Gate 3 vibes, and I'm there for it.

Abercrombie sure can write an epic fight scene! Part 2 ends with our heroes in quite a pickle.

Battle #2. At sea! While sinking! And on fire! Vigga hates sea food!

"Nothing but the Truth" (inside the illusionist's house) is a fabulous weave of past and present. It's a bit jarring to hop heads within a chapter, but I see what Abercrombie is doing here, and it's quite effective. And now we know (and love) our anti-heroes even more.

Annnd it's a side quest! Eating this up. The dialog is snappy, irreverent, and just plain fun. And then we get lines like this: "Sunny squatted beside the bodies. Looked like they'd died in each other's arms, which was sort of heartwarming, till she realized they were both holding knives, which was the opposite. Heartcooling?"

Each short chapter takes the perspective of one of the questers, so we get to know them all fairly well. Their quick banter is what keeps me engaged. I love this motley crew!

Cozy meet cute audiobooks are ok for road trips, I guess. At least it's fun when we both chuckle at the same time. But this narrator is grating on my ears. And who pronounces gazebo with a short 'e'?

The chapter "Least Worst Choices" contains some of the best intraparty dialog I've ever read. Holy frak y'all. What if your NPCs carried on entire conversations among themselves?

Whew! And Vigga saves the day. How I love these characters! In my headcanon, they exist fully formed as a Baldur's Gate III party.

The first battle! Balthazar the Magician is frakking hilarious.

These characters! I'm already hooked. Brother Diaz is cut from the same hapless cloth as _Canticle_'s Brother Francis.

Lol, love Abercrombie's over the top descriptions: "His clipped hair was iron-grey with two great scars through it, and his clipped beard was iron-grey with at least three scars through it, and his grey brows were more scar than brow. He looked like a man who had spent half a century falling down a mountain. Perhaps one made of axes."

Welcome to the Middle Ages (?), where everything is filthy, religious, corrupt, and rife with dark humor!

Look, it's Raph! (A little *too* Raph.)