DarkChaplain > Recent Status Updates

I started this on a whim, knowing exactly nothing about it except for the cover and internal color art up front, and thinking that the vibes were intriguing. I didn't read the synopsis and didn't see the instigating reveal coming.

At this point, I am very invested and expect I'll probably see this 5-book series through. It's a highly unusual story for the medium and the JP market, and I'm here for it!

I wanted to update my Read in 2024 list tonight, since it seems the missing covers issue has been mostly resolved by now and I have over half a year of books to tick off the list.

....then Goodreads decided to make me solve Captchas for every update. After having to solve 12(!) captchas in a row on a single update just now, I'm thinking the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Maybe later. I'm only a third through yet...

The past few months I've really just been binging comfort reads rather than anything overly complex. Which is fine with me. Things have been bleak enough as-is.

However, I also notice a harsh decline in motivation to read anything coming from Black Library, with some exceptions.

But hey, I'm embarking on a new attempt to try and complete the Mignolaverse. That should motivate me to finish painting the boardgame!

Unintentionally left the worst for last, huh. Really have to force myself to stick with it to the end. It's a slog, thematically as sublte as a moon flattening a wookiee and I just can't take the teenage sexual tension and angst anymore. Doesn't help that there are multiple pairings treading very similar ground, or that the cover Master/Padawan-duo is incredibly passive, no more than foils for Older's comic cast...

For all the good aspects it undoubtedly has, this is so far my least favorite thing in Phase 1. Starlight Beacon feels empty, the cast feels more limited than it should, the scale doesn't come across and characters just suddenly turn extremely stupid and die. It's shocking the first time, frustrating the second, but by the third time, I want to stop reading. The typical horror trope of going alone is even referenced!

So many sections that just feel like padding, dragging down the parts that actually move. It's difficult to remain motivated, especially when the entire three-volume final novel will rival War and Peace in length.
In other words: It's already glaringly obvious that this book needed a strong editor. Even inconsistencies with other works aside, it's a mess.

I can already feel the full Elan re-read looming....

Not sure I really care for the Nihil as a threat yet. I dig the Jedi culture, but the Nihil better convince me in the remaining half of the book!

I absolutely despise the new book page. I can't even tell how to review a different edition anymore. Stuff I use frequently is either hidden away or moved all the way to the bottom below redundant recommendations etc. And don't even get me started on the way it looks, because it is neither pretty nor easy on the eyes.

Once more, the Mobile First approach to webdesign has a website bite it's own arse.

This is lovely. Whimsical, clever, full of wordplay and heartfelt moments.

The entire first part of the book does a really good job illustrating just how different the High Republic era Jedi are from the prequels era Jedi Order, and how the Republic is genuinely good instead of plagued by petty squabbles. With this elaborate setup, I can definitely say that the High Republic subseries has potential; it reinforces just how far the Jedi have fallen by the time of Order 66.

Really struggling with this one, which is why it was on ice for a while. But coming back to it, it fell right back into the repetitive loop of "protagonist does something stupid, regrets it, then does more stupid". The characters around her are finally starting to wake up to it, but so far it's been a lot of shouting-at-page content, as the main character consistently makes bad decisions, which isn't horror.

Excellent so far. Precisely what I hoped it would turn out to be as a themed anthology