Tasha > Recent Status Updates

I originally thought the iunctii were an interesting part of the story, but now I think they are too convenient of a plot device. Pacing has slowed a bit and I feel that a lot has happened yet the core story is at a standstill. Second book woes maybe. Deaglan has a bit of much needed character development. Right now though I’m think the middle part of this story is much weaker than the beginning.

There’s a heavy reliance on time-skips and important things are skipped over and happening off-page. There’s also a LOT of telling instead of showing. Maybe Islington took on too much with storylines happening in three different worlds. Magic feels needlessly complicated. Character development is still the weak point, Vis included. Vis often assumes he knows the motivations and thoughts of other characters too.

End of Part 1 and I’m going into Part 2. Islington does a good job with balancing three different worlds and making each one exciting to read. One chapter may end in a cliff-hanger, but then the next will continue the plot threads of another world so the timing’s good. The magic is complex and this book is also highly entertaining. I just got through reading an exciting 10-page chariot race!

Only one of the three knows what happened so it’s interesting to see how bits and pieces of knowledge are being revealed to Vis and Deaglán. I’m invested in all three POVs now since each POV is missing vital information. This is nitpicky, but Islington does this thing where he descriptive qualifiers in dialogue instead of just saying the name. It’s distracting. And character development is still shallow.

This kicks off immediately after the end of book 1, but I didn’t understand how Vis (Luceum) ended up where he was in chapter 2 so I had to reread the corresponding chapter in the epilogue in book 1 to refresh my memory. My impression is that that will be the least interesting POV, thankfully, it was also the shortest. Writing feels vague and I’m detached right now, and I hope for stronger character development.

Yeah…no. This was much too predictable and boring to boot. I didn’t care about any of the characters at all and I couldn’t care about the mystery either. This was a waste of my time. 1.5 rounded down to 1.

I have this figured out and had my suspicions yesterday. The red herring was obvious - it’s always a red flag in a mystery if a character isn’t mentioned by name. So not only is everything too easy but the story is told in a boring way. I’m just not invested. Rachel’s too pathetic and deserves to get her ass handed to her for all the lies she told. This isn’t a good book at all.

Is this really supposed to be a thriller because there ain’t no thrills! This is boring! And repetitive! I’m just reading about Anna getting drunk, blacking out, telling lies over and over and over again. I’m getting the impression that the author is trying to say something about marriages, but that isn’t coming across. What’s coming across is: drink responsibly, folks! Also, how close is this train?!

Stopping for the night right before the first Anna chapter because I already don’t like her and don’t want to read about her before going to bed. These characters are terrible. Rachel is a HOT MESS. I cannot relate and I’m definitely judging her. I think the alcoholic blackouts are a lame and cheap plot device. The mystery is boring since I don’t care about the characters.

Man, I don’t know about this. So far this book reads like the journal entries of two uninteresting and unreliable women. That means the “entries” are also uninteresting. A story like this is supposed to grab me straight off and I’m bored right now. 44 pages in and it’s been driven all the way home that Rachel’s an alcoholic fixated on her failed marriage. I read this somewhere before.

This is one of those times I wish GR allowed half stars. I would give it a 1.5, but now I have to decide whether to round up or down and I usually round down. I want to give the author credit for attempting to take the subject matter seriously and not fetishizing or smuttifying incest, but the terrible prose kept ME from taking it seriously. The second half was better than the first, but nothing was actually good.

I should’ve just listened to myself and left it as DNF. Author uses the same plot device more than once and the prose is bad, hilariously so, especially in Lochan’s POV. He’s still the better character, though as at least he understands his relationship with his sister is a ticking time bomb and will have devastating consequences. Maya just doesn’t get it (BIZARRE) and comes off as dangerously immature.

Done! This was beautifully written and in some ways Gaiman’s scariest book.

Goal #3: Slim down on hold list. Done! FINALLY. I think this is the weakest volume so far. I couldn’t care less about Barbie and her weird dream so to have a whole volume about that just stings. I have volume six which is the last volume I own and I don’t think I’ll get Vols. 7-10. Unless 6 is very, very good. I will say the material was ahead of its time. This was written in the late 80s-early 90s!

I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of duds lately so I need to read something guaranteed to be good. That means a book by Gaiman. (Second choice was Patricia McKillip.) And sure enough, this is very good, but I knew it would be. That’s why I’m reading it! I went in blind so I’m surprised by the magic. But I shouldn’t be. This is Gaiman. Of course there’s magic. In the ocean. At the end of the lane.

This books reads like an emo teenager who writes bad poetry, calls himself something like EverDark online and shops at Hot Topic. It’s insufferable. I’m constantly reading crap like “…it’s a struggle to just let it alone, not chafe it in an attempt to annihilate the agony inside my mind” and “always my loneliness-that airless bubble of despair that is slowly stifling me.” Lol I can’t do this.

“So when this lady arrived saying she was a family friend and had been asked to pick up the children, we had no reason to disbelieve her.” YOU HAVE A THOUSAND REASONS TO NOT BELIEVE HER!!!! See this is why if I had kids they will be homeschooled. Can’t trust NO ONE especially with your kids. Can’t trust the mom either and that what’s sticking out to me so far. Other than the gloom that is Lochan’s POV.

Done! This was a great horror story with memorable characters. I do think King tried to do a bit too much - it’s a bit haunted house, a bit demonic rituals, and a bit vampire, with the vampires behaving more like zombies. The Marsten house stuff could have been eliminated. Everything ended up fitting, though. Also, I was wondering why they were taking ALL DAY to get things done in the end. 3.5 rounded to 4.