Tasha > Recent Status Updates

Just finished the first chapter. And boy, the MC, who is also the author since this is autobiographical, is going through a lot. Depression, eating disorders, anxiety….and that’s just a few. This is monologue heavy unlike most of the manga I’ve read and the artwork is all dramatic facial expressions shaded in pinks and whites. Let’s see how this goes!

Done! This was a solid read with an appropriate ending. I love Iglesias’ writing style and his sense of horror. There were supernatural elements- Rodolfo! - but the true horror comes from humans. Every dog gets his day as my mom likes to say.

Man, it’s Strength of the Few’s fault that I’m barely reading anything. I was fine until then! I read very little in the past few days but I’ll try to wrap this up today. Brian being scared shitless is cracking me up! I don’t blame him. The thingamajigs with TEETH in the tunnel’s would’ve scared me too. There aint no amount of money in the world for that mess! This isn’t even worth it!

This is taking me a long time to get through but that’s not the book’s fault. This is good stuff but I’m in a slump or something. I can see why this book has a disappointingly low rating, though. I think I read about five things already that would trigger sensitive readers. I thought the road trip will be a bit longer. There’s some pretty creepy things going on. Hopefully I’ll get back into my groove.

I’m behind on my reading today because I got a little sick with sniffles after an intense workout. If my brain wasn’t still a little foggy I think I’ll be a lot more disturbed by what I just read. Only true evil could hurt a child! This is actually VERY similar to House of Bone and Rain, but I think Iglesias wrote this first. Interestingly, his royally pissed off writing style reminds me a little of S.A Cosby.

Their plan is stupid as hell. I saw Dead Presidents and Set it Off so I know how that is gonna end up.

Iglesias writes as if this mess happened to him for real. I went in blind but the tone is similar to House of Bone and Rain: all rage and violent anger. It doesn’t simmer but boils to the surface straight from the beginning. I just started the fourth chapter and the first consists of some of the best writing I’ve read all year! Why is this dude underground? His prose is great and should get more attention.

Just starting the fifth chapter of The Horse and His Boy and I’m struggling with this! I think it’s because it’s part of an omnibus collection. I think if I were reading it as a standalone book I would have been done by now. This seems to take place after the main events in the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe but before they returned to their own lands. I think it’s about to get interesting. Where’s Bree?

Done. The reverse from book 1 in that the last 25% is sluggish instead of the first. The pacing’s all over the place and incredibly rushed near the end. A lot of things happen that should have emotional weight but doesn’t because the characters are so weakly developed. It also seems like the iunctii will retcon a lot of things too. The first half was good so this is a shame. 2.5 rounded down.

This is becoming a chore to read and I’m starting to zone out while reading. Must’ve been in the zone out state when Vis leveled up or maybe that’s something that was skipped over. The last 25% or so is a little boring and I just don’t care enough about the characters. I feel like too much is happening off-page and so the plot feels jumpy. 100 more pages to go. I need to be done with this.

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.