Gord’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2017)

Gord’s comments from the Vampires, Weres and Fae! group.

I was going to get to this next, then the first Shannara book dropped in my lap. I'll try to get to this before the end of the month.

Weird question for those that have read this before/already. Is this smut heavy? If I remember Charley had a bit of smut. Just figured I'd check as I'm listening to audiobooks more at work now.

Last Friday I started trying to exercise some portion control. I'm sure I've talked about loving to eat just for the sake of eating. Nearly a week into things and it's mostly going well. I'm not trying to cut any particular thing out or anything, it's just eating less. I'd say the worst part has just been the cravings. It hasn't been constant but there have been a couple times where I just wanted to eat. I wasn't hungry but I wanted to eat just because. I'm kind of going through that again this morning. I had breakfast, I'm not hungry, but man I just want to eat.

Hmmmm, I've never read it before but thanks to your recommendation I'm requesting a copy of it.

Time for that weekly update and I have a bit of things to say about one book in particular.

The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast -DNF (all the negative stars)

I don't normally talk about books that I DNF just because they're not really all that common and, generally speaking, I don't really have a lot to say about them. Then there is this one. I DNF'd this book at about the 5% mark in the audiobook and really it took just one line to make me want to throw this book out the window. To set the scene, the MC has just quit her job and is trying to call her boyfriend. This is the part of the book where the MC reflects on their significant other/the author describes him to us. He is a 40 year old game developer who she thinks can be be immature because he likes playing video games and likes going to comic book conventions. Before I get into my personal opinions on this steaming pile of hot garbage lets just look at this from the professional aspect. The man is a video game developer. I don't think it takes a massive stretch of the imagination to see how his hobbies influence his work and his work influences his hobbies. Playing video games, this is probably a great way for him to hang out with his buddies after work and to just relax. It's also a way to see what is the latest trends, the latest duds, finding inspiration, etc. Then there are comic conventions. How can you not see that this would be fun for someone who likes video games? Second, see all my stuff above about work and personal life. It all applies here as well. Depending on what game he is making, the size of the studio, etc there is also a great chance he could be working at conventions like this as well.

Now we get into my personal opinions on this. Without getting to nasty here this MC and this author can go pound sand. This kind of mentality is toxic as hell. I've personally heard stuff like this in my adult life and other variations on it. Comics/cartoons are for kids, comics/manga are not real books, your just wasting your time playing games, etc, etc, etc, etc. I know that many others with nerdy hobbies and passions have also heard these kind of comments as well. These kind of comments can be damaging for people. Why share my hobbies with people if I'm just going to get ridiculed for it. The other aspect of this is how does someones personal hobbies have any reflection on their maturity? It doesn't. It's as simple as that. It simply doesn't. If you know me then you know I am into some nerdy stuff (manga, anime, vtubers, comics, light novels, video games) but I've also explored other fandoms as well. While the subject matter might be different there are a lot of similarities as well. What is the difference between someone memorizing the lore of Warhammer 40K, someone memorizing the stats of all the major football players for the last 40 years, or someone who knows a ton about wine (tasting, ages, vineyards, etc). Unless you are directly involved in those industries they probably have little real life use. Here is the thing, they are something people are passionate about and are invested in. They also have no link to maturity at all. Simply linking someones maturity to a hobby or passion you don't understand is stupid. I could keep ranting here for a while but I'm going to move on.

Ophie's Ghosts -4 Stars
I needed a historical fiction book for a challenge and found this on my TBR. I've liked other stuff from the author so I figured it was a safe bet. As you can tell from rating I rather enjoyed this book. This book is about a young black girl who is forced to move to Pittsburgh after her father is killed in Georgia. It's set in 1923 and she can see ghosts. This was kind of a mystery novel as she unravels what happens to this ghost that she became friends with. My biggest worry heading into this novel was that this was a middle grade book and it was some heavy subject matter. I've seen some stuff try to tell stories in this time of history that just glosses over the horrible stuff that happened. That worry was quickly eased though. Sure it didn't get it the nitty gritty of things but it didn't shy away from the horrible things said and done in that time. This book was an interesting read with a great MC. It did feel a little bit middle grade at times, some of the clues were super obvious but it was written as middle grade book. It's not a knock on the book at all. It's kind of nice to read something that is not actively trying to deceive me.

Now for the manga (bite lip on maturity comment)

Spy x Family, Vol. 7 -4 Stars
Spy x Family, Vol. 8 -4 Stars
More of this series and it was a really fun read. It was also super nice to get a Yor based story line and I hope we can see more in the future.

The Moon on a Rainy Night, Vol. 1 -4 Stars
This was a random snag from the library and another yuri romance. The big twist is that one of the MC's has hearing loss but she is not fully deaf. This causes her to pull back from everyone around her and live a very isolated life. I love reading manga like this, ones that gives me a glimpse into world that I know little about. I'm also loving the pacing of this one. It's not instant love or anything. They start as strangers that have become casual friends. My biggest concern with this series will be the drama. I know it's inevitable that there will be drama but I worry about what kind and how it's handled. I really hope it avoids a lot of the cliche high school romance tropes. In particular the lack of communication one.

Don't Call it Mystery (Omnibus) Vol. 3-4 -4 Stars
What is up with this series? Why am I so hooked on it? It's just the MC yapping all the time but I find myself just drawn in to it. No, the art hasn't improved at all but I don't really care about the art anymore. I'm fully here for the story. Now one small criticism about this volume. I felt that the family story line we started in the last volume and wrapped up here kind of dragged a bit. It was far from horrible but I kind of wished it had been a bit shorter or broken up into smaller individual mysteries that linked into a larger one. Kind of like what we see later in the book.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 3—Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 7 -4 Stars
Every volume in this series just solidifies my love/hate relationship I have been developing. I love the art, I love the creativity of the fights and the stands, but the main JoJo and the story really took a back seat in this one. Joseph Joestar who was the main JoJo from the last series has more of a presence in this series then the actual main JoJo. Jotaro Kujo almost feels like a background character in this series. I think that is one of the problems with have a large cast of over the top characters. Someone inevitably fades into the background and in this one it just so happens to be the MC.

As for what is coming up next, I've got a week of great reads ahead of me

For audiobooks I have
Sunken Pyramid
Ghosts
I'm almost done Sunken Pyramid and it's another Rogue Angel book. It was the one I started after DNF'ing a certain book mentioned above and it was what I needed. Mindless popcorn to make me feel good.

For physical books
Raven of the Inner Palace (Light Novel) Vol. 1
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (Light Novel) Vol. 2
I started Raven this morning and after only 15 pages I am finding myself hooked. Hopefully it continues to be good.

Brittany wrote: "Gord wrote: "Five percent of the way into this audiobook and with one simple line I am ready to throw this book out the window. The MC is describing their boyfriend and complains about how he is im..."

The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast

Five percent of the way into this audiobook and with one simple line I am ready to throw this book out the window. The MC is describing their boyfriend and complains about how he is immature for being nearly forty and still playing video games and going to comic book conventions. I could open up a massive rant full of a lot of adult words right now and a part of me really wants to. I'm going to take my immature ass and find a new audiobook because screw the MC and screw the author for writing such stupid crap.

I've had way to many super realistic dreams in my life. I had one recently where the only thing I remember was getting evicted from my apartment. There is a corner of my brain that is still trying to sort out that mess. Trying to figure out what I need to do to find a new place. Then there is another that is filled with dread that I'm going to come home and find an eviction notice.

Some memorable ones from my past. There was one that took place at my first job. I was working in the warehouse like normal and I was pulling some OT. It turned out that the old Ethiopian guy we worked with was actually a vampire and my entire dream was him chasing us around the warehouse in the dark. Then there was one where I was working as a translator in the Middle East. There was a bomb somewhere and we were trying to find information on its location. I just remember waking up from that dream and just having this overwhelming feeling of despair and fear.

Has the brain rot really settled in that deep?

What the hell was that dream? I wasn't in high school but I was maybe a year or two out of high school. It was like first day of school and I had to go round up my brothers (I don't have none in real life) and basically my dream was full of all that high school stupid. The insults (yeah well, you stink), that weird pettiness (Mr. K he looked at me), and just the general stupidness of it all. The rules say we can't do this but what if we did it like that? I woke up feeling secondhand embarrassment and that is not a way you want to start your day.

Today marks the start of my second week without my coworker. The first week was steady but not bad. The second week is shaping up to be a bit chaotic though. Just a lot of things that need to get done that I'm still waiting for things for. Combine that with the usual month end rush, the day to day flow of things, and it could be a little rough this week.

This will be a short one this week as I was lost in the novels this week and didn't have the chance to read any manga yet.

Like This, For Ever -5 Star
This book was a wild one to read. Of the three books I've read in the series so far I think this is my favorite which is kind of odd because the main characters were barely in this one. They were there but they felt more like side characters or the B plot to the main story. Their involvement with the story was more about pushing their character arcs forward then the actual story. That is until they inevitably get pulled into the story. I want to be very careful with what I say here to avoid spoilers. As the previous book established the author is very good at using red herrings. This book really solidified that feeling for me and then it had a couple of really good twists on top of everything. Just an intense read that I could not put down especially in the last half of the book. At this point I am very tempted to check out the author's standalone works to see what else she has to offer.

A High Tide Murder -3 Stars
I remember reading the first one and feeling like it was a breathe of fresh air. While it was a cozy mystery it flipped some of the expected tropes on their head. This second one felt more like it was sliding back into the expected tropes of a cozy mystery. I liked the character stuff a lot more then the actual mystery itself. The mystery, like I just mentioned, felt like a bog standard cozy affair with one really annoying habit. The MC would find a clue that was pretty obvious and not just in a reader knowledge kind of way. They would then get puzzled by it and ignore it until several chapters later when it was once again needed for the story. I hate this trope of ignoring the super obvious clue until just the right time. It makes everyone involved feel kind of stupid when they obviously are not. Overall it was an entertaining read and if there is a third one I will check it. That being said, some of the initial shine for this series has already worn off for me.

The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Light Novel) Vol. 6 -4 Stars
Another book in this series and we start to see the involvement of other countries. I'm not sure if that involvement will change the overall story going forward but it was interesting. Not a lot to really say about this one overall. Some advancement on the romance, a bunch of research, some behind the scenes political scheming and maneuvering.

Now what is next

Ophie's Ghosts
This is my next audiobook. I needed a historical fiction book and I've liked what I read from this author before so it should be good.

Outside of that I have a stack of manga from the library that I need to get caught up on

In my opinion, yes. The events in the book itself are stand alone but what the characters are all going through, some of the characters themselves are all things that are established in previous books. It will help put things in context.

Like This, For Ever It's this months buddy read

I just finished the book and I think this might be my favorite of the three I've read so far. I'm going to throw some heavy spoiler stuff behind a spoiler wall down below.

(view spoiler)[
After the first couple books I knew that this author was very good at using a red herring. As a result I had a gut feeling that Barney's dad was a giant red herring but once again the author just set things up in such a way that man did he look oh so suspicious. What I didn't see coming was the second red herring. I'll be honest here, Barney tripped my radar as being a suspect rather early on. When everything was explained with his dad and Barney became the one who was behind everything it fit oh so good and made so much sense. Then the author revealed that it was yet another trap and that the killer was someone who we had no idea about. The thing is there was clues there but they were really subtle. There was that scene when Barney was over at that kids house and he was looking at the photos on the wall. This was just a really good mystery novel and the double red herring really caught me off guard. (hide spoiler)]

Again, we get the MC breaking the news of her discoveries to her fellow police and someone just has to come up and chat. All of this on top of the fact that I feel like I'm getting pulled in about 18 different directions at once and I might be developing a slight eye twitch.

I'm listening to my audiobook at work and I'm done to the last twenty something percent or so. Basically this is where all the puzzle pieces are starting to fall into place and the big reveal is coming. I have a couple of theories and I really want to see how this unfolds. Every time I start getting into my book though, work just has to interrupt with something stupid. Just let me work on my order and listen to my mystery.

This author is way to deep into my head. I'm not sure if the obvious suspect is a red herring like the last books or if the author knowing that I will know their tactics has made the obvious red herring the actual suspect. The clues are just stacking up way to much.

Time for some more updates. I need a side tangent before I get to the actual updates though. Last month I suddenly got the urge to start reading some more novels. As usual, with so many other things this year, my brain took this signal and twisted it. I am requesting a whole bunch of novels from the library, Japanese light novels. Yup, my brain took manga and just moved into the novel format. Thanks brain. It's all stuff I've been wanted to read but still. Any way, on to the usual content.

The Ambitious Card -3 Stars
It was not easy finding a book set in Minneapolis but I settled on this one. It wasn't a bad book, it was just a bog standard mystery, but with a magic twist. Magic as in stage magic and not fantasy magic either. Considering what I normally read I felt I might want to clarify that one. I really don't have a whole lot to say about this book. It was entertaining but it didn't blow my socks off either.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (Light Novel) Vol. 1 -4 Stars
If you have been following me for long enough you might have seen me talking about this book/series before. I'm going to be brutally honest here, this is your standard isekai novel. MC logs into a VRMMO, wakes up in a fantasy world, starts their new life there. MC is, of course, over powered to the point that nothing is ever a threat to them. There is "tension" but basically the MC is so over powered that this basically becomes a slice of life. For some reason this series just lands for me though and I love it so much. I've read fan translations of the webnovel, the manga, the light novel, and I've watched the anime. This series is pure mindless fluff and I love it for that. I've started yet another reread of this series so expect to see more of this in the future.

Now for the other stuff.
Skinner -3 Stars
This is a perfect shining example of everything I enjoy and yet hate about horror. Basically a plane load of social influencers crash in the Northern woods and have to survive but there is a killer in the woods that they don't know about. The killer picks them off one by one until you have the final girl who survives. I love the aesthetics of horror but this was about as deep as a puddle on a hot sidewalk. You might as well have cardboard cutouts move from trope to trope. Everything about this book was just a trope. The setting, the victims, the killer, the plot, everything. This might not be so bad if there was anything done to explore those tropes, to elevate those tropes, to subvert them, anything at all to give it something extra but it doesn't. It's just "we are in the second act so we need the nerd, the jock, and the goth over here. The killer is going to kill the hot one over there.". This is just plain white bread that hasn't even been toasted yet. Your book can't be even remotely scary if we have already seen it a thousand times already.

Dragon Ball (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 6: Includes vols. 16, 17 & 18 -4 Stars
For the anime this book would have been the transition from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z and I love the way this transition was handled. It felt like a bit of a tonal shift from something more goofy to something more serious. It was a pivot from essentially fantasy to something much more sci-fi. It immediately set up the new threat and how scary they were. It immediately got rid of the safety net by removing the ability to keep resurrecting people with the Dragon Balls. All of this was handled with in world explanations and a surgical use of the amnesia trope. While reading this I was blown away by how well this was all handled. I was very impressed with this book and I'm excited to see where this all goes.

Now, what is next
Like This, For Ever
I'm a little over halfway through this audiobook and I am enjoying it so far. I really can't wait to start getting some explanations for what is happening in this book.

I will need another audiobook after this one but I currently have nothing lined up and no plans, yet.

As for things that are not audiobooks I have The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Light Novel) Vol. 6 next and then some more manga.

I'm a little over half way through this book and I'm enjoying it. Here's the thing though, if you didn't like the first couple of books then you aren't going to like this book either. The author has settled into their formula and it's more of what you would expect from this series. For me, I'm enjoying it. For others, you probably wont have the same kind of fun I am.