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

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

I just finished watching all four Anaconda movies, over a few days of course, and that was a thing. The first two were solid B movie giant creature flicks but the last two were just awful. Not even The Hoff in the the third one was enough to save the movie.

I'm kind of feeling something towards the end of the day. Not pain and nothing debilitating or anything. Just a kind of tightness in my shoulders and lower back. I'm sure I'll be fine.

This might not have been the smarted move but I completed my walk after this nice little tumble in the snow. About the only thing I felt and still kind of feel is a bit of tightness in my back which I'm not really surprised by considering I was wearing my backpack at the time. I think my fat butt and my back pack took the blunt of the fall.

Today has been interesting so far. We got some snow over night that is sitting on top of the ice from last weeks thaw. I walked out of my apartment, got a few steps of the sidewalk and ended up flat on my back staring up at the sky. My toque flew off and one earbud disappeared down my jacket while the other took off for warmer climates. Side note, white earbuds in fresh white snow is not a fun time. I also had my backpack on that was full of food stuff for the week at work. Lets just say I had rice cakes, now I have rice shards and some dust. I lost one pack of hummus as well. I could see my bedroom window from where I was laying in the snow and I seriously contemplated just going back up stairs and ignoring the rest of the day.

The part of the whole situation that really annoyed me was that I know someone saw me take a tumble. They were right behind me all the way down the stairs and were seconds behind me going out the door. Not a word was exchanged. They didn't even bother to check to see if I was alright. Don't get me wrong, I didn't need help but it's still the thought that counts. Especially as I was laying there for a little bit figuring out where everything went wrong and what to do first.

Alright, an extra one for this week but I need to talk about Murderbot.

Network Effect -5 Stars
This book, oh this book was such a blast to read. I had some concerns going in as this was the first full length Murderbot book in a series of novellas. I had heard some mixed reactions to it but I can happily say that I really enjoyed it. If I really had to choose though I'd pick the novella format. I think it's just what I'm more used to and the format forces the book to really move. That being said this book did a couple of important things in my opinion. There was a ton of important character growth for Murderbot and for their relationship with ART. Speaking of ART *insert fangirling scream here* seeing these two characters just bounce off each other is awesome and probably my favorite part of the book. Outside of the great character moments this book does something else important. We get into what ART and his crew does and it's rather fascinating because it sets up so much potential for future story lines. Both in corporate space as well as out in the more unexplored regions of space. This series just has so much potential and that is such an odd thing to say when we are five books into it but it just feels like this series keeps unlocking new potential. I am so glad I finally picked up this series and gave it a try.

Bit of a smaller week for me this week as I'm still working on my audiobook.

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Light Novel) Vol. 2 -4 Stars
I was not prepared for how good this book was. The first book felt like a bog standard slice of life in a fantasy world with a hint of isekai sprinkled in. Not horrible but nothing to write home about it. This book picks up the plot right from the end of the first book and just runs with it. The main plot of this book is the MC working with the two veteran adventuring groups that took her in to bust up a kidnapping slaver ring. These are the really bad kind of slavers who target kids not just for slavery but the extra mile shall we say. Yes, it's a random spot of really dark subject matter in this novel but I don't really hate it. It's not in your face about it and really bad things do happen. Man, this is going to sound so weird but hear me out. It's like some sort of twisted middle ground between the hyper innocence of something like My Little Pony and the soul destroying darkness of something like Berserk. Now this story is not without its flaws shall we say. First, and foremost, is the isekai aspect. Now in most isekai we get at least a glimpse of the person before they woke up in the fantasy world. They were a business man, an idol, a high school student, etc. It doesn't have to be a lot but we get some basic idea of who they were. In this one we never get that glimpse and that previous life kind of feels like a MacGuffin for the author. In the fantasy world we have this nine year old kid cooking up these strategies for everyone to use to bring down the slavers. Now the people do initially question things but after a while everyone just goes with but I want to know is how the previous life person knew how to do all this stuff. There are a lot of things that just feel like it's hand waved away by the author as something from the past life person. Cooking, trapping, cleaning, strategy, etc. It's far from a deal breaker and I doubt it will ever be explained but I am very curious. Regardless, our young MC has a bunch of character growth, makes a bunch of new friends, and brings down a slaver ring with ties all the way up to royal family. I really want the next volume to see where things go but no library has it and it could be months if I request it. There are only three more books in this series so I'm thinking of just buying them.

Forgotten in Death -5 Stars
More In Death and man this book was a good one. This had what felt like three cases on the go. Two that were linked to one victim and then a third that was essentially a cold case as it involved a corpse that was nearly 40 years old. It was interesting seeing all these different cases being worked through and that inevitable moment of justice as the bad guys are caught and broken by Eve. These books are just a fun read for me.

Made in Abyss, Vol. 1 -4 Stars
Made in Abyss, Vol. 2 -4 Stars
I am finally getting around to reading the official English release of this series and I am stoked. I initially read the fan translations of this series many years ago and I loved the world building in this series. This island in the middle of the ocean that contains an abyss under it that draws people in. How the abyss is so easy to access but oh so hard to leave. The deeper you go the harder it is to leave to the point where eventually you just can't leave the abyss. The lore around those brave souls that venture into this pit looking for artifacts and history. The red whistles that are essentially apprentices, the blue whistles that are leaders of the apprentices, the moon whistles for those that are teachers, the black whistles for those that can delve deep into the abyss, and finally the white whistles. Absolute monsters that travel deep within the abyss. Folks that are larger than legends and with abilities to back it up. Performing feats so far beyond human comprehension. At the core of this story is a young 12 year old girl venturing forth into the abyss to find her missing mother, a white whistle legend called Lyza "The Annihilator". Now I know some people take manga recommendations off of my reviews so I feel I need to give a warning for this series. I haven't gotten far but I know that this series gets extremely brutal and is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of trauma in this series and some of it is down right horrifying. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Now for that is next.
Network Effect
I'm about 60% of the way into this book and hoping to have it done today. I'm absolutely loving this book so far. More next week when I've got this done and I find out where things are going.

Tomb of the Queen
Now that I am getting caught up on my audiobooks I can start tackling my buddy reads that I need to catch up on. So many books to read and never enough time.

The Apothecary Diaries 09
The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition, Vol. 1
I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 6: Last Gert Standing
These are the three comics I want to focus on getting done this week as well.

Meanwhile I'm slowly picking through the list trying to remember what I heard in my audiobooks.

*cracks his neck*

I kind of fell of this at the end of last year and now I'm back, a few days late but I'm back.

Five Stars
The Hobbit
Bookshops & Bonedust
Criminal
Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 14 (Volume 14)

Four Stars
Clown in a Cornfield
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 13
Ink Girls
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 3—Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 1
Dark Gathering, Vol. 1
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 8
Stories of the Islands
The Book of Candlelight
Sakamoto Days, Vol. 8
The Great Cleric (Manga) Vol. 4
The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Light Novel) Vol. 2

Worst
I didn't have anything below a three star but in the sea of good things I read in January I'd say the weakest would probably have to be
A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon
There were a couple of nuggets of interesting ideas or sweet romance in this book but for the most part it was just a painfully cliche experience.

Looking Forward To
The hardest section to fill in normally but not this time. I've got some more In Death coming up. I've also got some great manga series coming up. I'm revisiting Cardcaptor Sakura and Dragonball this month. I'm also continuing my read through of Dark Gathering and JoJo. There are several interesting things planned this month.

I never made myself a post yet for this. One more January thing that slipped through the cracks.

Jan- $520.81
Feb- $672.73
Mar- $458.33
Apr- $651.10
May- $597.76
June- $616.30
July-
Aug-
Sept-
Oct-
Nov-
Dec-

Total: $3,555.02

While you're waiting for a more measured response from someone much more sane than I am I shall throw in my response which is:

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's Maas! Run away! Run Away!"

Not really, I haven't been borrowing a lot lately because I've been trying to work through the massive backlog from January. I'm nearly caught, I'd say about another week or two, and then I'll go from there. If it happens I should at least still have Libby and Hoopla. If that also goes down I guess I'll actually have to start buying a few books.

There is a very good chance that the local union containing the librarians will be going on strike. The union members are voting to strike now but it sounds pretty likely. I support what they're doing and why they are doing it but I'm going to miss my library if it happens.

I'm 30% of the way into Network Effect and I want to sweep everything off my plate for the day so I can just listen to this book. I want to know what is going on with Murderbot, with ART, with the situation in general. Murderbot feels like he is growing and changing so much in this one and I just want more.

I don't normally listen to my audiobook at work but today was especially slow and there are only so many YouTube videos I can watch before going insane. I finally cave and plug in my earbuds and almost immediately people start coming out of the wood work to talk to me and tell me their life story. Murderbot is right, humans are stupid.

Starting my Monday morning with some grumpy Murderbot complaining about stupid boats and stupid humans oddly fits my mood today.

I haven't read this yet but it's next on the docket, probably next week. January has been a busy month for me and audiobooks, well books in general honestly. I just got it from Hoopla and I only have one more audiobook on my Libby pile. Rereading the synopsis does make this book sound rather interesting.

Time for that weekly wrap up and I've been on a manga and comic tear this week so I have a few entries. Now some of these entries are going to be super short and sweet and for some I'll have a few things to say. Now that the warnings are done lets get started with this.

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon -3 Stars
I was getting ready to type this weeks summary up and I was mentally reviewing what I read this week. I completely forgot that I had finished this book on Monday. I think that says a lot about my thoughts on this novel. I picked this up expecting a cute and fun little romance and there are moments where that peaks through but overall this was just a cliche laden slog to get through. As the tin advertises our clumsy witch accidentally summons a demon up, to cover up this demon she claims that the demon is her boyfriend, they pretend they're dating until *shock* they actually develop feelings for each other. This book was essentially everything I hate about romance novels. The FMC who doesn't know her own worth, the cruel parents, the third act misunderstanding, the MMC who is more eye candy than an actual character, the oh so perfect sex the first time they fall into bed with the MMC packing the biggest package ever. It's just so painfully cliche and boring. I swear when the characters are talking about the MMC the author just tapped into the MMC vault and pulled up the most standard lines ever that you see in every novel where the man is just there to look good. I swear I start reading these lines and it's the exact same line I've read in books just like this. The MMC some how puts Adonis to shame and us mere normal men are nothing but garbage in the premise of this chiseled god. Sorry to rant but man do I hate this trope. It can be done well if there is actual characteristics given to the character but more often then not the character is just there to be lusted over.

Alright back to this book, put away the annoyance. Like I mentioned there are moments where this book is kind of interesting. I liked the two friends who support the main character, I like the main characters natural magic abilities with all things plant related, I like the idea of Glimmerfalls as a town, there were some interesting ideas in regards to demons as a whole. A lot of this is just lost though in the books need to hit the standard beats that are expected of it. Oh and then there is the random commentary from the author about American problems. Out of the blue you would get some random comment about the American healthcare system, the legal system, the education system, etc. These comments would just appear out of the blue, make their statement, and then everyone would move on without addressing the issue. It was just weird and kind of annoying. Looking back at my comments here I kind of wonder why I even gave this a three star rating?

The Book of Candlelight -4 Stars
This series is really growing on me and an example of what a cozy mystery can achieve. This book started out feeling pretty cliche cozy mystery. We are introduced to an established member of the community who we have conveniently never seen before this book who then dies a few pages later. Like I said, pretty typical cozy mystery fare. The lead is anything but law enforcement but finds herself involved in the case, it's set in a small town with a fairly transient population (aka tourism), etc. There was a moment in this book though where it suddenly took off the cozy gloves and entered a more mature territory. Not far enough to feel dark and gritty like a mystery or a thriller but suddenly we are not in the usual comfortable cozy surroundings. The book then has several separate story lines that you know will inevitably be all tied together but you're not 100% certain how yet. Oddly enough the one area where I think the book kind of stumbled was in the romance department. It wasn't bad, it didn't do anything horrible, it just felt kind of there. It didn't really add to anything and if it wasn't there I wouldn't really miss it either. Regardless this book was a good read and I'm genuinely surprised with this it.

Now for all the manga and comics, sorry in advance.

Earthdivers, Vol. 1: Kill Columbus -3 Stars
I write these based off how my reading challenge is listed and it looks like we are going to start with the controversial one. The book is set in the year 2112 and the world is destroyed due to environmental turmoil. Those with the cash have left the planet leaving everyone else behind. The four MC's, Native American, come up with this idea to stop this by sending one of them back in time to kill Christopher Columbus before he ever arrives in America undoing all the horribly things he did and preventing the world from ending. I'm just going to tackle the elephant in the room and get this out of the way. This is an interesting idea for a story, Columbus deserves a lot of the criticism as he did a lot of really messed up things, but this feels like a very black and white view on something not so black and white. There feels like some genuine rage here and, again, it's warranted but it feels like taking a baseball bat to something that needs a feathers touch. It ignores the fact that Columbus was not the first person in America and not the first white person. The Vikings were here some 400 years before Columbus ever stumbled across this continent. The discovery of North America was going to be inevitable at some point. Like I mentioned above, the Vikings already knew of it. Expansion from either Europe or Asia were going to be inevitable. Would it have been as bad as Columbus or what followed? Who knows. That gets heavily into the realm of "what ifs" but lets be honest here history is not exactly kind. It could maybe be better or it could be a whole lot worse. The history part aside lets get into my other thoughts. This book was this weird blend of science, magic, and hallucinations (?). The book is split in to two story lines. There is part of it following the one MC who was sent into the past to stop Columbus. This was the best part of the story in my opinion. It was interesting to see this scholarly character descend into madness as his mission gets more and more desperate. Then there is the part in the future and that was odd. This is where it really gets into the timey wimey stuff and the story gets kind of confusing and convoluted. There are a lot of characters all with their own motivation and goals and it gets kind of confusing after a bit. I'm not sure if I want to read the next one or not as it isn't out yet but I might.

Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 26 -3 Stars
I don't even remember requesting this book. I just got a notification that it was ready to pick up one day. It has been a while since I read the last one and I think that it kind of helped with this one. I found myself grinning at points and enjoying the romance between Komi and Tadano when it decide to pop up. That being said my usual issues are still there. That one creepy character that just won't go away and has to be in every volume. The stupidly large roster of characters. Outside of a few core characters I barely remember any of these people. They show up, they play of their gag, and then disappear until the story calls for them again. I'm not sure if I ordered the next one but I'm sure it will show up at some point.

Stories of the Islands -4 stars
This book is a feminist retelling of three Indonesian folk tales with more of an emphasis on the women in these tales. This was just a treat to read for me. The simple art style, the stories, it all just worked for me. The icing on the cake, and I wish more retellings did this, the author provided the original folktales at the back of the book. That way you can see the original and see the authors inspiration for what they created.

SAKAMOTO DAYS 8 -4 Stars
Another manga that I have been waiting forever to get from the library and I forgot just how fun this series is. The over the top characters, the over the top abilities, it's all just so much fun. There is a crazy strong character in this volume with a pump action shotgun axe. Yes, a shotgun with a battle axe blade on the barrel. This is the kind of stupidity that I love.

The Great Cleric (Manga) Vol. 4 -4 Stars
This is another fun popcorn fantasy manga read. This one takes up with our MC starting his new job at the head church where is now the exorcists purging the labyrinth of the undead. Not a lot to really say here. Just a fun popcorn read.

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 14 (Volume 14) -5 Stars
What can I say about this series that I haven't said before. This is just a personal favorite that I love and this volume gave me more fun and chill vibes.

Now for what is next.

Network Effect
My volume finally came in and I'm ready for some more Murderbot.

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Light Novel) Vol. 2
I'm about halfway through this novel and it's a lot better than the first so far. To the point where I want to get the next volume but no library has it. I could request it but I have a feeling that it would takes months to get and I kind of want it now. Do I buy or do I wait?

I didn't think I was going to be the unknown category at the start of the year as I wasn't thinking about light novels and manga. 20 books later and it's 20% unknown, 40% male, and 35% female.

Cee, I'm using your spreadsheet this year to track my reading and it's super useful but there is one section that is making me chuckling and that is the author's gender. Most books are pretty easy to get this info and then I get to light novels/manga. You know the name that they're writing under and that is about it. Authors like Afro, Broccoli Lion, and Honobonoru500. I know why it's done and it's not new info to me but I still find it interesting the difference between publishing ideologies. This whole thing of anonymous authors is just fascinating to me.

Celestial wrote: "Is this a Canadian thing, or do all libraries have TV episodes? I've never heard of that before."

Not sure about other libraries but our library system here has a ton of TV series both as physical items and as digital items. The series span from preschool shows to adult shows like Warehouse 13 or The Mandalorian. They have both fiction and nonfiction stuff as well.