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

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

Rock

(I'm so sorry for reminding anyone of that song)

Vampire

Bloody Mary

I started this up this morning and the narrator is such a joy to listen to. At least in my opinion any way. I'm only about 10% of the way into the book so it's still setting things up currently.

Man I wanted to like The Fervor but the execution is putting me to sleep.

I'm totally not counting the days until my vacation starts but if I were it would be five more days. Of those five more days my work will be mostly done tomorrow unless something new comes down.

Once again it's time for that weekly update. Not a lot to talk about this week as I'm still trying to read all the novels that are coming in for me.

-3 Stars
I reread this for a timed challenge and then at the last possible second realized I had an even better book. Any way, this book was still the bog standard overpowered OP isekai that it was the first time that I read it. What it did do though, and my reading of Kuma, was make me want to read more light novels. I found out that this series is done and the library has all of them plus what looks to be an ever increasing stock of light novels. I really need to read more light novels.

-4 Stars
Another novel that is heavily inspired by And Then There Were None (is it weird that I remember this more by it's offensive name Ten Little Indians? Which is no where near as bad as the original title as I just found out). The book even references that book during the course of events of this book. Here is the difference between this one and that bad YA one, Ten, I read earlier this year. This one was actually good. Don't get me wrong it has some issues but it really shines in the end. This books is about the Darker family who are getting together for Nana's 80th birthday at her house. Of course this house is in that perfect location that conveniently gets cut off from the mainland for X amount of hours everyday. Over the course of the book the Darker family secrets get brought to life as the family members get picked off one by one. It even has a weird creepy poem to go with it. This book essentially has two story lines working towards two different goals that are closely tied together. The first story line is the back story of this family, in particular the titular character Daisy Darker. The youngest of the clan who was born with a congenital heart disease. This story line is building up to the reveal of this ultimate big bad darkest of dark secrets and this is not a nice family. The other story line is of course what is happening currently in the house and working up to the reveal of who the killer really is. My one criticism of the book is that it is a bit slow moving at times and gets dangerously close to that "just tell me already" territory. That being said when it gets to big reveal in the ending it really nails it. I kind of figured out who the killer is. Not through any fault of the book though. It's just that busy part of my brain that approaches the book in a meta sense. If I follow all the mystery rules and tropes then the killer has to be ________. That being said there is another twist that I did not see coming, but makes sense looking back in hindsight, that really blew me away. If you are a fan of books that are inspired by And Then There Were None then I'd say check this one out.

-5 Stars
After a good long wait I finally got my hands on this audiobook and my reread of this series can continue. This was a continuation of the previous book in the series and has our MC's tracking down the villain of the last book after he escaped. This led them across three countries and has some rather tense moments. The section in the drowned forest with the assassins was rather tense to listen to in particular. Then we get to the section that the book promises and it's emotional. There is a lot at stake, there are a lot of emotional moments, a lot of high tension moments, and it makes for a good read. The bonds between Halt, Will, and Horace are on full display here and it's well written.

-3 Stars
This is an interesting little four koma manga about goths, creepy cats, and various dark powers. It's not the greatest thing ever written but I find it entertaining at least.

-4 stars
Here I am, I'm finally at the final volume of manga in this series. This will be my thoughts on this volume and the series as a whole. No, I'm not going to get into what the mangaka has done in real life. If you know, you know, if not, well, you can Google it if you're really curious. Lets just say that I'm glad I was able to get these from the library and didn't have to give the author any money. This final volume gave us some side stories for Yahiko and Sanosuke before the big return of Kenshin. This of course led up to final big battle of the series that showed Kenshin's resolve to his philosophy of not killing anyone ever again. This of course gives him the strength to defeat this final boss and then retire to a quieter life for himself and Kaoru. There was nothing bad with this but it just never felt like the greatest thing either. Like I mentioned in my review of the last book this felt like it was really borrowing from the elements of the Kyoto arc and because we had just saw that it didn't have the same impact. I feel that the Kyoto arc in general was the peak for this series. After we get this big battle we get some more story where everyone goes their own direction. The final chapter is set a few years in the future where we get to see where Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko were in their lives. I feel that Yahiko got the most growth in this final arc as he had a few big fight scenes that really showed his growth from the annoying kid to someone reliable. This was really cemented with the final chapter where he earns the sakabato from Kenshin. I wasn't really blown away by the Sanosuke story line as it felt like it came out of no where. The end to his story also wasn't what I wanted either. He just gets into a boat and sails away to never be heard from again. I really felt like the story had been laying hints that he was going to be getting together with Megumi at some point. That would have been an interesting idea even if it might have been a little to similar to Kenshin's story.

Now for my biggest complaint for the series. The author really did Kaoru dirty in my opinion. She was set up early on to be this martial artist who ran her family's dojo but she never really did anything in this series. It felt like she was always that damsel in distress on the sidelines calling Kenshin's name while waiting to be saved. Everyone else got some growth of some sort but she just transitioned from girl who met Kenshin, to girl in love with Kenshin, to Kenshin's wife. I feel that there could have been so much more done with her character but that is just me.

Overall I can see why this series has so many fans and it definitely wasn't bad. I know that there is a sequel being worked on currently and a rewrite to match the anime more but I really have no interest in them. Part of that is the stink from the authors personal life wafting over everything. Part of it feels like the story was wrapped up already. It told it's story and it should be done now. Everything else just feels like it's cashing in on something that got crazy popular.

As for what is next I'm really not sure. This is my final week of work before I go on an eighteen day break. No real plans outside of stacks and stacks of books. I know I will be starting on audio as I also got that one in finally. I need to take a look at my timed challenge and see what books from my stacks and stacks of library books matches what.

I'm looking forward to this. I know that they are emotionally heavy, or have been so far, but it's just such a gripping read.

I'm still waiting for my copy to come in.

I'm chugging through Daisy Darker and it's pretty solid. I'm here to know the secrets and to know who the killer is. This is definitely a book that needs to land the ending though. The entire book has been building up and hyping this secret so the pay off had better be really good.

There is also this weirdo side of me that would just love this absolutely bat shit insane twist. Something like I murdered Nana and absorbed her soul so that she can live forever through me. Or she has died so many times that she is now some sort of undead nightmare living on the souls of the innocent. That or the classic lizard people/alien in a human body suit twist.

There was a period in my life, several years ago now, where I had a slight sugar/caffeine addiction. I was drinking energy shots, 4-6 liters of pop a day, and super strong coffee (if I made the coffee everyone else was cutting their coffee with water to make it drinkable) when I was working 12-16 hour days 5-6 days a week. I decided to clean up my life and tried getting healthier and one of those things was cutting out/back on caffeine. I can't say I'm perfect or that I always make the healthiest choices but compared to back then my life is a lot better now. It's only been this year where I even started dabbling with coffee again and that was only because I discovered how easy it is to get vegan milks in them now. That being said I do drink tea and some of that has caffeine in it.

I eat breakfast before I leave and I had a banana shortly after getting to work. I'm feeling better now for the most part. My legs are still a bit sore but nothing bad. As for coffee I have one cup a week and that it typically an ice coffee on Friday with lunch. Yes, I know it's weird to have an ice coffee when it's the middle of the winter but I like ice coffees.

I'm not sure why but that walk this morning was physically exhausting. It's -25c/-13f or -31c/-24f with the windchill and there is snow on the ground from a snow storm a few days ago that hasn't been cleared. Maybe I set a harder pace then I thought I had or maybe it's something else but I'm damn tired right now.

With me chasing the new releases this year I feel like I haven't read as many manga/comics this year. Next year I want to get back into that a bit more. I'm thinking of rereading Fullmetal Alchemist and Cardcaptor Sakura.

Just wow! I don't think I've ever had a month that high before. That is a lot of savings.

It's been an interesting month of reading to say the least.

5 Stars


4 Stars


There were no duds this month which is rather nice.

As for things that I am excited for well there is
(aka my monthly dose of emotional damage)

This month I saved $537.98 bringing my yearly total up to $6,359.99

Welcome to the group Tracy.

Education

(We don't need no education, we don't need no though control...)

I can send you some of our cold if you want. For my walk on Friday morning it's supposed to be -32c/-26f. With the windchill it will be -42c/-44f. As you can see there will be plenty of cold to go around.