Lexi’s Comments (group member since Jul 27, 2016)

Lexi’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

DQ Day 3 Chapters 14-20
10. So we are half way through the book. Thoughts and feelings? Loving it? Hating it? Ambivalent?

I started not liking it and then started liking it more but now it is annoying me again since we have spent way too much time thinking about Xaden and his abs. I’m not sure how this is going to be a five book series with it being entirely romance focused so far. Is there just going to be sexual frustration and angst for over 2,000 pages. For a world with more casual sex, we still have a MC following the typical YA romance focus on one male angst thing.

11. Jeremiah gets killed pretty quickly as his signet shows. Do you agree that power can't be allowed?

I feel like it closes a potential plot hole because if they had mind readers, then Xaden and crew could not keep whatever secrets they are. Also, it allowed another violent death to be added to the list.

12. What's the deal with Andarna? Why do you think 2 dragons have bonded with Violet?

Andarna is immature and allowed for the random time magic, which I assume will happen again. The level of specialness for Violet is a bit much for me, but I am a bit annoyed at the YA part. The question will be if she gets to keep both once it is clear one is not full grown or is this temporary.

13. If you could choose a Signet what would it be? https://www.julesbuono.com/fourth-win...

I like mending as a signet. It would be useful. Why was their healer in direct battle for Violet’s brother and within arrow range? Has that been said?

14. Were you surprised about Amber's betrayal? How about when Xanden completely believed Violet but Dain didn't?

I was a little surprised because the author had her as entirely rule bound. I assume she would try to kill Violet within the letter of the law. We have managed to make the comparison between Dain and Xander as obvious and blatant as possible so I this just added to this. Dain isn’t a great friend at this point and condescending, so his response isn’t a surprise.

Why is this marked as an Adult book? I don't mind YA, but this is a very YA theme and the obsession with Xander is very YA. I know it has cursing and discussions of sex but really, YA books have that too.

Alysa wrote: "Jenny wrote: "I had to look up Toothless. I have never read the books not seen the movie. So. Should I?"

The books are VERRRRRRRYYYYYY different from the movies.
Both are fun in their own ways, b..."

I don't like the books, but I do like the movies. The animation is really fun.

DQ Day 2: Chap 7- 13

6. This section starts with two scenes with each of the male love/lust interests. The comparison of them continues very clearly. Do you like Xaden or Dain better or neither?

7. Violet uses alternative methods to survive the fighting challenges. Do you think that counts as cheating or using the resources available? Do you think she is aware that she only has this information because she comes from a privileged background and her sister count sneak in it? Do you think one of the professors should have noticed after 5 rounds?

8. The obstacle course is straight out of American Ninja warrior (and other similar TV shows) including ending with the giant ramp. Did you enjoy this section and how Violet figured out working with her height limitations? Have they told us how tall she is? (Though in real life, the shortest person to make it up the wall has only been 5’1” – I just Googled it).

9. Finally, we meet the dragons. Was it all you were hoping for? Did anyone guess the black one when it was first introduced in this section? (Also, I am not taking the fall seriously at the end of my section since we still have 2/3 of the book to go).

Bonus: If you could have a dragon from any book or movie, which one would you want?

They let them starve and encouraged stealing and yes, I would not consider it similar/equivalent to modem relationships. If this was training accidents, I think it would make more sense, but this isn't.

I will now try to get over the setup and see if I can like the book accepting that the random murdering is true in book.

Welcome back, Aoife.

Logan, I think we have both diamond books covered if you want to focus on the BOM. People seem to be liking it.

Cat wrote: "@Alysa re Q3 and the pointless deaths - added to which it seems ridiculous that they allow killings across the different wings - at the end of the day you want the whole dragon force to be coherent..."

I don't know that much about Greek history but consider Sparta. They wanted a perfect fighting force, so the state took boys at age seven and raised them as brothers. They were encouraged to sleep with each other if I remember my college history course correctly and to form bonds. No random murdering.

Cat wrote: "@Lexi re the dragon magic - I agree, that copping out with magical healing will be annoying and defeat the purpose of Violet. but I still suspect that will be what the author goes with.
I quite enj..."

That is really good to know. I have the same issue as the author and the MC, so I have been avoiding that book since I wasn't sure.

DQs Day 1, Chapters 1 - 6

1. As someone who grew up with the Pern books, I love diving back into a world with dragons and dragon riders. And this one has extra bonus Gryphons, apparently!
Do you have any first impressions of the main characters (Violet, Dain, Rhiannon, Xader) and the world building? Do you want to know more?

I started ok being ok with it and then the description of the two males and setting up a potential love/lust triangle thing was a bit much and really annoyed me. At which point, I stopped the audio and kept reading and am doing a bit better again. But really, could we have a book where we are about to die and don’t need to describe people’s abs at the same moment. That is a personal pet peeve. I like the sisterly relationships and the friendship starting. It is good to have no romantic relationships and I hope they are central going forwards. I liked Pern but I really dislike magic school stories generally, a few exceptions such as Naomi Novik which I love, but I don’t have high expectations going forwards unless we get out of school fairly soon.

2. What do you think of Violet’s mother and sister? Any idea about why her mother chose to order her to the Rider Quadrant instead of the Scribe Quadrant?
Because this book needed an antagonistic relationship with the dragon riders and a plot. More seriously she seems to think it is the only important position.

3. The brutality of the selection process and the casual acceptance of murder is something else. What do you think the purpose of it is? (If there is one beyond societal norms.)
Would you have given your boot to a stranger?

There seems to be no reason yet to why there needs to be this kind of murder and death toll. Also, the frightening everyone with a dragon. They don’t seem to be in all-out war and even then, these people qualified above infantry so possibly if you failed out, they would still make superior ground forces. I think the author wanted a high-risk scenario but I don’t yet think it is given a decent reason why.

4. So this is a world at war, but at the battle briefings at least, they don’t seem to know why the outer provinces are currently attacking the borders. Any ideas about why this is happening?

No ideas and I am not sure we will be given a reason. It may be one of those we have always been at war situations, which I find lazy writing but can be done right.

5. Do you think that Violet will survive and get chosen by a dragon? If so, any predictions on what kind?

Yes, and likely a really nice one because that is how these books work. Also, this is a series with apparently a planned five books. The second one is already longer. I deeply hope it does not fix her physical disabilities such as laxity of joints because I want her to succeed with that being a part of who she is and not magically fixed. I hate books that magically fix disabilities.

Note: I read them when I was exhausted last night so I hope to be in a better mood for my questions tomorrow.

Logan wrote: "Would either of these work for the night sky like diamonds?"

I'd say yes to as they are white and shiny.

Aoife, do you have any interest in writing BOM questions for Fourth Wing? This would be my 5th time during TTs if you would like to try. No worries if you don't have time this week.

We got a 2nd round of

Tower Teams 4: NBRC Goals
"Read a book with an average goodreads rating of between 3.01 and 3.5
Read a book with diamonds on the cover or with a night sky that looks like diamonds
Read a book with stationery on the cover
Read a book where the page numbers add to 5 (i.e. 345 pages = 3+4+5 = 12)

Michelle wrote: "For this one:
Read a book featuring DEATH or the Grim Reaper or equivalent
Could we use my Harper Connelly book? She can find the dead and see how they died. Kind of grim reaper-esq?
Or I can star..."

I don't think it works but Charley Davidson would.

I made us a square from read book under 400 pages and not currently claiming a hard letter:

Rock God
Doom with a view
Wait for It
The Body Finder

Michelle wrote: "Just fixed it.."

Thank you

The two new spins:

TT3: Save Christmas

Read 4 books with title start and end letters that connect to make a square (well, quadrilateral)

"The top and bottom titles should be read left to right; the left and right titles downwards. (i.e. first letter of top title is same as first letter of left title. first letter of bottom title is same as last letter of left title."

Second and last time for TT8: Discworld Tasks

Read a book featuring a witch or wizard
Read a book with MPG Crime
Read a book with the letters MOIST in the title
Read a book featuring DEATH or the Grim Reaper or equivalent

We got two new spins and we still need:

Tower Teams 4: NBRC Goals
Read a book with diamonds on the cover or with a night sky that looks like diamonds
Read a book with stationery on the cover

Great job, everyone

Michelle wrote: "I just finished a book with an X character. I added it to the spell out but move it wherever it is most useful!"

Michelle, can you check your two most recent books have completion dates? They are on your TT shelf but have no read date, thank you.

That is perfect, thank you both

Great job everyone

We got two new spins:

Tower Teams 7: Sins
"Read four books that have one of the following MPGs. Each book must have a different MPG (i.e. can't use Romance four times)
MPGs: Dystopia / Young Adult / Historical Romance / Guilty Pleasure / Dark Fantasy / Contemporary / Horror"


Tower Teams 4: NBRC Goals
"Read a book with an average goodreads rating of between 3.01 and 3.5
Read a book with diamonds on the cover or with a night sky that looks like diamonds
Read a book with stationery on the cover
Read a book where the page numbers add to 5 (i.e. 345 pages = 3+4+5 = 12)"


I'll go through and look at read books next and update which ones are still needed.