Alysa’s Comments (group member since Jun 27, 2015)

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

Oh wait no, Himura isn't an owl, she's an eagle. That it what I meant but my hands typed owl. I returned my library ebook... :/

In any case, I was pretty much picturing Himura like this [IMAGE] ETA: embed not working. So here:
https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Eagle_Man

But maybe with jewelry.

Madam Himura is an owl form Moon, no?
Ugh, I cannot with this animal stuff. Maybe the author is being deliberately confusing in order to illustrate the whole “We are all really the same!” idea. If so, ugh.

Cat wrote: "@Alysa: yes, Merrin is all kinds of awesome, but also made me even more confused about the Moon caste - how was he able to carry two people and also fly so spectacularly?! I was very hard pressed t..."

Maybe they get bigger/stronger when they get old and he is pretty old? Or maybe it’s... MAGIC!
IDK. This is exactly the sort of stuff that needs more explanation in this book. *handwaving*

DQs Day 4: Chapters 29 thru end

14. Lei is summoned again to service the King. How effective did you find the rape scene? How do you feel about the reactions afterwards, both Lei's and those surrounding her?

I'm glad it wasn't too graphic. It was effectively shown to be quite brutal, without taking us through the whole thing. On a human-to-human level I'm certainly not glad that Lei was raped but -- as implied by my previous comments for DQ Day 3 -- it also makes narrative sense that she was not "saved" due to being the most special or something. And in a book about girls brought to the palace for exactly this purpose, the act and the various reactions to it make sense too. (In a book this lacking in consistent worldbuilding, at least most of the characters' emotions make sense!) I also appreciate that Lei does not let the experience define her, which I think it part of the author's purpose here re healing from real-life victimization.

15. We have a training montage and see Lei joining the rebellion. If you were the rebels would you let her into the secrets?

Yes, because Wren is the linchpin of the plan, and Wren obviously trusts her.

16. The last section is VERY action packed. Did you enjoy this change of pace? Did the action sequences work for you?

I liked the change of pace, though it was a little jarring. All of a sudden we find out a ton of additional characters that have always been in the on the plan! (And General Yu was not one of them, heheheh…) I found it a little strange that the author backtracked on Aoki and Blue's character progressions, that is, Aoki and Lei made up and Blue went back to being a mean Mean Girl, but there is still time for that to change in Book 2. If the story ended here I'd be a little annoyed, but since Book 2 allows the possibility of Aoki freaking out on Lei for her role in the rebellion, and Blue regretting how she tattled on Lei and Wren, I'm taking a wait-and-see approach.
I liked how Lei got some warrior training, but then ended up basically unable to use it. How on earth did everybody forget about that stupid Dance performance though?

17. The ending - did you expect that last twist? And the reveal of her locket word....? Are you going to read #2? What are you overall thoughts on finishing the book - what it successful?

The pendant reveal was cool, though I wish Wren had been with Lei at the time. Yay Flight!
The twist ending was… meh. How is the dude still alive? It was always unclear to me exactly what the Nobility would be fighting for after the King's death if he had no heirs, so from that standpoint it's better if the King is not actually dead, but otherwise I found that very last scene with the Fox woman a little dumb. Beyond the King being alive, I also thought the Fox's POV was noticeably poorly-written, to the point where it felt tacked on by someone other than Ngan.

I liked this book, but didn't love it. I am much more forgiving of shallow worldbuilding in YA writing than in "adult" fantasy writing; I just need to enjoy the characters and the general concept and premise, and I'll suspend my disbelief. I will most likely read Book 2, as I do want to see what happens next and this seems like the kind of duology series where the contents of Book 2 will affect my opinion of Book 1. Plus I'm hoping for more Merrin. Merrin is awesome.

DQs Day 3: Chapters 19 thru 28

10. During this section we learn a bit more about Lei's mother and how they mourn in this culture. The contrast between having to wear black to show they weren't mourning at the execution and the practice of putting names on the tree for people who haven't had a funeral was striking to me. I also found the fact that Wren and Lei both found a way to include something white at the execution very brave, I don't think I could have done the same. Did the attitude towards death and grieving affect you in any way?

I really liked the names on the tree, in the hidden temple. (Though I didn't really get how hidden it could really be if anyone in the palace could technically know it's there! Wasn't Wren supposed to have been worried about being followed!?!) The white accessories Wren and Lei managed to include in all that black were also nice gestures, but only if the girls legit believe that they're affecting the ability of the executed souls to find peace, because it's not like they were able to flash the ribbon or flowers to those dudes to comfort them.

11. The secondary characters are coming into their own a bit now. I was shocked by Mariko's expulsion, probably in part because we'd heard pretty little about her. Aoki and her sympathy for the Demon King (and later pronouncement of love) was a twist I wouldn't have predicted at the start. I would have liked to see more of the friendship between her and Lei, as it kind of felt ignored for a chunk then suddenly they were described as best friends. I was also surprised at the sympathy I felt towards Blue when she was discussing her family. Have you reevaluated any of them?

Definitely agree that many of these secondary characters have gotten more complex, and that's a credit to the book. I mean, I'm not surprised exactly, but if Ngan had stuck with "Cute Little Friend Good, Mean Girl Bad," I would have been annoyed.
We hadn't heard much about Mariko but the reveal of (and punishment for) her side assignations may actually have been more effective that way, because it helps to give a sense that this is a "real" world with all kinds of stuff going on off page that we don't know about. At least IMO! Blue, I can still take or leave, but wow to Aoki.
Aoki… well, it kind of makes sense. It's like a form of Stockholm Syndrome, and she was probably the most susceptible out of the whole group of Paper Girls because as the youngest and probably the most insecure, she seemed like she had the weakest sense of self to start with. The King has obviously been playing on all of that, especially if he really did fake-imply he would make her a Queen and that's not just her being delusional.

12. Oh we get to find out about Wren, her personal history and the history of her clan. I'm glad the author didn't write this from her perspective as she seems the more typical hero figure at the moment. Do you think she will end up teach Lei to be a Xia?

I really liked the Xia backstory, and how Wren ended up planted in the palace, though I did think it would have been nice if there'd been some breadcrumbs earlier in the books because it all kind of came out of nowhere. Calloused feet notwithstanding. It would be kind of cool if Wren taught Lei some fighting skills, but Lei can't be a true Xia because she doesn't have the magic.
Unless the Big Pendant Reveal / Secret Of The Golden Eyes is that her bloodline has some sort of magic too? Like, there was a second, similar Lost Clan or something?!
That's a good point about Wren being a more typical hero figure than Lei. I suppose Lei's true role will all come down to the Pendant again.
But: I also find it oddly troubling that out of all the Paper Girls, Lei is the only one who has not actually had sex with / been raped by the King. And it's been months since the first attempt, because convenient reasons. It's probably just because she is the POV and the author/publisher didn't want to go there, but it also comes off a bit like she has to be kept "pure" to be the true heroine, or to have her love for Wren be pure, or something. Which is some absolute bullshit.


13. There were 2 quotes I've highlighted from this section. The first is "We are all the same really, little one. Deep down." and the second is "I don’t want an easy life. I want a meaningful one.". I often feel that acknowledging that we are all the same and acting to back that up make for a less than easy life. I don't normally highlight quotes and passages. Is it something you routinely do?

No, not in e-formats. I like that second quote too though. It's so common to fall back into easy patterns; everyone can do with a reminder sometimes that easy and meaningful are often at odds.

Eldarwen wrote: "Long live the furries?


heheheh"

OH GOD, I NEED TO WASH MY BRAIN NOW.

Cat wrote: "It's strange. I think I thought it would be more south Asian inspired, but it's much more Japan (the geisha bit) in China (all those provinces)."

Interesting! I thought it would be more China-inspired, and have been intrigued by the different provinces that seem like other Asian countries (including South Asian countries). Though I do wish there were more detail about all that.

The author is British, of Chinese-Malaysian descent on one side, so it makes sense that the "base" inspiration speaks to that , in terms of both the multi-ethnic society of Malaysia (and the British Empire, for that matter) and the historical primacy of mainland China (and, well, the British Empire for that matter, lol).

DQs Day 2: Chapters 10 thru 18

5. I cannot help but wonder - following up on Judith's question with regards to General Yu's political manoeuvring - if he put a specific thought into Lei's mind for the purpose of the rebellion and not just as a threat to keep her in check. Like a mantra, she keeps hearing Yu's warning about her family's blood being on her hands if she does not succeed. Do you think he meant something more than merely the disgrace of failing as a Paper Girl and her family being murdered along with herself? Could General Yu, who seems to have a bit of a dislike for the king, be part of the rebellion that is brewing somewhere for some reason we still do not really know?

There y'all go again, being way more thinky than me! I suppose it's possible that General Yu is secretly part of a rebellion, but I just did not get that feeling from his earlier scenes. Pondering now, I still tend to think his warnings to Lei should be taken at face value: please the King, or else. I will feel a bit dense if I'm wrong, but I'll also be happy if it turns out this book is really that twisty!

6. Finally, we get a mention of the fire that was promised by the synopsis and the title of the book. Master Tekoa's premonition speaks of fire in her, and fire in the palace, flames kindled from within. For some reason, the king seems to be carrying a torch for Lei, which makes me wonder what is going to happen. So how do you think the potential inferno is going to play out? Anyone else thinking that the word inside her pendant is going to have something to do with fire?

The word inside Lei's pendant is sooooooo definitely going to have something to do with fire, rebellion, power, or some such. I bet there's some sort of prophecy involving Lei and Wren leading an overthrow of the whole monarchy and caste systems or something. Maybe the palace is going to get burned down, in whole or in part, and then Book 2 is going to be about the aftermath, with Girls On the Run!

7. Wren - what is her secret? Rebellion? Secret meetings with the King? Or maybe the Queen? Or.... a messenger from General Lova perhaps? Or is she just going out into the gardens at night for some peace and quiet?

She's from that important clan that's supposedly in the King's good graces, right? Maybe she's got family who are playing the long game when it comes to infiltration and rebellion. She could be a spy, and going out to meet her handler.

8. How are you enjoying the book so far? Is it what you expected? More? Less? What do you make of Lei?

I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Once I turn off certain parts of my brain that want more world-building and keep reminding myself "It's YA!" the overall lack of detail doesn't bother me so much.
I like Lei, but she can be pretty thick sometimes (LOL about the letters not being sent to her family!!!)
I have to admit I've got some issues with the whole anthropomorphized animals thing. I have trouble picturing the Moon caste folks. Steel caste are fine -- basically regular humans w/with feathers or horns or whatever -- but I'm not really clear on the physical difference between Moon and Steel. I guess it's just the degree of animality. For some of the characters I just keep picturing "large talking animals" and that's not something I tend to gravitate towards.

Eldarwen wrote: "I did get a bit of a geisha feeling in these chapters with regards to rules of behaviour, bowing, the prep, the dressing, the make-up, etc etc. "

Totally. I am actually annoyed that the word “geisha” is never used in this book though, because I need it for a Scavenger Hunt for another challenge, lol.

"As to what will come? The book has already spelled it out. Sex with the bull demon king. Whether Lei wants to or not. I'm not going to speculate on how much detail we're going to get on the non-willing part... "

Well it’s not going to be be straight-up graphic, as this is still a YA novel and the style sure reads like it (not in a bad way!), but the author seems pretty good at walking a fine line.

DQs Day 1: Chapters 1 thru 9

1) Well, this author sure isn't screwing around. With an actual content warning, a cruel murder of a pet dog, and the MC being forcibly taken (is it kidnapping, if it's legal?) from her home all by the end of chapter 2; this book doesn't seem to be for the faint of heart. Were you expecting this level of violence before cracking open the book? Are you apprehensive about where the author will go from here?

Was not expecting that, and would have liked a bit more peaceful time with Lei’s family and village before General Yu turned up, but I’m not apprehensive. I usually like it in YA when an author isn’t afraid to get dark, especially if it’s in a situation that is, in fact, pretty dark.

2) Lei's mother. At the first mention I thought she was dead, but it quickly became clear she had also been taken by the Demon King's soldiers. Mentions of her mother have popped up a lot, even by the other Paper Girls. Do you think Lei will find out what her mother's fate was? Do you think her mother is still alive?

For about two seconds I was thinking she had been taken as a Paper Girl too, but then gathered that an adult woman (a mother, no less) wouldn’t really have been eligible. Maybe she was also beautiful and taken as a different sort of slave/concubine? Or she could have been a political prisoner? No idea if she’s still alive. If there was something in her genetics that ultimately gave Lei the golden eyes, though, it’s got to be a big enough secret to result in either imprisonment or execution.

3) General Yu. This is an interesting dude. He shared a lot of information to Lei in the carriage ride to the palace and it's clear there is other political games afoot than just him trying to win favor back. Do you think any of this ties back to the destroyed towns and The Sickness? The fact that the Demon King and the mysterious Demon Queen seem to have no demon babies?

For sure there is something weird happening, like perhaps one of those “All the magic is mysteriously disappearing from our world!” type dealies. I didn’t get any sense that any of it was connected to General Yu’s goals but I guess that is possible.


4) The characters. Any you are interested in learning more about? Early likes & dislikes?

I definitely want to know more about Wren, and since the author was clearly hoping for this reaction she did a good job on me there! Blue seems like a stereotypical Mean Girl so far, and Aoki like a stereotypical Sweet and Slightly Less Attractive (potential) Best Friend. Lill is sweet too but there is a weird power differential, as with a lot of the relationships in this story-world with its rigid caste and province systems. I do hope we get to know all of the girls (and the teachers) a bit better.

[aside: did I read that correctly, the demon queen is mated with each demon king? meaning there has only been one, long lived demon queen but multiple demon kings over time?]

I though that at first too but there was also a line that mentioned the “current” Queen. So they must have some kind of turnover.

I haven't seen much Original Fiction w/content warnings (as opposed to Fan Fiction, where it's common) but I do remember one case where the printers of a book actually forced the author to include an oblique warning at the beginning, which was -- the warning note, not necessarily the book itself -- very, very obviously about the author's personal experience as an abuse/assault survivor. Apparently without the note, the printing company refused to print the book. It was a UK indie author/publisher using a printing company in a country in Asia that had different regulations about depictions of sexual assault or something.

So weird. I mean not only for the author, who shouldn't have been made to go through writing that note in order to get her book printed, but also for readers, because when you are "told" that an otherwise quite abstract book is flat out "about" that before you read it, it colors your perception and experience entirely to the point where you can't properly form your own. ETA: I wish they'd at least have allowed the note to be at the end rather than the beginning of the book, but while that'd help fix the "reader experience" issue, it'd still have been hella unfair to the author.

Anyway! Not that that case is like what's going on here. Just made me remember that indie thing, is all.
I think here we have just a mainstream publishing becoming super self-conscious about the topic in YA lit and covering their butt accordingly. I mean, it did come out about one year into the #MeToo movement. Maybe I'm being too cynical and it's the author and not the publisher who pushed for including the note though.


Only read through Chapter 1 so far. Will come back later to answer the DQs! Also kind of having attention span problems today!

Jenn wrote: "I just finished and I feel a little guilty that I did not like it as much as other people have. It was a good story and good writing but there was something about i..."

I tried that a couple of years ago and ended up just deleting it. Dunno what all the fuss is about.

Heather wrote: "I don't know if I understand it completely, but I am gonna give it a try."

It seems like you got the general idea, except you can’t use books you read in January :)

Laurie wrote: "I didn't read Bridge to Terabithia until college, and I had quite the emotional reaction. But I also thought it was really good. Then I made my parents watch the movie with me and they didn't know anything about the story. My dad was literally mad that I made them watch it! Oops! 😅"

Hopefully the 2007 movie? My daughter's teacher showed the class a few parts of it, and she wants to watch the whole thing with me. The internet tells me there was also 1985 TV Movie version that's no good.

#9 and 10


Another one of those books I should have read as a kid but somehow never did. It didn't occur to me to put it on my GR TBR until a few years ago, but it's been on my radar for like 30 years, so when my daughter was assigned to read it for school, I decided that I'd read it too, once she was finished with her copy. It was quite good! And it gave us a few things to talk about.


I started reading DC Vertigo comics around 1995. This wasn't very old at that time but for some reason I kept putting it off. Years passed, and it became one of those things that it kinda felt as if I'd read even though I still hadn't, because I knew so much about it indirectly. Well now I have finally read it... and, eh. The artwork is great and it's neat to see how many DC 'Verse characters Gaiman was able to pack in, and how, but in most other ways it was somewhat disappointing.
This is #0 in the larger series, with the rest written by different authors though, so perhaps I will give the next part a shot.

Sammy wrote: "Laurie wrote: "Alysa wrote: "I give you... Best Scene Ever..."

Something sort of like that happened to me with when I was literally on the LAST PAGE of Kings Rising.
I was in the break room at work, had been in there all alone for like 30 min, and all of a sudden my boss's boss walks in with a couple of contractors discussing their plans to take away said break room in what was then an upcoming renovation.
I was so pissed because A) WTF with blithely taking away an employee break room??? and B) YOU RUINED MY EMOTIONAL READING EXPERIENCE!!!!

Laurie wrote: "Alysa wrote: "You mean you watched The Ian Somerhalder Show too?!?! :D"

Elena never really bothered me, not generally speaking anyway. But yeah, I don't know about Sammy, but it was definitely the..."

It took me several seasons to even vaguely warm up to Elena. I think I came around a bit when she punched somebody in the face. I can't remember any other details but I was like, Oh, okay, the milquetoast grows a spine.

In the book, that is really not a problem. Elena Gilbert is only mildly less of a bitch than Regina George. It would almost be awesome, except for all the problematic 1991 gender tropes that go with it.

Re the TV show... at some shockingly early point in its run, Damon was already the only reason I kept watching at all, and for all the years after.

I give you... Best Scene Ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2ah...

Sammy wrote: "I watched the show too, for one reason and one reason only...

And it definitely wasn't Elena... Out of all the annoying main characters I've come across, she easily comes out top of the list!"

You mean you watched The Ian Somerhalder Show too?!?! :D

I never liked Elena very much on the show, but wondered whether it was just a case of the actress not being right for the part.
Now that I've read that book.. well, for all the changes the showrunners made... I believe more than ever that it was a combination of the writing and the casting.


I need to read Thunderhead too! I almost started it last week, but went with something else. Eh, it'll happen.

I might continue with this "original" series, from 1991-1992 or so.
But definitely not any of the newer ones that came out years later.

And as far as I understand it, L.J. Smith basically ended up writing fanfic of her own series, because the rights to the "official" series were owned by the publisher and they had another author start ghostwriting it. Quite perplexing, that story.
Perhaps the ghostwriter is actually a better writer than Smith... (which would not be hard?!)... but I will probably never find out, lol.

I knew it would be different from the TV show, but WOWZA do I understand now why they made so many changes.
The MC is basically a "Heather" and the Salvatore brothers are legit Italian, with accent and all. It's like John Hughes meets Anne Rice, but even worse than that sounds.

And yet... so much fun!