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

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

Previous coins already traded in from the following BOMs:

The Bear and the Nightingale, March 2017 -- 1 Ruby Coin TRADED!
The Lightning Thief, August 2017 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
The Roanoke Girls, September 2017 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, November 2018 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Into the Drowning Deep, April 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
The Song of Achilles, June 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Dry, July 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
What Remains, July 2019 (Back Room) -- 3 Ruby Coins TRADED!
This is How It Always Is, July 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Good Omens, August 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Recursion, September 2019 -- 3 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Sorcery of Thorns, September 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
Gideon the Ninth, October 2019 -- 2 Ruby Coins TRADED!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, December 2019 -- 3 Ruby Coins TRADED!

DEAR Day 2020

Drop-Everything-And-Read Day!
Read for at least 2 hours on 12 April 2020, and check in on challenge page :)

Read during DEAR Day 2020:



1 Tourmaline Coin

Yay yay yay! I really, really need DEAR day this year.

Being stuck at home for me has actually meant *less* reading because I’ve lost my commute.
And I keep neglecting books to go down stress-inducing internet rabbit holes. Hopefully DEAR day will force me to spend the entire day reading instead!

Hi Sophia! How far are you on the book? I will finish in a couple of days. I still quite like it :)

Lily wrote: "I have really enjoyed this book and reread it many times. The series does continue to improve as the writer figures out how to properly add in plot twists and developed characters and such."

Good to know! Makes me more excited to continue :)

DQs Day 3: Part 3

9. This section gets Nathaniel -- and readers -- further out of the narrow confines of Underwood's house, and into the greater London area and countryside. As a result, we learn more about the book's [Alternate Universe] world, which doesn't really line up with any particular real-life time period. What do you think about this world, and this approach? Would you have preferred a more defined setting (for example, Victorian or contemporary)?

I enjoyed the blend, which combined a sort of Victorian feel with modern touches (I recall e-mail being mentioned briefly), although I wish it had been executed in a more deliberate way. That is to say, I'm sure the blend was a deliberate choice, but it came off as almost accidental at times anyway, if that makes sense. It's as if Stroud set the parameters of his magician-dominated AU London as a sort of contemporary evolution from the Enlightenment period and then later quasi-Victorian times, and then just kind of decided that that was enough, even though it wasn't necessarily.
Is it possible that Bartimaeus is narrating from further temporal distance? Like, the story takes place 100 years ago but is being told now? That wasn't the sense I got while reading, but it seems possible, especially considering that Nathaniel's sections are in 3rd person and Bartmaeus's are in 1st. And I could have forgotten or missed something that may have clarified.

10. I was annoyed, but not surprised, by how little the gender representation evolved from my first impressions. But I was actually surprised by how little the "street gang" (led by a certain mysterious girl) ultimately factored in the plot. Please comment on these points.

This book had fairly dismal gender representation at best, and sexism at worst. It did not improve as the book went on, but for the possible implications of Nathaniel's new master being a woman -- and apparently a quite powerful one, though it remains to be seen whether that's an exception that proves a rule.
I really thought that the street gang (part of the elusive Resistance movement?) with its girl leader would come back into play. That could have helped, depending on how it was done and whether the girl was wholly written as a Plucky Urchin stereotype, but I guess this too remains to be seen. I will be even further surprised if the street gang/Resistance isn't a bigger part in the rest of the series.
I don't think Stroud was ever being sexist on purpose -- but that's the thing about most male privilege, innit?

11. Character development question: Do you think any of these characters grows or changes from the beginning to the end of the book, or do they stay basically the same? Why or why not?

They all stay the same. From Bartimaeus, well, one can't really expect change from ancient spirit beings. I mean, it's fun when it happens but can't be expected! And much of the charm of the character is in the snarkiness and sneakiness. It's left to the reader to decide how unreliable a narrator Bartimaeus really is, and how much we care about the relationship, such as it is, between spirit and magician.
In Nathaniel's case, I don't think there was any real growth. The flashbacks to his younger years show a natural childhood sweetness, but when we first met him (during his initial summoning of Bartimeus) that sweetness had already been largely subsumed by his interest in power and prestige. An interest that's portrayed as endemic to the Magician class regardless of how minor or ineffectual one's "Master" may be. If Nathaniel's devious manipulation of the events following Lovelace's death are anything to go by, Nathaniel's character began and ended this book in the same place: cunning, scheming, immature, fragile, and grasping. And yet still sympathetic, which is actually fairly impressive for the author to have pulled off.

12. Did you like the book overall? Would you read the next book in the series?

From most of my Q&A, I'm sure it seems as if I disliked the book. I didn't! I disliked certain things about it -- mainly the gender issues -- but overall I liked it. It's both grim and funny at the same time (no easy feat), the world building is interesting, the plotting and pacing are good, Nathaniel is a compelling character for me.
I have a paperback of Book 2 that I picked up for free somewhere, and I will read it eventually. I want to see what happens next, and I especially want to see if we've been set up for a clever take-down of the problems presented in Book 1. There has to be a reason that this series is so highly rated, right???

Finished #5, thanks to the BOM 😁



I liked it, but not as much as I’d hoped. Especially considering how long I’d been sitting on it!

Better a day late than never!

DQs Day 3: Part 3

9. This section gets Nathaniel -- and readers -- further out of the narrow confines of Underwood's house, and into the greater London area and countryside. As a result, we learn more about the book's [Alternate Universe] world, which doesn't really line up with any particular real-life time period. What do you think about this world, and this approach? Would you have preferred a more defined setting (for example, Victorian or contemporary)?

10. I was annoyed, but not surprised, by how little the gender representation evolved from my first impressions. But I was actually surprised by how little the "street gang" (led by a certain mysterious girl) ultimately factored in the plot. Please comment on these points.

11. Character development question: Do you think any of these characters grows or changes from the beginning to the end of the book, or do they stay basically the same? Why or why not?

12. Did you like the book overall? Would you read the next book in the series?

NOTE:
I'm gonna say upfront right now that I'll probably be on the late side with Day 3 DQs.

I only just finished the second section, as this global remote work/remote school/overall lockdown situation has decreased my reading time. You'd think I'd be able to read MORE, but nope. Not without my usual commute. :(

DQs Day 2: Part 2

5. There is LOT of action in this section, but possibly not much more world/plot building. Do you like the balance and pace of the book?

I do like the balance and pace. And I do think that this section has had plenty of world- and plot-building actually! I'm having somewhat of a slow go, due to my own personal time issues, but if that weren't the case I'd probably have sped through the whole book already.

6. Nathaniel has advanced summoning skills, but hasn't gained the practical ability to respond to changing events. Do you think this is going to end well for him, or is Simon and/or Bartimaeus going to bring him to a sticky end?

Well, it's ostensibly a Middle Grade book, so I doubt anything too terrible will happen to Nathaniel/John. I think he'll need to grow up a lot, since he doesn't yet have the emotional maturity to deal with… life, basically.

7. Whilst the scope has expanded a bit, with the trip to Parliament, there remains very few female characters in the book (even for a pre #MeToo publication). Is this deliberate, to set up the unhealthy societal structures of the world, or just bad judgement on the author's part?

I've been hoping it's the former, but it's more likely the latter. I mentioned in my Day 1 answers that I had some problems with sexism in this book. And rather than being deliberate, it often feels completely casual, as if the author doesn't even realize how deep it goes.

8. What do you think is going to happen in the last part?

Reappearance of the street gang, Bartimaeus sticking it to Lovelace and his spirits, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus forming an alliance of sorts. Maybe to save Ms Lutyens, because so far it's been that kind of book.

I haven't read Artemis Fowl in many years (the first book, that is, which I liked a lot -- I read the second more recently and didn't like it) but I can see the comparison. The Amulet of Samarkand was published a couple of years after AF, but I would place it within the same "publishing wave" of post-Harry Potter YA fantasy novels with certain similarities. They're different enough, however, that I wouldn't make to many one-on-one comparisons besides the superficial ones.

Katherine wrote: "I have the eARC of this. Just started. It has been a while since I did a BOM."

Hope you'll like it!

I'm in the middle of Chapter 14 now. I'm also trying to finish the YA BOM because I'm super far behind and I'm supposed to write the last Discussion Questions, but I still quite like The Women's War.

The introduction of one male POV (so far) has been an interesting choice, because the guy is such a jerk. And the scene where he comes to the abbey with his goons is pretty brutal.

DQs Day 1: Part 1

1. What was the reason you decided to read this book? Was the cover interesting to you? Did someone recommend this and you finally are reading this?

LOL, it is my BOM Takeover! The YA category was basically a bunch of stuff on my old TBR that “everybody’s read but me” :)
I bought this book on Kindle in 2013 when it was on sale for $0.99 because it looked like fun, and I was buying up a lot of YA and MG books at the time, in various formats. I just never got around to reading them all — including this one.

2. I’ve enjoyed how the universe has been set up so far with the entities and magicians? Are there any major flaws or changes you would fix?

I’m enjoying the social and magic systems. I mean, it’s all kind of terrible for most of the characters, but enjoyable for the reader!
I am detecting an undercurrent of casual sexism in this book though. Apart from any quibbles over how the adult women have been depicted thus far, I also found Bartimaeus’ joke about appearing to Nathaniel as a naked woman troubling, not necessarily because it wouldn’t be funny to do that to a teenage boy (because it kind of would!) but because it was in regards to a particular woman. That is normalizing, like, sharing private nude photos, albeit in “fantasy novel” form. How would that woman feel about having her naked image used by a stranger to fluster a teenage boy?
Anyway, not to be a Debbie Downer. I just think this book is showing its age, as a pre #metoo novel. Or something. Overall, I do mainly like the book!

3. Bartimaeus has such a witty and fabulous personality and his remarks and sarcasm is well written. Are there any other characters you’ve really enjoyed so far? Have you had a favorite comment from Bartimaeus so far?

I have actually preferred the Nathaniel sections to the Bartimaeus sections. Perhaps I have more of an affinity with Nathaniel, or perhaps I am just in the mood for grimness. It’s interesting how the tone of the book shifts so dramatically when it shifts between the two POVs. The Bartimaeus sections are funny, though maybe trying a little bit too hard. For example, although footnotes can be hilarious in books like this, here I don’t like them all that much. They’re distracting, not particularly funny, and don’t really add much.
I really liked the scene where Bartimaeus appears as the teenage Ptolemy and riles up Nathaniel’s nerves!

4. So far the pentacles have been a cool part of the magical process. How well do you think you could draw a pentacle? And how do you think magicians first developed pentacles? Did they just draw random shapes to summon spirits?

I would be TERRIBLE at it. Maybe if I’d started young, like the magicians in this book, I’d have been okay though?! Could be that magicians developed pentacles back in prehistoric times, either through trial and error or through ancient humans’ different relationships with the spirits. I doubt this book will get into the origins of its own magic system though.

Laurie wrote: "Lily wrote: "Side question: are you allowed to answer your own DMs once others have answered?"

I’m not an admin, but I’ve participated before and the question writers all answered their own questions. It adds to the discussion. :)"

Yes, this :)

The pace is pretty good. Hopefully it'll keep up like that, since that's not always the case w/long books.

I haven't read more yet but I will later today.

I'm just over halfway through Part 1, so theoretically on track for the DQ schedule ;)

It's fun so far, but I'm not like "Wow." There's some stuff that's bothering me.

I hope everybody is well! Strange times!

I've managed to read the first 5 chapters! I like it so far.
When I did the recent Buddy Read of The Grace Year, I had this to say:
"I tend to have a bone to pick with books that show extremely ... misogynistic societies for the sole purpose of having female characters potentially undermining them. I mean, it is 2020. Why are we still only just here, especially in YA fantasy?"

But while The Women's War is guilty of showing a sexist society so that it can be undermined (this is, in fact, the POINT, of the book), it's really well done so far. It's decidedly not YA, helps, as the world building and characters are far more complex and mature, respectively.

And it's unusual to have High Fantasy with multiple POVs that are *all* women, as has been the case here so far.

I'm into it!

sophia wrote: "Hi! Looking forward to it too 😊
This is my first buddy read and hope it gets me out of my funk."

Happy to help. :)
I have been sitting on this book for waaaaaay too long anyway!

Hi! I am looking forward to starting this BR :)
Just a heads up though: I won't be able to read as much per day as I had planned, because normally I do most of my reading on the subway and at lunchtime etc, but now I'm going to be teleworking and my kid will be remote-learning. So, nowhere near as much reading/alone time for me as usual, stuck at home for the next few weeks at least!

I hope everyone else on this thread is doing well!

Finished reading this one, from 2013!



Had it sitting around waiting until my kid got old enough for me to read it to her, since I didn't think I'd want to read it twice. She's way past old enough, but we just didn't get around to it (and we were reading other stuff together).

It had a lot of morbidly funny bits, and the writing overall was good. But I wanted... more from it, somehow?
(And at the very least, it would have been good if there had been a SINGLE FEMALE CHARACTER. o_O)