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

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

Day 5 DQs - Chapters 21-25

18. Turner and Alex are working together now, trying to solve Tara's murder. How do you think, is it only a temporary truce or will they be able to become partners?

Probably something in between, but with the randomness and YAness of this book, nothing would surprise me. Not even if they started dating.

19. Colin knew about Blake using Merity to rape the girls and didn't report it, hoping to use this opportunity for his society. Somehow I have the feeling that he is not the only one, who would act this way - most of the other members of his society (and probably other societies too) would do the same. What do you think?

Unfortunately I agree. There are too many people who step on others or allow them to be stepped on in order to further their own goals. And this is certainly behavior that’s associated with Old Boys Club societies and fraternities (though not always).

20. Colin has an alibi for the night when Tara was murdered, as well as Dean Sandow. Do you believe these alibis or do you think one of them could still have killed Tara with the help of a portal (as Turner suggested)?

No idea. Could have been some other person or persons, with or without a portal. Probably a portal involved though.

21. During the summong Darlington (or the Hellbeast) said Murder. What murder do you think he meant? Were these the murders that Alex commited? Or the hellbeast eating him? Or some other murder?

To me it seemed clear at the time that he was talking about the hellbeast eating him, as it was intentionally set there.

22. Do you think it is final that Darlington is dead? Or has he survived somehow?

I think it’s final. Though —again— with the randomness and YAness of this book, it wouldn’t surprise me if they found a way to restore him.

@Rina, I am not loving this book either. It’s not terrible but it’s probably going to be a 3 star read for me (and so was Shadow and Bone, fwiw). Days 2 & 3 were better than Day 1, but after that my interest went down again. The many elements are just not coming together all that well for me, and there’s a style problem. Maybe my expectations were too high.

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Gerald’s arrogant, cocky, sociopathic personality & attitude really piss me off."

Haha, that is what we can put on the spreadsheet ;D

Alysa wrote: "@M - if you're finished w/The Neutronium Alchemist can you update your shelves please?
Also, is the cover more orange or more brown? I can't decide from the GR image. If it's more brown maybe it co..."

@M, ah okay, the Read Date was just next to the wrong book (TNA instead of TNG). I moved it.
Would still like to know if TNA is a brown cover though :D

That is... a fantasy that he really should have kept to himself!

One time a few of years ago, there was a man rushing to get on a subway train that my daughter and I were exiting. My daughter was about 5 years old at the time. As he rushed past, he accidentally side-swiped my daughter, who then lost her balance and fell down on the ground. The guy just kind of looked back at us over his shoulder with a panicked expression and kept rushing and got on the train. Didn't even stop to apologize or anything! After knocking a 5 year old girl over!
Sometimes I fantasize that he had a really shitty day. Nothing permanently damaging though. Like, he slipped on a banana peel, fell into some trash and smelled so terrible that no one would go near him until he showered and changed, and then ate some bad sushi and threw up all night, thinking about karma.

Cat wrote: "I'm not condoning what Alex did, btw. Perpetuating the idea that it's OK to force people to do things they don't want and video it for shame purposes isn't cool!."

Not in real life. But I hold my opinion that in fiction, it's cathartic.
We all fantasize about terrible or embarrassing things happening to people who have gravely wronged us, and what is all fiction but fantasy? Doesn't mean we'd condone it in real life.

"It's also getting away from a discussion about the ready access to all sorts of will-power removing drugs that the Manuscript (???) House has. The other..."

That's true. Lethe is definitely not on top of that, and Lethe is supposed to be monitoring the other Houses. Sketchy indeed.

Jessi wrote: "Cookies coming up!

"

OMG

Cool beans.

After I finish my Ninth House audio I need to get back to my big non-fiction one. I might try to squeeze one more in as well, though it'd have to be fairly short. Also not sure if it'd be for this week or next week, but I guess it doesn't matter too much unless we're coming up short on numbers.

Jessi wrote: "

Sorry for my absence. Getting into a car accident is no joke people. I've been dealing with insurance people, car repair people, and rental car people... for almost 3 weeks now. Anyways, I'm here..."

LOL, thank you! I'm just glad you're back and you're doing okay!
Can I have cookies instead of a trophy? Will Work For Cookies. :D

@M - if you're finished w/The Neutronium Alchemist can you update your shelves please?
Also, is the cover more orange or more brown? I can't decide from the GR image. If it's more brown maybe it could be a Sin Bingo!

@Jessi - it looks like you have 2 different editions of Naked Empire on your shelves with one you read last winter and one you're reading now? That's fine but I wanna make sure it's correct so we don't post the wrong version :)

Hey I am only on Book 2 in Dark Artifices! No spoilers! :D

We could lock him in a room with a Dementor!

Sammy wrote: "Alrighty then, even though Dimples could provide some reading inspiration of his own, he's neither reading, nor shirtless, so I guess I'd better dig out a few more for you all today...

This one i..."

LOL, I just searched "This Book is Full of Bodies" in all NBRC posts to see if anyone has used it for TT, and this is one of the first posts that turned up.

I guess it's because this post is full of bodies!

Kerri wrote: "[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "
Red enough? I know it looks like a lot of black, but when you pull up the page & enlarge the cover, you can see that there’s a..."

Definitely red enough IMO!

I have a vague memory of this book being posted in Caps group back near the beginning of TT, for color verification before we stopped doing that. I just checked but it looks like that thread was taken down! I say go for it w/Red.
Also... let us know if something it it makes you wrathful, lol.

Indeed. Queer sex is not a punishment!!

I was actually reminded there of that scene from Buffy S6 where Willow magics those boys into cage-GoGo-dancers. Apparently the original idea was to have them magic'd into making out with each other, and one of the other writers (Marti Noxon?) was like... Um, no, please do not equate boykissing with punishment.

And I didn't say the DOG was bottoming. Would topping really bother the dog? Isn't punishing Blake worth a little very mild animal cruelty that the animal doesn't know is cruelty?! ;D

Rebecca wrote: "

Color???"

Hmmm. Such a deep color that's not quite black but I can't decide if it's more very dark grey or very dark brown. The dude's skin is brown but by itself it's not more than 50% of the cover.
Better to use this book for something else.
Anything make you wrathful? ;D

Cat wrote: "@Alysa: I'm not sure there is a punishment that fits raping magically forced-compliant girls? As they'd never be able to get him charged with rape, let alone have him sent to jail, making him eat s..."

Hah, point taken. I guess I just feel like anything scatological is automatically off-limits? I mean, people can die from that.
*MICROBES*
There could have been some other horrible gross thing to make him do to ruin him socially. IDK, a video of him bottoming for a German Sheppard or something?

Day 4 DQs - Chapters 14-20

13. As disgusting as Alex's form of justice was on Blake, did you laugh and write it off as karma, or did she take it too far?

I thought it was pretty awesome and badass, actually. I do not usually advocate violence, but sometimes it’s the only way to deal with that sort of situation. At least in fiction, haha! Then it’s kind of cathartic for the reader, like if there are people you wish you could do that!
ETA: oh wait, sorry, I think was totally confusing “Blake” with the bitchy girl who tried to reneg on her bargain with Alex about getting the statue back?! What was that girl’s name? Because she seemed like a “Blake”! Re the rape video... I don’t know. I can’t decide if she took it things to a weird place. I mean, the dude deserved some punishment that he may not otherwise have gotten, but I can’t decide whether this particular punishment fit the crime.

14. At Rosenfeld Darlington felt the darkness of the "portal" before telling Alex that it wasn't a portal. I feel like there are still a lot of holes in the world building and the magic system, but do you have any idea what it could be if not a portal?

No idea. Maybe Darlington [well, Bardugo, actually] was just fudging the definition of “portal” to keep Alex in the dark, for some reason. But as you said, there are also still a lot of holes in the world building/magic system. Hmmmmm… maybe the holes are portals… :D

15. In that same scene we learned what happened when Darlington disappeared. Do you think Alex could've stopped it or was to blame? She seemed a little uncertain herself. And if he didn't disappear, do you think he would've turned Alex in for what he believed her to be?

It wasn’t Alex’s fault at all. I’m not sure about Darlington. I think he would have needed more time to think and decide what to do.

16. After discovering what happened with Hellie, Len and the others in LA, did it help you understand Alex more? Did it change how you felt about her?

I definitely understand her better, but my feelings didn’t change because I had already started to suspect something like what happened.

17. Lance seemed to be involved in more than just selling drugs, especially with the ability to portal! Why did he attack Alex as soon as he appeared? Did someone send him after her? But then going back to the scene in the morgue, if this was Lance, who did Alex see when she had the vision above Tara's body (you would think she would remember the face)? Anyone else thinking Glamours?

Yes to Glamours. Otherwise the vision of Lance’s face no longer makes sense. Although with the shaky magic system, who knows.

It was New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird

There were some really good stories in it but also plenty of meh.

Stuff looks different on the tablet I’m on, so I’ll take a look at these covers on desktop tomorrow.

Just came on to mark a book finished — that short story collection
I started last week! Yay!

I know, right? It got a lot better as it went on.

Day 3 DQs - Chapters 9 - 13

9. Well, these chapters definitely get exciting! Alex is attacked by a gluma, which seems like a Gray on steroids. She later recalls that they are messengers sometime used by the houses. Book & Snake are the ones that can "create" these messengers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they were behind the attack. Who do you think is trying to have Alex killed? Do you think it's because of her investigation or for some other sinister purpose?

I think someone is trying to have her killed because of her investigation, but I could be wrong. It could be just because of who she is as a person or as a Dante.

10. "But one thought returned again and again as he tossed and turned, fell in and out of dreams, morning light beginning its slow bleed through the high tower window: Alex Stern was not what she seemed." We know that Alex is special because she can see Grays without the assistance of potions, but Darlington knows this, as well. What do you think that thought means? Is there something more to Alex that makes her "not what she seemed"? Why do you think she can see Grays in the first place?

I was thinking yesterday that there’s a bit of an Unreliable Narrator thing going on with her. I think there’s much more to learn about her childhood, and about what happened with her druggie friends in California.

11. A lot has been happening to the Lethe House Dante and Virgil: Darlington gets purposely drugged at the Manuscript party, he subsequently goes missing, and now someone is trying to off Alex. Do you think that these incidents are connected? Do you think someone has it out for not only Alex, but Lethe House in general? Any other theories about what might be happening?

I like your suggestion that someone has it out for Lethe in general and not just for Alex. It could be someone is trying to kill two birds with one stone by taking her out.

12. After reading the chapter about Darlington's past, my immediate thought was, "Does Sandow do all of his recruiting in the hospital?" Do you think that he preys on vulnerable kids? Why would he do so when there are thousands of freshman at Yale they could recruit to be Dante?

I think he preys on the vulnerable, but doesn’t see himself as doing so. I think he thinks too highly of himself for that.