Apoorv ’s Comments (group member since Mar 26, 2014)

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

City of Brass actually should work for the arch-nemesis chipmunk prompt - the Shafits and Daevas, the Nahids and Daevas, Dara and the al Qahtanis - there are multiple such factions.

Team Ashara
Discussion Questions: Day 3 - Chapters 10-14

9. As he walks through the Daeva Quarters, Ali is shot by a toy arrow, let loose by one of the children playing about. Rashid suggests to Ali that he should punish the boy by taking him to be raised in the Citadel, which Ali refuses. What do you think this says about Ali, and about others in the city’s upper echelon?
Ali came across as someone who has their head screwed it correctly in that moment. The fact that something so innocuous is looked at with such extreme repercussion is telling of how the "upper echelon" thinks. It also is the perfect recipe for creating angry, abusive, hurt men of children.

10. Nahri and Dara have a moment, but are interrupted. Do you like this partnership, romantically or otherwise? Is it doomed, or meant to be?
It is a good relation - but one that somehow lends into a lot of underlying hurt. While I would love to see that flourish, it is fairly evident that the world they are entering into they are going to have a very tough time keeping this relation alive. Also, Nahri does act a little childish at times, so I would be hardly surprised to see her act like an adamant child at times.

11. We learn about the terrible conditions in the shafit orphanage and the difficult lives all the shafit are forced into. Even though he immediately refuses to help, how do you think this will influence him in the future?
It will certainly have some role to play in the familial politics. Ali does come across as someone who isn't swayed by the riches of his world and would be someone who would consider the plight of someone else - but he is fighting against a lethal kingdom headed by his father, so it would be an uphill battle either way.

12. As Dara and Nahri cross the last illusion shielding Daevabad, Nahri has an odd reaction and ends up flat on her back on the deck of the ferry, with Dara rudely refusing anyone’s assistance. Do you think this was caused by something related to what Nahri is, or something else?
That was a bit surprising for me when it happened. But the various tribes and their interconnection is extremely interesting to explore. I am sure there is a lot that we still don't know and a lot that we may not even at the end of the book - but I am certainly intrigued.

13. Muntadhir takes Ali to a secret room filled with dead Nahids. Do you think this room will be a turning point for Ali? Do you think Dara will discover this and his relic, and what do you think will follow if he does?
It may or may not sway his decision making, but Ali will certainly somewhere down the line be impacted by this secret that was dumped on him. And the crypt will play some role in Dara's future. Dara remains a beautiful mystery!

Team Ashara
Discussion Questions - Day 2 : Chapters 5-9

5. So many groups! We had a couple of chapters in this part that described some of the tribes in Daevabad and elsewhere - the Daeva/Djinn, Ifrit, Simurgh, Zahhak and I'm sure I haven't listed them all. Where on the confusion scale are you - with 1 being totally confused and 10 being "I've got this". And are you ok with your level at this point in the book?
I am rather fairly comfortable with them all. They are laid out fairly neatly in the narrative plus there is an entire Fandom page on the internet and S.A. Chakraborty's webpage also has breakdown of the characters and the various tribes - so all of that certainly has helped keeping things in order. So, I'd say I am at a solid 8 or a 9.

6. Somewhat related to this - we learn that Suleiman curbed magical abilities because the daeva harmed humanity. I learned (thanks Google) that in the non-book world Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 - he ruled over at least 25 million people. Did you know anything about Suleiman and what do you think of his inclusion in the book?
My Google search before and during the book yielded exactly the same result - and it wasn't something I was aware of before I read through that. The Ottoman Empire, especially during the time period Suleiman ruled in was at its absolute peak in terms of land conquered, so sadly I am not surprised that there must a lot of good and even bit more of the bad that must have transpired throughout the expanse of the kingdom.

7. We now know Dara was a slave for many years and was forced to do some things that haunt him. How does this make you feel about his character?
Dara seemed like a very likeable character from the get go. He was the most mysterious, so there was a certain level of ambiguity towards his actions - but knowing of the demons in his past, it certainly makes me think of the things that he must have endured that he don't even know off after being alive for centuries as a slave. We obviously don't have the story from his perspective, so it will always be second-hand information, so maybe we never quite know the true extent of his history (atleast not in this book!).

8. Ali's father was portrayed as brutal when we first met him at the execution, and then later he seemed like a pretty good ruler as he listened to and judged people's problems. What do you think - good king or bad king?
So far I would like to think that he is a fairly just king. As a king, I presume there are times when you have to take the unpleasant decision that does not reflect well on you - but Ghassan seems like someone who has so far managed to keep the goodness/fairness alive in him and not let power complete take over.

If we are still pending the "bling" task, I can read this, if the jewelry here is blingy enough.

Team Ashara
Discussion Questions - Day 1, Ch 1-5

1. This book begins in 18th century Cairo, with France and Turkey fighting over Egypt. I have never encountered this conflict in fiction before. Have you? Were you familiar with it before you started reading?
I had a working knowledge of the conflict, plus I read the Wikipedia article on it before starting the book just to get myself in the know-how of the time period. It certainly isn't something that is taught or spoken about more often in countries outside of these places (Although, I hope this history is spoken about in those countries as well) - so it is unsurprising that not a lot of fiction books have tackled this era from this part of the world. Glad that S.A. Chakraborty touched on it a little bit in a fantasy book nevertheless.

2. Nahri has several mysterious powers, including healing, the ability to sense illness in others, and the ability to understand and speak every language she hears. Which of her powers would you like for yourself?
Oh I would love them all - but as someone who is fascinated by languages and dialects, I would be delighted to have that ability to speak every language one hears. I am teaching myself Japanese currently, and it is a pleasure to find the beauty spots in a new language - imagine that with ALL the languages! Uff!

3. What do you think of the world building so far? Do you find it confusing, or do you feel like you’re along for the ride?
I love it! A lot of the words and concepts are similar to Hindu mythology in India (which is where I am from), so they haven't confused me as such. I note down all the names and locations for each book I read anyway, so it definitely is helping keep a tab on the proceedings. Plus the book has a wonderful map, so geographically it makes sense as well as I move through the book.

4. So far we’ve met 3 significant players in this book: Nahri, Ali, and Dara. Do you have a favorite character so far, or one who intrigues you the most?
Nahri certainly has intrigued me because we are essentially figuring out the world alongside her, so she is certainly more relatable. Ali just seems like a naïve sweetheart and I love that, Dara is mysterious and I would love to understand more about him.

I have another book set in China that I can read - just not claiming it yet still I get through the City of Brass.

Tone wrote: "But if anyone reads another one quicker feel free to grab the task!"

The book I read earlier this month, Upgrade, is entirely based in the STEM field. The MC, which also a law enforcement person, is essentially a scientist who creates newer genetic technology to overpower the genetic mutation that was caused in him due to a breach in a chemical lab.

So, that can be used for the new Chipmunk task "Solve for X - Read a book with a character who works in STEM career (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)"

Team Ashara
DQs: Day 3, Chap 12 - 18

10. I've noticed Carlota's perceptions are often described using non visual cues: she hears a lot, and even smells Montgomery behind her bedroom door but then dismisses the idea. After her attack, she finds herself noticing that "Her fingers, in the mirror, looked very long, the nails almost too sharp and the eyes...". Do you feel Carlota ever questions her own nature as a human/hybrid or is she too ingenuous to do so? Do you also feel the author is using alternate senses and, if so, as clues for the reader or red herrings?
Wasn't it established early on itself that Carlota is Dr. Moreau's experiment or did I just assume that and ran with it? Because as a reader, it never came as surprise when all these things happened with Carlota. She certainly was naïve and unassuming of any of this and that is understandable.

11. For much of this part, I felt Montgomery was conflicted regarding his feelings for Carlota. He "writes" to his wife using what I felt was a brotherly perspective only to realise, a few lines and drinks later, he could not resist kissing her if she were there in that moment. What did you make of this change of heart and do you find his various missteps bring something to the story?
I think he always had those feelings and it is just a moment of realization for Montgomery. He may not want to admit to them but he certainly felt that pull towards her early on. They are also living in an area fairly cut off from the world and where really there is no one else who could potentially capture their attention apart from each other - so its hardly a surprise that he felt a liking towards her.

12. We're already halfway through the story - Doctor Moreau and Montgomery are both complex characters. Am I alone in thinking Carlota and her hybrid friends deserve to be more thoroughly fleshed out and layered?
Oh, I absolutely agree. I distinctly felt a lack of connection towards Carlota and lack of curiosity towards her hybrid friends, primarily because I never quite knew them. It was just assumed that the hybrid friends exist and that's how it is - which would have been fine, if we spent enough time with them. Here they are just thrown in and they work on the outer fringes, which does help one feel much of anything towards them. As for Carlota, her character rarely develops, IMO. She continues to be the naïve, slightly whiny teenager even after the time jump. Now given the fact that both Carlota and her hybrid friends have always been within the confines of this world and have never lived a life as Montgomery or Dr. Moreau - but even with their own world, they someone come across as one note for the most part.

13. What did you make of the scene where Carlota loses her virginity by the cenote - did her reaction seem natural to you or did you find yourself questioning her fearlessness? In your opinion, if Carlota is herself a hybrid, what effect might that have on their progeny?
She did come across as a unknowing, naïve (I've used that word 3 times within this set of answers now - wonder how I really feel about Carlota! :P) young girl - but her reaction was certainly anything but. Maybe she was anticipating or hoping for that to happen or maybe her inner animalistic trait actually made an appearance here, but she certainly felt like a different person during and after the act. I didn't quite think of her progeny while I was reading this piece, but that is an interesting question.

14. There's a storm brewing as the hybrids plan to join Juan Cumux and Carlota attempts to retrieve her father's notes and formulas. Do you think the hybrids will remain subservient once they remove themselves from Doctor Moreau's influence or could the story turn dark?
I really want something to happen at this point. Hehe! The moment the hybrids leave their subservience, they inner true animalistic nature is going to make an appearance - it's only natural. And that is certainly going to result in something truly dark. Or so I hope!

Team Ashara
DQs: Day 2, Chap 6 – 11

6. As Sonia noted, we jump six years. Do the characters, especially Carlota, feel six years older? Do you like books that have time jumps or would you have preferred to see Montgomery get used to working in his new jobs? (Sonia already asked about the fallout but feel free to add that here).
I am perfectly fine with time jumps in books, especially if they placed at opportune points in books. Here, it certainly felt a bit abrupt and a wee bit too early. Having said that, Carlota still sounds and acts childish in my opinion. She is probably closer to late teenage here, and she acts like she is 12! Montgomery does seem to have aged well in her world weariness and I would have loved to see a little bit more of the transition.

7. Do you like the method of telling the same scene from both points of view? Is there one point of view you prefer?
It surely is interesting and a writing technique that not a lot of writers seem to use. If well done, it gives a great depth into characters' motivations and perceptions of and towards the same situations. Obviously, since majority of the books even with multiple narratives are linear in terms of their story-telling, this definitely took a little bit to understand the value addition of this narrative tool.

8. And we have the start of a love triangle. What do you think of the two young men and Carlota’s reaction to them?
It is strictly fine. For some reason, they all act way to childish for my taste. I would have liked to see more of a matured courting process given the time span the book is set in and the lavish emotive expanse that people from that century seemed to have as compared to the textual lingo of today's love. This felt like a romance set in any high school in the 21st century at many instances.

9. So far these feels very much like a historical fiction book with relationships being forwarded over the science and hybrids. Do you agree, and were you expecting that?
I was not expecting that and I am slightly disappointed to be honest. And I would have totally fine with this being outwardly romance-y as well, only if the romance felt more emotive and true. Since that is not the case here, I would have liked the science-y bit to be a bit hefty which would have atleast balanced the weak romantic angle.

Bonus: If you were part critter, and didn’t have the health concerns, what species would you prefer?
Would love the agility of a horse, the intelligence of an elephant, the grace of a cat, the beauty of a peacock, and the presence of a butterfly. Now lets find a Dr. Moreau to make me into one of these! :P

Team Ashara - Discussion Questions
Day 1, Chap 1 - 5

1. Have you read the original Island of Dr Moreau book? Or watched any of the films? I only saw the 1996 movie, so, in my head, I keep seeing Dr Moreau as Marlon Brando, Val Killer as Montgomery and Fairuza Balk as Carlota.
I have not read or seen the original book and movie. Honestly, I did not know one existed. So, I am definitely going into this one blindly. This book had been on my radar for a while and the primary instinct was Silvia Moreno-Garcia, because I was definitely impressed with Mexican Gothic.

2. In the movie, Fairuza was one of the hybrids, although here, she only has "treatments" with jaguar genetic code. Do you think it's just a ruse from the doctor and she is actually the first hybrid?
Could very possibly be, but then Dr. Moreau isn't necessarily the most sane and believable person around.

3. Montgomery's past was a sad one. And he looks like just a drunk with some natural instincts to protect the innocent. Were you surprised he was considering not to accept the job, and then when the incident happens and he needs to kill the hybrid he decides to stay?
I'm not necessarily surprised, per say. Definitely feel like his natural instincts to protect the innocent are strong enough given his history - and going into something so out of whack, it made sense how his decisions were affected along the way.

4. I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't explain exactly how his studies came to be. In a scientific point of view, how is it even possible? We're in the 1870s... way before in vitro fertilization or genetic advances... and he manages to separate and mix genomes, or as called in the book gemmules? Not to mention that the original story was written way before cloning was a thing....
Ah, the suspension of belief trope! Absolutely wanted some details around this. I can understand why the author did not bother with it since I don't think the intention was ever to make this book a dense science-y thing - but I would have loved some background around why and how the doctor was able to achieve what he did.

5. So, hybrids are dangerous. Specially when they're still developing, and their animal instincts are overpowering the human ones (in theory, since we had no idea what the level of brain maturity the developing hybrid was). Back in the movie, there is a rebellion and it doesn't end well for humans. Do you think it will be the case here?
Not having seen the movie or knowing the backstory around the available literature, it only make sense that humans are going to find themselves in a LOT of shit very soon. Atleast, that is all the movies that revolve around mad scientist doing crazy things have taught me! :P

And a bonus, Am I the only one that is sad that we're jumping 6 years? I wanted to see the fall out from the incident.
Did not like it. I felt like I was taken out of a story I was just beginning to get into. Maybe it was because the 6 years were primarily about Montgomery settling in - but the jump happened at a very interesting point and now I am back to piecing things together than actually enjoying it. Hopefully, the books settles in on itself really quickly.

Nanci wrote: "Ok, thanks to MN Lisa I have the link for my question above.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/best_b...

I finally found a book on the 2015 list (I Was Here) that I could get from ..."

Should be all set, Nanci.
Just added the task number in Column H in the "Books" tab, which feeds the data in the Chipmunks tab.

Nanci wrote: "For the Chipmunks tasks how are you all getting the link for tasks #1 and #3 and #7. I can't get those "Best of 2014" or "Best of 2013" or "Best of 2015" lists to come up. They won't open when I ho..."

Here you go, Nanci.
2013: https://www.goodreads.com/list/best_o...
2014: https://www.goodreads.com/list/best_o...
2015: https://www.goodreads.com/list/best_o...

And I am pretty sure we would get tasks from other years too as they get revealed, so this is the link to all the years:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/best_b...

I have a couple back-up X Author books as well, incase someone doesn't get to theirs - Iron Widow being one of them.

(Albeit, I count authors with the first letter of their last name - so, that is a Z author book for me. Haha! :P)

Elinor wrote: "Also, just a question about the MOD Towers - how can I check for MT23? I must have missed/misunderstood the rules about the BOMs before a certain date. So I'm a bit stuck with checking for this one

Here you go, Elinor. That's the spreadsheet that lists all the BOMs NBRC has had since August 2010. You only have 272 options! :P :)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Thank you Shannon, Suzanne, and Kerri.
I was surprised to not find a Violet in our main rainbow though.
LOVE that color and most of its shades. :)

Question:
Do you folks think this shade of violet is the closest to the Rainbow tag RT20/38/56? We don't really have a "violet" prompt in the main 18-book tower. So was curious if this fits anywhere.



P.S. Suzanne, should be all set on the shelf fix.

MN Lisa wrote: "If the spreadsheet works for you its a beautiful thing. I've shared my tracking spreadsheet before and people get overwhelmed. I like it and it works for me. :)"

Fantastic spreadsheet, Lisa. Thank you for sharing.
I'm so delighted to see that you capture such detailed meta data about a book (it certainly made me feel relieved to see I am not a nut to do it with my spreadsheets and there is someone else who does it too, haha!).

It makes even more sense for you to have it laid out so immaculately given the sheer quantity of books and the amount of challenges you participate in.

I'm particularly intrigued by the "Word Find" challenge and the way you set it up. Also, which font are you using? I am very interested to know that because the way it makes the words sit within a cell, looks fantastic!

MN Lisa wrote: "I love spreadsheets. It's my obsession. If you want to see how obsessive I can get, let me know I have a few examples. :)."

I LOVE spreadsheets! And I love that you are obsessed with them, Lisa! :)

I have a spreadsheet for all the books I've read and each books metadata, all movies I've watched, all the flights I have taken, etc. etc. - so I am thrilled to see there is another spreadsheet nut in the mix. Haha! :)

Can't wait to see what you do with this challenges' spreadsheet! :)

Hey! Hey! Hey! Good humans!
I am so darn excited to be part of this humongously awesome team and for once I am not the captain or the co-cap, so this is definitely a different (albeit somewhat chill) feeling. Hehe! I can't wait to get another TT underway.

I am Apoorv (he/him), currently in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and I am practically the old crone with these challenges now. :P Every year TT gets more exciting and different and this year seems particularly interesting. Also, Ashara is a beautiful team name to have (I think it means auspicious in Arabic, so great start already! :=)).

I see a bunch of familiar faces and a few new friends on the list - can't wait to read your stories and interact with all of you. Thank you to all the cappies for getting us all set up and ready to go. Much appreciated! :)

LET'S GOOOOOOOO! :D



My Shelf: Challenge-NBRC-TTX

Sonia wrote: "Hey team. So, I have this thing happening this weekend with no internet access. I'll be back on monday, with tim e to spare to do the rounds last call.

Happy readings"

Got you covered. No worries!
Hope the thing on the weekend is something fun! :)