Cat’s Comments (group member since Jan 28, 2015)

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

There's a really dense quartet by Ada Palmer (starts with Too Like the Lightning) that explores a theoretically utopian government system with several leaders of factions that balance each other out. You've got to be willing to commit to an overly-knowing unreliable narrator who doesn't spoon feed, and lots of philosophy - it's CHALLENGING - but there are some interesting ideas in it too

I didn't include the Author Afterword content in my questions, (whilst my last question nods to that, it was a theme I wanted to touch on anyway), but for those who had & read the Afterword - was that a theme (Sir Pterry's quote of having a space in your brain saying "Kings. What a good idea") you had picked up and reflected on during reading the books.
Do you agree with RJB that writers, especially SFF genre writers, are exploring the idea of autocracies with a critical gaze? Any suggestions for more reading in this vein?

DQs Day 6 - Ch 48 - end

25. We have a classic final act twist, of who Pytkis actually is. Was that expected? Did the resolution of the puzzles make sense?

26. How do you feel about the world building at the end of the book? And the characters? Do you find the world coherent? The people believable?

27. Happy days! Din has free choice to continue working with Ana. Was this party of the ending satisfactory? Do you agree with the view that having a strong justice system is essential to the formation of a good future, regardless of the form of government? (at least, that's broadly the gist I got - the Empire and the Kingdom of Yarrow are neither depicted as good outcomes, nor a renewed ruling Khanum class....)

heee heee heeee! I enjoyed that, thank you!

Love it! That's a festive party to enjoy :)

the wheels of time spin both ways!

maybe the others are all the wrong way round ???


No, 1900 - 1950.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking....

I need to decide if to save Jamaica Inn for R3 (Y char) or not...
it's older publish date and setting, so mebbe?

Sammy wrote: "just spotted the new mini tasks. They would normally be right up my street, but just have everything crossed that they'll play nice with the final turf round! 😂"

at least by the time the homage to vuvezela rocks up Turf will be over!

:-P

No U, Sammy, so you can plow on with the MPG War :)

next round is fine, Marie!

Yes, like Franzi says, we can repeat genres when we've finished them.

I've updated the first post on this page to show where we are currently at, but a little more detail:

G27 Art - Marie has one coming up next week
G35 Paranormal - Danielle has one coming up this week
G39 War - Sammy has one coming up in the next 5 days

G15 Memoir
G34 Chick-Lit

Neither of these two have any plans, that I'm aware of (and sorry if I have overlooked a claim!)
But those two are also fairly straightforward, so I'm pretty confident that we'll turn over the genres before the end of the month :)

ETA: oh! looks like Vikki has a chick-lit planned. it's all coming together!

Sammy wrote: "I've got a paranormal coming up, but it's only 158 pages. Anyone have anything better in the wings?"

not right now, but between us it's not the hardest genre to fill

EXCURSION UPDATES!

I thought it would be helpful to do an update on where we are with the Minis. I've also hidden the completed tasks on the planning sheet.

Mini 1 - Genres
G15 Memoir

G27 Art - Marie (round 3)
G34 Chick-Lit - Vikki
G35 Paranormal - Danielle

Mini 2 - Colours
C04 Red item on Cover
C05 Orange Cover
C08 Orange item on Cover
C10 Yellow Text on Cover
C12 Yellow item on Cover
C16 Green item on Cover
C18 Blue Text on Cover
C21 Purple Cover
C24 Purple item on Cover
C29 Brown Cover
C40 White item on Cover
C41 Pink Cover
C46 Grey Text on Cover

C13 Green Cover - Franzi

Mini 4 - Brown
B04 Book between 301 and 400 pages
B07 Book between 501 and 650 pages
B08 Book between 651 and 800 pages
B21-30 8 books to make up a story

Mini 5 - Road Trip
R16 Road sign on the cover.
R22 Main location (setting) as a bus, train, or other road based vehicle.
R34 Main location (setting) on the Antarctica continent.

Mini 7 - Mobile
I won't list out, but the plan is strong.
Books & Readers we need to have finished during the WHOLE challenge are:
Carrie Soto is Back Sammy
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone Sammy

Please shout ASAP if you can't read the books listed above so we can find a substitute :)


TIME LIMITED ROUND 3 ONLY! - Time theme
1. First published between 1900 and 1950 (inclusive).
2. First published between 1800 and 1899 (inclusive).
3. First published between 1951 and 2000 (inclusive).
4. First published 2001 or later.
5. First published before 1800.
6. Tagged "time travel" 10x.
7. Tagged "steampunk" 10x
8. Clock on the cover.
9. Any type of watch on the cover.
10. Mentions any kind of time piece in the text.
11. Indication of time in the title (ex. hour, minute, year, etc).
12. Time of day in the title (ex. morning, midnight, noon, etc).
13. Set in period BCE
14. Set in period 0CE to 1500s (inclusive).
15. Set in 1600s
16. Set in 1700s
17. Set in 1800s
18. Set in 1900s
19. Set in 2000s
20. Author initials in TIME PIECE.
21. Starts with a letter in CLOCKWORK.
22. Book with flashbacks.
23. Told during multiple time periods.
24. Written in diary / epistolary format.
25. Involves a countdown or deadline.

hopefully tomorrow!

DQs Day 4 Ch 30-39

15) After everything you've read so far - what genre would you call this? Were you expecting it to veer so close to horror, or is that just because I hadn't read the first book?

I think the cover (both versions) give sufficient hints that this is creepy-central. But I think the horror is the lesser element in the genre mix-up of SFF (is it fantasy or science fiction, given the augmentations are based on in-world science and experiments, and not a purely mystical thing) and mystery.

16) What do you think of Ana’s meals? There seems to be a big focus on them and I'm trying to figure out what the author is trying to tell us.

I guess it's partly a way for her to pay attention to things that won't drive her crazy with pattern matching ? I don't really know....

17) Why do you think he’s killing people, what is the ultimate plan? Is anyone else fascinated and completely in the dark?

I've read ahead, so not going to answer this one

18) Do you think we will meet Pyktis by the end? Do you think he is a stranger or secretly someone we have already met?

I think we will meet him, but don't think we have yet (probably entirely wrong there!)

19) Do you think it's a good idea to move the marrow? Do you have an idea of what happens next?

So bad! at some point the protection is going to fail, whether because of Pytkis' plans or just because it's a highly risky aspect.
Hopefully it will be something that can be contained, and not destroy the whole kindgom of Yarrow...

The basement flat in my house is trying to be sold. The buyer is asking a ridiculous amount of questions, to the point that the seller has just told them to put up or shut up. Yikes!

Cos you are chain free too, right. So that is a massive plus too

Whoop!

And are they chain . free??

Huzzah! We are making excellent progress on that mini