Dev’s Comments (group member since Sep 09, 2017)

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

i finished this morning! sorry, i kind of dragged my feet on the first part and then sped past you i think lol

anyway, i think i like this one just slightly better than the first one both because we get to see more of sloan's story and also just because i feel like it does a bit better at explaining the over-arching world and how all the fairy tale stuff works. i would like for her to write another one just because (view spoiler)[i think it will be interesting to see how ciara fits into the whole team dynamic. (hide spoiler)]

i've lost track of what chapter i'm on because i'm listening to the audio but i'm aout 3/4ths of the way through and i think most of the way through the chapter that starts with the puss in boots stuff.

about adrianna (view spoiler)[yeah i wonder how she knows enough to fool people as well. maybe she's been watching her somehow for awhile? or just because henry's been hanging out in the woods so much? (hide spoiler)]

also i guess i spoke too soon about not knowing much about sloane's backstory too lol. i forgot we got so much of her early story in this book, although i would still like a book that just focuses on her through the years and how everything changes around her.

ok i got through chapter 6 so far today!

i agree that ciara is pretty cool so far and also that i love anything that gets me more of sloan's pov and backstory.

i am always torn about the parts that place in the woods. (view spoiler)[on the one hand boiling the story down to the monomyth and having all these specific markers and aesthetics for the different stories is very cool [and exactly the kind of thing i would expect from seanan], but on the other hand i just don't find henry all that interesting in general so whenever she's by herself like this i'm always just like ok but can we get back to the action lol (hide spoiler)]

i'll probably get through at least one more chapter later today

haha sorry if i'm slowing you down, i just planned on listening to a few chapters of winter today but then i got into it and wanted to finish it. i'll probably get through at least chapters tomorrow though

i probably won't get any more read until tomorrow, but i agree that the whole woods world is super creepy lol

ok cool, we'll plan on that then :)

so now we just have to figure out what day to start. i was thinking the 15th just because i like to start BRs either at the beginning or middle of the month, but really i'm fine with any day

I also made it through chapter 3. I don't remember what exactly is up with Ciara, it's been awhile since I've read this one so I don't really remember a lot of what happens, she seems okay so far though.

I was also kind of surprised how long it took them to figure out (view spoiler)[the Hansel and Gretel thing. Especially since they have Sloane with them too. Although I guess at this point Henry probably isn't used to thinking of herself as part of a 'pair' of siblings since they've been estranged for so long (hide spoiler)]

The most frustrating part of this series for me is that Sloane is by FAR the most interesting character but we hardly get to know anything about her. I would love a book from her POV that reveals more about her past.

cool, i will start it tomorrow when i'm at work :)

ok i'm good with that, just let me know when you get through a bit more of it and i'll start

is anyone still planning on doing this? i definitely want to but i was going to listen to the audio again and i'm currently in the middle of the audio for Winter which is like soooo long lol. i'm definitely still planning on getting to this this month though, so if anyone is still planning on reading let me know when you think you're gonna start and i'll work something out [i guess by listening to two audiobooks at once depending on the date lol]

DQs day 3 // chapters 40-end

11. Overall what were your impressions? Did you get annoyed with the timey-wimey or just let that mind-bender pass over you and move with the story?
kind of both i guess? i was more confused because to me most of the characters were not singular enough for me to distinguish them from each other so i was more confused on a character level than a time/place level.

12. I guess related to the above, I'm still grappling with the whole Ruby being with her grandmother's friend, but a younger version. Anyone else? Do you think you could have a relationship with a time traveller?
yeah i thought that was more than a bit weird. i don't think i would want to be with a time traveler because like ruby said they're pretty much always going to know more than you and for me personally that would be the most annoying thing.

13. The solution to Margaret's death was interesting... I was still left scratching my head about who was really responsible. I don't think it is as simple as the person that shot the bullets into the machine. You?
again, i was just pretty confused overall with this book but i got the impression that they somehow set it up so it would happen like that and knew it was going to kill her? so in that case yeah. but also margaret was awful so ...i'm not mad she was killed lol

14. Overall thoughts? Did you like the quiz at the end? Would you read more by this author?
i just found all the characters to be fairly unlikable and / or boring so it really didn't work for me. i didn't take the quiz at the end although it was a nice touch. i would maybe read more by this author but probably only if she was writing a different genre / format because the writing was not bad per se but i just didn't really like how the story was set up etc.

Completed my first Sequence so I'm gonna start over again!

Start: March 11, 2019
Level: Sequence (51 + books)

March

01 Curse Words, Vol. 4: Queen Margaret by Charles Soule
02 Cress [Lunar Chronicles Book 3] by Marissa Meyer
03 Fairest [Lunar Chronicles Book 3.5] by Marissa Meyer
04 Rekindled [Circuit Fae Book 3.5] by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge
05 Smut Peddler Presents : Sex Machine [Vol 4] by C. Spike Trotman
06 Superman: Dawnbreaker [DC Icons Book 4] by Matt de la Pena
07 Winter [Lunar Chronicles Book 4] by Marissa Meyer
08 Stars Above [Lunar Chronicles Anthology] by Marissa Meyer
09 Coffin Hill Vol. 2: Dark Endeavors by Caitlin Kittredge
10 Reflections [Indexing Book 2] by Seanan McGuire
11 Wires and Nerve [Lunar Chronicles Spin-off] by Marissa Meyer
12 Nyssa Glass and the Juliet Dilemma [Nyssa Glass Book 2] by H.L. Burke
13 Coffin Hill Vol. 3: Haunted Houses by Caitlin Kittredge
14 Game of Stars [Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond Book 2] by Sayantani DasGupta
15 Giant Days Vol. 11 by John Allison
16 That Ain’t Witchcraft [Incryptid Book 8] by Seanan McGuire
17 Lumberjanes Vol. 13 by Shannon Watters
18 Wires and Nerve [Wires and Nerve Vol 2] by Marissa Meyer
19 Giant Days: Extra Credit by John Allison
20 Kim Reaper, Vol. 2: Vampire Island by Sarah Graley
21 Lilith's Children [Wild Women Book 2] by Rachel Pudelek
22 Holy Sister [Holy Sister Book 3] by Mark Lawrence

April

23 I Don't Want to Kill You [John Cleaver Book 3] by Dan Wells
24 Goldie Vance Vol. 4 by Hope Larson
25 Next of Kin [John Cleaver Book 3.5] by Dan Wells
26 The Devil's Only Friend [John Cleaver Book 4] by Dan Wells
27 Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Book 6: Assault on Golden Rock by Jeremy Whitley
28 Nyssa Glass and the Cutpurse Kid [Nyssa Glass Book 3] by H.L. Burke
29 The Midas Flesh Vol. 2 by Ryan North
30 Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks by Holly Black
31 Over Your Dead Body [John Cleaver Book 5] by Dan Wells
32 Nyssa Glass's Clockwork Christmas [Nyssa Glass Book 4] by H.L. Burke
33 Shadows Return [Nightrunner Book 4] by Lynn Flewelling
34 Nightlife [Cal Leandros Book 1] by Rob Thurman
35 The Battle of the Labyrinth: The Graphic Novel [Book 4] by Robert Venditti
36 Nothing Left to Lose [John Cleaver Book 6] by Dan Wells
37 The Celery Stalks at Midnight [Bunnicula Book 3] by James Howe
38 The White Road [Nightrunner Book 5] by Lynn Flewelling
39 Nighty-Nightmare [Bunnicula Book 4] by James Howe
40 Dark Rivers [Witchbane Book 2] by Morgan Brice
41 Nyssa Glass and the Electric Heart [Nyssa Glass Book 5] by H.L. Burke
42 Glimpses: A Collection of Nightrunner Short Stories [Nightrunner Book 5.5] by Lynn Flewelling
43 Return to Howliday Inn [Bunnicula Book 5] by James Howe
44 Casket of Souls [Nightrunner Book 6] by Lynn Flewelling
45 Mike's Mystery [Boxcar Children Book 5] by Gertrude Chandler Warner
46 Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook [Graphic Novel Spin-off] by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
47 Bunnicula Strikes Again! [Bunnicula Book 6] by James Howe
48 Shards of Time [Nightrunner Book 7] by Lynn Flewelling

May

48 Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allan Crow [Bunnicula Book 7] by James Howe
49 Mycroft and Sherlock [Mycroft Holmes Book 2] by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
50 Rat Queens, Vol. 6: The Infernal Path by Kurtis J. Wiebe
51 Castle in the Air [Howl's Moving Castle Book 2] by Diana Wynne Jones

i did see the huge quiz thing at the back but i was just like ain't nobody got time for that lol. it's cool that author included it though, she clearly thought a lot about the world she was creating

are we gonna have DQs for the last section of the book?

Day 2 DQs

7. We now know the dead body is Margaret, though all the other questions are still up for grabs - any ideas? What was the phone call from Ruby to Bee about?!

I have no idea. Honestly the plot intricacies of this book are mostly going over my head because very few of the characters are memorable enough for me to differentiate between them and actually remember who they are. I always remember who Odette is because she has arguably the most distinctive name and also narrative, but the rest of them i'm just like 'wait which one was that again'

8. The book is going in unexpected tangents, with (it feels to me at least) the murder mystery taking a back seat to the weirdly tangled relationships of characters - Fay being Ginger's daughter, Ginger sleeping with Ruby who is treating Odette who is being mentored by Fay, whilst Grace is leaping about the timeline being every so slightly manic dream pixie girl. Are you enjoying the corkscrew read? Trusting the author will spit us out in a good place at the end?

as i said before, i have pretty much given up on keeping any of these characters straight or solving the mystery at this point so i'm kind of just along for the ride i guess. i am surprised at the direction it's taking though because i'm wondering what the point of everything is. i suspect the point may literally be that there is no point, which i'm not a huge fan of in general, but i guess we'll see.

9. There is lots of exploration of mental health issues in this section (though given the title I don't know why I'm so surprised!). Do you like how these issues are discussed? What do you think about the different approaches to it from the different mental health specialists we've met (Angharad, Ruby, Siobhan)?

i mean i think it's no wonder that all these people are so messed up because i can't imagine anyone who regularly knows what is about to happen to them and also keeps talking to their past/future selves and meddling in their affairs could ever be anything close to well adjusted but ...i don't know.

i guess what i'm confused about is like what even are they using time travel for? they can't actually stop any events from happening but they can look for clues ...but is this really leading to a higher solve rate than you would get looking for clues the normal way? it seems that like 90% of time travel is just people messing with their own timelines or importing candy or other ridiculous things and in my opinion any 'benefits' it may have are vastly outweighed by the negatives since they are using it so flippantly.

10. Odette's joined the Conclave to become a time travelling detective. Would you want to join the Conclave and time travel? What did you think about the Angel of Death hazing ritual? Would you have told the little girl?

absolutely not to all of the above. i'm not saying i wouldn't want to time travel, but the way they are doing it is just utterly ridiculous to me. i get using it for research or fact finding or something but i wouldn't want to cross my own timeline or know what happened to me. and the whole angel of death thing is just the older time travelers being dicks because they're mad that they're all dead inside now. i'm just sitting here like well i honestly don't know what you expected.

Chapters 1-16

1. Psychology!... Time travel! Pretty cover! Yes please! This book is made for me! Why did you decide to join the read?
it sounded fairly interesting and i haven't done a BOM in this group for quite awhile because i'm so picky. also it fits into my march challenge theme of books with female protags by female authors so i figured why not.

2. The author is a psychologist who has family in the Seychelles. Do you like it when authors bring in part of their personal lives to stories?
i guess? i mean i don't know where seychelles is or what references she is dropping in regards to it, but i definitely have other favorite authors who i know a lot about and i like it when i can see them bring up their favorite things.

3. Is the dead woman Bee? Come on now. Too obvious?
i have no idea who the dead woman is. hoenstly i'm having a hard time keeping all the characters straight so there is no way i'm going to figure it out because i barely remember who anyone is lol

4. How do you like the style and the flipping of time periods?
i get why she is doing it but i personally find it hard to keep track of. i'm sure it would be better if i wasn't reading with word runner as well but ...i hate to slow down lol

5. If you could meet your future self... would you want to? What about your past self?
i think either one would be depressing and also probably cause problems. honestly the fact that everyone is just crossing their own timeline all willy-nilly is seriously making my eye twitch but i'm used to that wrt time travel books

6. Anyone else feeling ripped off that we have a Y and a Z character and no team challenge to use them for at the moment? LOL
haha it always seems like i have those letters when i don't need them for anything, although i find that if you're in a challenge you can just read a lot of anthologies and you can usually cover most letters with those.

me too!

i think i will give this one a try, it's been awhile since i've read a BoM

ok i'm gonna go ahead and request the thread for the 17th and hopefully a few more people will decide to join in lol