Judith’s Comments (group member since Apr 15, 2015)

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

Kim,

can you check your read date for Neon Gods? The spreadsheet says May 20th, which is great. However it's marked as read on GR on May 14th, which is not because it's too soon to count for the challenge.

Can you correct that when you get a chance? If the 20th is the correct date, I'm guessing something weird happened with the app.

Thank you!

Stacie wrote: "It's a good thing that creativity is key here for coming up with how tasks fit because my sleep deprived brain is having fun now. About to read a book by an author named Jas Hammonds and decided th..."

I saw that on the spreadsheet and it made me laugh

Hoping this lives up to the hype!

District 8 (my nomination, so yes to DQs!)

I'm in for DQs, District 8 :)

Lexi, Sofie, Cordelia,

I was selected to write DQs for Salt & Broom for Day 3 (May27). I am more than happy to write DQs, but I also write them a lot because I usually participate in NBRCs BOMs even when a challenge isn't going.

Since the 3 of you volunteered to write DQs, any of you could write the set of questions. I wanted to offer my spot to you all in case you wanted the opportunity to write questions.

Again, I am perfectly happy to write them and don't have a schedule conflict where I'd need to find a replacement.

Lexi wrote: "We still get the category and page points for each book. It just cannot be used in the mini. I would send them some bigger books that work for defense for the first round as that is what we would l..."

This is correct and I think the plan to use supply books for resource protection is a good one ;)

I think most teams are waiting until the mini for round 1 is released before doing much about supply drops. Or at least that's what I've gathered from chatter I've seen.

The only real differences are

1) you have to be 18+ so we don't get in trouble for corrupting minors and have the group shutdown for explicit content
2) while people can still earn the same BOM points (participation and DQs), they don't count towards tokens

Ummm, yes. I'd wait to go much further until your exam is over.

And then follow up with a read that's silly fun

Judith's BOM Tracking

Day 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 4: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 5: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 5: Chapters 40 - 56

20. Cade goes to each of the other travellers and has final words with them. Do you think he learned any new information about his travellers? Or did he learn something about himself?
I'm not sure Cade was remotely interested in self improvement. To be honest he came across as a gigantic tool of a person.

21. The journey to The Seven Brothers is full of many challenges. Did this journey remind you of any other quest you've read?
Sort of but like a first draft of an outline of the journey not what typically ends up in the final published book.

22. We now find out about the Pandorals, how they were using The Seven Brothers as vessels. Quite interesting how this was accomplished. Did this surprise you how they were formed ? What did you think of why they came to acquire the red soil?
I actually think this book was full of interesting ideas that were seriously underdeveloped. Overall I was bummed by this.

23. It was determined that Cade be the one to use the apparatus. What attunement do you think he chose?
I thought he chose the Fortune magic or whatever he was pretending to be at the beginning of the story.

24. What was your overall impression of this story? What was your favorite part of the story? Will you read the next in the series or try one of the authors other series?
I was disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high? But everyone else seems to agree so maybe not.

My first read of this author was his Greatcoats series, which I loved. Interesting world building/characters and a hot take on the Three Musketeers. Nothing groundbreaking but just good fun.

I'm not sure what this was. I feel like the author had a random thought while drinking on a Friday night and wrote this in a weekend as a lark. And his editor was just like, sounds good!, and published it without reading it first. That is so unbelievably rude to say and I hope the author never reads these words. Because again, rude. But compared to The Greatcoats this was a hot mess.

No worries!

The only spreadsheet general players can edit is the tracking sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Only captains and co-captains edit the team sheet.

I would like to use 2 extra entries please, District 8 (this should max us out to 6 entries for the team)

Thank you!

I thought The Four Winds was a really good book (it was a BOM a couple years ago) and made for great discussions.

But not the happiest of stories.

Cordelia wrote: "I've been doing lots of reading the past week. It feels so good to be able to read again after taking a hiatus! I love when work gets calm after a busy period.

I have about 100 pages left of The ..."

I'm glad to hear that about The Familiar. I'm on the wait list for the audio at the library. I've had a string of disappointing or meh reads, hoping for some good ones to look forward too!

I am rereading Rise of Empire which part of one of my favorite series with a top notch narrator. So if nothing else, at least I know this one won't be a disappointment.

I'm letting Lexi and Sarah handle the lead on supply drops as I am one of the creators of this challenge who knows what's coming.

I will say we can't use our own books for protecting piles, only supply drop books.

Day 4: Chapters 28-39

15. The way the different characters react to the trek through the magic wasteland is interesting. With all the magic that flows through this world, why do they not have transport spells? Did this trek remind you of any other stories?
Maybe they do but not these wonderists don't have those spells? Magic in this world seems very specific and there doesn't seem to be a generalist type of mage.

16. We keep being reminded (by the narrator) that the wanderists are not good guys. Do you agree with this assessment?
That shtick got a bit old after a while. I really think they are mainly people trying to find work and make a living. It's just there's really not a lot of peaceful people looking to hire a rat mage or whatever.

17. What is your impression of the seven brothers? The Pandorals are benevolent? Really? Do we believe that?
I finished the book so I know the answer but they gave off a creepy vibe and not a 'we are from another plane and here to help' vibe.

18. So. We get to see the apparatus. What would you have done with that temptation?
If I wanted to change my attunement, probably use it on myself.

19. Is anyone who they say they are? Did you expect Mr. Bones?
No, I wasn't expecting that and I was a bit bummed. Poor jackal. It explains how he's one of the 7 I guess. I feel like this got overly convoluted.

Sarah,

Can you add This Skin Was Once Mine to your challenge shelf please?

Thank you!

Sofie,

Can you add The Hunger Games to your challenge shelf please?

Thank you!

I haven't had any 5 star reads so far this challenge.

But I would recommend avoiding The Survivalists. It started out find and interesting but then just dragged and became a disappointing read. And the GR rating is under 3.0 which is generally not a good sign. I didn't realize it was that low until I started reading it