Melissa’s Comments (group member since May 12, 2019)

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

14 books finished on June 1st! We are on 🔥🔥🔥

Tati wrote: "Currently reading The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure and thinking I've gotten too old to enjoy these books..."

😢
I know the feeling.

Amy wrote: "Hi team!! I can't believe our first month is already almost over. I have two more books I hope to finish tonight and a stack of books ready to start for June! I finished Fourth Wing..."

I have not read it! It is now on my TBR. Thanks for the recommend!

Beth wrote: "Fifty pages to go on my doorstop The Engagement: America's Quarter Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage. I will update the spreadsheet as soon as I finish."

WOW
That sure is a doorstopper!!!!!!!
Nice work!!!!!!

Louise wrote: "BOM - The City of Brass

Chapter Breakdown

Date Chapters %ages MPDQs
2 June 1 - 4 16% Cordelia (Qulit)
3 June 5 - 9 32% Suzanne (Ashara)
4 June 10 - 14 46% Ashley (Dez)..."

Thanks Louise! I'll pick that up this week.

This Dr. Moreau has me on a classics horror kick... Just finished The Day of the Triffids

I’ve never read anything by Cornwell. It looks like it’s time I picked one up!

That's okay - we'll be ahead of the game in June if you finish it then!

I was looking through my books and found an Ursula LeGuin book I never read - I'll go ahead and read that one for one of the U-s. The U-s are difficult to find!

I'll volunteer for team Sip.

Just picked up a book with 501 pages! (Silently cheers) I’ll start it and then see where we get - if we need it or not.

It looks more red to me? But I’ll wait for a second opinion.

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Melissa wrote: "All good here :)
I was feeling a bit under the weather today. Near the end of the day I had a second wind though and finished The Well of Ascension for a 600 + pager. W..."

Ooooh. Interesting....

Nistha wrote: "I have 3 * 500-600 pager claimed - I am positive I will finish 2 out of the 3 but not entirely sure if I can finish all 3 by end of the month."

2 out of 3 is fabulous.

Maritza wrote: "Does this work for dark pink cover?

I added it as read on ss."

It definitely works. Nice find!

Tati wrote: "I never thought this day would come, but here it is.

My Kindle's memory is full. LOL"

!!!!!!!!
I didn't even consider this possibility.....

All good here :)
I was feeling a bit under the weather today. Near the end of the day I had a second wind though and finished The Well of Ascension for a 600 + pager. What a great series!!

19. Earlier, Eduardo seemed like a fine person to me despite Montgomery's reservations. In these last chapters, he had a stark change in character or his true nature came out. Did you expect him to turn out like this? Do you think he might have been a good husband to Carlota if she were not a hybrid?

I didn't trust him from the beginning. He seemed to want her beauty, but even we do not know much about her personality. She would probably be his wife, but I think he would have had a lot of mistresses.

20. Dr. Moreau was not a great father throughout the book but his last moment touched my heart. Do you find his love for Carlota redeeming enough for his character? Or would you categorize him as a villain?

He's a bad guy. Too much too late in my opinion.

21. Carlota became more jaguar-like as the story drew near its end, and she finally embraced that part of her in the climactic scene. I somehow expected her physical changes to be more lasting and prominent afterward and maybe have a lifestyle closer to a jaguar which evidently didn't happen. Anyone else had an odd expectation like this or something else that you expected to happen?

I also expected her physical changes to be more lasting, like the other hybrids on the island.

22. How do you feel about the relatively open-ended epilogue? Do think Carlota would be reunited with the other hybrids? Will Montgomery come back into her life at some point? Do you think Moreno-Garcia kept the option for a sequel open?

I hope she will be reunited, but I don't see how they could live separate from the rest of society. Society always barges in! A sequel would be interesting.

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).

Carlota definitely felt six years older. I don't usually like time jumps, but for this it was good. It hustled the plot along.

7. Do you like the method of telling the same scene from both points of view? Is there one point of view you prefer?

I do like seeing the scene from both points of view. I prefer Carlotta's

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?

Carlotta should be smarter... but I guess all of that flattery can go to someone's head. She is so sheltered.


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 liked that we had a bit of the hybrid's POV. I thought it was going to be completely historical fiction, so I was surprised. It reads a bit like The House of the Scorpion with science and realistic / historical fiction mixed together.

Bonus: If you were part critter, and didn’t have the health concerns, what species would you prefer?

Marmot.
I wouldn't mind just hanging around munching on some vegetables, and hiking in the mountains sometimes. But if I had to outwit the ruling system, I guess I'd go for harpy eagle, or something fierce.

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 had no idea that there was an Island of Dr. Moreau book! I felt so smart when I found out, but then I think most everyone knew :) lol....

I read it - and now I'm on a HG Wells kick.. love the B-grade horror feel.

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?

I did not know - I thought that the first hybrids would have to be more of mistakes than her though.

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 thought Montgomery was rather unreliable. I guess I was disappointed.

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....

Yeah- it read more like horror than sci-fi to me. It didn't seem realistic, but I wonder if that was what science was like back then - more fantastical

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?

The hybrids are dangerous, but they don't seem to have a central power - it seems as though they will need a ruler first.

Where do we find the old BOMs before 2020? I found some from 2019, but none before then.