RJ - Slayer of Trolls’s Comments

RJ - Slayer of Trolls’s comments from the 2025 Reading Challenge group.

Note: RJ - Slayer of Trolls is not currently a member of this group.

Christine wrote: "Aww thanks RJ and I love listening to Christmas music"

Strangely enough, my daughter's high school basketball team was listening to "All I Want for Christmas" by Mariah Carey before this morning's scrimmage, along with another Christmas song by Justin Beiber. It's pretty funny since most of the time all they listen to is hip-hop. Her coach and I agreed that it really is too soon for Christmas music. But then again it's better than being subjected to Drake.

Kristin wrote: "Is everyone besides Rachael (and maybe Matt) continuing on with this series? I admit, I didn't read all of the comments."

I'm in for the first four books only.

I was surprised that more people didn't mention (view spoiler)[Matt Hooper's affair with Ellen Brody (hide spoiler)] which was a part of the book that didn't make it into the movie. I had a hard time imagining that scene with Richard Dreyfuss in the Hooper role.

It's worth noting that this book starts exactly where the first book left off, and also follows the same characters of Rincewind, Twoflower and, my personal favorite, The Luggage.

This is the first book in the series to have no chapters, which I believe applies to all the rest of the installments in the series as well (I've only read the first three).

Great job, mods! Thank you for all your hard work!

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "I enjoyed it overall. It was more of a romance than I expected, and there were a few annoying anachronisms, but I could easily see why it has been so popular, and I very much wanted to read to the ..."

That's a terrific review Patty, as usual. I was going to like it, but then I realized I already liked it last year. ;-)

My review is here, if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lynn wrote: "Wow. All the Light We Cannot See is one of my favorite reads ever! I didn't realize The Nightingale could be compared to it. Hannah is a favorite author of mine. Oh,..."

The setting is similar but the differences are mostly in terms of writing style. All the Light is much better prose (my opinion, obviously, but as close to a fact as you can get) but the plot moves a bit more ponderously. Nightingale was a solid 3 star read for me (I liked it but wasn't blown away) while All the Light was more like 4.5 stars. If Hannah is a favorite author of yours you will probably really like this book. Enjoy!

I finished another which brings me to 45 for the year - it looks like I am on pace to finish 54 or so this year:


We Can Build You by Philip K. Dick - perhaps the "unofficial" prequel to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


A Quest for Simbilis by Michael Shea - the "unofficial" official Dying Earth book that Jack Vance never wrote

I read this one a few months back so I won't read it again but I'll gladly take part in the discussion. My favorite part of the novel was the setting of the WWII-era German-occupied French countryside. It dovetailed nicely with All the Light We Cannot See which I had previously read. I enjoyed All the Light more than I enjoyed Nightingale because Doerr's prose and characters are much more refined and nuanced than Hannah's, but I enjoyed them both to different degrees.

Scott wrote: "Update:: Okay i guess 8 is some magical/good/evil/special number in the story so it makes sense to have 8 seasons, 8 colors, 8.... "

More on that in part two.

Megan wrote: "The long hot spell wrote: "Does the group simply update to 2020 at the end of the year?"

Yes, we’ll change the name after January 1:)"

I was hoping we could just go back and re-start the year. I could use a mulligan.

SarahKat wrote: "And Hotel Transylvania..."

I don't say "blah blah blah!"

Christine wrote: "RJ I can’t wait to hear Christmas music"

Here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leynw...

Blagica wrote: "Every time I stop by here I add more books to my reading list you are doing awesome!"

Thank you Blagica!

I thought this book was dull and slow when I read it many years ago. I would probably enjoy reading it more now that I am older and have more patience, but for now I've decided to listen to the audiobook version on Libravox on my commute home from work. I'll save the actual re-read for a different day.

I finished two more which brings me to 44 for the year:


Cari Mora by Thomas Harris
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 edited by Louise Penny
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started reading:


Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy


Best Horror of the Year Volume 10 edited by Ellen Datlow

I finished reading #41 and #42 for the year:


Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Cari Mora by Thomas Harris


We Can Build You by Philip K. Dick

Soon we're going to be hearing Christmas music at the store. Where does time go so quickly?

I re-read this one a couple years ago. I enjoyed the first couple chapters very much, but the last two I thought were just OK. The Rincewind, Twoflowers and of course The Luggage characters were terrific fun and the setting was very well imagined (Ankh-Morpork is similar to Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar from his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories - and those characters appear briefly in this book as "Bravd and the Weasel").

For those who don't love this book (or the second book in the series), the series improves quite a bit with the third book. Fans of the series often encourage new readers to start with other books in the series and return to the first two books later but for what it's worth I prefer to read them in chronological order.

I read this in high school and really enjoyed it, even though it's a bit different from the movie. I'm interested to hear what you both think - hope you don't mind if I follow along with the discussion.