Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 1,801-1,850 of 5,829

[Nirkatze]

Narilka wrote: "The Broken Room - I'm through Ch 8. Mild Threshold vibe at the moment. [spoilers removed]"

This is my first Peter Clines, so fresh impressions here. Definite solid on the (view spoiler)[Stranger Things (hide spoiler)] vibes--I was also thinking (view spoiler)[Logan (X-Men) (hide spoiler)] vibes, a little for Hector. In addition to wanting to know (view spoiler)[what Hector's connection to the gov't--and how he walked away--I want to know what Tim's involvement was. Was he one of the guards at the project? I know Nat never met him while alive, but how did he and Nat cross paths to begin with? Why did she pick him up with her medium-like skills? He must have been connected somehow, right? (hide spoiler)]

I wasn't expecting Part 2 (view spoiler)[to go full on backstory. Interesting how the syntax changes when it's Natalie's voice. Lots of short, choppy sentences. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[The clicks and pops and scanning--they're being exposed to radiation. I wonder if it's gamma radiation, or if the designator is simply group number? I like the kid who said it was because they were like the Hulk. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Broken Room:

Show/Movie comparisons are pretty cool!

Natalie: Honestly, after we get some of the backstory, I'm rather proud by (view spoiler)[how well Natalie speaks English. The circumstances in which she learned English is much harder than most. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Gosh, Iain, you are a baby!!! Happy 35th! May you see many, many more and may they be healthy, joyous and filled with the love of all those who know you!!! ❤️
My mom and her family died early of ca..."

My mom got cancer in her mid-30s, and it relapsed while I was in college... things deteriorated in about a year... grandma and aunt visited from UK the summer before she passed, because it wasn't looking great...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Julian wrote: "@Iain what app are you referring to? I use Listen Audiobook Player sometimes and that allows for 4x speed but the fastest I've ever gone is 2x"

GreenLit is the best Apple Store 3rd party player I found... 4x speed possible, trims silences, but uses like triple the battery... I can drain the whole battery in 8hrs or so, I think... iBooks / Hoopla / Audible only use a few % per hour, and I'm not sure how much is just natural battery usage from being on...

I can save battery by setting phone/iPod to airplane mode and only turning wifi on when I'm using it... but the battery savings shrinks if I constant turn wifi on and off and it has to search for nearby wifi signals a bunch...

I know there's a comparable/better audiobook player option on Android, but that player doesn't exist on Apple story...

EDIT: Forgot to mention what made GreenLit good... alot of apps have issues with skipping or chipmunk voices, in the way they try to accelerate audiobooks beyond a certain point... or they make the audio sound tinny or like it's being read in an echo room...

[Nirkatze]

Broken Room Chapter 22 Cars (view spoiler)[Lots of interesting on-the-run details that I should remember just in case. Like when you steal a car, and are swapping cars, leave the door open to encourage other people to steal it. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Broken Room Chapter 27--y'all weren't kidding about the horror elements this author is known for. (view spoiler)[OMG EGG SACS?????? The flies? This is like Alien. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Nirkatze wrote: "Broken Room Chapter 27--y'all weren't kidding about the horror elements this author is known for. "

XD

Worse because it's everyday ick. Hahahaha

[Nirkatze]

Oh gods, don't get me started on how many spiders we might be swallowing in our sleep... *shiver*

I knew a guy once whose wife was a nurse--he told a story about a dude who came in with an earache once...and it was that a spider had laid eggs in his ear, and they hatched.... *shiver*

[Soo]

Ewwwwww that's just not what I wanted to think about right now. LOL!!!!

[Tonari no Emily]

NoooOOOooooo

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Decided to save Wandering Inn / Wistram Days for work... gonna start Broken Room today...

[Narilka]

Nirkatze wrote: ""The Broken Room - Part 2, Ch 13..."

Huh. Yeah. (view spoiler)[I wasn't expecting the info dump of back story either. Poor Natalie. As mentioned earlier, seems like a PTSD reaction. I like how the narrator has given her a pretty monotone voice for now. It's going to take a while to heal.

So some sort of radiation experiment. Hmm. Wonder how many kids ended up dying. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started: intro feels like a writing prompt... not in a bad way... just "child walks up to veteran in bar, starts talking, see where the story goes from there..."

Very little time to get info, between all the action... they're in car after short hotel visit, now...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I guess I was right at the end of Part 1 before... started Part 2 and the backstory infodump: (view spoiler)[made me think of the caravans a few years back, and all the kids that got separated from their parents and kept in caged conditions... some got lost, not sure they ever managed to find them all and pair them back with their parents... horrible stuff... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "The Broken Room - Is it me or is it weird listening to a Peter Clines thriller and it not be narrated by Ray Porter? LOL I like the narrator though, just miss Mr. Porter's voice.

S..."

Ray Porter is kind of my creepy horrible action narrator... he does all the Joe Ledger books, too...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Narilka wrote: "The Broken Room - I'm through Ch 8. Mild Threshold vibe at the moment. [spoilers removed]"

This is my first Peter Clines, so fresh impressions here. Definite solid ..."

You definitely need to read more Clines if you're liking this... Threshold is a great series, especially if you go in not knowing exactly what to expect with 14 (honestly, they're each quite different, in general, so you never know what to expect when a new one comes out...)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

There's definitely alot of comparable old man protecting young girl movies to compare this to... Logan is great and pretty spot-on... there's that Jason Statham one... etc etc etc...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Decent ways into Part 2 now: (view spoiler)[I can see why Soo wondered if this was connected to Threshold... (view spoiler)[the feral kids could easily be possessed by the hungry monsters from the other dimension, or their worshippers... (hide spoiler)]

The treatment is horrible... to be expected...

I wonder if the military guys' friend was another test subject, when they were trying to make super soldiers?...

Either way, it's hard to imagine a happy ending for this, where the Project is dismantled... this is just a lone man & kid on the run, against a much stronger force... and it's not like the girl's psychic powers give any offensive abilities (unless that's still waiting to be revealed, like if the ghost of the dead military guy could control her and make her an expert marksman or something))... (hide spoiler)]

Need to wait and see, I guess...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Made it past first chunk of flashbacks (not counting that quick interlude in the middle of the flashback section): (view spoiler)[that cough sounds bad... is it radiation sickness / lung damage?... makes me worried for the girl's prospects... she seems sure cough syrup won't help...

And things are escalating, with police involvement, probably...

The concept of Remnants is interesting... and the possibility of Tim possessing Natalie in a time of need seems very possible... (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Oh man, there are SO MANY QUESTIONS I want answered for the Broken Room. lol

I love the pacing. It's great.

Also, we'll have to come back to Iain's thoughts about the intro. There's an author's note at the end and I liked it.

[Nirkatze]

Narilka wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: ""The Broken Room - Part 2, Ch 13..."

Huh. Yeah. [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, the monotone does a good job, (view spoiler)[both with making her sound like a non-native speaker, and PTSD. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "You definitely need to read more Clines if you're liking this... Threshold is a great series, especially if you go in not knowing exactly what to expect with 14 (honestly, they're each quite different, in general, so you never know what to expect when a new one comes out...)"

I picked those up during the sale on y'alls recs. :)

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Made it past first chunk of flashbacks (not counting that quick interlude in the middle of the flashback section): that cough sounds bad... is it radiation sickness / lung damage?... makes me worri..."

Yeah, I'm up to 32, and (view spoiler)[the cough keeps getting more worriesome. Tim apparently thinks Hector needs to bring Natalie back to the Project--she's getting worse.

Natalie wants to go back and help her friends, but that's an awful lot to put on one dude. (hide spoiler)]

Interested to see how this gets wrapped up.

@Soo--you being done but still having SO MANY QUESTIONS is ominous! Is this the start of a new series?

[Nirkatze]

OMG Chapter 33 lol (view spoiler)[Nat semi-teasing Hector about S.E.X. was hilarious, and too short. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 28: Another hotel: (view spoiler)[the green colors and eggs in lungs are giving me serious Threshold vibes, even if it doesn't completely match up...

The Hector's backstory with Helen/Axle is just as bad as Natalie's at the project... damn... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Scholomance thread is up if anyone wants to bookmark it!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I put dates for 9/30, 10/14, and 10/28 for tentative.

[Nirkatze]

Also reading these with local book club through the summer, if anyone is interested in joining:

March: Redwall
April: The Golden Compass
May: The Lincoln Highway
June: Cloud Cuckoo Land
July: How Long 'til Black Future Month?

[Nirkatze]

Chapter 37 ewwww (view spoiler)[oh gods, that poor kid coughing up so much crap...and then they hatch!! EEEEK! Why am I eating during this?????

Oh gods, and flame at a gas stop.... This won't go well... oh dear oh dear.... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Scholomance thread is up if anyone wants to bookmark it!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I put dates for 9/30, 10/14, and 10/28 for ten..."

I thought we were doing it a month earlier?... when's the 3rd book come out again?... either way is fine, I guess...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 37..."

Right?!?... this is getting grosser by the page...

I'm loving this book, but there's a certain level of coincidence to the story, I think... and a cinematic quality...

Foxy/Quilt: (view spoiler)[I'm referring to how Hector knows all these one man army types with codenames, that the Project is sending after him... considering the tight timeline, they must have been nearby... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 45: (view spoiler)[sounds/smells like the Project has gotten out of hand... taken over by Remnants?... that and the small scale of people, and how many Hector has taken out, give an idea how this can all resolve in a couple chapters / single book... not as far-reaching as it seemed when Men In Black were everywhere, hounding the main characters... (hide spoiler)]

Rut Roh! :D

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 37..."

Right?!?... this is getting grosser by the page...

I'm loving this book, but there's a certain level of coincidence to the story, I think... and a cinematic qualit..."

re: codenames (view spoiler)[I wonder what Tim's name was? And if maybe--the "last job" he died at--was a similar gig? Maybe Nat wasn't the first one to try and escape from the Project? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I finished... I'm a bit fuzzy on the resolution, but get the general idea...

And the Author's Note means I was pretty much spot-on with my intro comments :D

[Soo]

Re Tim: I think we were given his codename early on in the book but there was a lot going on and easy to forget.

Hi-5, Iain! Yeah, I know right? I had similar thoughts about how the story started. It was neat to listen to the author's note and get a mental hi-5 on that.

Iain, what part of the resolution is fuzzy?

Ending Ties: (view spoiler)[I thought the intro of apocalypse and all that was also classic Clines and a nice insert without having to go deep diving into religion/prophecy. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... Classic Clines...

Fuzziness: (view spoiler)[maybe I wasn't paying attention close enough, and doing other stuff at the time, but I missed exactly how Tim closed the rift...

It seemed obvious that was the plan from about the halfway point... when Tim and Natalie were cagey on details on how returning to the facility would fix everything, without needing help of adults...

Also, noticed, we never really got around to getting the rest of the details about Natalie's time in the facility, once the action ramped up again... not that it was really needed to understand the story... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Also reading these with local book club through the summer, if anyone is interested in joining:

March: Redwall
April: The Golden Compass
May: [book:The Lincoln Highway|57..."
Ive been wanting to read Cloud Cuckoo Land! Totally down

[Soo]

See what I mean by so many questions? But the wanting doesn't detract from the story that was told. I still enjoyed it a lot and okay if Clines wants to add another series to his belt. LOL

I understood what (view spoiler)[Tim did when I listened, but I'm also blanking on my understanding. (hide spoiler)] Going to re-listen and post.

[Soo]

Broken Room Ending: (view spoiler)[

The dimensional hole was created when the kids made a connection & bonded with someone in the otherly space. It may be safe to call it the underworld, etc. Considering that Tim is dead and he knew that.

Natalie & Tim's connection made the hole bigger. They had a more stable bond than some of the other kids. The point was to make links using the kids (which basically killed them in various ways) and have them all together in one place. That would make a big enough gateway for a bunch of the Locusts to sweep back into the world. One that they had been locked out of.

Audio Ch54-ish - Natalie had to get to the place where the dimensions were the thinnest--in the broken room. Then she basically barf-purged the entities that were using her back into the place they came from. The same side as where Tim is located.

She was the key in which the gateway would be thrown open. By entering the broken room, she sent all the greedy locusts back to where they came from. Inside out funnel effect. Then once they pushed them back to where they came from, Tim broke their link. (hide spoiler)]

The visuals are brief and yet EFFECTIVELY YUCK! Hahahhaha

[Nirkatze]

spine tingles (view spoiler)[Hector seems to have his own ESP--his spine tingles are always spot on. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 48 (view spoiler)["Reclaim" this world? Are the remnants aliens? (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Emily wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Also reading these with local book club through the summer, if anyone is interested in joining:

March: Redwall
April: The Golden Compass
May: [book:The L..."

Wicked! I'll put in a request for a June 22nd Cloud Cuckoo Land thread.

[Nirkatze]

Broken Room Chapter 50 (view spoiler)[So is that why Tim's been quiet lately--he's been guarding Nat's back at the fissure in reality?

And the remnants are the "swarm of locust" from a time earlier than demons or angels? Lots of questions. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... I got all that, except for the last bit... thanks...

The barf visuals remind me of something, but I can't place what... something I've seen in a show or movie...

[Nirkatze]

No offense Iain, but I kinda hope you don't remember. Ewyuckewyuckew!

[Nirkatze]

Broken Room Chapter 56 (view spoiler)[Alejandra's ok.... those poor kids. So many of the "ferals" killed--but they would have "woken up" and been ok if they'd just waited a little.... (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Ghostbusters and the blast of ectoplasmic goo. =D

That's what I think of when it comes to slimy supernatural shenanigans.

Nirkatze, final thoughts? Also, go back and read all of our comments. BWahahahahahha~

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 28: [spoilers removed]"

re: Axel @end (view spoiler)[Yes, what DID happen to Axel??? There's one of my end questions. (hide spoiler)]

About what happened Hector's sister--AND what happened to Natalie--points at the worst parts of the US immigration system. Hector was American enough to "serve his country" but not enough to keep his family from being deported? Children should never be separated from parents.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Scholomance thread is up if anyone wants to bookmark it!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I put dates for 9/30, 10/14, ..."

3rd book comes out 9/27--I had already put in a request before you came out with dates starting in Sept. This gives people a few weeks to get the book.

[Narilka]

You guys blew through the book! lol The Broken Room I'm only in Ch 20 and (view spoiler)[kinda ready for the background info dump to be over with. I think I'm close. Natalie is talking to Tim now. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Broken Room:

Nirkatze, did you listen to the author's note at the end?

Axel: (view spoiler)[There are small details that Hector notes and that gave me the sign that he got away because he's a badass. (hide spoiler)]

Deportation isn't clean cut and there can be a lot of technical reasons to get kicked out of the country.

I don't remember the exact dates, but (several years ago) I read a bunch of articles when the rules about being given American citizenship status for those born outside of the US were changed. There were very particular points that had to be noted for Americans that live out of the US, married to a foreigner and whether or not the kids of the marriage would be considered a US citizen, etc.

Article headlines were not clear about the issue. Then I noticed a bunch of military friends posting about it. I dived into enough to see what it was all about and asked a few of friends that were still serving.

Citizenship can get strange. Border crossings are a different issue that could be related. It was interesting that Clines inserted a current political point to the story. It wasn't overbearing and it had the kind of impact that he wanted to delivery within story frame.

[Soo]

Narilka wrote: "You guys blew through the book! lol The Broken Room I'm only in Ch 20 and [spoilers removed]"

The part where you're at is hard to listen to, because you add a lot to what's being said and add tons of visuals + emotional nuances. It's 100% uncomfortable in your head & emotional space time.

Be ready for more stuff to follow. Heh