Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 2,651-2,700 of 5,829

[Choko]

I know! I was thinking about that myself, since the Antenium are most interesting to me in the WI, and here I was fascinated by the ant colonies and their organization, communication and use... Just so foreign from us and so interesting!

Iain, do you think I would like Shadows of the Apt? And if yes, are they all on audio?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

They're on audio, and you like everything...

They're not as good as Children of Time, but not bad... there's 3 story arcs to the series, I think... 3-4 books each, 10 total...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Save it for later... I'm not starting over, and not really in the mood to continue right now...

Read Marla Mason #5... I'm almost done, now, and this has all the secrets of the series I've been trying to avoid spoiling, that setup the back half of the series...

[Choko]

I will read Marla Mason#5 tomorrow... I have two big ones I am reading today still... But I am really looking forward to it:)

[Brian]

Hey peeps. Just home from two weeks in Arizona. Was able to finish a few books while I was gone. It I’m behind. Added to that, I stopped at Barnes and Noble yesterday with my daughter and went nuts. Picked up about 10 books. Added to my already growing paperback collection, audio books, and kindle reads I am officially swamped in books. Good problem to have.

A few notables I picked up:

Kagen the Damned
Dracul
Redcoat (Cornwell)
The Spy and the Traitor
Ashley Bell (Koontz)
Etc

[Choko]

That is so cool, Brian!!! And I hope you had a good vacation!!

[Brian]

Thanks Choko!!! Glad to be home!! Hope you are well

[Nirkatze]

Welcome back Brian! Yay for a book splurge! I know there's a Kagen the Damned read coming up--I haven't read anything by that author though.

@Julian & Choko--I'm going to try to jump in with y'all on Children of Time but I'm going to be much slower. Crunch time at work now--but just one more week and then the off season starts and I can take a break!

Also only just finished TT Aiden Anderson. I agree with all y'alls points--I liked the variety and I'm starting to get into minor house remodel DIYness so it was fun to see that aspect too. (view spoiler)[Do y'all remember Audrey (the mom) from an earlier book? Sometimes characters come in and I'm like... did we see that person before? If they weren't the main, I'm never sure.

I too was happy Aiden tried to avoid romancing people who were so much younger mentally, and I didn't like how Charles forced him into it.

Otherwise I was OK with Charles moving things around, but I didn't really like the introduction of Rock and Roll Heaven, and the novella afterwards also really mucked with the religious ambiguity of the system and made it full-on Christian, which was disappointing.

I found it interesting how Aiden found satisfaction going from front-stage fame-seeker to support team sound developer for music. It was a bit of an homage to all of the crew members required to make a single piece of art--be it music or other media--possible. (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Nirkatze, I was about to send you a message to check if you were doing OK... So glad you are just busy:)))

I didn't like the whole going towards Christianity thing, particularly since there wasn't any sign of it up to that point. I remembered Audrey right away, and I was thinking that the asshole policeman could be the sperm donor... Glad Aiden had nothing of him...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I knew where Brian was :D

Only because he mentioned it a few weeks ago in the Mystery thread, and a gain a day or 2 ago, when I commented on his silence... like he had an alert :D

[Brian]

Hahaha. No matter where I am my first app I check upon waking is Goodreads. Lol

[Tonari no Emily]

\\Nirkatze wrote: "Welcome back Brian! Yay for a book splurge! I now there's a Kagen the Damned read coming up--I haven't read anything by that author though.

@Julian & Choko--I'm going to try to jump in with y'all..."

I'm pretty sure rock and roll heaven (from the novella at least) isn't quite directly related to Middle Falls universe... Seems the author just really liked that one character (Parsec or something like that.. Hard to tell by sped up audio and its been a week haha) and cameo'd him into Aiden's story... That's just my theory though :D

[Tonari no Emily]

Choko wrote: "Nirkatze, I was about to send you a message to check if you were doing OK... So glad you are just busy:)))

I didn't like the whole going towards Christianity thing, particularly since there wasn't..."

I'm also glad Aiden didn't hold resentment towards him either... like he didn't let the asshole win haha

[Tonari no Emily]

Brian wrote: "Hey peeps. Just home from two weeks in Arizona. Was able to finish a few books while I was gone. It I’m behind. Added to that, I stopped at Barnes and Noble yesterday with my daughter and went nuts..."

Yay book splurge :D

Soo set up a BR for Kagen the Damned on the 17th.. Wasn't sure if anyone else was still interested in it

[Brian]

Yeah Soo. I’m starting tmrw

[Choko]

If I join you, it would be after tomorrow... But I am definitely thinking about it...

[Tonari no Emily]

@Choko and Nirkatze (and anyone else interested) are we switching to Chronicles of St. Mary's for our weekly reads?

[Choko]

I think we have one more book in the TT series for this week. After that, we are on to St. Mary's:)

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "Nirkatze, I was about to send you a message to check if you were doing OK... So glad you are just busy:)))

I didn't like the whole going towards Christianity thing, particularly since there wasn't..."

Awww, thank you Choko!

Was Audrey in the Ned Summers book then? I only remember the girl Ned was dating and Deacon's wife...

Emily wrote: "I'm pretty sure rock and roll heaven (from the novella at least) isn't quite directly related to Middle Falls universe... Seems the author just really liked that one character (Parsec or something like that..."

I like your theory @Emily. I will roll with that. :) Purtime, was it?

For Middle Falls--there's still the Max Hartfield novella left, and I think the next one--Effie Edensen--comes out tomorrow.

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Choko wrote: "Nirkatze, I was about to send you a message to check if you were doing OK... So glad you are just busy:)))

I didn't like the whole going towards Christianity thing, particularly sinc..."

Knew it started with a P! 😅

Oh yeah I forgot about the novella.. And I suppose we might as well finish up with TTEE haha

[Narilka]

I'm going to be late for Kagen. It will be my next audio book after I finish my current one.

[Brian]

Narilka wrote: "I'm going to be late for Kagen. It will be my next audio book after I finish my current one."

no prob. I started paperback today and I am LOVING it so far. Brutal action right from the get go. We can chat when you start

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Decided to start The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August from the 2-for-1 sale... the message from the girl was much more dire and timey-wimey than I expected...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The way the story is told at you, the reader, like a diary intended for the MC's archnemesis is interesting... I bet there are some readers/reviewers that were turned off by it all...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is a 12hr book with over 80 chapters... so they're 2-10 minute chapters, for the most part... plenty of little episodes... and not being told in a very linear order... events from his first 3-4 lives have been brought up, so far...

I have to agree with the the MC about spies... (view spoiler)[I liked the genial Chinese spy more than the curious British one... (hide spoiler)]

re:plot: (view spoiler)[the knowledge that the future is ending sooner because of something timey-wimey, and the way this story is told to an enemy, I find myself constantly on the lookout for the first appearance of this enemy... not sure if that's a good thing or not, because it's kinda getting in the way of me just experiencing the story as it comes... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Curious idea... Groundhog's Life & the Multiverse (not something from the book, just my way of explaining where I'm coming from in a second)... (view spoiler)[if these people like the MC are reliving their life over and over, with future knowledge... are they creating a multiverse by doing things different and sharing knowledge?... or are old versions of reality being erased?

That feels like something that'll have to be explained somehow, given the way the little girl sought out the MC in the prologue, after 11 lives, to say the future was ending sooner and sooner, for some reason...

I started this post with one thought, then remembered the prologue made it more complicated :D (hide spoiler)]

This is definitely one of those books that has me thinking... seems more common with standalones, since I know the only answers I'm going to get are within these pages...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 17: Not so much answers, as nice to see the author/MC ruminate on the multiverse...

Chapter 24: (view spoiler)[The origins of the Chronos Club (or however it's spelled) is interesting... but the disappearance of the woman from the 1740s that first started it, before it spread to 3000 BC and the future, is kinda ominous... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Well, you are making me want to read it. The time travel series we have been reading, the people who restart their lives over and over create or enter into whole new Universes... Just noting the similar idea...

[Tonari no Emily]

Am also intrigued haha

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "Well, you are making me want to read it. The time travel series we have been reading, the people who restart their lives over and over create or enter into whole new Universes... Just noting the si..."

Ditto on Choko! It looks really interesting!

Speaking of time travel, I started TT Effie Edensen today. Through Chapter Six (view spoiler)[Eek, a horrible marriage. Glad Effie got out of it quickly. And her first life went quickly too. (hide spoiler)]

Ack more thoughts, too tired to write up. >.<

[Tonari no Emily]

I went ahead and read both the Max Hartfield novella as well as TTEE #15..
Max (view spoiler)[ This one was sweet and short. Being Max's novella I'm kinda surprised it was mostly from Michael's pov.. but I think it being from Max's would have been kinda hard especially without input from someone with Down's syndrome..
I also like the end bit where he said he chose to go where he did for Michael's sake... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Choko wrote: "Well, you are making me want to read it. The time travel series we have been reading, the people who restart their lives over and over create or enter into whole new Universes... Just..."

Marriage (view spoiler)[ Very glad she immediately divorced him and didn't try to stick it out... What a horrible man. I wasn't expecting the book to get into anorexia at all... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Ooh, I skipped Max--I'll jump into that when I'm done with Effie. :)

re: Marriage--I wasn't (view spoiler)[expecting the anorexia either.

Also the author's sticking to his guns again--this book has an author! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 17 (view spoiler)[Nooooo! Don't let your mother move in with you!!! If you have to, let her have your house and go back to Seattle!!

Yay! Move in to the Condo!! SO glad Sandy is there. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 18 Cameos so far (view spoiler)[former boyfriend Bobby was the bank teller in Joe Hart's story, right? Then we get Rebecca again, and Charles is in the Condo Association.

So, how does it work when Charles is overseeing a life that intersects with his own???? Though I guess it's not his pixis in this one. Don't think so hard about that... >.< (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

If anyone else picked up the book on sale, or can get a copy, I'd love the company...

I stopped around chapter 24 last night, and hope to finish today, because I don't think I can listen at work... I keep pausing and rewinding, trying to catch all the stuff going on, and the repercussions...

Now that I've learned more about the Chronos club, and the fluid nature of it in this world, I don't even know how to parse it... (view spoiler)[I mean... it sounds like all of history from 3000 BC to the far-flung future is being rewritten constantly, and every "looper" is experiencing the results of prior loopers on the same life cycle...

Even trying to explain what I'm thinking gets hard, but I can see why the old lady doesn't want Henry making drastic changes like a nuclear explosion on NYC, if all future loopers have to live out a life in the fallout, before going to the next iteration...

And does that mean loopers with short lives are dozens/hundreds of iterations ahead of loopers with long lives?... so many questions... maybe there will be answers, later, when the endgame of the story plays out... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 24-29: things are definitely getting interesting... with a return to the 11th life, first visit to the 12th life, and a return to the 6th life and my suspicions about Vincent confirmed...

re:Virginia: (view spoiler)[my only theory here was that maybe she's the missing founder of the club, but I don't think the time matches up... I think that was in the 1700s... wonder if that was just a throwaway thing, or will come back later... (hide spoiler)]

kalachakra: (view spoiler)[love that we know the 2 ways to achieve a soft reset & permanent death, already... (hide spoiler)]

catechism: (view spoiler)[the numbering of these catechisms seems wonky... the one where Henry is approached by the little girl on his deathbed was called the 2nd... and the one with the guy in the 1600s that caused nuclear war and extinction in the 1800s/1900s was called the first... but then the other guy with an eidetic memory said there was at least one before, 1000 years ago, that everyone forgot, and that makes me assume there will have ended up being countless more... how to say, if early extinctions cause the permanent death of all kalachakra never born... clean slate, start over... (hide spoiler)]

So many implications, I love it...

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Decided to start The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August from the 2-for-1 sale... the message from the girl was much more dire and timey-wimey than I expected..."

I bought this one too. I'll be keeping an eye on your notes. Not going to get to it for a few months myself though. Stupid sales are giving me an audio backlog lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Decided to start The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August from the 2-for-1 sale... the message from the girl was much more dire and timey-wimey than I expected...."

I still have unread sales books from last year... I overbought some genres then wasn't in the mood for anymore for awhile...

Now there's this Sudanese woman calling normal people Linears... like Muggles in Harry Potter, lol... I love it...Linears and my term Loopers (from the movie), has a nice alliteration to it, too... Kalachakra is from Buddhism...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 49: I'm silumtaneously surprised and not surprised... (view spoiler)[I'm not surprised Vicali and Vincent turned out to be the same person... I'm kinda surprised at what he's trying to do... and that he thinks Russia was the best place to do it... I'm surprised Henry chose to team up with him... but it seems like the only way to learn more about what's going, within the confines of the story... I still think things are going to change in later lives...

I'm also kinda confused about how many lives there are... there are 15 in the title, and all numbered lives have been 1-12 so far, I think... but there's implications that events where Henry killed the prostitute killer happened much later... after the main events of the story?... what about that interlude with the drugs and the farming as penance?...

Some aspects of this story remind me of Middlegame and Blake Crouch's books (Dark Matter and Recursion)... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 57: more not surprised... (view spoiler)[Vincent being eidetic is the only way he could be accomplishing all he's trying to accomplish over multiple lives...

Doing a Forgetting makes sense to try and stop Henry from interfering (altho, in the past, it seemed like it was best done by killing a Looper as a child, before all the memories were processed into the new life... electroshock/lobotomy seems like an obvious alternative... altho I suspect the fact Henry is eidetic as well, will help him overcome the Forgetting... it just might take awhile?)

Of course Vincent knows about Forgetting & Permanent Death, if he has allies/moles in the Chronos Club... and of course he can use those allies to wipe Henry, if he can get his Origin out of him... (hide spoiler)]

I'm curious if there's going to be more to the conclusion of this story than a simple restart (view spoiler)[of the timeline, with Vincent wiped from existence... if so, Henry's going to need an ally to do the wiping... so far, the Chronos Club has been pretty indifferent to what's going on... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 59: Uh-oh... (view spoiler)[called one aspect, with the eidetic protection... but the story's knack for moving the Chronos Club, every time Henry goes looking (first in Russia, then in the UK in Henry's 13th life childhood (and the loss of his helper)... Vincent is kinda seeming unstoppable at this moment... Henry has his work cut out for him... no wonder it takes 3 more lives to resolve the story... (hide spoiler)]

I can definitely see how this would be a cool movie/etc... kinda reminds me of the hijinks of later seasons of 12 Monkeys, when the rules barely mattered, and they could travel as far back in time as they wanted... hit cultural touchstones like the Cold War and WW2...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 62: This book is slow and plodding, at times, and prone to tangents and Interludes... but I'm coming to think it's quite brilliant... (view spoiler)[over the course of a dozen lives, Henry has collected a breadth of knowledge... soldier... doctor... mathematician... physicist... spy with combat skills... lots of world travel... and now a criminal, trying to hide his imprint on the world, until his next life...

The scale to which Vincent managed to damage the Chronos Club in a single lifetime is impressive... and sad... can't wait to see how this all plays out... the book has managed to shift tones so many times... now it's kind of reminding me of the Rewinder series, 2 foes fighting through history (even if here, it's just a multi-decade loop) (hide spoiler)]

I think I definitely want to check out more Claire North books in the future...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 63: I'd compare this to Dresden Files #7... (view spoiler)[the scale of destruction is impressive... large swaths of the Chronos Club were wiped out worldwide... like the Wardens in the war with the Red Court... clearly, Vincent was stockpiling info for many lives, as he worked on his science, before taking action (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 68: (view spoiler)[the brilliance of the destruction of the timeline is staggering... send a bunch of letters to scientific juggernauts, and just let them run rampant with it... by the time the ripples are felt, it's too late to stop, until the next timeline (at which point, the future is probably ruined)...

By the time this is stopped, the Chronos Club will have been wiped clean from 1895 to the end of time, probably... getting some real CHRONOS Files vibes here (minus the religious/cult aspects)... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 71: Dastardly... (view spoiler)[I definitely saw that reveal of the bride being Jenny (from Henry's 2nd life), coming a few sentences before Henry was surprised... what better way for Vincent to test Henry's memories, yet again...

I dunno how this is gonna play out, but it's gonna be rough... hopefully his years as a criminal mastermind serve him well, now... (hide spoiler)]

Home stretch, now...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 74: those statistics... (view spoiler)[impressive recall of his many lives... and kill stats... starting to give me Doctor Who / Highlander vibes, tho... 900 years old... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 76: (view spoiler)[Confirmation of everything I theorized (hide spoiler)]

Sorry if I've kinda flooded the thread with tons of small posts about my book on a chapter-by-revelatory-chapter basis... maybe it'll give something for Narilka to comment on, in a few months...

This is a book asking for a Buddy Read...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

What an ending... I wouldn't have minded a few more chapters, but respect the decision...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Of Claire North's other works, I want to try them all, but The End of the Day looks the most fun... some reviewers recommend it to fans of Mort

[Choko]

Wow! I will read this in couple of days... Boy, work has been keeping my reading to a minimum these days, but I will be here!!!

[Choko]

Emily, I read the Max novella and, is it ridiculous that I cried like a baby!!! ? The revelation at the end, that (view spoiler)[ he had been a watcher, who came to Michael's world after his rough beginning, because he knew he needed him, was so touching to me! Loved every second of that short story! (hide spoiler)] I am a bit disappointed that it is not on the GR site, because it would have been the first in the series I would have given 5 stars...

I started TTEE # 15... She is too nice for her own good. I am in Ch. 22... (view spoiler)[ This is the first life she chose to go a totally different way... I am hopeful, but not too hopeful, because it is still too early in the book for her to be getting her life together. I am glad she isn't feeling that anorexia addictive behavior so far in this life... (hide spoiler)]