Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 2,701-2,750 of 5,829

[Narilka]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 76: [spoilers removed]

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 c..."

I appreciate it :) I need to remember to go back to page 54 of this thread when I start my listen.

[Choko]

Just finished TTEE #15... Really enjoyed it. It was a bit frustrating how Effie was stuck in the addiction cycle, but the last life truly was perfect! I know she was young and there would have been a ton of questions and suspicions, but I wish she had found a way to warn (view spoiler)[ the bank about the robbery, instead of just saving Bobby, so no one would have died, possibly... Although, even I can't really think of credible way to do so...

Liked that she wasn't given the cart blanche to always be a successful published author, but had to work for it, and even wasn't published one of the lives. Made it much more realistic and, as Charles said, gave her different perspectives on how her life could be. She found out exactly what is meaningful to her.

Loved all the cameos throughout the whole book:) And really liked that she figured out how to deal with her mother. The woman wasn't evil, she just couldn't figure out how to let go of control. The last life she came to terms with being a part of, not The Part of her children's lives. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "Emily, I read the Max novella and, is it ridiculous that I cried like a baby!!! ? The revelation at the end, that [spoilers removed] I am a bit disappointed that it is not on the GR site, because i..."

I just finished the Max novella and loved it! Michael's book is still my fav (as the author mentioned at the end, apparently I am in good company) and I totally loved that same revelation! (view spoiler)[The ending line gave me chills. And it was so nice to see later in Michael's life--the author's afterword pretty much summed up my feelings. (hide spoiler)]

Choko wrote: "Just finished TTEE #15... Really enjoyed it. It was a bit frustrating how Effie was stuck in the addiction cycle, but the last life truly was perfect! I know she was young and there would have been..."

I finished Effie today too--then jumped into Max. Your comments pretty much hit all of my highlights Choko. (view spoiler)[Around Chapter 20 or so, when she got dumped by the teacher, I had a serious sinking in my stomach--will the girl never get a break with relationships?? Plus, that's a really horrible blow, to go all in on a relationship only to have the person you care about act like you never existed... and something that seemed too often of a cautionary tale only a few decades ago. Sleep with someone and they turn into a monster.

So I was relieved when it turned out to not be because he didn't like her, but because he was poor and his greed was stronger than potential love.

I was also happy when in the next life, her friend didn't end up marrying him, and went for Randall instead.

I liked the sibling relationship, and I too was glad that she found a way to stand up to her mom that didn't involve demonizing her. Like you said Choko, she wasn't an evil person, just controlling. Probably stemming from a deepseated fear of abandonment, if I want to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I was a little uncomfortable at a 40+ character in a teenage body seducing a teenager, considering we've had multiple characters who felt that age gap uncomfortably so far, but I guess that's the series we're reading. (hide spoiler)]

Anyway, I really enjoyed Effie's book, and I really liked all the cameos too! I totally remember Jim Cranston as Michael's neighbor the author until the author's note mentioned it. And I've totally forgotten Cassandra Collins' story in entirety by now.

Looking forward to starting St. Mary's next week. Which book are we starting with? There's several prequels too, I understand. @Iain, you've read them all right? Where do you recommend?

Also, @Iain, I picked up The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August on your rec and am starting it now. :)

[Nirkatze]

Harry August--really enjoying the book so far even from the very beginning. Lots of thoughts too

Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[What happened to Harry's mother is just horrible. Backed into a corner and unable to say no to her employer's son, turned out on the street anyway, and then died. He basically killed her. Bastard. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[Yikes--the portrait of the Asylum is pretty horrible. It reminds me of a children's book I read once...Stop the Presses, Nellie's Got a Scoop!: A Story of Nellie Bly--a true story about a reporter who went undercover to expose the horrible situations in American insane asylums in the... 20s? I think? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[Anyone else thing the voice at the end of chapter 8, the "nonono, that won't do at all" sounds a bit like the Joker? (hide spoiler)]

[Nyssa]

Hi, Vagabonds,

I have a question for this of you reading the Dresden Files (A series I LOVE but put on hiatus after book #14 ). Anyway, this might be an odd question - would you consider the Dresden books part of the subgenre of noir?

Whenever I add a new shelf, I tend to go back and add previous qualifying titles, and I see that the Dresden books have been included in that genre. I know he starts as a PI, but after maybe the first two or three, it doesn't feel hard-boiled-esque anymore, so I'm not sure if noir would fit.

What are your thoughts?

[Narilka]

I agree that outside of the first book or two Dresden isn't a Noir series.

[Choko]

Not a Noir for sure. It could have loosely be associated with Pulp fiction, but not really. It is steady in the Urban Fantasy genre, in my opinion.

[Nirkatze]

I always thought it felt Noir-ish, but I'm not tuned in to subgenres very well, so I would bow to the greater experts above.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "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..."

I just finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August yesterday! Now I get to go through and click all the spoiler notes and leave my own behind. I was just thinking the same thing about the narrative voice. I think the story is told in past participle? Lots of "would haves" and so on. Very passive voice. I didn't notice (view spoiler)[that it was being written as a letter to Vincent until the very end though. (hide spoiler)]

[Nyssa]

Narilka wrote: "I agree that outside of the first book or two Dresden isn't a Noir series."

Choko wrote: "Not a Noir for sure. It could have loosely be associated with Pulp fiction, but not really. It is steady in the Urban Fantasy genre, in my opinion."

Nirkatze wrote: "I always thought it felt Noir-ish, but I'm not tuned in to subgenres very well, so I would bow to the greater experts above."

Thank you all for your feedback!

[Julian]

I think I'm going through a mini slump. I'm still reading each day but less than normal recently.

[Choko]

Julian, I am sorry, but I understand... It is kind of inevitable for all of us. I hope you get out of it soon...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Harry August--really enjoying the book so far even from the very beginning. Lots of thoughts too

Chapter 2 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 7 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 8 [spoilers removed]"

Missed these updates... I want to say asylums are better these days, in the past couple decades, but I still think it's a mixed bag... understaffing, underfunding... and just bad egg orderlies... like the terrible stories you hear of comatose women giving birth...

There's a reason American Horror Story did a whole Asylum season, set in the 60s...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nyssa wrote: "Hi, Vagabonds,

I have a question for this of you reading the Dresden Files (A series I LOVE but put on hiatus after book #14 ). Anyway, this might be an odd question - would you consider the Dres..."

The covers feel more noir than the stories, like others said when talking about when the books stopped being noir...

[Nyssa]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The covers feel more noir than the stories, like others said when talking about when the books stopped being noir..."

That's true about the covers.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Just sort your shelves by color and be done with it ;)

[Choko]

To all the Time Travel folks, I say we start St. Mary's next week and try to catch up on our other reads this week... I think we are all behind on everything...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

means you haven't been time traveling enough ;)

I'm definitely behind on some stuff, but want to keep going on Marla Mason & get you guys reading Laundry Files (I think that was planned for after Marla?)... I've been really wanting to re-read them, this past week, it seems...

And don't forget Twisted Ones... and we never quite followed through on Constance Verity #3 when I brought it up, because people were busy for a week after...

The TBR never ends...

[Choko]

I will start Marla Mason #5 tonight after work:)))

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Great... wasn't sure if you'd read #5 or not, and I'd just forgotten... #5 is a big one...

[Nyssa]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Just sort your shelves by color and be done with it ;)"

Was that for me!?! *Snort* .. Umm.. NO!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Of course it was... weaponized sacrilege!!! :D

[Choko]

Hahahaha!!!

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Just sort your shelves by color and be done with it ;)"

1 like, thumbs up. :)

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "means you haven't been time traveling enough ;)

I'm definitely behind on some stuff, but want to keep going on Marla Mason & get you guys reading Laundry Files (I think that was planned for after ..."

I still want to read Constance Verity 3!! I'm also down for Laundry Files.

@Choko, I'm cool for starting St. Mary's next week--though I still want to know which book we will be starting with!

I'm also adrift without an audiobook scheduled until Monday... maybe I'll have to start some of the stack of books I've accumulated in all those sales... but all alone... how will I ever read anything alone ever again?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

St. Mary's: Start with #1, then read #0.5, then #2-10ish, then alternate with the Time Police books as they release publication order... feel free to do all the short stories as well... some are free on Audible, I think there's been at least one anthology, but she writes tons of them...

Me: I'm finally reading the Expanse finale, Leviathan Falls... did a refresher from the wiki on the previous book... Expanse, more than most series, needs a refresher... the series has made some drastic decisions from book to book... not the least of which, being the decades-long time jump...

[Nirkatze]

Thank you for that tip!

I really enjoyed the Expanse, all the way up to the end. I hope you do too!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I haven't made too much progress on Leviathan Falls... turned into another Bosch weekend... finished season 5, all of season 6, start of season 7 (only 10 episode seasons)...

But it's easy to fall back into expanse, with or without a recap... just the narration and cadence of the story... from the Rocinante crew to weird alien POV chapters...

[Nyssa]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I haven't made too much progress on Leviathan Falls... turned into another Bosch weekend... finished season 5, all of season 6, start of season 7 (only 10 episode seasons)..."


I watched the first four seasons of Bosch and have been meaning to get back to it. I'll probably start from the beginning. I don't remember why I stopped - possibly binge-burn out.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've been doing Bosch in fits and starts... I watched season 1 in the past and rewatched it when I restarted... been watching the show off and on for the past month or 2... gonna continue right into the sequel series, which I hear is basically a season 8 of the show, on the Freevee (the free Amazon/IMDB channel with ads)... Bosch is retired, working as a PI & occasional investigator for Money/Honey Chandler (Maddie is a secretary/paralegal for her in later seasons of Bosch, before finally deciding to join the police academy... Bosch's relationship with her improves alot over the course of the show, after pretty much hating her in season 1 when she's raking him over the coal in a civil case)...

I've really liked the show, and how it chose to adapt elements of 15-20 of the books into a 7 season show... I think the sequel series will adapt elements of his later years, since he retires a few times... I wonder if they'll bring in Renee Ballard and the Late Show elements...

Last 2 episodes of season 8 / Legacy season 1 come out Friday...

[Julian]

@Iain I actually really liked the time skips that happen between books in the expanse. You see quite the growth in some characters as they age

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Julian wrote: "@Iain I actually really liked the time skips that happen between books in the expanse. You see quite the growth in some characters as they age"

You should check out the Long Price Quartet, if you haven't:

A Shadow in Summer
A Betrayal in Winter
An Autumn War
The Price of Spring

Written by Daniel Abraham, 1/2 of James S.A. Corey, and the series spans decades, with 1-2 decade jumps between each book...

[Choko]

Marla Mason #5... Up to Ch. 5 ... (view spoiler)[ Wow! She went through all this trouble, harassed the Possible Witch, just to bring back the Beta Bee, who is totally f@#$d up and wants to go home! And I am guessing the price is the Alternative Universe Mason and Rondo... Unless that is just a consequence and the price is something horrible... Also, the universe those two came from and the alien cloak has taken over Marla's body, sounds like a horrible place!!! The two of them eating in San Francisco was absolutely hilarious chapter!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Marla Mason #5 Ch. 9...(view spoiler)[ I hope I am understanding this right and them killing Genevieve was a memory from what they had done in their own universe, because for a while there, I was very upset about them, thinking they killed our Genevieve!!! And I don't like the Mason at all!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Marla Mason #5... Ch. 11 ... (view spoiler)[ They killed the Doctor!!!!!!!!!! I am so pissed! I loved her! And now Nicolette is with them :(((( And what is up with Beta Bee hitting our guys over the head and imprisoning them? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Marla Mason #5 Ch. 9...[spoilers removed]"

Oh, the Mason is horrible... and you're right...

This is the second story to mention a vast entity that can kill gods... (view spoiler)[in one of the short stories it was mentioned, and trapped away in a pocket dimension... then here it's mentioned in the other universe, as how The Mason used Genevieve's powers to deal with that desert god avatar...

I'm not sure if this is the same one, or not, or just similar... either that guy, or something similar, comes into play again in book 9, I think... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Marla Mason #5... Ch. 11 ... [spoilers removed]"

My saddest death is/was (near the end of the story)(view spoiler)[the herbomancer from the park... he seems pretty simple-minded... and then gets convinced to just turn himself to compost... (hide spoiler)]

[Brian]

WHERE is SOO??????? Hope she’s doing ok!

[Choko]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Choko wrote: "Marla Mason #5... Ch. 11 ... [spoilers removed]"

My saddest death is/was (near the end of the story)[spoilers removed]"

I got there and I am beyond upset over this!!! He was harmless!!! Why would she do this to him?????!!!!!! I hate her so much right now, you have no idea!!!! Iain, please, please tell me our Marla will figure out a way to get him back!!!!!!

[Choko]

Brian wrote: "WHERE is SOO??????? Hope she’s doing ok!"

I know, I am starting to really worry as well...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Spoilers... in this book, at least, other events get in the way, then the book is over... wait and see...

[Choko]

Marla Mason #5... The end! This was a bit (view spoiler)[ anticlimactic at the end, but up to that point, it got quite painful in places... I am still so upset about Granger! The Hispanic dude's death also upset me, but not like that. I have hope that the doctor is going to get put back together again.

About her getting booted out of the city, I kind of expected that to happen, once more than two of the council members got killed. Like it or not, the whole messed up situation was her fault. I understand why they voted her out.

I like that Bee is going to be the new Possible Witch:) This is perfect for him! Rondo 2.0 and Nicolette are going to be trouble! They are kind of perfect for each other though. I hope we get more information on Beta Marla and how she adjusts to life. (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Finished the short story Shark Tooth, Marla 5.5... She is feeling so out of her element ... I actually felt really sorry for her. A nice vacation snippet.

Started what is supposed to be 5.6, Little Better than a Beast, and I am confused as to why it is chronologically here... Granger is still alive and she is still in her city... I will get to the end of it and see if it makes sense...

[Choko]

Finished Marla 5.6... Definitely didn't belong at this spot on the timeline. it could have been read at any time before book #5 really, but after is just not. At least it is just another little day in the life type of snippet. Not bad overall.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I planned to just wait until the end for all future short stories, past 5.5... read the rest of the series, then enjoy what the anthology has to offer... alot of what's left is just explorations of side characters, I think...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Choko wrote: "Marla Mason #5... The end! This was a bit anticlimactic at the end, but up to that point, it got quite painful in places... I am still so upset about Granger! The Hispanic dude's death also upset ..."

That's kinda the series in a nutshell... it's all about the characters and situations... when the final battle comes along, Marla generally deals with it easily... it's the consequences that are the problem... and collateral damage along the way...

#6 is the "vacation book", then things get rolling again, thanks to consequences... really curious to see that you think of how everything plays out, in the end... I think it's a solid arc...

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Iain, glad to see you. :)

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

I don’t know how I missed your updates in the notifications, but I feel like I haven’t seen your profile pic in over a month.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

I still haven’t made it to the last couple Marla books.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "I don’t know how I missed your updates in the notifications, but I feel like I haven’t seen your profile pic in over a month."

That's weird... I've been around... mostly in longstanding threads, tho... Vagabond, Innkeeper Chronicles, Cradle, Dresden Files, Mystery Club... now Kagen the Damned...

Good to see you tho...

Choko keeps me busy Buddy Reading my re-reads :D