Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 2,751-2,800 of 5,829

[Choko]

Haha! Doing my best, don't want Iain to be bored or anything:)))

[Nirkatze]

Choko keeps us all busy. :) Thank goodness for Choko!

[Tonari no Emily]

I've been trying to reply to this thread for three days now but keep getting "distracted" by work LOL

Glad we took the week from starting the new time travel series though! Definitely needed the week to catch up a bit. I also mood read the Arc of the Scythe trilogy which was fun :)

[Tonari no Emily]

Re Max novella
I don't blame you at all for tearing up at the novella, Choko! Very heartfelt little story. This series was pretty good at those kinds of moments :)
Nirkatze, you definitely aren't alone with the Michael Hollister book! Still my favorite to date

Re Effie Enderson
(view spoiler)[ I still hold a grudge against Effie's mom though.. Like paying off someone is super controlling, and she was very manipulative... I'm glad Effie and her figured it out, but if they were real people I don't really see Effie's mom changing that much.

And wow, that teacher was horrible! Glad in the last life her teacher friend ended up with Effie's brother instead...

I was noticiing all the cameos in this one too, and yep author's note said it was on purpose! I feel like a lot of the things "of note" in the TT books, the author talks about in his afterwards :) (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Oh and I'm pretty sure there is a GR entry: The Heartfelt Life of Max Hartfield: A Middle Falls Time Travel Short Story

[Choko]

Emily, thank you so much for the link! I wasn't able to find it, but I wanted to give it the 5 stars it made me feel:)

I get what you are saying about her mother, but since people like her's actions are not motivated by malice, but by some misguided sense of love and familial devotion, I don't truly hold it against them... But it can and it was toxic to the people she loves...

[Nirkatze]

Yes Emily thank you!!!

The mother is a good discussion point. I think people like this--their motivations can span a spectrum. For some, it is from love and a blinding belief that they know what is right. For others, it may be from fear of abandonment. For others, it may stem purely from a desire to control their lives or to control the lives of others. Or more. For Effie's mother... (view spoiler)[I feel like fear of abandonment was a large factor for her, and control. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Missing alot of context on discussion here, but it sounds like something I'd see on r/insaneparents?

[Nirkatze]

LOL yes, probably. It's from The Encore Lives of Effie Edenson--last TT book. Her relationship with her mother was the core of a lot of her problems.

[Nirkatze]

So, we're starting with Just One Damned Thing After Another today, right?

[Choko]

Yes!

[Tonari no Emily]

I did end up starting the first St. Mary's today! Haven't got too far maybe finished chapter 3, but it kinda reminds me of The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. a little... But in this one (view spoiler)[ "History" takes care of the time traveler rather than whatever the traveler does becoming part of history... (hide spoiler)] It's always interesting to see how authors handle the paradox. Middle Falls was alternate dimensions instead.. I haven't gotten very far in The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August but I'm looking forward to compare

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Jodi Taylor is a pantser... her writing is hectic and lacks plans... she'd kinda fit right in at St. Mary's, from the interviews I've watched...

[Choko]

Yeah, JT is not a planner at all, but something about her is really endearing:) Her writing as well. I am about to que my book and start.

Emily, Niel Stevenson is one of my favorite authors ever! The DODO book was written about five years after One Thing After Another, but he has always been fascinated with time, science, and everything connected with it...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Jodi Taylor is a pantser... her writing is hectic and lacks plans... she'd kinda fit right in at St. Mary's, from the interviews I've watched..."

LOL "pantser"--is that literally or figuratively? Like, do people actually get pantsed?

Just started! In first chapter, I loved the line when the narrator said (view spoiler)[she once got lost on the stairs. (hide spoiler)] In fact, lots of little asides like that making me go "hah!"

@Emily--I agree on the time travel paradox! I haven't read a lot of time travel books, but reading the Middle Falls books then Harry August, and now St. Mary's, it's really interesting how many different takes and directions authors can explore.

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #1 Chapter One quote: (view spoiler)["Better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." (hide spoiler)] LOL

Chapter Four--An interesting question... would you be able to stand by and not interfere if you were plopped down in the middle of history? Would you (view spoiler)[run and try to sweep those kids out of the way, like poor Grant? (hide spoiler)] Personally I don't know. I think I can be cold and detached, and tell myself it's already happened... but I think if I were in this situation, I'd want to know more about the science, and make my decisions based on that.

[Choko]

St. Mary's #1... Ch. 1... "Thinking carefully is something that happens to other people." Hahaha!!!!

[Choko]

-Could you kill a man?
- ... Eventually...

hahaha! I love how absolutely ready to throw herself into the unknown she is! I think I would have done the same though:)

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "-Could you kill a man?
- ... Eventually...

hahaha! I love how absolutely ready to throw herself into the unknown she is! I think I would have done the same though:)"

Lots of LOL moments throughout! I like how her instructors seem to notice this as well.

Not sure exactly when this happened, but it was before Chapter 4--(view spoiler)[I love when the "bitchface" instructor turns to her and says, "oh, by the way, I'm on fire" and Maxwell's response is to toss a bucket of cold water on her. Classic! (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

The whole testing experience in Ch. 3-4, was awesome! And the test is obviously how to cheat but not get caught:)) I love her writing. It feels light and it is very funny at times, but she can get dark moody in an instant...

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #1 Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[LOL I love the "amend this" comments on their paperwork. And Jedi Knight should be a recognized religion. (hide spoiler)]

re: Chapter one quote--in Chapter 8 (view spoiler)["Still, health and saftey is something that happens to other people. Move." LOL (hide spoiler)]

Random note--I love how the narrator says "Yay!"

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "The whole testing experience in Ch. 3-4, was awesome! And the test is obviously how to cheat but not get caught:)) I love her writing. It feels light and it is very funny at times, but she can get ..."

Spot on description--and very true about the test. Though the instructors cheat too... :)

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #1 Chapter 7--(view spoiler)[interesting reveal! Future time travelers too! And the origin of St. Mary's. I wonder if that's what the prequel novella is about then? And again, Max takes it totally in stride, never a blink. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[I'm seriously disappointed in both of them. Sussman, seriously? You are a finger away from being a rapist. Never start a relationship naked. And all trust is 100% gone.

But Max? I'm also disappointed in you. You should have logged it. You don't have to cancel the mission, that's your choice--but it absolutely should be logged. If Sussman is going to do this once, there is nothing keeping him from doing it again, with you or someone else--especially if he gets away with it.

Is it too much to hope that the raptors get him? Not done with the chapter yet.

Ah, raptors did get him. Don't need to worry about not reporting him then. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9 (view spoiler)[OMG I can't believe that sick asshole was TAPING things. Good riddance and good raptors. (hide spoiler)]

Every chapter I remember that this book is called Just One Damned Thing After Another.

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #1 Chapter 10 (view spoiler)[After two miles I was bored. I looked around the car for something to do and obviously, the first thing I saw was Chief Farrell.

And while sex scenes on audio are still... uncomfortable... I am happy for the characters. I hope he doesn't die. He's going to die, isn't he?

I wanted to distract them with the presentation and historians are easily distracted. Attention span of a – what was I saying?

And OMG, they're stealing dinosaurs. Reminds me a little of Kaiju Preservation Society. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 11 (view spoiler)[Idea planted earlier, but starting to think that Barclay isn't just incompetent, but maybe purposefully sabotaging. It was her fault the mission went to crap--Max didn't even step outside the pod. Seriously, nothing has been her fault--she's just had extraordinary luck.

Are they really all dead, or did Barclay just panic and leave them, and is now covering up her mistake/sabotage?

And a serious jerk move not letting her take her keepsakes. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 13--(view spoiler)[definitely on purpose. Barclay is another Sussman--or is she from the future, and recruited him?

And Yay!! Chief's not dead!! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 14--(view spoiler)[Apparently a little too quick to be happy Chief wasn't dead. Being angry... not really an excuse for lashing out at the person who is MOST hurt from this situation.

What decade is this supposed to be set in?

Um... "Nothing of a similar nature will ever happen to you on this campus." Well, how about nothing of this nature will ever happen to ANYONE on this campus? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15--(view spoiler)[I'm a little confused... have they never brought something back before? Did they not know this was possible?

My first thought was that this was a serious security breach--bringing flora up from the Crustaceous Era is potentially as bad as bringing an illness. Thinking about going through customs in Hawaii--no seeds, no plants, no insects.

And if it is changing the focus of St. Mary's to bringing samples back--that seems like a much more dangerous path to the future Chief warned of. Bring samples leads to bringing back artifacts before they are destroyed, goes to bringing back artifacts PERIOD and selling to highest donor... the teaching idea sounded much cooler and safer! (hide spoiler)]

edit: Chapter 15--ah, now they're explaining it better. I think I missed the initial setup. I still think it's dangerous though.

This also goes into the time travel premise discussion.

End of Chapter 15 (view spoiler)[I love how the team has to include at least one person to make tea.

I'm Team Dodo. Totally team Dodo. I've always thought that was one of the biggest tragedies, and darkest actions, in human history. Just like how animal deaths in a book hurt more than people deaths. Dodos were innocent, trusting creatures--and the sailors who discovered them used them as bowling practice and enjoyed just batting their heads off. Makes me ashamed of the human race. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

St. Mary's #1 Chapter 17 (view spoiler)[So... one question. If history has a corrective impulse to keep itself on track--from the masonry that almost squashed Max in the beginning, to them not being able to take anything back unless it's almost destroyed...

Then, doesn't that mean that history is going to push back against anything that would keep the future that Chief warned in place?

And ha! Literal Deus ex Machina--well, almost. Yeah, essentially. Interesting twist. (hide spoiler)]

And finished! Thoroughly enjoyed this romp. The title really does say it all. And I like how it leaves it open for many more adventures!

Had a lazy day at home today, so just sorta tore through this baby.

Votes on whether to do the prequel novella this week or next?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I read Breaking Badger today... so good to be done with Kagen the Damned...

Now I'm 30% throughThe Affair of the Mysterious Letter, which I picked up on one of the sales... and thoroughly tired of the narrative structure... the MC frequently "does things because the publishers told him to... and is constantly editing his co-tenant/employer's vulgar language, to the point of distraction... I wish he'd just say whatever she's saying, instead of trying to explain what she's saying without saying it himself all the time... it happens like every 3rd sentence...

[Nirkatze]

Was Kagen a difficult book to read?

And The Affair book sounds awfully annoying... adults read! Adults curse! Just say it!

[Choko]

St. Mary's # 1...

Ch. 6 - Jedi Knight should be a religion for sure!!! And the answers of that dude in the Sex section should be accepted:)))

Ch. 7 - that was unexpected, but it makes sense in the realm of St. Mary's.

Ch. 8-9 - that dude was horrible! The end! No situation in which she should be even a bit guilty about him... I do understand her feeling sorry for having been friends for 5 years and her misreading him so badly...

Ch. 10... (view spoiler)[ They can't really steal the Dinosaurs, since in this world, anything that has a future cannot be transported to a time in the future... But the bastards are hunting them for sport! I wanted to get there myself and start hunting them with better and bigger guns:((( (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 11...(view spoiler)[ I suspected bitch face Barclay in the moment she opened the door of the pod and was alone! And then I was 99% sure when she refused to go back for the guys and forbade anyone else to go. And everything she does to Mac from here on out is just hateful! The bitch! (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 12-13 (view spoiler)[ These couple of chapters are just so sad to read... Through the whole time I was thinking, the author has a great understanding of manic-depressive mood swings... (hide spoiler)]

Ch. 13... (view spoiler)[ Mac has a never-say-die spirit when it comes to people she feels responsible for. I love that about her. I can relate with that, as well as the less desirable easy quitting on herself when she doesn't see a point... I get it... (hide spoiler)]


Ch. 14... (view spoiler)[ I think he is hurt, but the worst part of this situation is that Barclay is the one who told him and probably put the rest of the stuff about who else she might have been sleeping with in his head... And that must make it even harder for Chief to take, because he knows she is a betrayer of St. Mary's, but has to let her go as a bait to catch the bigger fish... So this really must have stung... I am not excusing him treating Mac like that, but I understand why he lost it... (hide spoiler)]

About when this is happening, they never really say, but it is not really our world either. It is a world with most of our history, but somewhere it changes and it is an alternative world from that point on...

[Choko]

St. Mary's #1 ... Ch. 15... Nope, nothing has been brought back before...

The Dodo's... I feel exactly the same! We need Dodo's today!

I finished it as well! I loved it! I am a big fan of history, and this author has found a great way to pay her respects to History with this series!

Nirkatze, I am so glad you enjoyed it! As I was saying before, she is deceptively light. Certain things are very dark in her books and no character is really safe. So you can't put her books towards the humourous label, despite the many hilarious observations she has. It just gets too dark too fast. But it is totally worth it!

[Nirkatze]

Choko wrote: "St. Mary's # 1...

Ch. 6 - Jedi Knight should be a religion for sure!!! And the answers of that dude in the Sex section should be accepted:)))

Ch. 7 - that was unexpected, but it makes sense in th..."

re: Chapter 10--I would lend you the hunting rifle, Choko!

re: Chapter 14 Chief--(view spoiler)[I was thinking about how he had lost a family already, and the pain of discovering one more loss led him to lash out in the first stage of grief--denial. I still don't forgive him though. Max is a much better person than I am. I do like how she dealt with the asshat who came on to her afterwards though, and the strong stance she took against St. Mary's that would allow or foster this behavior.

How exactly did Barclay find out though? She didn't have that medical exam until after she was imprisoned. She must have kept spies on her after she released her. (hide spoiler)]

Oh totally--I remember noticing some things in the beginning and thinking--ah, that's different... but still, Max's reactions to (view spoiler)[the men who have made inappropriate sexual approaches reminds me of say... 1990s attitudes. Or people who are older than me (which is probably the author)--the fear of her word against his, the urge to cover it up, and go along to save his career (hide spoiler)]--while I don't think these attitudes are completely gone, I do feel and hope that they are on their way out the door. So I am wondering--what time period is this set in? Is it an alternate 2010s? Or earlier? Later?

Thanks for the warning on Dark & Light!

Do you think we should read the prequel now, or wait to next week?

[Choko]

We can read it now, I don't see why not...

[Choko]

I think late 90's early 2000's... And yeah, definitely that type of thinking...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Was Kagen a difficult book to read?

And The Affair book sounds awfully annoying... adults read! Adults curse! Just say it!"

Kagen the Damned: was beyond difficult to read for me... paused so much... me and Emily both spent about 4 days on it... she read a novella as a break, I only read Kagen and my breaks were doing other things (work also wasn't being conducive to reading)...

It's a long book at over 21hrs audio... and the first 40% is super dark, mostly spanning a single night of slaughter and the overthrow of the good guy empire... lots of raping and pillaging and slicing babies in half for fun... the MC goes into a deep depression... then the story finally starts coming together, comic relief bromance introduced, and starts building towards the ending...

Doesn't really let up on the dark themes, tho... there are 2-3 main POVs, and like a dozen other smaller POVs that serve as worldbuilding mostly (don't really go anywhere, probably being saved for book 2+)

And to top it off, I guessed the main ending in the first 30%, and the secondary ending around 60-70%...

Emily gave it 3 stars... I probably will as well... worst rated Jonathan Maberry book, for me... mostly because it's a new series... I'd have kinda felt the same about some recent Joe Ledger & Rogue Team International books, if I wasn't so invested in the characters... JM has just been getting darker, I feel like...

Mysterious Letter: I assume the book's target audience is YA?... But then I checked, and it's shelved as adult... some reviewers think it's really trying to nail that Sherlock Holmes vibe... it's a genderswapped, queer retelling... Holmes is pansexual female, and Watson is trans (and they have different names)... but honestly, I missed some of that, because I've been so distracted by the writing style... I guess I was supposed to draw that from the fact that Watson wasn't allowed to return to their childhood home after the multiverse war (I left out the part where this is also a sci-fi retelling, set in the future, with vampires and all sorts of other stuff, too)...

I'm honestly taking a break from the book... I don't have time for books that just aren't working for me, right now, after Kagen...

[Choko]

Wow! Kagen sounds a very harsh read!!! And if you are even a little down, this could turn into a book slump depression...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Time for fun reads...

[Nirkatze]

Yeah yikes! I was thinking about trying to join the Kagen BR, and now I'm glad I haven't... way to dark--got plenty of dark going on in my BRs right now, don't need more thank you very much...

Mysterious Letter sounds like a really fun premise, though getting caught up on the writing style not so much.

I hope you find some more fun reads to save you from the slump Iain! I'm personally looking forward to the new Mercy Thompson out in a few weeks. (yay!) Plus new Cradle BR starting today.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Just posted this in the Mystery thread... but my memory finally jogged, and I was able to find Soo's LinkedIn profile with a google search, if anyone has an account and thinks they can use it to reach out to her in some way, make sure she's OK (I don't have LinkedIn, and don't really want to setup an account, just for this)...

Let me know, and I can post a link / etc to your GR mailbox... not sure I want to post it on here, just for any botter to find... Soo's last name isn't shown on her profile, I only know it because GR sucks at hiding things sometimes, when you get a message in your mailbox/etc...

[Nirkatze]

I have a LinkedIn account--but I have not used it in 10 years... I would be willing to give it a try, but I also feel like I probably have known Soo for the least amount of time since I'm still a relative newbie here, and if someone else has a deeper connection I should leave it to them...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

We'll see what Brian and/or Choko say, otherwise I'll message you... I've probably known Soo the longest, around here, since I met her in another group and she eventually joined this one... among those here, I think Brian and Choko would be next...

[Nirkatze]

Sounds good! Fingers crossed... Funny--Goodreads says she was last active May 2022 on her profile, but I can't find anything sooner than mid-March...

[Choko]

Send it to me, I will try...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Progress has been slow, but any time I don't want to listen to a book, these days, I listen to another 20 minute episode of the Welcome to Night Vale radio show... done 7 episodes now, and find them fun...

I usually find something to laugh out loud at in every episode, or every other episode... I usually skip past the weather tho (weather is actual just indie music being showcased)...

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

Does anyone know if Soo's okay? I feel like I haven't seen her in ages but I could just be missing her updates.

[Julian]

I think we've all been wondering that for some time now. I saw her update a book once several weeks ago but that was pretty much it.

I miss her. She always motivated me to read more by being so prolific herself

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Does anyone know if Soo's okay? I feel like I haven't seen her in ages but I could just be missing her updates."

I found her LinkedIn profile, and Choko sent her a request, to see if we can at least confirm she fine...

[Brian]

🤞 I hope she responds

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Read Orlando People today... author of Andrea Vernon... bit short, but fun... best chapter was #20/21... the one where the MC Gretch recapped events that happened to her FBI partner Prader, by doing a macho impersonation of him for 8 minutes...

And the narrator clearly had a lot of fun singing some made up superpowered boy band songs, as the MC... the boy band wrote a song about the MC and the events in the climax of the book, and the narrator sang it an extra time right at the end of the audiobook, then giggled a little and it ended...

Gonna read Dade County Death Cruise soon... hope Alexander C. Kane is writing more...

[Choko]

I will read it soon:)

[Tonari no Emily]

Glad we reached out to Soo! Hopefully we'll hear back something...

[Tonari no Emily]

@Nirkatze and Choko

I also really liked St. Mary's 1! The title is honestly perfect for that book bc dang, it really was One Damned Thing After the Other...

Time travel books make my head hurt sometimes! LOL (view spoiler)[ -So I know "history" tries to keep things in line.. but honestly I think even going back in time could change a lot! Max and Co were not originally at that hospital... Did she save more people because she was there? Or was her going back in time always meant to happen? If that's the case... is there free will? Ack!

So her training and tests went by super fast in-novel, but it seems to have taken many years... Didn't feel like that for me while reading...

I don't feel bad AT ALL Sussman was killed. What scum.

I'm honestly SO MAD at Chief for lashing out at Max. She is indeed a bigger person than me too because Chief is kinda dead to me now 😂
Not okay. Also why would he even believe Barclay out of all people??? Ugh. (hide spoiler)]

Excited for the next one!