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This reminds me a lot of Glee, in that Azure's characterization is way over the top, and in the brain-rotting discussions of diversity. This isn't true in all of Peters' books, but in this one, Peter shows about as much insight into bigotry as a kid who's just discovered Tumblr.

Also, why is everybody obsessed with Radhika? I mean, she seems nice enough, but why is she apparently admired by everybody in the world?

This climax was mostly juts Malcolm telling us exactly what his plan was, so that there was no confusion. Not only is this bad storytelling and bad payoff to the buildup, it's also constantly harped on and very easy to fix. Clare either really doesn't know what she's doing or really doesn't care about the quality of her books - that's the kind of writing mistake that an 80s cartoon would make.

I think the best thing this does - and it's the same thing that Wanderlove does - is to create a very strong sense of place. This is a story that could only have been set where it's set, and I appreciate that a lot. It does some work to make up for the book's numerous flaws.

God, Clare's villains are so boring. Some of the most consistently boring villains I've ever seen from any franchise. They lack character - they're always bland, on the side of 'muahaha evil'. It's tedious, and I'm sick of it.

Hey, look, an update to GoodReads that actually adds functionality rather than pointlessly rearranging things! Admittedly, it's still something that few people were asking for, and there are still a dozen or so more pressing problems they should've fixed first, but it's a step in the right direction.

It's too early to say if this is the worst book Peters has ever written, but this is easily the stupidest. Nearly every page contains something so cringe-worthy that I have to take a second to stop reading and facepalm. I can't imagine anyone over the age of 10 finding any of this dialogue believable.

That was a fairly good twist that I didn't see coming. Admittedly, that might only be because I'm barely preventing myself from skimming, so I'm not exactly paying super-close attention. Still, though, Clare's gotten better at this whole foreshadowing thing.

This is not as good as Wanderlove - some of the characterization is over-the-top, the direction the novel is going in is very obvious, and I don't like these infodumps. But I don't know, man, something about this just resonates with me. I guess I just relate to Grace a lot, and I love reading about her. And Hubbard's prose is really good.

Everything about this book screams, "I have no idea how teenagers think, talk, or act." From the ridiculous dialogue to the truly cringe-worthy way that sexual attraction is written, pretty much everything about this book is unbearable. Only 5 pages in, I was already begging for the end. This proves - as if I didn't already know it - that Lies My Girlfriend Told Me was a huge fluke.

I feel like I've been giving the impression that this book is kind of dumb. And it's actually not, it actually has a lot of very complex themes about class and gender - it's way more than just 'you should marry for love not money', which is what I had been told it's about. I think I'm just conditioned not to take soap opera-like drama seriously.

It's been a long time I've read something super gay and super angsty like this. This isn't exactly a great novel so far, but after spending the last few months reading required books and shitty anthologies, reading this book feels like coming home after an unpleasant vacation.

God, this is so boring. Clare's version of 'the plot thickens' is 'lots of conversations about how complicated the plot is, very little forward motion'.

Also, I love that Clare describes the feeling of a romantic kiss as "[Emma's] senses exploded". I'm definitely saying that next time I kiss someone.

The plot thickens...

(I'm reading way too slowly to have something insightful to say at every update.)

I think this is one of the rare instances where the anime is significantly better. The pacing here is a bit too slow, and the art design doesn't come off as well without animation. Still pretty good though.

Reports of Certain Events in London by China Mieville: 2/5 Format tired, idea too strange to work.

House of Ice by Jean Esteve: 2/5 Uninteresting and forgettable.

Restraint by Stephen Gallagher: 3/5 Started quite good, but the sudden swerve of an ending weakened it.

Man, this is even weaker than most anthologies I read. 2004 must've been a slow year.

There is definitely a lot of potential for strong themes, which I've heard about in this book. I can't wait.

I might be enjoying this more if I were one for juicy drama. This is good, don't get me wrong, it's definitely well-written, and Elizabeth is a very nice character. It's just... well... I can see why this book in particular captures modern audiences that don't normally read classics.

To be honest, the only really good parts of this novel are the sections when Lepus is an adult before the mental hospital. The sections inside the hospital are all the same - he meets someone, they have some small quirk, the two of them have a conversation, Lepus never meets them again. The characterization in this novel is extremely strong, but Phisher doesn't seem to know what to do with it.

So, did rich Victorians do anything but talk about how people of different social classes should act, and talk shit about people who didn't act how they were supposed to? Because that's all I'm getting from this book. Not that I'm complaining - it's pretty good dialogue about social classes - it just says very unflattering things about Victorian England.

I think my only big problem with this book is that Marsden doesn't seem to be aware of just how selfish and unempathetic Mandy is, constantly. I don't understand Tracey's motivation for consistently forgiving her. Other than that, this was a pretty good novel - not perfect, but quite strong.

Revenge of the Calico Cat by Stepan Chapman: 1/5 50% unoriginal, 50% bizarre, 100% unbearable.

Frozen Charlottes by Lucy Sussex: 2/5 Cliched premise, confusing writing.

Not a single good story yet. To call these the best stories of 2004 is just odd to me - even if you liked these stories, most of them aren't remarkable in any way.

I was doing so well until all the narrative summary arrived. God, I hate narrative summary. So boring.

This is a little underwhelming, but I like it a lot, mostly because of how strong Tracy's sections are. This is a really interesting way to read about a subject that isn't covered very much now, and really wasn't covered very much in the early 90s.

A Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon Bestwick: 2/5 Weak writing, message ham-fisted and cheesy.

The Skin of the World by Douglas Clegg: 3/5 Good writing, cliched and forgettable story.

Zora and the Zombie by Andy Duncan: 3/5 Lots of potential, not carried through well.

The Changeling by Theodora Goss: 4/5 A little slight, but very evocative.

God, this book is boring. It isn't even aggressively bad like City of Heavenly Fire was, it's just bland in almost every conceivable way. The stakes are undefined, the protagonists are boring, the villains are boring, the worldbuilding is cliched... no part of this interests me or captures my imagination. It's a real chore to get through.

I feel as if I'm conditioned to read all Victorian-style dialogue as ironic. That's probably a bad habit - these are good character-building exercises, and I'd like to appreciate them.

I'm honestly really surprised that Tracy isn't more fed up with Mandy at this point. I do think it's kind of interesting how Mandy started out as the one with the more difficult life, and now she's comically ignorant as to how much easier her life is. It's a genuinely surprising shift.

I think I'm going to end up moderately enjoying this book, without totally understanding why some people are so dedicated to it. There are good things about it so far - certainly, the dialogue is great - but it's a little underwhelming compared to what people have told me about it.

The Oakthing by Gregory Maguire: 3/5 Good writing and protagonist, boring plot.

Horton's Stone by R.T. Smith: 2/5 Overloaded with images, unmemorable.

Rite of Spring by Margo Lanagan: 3/5 Good idea, bland execution.

Not only do I not like this so far, I can't even imagine why one would find these stories among the best. So far, they're not bad so much as underwhelming.

Okay never mind, this approach doesn't strike me as dated at all. This is actually a very good novel and I underestimated it.