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I can't tell if this is slow-burning and subtle, or if Bronte just doesn't have a good idea of what's important and what isn't.

I'm not sure what to make of this so far. I kind of like the worldbuilding, but the pacing is pretty rushed. I guess this book's success for me will depend on whether or not Liz ends up being an engaging protagonist.

I wish this book wasn't so difficult to read, so that I could read faster. I mean, it's easy for a Victorian novel, but I still want to read slowly.

I very much love the characters in this book. Even the minor ones have a lot more development than you'd expect. I'm also seeing more potential signs of an overarching plot, which is great. The only problem is that it's starting to become a problem how little we know about this world. In the first couple books, it was okay, but we should know more by now.

I guess I just wish the themes were more complex. I actually felt like the themes were one thing that Fair Coin did fairly well, and they're a lot more simplistic and one-sided here. Maybe trying to compare this to Death Note was a bad idea.

This is more well-plotted than Fair Coin. There are still minor plotholes, and minor bits where I'm not sure what's going on, but both of these things were much bigger problems back there.

While I am enjoying this, I do kind of wish we knew what the moral stakes were. I sort of feel like it was a mistake to hide the motivations of the government here - I would've liked to know what Max and Evan are fighting for. I mean, if you're going to do a Death Note pastiche, do it right. Eh, well. It's still entertaining.

This book has its flaws - Myers isn't very good at writing women, and most of the characters here are expies from Full Coin - but I'm mostly enjoying this. Myers has a very good understanding of how thrillers work - he knows how to balance action and suspense, the plot is very well thought-through, and the mystery is genuinely unpredictable. It's lots of fun.

I refuse to lose track of the story because of the language that I'm not familiar with. Not this time. This time will be different.

I'm enjoying this. All of the gambits, the mystery, the puzzling out everyone's motivations and anticipating their next moves... it kind of reminds me of Death Note. This doesn't strike me as particularly realistic, but it's soooo much fun.

I'm not exactly sure what the story is supposed to be, but Jane is an interesting enough narrator that I don't really mind.

Courtney is really badly-written. She reminds me of Jena from Full Coin, except Jena wasn't a one-note caricature.

Wow. That was a really dynamic opening. It reminds me a lot of the opening of Adaptation by Malinda Lo. Admittedly, it's not quite that well-written, but it's still very strong.

This is the funniest book I've read in a long time. I don't think I've laughed this much while reading a book since I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson in middle school.

I'm hesitant to immediately say that I don't like the dialogue, just because I'm so unfamiliar with the language of this era. But the dialogue strikes me as kinda stilted and unnatural.

This reminds me of a more well-plotted version of The Spectacular Now. Very nice.

I just made a list of the best and worst books that I read this year. If anybody's curious, it can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...

I'm not sure what the story is supposed to be, but I'm enjoying it.

This is one of the few YA books that genuinely feels like it was written by a teenager describing his life. I can only think of one or two other books that I can say that about.

This is very well-written. Story-wise, not much has happened so far, but I'm enjoying the language.

There's kind of a lack of subtlety here, particularly regarding Evan's mental problems. But other than that, I'm really enjoying this - Even's voice is incredibly well-written.

I kind of like Jane as a narrator, so far, although she could end up as kind of a Mary Sue, if Bronte doesn't play this well.

This is exceptionally good so far. First book in a long time that made me actually laugh out loud.

Also, that is one damn fitting title.

The Way Wind by Audre Norton: 2/5 (DNF)

Poor Little Saturday by Madeleine L'Engle: 3/5

The Only Way to Fly by Nancy Holder: 2/5

Skin Deep by Richard Parks: 4/5

The Robbery by Cynthia Ward: 2/5

Malboros and Magic by Linda Robertson: 3/5

Magic Carpets by Leslie What: 4/5

The Ground Whereon She Stands by Leah Bobet: 3/5

Afterward by Don Webb: 1/5

April in Paris by Ursula K. Le Guin: 3/5

Mirage and Magia by Tanith Lee: 2/5 Confusing

Lessons with Miss Gray by Theodora Goss: 2/5 Undeveloped characters

The World is Cruel, My Daughter by Cory Skerry: 5/5 Intense

Ill Met in Uthar by T.A. Pratt: 3/5 Lots of potential

The Witch's Headstone by Neil Gaiman: 5/5 Well-written

Boris Chernevsky's Hands by Jane Yolen: 2/5 Awkward

Bloodlines by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: 3/5 Good ideas, confusing

Something I'm unreasonably proud of: I have two different shelves that, by total coincidence, have exactly 200 books.

Walpurgis Afternoon by Delia Sherman: 2/5 Badly-written, no tension, but a good protagonist

Nightside by Mercedes Lackey: 4/5 Good dramatic structure and characters, but predictable

The Cold Blacksmith by Elizabeth Bear: 3/5 Well-written, but boring

Basement Magic by Ellen Klages: 4/5 Prose not great, but very good characterization, dialogue, and magic tropes

I wasn't the biggest fan of the last anthology I read that this author edited, and while I haven't finished any of the stories yet, the one I'm working on isn't looking good. Another mediocre anthology, oh joy.

Challenge update: I read another two books yesterday. So now, I have a week including today to read two books. Forgive me for being a bit cocky, but this seems manageable.

This is really interesting so far, although I'm somewhat annoyed at Harden's refusal to stay on topic without getting sidetracked.