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According to everyone who's ever read this book, I should've guessed the twist by now. But I'm still clueless. I wonder what's up with that.

Maybe I'm just not paying very much attention, but I genuinely cannot tell whether or not the extended flashback has ended and we're in the present yet. This is such a boring story either way.

I don't understand what it means to be a cyborg in this book's universe. How does Cinder have lungs, and veins? How can she get diseases? At one point, it says that her foot hit the ground as if it were made of steel - is it not actually made of steel? What is it made of then? This doesn't make sense.

I find it hard to call this a bad book, because pretty much everything works fine except for the plot. But I am certainly bored. This is a book written pretty much exclusively for English majors - since I'm not part of the target audience, it would make sense that I'm bored.

This is pretty good so far. Something about the sci-fi tropes here reminds me of Fullmetal Alchemist.

I did not realize how much of an English major Eugenides is. To his credit, he does clearly love academia and literature, and that love does come through here. But, like... wasn't there a story he was supposed to be telling? I almost always despise books that open with extended flashbacks, and this is one of the worst examples I've seen.

I'm not a big fan of the writing here. I see this style of prose a lot - lots of very precise, detailed language, working hard to put an exact image down to the last detail in the reader's mind. This isn't bad as prose - it's actually kind of nice to read. But it's bad storytelling. It focuses on all the wrong things (aesthetic details, when the dialogue and characters are more important), and slows the pace.

Moore also really understands advertising, and how it appeals to people. It's really interesting to see all these articles from different eras. I can't exactly speak to their accuracy, but they feel authentic, which is all that will matter for most readers.

I will say, as good as this is, V for Vendetta was still better. It had a more coherent message and plot than this does.

Moore clearly hates police and authority figures, but he has a remarkable amount of understanding and empathy, beyond a cheap Freudian Excuse.

The story is pretty complicated, but I think I'm mostly following it. Dr. Manhattan's backstory was surprisingly sad.

This book seems to be endorsing holding onto the past, even when it causes pain. Like, Hajime's character arc should've been about moving on from Shinamoto and finding happiness in someone that he loves, rather than someone he's infatuated with. But no, we're supposed to believe that he really is in love with Shinamoto. Disappointing.

Superheroes sure are jackasses. Makes you think differently about the collateral damage Superman and Batman probably caused.

I'd forgotten the way Alan Moore's writing makes my critical processes shut down. There are already so many good things about this that trying to name them would be overwhelming. But the most important good thing is the way Moore is subverting the idea of superheroes as being beloved fighters for justice. Even as they fight murderers and rapists, they're tools of oppression.

Wittlinger is doing a very good job of capturing how terrible sixth graders are. If this were set in a high school, I'd call it exaggerated, but... nope, this is pretty much exactly what sixth graders are like.

I am very curious to see where Hajime's character arc ends.

This is gonna be really didactic, isn't it? This Means War got a lot of criticisms for that, but I always thought the book did an okay job of showing someone confused by questions with no real answers. Here... this just looks like a setup for a message about how good charity is.

Don't disappoint me, Wittlinger! Lately, it seems like most of my favorite authors have been disappointing me - I don't want to add you to that list.

I guess that was an alright climax, even if it wasn't the one warranted by the novel. Still, Oriax is such a terrible character. If not for the Helmacrons from Animorphs, she would probably be the worst character Grant has ever written.

This book is kind of a structureless blob. I think this is the climax, but there was no buildup to it, and it has nothing to do with the main plot.

Goddamnit, Oriax is so badly written. Her scenes are almost unbearable. This cannot be the best you can do, Michael Grant. You're so good at writing villains - how is a cliched femme fatale the best thing you can offer here?

This novel spends too much time with Hajime in his head, giving us the plot through narrative summary. We don't even learn the names of his daughters, for the love of god. If Murakami was going for the feeling of a memoir, this might've worked, but in this format, I want more from this story.

I guess this is kind of improving. I'm getting more engaged in the story and the characters, although the writing is still pretty bad.

I really wish I knew more about Hajime's relationship with Yukiko. What did he see in her when he decided to marry her? How does he really feel about her now?

In the hands of another writer, this story could've been good. There are definitely a lot of interesting ideas here. Grant just isn't the right person to write about it.

I will give Grant this: there are some interesting questions about justice and evil on display here, even if it's incredibly heavy-handed.

I think I figured out this series' problem, as a whole. The stories that the Messenger shows Mara are too bland. It doesn't feel like real people in these stories - they feel like archetypes. It's like Grant did his best to show the typical girl with abusive parents, the typical Arabic Muslim girl getting harassed by white guys, ect. It doesn't feel like we're seeing real victims - it's too calculated.

I've already talked about how terrible the dialogue in this series is, in my review of Messenger of Fear. But I neglected to give Orniax's dialogue the special shout-out it deserves. Because it is AWFUL. Grant's attempts to write a femme fatale villain are just... laughable. He's so clearly out of his element. Actually, that's a fair way to describe this whole series.

Yeah, I have no idea what's going on. If I don't get my bearings soon, I'm leaving.

If I had one issue, it would be that there's a bit too much narrative summary. So although we know Hajime pretty well, it feels like a very one-sided portrait, because we only have his thoughts, very little of his actions.