Mike > Recent Status Updates

All of the characters can be summed up in one word. Jessie is the audience surrogate. Lauren is an SJW. Michael is black. (This is brought up way more often than is necessary). Lindsay is a model. There's no depth to anyone, or even signs that there might be depth.

This is basically me in my thirties.

This is really bad. Incredibly rushed, not very well-written, horrendous dialogue.

I don't know why the writing resonates so strongly with me, especially since the translation is... not bad exactly, but not as strong as I'd expect.

Alright, now I'm lost. It's weird, Touchstone was actually way more complex than this series, but I could at least figure out what was happening in a given scene. I think it was the fact that Cassandra was an engaging protagonist, and that it felt like her story at the core. This doesn't feel like Medair's story at the core - the complex names and world is exactly what I'm supposed to like about this.

I'm actually following this one. I mean, the plot is really simple so far, and I'm not keeping up with the characters, but I could actually tell you what's happened so far. Mostly.

It was probably a mistake to read this, since I was barely able to follow The Silence of Medair, and I don't remember any of it. But I'm actually understanding this so far. I don't know what the difference is, since the names and world are still as complex as ever. We'll see how long this lasts.

This is... pretty badly written. Harrison's voice doesn't strike me as very authentic. And while this premise looks like it could be alright, it doesn't seem to be very well executed so far.

Blind Love by Kasey Landsdale and Joe R. Landsdale: 2/5 Badly written, unexplained premise.

Trapper Boy by Holly Newstein and Rick Haulta: 4/5 A bit cliched, but still compelling.

Steward of the Blood by Nate Kenyon and James A. Moore: 2/5 Difficult to follow, and trying too hard to be horrifying.

Renascence by Rhodi Hawk and F. Paul Wilson: 3/5 Kinda hard to follow, but the premise is interesting.

Amuse-Bouche by Amber Benson and Jeffrey J. Mariotte: 4/5 Kinda cliched, but well-written enough to be genuinely scary.

Branches, Curving by Tim Lebbon and Michael Marshall Smith: 1/5 Dull, confusing, and a waste of time.

T. Rhymer by Gregory Frost and Jonathan Maberry: 2/5 Too many twists, not enough impact.

She, Doomed Girl by Sarah MacLean and Carrie Ryan: 2/5 Not enough context or development for the interactions to hit home.

Hand Job by Chelsea Cain and Lidia Yuknavitch: 1/5 Baffling and disorienting.

Hollow Choices by Robert Jackson Bennett and David Liss: 5/5 Words fail me.

Replacing Max by Staurt MacBride and Allan Gutherie: 2/5 This story tries way too hard to be shocking and disturbing, and the result is just comical. I'll give it points for a strong first act, but the out-of-nowhere change of direction completely ruined the story.

Welded by Tom Piccirilli and T.M. Wright: 4/5 I don't know what I just read, but it was awesome.

Dark Witness by Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine: 2/5 Very cheesy, and the main character isn't very well-developed.

Trip Trap by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kevin J. Anderson: 3/5 Very evocative writing, but there's not enough buildup to the twist, making the ending feel lackluster.

Gayness handled subtly by a straight author in 1999? Not bad, not bad.

This is competently written, I'll give Nolan that. All of her novels feel very polished and edited.

This isn't bad exactly, it's just... underwhelming. I don't feel very connected to the story or JP.

This is like if Jason's dad from Crazy married someone from Miracle's family in Dancing on the Edge, and they lived with one of the guys Leshaya meets in Born Blue. Only this isn't as good as any of those novels.

I do appreciate that Nolan makes an effort to write about topics neglected in YA, and that she resisted the toxic trends in the contemporary YA of the '90s. But this is just bad. I don't like books that open with infodumps, and this has to be the worst example I've seen. All this narrative summary, giving potential character arcs only a couple paragraphs... it's the worst possible way to tell this story.

Apparently, I'm in a period where authors I thought were mediocre surprise me. First Julie Anne Peters, now Maggie Stiefvater. This is easily Stiefvater's best novel, probably because it's her least ambitious. Stiefvater doesn't go for any big commentary on the human condition like she does in Scorpio Races or Raven Boys, and she doesn't do an epic romance like she did in Shiver and Lament. It's just a good story

Dee's story sounds really boring. I'm glad she's not narrating.

The touching story of a lonely man and his obsession with a female childhood friend. Wait, I just read Shosha. What the hell am I doing here?

This is way, way better than Lament. Probably the best of Stiefvater's novels that I've read. Odd, since nobody really seems to talk about this series.

I don't know why I like this. I guess it's the writing. It's definitely a nice change of pace from most of what I read, either way.

On one hand, I do love James' narration. On the other hand, this has a bad case of sequilitis. It's still better than Lament, but this doesn't feel like a story that needed to be told.

The writing is incredibly evocative. Even though I generally hate novels that open with extended flashbacks, these particular flashbacks work so well that I'm inclined... well, not to forgive Murakami, but at least to give him a second chance. Even though our protagonist is shaping up to be a Gary Stu.

This is already a lot better than Lament. James isn't as much of a Mary Sue as Deidre was, and this doesn't look so far like it's going to be romance porn.

I don't want to do this. I don't want to read another shitty romance porn from a talented author who I know can do better. Whatever, at least James narrates this one - maybe it won't be awful.

It's been over a month since I last read from this book. i'm having trouble remembering who everyone is.