Mike > Recent Status Updates

This COULD go really well. And I think Gaiman is a good enough writer to make it go really well. I want it to go well very badly, because when things like this succeed, (see: A Monster Calls), they are wonderful.

The question is: will Gaiman succumb to cliches?

I am enjoying. The writing is improving too, not just the plot.

This is rapidly improving. If the entire book was as good as this part, I could've given it 4 stars, or even 5.

The characters are pretty realistic, I'll give Stiefvater that.

I feel like there should've been more happening in this book, like it's not complete like this.

This is just really cool. Nothing like Liar, but still great.

This is excellent. Larbalestier is really good at anticipating her audience's anticipations and playing off them.

I don't know why I don't like this as much as I should. It's a perfectly fine book, much better than How to Save a Life.

Larbalestier's doing a very good job of playing on our expectations. She actually pulled off implied dramatic irony, which I don't think I've seen before. That said, it feels a bit drawn out.

I keep on picturing Reason as a boy. Did anyone else have this problem? I dunno, 'Reason' just sounds like a boy name to me.

"I didn't want to become one of those my-life-is-just-so-terrible people." (Or something like that; I'm quoting from memory.)

Oh, the irony.

So, Georgia has passed a law that essentially allows you to carry guns everywhere in the state, including libraries. So, if I ever visit one of their libraries, I can have the knowledge that someone might have a weapon that I can't see. In the same room as little kids who have no idea what guns are and are curious about everything.

I feel so much safer, I guess?

Deanna is so whinny that I have trouble feeling sorry for her. Which is ridiculous, because I normally have no problem with unlikable characters, and she really does have unfair problems, but man, she just does NOTHING but complain.

I feel like I already know where this is going. Maybe I'm only being hard on this book because I didn't enjoy How to Save a Life very much, but I'm not a huge fan of this.

The writing here is a huge step up from How to Save a Life. I might enjoy this.

This is a little better than the last one - less sexist, at least - but still not great.

Why is their so much drinking in this novel? I mean, I get it, teens drink, but it feels like Eddie is drinking practically every other scene. And yet we never see her actually drunk. It's a little weird.

Well, shit. That could've gone better.

Dear Beth,
Listen, I have sympathy for you, I really do. You really want to help Eddie and her mom, and you really think you're doing what's best for them. In fact...

Aw, fuck it. LET'S PLAY THIS GAME CALLED WHEN YOU CATCH FIRE! I WOULDN'T PISS TO PUT YOU OUT! STOP BURNING BRIDGES, AND DRIVE OFF OF THEM! SO I CAN FORGET ABOUT YOU!

Already, this is about eighteen times better than Some Girls Are. Thankfully, it looks like I'm going to be able to pretend that book never happened and enjoy everything else that Summers writes.

This is a cliche that always gets me: why do clocks and watches stop in an area where time stops? Clocks and watches don't dip directly into time itself - they're just machines.

That moment when you realize you're feeling all high and superior for knowing all the answers to quiz questions... written for fifth graders. Oh, me...

Also, I actually had to skim over the parts where Claire was talking in the interview. Jesus Christ, people are terrible.

Gansey is a douche. But thankfully, not in an Edward way. So I can tolerate it. But still.

How many times has my status update for a Maggie Stiefvater book been something along the lines of 'I is bored?' Not enough times, apparently, since I still feel the need to say it.

Is anybody else bothered by the fact that every single person in ever single Maggie Stiefvater novel is white, straight, cisgendered, and able-bodied?

It's been quite a while since I've gotten into a novel like this. Ah, kid lit. For all its flaws, I'll give it this: when it's done right, it really does suck you in.

I don't want to say that this is a weird book, because it's not that exactly, but it is a very... different book. It's not going in with the goals or assumptions that other books use. Which makes it interesting to read, but I'm also struggling to see the point of it all.

Voice! Voice! Voicevoicevoicevoicevoicevoicevoice!

This is a very voicey book.

The Boredom is setting in again. The same one that made The Scorpio Races physically painful to read. Well, let's hope this turns out better.

Blue is exactly like Grace, Puck, and Deidre in every way shape or form, but other than that, Stiefvater is really good at characterization.