Mike > Recent Status Updates

Why can't I connect to Shandi? She should be a perfectly interesting, well-developed character. Strange.

Why can't I connect to Shandi? She should be a perfectly interesting, well-developed character. Strange.

Light doesn't say "I take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!" in the manga. I'm disappointed.

And we get another prophecy twist. The twist was pretty surprising, but I feel like this series is sort of resorting to formula.

"We have defied the day as it was set out for us."
--David Levithan, Every Day

God, I love that book. I was going to say something complex and sophisticated about that quote, but I'm overwhelmed by its meaning. God, I love that book.

This is getting a lot better. MAN Collins is good at this. I love the commentary on nationalism - it's not groundbreaking, exactly, but it would be for some kids, and it's done really well.

This is way better than the beginning. The twist at the end is very intriguing and surprising. Excellent writing.

God, I love William. Not Shandi, as much, but William is great.

This is rapidly improving. It's still not as good as everybody makes it out to be, but at least the plot has some direction now.

I hate to say this, but this is really looking like a sub-par book for Collins. It's just not entertaining the way her other books are.

Could people talk to me about Mockingjay? Specifically, I don't understand all the backlash behind it, having read it. I don't understand why people hate it so much, as a finale.

The plot is surprisingly slow for a Suzanne Collins book. We were stuck in the exposition until pretty recently.

I like Raffe and Peryn as characters. This isn't a bad book at all, I just have no idea how the hell it became such a phenomenon. I'm already coming up with a rant on how this isn't the next Hunger Games by a long-shot.

Halfway point achieved! God, even when the book is good, required reading is so difficult.

God, this subplot had better be going somewhere.

RIPRED! I always forget how awesome he is.

Holmes, as an evil genius, is SO MUCH BETTER than any movie villain I've ever seen.

Suzanne Collins is really good at this whole writing thing. It's too bad she never got a big hit.

I really like Bethany. People told me I'd like her; they were definitely right.

I really wish I could get this thing finished faster. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen, unfortunately. It's a shame - it really is fantastic.

The "witty" dialogue is still terrible, but Raffe is looking to be a lot more interesting than I initially thought. We'll see where this goes.

It's an odd feeling, to realize that I don't want to know how something that happened over a hundred years ago turned out, just because I don't want to spoil this book.

I kinda like these actions scenes. They're a pretty standard Buffy-esque fare, but at least they're pretty realistic. What I like less? The snark. Dear lord the snark.

We're about a quarter of the way in, and we're still at the exposition. The reason being that Jackson isn't doing a great job of sprinkling exposition throghout the book where it feels natural - she's lumping it here all at once, in the beginning. Not great writing.

My thoughts have remained exactly the same. Man, my critical process just doesn't apply to this thing.

Peryn's mom creeps me out. More of her, less of this angel. I can see exactly where this character is going, and I don't like it.

I'm reading an adult book right now, and it isn't bad, but it's reminding me of just how at home I feel with YA. Books like this just plain didn't exist in past years - YA is an incredibly recent genre. I guess I'm really grateful that books like that DO exist now, because I honestly think they're some of the most valuable books we have.

I'm nervous about this. It feels like a somewhat sloppy imitation of a typical post-apocalyptic feel. But, so many people like it, so I'll give it a chance...

This is definitely well-written, but I'm afraid that the plot just won't interest me. Well, it probably won't be a bad book, either way.

This is going to be difficult to review. I'm really enjoying it, but for some reason, I'm finding it difficult to get inspired to pontificate.