Mike > Recent Status Updates

That was... alright, I guess. Still not as good as I was hoping.

That was actually really, really interersting. I can suddenly see why this is a classic.

I suppose it's my own fault for going into this with unrealistically high expectations, but this is a little slow for my tastes. Still, not bad at all - just not quite as good as I expected.

And... that kind of sucked. Oh, Rachel Hawkins, why did you have to ruin everything? We were doing so well!

I just realized that you literally cannot spell Larbalestier's name without the letters from the word 'liar'. She was literally BORN TO WRITE THIS BOOK. But, actually, it's only okay so far. Micah hasn't admitted that she's lying to us yet, so it's not too interesting so far.

Spoilers:

NOOOOOOOOO!!! BRIAAAAANAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

I should've seen it coming, to be honest. She's by far the most Rachel-like character of the cast; they're both reckless, they're both utterly badass, they're even both blonde. I think it's just a character type that Grant likes to kill.

(They really need to make t-shirts that say 'I Survived the FAYZ'. I would pay large sums of money for this.)

You die when you see the Light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore, this is the most fitting name for a book I've ever read.

"For, I cannot adequately express what pain it gave me to think that Estella should show any favor to a contemptible, clumsy, sulky booby, so very far bellow the average."

Oh, Dickens. You make it so easy to make dirty jokes about your books. Almost as much as Shakespeare.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the anime Death Note? Because it's probably my favorite anime ever - that, and Kokoro Connect. As such, I am VERY VERY EXCITED to read the manga. This is going to be awesome.

The plot seems to be coming in short, fleeting bursts rather than being spread throughout the novel. Man, I really wish Dickens was better at this, because other than his really terrible plotting, this is great.

Ew. Ew. Ewewewewewewewewewewewewewew. Ew.

(I love this book.)

Aww, my favorite character died. I'm surprised I wasn't warned, although to be fair, I knew nothing about the plot going in.

Ah, Malinda Lo. I knew there was a reason I loved you so much...

Edilio, you are amazing. Never change. DON'T DIE! God, I'm on edge about the possible death of EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. I have to stop doing that.

That was another really great story, this time from Dia Reeves. I was kind of expecting this anthology to suck, but it's actually really fantastic.

Well, here it is. The final Gone book. Based on what I've heard, there's enough death in this one that I can say, in each status update, "NOOOOOOO! [CHARACTER XXXXXXX!]" So, that's probably what I'm going to do. Because I take joy in watching the characters I love die horribly painful deaths.

God, I'm a terrible person. What would I do without you, Grant? I'd have to be a terrible person all alone!

Skim, skim, skim... the plot is really disproportionately boring compared to everything else.

Yeah, I don't buy this. There's no way actual bullying is this extreme; there's just no way.

Say what you want about Dickens's plotting - and believe me, I will if you don't - but he is really, really good at writing interesting characters.

Jesus, is this what it's like in an actual high school? (I've never been to one.) I kind of believe Summers, because no one else is calling her out on how cliched of a writer she is, but if she's right... Jesus.

And now I'm skimming. This is a lot less interesting than the beginning.

This is what If I Lie would've been like if Corrine Jackson was a fucking sadist.

Courtney Summers's story was pretty good, despite the weird ending. And Aprilynne Pike's story? It was actually really great. I was all set to hate it, but no, that was fantastic.

This is a TERRIBLE premise for an anthology, but I like Malinda Lo and Courtney Summers, so I have some hope. Let's see how this goes.

I'm bored.

There. I've done in two words what literary professors have tried over and over to do in twenty pages.

COMMENCE THE DEPRESSING! (Actually, all we're commencing so far is teenage drinking and partying, but this is Courtney Summers we're talking about; she'll get there.)

Alright, much as I like this book, I have to wonder why all YA books insist on pretending that trans people like the opposite gender of whatever their true gender is. I mean, I guess it works that way sometimes, but usually, no. So why do authors keep on writing trans characters that way?

Man, I love London. Have I ever mentioned that?

Words fail me.

I realized that I haven't even mentioned the best part of all of this yet. This book is genuinely unpredictable. There's always a little suspense at the end of each chapter, because you never know who A is going to wake up inside of next; you never know what the next chapter will hold.