King Crusoe > Recent Status Updates

Book Four of Part Three wasn't so bad. Still hoping for the story to pick up again for real soon though.

Wow. Outside of the back half of Book Three, the first Three Books of Part Three were unfortunately very rough. Not outright bad, just almost entirely a big old nothing burger.

Finished Part Two!

That was amazing! 15/16 books have been hits - if not mega hits. I’m very happy up to this point :D

Not gonna lie, I didn’t mind the side-bar on the convent and philosophical musings on monasticism and whatnot.

Enjoyed Part Two, Books 6 and 7 far, far more than the Waterloo book. Hell, Waterloo remains the only book I think I did not actively enjoy or love.

There are definitely times when I cannot fucking stand Erin holy fucking shit dude.

Just fucking LISTEN. For ONCE. PLEASE.

Back half of Chapter 50 was ROUGH.

Hugo is such a master dude. The subtlety of the mysteries that remain perfectly solvable - and the way Hugo unravels them - and the characterization is all so INSANELY good.

I'm worried about the things this thing will do to my BOTY list XD

Listened to a few chapters while getting some desk rearrangement done and setting up new recording equipment.

Some...surprisingly tense moments here.

Finished Book Three of Part Two:

Beautiful. Nearly on par with Book Two of Part One!

Several great quotes I had to save, similar to Book One of Part One as well.

Now done with Part Two, Book Two. That was a short one.

Waterloo...not a great book. Didn't hate it, but definitely didn't love it. Was a subpar version of my least favorite parts of W&P.

Although the last chapter of it was pretty aight.

Interesting to get to learn about the magic in this world in Chapter 47, although the one line "Magic is all around us," etc. was all like Okay, fuck off with the comparisons to the force, bro LMAO

That one like took me out of the story for a solid few minutes ngl XD

Finished Part One.

This has been glorious! Only one Book has been any form of subpar, and only 1 chapter have I actively disliked.

Loving my time with this one so far. Some of my favorite moments of the year already.

Book Seven of Part One has easily been my favorite so far, ahead of even Book Two. Chapter 3 of Book Seven is probably my favorite chapter of the whole year tbh.

Books Five & Six (of Part One) are now done. Still really enjoying myself, although the emotions are going up and down constantly based on constantly occurring developments.

Although my schedule was originally to finish Part One I believe on Sunday, there's the very real possibility that I finish it TOMORROW somehow.

Maybe I will get to read more than just this book in November lmao

Book Three of Part One definitely the weakest one so far. Book Four was honestly pretty depressing )-:

I'm like 3-4 times what my goal for the end of today would be already and I still have tons more reading time LMAO

Never thought I'd be so engrossed in this one tbh.

Wow. I read a shit ton today. How?

By spending 5 HOURS on this book today alone.

Was it a lot? Yes. Am I exhausted? Yes. But am I enjoying myself? HELL yes.

If this book holds up this kind of quality all throughout even when not much as happening (such as Book One of Part One), this thing could turn out being a smash hit for me.

Thoroughly enjoying reading about the bishop thus far. Surprising amount of philosophy already, but I'm a fan.

The Pits of Emesh: Very thought-provoking tale. Its structure and narrative-devices made it very fun and unique, even if I’m skeptical about the believability of…well, any of it. Although tbf, others can - rightfully - say the same thing about Hadrian’s own tales.
- 4/5

The Parliament of Owls: GREAT story. Felt the strongest of all them so far - the most full; a story capable of being its own novella. New, unique setting, new characters I liked, some subtly yet strong connections to the overall universe. Everything about this was great.
- 5/5

The Night Captain: Interesting concept and narrator that I enjoyed + was fun to see Hadrian in action from a perspective that isn't his own. Probably the weakest of the stories in this collection so far, but still fun!
- 4/5

The Duelist: Very short, very sweet snippet of a tale that doesn't seem to have as large of a place in the universe as all the other stories thus far, but there were some nice quips.
- 4.5/5

RIGHT ON THE PRECIPICE OF THE SUITORS' DESTRUCTION LESSGOOOOOOOO.

This shit boutta get brutal.

Forgot to give a score for Demons of Arae:
- 5/5

Victim of Changes: Very good. Got to see a sequence I hadn't anticipated we would, and also HIGHLY unsettling in it's own way. Well done.
- 4.5/5

Not Made For Us: WOW. I didn't think Ruocchio could a 1st person with a character that wasn't Hadrian. He did it here and did it mighty well. Also the first contact story? HELL YEAH.
- 5/5

Ruocchio on a role here.

Demons of Arae:

Pretty damn good. That third chapter was really good. Also terrifying. Mega yikes.

I'm very worried about how this is almost certainly going to end D:

Oh damn, Odysseus nearly got caught. So excited to get to the brutal scene here in a few books