Lara Linden > Recent Status Updates

I think the biggest general fuck up in the book award will go to Nikolay

The whole Freemason thing does feel really odd and out of place

I love cosy fantasy but hate coffee, this is more of a challenge than I thought

No peak feels very very fragile and I kinda get the feeling it'd be better for everyone if they just handed over power peacefully, so it's hard to root for them. I just really wanna know what people like about it because I really want to

I'm trying but I'm not vibing. The characters are meh, like they do have backstory and motivation so should be well rounded but they feel very flat, the world is just Hong Kong, the Jade powers aren't original and pretty dull, the naming system is annoying (fingers, hand)

Phew, that was a make or break conversation, if Aelin hadn't understood Chaol's motivations I would have been done with her entirely. Hopefully she'll stop pissing about now and help

Is this the greatest piece of art ever: no. Is it the cutest, comfiest read while it's cold and rainy: yes

Ok so I still think Chaol was right even though he fucked it up massively and kinda got everyone killed (so so close to getting rid of Rowan damn) but at least he tried!

I wish I could stab Rowan for every page they're not saving Dorian

Wow that was a chapter or three. I mean the pacing is weird, like a ton of chapters of Nikolay arriving home. But only one to decide to kill Dolokhov and one to (almost) do it.

Book 1 complete. Andrey sees the sky

Relatable Nikolay moment- sees a guy he likes in need, really wants to talk to him, his anxiety talks him out of it thinking he'd be a burden, regret

"Dying is so annoying and inconvenient" Andrey, probably

Author's name in the book! You just know he loved that

So Nikolay is acting like war is a cult... Which I guess it is

Love the affect Andrey has on people

I love how mean the narrator is to everyone in this book. Just comes right out and says it, Anatole's as thick as a brick

Not sure I've ever known a man went to get married less than Pierre. Dude, just stop, please just run. Run!

Rowan needs to go die in a fire with the pathetic cousin. Aelin needs to help Chaol rescue Dorian and stop fucking around on unimportant shit. Like she's supposed to be an amazing assassin but he's the only one doing anything (off screen ugh).
Also give us more dragon witches. In fact give all of the Fae page time to the dragon witches

I've worked out the problem with the men in this book- they're nothing but simps. Chaol could be a dick but at least he had thoughts about things other than Aelin

Course it's not love you idiot! Dude's never talked to his dick before?

He knows he's making a mistake but he does it anyway because his junk tells him to

Were the Russian forces always us/we/our from the narrator? Feels suddenly jarring

Being happy to be in a position of almost inevitable death...

Poor dumb Andrey turning up at the decimated front lines and wondering why they aren't in formation. Sorry mate too busy dying to line up like a box

Everyone has such a boner for Napoleon

I'm calling it now, best character in the whole book = Marya Dmitriyevna Akhrosimov, I want to be her

People talk about this book like it's dry and boring, but Pierre tied a policeman to a bear and threw him in the river. This book is like a crazy Russian soap opera

The roadmap between musical theatre and long russian novels is apparently really really short!