[Name Redacted] > Recent Status Updates

Just when you think it's drifting away from being a Japanese satire of Harry Potter, suddenly we encounter Komoto's version of House Elves ("servant beasts") and Komoto's version of the Tri-Wizard Tournament ("The Tri-Magic-Athlon Divine Visionary Final Exam") and Komoto's version of the Elder Wand ("The Wand of Beginnings"). And the protagonist's reaction is about what you'd expect to such ridiculous names,

This is...just an average YA so far. They already broached the lax sexual ethics I know become central to the series apparently, but only as references. Otherwise it's just about a tiny teen girl who's super special and the special guys fight for her affection because she's so special.

This just isn't what I'm looking for. I was expecting non-fiction, and the author tries to quibble by saying "Look, yes, all the characters and specific events are fictional, but the broader historical details are real so...i mean, it's KINDA non-fiction!" Bugger that. I wanted non-fiction. The prose is lovely, I can give Spufford that, but if you're hungry for a steak it doesn't matter how well-seasoned the custard.

Geez... It's amazing how much has changed since I left Roosevelt Island. Almost everything is gone/replaced. Even the Coler-Goldwater building apparently. And the dreadful "Octagon" apartment built for hipsters & yuppies (which got all the attention & service & its own bus line) was actually just a refurbished version of the worst part of the old insane asylum of the same name... Amazing to think they elected me.

In NYC, a riot resulted in a mob of crazed people using axes to chop down the doors of an orphanage for "colored" children. They tried to burn the building down while the children & their caretakers fled. Remembering the self-righteousness of certain "progressive" New Yorkers, I sometimes wonder if they might not be trying to justify themselves in the face of their past.