Eric Mesa > Recent Status Updates

Big Speerly reveal

Hinterland divination. This book continues to rock so hard.

One more chapter....

Getting through the first monads chapter

Relationships and tempers continue to fray

oh man, the chimei is SCARY STUFF!!

The Cike in action

Will I finish before the Hugo voting deadline? We'll see!!!

meeting the Cike

Incredible! The halfway point is where I would have expected book 1 to end so I'm very curious to see where it concludes!

Also curious about the Queen's strange strategy.

I think I know the secret of Jiang now, but it was left at bit vague, I think.

Giant twist!

All the groundwork Pratchett has laid for Ank-Morpork really comes together in this book

So they have Sun Zu and the art of War (with a slightly different name) and Buddha. I think Hesperia is Rome. Again, unsure how far this deviates from our real history, but did finally get to the fantasy element.

Also, love the Annakin/Darth Vader themes. Wonder where that leaves us both for this book and for the trilogy.

We have a nice, complex protagonist.

So good! Can't put it down!!

classes begin

So many ways Kuang could have handled the arrival to the Big City. I like that she took a different approach - having the tutor give Rin a bunch of advice about what to do and not to do. It eliminates some of the bumpkin in the city tropes and allows the story to focus more on the school. (While also potentially setting up foreshadowing for Big City hijinks)

So far, including the Warring States period I'm unsure if this is meant to be our China (including using a name that's equivalent to the Japanese using Nippon instead of Japan) or if it's like 90% our China. No fantasy, SF, or steampunk yet, but I'm really enjoying the author's style a LOT. Don't know if I'll get through the trilogy by the Hugo deadline, but could be a strong contender vs Murderbot.

things are getting very complex

Just like Andy Wier's "The Martian" I'm in on the first line:

“Take your clothes off.”

Actually, the first paragraph:

Rin blinked. “What?”
The proctor glanced up from his booklet. “Cheating prevention
protocol.”

WTF kind of test is taking cheating so seriously that the students have to strip to make sure they aren't cheating?

A lot of interesting commentary. Still unsure if there's a typical plot.

Alternative world where the south has been hit by a nuke? Or some weird artifact of our character's powers. I have no idea where this story is going, but I'm intrigued.

Narrative jumping around a little makes the timeline slightly hard to keep to. How old are the various kids?

This book is depressing AF. Heard a lot about it, though. We'll see.

crazy revelations!!

I don't always get Lucianna and Cora's fights, but maybe that's because I'm reading this piecemeal?

Genomic antics

So many revaluations. Which ones are true?

Great job teaching the language. Love the examples

Monty Hall simulation, my old friend!

Definitely one thing in this book's favor: I have NO IDEA where the plot is going from here.