E.E. Duke > Recent Status Updates

Well, at least the author knows Meg sucks. I just wish Meg did.

I think reading all these books about shitty characters has led me to what I loathe about so many of them. I wish more of them understood they were shitty. More of them struggled with the fact they were douche bags, and still did their bad behavior. Hell, I wouldn’t mind them not changing if they knew they sucked. It bothers me when they don’t know

… the tolerance I have for professional people (they were at an alliance ball, they are part of this larger structure of “alliance” so I’m going to hold them to a military standard) being incompetent is low. None of these people behave like someone who would be hired to do the job they were hired to do. I’m sorry, but a mechanic on a spaceship unable to do a spade walk is fuckin’ dumb as dog shit.

Well… it’s a book

Whose fuckin’ side is this guy on?

I’ve finished the first story. It was a beautifully written gut punch. Heartbreaking and full of hope.

I’m going to finish it because I’ve upped the speed, don’t have a podcast I want to listen to, and really don’t want to go searching for a different book. But fuck this shit.

It’s just horrible. Boring, poorly written, and just the worst characters. Ok, not Mickey7 levels of bad, but borderline.

The set up for the plot of this book is child brained.

The Hunger Games works because while the game is hard, and rigged against everyone, anyone can win. So despite the hardship there is still hope.

The laurel is rigged, and only one can win. And even if it’s clear someone else did, they still lose. This is only how you breed resentment. This is how you breed a rebellion. This is only part of why it’s stupid.

I’ve hit the turn, and I’m here for it! Give me the fall!

So far it’s been meh to ok, but it’s a fun ride.

After an utterly abysmal time yesterday with Mickey7, I’m enjoying a nice change of pace. It’s pretty good so far.

Mickey sucks. He is the fucking worst. He’s not charming. He’s not clever. He’s not witty, or kind, or compassionate, and baring all of that he’s not even interesting. He’s a useless, fucking moron with no redeemable qualities.

His plan to keep his next iteration alive has no thought to it, and is so full of holes the fact they’ve gotten away with it at all means everyone else is also bricks dumb.

After reading a bunch of things in the middle, I’m back to this. And I am annoyed I put it on the back burner. Because while I’ve read some good things in between starting and picking it up again, this is better written, more captivating, and more emotionally driven than anything else I’ve read in May.

This is the McDonalds meme, but the McDonalds is ‘Saturday Night Ghost Club’, and this book is the McDonalds we have at home… it’s aggressively fine.

This is what I’m talking about. This is the weird I want. A fever dream in the best way. My fingers are crossed it doesn’t pull a Lucky Day.

This book is so much dumber than it thinks it is. It thinks it so smart, so erudite, with its $4 thesaurus words, and short, staccato sentences.

But it’s fake deep at its finest. It’s a cheese plate masquerading as a charcuterie board.

“If it was Oliver he would have let the corpse rot up there in Rose House and gotten some real work done, as much as he could.”

I’m sorry… the fuck? Murdered people aren’t crimes for cops to deal with in the future? Because an AI tells you about it, it’s chill to just shrug your shoulders and go deal with something else?

The fuck is the point of this POV. This dude sucks.

This mother fucker goes to sleep and wakes up a couple hours later having lost enough weight his jacket is multiple sizes too big… this mother fucker better be dead.

Nice

I’m supposed to feel for a man that had a taxi slow enough not to hit him, and then wave on a driver that was slowing to get him?

His exile to the concrete island is pretty self imposed, and I’ve no pity.

Even should it come to pass this is a Jacob’s Ladder situation I fear I will still feel as though my time has been wasted. He could have saved himself, but after only a couple hours was out of it? Sure, Jan.

I feel insane. Maybe it’s my misophonia and listening to the audio book, but fuck, this is dull.

I’m clearly not the target audience. She lost me when talking about how the writer and the person aren’t the same (I’m a writer and a person, and I am), and then ages upon ages of talk about her parents lives before she was born have turned me off. I don’t care.

If it wasn’t for book club I’d put it down.

Banger of an introduction. It’s 1:20am though, so I’ll have to hold off on reading more until tomorrow.

Let’s get uncomfortable. And let’s get some hope.