P. Kirby > Recent Status Updates

This book is totally preaching to the choir (me), which is why it's been sitting on my Kindle for so long.

R.O.U.S.! Walking and talking R.O.U.S.
Eeek!

"However, I must admit I end this book wishing it could have been double or triple the length so that I could have given you more information and more stories." Heh. Me, too.

Interesting assortment of "traditional" recipes, though not for the vegetarian or vegan, or for that matter, anyone on a modern, restrictive diet.

Interesting. I had no idea that white bread has been a thing for so long. Figured it was one of those over-processed evils that the paleo crowd rant about.

Near as I can tell, this novel is an experiment in minimalism. There's no description, sparse worldbuilding, and thin characterization. Loads of dialogue, blah-blah-blah, so much that it's impossible to keep track of who's talking. I really wanted to love this, but it's a hot mess, like a fresh green pile outta my horse's ass.

Intrepid reporter is rescued by anti-hero in the nick of time. I.e., before her torturers get around to horribly disfiguring her. Heh.

A-yup. This is one weird-ass story. Peculiar narrative structure is trying to hard and coming off as precious.

Hah. Validates my disbelief in the "survival through foraging for nuts and berries" tropes. Not enough calories to be found, literally.

This is fucking weird, which can be a good thing, or not. For some reason, it reminds me of The Iron Dragon's Daughter.

Lucy's horrific predicament is...horrific. But the victim-blamey part of my brain thinks she's kind of a dumb-ass.

A good premise and strong female protagonist squandered by inconsistent characterization. The usual "she's tough, but noble" maudlin bullshit. Also, all the secondary characters are flat archetypes. Don't understand the hype around this novel. So glad I'm almost done.

Isn't that convenient? Allie's bitchy nemesis gets attacked and killed by a rabid. The point, one supposes is to punish Bitchy for being bitchy, but redeem her as well. Honestly, I don't give a shit.

And now we have the stupid little kid wanders out and endangers everyone part of the plot. I really don't give a shit and wish the little moron would get eaten.

Uh, no. If this vampire pocky-clypse happened about a decade before (?), and the cars Allie and Zeke find have been sitting there that long, the gas in their tanks has evaporated and so the siphoning trip is pointless.

It hasn't rained here in New Mexico in ages. In this bone-dry, overly warm spring, it's easy to see how this novel portents the world we are making.

"Thanks to the centrifugal pump, places like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas had thrown on the garments of fertility as they mined glacial water from ten-thousand-year-old aquifers. They'd played dress-up-in green and pretended it could last forever. They'd pumped up the Ice Age and spread it across the land, and for a while they'd turned their dry lands lush."

This started so strong, but once Allie leaves the city, she starts shedding IQ points, especially after meeting Zeke.

Is the bitchy, female rival thing necessary? Ruth, Allie's nemesis, is a walking trope. Meh.

Really, book? You're going to make the protagonist get all schmopey over the death of rapists? Really?! All you've accomplished is to make a strong female character look like an over-emotional ninny. Ugh.

These vampires seem to be the standard, needz human blood, no sunlight, powerful variety. Which is fine with me; I'm pretty old-school when it comes to vampires. No sparkle, please.

New lusty love is really hard on fancy clothing.

There's something so obvious, so contrived, so perfect about the romance, and yet, this is like crack. Lots of fun.

I'm totally diggin' this. Maybe because it appeals to my whiny, feelin' like an outsider, inner teenager.

Almost done. Overall assessment: Lots of promising premises, but few of the stories have much emotional impact. Most suffer from a kind of flatness.

So far, I've really enjoyed "The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury," "The Case of Death and Honey," "The Thing About Cassandra," and "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains." "Adventure Story" and Orange" were okay. Parts of "A Calendar of Tales" (the later months) were good. "A Lunar Labyrinth" and "Down to the Sunless Sea" were sort of pretentious blah-blah. "Orange" was a little too odd.

I still love the characters, but this one is a slow moving. Actually, I'm loving the villain, Greenmantle, the best.

The first two books were fun and didn't follow the usual YA formula. So much so, that I didn't find Penryn and Raffe's relationship overly pedo-squicky. In this installment, it's full-on, teen angst, hormones. Meh.