Joe Kessler > Recent Status Updates

No Adam Parrish until two-thirds of the way through??

Not sure I remember Call Down the Hawk well enough for this, but I guess we'll see.

"I blearilied at him. I acted in a bleary fashion. I don’t know what acts I took. I was just bleary about them."

"Slid the banister on her two feet. It was ridiculous. I refuse to accept it. I had the sudden disorienting sense of what it must be like to be wicked and to watch heroes do these stupidly flawless and heroic things while you must live misshapen, cowardly, and ashamed."

"You're totally putting my wanting to end the world in the wrong context."

lmao, this audiobook reader just misspoke, whispered a curse, and redid the line. Guess the quality control wasn't the best on this production if all that made it into the finished version.

"You should not kill me, Sor Oren. (Damn it.) You should not kill me, Sor Eryn."

Okay, "I might be about muck but I don't muck about" is a great line.

"My brain shattered and fell out my ears (metaphorically) but fortunately my mouth does not actually need it to carry on a conversation. The brain is a vestigial, useless organ, like the tonsils, used mostly for regulating hormones and serving as a convenient reservoir of bone marrow."

"Were they beautiful? We were all beautiful. We were in our 20s."

I think I've said this several times already, but this book is... very strange.

This book is doing strange things with pronouns. "The sky there was then and in that moment it burned it, like a crystal dome above him it, and cast it back the fire of his jewel. The stars they shone brilliant in the jointing of that dome they, gleamed with light incalculable they, and then one by one, they the stars they one by one began to fall." I haven't quite figured out the rule(s?) or when it gets applied.

This is heavy, dark, and weird so far. Not sure if I'm loving it, but definitely intrigued.

"I would have known it if she'd died. I would have felt it." Ma'am. Ma'am. That's not how this works. And you haven't talked to your sister in 12 years, so maybe your connection isn't so hot lately anyway???

The ratio in this book of 'remembering our old imaginary friends' to 'actually thinking about my sister who's missing and presumed dead' is just wild.

Why would anyone think cryptic anonymous messages like "Leave!" or "He knows!" could be at all helpful?

Uh, no, that's not what blackface is.

Oh dang I forgot this was the ant book.

"The king looked at her blankly. “An ensla-what?” “An enslaver,” Miranda repeated. When comprehension failed to dawn on the king’s face, she added, “A bad wizard.”"

This dude doesn't know the word enslaver?? He can't figure out what it means from context??

1) Bad guy seems way overpowered. 2) If he could do this all along, why did he happen to wait till now?

And, there's the first r-slur. Why did the writers think that was okay? This book is only from 2005; it's not like they shouldn't have known better.

Anne has major Malta Vestrit vibes. Bratty and immature at first, but only to set up some terrific character growth.

Cazio!! I forgot he was in the books this early.

This book (series?) is even better than I had remembered. Might be cruising for a five-star at this point.

This is.... fine, but not really as clever as it thinks it is.

And only now is the rabbi involved...

Took a while to get to the first murder in this one.

"You know the old joke: the only thing two Jews can agree is what a third should contribute to the support of the temple." Oh my g-d, I forgot how salty these books could be.

This 14y/o protagonist is spying on the girl next door with a telescope into her bedroom window?? I know he's just trying to read the logo on her jacket, but YIKES.

Might finish this tomorrow, idk.

I feel like there are zero stakes to this story yet, and barely any plot.