Nate > Recent Status Updates

Guys I can't believe Bowie died. Horrible news.

The "abandoned orphanage" setting was apparently too rote for Child, who actually has an underground abandoned orphanage in this novel.

Credit goes to Erikson for devising a new execution method that is more painful, ugly, dehumanizing and drawn out than crucifixion!

Gods bless Child for setting a modern thriller in South Dakota.

Okay, so I haven't finished the series yet but if you disagree that Coltaine is top-five Malazan badasses (of which there are legion) you're so wrong.

Oh God...Reacher and his old team just bought matching "cool" outfits. I almost fucking laughed vomit onto the floor when I read it. Can't wait til I don't have to deal with this Superfriends shit anymore.

It's really almost strange how much more original and resonant the writing and creation gets in this volume than in the first. The first few scenes with Felisin, Heboric, and Baudin and then Duiker, Kulp, Rel, and Coltaine already pack more awesome than the entire first book.

Reacher has been positively erudite this far in the novel. Even more than the usual ratiocination, we now get advanced math and answers to obscure pop culture questions (what was Hendrix's second album and what was the sixth track on it?) It's almost hard to believe this is the same dude that was killing people with crude tools like a fucking caveman in Persuader.

Not hating the third-person view as much as I did in previous Reacher novels. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Child is gonna try to make math exciting, which worries me. It is somehow cool that Reacher is good with numbers.

Here we go...

The Dragnipur scene with Paran is just...awesome.

The sense of history and the passing of millennia before the story is already super strong, which is remarkable considering he doesn't really ramp up that shit until books two and three. Also, I wish there were actual copies of Gothos' Folly and Imperial Campaigns 1158-1194.

Cool Malazan character I forgot about #1: Crone, the crabby talking giant raven.

I'm sure Lee Child is a nice dude and probably very chill and English but I can't help but imagine his conversations with friends going like this:

Friend: So Lee, how're you gonna start your next--
Child: (Bad American accent) A GUY WITH BROKEN LEGS GETS THROWN OUT OF A FUCKING HELICOPTER!!

Okay, so Reacher's not a Poirot or Holmes. But I can comfortably say that neither of those detectives ever made the singular achievement of killing two armed thugs with nothing but A FUCKING ROCK.

You know how there are fictional universes that you actually wanna go to, like Harry Potter or Star Wars? I obviously love reading about it, but living in the Malazan universe would be a fucking nightmare.

2016 is the year I make sense of and complete this goddamn series, I swear it by the old gods and the new.

JUST SAW STAR WARS!! Need to hear my fellow Goodreaders' thoughts on it immediately.

I kicked him in the kidney. It was the kind of kick that would have sent a football out of the stadium and into the parking lot. It would have cracked a utility pole. It would have put most guys in the hospital all by itself. It would have killed some of them. It had about as much an effect on Paulie as a polite tap on the shoulder.

:D

Just realized Lehane's tricked me into basically reading a six-book love story.

Alright Mr. Lehane, that's enough Smiths hate outta you...especially because you just gave fucking Dexy's Midnight Runners a pass.

I'm binge-reading all of these books and NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME!!

I wanna hang out with Patrick and Angie forever. I'm bummed there's only six books.

My girlfriend just informed me I'm an "Internet creep" because I use the winking face in my interactions on this site. To all of my cherished Goodreads friends, male and/or female: I apologize if I unwittingly sexually harassed you on this site. My use of the winky face is in a purely platonically friendly manner.

Yours,
Nate

Somehow Simmons came up with something worse than plain old Nazis: mind-controlling Nazis that play sadistic games of chess with human pieces.

Oh man...this is so disturbing already. I love the sections that Melanie narrates.

Alright, where are the Uhtred fans at? Halfway through the Last Kingdom adaptation and shit is good!

I'm so amused/disturbed by what a fucking douchey nutcase Wilkie Collins is in this book. Probably one of my favorite Simmons characters thus far, which is kind of bizarre...but you can't go wrong with an over-imaginative, bitter, self-obsessed Victorian author locked in a Salieri/Mozart-style struggle with both Charles Dickens and a habit of chugging laudanum like water.

This part's kinda like Harry Potter, if Harry Potter used his magical powers to straight up fucking murder another student in full view of everyone (and get praised for it by the administration!) Imagine if Harry had just blasted Draco Malfoy into a jellied smear in the first book after the first HINT of annoying behavior was displayed and Dumbledore took Harry aside later and gave him props. That is this book.

Sorhatani is a shoe-in for Toughest Mongol Lady of the series behind Hoelun. Man...just realized I really miss Hoelun aka Super Mom.