Dreaming Hour

I've been flying through the Mercy Thompson series, but was saving the last one for something and started a long German book recently. I told myself I can't read River Marked until I've finished Saphirblau. 

I also watched the two Doctor Who specials today, 'The Day of the Doctor' and 'An Adventure in Time and Space'. Now I want to devour my the who books I brought with me even more badly.

But not until I finish the stupendous Audiobook I'm listening to, The Glass Rainbow which is the 18th Dave Robicheaux book, and my first. Amazing on it's own, I look forward to picking up the other audiobooks. 

Please tell me I'm not the only poly-bibliophile who sets preconditions before starting a new book?

So, in the case of the former it's baiting the donkey, in the latter, I can't lose.

I hate this book less than Pathfinder, and that had to overcome a lot for me to like it in the end. This one... has so many little things that annoy me. I hate that told myself I had to finish this book before I could read the next Mercy Thompson book.

I have so many pages to go.

Had this book been pared down, losing all the easy-hate-tricks for Gwen's family. Unless Kerstin turns this around in the end and shocks us with what good people they are... Don't make easy villains your only villains for the better part of the story! Don't have idiots who dislike reading as your heroines! Don't make your heroine petulant! Don't have too many characters who are only incidental. Don't forget to make sacrifices when you write!

Why do German popular novels suck so freaking much? I know they suck just as much in all languages, but the thing is - when you read more slowly, you absorb and think more about it. Had I, like my Austrian friend, plunked down and read all three books in one fell swoop, I might have fared better. As it is, I can feel just how out of shape the series is. And I will be glad once I have the last book in my hands and have shut it once more. I just hope the resolution will be worth it.

Or at least my German continues to improve. Let's go.

I finished a 600 page O.S.C. book within 24 hours. What is wrong with me?

I just don't wanna... buh-huh-huh...

"Does this look like the face of someone who liked Golden Compass?"

So, book two, as some have stated, feels less like a sequel and more like volume 2 of a longer work. If I go off this theory, I hate it less.

I mean, Gwen is still acting like someone readers may have a hard time liking (protagonists who dislike/hate books/reading are hard for a reader, holding a book, to fall in love with), that swarthy boy, Gideon, is sooooo changable!, and suddenly we are introduced to a deeper world: Demons!? I mean, I don't know 'Gargoyle' but thats written as Dämon in German, which is similar to Dæmon... anyway!

I wish...

The count pisses me off even when he doesn't appear on the page. Gwendolyn has resumed not communicating when she should for the sake of spinning the plot out further. I mean, fluff. Fluff is nice when whipped into ice cream, but it doesn't taste good on a thin-crust pizza - your unique opinion is not included, outlier.

One of my rights as a reader is the right to skim. I am invoking it, sparingly. If I skim too much in German, I'll pass right over the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Never again.

I don't like horror stories, but found some that I may like, and they were on sale, even tried a bit of some and it wasn't bad at all.

I was thinking about interspersing them with other passages, reading them in the morning when all is bright and sunny, but I'm not so sure about that. My neighbor set off my tiny little paranoia monster this afternoon (she's a nice old lady who has angst) and I've got the subsequent heebie-jeebies. Looks like the books will have to wait.

Sorry, Nenia Campbell, I was really looking forward to the Horrorscape trilogy, New York is only a month away!

I am just consuming them right now. The fact that Frost Burned will be waiting for me at the library in New York just makes it that much easier to tear through the first six. I have so much respect for Patricia Briggs right now... Tell me there are other Urban Fantasy series this good?

Also, all the things that Briggs teases, I just want them all. I want everything she is offering. And I am so glad that nothing feels cheesy right now. Everything is warm and fuzzy, like hugging a nightmare-eater.

God, that scene at the bowling alley was lead into SO perfectly. Amazing! Literally sat with my mouth agape, the book in my hands. I also didn't think that the creepiness of Iron Kissed could be topped -- clearly I was mistaken. I mean, Bone Crossed was creepy, but different. Wow, wow, wow.

I still hold out hope for Stefan and Mercy, even though I admit [spoiler]the mind control in the bowling alley seemed like it could be a vampire's modus operandi,[/spoiler] and I immediately began thinking of ways to marry The Story of O with vampires. I know that when Stefan's house finally shows up on the map of Tri-Cities in the front, then he will have become a real contender. I can wait.

My theory was just proved!

Nailed it!

Oh, so now you start ripping along?

It only took more than half the book for me to like it. Where was Rigg's personality hiding all this time? I hated the first hundred pages so much that I'm still unsure whether I'm going to read the sequel when it comes out. You should see the status updates my poor friends on Goodreads had to witness. Not pretty. Mostly I bemoaned my fate and wished other people had written this.

Of course I should finish the book first... and Ruins won't cross my path very soon. Well, it's got action now at least, not being true-to-life discussions of time paradoxes. Ah, but that will be gone into in my review. Maybe.

It only took 151 pages for me to realize this book isn't shit. Should have had a rolling start or flashbacks, and trusted the reader a little more instead of rambling and repeating itself. Thankfully, it's not a complete waste of time, and I know decisions about books are not easy to make, I sympathize with Mr. Card and his editor.

Dear Book, I'm glad you made it out of bed and drank some vitamin C. Glad to have you with us.

Sorry to yell at you, but I got unreasonably mad at this book. I have a rule to aim for a significant chunk of the book before giving up. I haven't given up on a book since adopting it. 100-150 pages, usually. At 100 pages, this book was on the cusp of greatness, and as we crossed to 150 pages, the book had drunk her orange juice. There are still crappy things about it, but it's not nearly as bad as I first thought.

A thought-provoking article by YA author Zoë Marriott.

I came across this article in the beginning of the year. Read it. Agree with it. A bit guilty of it. Now every time I read a book, before I stamp the main character a Mary Sue, I ask myself: if the main character was a dude, would I still stamp him a Gary Stu?

Now, it's near the end of the year, and I believe I have improved. I have identified more Gary Stu's than Mary Sue's. Overcorrection? Maybe. But I am prepared to justify why, and my reviews are better (and longer) for it.

Look! Exposition which sci-fi is often burdened with! At last, something I know what to do with!

Skim.

So... am I supposed to care that the clever dad is now on ice? I mean, we only knew him as Father, I certainly don't feel for him, and I don't actually think Robo Rigg has enough emotions to avenge him (since I just found out there's time travel in this book).

I mean... Okay.

Chapter 9 blew me away. - I also think that the throw-away comment made in the other book before Mercy's dinner with Tim, (about fidelity) will have bearing. Maybe this is my kind of urban fantasy, hur hur hur...

Well...

Stefan and Mercy y'all. Talk about slow burn.