Started listening last week and boy and had I forgotten how fucking long 56 hours.
still its a decent story so I don’t regret it.
alright, I wish my adhd didn’t make me constantly forget that I have this diary, journal, compendium? thing, whatever it is.
I finished the book today.
read it because I wanted something I normally wouldn’t go for.
it was ok. I can see why people like this book.
I started listening to this last night right before work. In the panic that was the last 10 minutes of freedom i had, I ran through my library on audible, hoping, searching and hopefully finding something that would keep my interest.
It has .
I can’t say theres anything i particularly dislike about this novel so far. A lot about it I’m really enjoying. Actually no, now that i put some thought into it, i guess I would have enjoyed some more world building. I understand the focus is the women in 1950’s getting completely shat on time and time again, but I still would have loved to see some of the more global impacts of the initial horrors.
I’m learning more than I knew about jewish mourning customs, as well as starting to wonder if anyone actually uses pi as a form of meditation.
off the top of my head I can read it to 3.1415926789 and then it gets fuzzy.
I’ve got work in an hour; I’ll probably finish listening to it tonight, it is disgustingly short. I wish it were longer. oh well.
—
Well that was ok. It wasn’t what I was expecting but I also didn’t mind.
Now that its over I would give the following labels to this book
Alternate History - Which I’m sure most people would get as the first thing that happens is a meteorite hitting d.c
strong female lead - she’s a fucking astronaut dealing with the misogyny of being a woman in 1950’s America. I would not have the patience to be a woman in such an era. Tbh I don’t know how some of yall put up with that shit today.
Soft sci fi - while they do go into some science. mostly math, the real technical bits are glossed over.
yeah I don’t know, i don’t know who I’d recommend this book to but I’m glad I read it. Reading about people having to put up with that bullshit plants that kernel of an idea in my head. inceptions that thought of never wanting to be perceived like any of the assholes I read about.
By Neal Stephenson
Not what I expected going in. I was under the impression that this was about a game. video game, whatever clarification required so that we’re on the same page, because that’s what happened here. I got lost somewhere when being recommended this book and apparantly decided not to listen and to make up my own reasons for why I should actually read it.
Turns out that it isn’t about a game, not tangentially, well maybe, one of the mc’s owns the biggest game in this universe. I suppose I’ve read so much crap with lit rpg and or “gaming” books that I forget that when other people recommend a book with “it has game elements” they do not mean it in the way i interpret it.
I mean, yes, it most certainly does have game elements, from the amount of suspended disbelief I had throughout to the bits about the book actually dedicated to T’Rain. Oh well, its not important just something that stuck out to me given my recent reading choices and perhaps how I choose to describe those books to my friends.
Anyway this story is about the fantastical life that is Zula and how it is all slowly crumbling around her. Actually no, now I’m doing it. It does not slowly crumble away. It is more like someone placed some grade explosives on the pillars that were Zula and her life and said Kaboom.
Worth a read if you like the author, which I do. I have actually only read the seveneves book by him by I really enjoyed that and now this. Going to give cryptonomicon I try. Also I’ll try to write my thoughts as I read where available because now that the books over I really just don’t want to dwell on it and get to the next one. Why must you operate this way brain. WHY!
I had picked up the first two books in the Dungeon Crawler series during the Audible Sale. ( at some point I’m going to just write out which ones I picked up) Naturally I had to jump right into book two when I finished book one. I was not disappointed. I’ll be honest. I often listen at work. While the mundanity of my job can be grueling, it does allow for 8 hours of uninterrupted listening time. Except, you know, when I have to talk to my employees. I’ve finished this one about an hour into my shift and again I dove right into the third book.
Even going so far as to spend one of my precious audible credits.
I found this blurb on what looks to be the back of the physical copy. Which it pretty accurately explains what goes on in the books. A fucked up circus, some dead hookers, giant nuke going off. You know all the usual tropes you find in litrpg books.
I’m trying really hard to give anything away because well to put it simply these books are a lot of fun and I think they’re worth the listen. Again Jeff Hayes is an incredible talent. The movie that plays in my head as I listen has cast Patrick Warburton as Carl. Which just adds to hilarity.
Anyway, yeah. check this one out If you get a chance.
Another pick up during the huge Audible sale.
Had a lot of fun with this one. Jeff Hayes really brings a lot of life to the characters. I’d heard DCC compared to a high octane action adventure read to you by The Tick. This was said mockingly but I was buying. I don’t know how some people can have so much talent. It is really inspiring. Princess Donut is amazing as well his voice brings her to life. I love it.
The idea that all of earths infrastructure is destroyed then reappropriated to create a dungeon is fantastic. I’ve never heard of something like this but the more I mull it over in my head the more I fall in love with the idea.
It answers a common question in all of these types of stories.
“why would anyone want to go into a dungeon”
The most common answers being magical items/ crystalized mana/ gain experience. etc. Having absolutely no reason to stay on the surface of the earth is a pretty strong incentive. I imagine I would have made the choice to enter the dungeon as well. That is of course if I wasn’t inside when all of the infrastructure was destroyed. Lets be honest. In this scenario I’d be dead. 100%.
Anyway, I’m listening to the second book right now and can’t really focus on this.
A friend at work recommend I go in blind to this. Actually, the topic of favorites came up and he mentioned I should definitely read this one. To which he then refused to speak anymore about it. Same thing really.
I was going to give it 10 chapters before I bowed out. Then this happened.
I love it. The faces in the trees. How the artist draws motion. The face.
At this point in the story we know a few things. One of them is Jagasaki likes to put on a fake smile. Second is that these assholes frogs invade peoples bodies. Sinking into them, the skin seemingly liquid, infecting them and turning them in Fractured Humans. You’ll see hints of what it looks like if you look at Jagasaki’s right arm. Because, surprise! Our hero is also a Fractured Human. It’s a highlander situation. There can only be one. He isn’t alone tho. He’s got a companion. An Owl that shits out dungballs that Jagasaki crushes and snorts so that his arm can revert to human form. If he goes to long without one of those dungballs he succumbs to the frog inside himself and becomes fully taken over by the parasitic frog.
It’s great because right off the bat we establish a protagonist that is struggling to find his humanity. Figuratively. Then you add a physical representation of his separation from the rest of humanity. Tell us the reader he’ll die if he doest eat those balls. Then show us the only way to get those balls, and boom conflict and goals for a character. By the end of chapter 7 all of these things are established.
I’m def glad I listened to Diego.
End of CHAPTER 7: THE FUTURE HE LONGED FOR
I’m just going to bunch up 1-10. About two weeks ago I stumbled upon a a sub-reddit by the name of r/progressionfantasy. After realizing that yes I do in fact love progression fantasy I read through a few of the threads. Will Wights cradle series seemed to be on everyone’s must read list. So I did just that. I read them. They were ok. I think about how shitty of an impression I have on gamelit/litrpg/wuxia novels as it stands and I know that plays into why I only think of this series as ok. I know some will say if you didn’t like it you wouldn’t have read all of them. Which, sure I see the logic but let me tell you. if you’re going to use logic to try and deduce the cause of my actions then you my friend are fucked.
With that said. Yeah it was alright. I would recommend it above most other “progression fantasy” stories I’ve read. Definitely over any cultivation novels I’ve read before.
pretty standard in a lot of things but again that’s part of the charm for me.
____
just finished reading DreadGod. I like it more than I liked a man called ove.
take form that what you will.
If you’re like me you read that and thought of Isekai Nonbiri Nouka. It isn’t. I bought it on audible for a couple bucks and at first I thought ok, I can deal with this. Not a unique idea or a particular interesting. Yet, I do love when authors take classes that aren’t necessary strong and make them strong either through pure bullshit or because plot. Either is fine really. I doubt anyone who reads gamelit/litrpg is ever diving into a story expecting to read Macbeth. For every ten stories you read you’ll maybe, maybe, read a sentence or two you actually liked.
OGIBRAAF….. yeah, no, we’re going to use “Farmer Story” instead of whatever the fuck that was.
In Farmer Story they set it up as Andrew (truck-kun victim) (wass’t actually a truck) our protagonist as a self proclaimed gaming exploiter. What I assume the author called game/penn testers(?) maybe. who cares. Anyway, at some point in the story he figures out an exploit that is class restricted. All levels in Farmer Story are locked to their own class. It is odd and doesn’t really add anything to the story.
So, the Queen Regnant calls Andrew to her after his exploit becomes known. along the way the MC meets a few people who obviously are important and they’re going to help him! Because that’s the type of story this is. I’m used to all this self insert crap I can deal with authors thinking a moment of introspection counts as conflict. That is fine. Andrew-boy doesn’t want to just hand her the method he used to get levels for his mayor friend. Which … doesn’t make any fucking sense.
half the story is about how clever and ingenious he can be finding clever solutions to his problems.
This shouldn’t have been a plot point. Why help the mayor get levels but not the queen fucking regnant.
ok. I don’t want to spend anymore time thinking about this dumb dumb dumb book.
>:(
Every year for the last couple of years I’ve challenged myself to read 100 books. I’ve done this so often in fact that now 100 books doesn’t seem as daunting as it once did. Some years I go well over 100. Others I’ll use completing all 100 books as an excuse to not pick up another book for the rest of the year. I don’t ever really share my thoughts but I figured it is time to change that.
Not that I believe my thoughts are worth analyzing. Far from it. I just want to share.
It is March 4th and I’ve already read through 50 books. Well, I say read, but in fact I often listen to audiobooks. Anyway, yeah.