Eddie's Monthly

7-ish books and 10 manga chapters; I was on fire this month. It's crazy what “having free time cause I'm on vacation and not working an 8 to 4 (which is really a 7 to 5 because of commuting)” does to a mf. Also, a whopping 62.5% of the books were provided for free by the library of Mississauga, which is today's sponsor! I have partnered with them to offer you a free subscription to the library system! They have thousands of books, ebooks, audiobooks, movies, tv shows, video games and more... that are accessible as soon as you subscribe! All you need to do — provided you reside in Mississauga— is to go to your closest library and ask for a library card. Enter the code “please :)” at checkout and follow their instructions to get your free library card today! Thank you so much to the Library of Mississauga for this generous offer! Make sure to check them out, link in bio. Back to the video article.

A Darkness Absolute – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

This one is much better than the first and it feels honestly almost completely different. The premise is catchy, and the investigation engaging. It develops the lore of Rockton and its surrounding in an interesting and intriguing way. And thank god it tones the romance all the way down, where it actually doesn't encroach on the main plot. I don't have too much to say; it's good. Some setups are a bit clumsy and you see them coming from a mile away, and don't really make sense (setting up Nicole-Jacob for example). Additionally, some of the interactions also feel a bit too “clean” and unnatural.

I can't remember if Matthias is introduced here or in the next book but he is bae.

If I must say something negative about the series, it would be that the titles are really forgettable, so I elected to give them another title: Book 1 is “The sheriff”, Book 2 “The hole”, Book 3 “The serial killer”, Book 4 “The marshal” and for now Book 5 is “The baby”

A DARK BSO

This Fallen Prey – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

Not as fond of this one, there are aspects that I really liked, and others that I didn't find all that great. The “is he actually guilty or not” of the main suspect was great imo in the beginning, as you cannot know for sure, and this was conveyed well through our main protagonist's frustration and flip-flopping opinion, and the town's tension. Then the father arrives and everybody is convinced the main suspect is guilty and that deflates the whole situation without any satisfying payoff. And the ending is very rushed and you get twists after twist that really make no sense. tldr: beginning was good, falls off towards the last third.

I liked how every time someone was having an evil monologue, Casey just went: – “Okay”.

Also Kenny actually might have a negative IQ

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

I guess I had to read this again multiple times to write the mini article. Nothing new. (The article is coming out soon I promise)

Yellowface – R.F. Kuang

You will have hear about this book by now; e-den reviewed it recently in From the study: my Q1 2024 reading roundup, and was pretty favorable. catcafe recently mentioned to me that she was not a big fan of it and that I should read it. I believe catcafe is in the process of reviewing it; you will have all three of our reviews to make up your mind.

I really don't know what to make of this book. The writing style kinda threw me off, it felt a bit too familiar and casual, like something you would write to yourself. In some parts, it also reminded me of people being racist while talking to me because they think I'm racist too since I'm a white man. It was uncomfortable. The whole time June was trying to justify herself was painful to read. Also she was anything but a consistent character. It felt like her character and opinions changed depending on whatever the story needed. I also found it weird how all the criticism against her was made by people who were kinda assholes about it, but were right. Does the author agree or disagree with those criticisms? Usually you don't portray all the people that are mouthpiece for opinions you agree with as assholes. It's even more confusing when the valid criticism levied against Athena were also brought forward by our main character and Dianne, the first being an awful person and the second just really hateful.

In summary, it was really entertaining but I didn't get anything out of it because I was confused about what points the author was making (other than racism bad, which was pretty heavy-handed). The ending was also less than satisfactory, it was like watching a train wreck in slo-mo, but the video cuts off before the train crashes.

Le Petit Prince – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

That is one of those book in France that they force you to read very early on, when you don't have any tools necessary to get anything out of it. It is a beautiful tale but I'm sure you have heard about it — if you have not read it already—; it's the second most translated book in the world after the bible and in the top 10 of most sold book. I am being purposefully very elusive about the book because it is something you should experience yourself and not through a review. I would obviously highly recommend you read it, it is a very easy read and is also very short (<100 pages). There are also pictures drawn by the author.

Perceval ou le conte du Graal – Chrétien de Troyes

An excerpt of the unfinished “Contes du Graal” by twelfth century author Chrétien de Troyes, focusing on the life of Percival.

I've always loved the Arthurian tales, but have read very little which I am planning on fixing at some point. I had read this in middle school but completely forgot about it. Following Percival “The paragon of innocence” (i.e. he's got the IQ of a lukewarm oyster) was really fun. He really do be stumbling randomly on the Holy Grail and is too dumb to actually do anything about it at the time. Based.

Watcher in the Woods – Kelly Armstrong

For plot synopsis, please refer to Elisa's Reading Roundup: I Love the Yukon/ it's Such a Brilliant Place.

I didn't really care for the premise of this book, and found it to be a bit of a slog. People keep fucking escaping into the woods, having to be run after. There is too much going on for this singular book. I also found the relationship between Kenny and April to be so forced and cringe; their interactions were so unnatural it took me out of it completely. It's like everyone has 3 hours to craft their next line and use the right words, and people reacting in the best possible way. Everyone has the most sizable emotional IQ and it's just not realistic.

It's not all bad though, the writing is still good, the actions scenes specifically, the relationship between people are explored appropriately (usually), the diverse mysteries surrounding the lore of Rockton are still intriguing... It's always easier to talk about the negative than the positive.

Alone in the Wild – Kelly Armstrong

This one is a mix bag, everything that was good in the other ones is there, but there are some things that rub me the wrong way:

The catch-up section appear until like page 65, it's the fifth book; if people come on board now it's their fault for not understanding — I think those catch up sections are super clumsy and not necessary as they really hamper the pacing.

I hate the founds baby trope.Thankfully at the end they don't get to keep it, but it was nagging at me the whole book.

In this one the actions scenes lacks a bit of weight; they have a very serious and potentially deadly encounter and a millisecond after it's resolved they just laugh about it and are all casual.

Casey consistently does some dumb shit. Dalton just told her that the man she encountered is a serial stalker and rapist and dangerous man and is interested in her, and that same night while they are super close to that man's camp she just goes out alone in the dark with only her dog to check on a sound. She had heard someone/something rummage through their camp. She doesn't wake up Dalton, and he could have just been killed in his sleep by hostiles or any settler.

Speaking of dumb shit, the dogxwolf romance is just completely out of place and makes no sense.

Also, while we're on the hostiles, although the mystery is not yet completely solved, what we have so far is very underwhelming. The mystery was more exciting than the reveal.

The book is good overall, but those little things do lessen my enjoyment of it.

I feel like I'm being overly negative in this series, but I assure you it is not bad. I wouldn't subject myself to books that I think are bad. It's just that it is easier to pick out flaws in something that is good than in something that is bad. Although I do not usually give ratings, this series would hover at around a 3.5-4/5.

Current ranking: Book 2>Book 3>Book 5>Book 4>Book 1

Hunter X Hunter – Yoshihiro Togashi

Chapter 1-10

Harrison, avert your eyes.

Ah yes, the 11-year-olds that are literally the strongest of the strongest in the world at that young of an age, but they're just regular kids without anything special, like training or supernatural talent. They low-diff the hardest exam known to man. They're also very nonchalant about it — so cool (sarcasm). This is my pet-peeve with any work, but it is especially present in shōnen; having a kid/protagonist who's super strong, fast, talented, literally one of the most powerful person in the world.... without earning it, and then acting like it's no big deal. It is lazy, and honestly boring. The drawing style is good and the character design is also good (master art critique here); you can easily tell at first glance who is who. The panelling is comprehensible, I was only confused once, but it might have been my fault. Despite the annoying “super-kid” trope, the story is good so far, and might even be original once it picks up.

I'm not far along this manga; if I gave One Piece the benefit of the doubt for 430 chapters before abandoning it (and it was ass), I can give this alleged peak shōnen more than 10 chapters.

I'm back to work so I won't be able to read as much going forward, and I'm about to start a second job in less than a month, but hopefully I can keep up with a few books each time. I do also have to pick up the pace on my Humble Purge; I have been slacking off the past two months, and December is just around the corner now...

Thanks for reading my logorrhea, Eddie