March Readings
A bit more reading this month, as I've put going through my backlog on the back burner a bit (I am still making great progress though). I've finished all the huge books in my collection, and re-started going through One Piece after a little break.
Mystery book – Secret boy/girl
Keeping the title of the book secret as I am planning a presentation on it. I had seen the movie from this book, but had no idea the movie was not faithful at all to the book. It was disconcerting at first, and really caught me off guard, but the book is still great. The movie adds a lot of depth to the story though, and it's one of those rare cases where the movie being different from the book is a plus. As I am planing to have a presentation about this book and its movie, I shall be brief here. My presentation will involve watching the movie, then me reading the book to everyone — estimated length for the presentation: 5h.
The Rhythm of War – Brandon Sanderson
Although I wanted to take a longer break from this series, especially after the third book, I couldn't resist going back. If you have failed to read my last Reading report, my main gripes with the third book was that the pacing was really frustrating. I therefore worried about this one, but my fears were unfounded; the pacing is good here. The author went back to the style from the two first books, and it works wonders. It was a pleasure to read, and I often found myself favouring this book, rather than playing video games or watching youtube.
The book is set a whole year after the events of the third book. Every one is figuring out what's going on, and — god damn — everyone is suddenly severely mentally ill. Our main boy Kaladin suffers from crippling depression, his lack of will to live, and the mask he puts on not to have other people worry are written about very well. They even pull a switcheroo on us, and as soon as we thought he was going to be able to crawl out of his own depths, the author pulled the carpet from under him. Kaladin's then resignation to his fate was heartbreaking. Our main girl Shallan, is also suffering from depression, but she had to one up Kaladin, and is also wrestling with some dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personalities) and repressed traumatic memories. Even our usual ray of sunshine, Adolin, is forced to repress some very negative feeling about his father. However grim this sounds, the author's whole spiel is usually contrasting the darkness with the light, and even if things get tough, it is there at the end of the tunnel. It looks like Brandon (we're on a first name basis) really wanted to add some depth to the characters here, and he's very successful imo. World building is still top-tier, and there are some cold as lines. This is my favourite book out of the four, and I can't wait for the fifth one that releases later this year.
Dune: Book I – Frank Herbert
Ok, everyone has read that, I won't be adding anything by talking about it. It's good, I love the seamless transition in POV, where some book would just have chapters at a time in the same POV. It really gives a sense of seeing behind the curtain, but at the same time, since this world is so strange to us, it's not as if we are getting the full show right away. I only wish Spencer people would haul ass on reading it, because I would love to read more at a time, and at an increased rate.
One Piece
Jaya Arc
Honestly meh and forgettable. There are way too many characters introduced at once, am I supposed to remember every single one of them when they're in the light for less than 20 panels. The monkey crew was fun.
Skypiea Arc
HONK-SHOOOO Honestly – worst arc so far. I just don't really care for anyone. They rushed setting up anything, therefore in my mind there are no stakes for the big fight. There are too many things going on at the same time, and the drawings are confusing me on what's going on. There are however some nice double pages, and the snake is cool. I can't give up though, Marco made me vow me to read until chapter 430 before considering abandoning the manga.
BOTTOM TEXT
Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie