May Readings
I honestly did pretty good in May, three books and a few dozens manga chapters, not bad. I am still in the middle of finishing my backlog, which takes a lot of time away from reading. I am enjoying myself doing it so I have no desire to take time away from it to read for now. Peak incoming as well as some hate.
Dune – Messiah
Peak
I remember reading Dune messiah back when I was around 14-15 and not getting it. I didn't dislike it, I actually don't mind reading something and only being transported by the vibes, but I didn't get a good understanding of it. As a whatever-year old, I could not understand just being stuck in the past as well, as resigning yourself to the future, and being absolutely done with the present. A chill depressive episode and growing tired with adult life later, I get it. This book has a totally different meaning to me now, and I like it a tad more than Dune. Paul and his ruminations are my favorite part, but I also like that everybody is playing 16D chess, but also knows that everybody is playing 16D chess, so they're also playing checkers on the side. The tone and atmosphere are just so different from Dune but also make a lot of sense as a follow up. For some reason it reminded me of the part of Beowulf (the 2007 movie, not the poem) after the time skip.
The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follet
Tom builder and his family have been out of work for a while, and a succession war rages on in England. Not many people need a mason in these trying times, and Tom's savings are running low. We follow them throughout the decades and see how war affect them. We also follow the life of Father Phillip, how was just called to improve the situation in a decrepit priory. Will he be able to set it straight? Aliena, the daughter of a nobleman, is living carefree while being pursued by many suitors including William. Will the war get the better of her attitude? Finally, Ellen and Jack are also not that affected by the war for now, as they live in the forest, but can they keep going with this lifestyle as more and more bandits roam the woods?
I needed a big book to read while everyone was finishing up Dune Messiah, and I had this one in my library for a while after thrifting it in first year of uni for 2$ (4563.93$ today due to inflation). I had seen the mini tv show about it went to came out in 2010, but my memory was really foggy (it was 14 years ago after all). This is a long book, as long as Dune, but the pace is good and I therefore was kept interested throughout. There is only one arc in the middle of the book that slowed things down and was a bit out of place. There are however many arc in this book as it takes place over 50 years or so, and seeing all the characters grow up, but also the towns and villages evolve was really cool. It was really entertaining all the way through and was a really convincing peek into day to day english medieval life (I know nothing about it and am therefore easily convinced). I love how ruthless the author is with the characters, and whenever you think their situation couldn't be worse, they are just kicked while they are down. On the contrary sometimes they will devise bold plans, and execute them, manipulating a bunch of people, which are entertaining to see unfold even if they are not successful. The only issue I had with the book is how one character weaponised r*pe — it is described twice in more or less detail — but every time it was mentioned, it made me wildly uncomfortable. The relationship of the men in the story with “carnal pleasure” is a bit weird, and is also focused on which I found odd; I can only read “stirring in the loin” so many times before getting weirded out. My favorite character was Phillip, who was a refreshing chaste and good character in the cesspool that was the average medieval person. Unless you have an issue with reading about intimate stuff, especially r*pe (it is not romanticised at all), I would recommend it.
Children of Dune – Frank Herbert
PEAK
I would say the beginning of the book is maybe a bit more accessible than Dune Messiah, but around the latter half, it gets pretty weird. It takes place 9 years after Dune Messiah, and it reminds me of it a lot. We start by having a diverse cast of POV through the chapters, and then we focus more on Leto II. Stilgar's character is very interesting in this one, and so is Alia, who steps a bit more into the light. Another character makes a reappearance, and I was jubilating when they were introduced. I won't say too much about the book as I know some people want to read it, but it is my favorite out of the series so far. I saw a lot of similarities between this book and book III of Dune, which was my favorite part (about equal with book I). I just started God Emperor of Dune so we'll see how it compares.
One Piece – Oda-san
Water 7
Oda, my brother in christ, do we need a giant close-up of someone's face crying/yelling every chapter? Also, the constant yelling of attacks, which is unnecessary and takes half of each panel is annoying as hell. It makes some of the action really hard to follow. The trope of “I can only survive one more attack, I'm on the brink of death”, and then surviving sixteen finisher moves from an adversary is so overplayed, and not interesting. The story is sorta cool sometimes but, it's not enough to keep me reading. All of the criticism, I pointed out here is valid for most of the manga. The way they build up the villains — have murk the heroes, no diff — and then without the heroes having time to recover, yet improve, having the villains be defeated because the plot demands it is very lazy. The Gear stuff was cool, but the downsides to using it are some small that Luffy might as well be overpowered all the time. After reading 430 chapters, I feel like I have earned the right to this critique, but most importantly to drop it. As the friend that asked me to read it said: “If you still aren't liking it at this point, you'll never like it. Also, as moncrief pointed out, maybe I just don't like shonen. After joining the bookclub in reading dungeon meshi, I'll try to read HxH which is apparently peak shonen. We will have a definite answer then.
This marks the one year anniversary of when I started publishing my monthly readings! ~37 books and 430 manga chapters in a year, not too shabby. Tetyana and I have been planning on getting our library cards forever now, but we'll get to it eventually. With this — and being done with my backlog in December — I should be able to enjoy more books per month.
It feels nice to be liberated from the shackles of One Piece, that I started in September last year.
Thank you for reading my logorrhea Eddie