Shayla Williams

NOT Ready Player One

Revisado: 06-24-24

It would be easy to say this book is like Ready Player One, just hitting you with one nostalgic reference after another to create a response unearned by the story itself. But this is not like that at all.

The references are there, sure. So too is a character who I wanted to spend more and more time with every time I turned a page. (I read along in print.) The way her mind works is unique and endearing. It's no wonder there are "Jade Daniels is my Final Girl" tee shirts.

For much of the book, I had no idea what was happening in the story. How much of it was actually going on, and how much of it was this (unreliable?) narrator. I loathe the unreliable narrator trope almost as much as the trope of sexual trauma as the thing that gives a woman her identity or power. In this story, it was so well done that I wasn't even thinking about either of those things.

If you stop with just this book, Jade's life is a mess. She's made it to Final Girl status. The tee shirts tell you that much. But where the heck is she going to go from here? Will she stay in Proofrock? Who would have her? Where else could she go? No matter what, you know she's going to greet it in her own, unique way.

I'm so glad there are two more books after this one! Cara Gee was great for this one, even if she changed a few words from the text here and there. (Something you'd only know if you were reading along with the audio,) It will be interesting to see how a full cast changes the experience of the next book.

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Pretty good until the lame ending.

Revisado: 04-23-24

The story and setting were good. Characters were alright. The ending was such a cop out. It built up to a really cool horror ending, but then the author decided to go with an unbelievable "girl power" one that was almost as bad as The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.

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Fat acceptance on toxic steroids

Revisado: 04-01-24

Plum/Alicia becomes more insufferable as the story progresses. Rather than accept herself, she is going to punch, kick, and scream at everyone else. She actually becomes physically violent, carrying a brick around to beat up anyone who insults her. You'd think that in the end she will have some sort of personal growth, but no.

The Jennifer stuff was a more interesting story that really should have been a different book. It also fell on its face in the end.

I regret buying the book to try to make sense of the show. I thought the show must have ended early, but the book ending is just as bad.

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How did this get published?

Revisado: 02-23-24

The only good thing I can say about this is that the author does a good job reading it. Usually, that is not the case. Sunny Moraine has a nice speaking voice.

Narrative voice needs work. Plot is paced poorly, and the characters are completely forgettable. (I honestly can't remember if Ellis was a he, she, or they.)

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Another tearjerker.

Revisado: 02-20-24

Back from the dead plots are stupid, and this book has two.

Otherwise, very good. Eager to see what she tackles next.

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boooooring

Revisado: 02-10-24

Interesting premise, but BORING story that ends up falling on some of the same old cliches anyway.

I have tried so many times to listen to it, and even convinced my vampire book club to choose it this month for extra motivation. Every time, I end up zoning out completely. Finally made it more than halfway, couldn't tell you a single thing that has happened so far, and can't convince myself to keep trying. Several characters are clearly repackaged from other, better books.

Reading a book just because the author checks a certain number of "representation" boxes is ridiculous, and I am tired of trying to force myself to "read diversely" when so many of the "diverse" authors just don't know how to tell a good story. I think this is going to be the last time I bother.

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Only for diehard fans.

Revisado: 11-25-23

If you didn't keep up with the comic books or whatever after the show ended, skip this. It's a mess.

Maybe it makes a certain kind of sense if you have been following the material since the show ended?

As for narration, Charisma Carpenter, Juliet Landau, and James Marsters parts were good. The rest were not.

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Disappointment.

Revisado: 11-13-23

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."

-Isaac Asimov (1995). “Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters”, Doubleday Books

__________

"Abraham and God? What is this religious b------t? I didn't come here for god s--t. Got enough of that from my folks. No, thank you. I thought this sub was about serious survival strategies, not this garbage. Go to NTD/endofdays if this is your thing."

[Character] ...

"Kid, back off. Before you get yourself into a flame war, try to work out who you're insulting. Go and check out [character]'s 'best of,' okay? [Character] does this stuff sometimes, like experimenting with the form, putting fragments together that don't seem like they go together. There's usually a point to it in the end. [Character] knows her stuff. Trust."

-Naomi Alderman (2023). "The Future" Simon & Schuster
__________

I understand the point the character was trying to make with the biblical story being shared here. It was spelled out with the subtlety of a bull. The fact that she had the foresight (or editorial oversight) to call herself out this early in the book tells me this is not a journey I want to go on with her. The self-insert response to any such criticism is condescending and overtly self-indulgent.

I loved The Power. Naomi Alderman demonstrated great skill and imagination in the apocalypse she created in that book. I was expecting more of the same in this book.

The premise is a good one. If the wealthy have access to resources that would protect them from an apocalypse, how much effort would they expend on preventing it?

There's more than enough to explore there without bringing any religions into it. Much less in this hamfisted way. This book is sloppy, badly written, and the first time I have DNF'd a book that I was anticipating from a formerly beloved author. I guess in the future, I will wait for reviews before buying her books.

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Sorry, Due fans.

Revisado: 11-08-23

I just found this book very slow, boring, and disjointed. The subject of cruelty in the Jim Crow era has been covered extensively, and this book didn't really add anything new. Even the Uncle Tom ghost aspect seemed boring.

Perhaps I will try her short stories, but I don't think long fiction is her strength.

Narrator is not completely awful, but her attempts to force an emotional connection to the text were as overwrought as a mindless action film with exhausting music scores.

Really wanted to like this, because I know how beloved Tananarive Due is, and how often she's compared to Octavia Butler. I'll try one of her short story collections.

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Nat Cassidy delivers again!

Revisado: 11-07-23

Nat Cassidy is one of my three auto-buy authors. I will preorder anything he publishes, and can't wait for When The Wolves Come Home to become available! My vampire book club usually votes for the book we will read, but this one was unanimous.

When he talked about "vampire adjacent," I wasn't sure what he meant. The creatures in this book predate vampires, and the lore for them is very interesting. The characters are believable and frustrating in their flaws. The building is itself a character, and there are even two side characters who are deeply flawed in ways that feel very real.

I don't have a single maternal bone in my body, so the motherhood angle was not a big draw for me. Don't let that turn you away if you are also childfree. Again, Nat Cassidy has a brilliant way of writing characters with different lives and experiences that feel like real people you know.

Do not hesitate to buy this book! And if you haven't gotten around to Mary: An Awakening of Terror yet, you are going to want to pick that up, too. There's a really good reason why the people who have read these books will not shut up about them!

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