Originally posted on July 17, 2020 at https://ailovestogrow.wixsite.com/mysite/post/reviews
((Sometimes I wonder about WIX...This is draft 2...grr!!))
This week has become a study in awesome. Specifically, I am presented with the enviable problem of having so many reviews this week I'm not entirely sure I got them all their shoutout. I will do my best to give you all your due, but please lambast me in the comments if I missed you, I will deserve it.
First off I want to thank Kindle Customer for coming back around for the CENSORED version and putting some stars up on that edition. Thanks! and I really do hope the CENSORED version can hold up on its own.
Niffler got some love earlier this week, but now there's a text review on Goodreads and I wanted to show my appreciation. I'm happy my wacky adventures can make someone laugh. I think my love of Wonderland bled deep into my brain while writing the book and it clearly shows when the characters tend to shrug and take the absurd in stride as they do. Also lots of love allocation to joshua jordan and JeffreyMyers and Chris Boutwell, thanks for reading my story!
Amazon Customer couldn't put it down, which I think is an absolutely smashing thing to say. I've had books I couldn't put down and knowing my book did that to someone else is all kinds of tingly. I hope his friends enjoy CENSORED!
Now onto my thoughts on Peace Talks by Jim Butcher. My much longer and detailed review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3444141480?type=review#rating_299910062
I've said it before, but Butcher is the gold standard I tend to lift up when I talk about modern fiction. There's good reason for that, he's a legit smart author who manages to be funny, heartbreaking and most importantly have characters solve problems in a non-deus ex way most of the time. The first chapter in Grave Peril is a textbook example on how to do a recap, managing to summarize 2 books, introduce a new character all while expositing everything a new reader needs to know for the current plot, all in the space of around 1500 words. That is some tight prose! My favorite book of his is Proven Guilty and I cannot explain to the uninitiated how complex and compelling a book it is. I'm not saying I love the book as a fan, I love the book as a fellow author because I don't think I'm creative enough to fit that much engaging story into one place at one time.
So when I read Peace Talks, I was disappointed not only because I didn't like it as much (still a good book) as other Dresden Files, but I was disappointed Butcher gave into an editor and split his book into 2 parts just so the publishing company could make a quick buck instead of make a better book. It doesn't end like a cliffhanger story, it ends like watching A New Hope and when Obi-Wan dies, the end credits roll right there. I'm hoping I get my catharsis in Battle Grounds that comes out in September, but for right now I'm just happy and sad: happy Butcher got out of his 6 year writer's block, sad it came at the expense of his writing sensibilities.
But enough of that. I might be doing some more reading of books in the future because I have missed reading like I usually do and Peace Talks reminded me that I'm probably a reader first and a writer second. I still haven't gotten to Ressurection by Tony Corden yet, and book 6 ended on a gripping cliffhanger.
I got through Interlude 2 and, oh woman, that chapter is a Flag Ship. I totally wasn't meaning to, but flags kept popping up like it was going out of style. There are so many in there it almost becomes a parody of itself. This interlude is also twice as long, but so much happens it feels rushed instead of long. Then I got through Ch23 and that is some hot chocolate, let me tell you. Wife number 10 is brought into the family, Honoka finds out what it is like to be at the mercy of a woman stronger than her, Diane clocks an ongoing frenemy with all her newly acquired harmonized Strength hard enough to break their jaw, and then we go into dealing with more family drama that is a chapter away from reaching a...resolution. Won't say for right now whether that's a good or bad resolution, but Ch24 is when it happens. Around 12000 words, which is pretty good considering also reading Peace Talks twice this week as well.
Until next week, make sure to drink your cranberry juice and get enough folic acid, because we are on the final stretch. I still really want to get this book finished by the end of the years, let's hope I have the stamina to push that climax through.
Keep harmonizing!
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