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elzbethmrgn's Reviews (667)
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I disliked so many parts of this book in the end it became me hate-reading it to prove I could finish it. The action was good, if you like action (I find it messy and confusing and tend to skim it).
Spoilers for my rage-filled rant: I hated the immediate relationships. On the Wallfish for three minutes, and then Kira's convinced them to board a Jelly ship? No. Nearly gets the crew killed, and then next minute they're agreeing to go find the Staff of Blue (don't even get me started on that lame-ass name)? No. The UMC saying no, you can't go find the Staff of Blue, and then joining the mission in the next breath? No.
Kira deciding that she alone can save the universe by going head-to-head with the aliens without any hint of a personality that runs headlong into physical danger. I was actually ranting aloud until Kira herself stopped and said "what am I doing?". What are you doing, Kira? Why do you think you can save the universe based solely on your abilities to communicate with the aliens and also uncontrollably stab things?
My suspension of disbelief failed in all those moments.
A fellow Goodreader mentioned the video game parallels, and I feel like it hits the RPG aspect here: once Kira is narratively shoved into the Wallfish crew, she sits down with each of the crewmates and has a good long 'delve into your backstory' scene. All of it was forced and artificial-feeling, , and in a game where I can't skip the cutscene I tolerate it because that's part of the genre, but I hated it here.
The gift-giving at the end? Ugh. All of a sudden you're Princess Leia giving out Galadriel-like gifts. Unnecessary, and contributes to the book being tediously longer than it needs to be.
Paolini writes in the endnotes that it took a few goes to get the book to publication, but I think it could have used at least one more pass at finessing out the disjointed, jerky parts I've ranted about in those spoiler tags.
I liked the names of the UMC ships.
Spoilers for my rage-filled rant:
Kira deciding that she alone can save the universe by going head-to-head with the aliens without any hint of a personality that runs headlong into physical danger. I was actually ranting aloud until Kira herself stopped and said "what am I doing?". What are you doing, Kira? Why do you think you can save the universe based solely on your abilities to communicate with the aliens and also uncontrollably stab things?
My suspension of disbelief failed in all those moments.
A fellow Goodreader mentioned the video game parallels, and I feel like it hits the RPG aspect here: once Kira is narratively shoved into the Wallfish crew, she sits down with each of the crewmates and has a good long 'delve into your backstory' scene. All of it was forced and artificial-feeling, , and in a game where I can't skip the cutscene I tolerate it because that's part of the genre, but I hated it here.
The gift-giving at the end? Ugh. All of a sudden you're Princess Leia giving out Galadriel-like gifts. Unnecessary, and contributes to the book being tediously longer than it needs to be.
Paolini writes in the endnotes that it took a few goes to get the book to publication, but I think it could have used at least one more pass at finessing out the disjointed, jerky parts I've ranted about in those spoiler tags.
I liked the names of the UMC ships.
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Nope. I can't even. I was really struggling, but then when That Guy who was dead at the end of the last book turned up again, nope.
(Adare's story was picking up, though, and Kaden's was strong the whole way even if he did make stupid STUPID choices).
(Adare's story was picking up, though, and Kaden's was strong the whole way even if he did make stupid STUPID choices).
Basically I think all the Helen Lovejoys in our current government should have a read of this in light of their refusal to contemplate gay marriage. Gilding discusses the ways in which the image of the family in Australia has been moulded according to social, government, and market forces, and none of it has to do with the raising of children until the 1950s.
Having read [b:My Wife, My Daughter and Poor Mary Ann|926045|My Wife, My Daughter and Poor Mary Ann|Beverley Kingston|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1307246649s/926045.jpg|911050], a rounded and more fleshed-out approach to the 'making of the housewife' was particularly nice to see. While Kingston's position was that women essentially created a suburban-housewife-life rod for their own backs, Gilding comments on external pressures from government in particular that created the typical 1950s woman at home.
Published in 1991, Gilding focuses on the turn of the twentieth century. His comments on the homosexual identity and family are limited and do not touch on marriage or children in the homosexual 'family' (quotes because, as it becomes evident while reading the book, the definition of 'family' isn't a fixed thing, it is a social construct based on who is doing the constructing of the idea).
Dry, and language of it's time (constant reference to "the native") but informative enough for my purposes.
Contesting Christendom: Readings in Medieval Religion and Culture
Thomas A. Fudge, Eamon Duffy, Georges Duby, James L. Halverson, Constance Brittain Bouchard, Keith Thomas, Caroline Walker Bynum, Ian N. Wood, Rob Means, Peter R.L. Brown, Bernd Moeller, Katherine L. French, Jane Tibbets Schulenburg, Richard Fletcher, Karen Louise Jolly, Marcus Bull, Rudolf Bell, Joan Ferrante, Herbert Grundmann, Lester K. Little, Andrew P. Roach, Mark R. Cohen
Collated specifically for new students of Medieval Christianity, this book puts together chapters from already published works that cover some of the wavy edges around the definition of Christianity in Medieval society and how it affected not only men and women, but people of other religions (Jews and pagans) as well. None of the works contain referencing, except to the original article/book, for the purpose of making students search out the authors if they want to learn more, which makes it interesting light bed-time reading rather than serious and weighty research reading.
