Good evening, few but dear readers!
Monica and I are fighting our way through I Am Number Four. (Poor guy has some self-esteem issues, he doesn't even see himself as number two...kidding!)
Our thoughts about chapters 9-15 are below. Be warned, dear readers, there are a few spoilers (and a bit of mockery) below.
Shel: So, I'd set this book off to a side and tried to ignore the fact that I had to read it. I have to admit, I'm not very impressed by the writing of this book.
Monica: I... sort of agree. I'm not hating it, but I definitely have that "Gah, am obligated to finish this now that I have started it" kind of feeling.
Shel: So, when Sarah shared about her background, how she lost touch with her friends as she dated what's-his-name, and then vowed to be nice to EVERYONE, I couldn't help but feel I was reading the plot line for an after school special.
Monica: You just HATE her, don't you? I don't think she's really anything special either, but I'm not quite at the level of loathing you seem to be. Poor Shel. There are lots and lots of pages left, and I'm pretty sure she's just going to get worse.
Shel: What do you think are the chances that this Hadley beasty could just maybe, possibly be (the badly named) Bernie? Hmm, what are the chances?
Monica: GASP NO WAY!! IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!!! I would be so surprised. (Really though? I kind of like Bernie's name. Don't like the creeping deus ex machina feeling I get whenever he comes up, but like the name.)
Shel: I find myself writing "Ugh!" in the margins whenever I find something vaguely ridiculous. There are a lot of Ugh!s.
Monica: I just keep looking for inadvertent jokes. Sam's mom is described as "petite," and she also speaks French! Yay!
Monica: Reading this, though, you know what I've decided? There should be a spin-off, where there's a Cepan who wants to be a warrior, but he can't, because it's not his caste, so he has to disguise himself as a Garde, and along the way he comes to realize that honestly there's no difference between the two groups, and it's only because the Cepan have to focus so much on training the Garde that they're never allowed to develop their own powers, and then there's a revolt, and, and, and....
It's probably bad that I'm writing my own version of this in my head, while I'm reading the book. One would have hoped that I'd be engrossed enough in the real plot to not have to develop my own.
Shel: I think I would like to read that book. It just doesn't seem fair to those poor Cepans...forced to only teach.
Shel: The bullying in this book is a little ridiculous. If this weren't a sci-fi superhero novel, we'd have all the ingredients for yet another school shooting book.
Monica: But the last book we read was a school shooting book, and I actually enjoyed it! I really enjoyed it! That's probably why I'm not so much into this one -- if we'd just read Eternal or something like that, maybe I wouldn't notice the difference... but doesn't it sort of feel like Mockingbird was actually meaningful to the author, whereas this one seems to have been written solely on the "Let's write a series that teens will enjoy that will make me a ton of money" angle?
Shel: I'm so reminded of the TV show Smallville. But the old school Smallville, back when Sexy Lexy was still on the show. In fact, I think I'd rather watch old Smallville episodes. Who's with me? DVD marathon, yes?
Monica: YES! Except, honestly, I think Smallville was better. Perhaps because we were able to actually see Lana with our own eyes -- we didn't need to listen to Clark waxing eloquent about the beauty of her hair and the way she smiles with kindness at the entiiiire world. Sigh.
We're almost half-way, kids! We'll discuss chapters 16-21 on Thursday. In the meantime, the in between time, feel free to leave your thoughts about the books in the comments. Are Monica and I missing something?
Shel: So, I'd set this book off to a side and tried to ignore the fact that I had to read it. I have to admit, I'm not very impressed by the writing of this book.
Monica: I... sort of agree. I'm not hating it, but I definitely have that "Gah, am obligated to finish this now that I have started it" kind of feeling.
Shel: So, when Sarah shared about her background, how she lost touch with her friends as she dated what's-his-name, and then vowed to be nice to EVERYONE, I couldn't help but feel I was reading the plot line for an after school special.
Monica: You just HATE her, don't you? I don't think she's really anything special either, but I'm not quite at the level of loathing you seem to be. Poor Shel. There are lots and lots of pages left, and I'm pretty sure she's just going to get worse.
Shel: What do you think are the chances that this Hadley beasty could just maybe, possibly be (the badly named) Bernie? Hmm, what are the chances?
Monica: GASP NO WAY!! IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!!! I would be so surprised. (Really though? I kind of like Bernie's name. Don't like the creeping deus ex machina feeling I get whenever he comes up, but like the name.)
Shel: I find myself writing "Ugh!" in the margins whenever I find something vaguely ridiculous. There are a lot of Ugh!s.
Monica: I just keep looking for inadvertent jokes. Sam's mom is described as "petite," and she also speaks French! Yay!
Monica: Reading this, though, you know what I've decided? There should be a spin-off, where there's a Cepan who wants to be a warrior, but he can't, because it's not his caste, so he has to disguise himself as a Garde, and along the way he comes to realize that honestly there's no difference between the two groups, and it's only because the Cepan have to focus so much on training the Garde that they're never allowed to develop their own powers, and then there's a revolt, and, and, and....
It's probably bad that I'm writing my own version of this in my head, while I'm reading the book. One would have hoped that I'd be engrossed enough in the real plot to not have to develop my own.
Shel: I think I would like to read that book. It just doesn't seem fair to those poor Cepans...forced to only teach.
Shel: The bullying in this book is a little ridiculous. If this weren't a sci-fi superhero novel, we'd have all the ingredients for yet another school shooting book.
Monica: But the last book we read was a school shooting book, and I actually enjoyed it! I really enjoyed it! That's probably why I'm not so much into this one -- if we'd just read Eternal or something like that, maybe I wouldn't notice the difference... but doesn't it sort of feel like Mockingbird was actually meaningful to the author, whereas this one seems to have been written solely on the "Let's write a series that teens will enjoy that will make me a ton of money" angle?
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| How do you like my demented heart? |
Monica: YES! Except, honestly, I think Smallville was better. Perhaps because we were able to actually see Lana with our own eyes -- we didn't need to listen to Clark waxing eloquent about the beauty of her hair and the way she smiles with kindness at the entiiiire world. Sigh.
We're almost half-way, kids! We'll discuss chapters 16-21 on Thursday. In the meantime, the in between time, feel free to leave your thoughts about the books in the comments. Are Monica and I missing something?
cool beans
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