{"id":619,"date":"2022-04-24T11:02:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T17:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/?p=619"},"modified":"2022-10-24T16:20:18","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:20:18","slug":"march-2022-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/march-2022-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"March 2022 Reading &#038; Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-progress-bars-progress-bar-block\"><div class=\"eb-parent-wrapper eb-parent-eb-progressbar-jbtqrb4 \"><div class=\"eb-progressbar-wrapper eb-progressbar-jbtqrb4\"><div class=\"eb-progressbar-line-container left\"><div class=\"eb-progressbar-title\">11\/24 Books Read<\/div><div class=\"eb-progressbar eb-progressbar-line eb-progressbar-line-stripe\" data-layout=\"line\" data-count=\"45.8\" data-duration=\"1500\"><span class=\"eb-progressbar-count-wrap\"><span class=\"eb-progressbar-count\">45.8<\/span><span class=\"postfix\">%<\/span><\/span><span class=\"eb-progressbar-line-fill\"><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yeah, I know we&#8217;re almost out of April and I&#8217;m just now getting around to writing up my March readings. As you can tell, I&#8217;ve been on the ball with <em>everything<\/em> this year. But unsarcastically, reading is the only thing I haven&#8217;t been missing out on. Even if March&#8217;s reading was only three whole books, that still is progress. Afterall, I&#8217;m here this year to read twice as much as I did last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-id=\"621\" src=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-621\"\/><figcaption><span style=\"font-size:25px\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2605\u2605<span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2606<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"315\" height=\"475\" data-id=\"622\" src=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1.jpeg 315w, https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1-199x300.jpeg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px\" \/><figcaption><span style=\"font-size:25px\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"294\" height=\"475\" data-id=\"623\" src=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-623\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-2.jpeg 294w, https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-2-186x300.jpeg 186w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><figcaption><span style=\"font-size:25px\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve only done two reviews for this month. There might be an April Reading &amp; Reviews, if I get around to finishing either of the books I started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"The-Lost-Apothecary\">The Lost Apothecary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<article class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#e2e1f0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span><br><em><span style=\"font-size:15px\">Mixing a better historical fiction with a mediocre present will, inevitably, prove to be disastrous<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-621\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">I don&#8217;t want to hate this book because I absolutely loved about 2\/3rds of it. The premise, as I saw it, was about a pharmacist-turned-poisoner who used her healing arts to unheal the shit out of abusive, negligent, adulterous men in a time when women had so little power. And for some reason a 21st century story about a woman jilted by her husband was shoehorned in there that provided no context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">The modern-day woman, Caroline, flies off to London to take her 10-year wedding anniversary alone, since she caught her husband cheating. She discovers a little bottle with a bear stamp on it and starts investigating it, discovering everything she can about this little apothecary. Except everything she discovers is revealed in the preceding chapters, the chapters told from the point of view of both Nella (the apothecarian) and Eliza (a tween handmaid-turned-accomplice) in the 1790s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Caroline didn&#8217;t function as a framing device. She provided nothing new to the story, and any tension or suspense was already undermined by Nella or Eliza&#8217;s more compelling narrative. We&#8217;re just reading her summarize what we just read since Caroline never researched or revealed anything that was further than a chapter or two back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">And you&#8217;d think, after hearing about Nella and Eliza going around amurderin&#8217;, we&#8217;d see Caroline perhaps just do that. Maybe her story would get interesting, and she&#8217;ll poison her husband. No, he poisons himself on accident because he&#8217;s an idiot. All her research on the apothecary just makes her look suspicious for a chapter or two. That&#8217;s it, that&#8217;s the total sum of Eliza and Nella&#8217;s story as far as it relates to Caroline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">It&#8217;s hard for me to love Nella and Eliza&#8217;s story as a result. I even prefer their denouement, this absurdly, cloyingly sweet happy ending of theirs that would&#8217;ve been painful by itself, but compared to Caroline&#8217;s entire story arc? Yeah. I&#8217;d take that any day.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"The-Luminous-Dead\">The Luminous Dead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<article class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#afbfca\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<aside class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-size:25px\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/span><br><em><span style=\"font-size:15px\">There&#8217;s an implicit risk that if you reveal too much in a story, it ends up being the most milquetoast version of what a reader&#8217;s imagination can conjure<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"315\" height=\"475\" src=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1.jpeg 315w, https:\/\/zelda.pw\/R3wuy8T4YZ-wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image-1-199x300.jpeg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">It&#8217;s a tad daring to have only two characters and a cave, and yet, here it works. And there&#8217;s only one character in the cave (apparitions and recordings aside)&#8211;a setting we don&#8217;t leave until the last few pages&#8211;and the other is only through a video screen or audio communications. And even then, there&#8217;s swaths of pages where the main character, Gyre, is simply wandering through an empty cavern by her lonesome. Kinda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">This feels like it could be tedious and repetitive. And to be rather blunt, it is. Yet it never works as a disservice, since the bulk of the book explores these two people. We have Gyre, who lied herself into an impossible job. And there&#8217;s her handler, Em, who is willing to throw human lives at a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">I find the queer romance arc to be reminiscent of enemies-to-lovers, but the antagonism is a strange psychological cat and mouse game fueled entirely by everyone&#8217;s half-truths and paranoia. I am quite literally here for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">I appreciate Caitlin&#8217;s commitment to never having to explain a damn thing. Are the ghosts of the previous cavers real, a sensory deprivation induced hallucination, or a fungal spore trip from hell? We won&#8217;t know. And honestly, I&#8217;d rather not. The Luminous Dead is about Gyre and Em&#8217;s bottomless willingness to try to reclaim whatever they can from their childhood abandonment. And even then, we never see it fully realized. We just know that where it goes, Gyre and Em face it not so alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Turns out the true underground glowing cave ghosts luring us to an early grave were the friends we made along the way? Or something.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<\/div><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I only chewed through three books: The Lost Apothecary, the Luminous Dead, and Soulless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,4],"tags":[40,41],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reading","category-reviews","tag-books","tag-kinda-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":776,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zelda.pw\/VapidAether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}