Rate the Last Book You Read

I read A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, the Song of Ice and Fire prequel novellas. I was actually surprised by how good they were, especially the second one. Overall I'd give them 6 out of 7 Kingdoms. Of course by the time they were over I just wanted to keep reading and now I'm getting that impatient itch to read The Winds of Winter. Hopefully I'll find something else to distract myself with.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I heard about her from Michael Silverblatt's show & went to order it like right after hearing her read. It's mostly about a young Chicana girl growing up in a poorer Latino neighborhood in Chicago, told thru these like little vignettes that sort of work like poetry almost, & you'll prolly find a few that really really hit you the way poems do. But yeah, it's a very pretty book you can read in an afternoon, definitely recommend it.

@davidh219: have you read his newish series The Stormlight Archives? First book, The Way of Kings, was super good. well paced, good characters. 5/5

@phoenix6153: Ain't nothing new about Stormlight. Way of Kings is, what, five or six years old at this point? But yes, I did read it. Haven't read Words of Radiance yet though. Way of Kings is pretty good, but not my favorite thing by him. It's a little long in the tooth, the story is eerily similar to Mistborn, and it's a little clumsy about a great many things. It's also the first book in a huge series that Sanderson has said many times he wants to be his "main" thing, similar to Jordan's Wheel of Time, so much of that is to be expected. There's lots of setup to do, after all. I have no doubt that Words of Radiance will be a more solid read once I get around to it. The length is just so dang intimidating though, and I can't put my finger on why. I knew The Wise Man's Fear by Rothfuss was as long as the entire LoTR trilogy going in and it didn't intimidate me at all. I devoured that in a week. Maybe it's because I've read enough Sanderson to know his epic fantasy books tend to burn pretty slow before kicking off so hard about 60-70% of the way through that I can't put them down. I feel similarly about Mieville's books.

On a related note, I just got Calamity, the third and final book in his Reckoners series, in the mail. Super excited. You should read those if you haven't. Some of the best YA around right now, and Sanderson doesn't even specialize in YA. Dude's got mad talent and versatility.

@phoenix6153:That first book :) very defined strong and textured characters most of which felt very individual on to themselves. World building that at times was a bit heavy handed in its approach but won out overall because of the ambition shown and the intrigue it provided for many hours of listening in my case. The varies social constructs and magic system were also really well realized and greatly used to enhance the overall experience and I actually really liked the very deliberate pacing as it made every baby step forward seem very significant and real to me. I also greatly enjoyed the contrast between the grand events taking placing in the background while the main very personal and grueling conflict at the center of the book was so small and completely insignificant in comparison, as to have no really effect up to a point on the grand scheme that was really cool to see. I could keep talking about this book for a while but I will say that if you like epic fantasy give it a try unfortunately Words Of Radiance, book 2 of The Stormlight Archives isn't nearly as good for a number of reasons but I'm in the minority on that one so you'll probably like it a deal more than I did.

The Scarlet Gospels - Cliver Barker

Not what it was talked up to be over the last decade or so, but still thoroughly twisted and creative. Some of the characters felt a little trite and one dimensional, but Pinhead's exploits were lots of gotesque fun. I knew going in that his tale was coming to an end, but how it all unfolds was most unexpected and overall pretty satisfying.

4/5 hunks of twisted flesh

@davidh219:I didn't like steelheart, it could have had a setting worth talking about but it didn't expand on its world beyond the initial introduction much at all. Wasting what potential there was leaving me with nothing but the sense that it all sounded aesthetically cool and that’s it. Pretty much all the characters I felt lacked any real sense of identity outside of fitting very neatly into their given archetypes the villains were especially bland. For some of the book’s cast however bland was not enough evidently and they entered into the more cringe worthy spectrum of things especially that one policemen and his terrible attempts at comedy and drama, Sanderson could not have written a bigger cartoon caricature if he tried with that one and I could honestly not stand him by the end of the book. The overarching plot itself was very neat and predictable and had a fair few cool set pieces for what it’s worth however it did not think itself such and had this annoying habit of throwing highly telegraphed but what I can’t help but think Sanderson thought to be plot twists at you one after another. Many of which were played up for a real unnecessary amounts of drama banking on perceived sock value and investment when it merited neither of those. Some of the tech was cool and the action was up to par but that’s about it. When you got nothing new or interesting then at least have fun but even that was too much to ask for it, its a bad book in my view. The only YA I’ve enjoyed up now and I do need to read more because I’m apparently in the demo is Half a KING by Joe Abercrombie more than The blade itself actually.

@ikramit: Well then! That's a lot of words to say you didn't like something. I don't share your profound love for Way of Kings, so to each their own, I guess. Also not much of an Abercrombie fan and I thought Half a King was pretty bad. By far the worst thing I've read by him. -shrug- You should give Prince of Thorns a shot if you like Half a King. It's a much more original take on the grimdark fantasy thing, and 100x better written. Mark Lawrence is a poet. Some of the best prose I've seen in fantasy. Up there with Patricia McKillip.

For what it's worth I thought Firefight was a much better book than Steelheart. Have you read The Rithmatist? That's another YA book by Sanderson. One that I really didn't like. Probably the only one of his books I didn't like, actually. Still need to read Words of Radiance and Calamity though.

I just finished reading Calamity like 30 minutes ago. It's the third book in the Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson.

Brandon Sanderson is an excellent writer, so I wasn't expecting such a rushed and unsatisfying ending, especially since I liked both Steelheart and Firefight so much. The first 3 parts of the book were great, the typical fast paced action of this series, and then the final part was just a mess. It starts off fine, but I was wondering just how in the hell Brandon was going to conclude this with only like a hundred pages left. I started getting psyched thinking there might be a fourth book! Nope. God I wish I could go into detail about why the ending honestly kind of sucks, but I don't want to spoil it since the book JUST came out yesterday.

The ending's just so disappointing...

@random45: Oh no! I just started reading it today =(

Sorry to be a killjoy! The entire book's not bad though, it's pretty great until the last handful of chapters, where it just gets super rushed. I'd still recommend it if you're a Sanderson fan, especially if you've already read Steelheart and Firefight, but yeah, I wasn't too fond of the ending.

@davidh219:I haven’t read Rithmatist I have heard bad things however so I think I'll pass for now. I’m also not much of an Abercrombie fan either to be honest Half a King was a solid book for me nothing really noteworthy but a fun read, blade itself I can appreciate but have some issues with. I do plan to read firefight as YA is pretty easy to get through and I do feel the series can be better then its shown but not before a bunch of other books waiting for me not least of which The broken empire books which I have but haven’t open yet.

Finally finished Naked by David Sedaris (which was fantastic) and also The Plantagenets by Dan Jones (which I would recommend to any history geek)

@ikramit: You're in for a treat with Broken Empire. It has one of the most satisfying endings to a fantasy trilogy I've read. Just super meta and fitting for the main character's arc. Be warned though, you're kinda supposed to hate the protagonist. He does truly terrible things, although he does change somewhat from book to book.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits (David Wong) - 3/5. Like Wong's other books John Dies At The End and This Book Is Full Of Spiders, Futuristic Violence is funny as hell with some moments of hard honesty. Unlike those books, though, the protagonist is almost unbearably set on making bad decisions for no discernible reason other than it puts her within arm's reach of the next encounter with something villainous or dangerous. It's still worth a read for the laughs and sharp jabs at common literary cliches, but it's not as good as his prior efforts.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World was... interesting. Not sure I "got it" but I certainly came away with an interpretation of what was trying to be expressed, though I probably got it wrong honestly. A solid 3/5, and I want to check out more Murakami so I guess it was a win?

Half way through that I got a bit fed up and read Atlas Shrugged to see why it was so contentious, turns out it makes a mockery of certain groups and their ideals and those people are likely too infuriated by this to give it much of a chance. Fair enough, I think people's opinions on this book are going to come down to their own ideals and how honest they are with themselves. That book's pretty silly in a few ways such as depicting every detractor of the protagonists' (and author's) philosophy and ideas as blithering idiots and presenting the world in a very black and white way with zero nuance, but I liked the story and the core characters. Despite the caricature-like antagonists it was incredibly compelling, so I'd give it a 4/5. I hear The Fountainhead is a lot better and less silly so I'll check that out at some point.

I finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and I liked it. I have a few problems with Kvothe, as I think virtually perfect protagonists are kinda uninteresting. Still quite enjoyable. 3.5~4/5.

9/10 If you like history

Line of Polity by Neal Asher - 4/5 . It's the second book in a series of 5. Pretty good post-cyberpunk stuff. Lots of violence and some pretty far future tech.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. 10/10 - Surprisingly relevant philosophy and insight even though it is 1800 years old and written by the most powerful man of his time.

Salvation's Reach by Dan Abnett (book 13 in the Gaunt's Ghosts series)

It's alright. It'd probably have a bit more impact if I hadn't just finished reading the previous 12 books in a row. It was nice to find out what Yoncy has been up to all this time. Since maybe book 9, I was starting to think Abnett had simply forgotten about that character entirely.

Kyle Gann's book on Robert Ashley in the U of Illinois' American Composer series (not the video game/former-1Up R. Ashley, but the composer who died in 2014). I'm just getting to know Ashley's work and am kind of falling in love with his sensibility. Gann's book is currently the only full-length study of his music, and as Gann himself admits, it's a sketchy overview of a body of work that deserves much longer and more detailed exploration. But I found it very helpful on its own terms.

I've probably listened to Ashley's "television opera" Perfect Lives 20 times in the last month. I love the videos, but prefer listening to the CDs for return visits. If you're interested in hearing something weird, unique, and, with a little patience, utterly approachable, check 'em out! YouTube has the first 4 of 7 episodes and Ubu.com hosts the whole thing

Anna Karenina. One of the great artistic achievements of humanity. Tolstoy writes with the lucidity and detail of someone writing directly from life rather from the imagination. The characters almost feel more real than real people. Never artificial or outlandish, yet never boring; the events unfold in the most lifelike and natural manner, without any sudden shocking twists or turns to jolt you into excitement or enjoyment, but are supremely captivating even when you see the outcome coming a mile away. Unmatched in its depiction of the uncertainties, ecstasies and agonies of love, marriage, childbirth and parenthood. The description of Levin's countryside life and struggle to find purpose are also out of this world.

Robinson Crusoe. Very little poetry in the language, and explorations of Crusoe's psychological state are sparse and often pretty dull (probably because Crusoe is a simple and uninteresting personality, and because this simplicity is emphasized as a result of the book's mostly depicting him in total solitude, without the advantage of participation in interesting interpersonal relationships or exchanges). The descriptions of his setting up his home and solving the various material problems of solitary island life are fairly entertaining, as are the adventure parts at the beginning and end of the story. Not at all a bad book, but mainly suitable for children (I first read it around the age of 10 and enjoyed it a lot back then).

Just last night, I finished "The Roads of Heaven" trilogy by Melissa Scott. It's a weird piece of science fiction/fantasy (science fantasy?) from the early-mid eighties. In her universe, science has been displaced by the "Art" which is basically magic and it's all based on music and sound. Mankind has spread throughout the galaxy (universe? it's not really clear) in spaceships that travel via "harmonium" which seems to be some kind of organ that plays tones via the ship's keel that sends it through various levels of purgatory (or twelfths of heaven) to other star systems. The Art is also used in all manner of manufacture. Technology actively interferes with it, and as such is rare and even banned in many places.

Unfortunately, such a cool concept is wasted on a fairly pedestrian plot. Earth has been lost (though it turns out that the road to it has just been blocked by an oppressive government the reason for which we never learn) and it's up to our heroine to find it (and eventually free it from it's oppressors.) Which, of course, she accomplishes rather handily over the course of three, medium length books. Early on, you feel like some really cool shit with all this heaven and hell and purgatory being accessed via giant flying pipe organs shit is going to pan out super awesome, but nope. Most of that gets discarded in book two, which is mostly a prison escape. Albeit one from a different kind of prison.

The books were well written enough to keep me reading until the end. There are some interesting gender politics in play. (I guess the author later became known specifically for her interesting gender politics, though this book is one of her first efforts and it's not necessarily the focus here.) Women are quite oppressed in this universe: forced to wear veils by law and typically unable to perform the Art by nature (unlike our heroine, which reeks of 'chosen-one' syndrome, but it's not played up too much.) However, the author avoids making women victims, instead they are largely depicted as just as competent and very often more so than the menfolk, who in turn recognize their competency without irony. It's a weird kind of feminism that doesn't really exist anymore. The idea that men and women can be equals without having to be the same is one I wish more modern feminists would embrace.

Recommended with the caveat that it doesn't really get better than the first book and ends rather disappointingly. It's certainly worth a read for anyone interested in science fiction or fantasy just to see the entirely strange universe Scott has crafted. Just try not to be too frustrated when she leaves you hanging.

The Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree by S.A. Hunt is a ton of fun. Really well written with a compelling story. My only complaint is some of the dialogue comes across like a fifty-year-old man's idea of how twenty-year-old's speak via a thirty-year-old protagonist. 5/5

Last book I read was Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. It's a biography of the rise of Nixon up to his 2nd Presidential election win, but it's also a book about America in the 1960s, especially in the LBJ years, the turmoil after the Civil Rights Act passed when America went from what seemed like a liberal consensus to the incredibly partisan system that's still in place today. It's a really interesting book. Nixon is a fascinating character. And about as cynical a politician as you can imagine.

The Dark Tower by Steven King

3/5

I've never read anything by Steven King and I heard they're making a movie based on the book so I thought lets give it a shot. The Dark tower is a well known and from what I heard really well regarded series, so I was a little surprised at how underwhelming the first novel was. Upon a little research I found out King pieced it together from 5 short stories he wrote over the span of 10 years or so, which explained a whole lot. Not much to say about this, it's simple, leaves a lot of loose ends untied, and is pretty much a setup for the rest of the books. Didn't really feel invested enough to dive down that rabbit whole, but I'm even more curious what that movie is going to look like.

Sleepless (Charlie Huston) - 5/5

I'm a huge fan of Charlie Huston's pulpy, hard-edged novels as a whole. His books are fast-paced, focus in on tightly written characters with little excess, and they revel in telling about good people stuck doing bad things for the right reasons. They're also bloody and wildly vulgar, though such excesses feel as natural to these worlds as the air the characters breath.

Sleepless is a standalone noir novel about a simple narcotics investigation against a backdrop of a plague that has sent civilization into a slow tumble. This isn't The Stand or The Road levels of decimation, but more an examination of society as it slowly tears itself apart thanks to fear and apathy. The plague itself - which renders its victims unable to sleep - is smart. It illuminates the world around the protagonist while helping add some tension to the proceedings, but it rarely takes the focus itself until it needs to. That was a solid decision by Huston, as his sharply written characters and their interactions deserve the focus here.

It's a great novel. I like it quite a bit better than his excellent Joe Pitt novels (which are brutal Vampire: The Masquerade-esque novels about gangs of vicious vampires fighting for territory and control of New York's blood trade), though I'm not sure I quite like it as much as his more straightforward pulpy Henry Thompson trilogy. All are pretty fantastic and you can't go wrong with any of them,.

Fiend (Peter Stenson) - 3/5

Fiend, essentially, is a novel about drug addiction that just happens to also have zombies. It's a bizarre combination, one that only sometimes works well together, but the parts of the novel focused in on addiction and its highs and lows are remarkably intelligent and very well done. The protagonist's active realization that his life is his fault, but his addiction and need for self-preservation (on a metaphorical and literal level) keep pushing him to blame and point fingers at anyone and everything around him as an excuse to keep feeding his habit. It's heartbreaking, especially when it comes to the novel's climax where everyone around him either becomes his victim or gets left behind, as reflective of real life as anyone I've seen with an addiction. That part of the novel is brutal and smart.

Unfortunately, the zombie story mated to it in a Frankenstein-ish manner is more derivative and remarkably less inspired. It directly nods at The Walking Dead and Shaun of the Dead, which are great sources from which to draw inspiration, but very little about the zombie plague seems original, aside from the creepy idea that the zombies can still laugh and use that as a means to call attention to other zombies. I hope whatever Stenson goes on to write, it's more reflective of the better qualities of this novel and not the more fantastical.

The Lincoln Lawyer (Michael Connolly) - 4/5

Lincoln Lawyer is very much a by-the-numbers legal thriller that adds little to the genre. But in the end, it's still a largely entertaining read, but a limp conclusion preceded by an overly long court sequence with little drama to it brings the whole thing tumbling down. For what it was intended for - something to listen to on daily walks around a track - it worked great. It's breezy, the story's slightly hammy, the characters are just a little glossy, and it feels far less forced than early Bosch novels. I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to watching the movie, but the book was a bit of dumb fun.

I've been reading magazines lately, magazines about video games, sports, and Mad Magazine.

Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac - 4/5.

11/22/63 (Stephen King) - 4/5

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR A FIVE YEAR OLD BOOK

By Night In Chile by Roberto Bolaño.

Bolaño is probably a Top Five Author for me. Follows the breathless recounting of a Chilean priest and literary critic's life as he is on his deathbed. Reads somewhat as a counterpoint to The Savage Detectives, which is more essential but also significantly longer. Quite enjoyable even if it didn't have the lasting impact The Savage Detectives or even more so, 2666 had on me.

4/5

The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman

Probably my favourite of Gaiman's books that I've read. It's still rife with the problems that all his books have (Thin characters/plot.Poorly explained hand wavy magic system. 100 pages too short) but damn if that man cant create compelling worlds to explore!

They Shoot Horses Don't They? by Horace McCoy - 5/5

This book was recommended to me so I went in not knowing what it was about or the basic plot, I certainly didn't expect it to be a book about a month long dance. I really enjoyed it, I was surprised at how a lot of the themes and plot points are still relevant today with regards to celebrities and reality TV especially seeing as it was written in the 1930s. I'd definitely recommend it to people, I read it in 2 sittings as it really hooked me and was hard to put down. I finished it last week and have thought about it quite a bit in the time since.

Before that I had just finished the Wool books, I don't really have a lot to say about them so I suppose that means I think they were ok but didn't stay with me. I don't know that I'd recommend them unless the person is really into dystopian sci-fi. I do think the opening of the first book was great as that's the only part that I keep thinking about.

I'm actually struggling with what to read next, I seem to go through periods of buying a lot of books on kindle and then not reading them. I did buy Go Set a Watchman a few days ago which is likely my next read but it's been a while since I read To Kill a Mockingbird that I might read that first. Or I'll read the Sandman books again.

Red Shirts - John Scalzi

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Scalzi fan. I mean, he's very good at what he writes. It's just that the only thing he writes are ~300 page, humorous sci-fi-lite novels that you can burn through in a few lazy afternoons. They're good. They're short. They're easy to read. A little too easy. I like my literature a little more challenging sometimes. Scalzi likes to keep it simple.

This book falls on the shorter side of the Scalzi spectrum - which is very short. Yet, despite it's brevity, I had a real hard time getting through it sometimes. And not because it was hard to read, but just because it was kind of tedious. I think my problem was that I read a review that said this book was the "Cabin in the Woods of sci-fi literature" and I immediately knew what I was in for, and spent most of the book just wishing it would get to the point. Then when it finally did, it was ultimately unsatisfying and more than a little bit maudlin. Which Cabin in the Woods was not.

Then, presumably in order to turn a novelette's worth of story into a full blown novel, the last third of the book repeats the ending from different characters' perspectives. I didn't like when he did this with the Old Man's War series where the entirety of the fourth book is just the third book over again, and I don't like it a whole lot here either. I can't help but feel that the novel would have been better if he'd just written that stuff in with the story while it was happening rather than tack it on the end.

It has its moments. There's some sentimentality in here that's genuinely affecting rather than trite. And there are some pretty funny spots too. But in the end, it all feels just a little bit hollow. (There's also some minor messing with the fourth wall that mostly just made me go 'ugh'.) I give this book a resounding meh out of meh.

Do comic books count? If so Lazarus Vol 1-4- Really really good comic.4/5

If comics don't count- The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. Interesting read.4/5

Slaughterhouse Five. I've read some of Vonnegut's other works before, but never got around to this one. Phenomenal read, but not removing the David Irving references after he was outed as a Holocaust denier and a propaganda peddler in newer editions holds it back a little for me. 9.5 out of 10 (would've been a perfect score otherwise).

Before that, Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson. Mood shifts, a despicable protagonist nicknamed "Fuckhead" that still somehow manages to resonate with readers here and there, non-chronological storytelling via interconnected short stories, etc. Very Tarantino-esque in terms of delivery. A movie adaptation starring Billy Crudup came out a few years after the book; I haven't seen it and people don't seem to hate it, but from what I've read it seems like it sells short the darkness in the source material. Either way, unless it's The Godfather or The Shining I'd always recommend reading the book first. 9 out of 10.

Uno más: The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau. My edition was formatted poorly and the story itself relies on incredibly misogynistic / racist conceits. It's also really, really fucked up. Having said that, its message is profound and remains relevant today. 8 out of 10; 10 out of 10 for purpose and message, 6 out of 10 for delivery.

Alcatraz Vs The Shattered Lens

I'm a huge Brandon Sanderson fan. I was still hungry for more after reading the latest Mistborn novel, and so I powered through all 4 books in the Alcatraz series. Not really my thing, definitely not meant for my age group, but it has solid writing, story, and magic system...at least when I got past the juvenile nature of it. My main problem with it is that the narrator is a character, and constantly breaks the 4th wall, talking to the audience assuming it's a kid reading it. 100% recommended to kids in 4th-8th grade. But for me in my late 20s, it's a 2/5.

Stanislaw Lem, His Master's Voice — ★★★★☆

This is a science fiction novel that takes place in the present day. A transmission is received on Earth from an alien intelligence in the form of a pattern of neutrinos, discovered by accident with a Cherenkov detector. At first thought to be random noise from an interstellar event, the "noise" repeats exactly approximately every 400 hours. The U. S. government assembles the best scientists from every field to try to decode it.

It reminds me a lot of Solaris by the same author. The book asks, If we encountered an extra-terrestrial intelligence that was either very different or more advanced, is communication possible? Or would humanity be like the confused dog in the famous painting His Master's Voice by Francis Barraud?

infinite jest

ask me in 8-16 months when i finish it again/10

@sparky_buzzsaw: i really dig that book but i will say that the ending seemed rushed and forced. i would have liked there to be a more subtle ripple effect of what that change did to time than just "blargh, history got changed and it's MAD." i didn't care if it were happy or not really, just that it was more justified and not so blunt and kinda abrupt.

to me the historical/oswald stuff was the most fascinating and feel really eerie at points.

I've been going to the library lately and checking out sports reference and statistic books.

I have a bunch of Lazarus here, never got around to reading them. Are you reading them digitally?

Me and my girlfriend both read those and loved them and she's 29 and I'm 25. They're very good books, and legitimately pretty funny. Much better than The Rithmatist as far as Sanderson writing for kids goes. Idk, I've never been the type to say, "oh I'm too old for this," or, "oh this is a romance and thus only meant for women," or w/e intended audience type stuff. That kind of thinking always confuses me. I read pretty much everything. If something is good, it's good.

Well, I finished The Gunslinger and thought it was okay. While a fair portion of the book was good, interesting and fun to read, a larger portion was kind of boring. So, boring that it took a month and a half to finish. I hear the next couple books in the series are better with that, but I can't really devote myself to it right now. Unless it's a super long read, (like over a thousand pages long) I can't move on until I finish it. That's the way my brain works with reading. After that I started reading 11/22/63 (Another Stephen King book) and I think it's just swell. I'm about a third the way through it so far and recommend anyone interested in the premise pick it up asap.

Spoilers regarding connections to other works of King's in 11/22/63

I listened to Dune, and Children of Dune. 7/10? While the overall story was good, I find the writing lacking in detail of the worlds/universe. Characters are a bit too stolid, and under go radical shifts from book to book which are not covered. Seems more a plot choice to write a new book rather then developing the characters. Starting the next book God Emperor of Dune which seems to continue in that vein.

I read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to my three year old last night. Book is all right.

I'm about 60% through the Three Body Problem and I find it so boring, can't get into it. I picked it up since everyone was raving about it and people who usually align with my tastes recommended it. I don't know if it reads better in the original chinese sadly I dont have the time to become fully fluent to test that theory. The most interesting parts for me are the Red Coast stuff but it's visited too infrequently while punctuated by the 3Body part which is just a slog to get through.

3/5

Just started my job as a literary agent's assistant. So ______ gets a 1/5.