Or, let me try to explain....
Hmmm. Well, let me put it like this. The blog isn't dead. Not yet, at least. It's more of on a medically induced coma, or maybe it's one of those dramatic life-support situations where the beloved stay close to the hospital bed and pray for the miracle that they all know deep down is never coming.
Probably closer to the latter. Although I doubt that there are too many beloved standing by.
Well, here's what it is. Time is no ones' friend, and that includes me. There just isn't enough of it. I've always stated that I am slow as molasses at both reading and writing, which explained why the reviews were so far and few between to begin with.
Recently some things came up. Nothing bad; just time consuming. New job, going back to school, kids needing more of the time. There's just no more minutes left on the clock for reading and reviewing.
So, if you can still stop by once in a while, it's great to have visitors. I'm going to do my best to get the odd review up.
Speaking of which....
You know, getting timely reviews up on The Beast Arises series was a goal I really tried to achieve. Some of them got held up a bit, but I just had to give up for a while.
It was Book 8 that made me throw in the towel for the time being. Gav Thorpe's The Beast Must Die. And it stinks, because I really want to tear into David Annandale's Book 9, Watchers in Death. I just have that OCD problem with skipping installments. Really don't know what to do, because I can't imagine myself finishing that Book 8.
I should put an EDIT notation here. I had started typing a bunch of my issues with The Beast Must Die, then I stopped. I reread them, and it came off too nit-picky and nasty to me. So I'll just say that as far as pacing, characterization, and portrayal of tactical acumen are concerned, I just couldn't get into it.
Maybe I'll give it another go. Maybe I'll just move onto Watchers in Death, and then Last Son of Dorn, which was just released and boasts an amazing cover....
We will see.
In other news, not much going on. Another reason for the lack of reviews is that I am reading a bunch of fantasy and sci-fi classics (when time allows), and I usually don't review those, since so many before me have done it much better.
I also just finished yet another reread of Fire Caste, which I enjoyed more than all 7 TBA books that I read combined.
One final thing; and I believe that I've mentioned this in passing before, but I am seriously considering eliminating the ratings system on future reviews. The longer I do this, the more presumptuous and condescending it seems. I'm in no place to assume a sort of teacher/student dynamic with authors in which I "grade" the quality of work. Where I get caught up is with sites like Goodreads and Amazon, in which the 5 star system still stands as a legitimate measure by which to rate your satisfaction with a product. Then again, if I am making a review based on a book's meaning, who am I to make the final decree on author's intent?
I suppose what I am trying to say is that an efficient review will balance elements like discussion and judgement. Skewing more towards the latter than the former is a recipe for failure.
That's about it. Thanks as always for stopping by, and feedback is always welcome.