#although A Time to Die was about as worth finishing as TWHF in terms of “at least this way I *know* it doesn’t get better” :P ;))

[lady-merian]

3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15-19, and 25 for the Rocky Read asks, please?

3. A concept or plot that you thought was squandered in a story

the initial concept of The Circle Trilogy is one I like. (For those who don’t know, the protagonist falls asleep in our world and wakes up in another. Every time he falls asleep he switches worlds.) One thing I don’t like is how the other world is seemingly just the future. But a very weird future. And then there’s more I don’t like about it the more it goes on. (Dreamwalker by K. M. Weiland has a similar thing going on except it literally is another world and I much prefer that, but theres something else weird about that story and it doesn’t quite scratch the itch. I want something in between, maybe.)

also

I think I have mentioned this one trilogy that was set in a fantasy world with 18th century technology (roughly, if I remember right). The Legend of the Firefish, by George Bryan Polivka involved hunting these elusive creatures called firefish (inspired by the Leviathan, I believe,) using baited explosives… or something like that. It’s been a while. The thing I hated about the trilogy was it seemed to be trying to prove pacifism was always the right thing, taking scripture out of context, and yet in the end it relied on someone else (not the preachy main character) committing the act of violence that saved the day. And it still treated that as a bad thing despite the lives that were saved. The thing I think was wasted was the setting, as well as the idea that, though ostensibly the firefish were hunted for their meat, in reality people were salvaging the skins and using them as lightweight, flexible, but incredibly tough armor. yeah, I just wanted to rant about that one again. xD

4. An underutilized setting or world

I mentioned the setting in the previous example, but while I think it was wasted on that story it wasn’t really underutilized. Hmm. I do think more could’ve been done in Dreamwalker by K. M. Weiland with this other world. I sure did hope she would finish that sequel but I don’t think she did.

6. An author you want to rescue from the story they told

Sigmund Brouwer. Sir, it’s time to move on from Magnus. Mr. Brouwer please. You’ve tried redoing it three times now and it’s not fixing anything because the first version is actually the best. Please. (He’s not redoing it *again* that I know of, but this was the only thing that came to mind.)

7. A book you wanted to or thought you would love but didn’t

The Songkeeper Chronicles by Gillian Brontë Adams. The author’s blog was one I’d found while blog-hopping through writing advice blogs (said blog is how I first found out about Dare, by Tricia Mingerink) and I liked what she had to say on writing. I was excited when I saw that the library had gotten her books… and yet I remember almost nothing about the series besides it being vaguely interesting but not enough to reread.

10. A book you finished but wasn’t worth it in the end

Kind of thinking A Time to Die, by Nadine Brandes fits the bill. The main character annoyed me in the beginning but I persevered only to find that she was just as annoying at the end.

11. A book you struggled with but was worth persevering through

I did struggle a lot with War and Peace, and yet still intend to attempt the full version. Maybe this year.

15. A book that was better the second time around

Let’s see.. there’s the Wingfeather Saga, and oh, I loved picking up on bits of foreshadowing in the City Between series the second time around. :D A lot of my favorites get better each time I read them (Narnia, and LotR in particular) but I can’t actually remember the first time I read Narnia so I can’t say when I read it the second time. I do distinctly remember the first time I read LotR, but it was also a long time ago and I don’t distinctly remember the second time I read it.

16. A book you hold a grudge against, read or unread

Outlaws of Time: The Last of the Lost Boys by N. D. Wilson for portraying Kit Carson like that. *hisses* I’ve also never quite forgiven Harry Potter for being everywhere.

17. A book that you were spoiled for

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers had an element spoiled for me, because I mostly read The Mind of the Maker before I read Gaudy Night and she talks a bit about it in that. I think I narrowly missed getting the identity of the culprit spoiled for me because I paused that book to go ahead and just read Gaudy Night first.

18. A book where you like the adaptation or an element therein better than the book itself

By rights I ought to love Treasure Island, but really I like just about every adaptation of it that I’ve seen better than the book itself. Especially Treasure Planet.

19. A book that you don’t really like but have kept for other reasons

Sense and Sensibility, kept because it’s Jane Austen and because it’s part of a set (though I am missing two in that set, so I’m not sure why that stops me).

25. A book you feel more negatively about now than when you first read it

The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker. There’s a real problem with the way Jesus is portrayed there which I didn’t realize at first because I was distracted with a personal dislike of something that happened.

thanks for the ask, these are such fun questions!