friendship

Progress Update Friday – 2/14/2025

by Stefani

It’s been a minute since I did a progress update post. I am working my way through a few things, so let’s jump right in.

Kree by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by Univerity of Minnesota Press

Progress: 156 out of 280 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged post apocalyptic, post human world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

How it’s going:

This book is very odd but I have to admit that I’m enjoying it. Before I got it I didn’t realize that this is a side novel that takes places in an established world that have had other books written in it. The author’s name is a pseudonym and is a character in one of the other novels. Which is an interesting idea. The translation also seems to replace the word “that” with “what” almost all the time. But translations can be tricky and once I realized what the intended word likely was I stopped noticing it. It’s an interesting book. It’s beautifully written, but it’s incredibly difficult to follow.

Pride’s Children: Netherworld by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Published: September 19, 2022 by Trllka Press

Progress: 20 out of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Every decision he makes from here on will hurt someone .

Is his happiness even in the equation any more?

In Book 1, Pride’s PURGATORY , rising Irish megastar Andrew O’Connell embarked on a beautiful friendship with reclusive author Dr. Kary Ashe , and committed to his stunning costar Bianca Doyle ’s directorial debut film Dodgson , a Lewis Carroll biopic.

He never imagined either would shatter the impenetrable wall he built between his professional and personal lives. His future as a leading man depends on being an bankable obsession in the lives of the women he seduces, on and off screen. But a past regret makes his gorge rise when offspring are on the way and he’s suddenly responsible for their very existence.

How it’s going:

Clearly I have a long way to go on this one, but I am excited to be back in Andrew and Kary’s world. So far this one has the same tone as the first, a narrative that carries you on a winding river journey, looking at all the passing scenery. It’s a fun ride and I am happy to be back on this boat.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer: A Tale of Friendship and Secrets

by Stefani

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

Published: July 16, 2024 by Random House Audio

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Rating:

Review:

I had very high hopes about this book. The concept of bringing me a grown up fairytale akin to the Chronicles of Narnia was highly appealing. In a lot of ways this book met those expectations. And in some ways it didn’t. So ultimately my feelings about this book are that it was good but not great.

The brightest point of this book was the relationship between Jeremy and Rafe. It was so tortured and complicated and beautiful. I found myself angry at Jeremy for lying to Rafe. I found myself angry at Rafe for rejecting Jeremy. And when the full story of their relationship was revealed, I cried like a baby. It was a slow burn of a relationship and I loved it. I was rooting for them so hard, and I ended up in a puddle of tears in the end.

I have to admit that I didn’t have a single idea what was going on for a large part of this book. That’s what brought the rating down to a three star for me honestly. I said in my progress update last week that I thought I had missed something important and went back to listen again only to discover that I hadn’t missed something, it was just very jarring. It took a long time for me to find my footing in the story. The parts I did understand were amazing. This was a pretty short audiobook at just over 10 hours long, it could have used just a little more length to smooth out some of those transitions to make the story flow better. There was also a lot of missing world building. The author just thrust us into this fantastical world but didn’t give us too many details about it, which was disappointing.

In the end, when it was great it was amazing and when it wasn’t it was okay.