Jr's Updates en-US Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:07:44 -0800 60 Jr's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Comment287488366 Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:07:44 -0800 <![CDATA[Jr commented on Jr's review of Morning Star]]> /review/show/7266665794 Jr's review of Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3)
by Pierce Brown

Valeria wrote: "Always loved reading your reviews, and i thought this would be an old one, but seeing you just read one of my favorite books and loved it makes me so happy. Your words are super relatable, and on t..."

I want to let the first trilogy sit for a bit before I continue with the rest of the books. But so far I'm just glad it got me back to reading again. Glad to hear from you, Valeria. Looking forward to discovering what you are reading and sharing more thoughts with you. ]]> Review7304322928 Sun, 09 Feb 2025 05:23:48 -0800 <![CDATA[Jr added 'You Dreamed of Empires']]> /review/show/7304322928 You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue Jr gave 4 stars to You Dreamed of Empires (Paperback) by Álvaro Enrigue
Chronicling a single day in 16th Century Tenochtitlan of the Aztec Empire (modern Mexico City) when Conquistador Hernan Cortes is presented to Emperor Moctezuma II and switching perspectives between different individuals involved in the meeting, this mystical and often enchanting tale reads like a fever dream. It showcases the rich and vicious indigenous culture of the ancient Colhua. Surprisingly funny, with characters moving in a haze induced either by delusions of grandeur, religious fervor, magic mushrooms or psychoactive cacti, it manages to traverse a deft tightrope between historical accuracy and magical realism.

Surrender yourself to the narrative. From the appearance of 70s rock music, breaking the fourth wall, Moctezuma's obsession with horses, and reciting the lines of a rosary prayer in between visualizing the massacre of healthy Mayan nobles so their fat can be gathered for boot grease, the experience is surreal but vastly rewarding. The indigenous depiction here is not subservient and inferior, but rather complex and rich. It paints the sweeping beauty of Mehxicoh-Tenoxtitlan with its grand temples, maze-like palaces, and sophisticated social caste system. For once it doesn't worship the colonialists but rather sees them as dirty yokels needing taming like little dogs. And while history tells us it didn't end well for them, the alternative perspectives offered in this book are vastly more interesting than your usual colonialist point of view. ]]> Review7266665794 Tue, 28 Jan 2025 11:49:50 -0800 <![CDATA[Jr added 'Morning Star']]> /review/show/7266665794 Morning Star by Pierce Brown Jr gave 3 stars to Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3) by Pierce Brown
It has been a while. Three years to be exact. I hope those years have been good to you and I trust great books have kept you company. Books have been mostly absent in my life these past few years. I'm not entirely sure why I stopped reading, life is just about all I can say, but three years later I find myself back and three books deep in a science fiction series. Over a decade ago I remember reading the first Hunger Games book on my old beat up Kindle. The excitement and wonder it brought to a young teenage boy one boring weekday afternoon is still something I can feel to this day. To say that I devoured those pages is an understatement. The years and books that followed gave me more reading pleasure than I ever thought possible, but gradually, slowly, I started to feel less as the pages went and the books piled up. I became an apathetic reader giving two or three-stars to good books because I was a flawed reader incapable of feeling empathy for stories and characters that demanded to be felt. Ultimately I stopped reading altogether. Responsibilities and career aside, I simply lost my passion for books.

Months passed, I tried. On the rare occasion that I found myself at a bookstore, I would often scan the shelves for something that might pique my interest. Usually I departed empty-handed. But there were a few books I bought and started but never really got around to reading more than a few pages of. Then one quiet evening just as the year started, I found myself watching a short clip from a content creator that I don't really know or follow. It was a compilation of the best books she had read over the past year and among her favorites were a bunch of books called the Red Rising series. I don't exactly recall what she said about them but she was compelling enough that for some reason I decided to purchase and read the first book. Reading these books have been perhaps the closest experience to what I felt during those excited teenage years when I first read the Hunger Games. The first two books I read in a matter of two days, the third one I read in about a week. I felt like a kid again, I connected to the characters, and cared to know what was written in the next pages. Any misgivings or pretentions I might have had I surrendered to the story and I was engulfed. I just wanted to read.

Writing this I'm not really sure if my new-found passion for reading will continue or this was just an exception, but I'm just here journaling this feeling, so that when I inevitably feel like reading is becoming a burden again, I can go back to this sentimental writing and recall this moment. I know I haven't really talked about the books. I apologize. I trust you will find better reviews among the better readers here. This piece is just more for me than anyone else. But if you are still here and I can share anything from the books with you, it is just that I, much as Darrow, despite everything that's happened in their Universe and in ours, am still hopeful for a better future. One with more books doesn't sound so bad. ]]> Review7189535310 Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:25:57 -0800 <![CDATA[Jr added 'Golden Son']]> /review/show/7189535310 Golden Son by Pierce Brown Jr gave 4 stars to Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2) by Pierce Brown
]]> UserChallenge60143091 Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:14:09 -0800 <![CDATA[ Jr has created a challenge to read 12 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/16587936-jr-bacdayan 11627
Jr Bacdayan has read 2 books toward their goal of 12 books.
 
2 of 12 (17%)
Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]>