Dangerous Beans

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Yes.

Why did Nyx and Ignifex's relationship have to become romantic?  =/  They were so much better when she was repulsed / annoyed at the marriage and he was highly amused she was trying to kill him.

This is not a bad book, but something has been bothering me since the beginning:  Why on earth did Nyx's father go through with Ignifex's bargain knowing that a.) he wasn't going to get a son out of it, which was his major draw in making the bargain to begin with and that b.) someone (a member of his immediate family) would die from it?

I also don't really get the focus on calling out Nyx's father and aunt's relationship.

I had only been on the M40 for about fifteen minutes, but already I was bored. There was absolutely nothing to see, nothing to look at, apart from the little punctuation marks that broke up the motorway itself – roadsigns, chevrons, gantries, bridges, all of which merged into one indecipherable, meaningless sequence after a while anyway.

Can't tell if lampshading or not...

This is pretty okay so far, but just okay.  There are a lot of nuances in the writing that are taking me out of it and [omg I've forgotten the protagonist's name] just randomly hated on a girl for no reason other than the fact that the girl, who more than likely went through the same things that protagonist went though, was simply trying to survive and was cheery about it.

I wish I knew the term for lit like this because I can tell I've read this type of writing before.  I'm not saying it's bad, but I am saying I can feel how things will play out already.

I'm giving this another try because I would /really/ like to get into this series.

I'm just sofa king BORED by everything in this book though.

I'm liking this a lot more than I thought I would.  It helps that Angel's voice is fun and relateable and the mystery of the zombie-ism is neat.

I realize I'm only about a quarter of the way through, but damn I wish I liked this better.  It's nothing at all like what I imagined it'd be.

Sadly I'm beginning to realize IDRC about what happens to the characters in this book.  The first book was really interesting and I loved the little glimpses of what happened with other people dealing with the long earths.  We're not really getting that in this book.

Joshua's storyline doesn't interest me at all and it should.  I should care about what's happening to the trolls and why they're disappearing and I care for them, but IDC about Joshua's mission.  As good a character as he was in The Long Earth, here it's like he's phoning his presence in.  I also /really/ do not care for his wife which makes me sad because I could've used another female character to root for in this series.

Sally's storyline is confusing and IDG her whole reluctance to talk to people or stay with them.

God, I really dislike Roberta, which is a shame because the storyline of the people she's traveling with, the Chinese Space Agency, is interesting.  But Roberta is such a bland character and so unlikeable, IDC if she is ~~~~super smart~~~~, she's honestly a bit of a bitch.

And why is Nelson in this story?  I don't dislike or like him but every time one of his chapters shows up ... well, it comes off as desperate to be involved in the plot by any means necessary, not because he is an actual part of the plot.

There are several awkward moments where the entire story will just stop so that a character will give a paragraph of information to a POV character.  It's weird because I'll hit those spots and think, "oh, boy, here we go again..."

Unless the last 100 pages, which I'll be attempting to finish today, completely wow me, I can't see myself giving this more than a 2.5, and that depresses me because I really love Pratchett.

IDK if I'll be reading The Long Mars next or waiting.  I'm curious to see if the Pratchett touch comes back (I've srsly only noted it a few pages in this book) and I'd like to know what goes on in the book.  It's also shorter than this one, praise be, but IDK if I wanna sit through more unlikeable characters and story lines that seemingly lead nowhere.

There are actually bits that feel like Pratchett into this, a whole chapter, which was nice.  Still a very Baxter driven book though.  I also wish I understood what the hell the author(s?) were hinting at with all the Yellowstones in the the Long Earths going haywire.

Sad to say I'm not into this one much at all.  I loved The Long Earth, even when other people whined about it not being enough Pratchett, but this book honestly feels like it was mostly written by Baxter.  I can't really pick up on any of Pratchett's writing or ideas in it.

Just beginning this tonight since I needed to sit up with my computer while it runs a defrag.  Very ashamed I've had it as my currently-reading for 10 days without touching it though; I love Valente's work and her writing always has such a fairytale quality to it.

I don't remember Sally being so bitter.  Nearly every line she's spoke in the scene with Joshua and his wife is 'spat'.

I'm also not a huge fan of Helen.  =/  I'd like to be because I liked her diary entries in The Long Earth, but her character so far has mostly just been extremely jealous of Sally coming by and asking Josh for help even though Josh has repeatedly assured her that he isn't interested in Sally.

I love this so far, but damn do I wish people would start telling Gwyn things.  I get that after the whole Lucy incident they wanna be more careful about who they tell things to and allow in, but Gwyn is quite clearly the Ruby and they need her, plus she was out of the loop on things for so long because her mother faked her birth certificate and she was never considered to have the gene nor trained in case she did.

Also, I really need more info on Saint-Germain.  I understand that he's the bad guy and he (telepathically) choked and threatened Gwyn at their first meeting, but I don't get why.  I also don't get why Gwyn didn't tell Gideon or any of the others about it.  If Lucy ran off with the first Chronograph because Saint-Germain was giving her bad vibes, if Gwyn brought up, "btw, he choked and threatened me," wouldn't they have to start realizing that maybe he isn't the savior they believe him to be?

The duke and his friends—especially Finley

Thank God this is the end for me.