The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle #2, Peter V Brett)

1.  Mind demons seem like generals 
2. Don't like Jardir that much and his backstory
3. Abban must have been in on the act if he was childhood friends with Jardir!!??
4. The foreign language makes it a bit hard to read the first 50 pages
5. Very violent
6. And now you apologise?
7. The sight of so many women in revealing clothes was overwhelming 
8. War is at its crux, deception 
9. They were all dama ting
10. Jayan looked at his father in shock
11. The Warded Man walks in darkness, and the corelings flee from his sight. 
12. One day you must kill him, if you are to be hailed as Deliverer
13. Could there be a better man to tie my fate to?
14. Khaffit
15. No weakness of rock demon
16. They did not embrace death as part of life. 
17. It seems our cultures are a natural insult to each other Par'chin 
18. We will find one parchin. Together
19. Chapter 8 Parchin is the overlap with book 1
20. The prophecy be damned. I will not murder my friend..
21. No crime in salvaging what no man claims is his and haggling is just another form of battle
22. If it was anyone, we both know it was the Par'chin
23. But I am khaffit and doubt small things
24. Abban and Inevera brutal truth
25. You'll do no such thing Ernal - Elona up on her feet and grabbing his arm
26. Why mother it sounds like you truly care
27. Hug me now child while it lasts
28. Marick's son was killed by Jardir? .. and now you apologise?
29. There will be no denying it when people call you Deliverer now 
30. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking Bruna's secrets died with her
31. I love her too Rojer
32. But I love my Vika and our children even more. Do not waste years lamenting what you do not have with her. Instead cherish what you do. - Tender Jona
33. Seeking alliances vs Jardir!
34. The Creator blessed me with strong arms to kill demons, not to take whatever I wanted. Gared dropped to his knees. 
35. I let you go there and we'll lose you for the next 10 hours
36. Men turn to hardwood around a sharp woman,  but around a dullard they are as soft as a pulp
37. Stand in the night for me girl. Stand tall for every woman.. and never let anyone.. make you stoop
38. Gared: I swear it by the sun
39. Duchess mum's power
40. I meant with you
41. This is the defining event of our time and the tale is still unfolding
42. And creator forbid you selfish brats ever need someone to stand for you!
43. How did you know my daughter's name?
44. Mery's words were unfair
45. Come home Arlen. Even if only for a night
46. I've missed you she said quietly
47. I am my own succor
48. You made me memorise that passage the year I warded your stacks
49. I let you ward the most important building in the world
50. Didn't like it at first but it gets better after the first third and you understand why it was set up that way
51. Arlen senses a powerful demon
52. Jaik and Mery hopeless
53. Ent no demon going to lay a claw on Mistress Leesha while I'm around
54. Abban sees things others do not
55. What magic does that one carry? (after seeing Rojer's music)
56. Shocked at the female archers 
57. Leesha more beautiful than Inevera
58. Jardir watching them is interesting
59. Perhaps by day but all men are brothers in the night
60. Our peoples could learn much from each other if we kept peace by day as well as night
61. Abban knew Erny I knew it
62. Shocked at Leesha talking to Jardir
63. No one has been there except
64. Take it to remind you who is our enemy
65. Even the scent of her intoxicates me.  I must have her
66. Our cultures are a natural insult to one another (Jardir wanted to impress a woman by slapping a khaffit
67. Leesha Paper would shake the foundations of Inevera's power.. and the best part was the Damajah would never see Abban's hand in it
68. The only man who can truly handle a woman is a woman
69. Abban manipulated Ahmann Jadir into thinking Leesha was open to courting?
70. From the way Erny goggled at his wife,  Abban could tell he was shocked
71. The clash of cultures is quite interesting 
72. Fathers approve marriages, mothers arrange them
73. Girls get jealous like a thundercloud
74. With her and Inevera behind him, what in the world could be not accomplish?
75. Book is getting crazy - Leesha courting Jardir (or the possibility of it as Jardir wants it) is something I should have guessed but it's crazy
76. I knew Arlen would save Renna
77. You've got to stand up to those that would harm you and yours.
78. I like how there is a full circle moment where Arlen does all the teaching
79. Tend your own field before you look to your neighbour's 
80. Who are you Arlen Bales to tell me when my head is right
81. A cool gesture that warned of fire beneath
82. You're already married?! She demanded 😆😆😆
83. Inevera's eyes bulged.. she shrieked and came at him
84. The heathen harlot has bewitched your mind (..or perhaps she has begun to set it free)
85. Don't make any final decision while with Krasians
86. What's fascinating is we're left wondering whether Leesha is spying for Arlen's side or actually interested in marriage - probably both but mainly because she doesn't have a choice and is exploiting Jardir's eye for her. Also interesting that Renna seems to be morphing into a main character
87. Arlen and Renna seem like a good romantic match actually
88. Leesha's natural human reaction of seeing someone you once cared for deeply move on with someone else
89. She wisely kept the questions to herself, lest they reveal even more of her inner counsel
90. Never let anyone know what you're thinking till they've a need to
91. It seems our ways are not as different as they first appear
92. And there is the difference between us. Your people live to fight, while mine fight to live
93. It was then that Jardir understood. The Greenland taboo was death
94. In Krasia if no one is trying to kill you, it is because you are not worth killing.  They do you great honour
95. Another path to happiness abandoned
96. The sadness in his eyes
97. Inevera's demon dice and healing with bones
98. We did that in the Light of day
99. Leesha memorised demon bone uses and Arlen disappearing skills
100. He was not a unifier, like the dangerous one to the south .. but it was in his power to be
101. She wished she could love her half so much
102. If this is your life, then I aim to support it like a proper wife should. I Arlen Bales promise myself to you Renna Tanner
103. Why did Inevera offer Leesha to be Jardir's wife - keep enemies even closer I suppose
104. 4.94/5 surprisingly

The Warded Man (Demon Cycle #1, Peter V Brett)

1.  Survivors of a demon attack had a way of dying soon after
2. Selia Barren? 
3. It's pleasing to know what Graig thinks of me after all these years
4. Thought.. he's dead
5. Letters are all we have of them
6. We cannot tell the rain when to come, nor the wind, nor the cold
7. Free cities don't give their women much voice
8. Jongleur's job is to entertain the kids while parents clean up coreling destruction - interesting concept shows Peter V Brett's understanding of parenting
9. Also interesting concept of Messengers trained to deal with corelings on the road and fear
10. I called Selia Barren to her face this morning. That's twice. Rusco Hog
11. Rusco making a tidy profit,  giving everyone the option to trade everyday
12. Good Marsh rice
13. Hog cheats kids of gold pieces and trades for a carved wood game. Laughed heartily when miller thanked him
14. No death price for Messenger dying at home
15. My guild brothers and I have sworn that she won't become a beggar
16. Laktonians are safe from non water demons
17. Great wards are lost.. Men want to fight
18. Ignorance of Arlen and a great big world with 5 kingdoms
19. Cobie ent a rock demon
20. Scared to die, scared to live. Should have died fighting
21. Age of science
22. After 3000 years no one believed they existed - we forgot magic and were unprepared 
23. Arlen knew his father was ashamed. Arlen could find no sympathy. His mother had paid the price for his father's cowardice. 
24. We's promised now. Renna
25. You've already got someone to take care of your thingie! At least,  until she gets killed too, because you're too scared to help her
26. Arlen, I'm sorry...!
27. Succor
28. Howled with delight
29. Arlen is braver
30. I think Arlen is going to draw wards on his body like tattoos and it'll be a secret from the Age of ignorance
31. I just realised what the main character will do in the future from the book's cover and it's pretty cool now that I realise what it's about
32. The crone lives because of her you idiot
33. She wished her father would stand up to her (Elona) for once
34. Erny hung his head
35. Besides they'd probably give her back
36. Science as much as magic 
37. Choose a book. Any book.  I'll show you what else the world can offer
38. The hag's ears are still sharp
39. Keep your manhood slack for of year 
40. Being village healer is more than brewing Potions
41. Bruna
42. Elona hypocrite
43. We are what we choose to be girl. Let others determine your worth, and you've already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves. 
44. Leesha
45. Enjoy the fruits of your lie because I'll give myself to the night before I let you make it a reality
46. I never could sunlight. I'll always love you as well. 
47. Her father the only friend she had left in the world
48. Even holy men are men
49. Secrets of science
50. Did you take Leesha's flower? Speak up!
51. And I hope one day to make you proud of me, as well
52. Backstories and seeing each of their worldview break, which causes them to turn into their main character trope, are pretty cool
53. Clear main character roles vs sprawling Wheel of Time mystery where bunch of characters are thrown into chaos and it's not clear who is who
54. A central theme in the warded (painted) man is that evil reigns when men are silent or weak but in the literal sense of males
55. Arrick the coward and Piter the negligent warder
56. His mother could have been cured by a weed he regularly pulled from Jeph's field? It was just too much
57. Quick to laugh, held no grudges, but he demanded respect and let you know where you stood
58. Graig died a Messenger, the guild's ruling be damned
59. Of course not! An offended duke can make a man's life difficult but not half so much as an offended wife!
60. Euchor only cares about gold coal lost combat wards
61. The boy's wards cut the arm off a rock demon
62. But it's clear she wants the job. Would it be so bad to let her have it?
63. He admitted to himself if no one else he was beginning to like Lady Elissa fussing over him 
64. Arlen confronts Keerin
65. If this is what I want, I have to work harder. 
66. "For he shall be marked upon his bare flesh and the demons will not abide the sight" - that must be Arlen
67. Erny refused to see his daughter live in squalor, sent carpenters
68. We don't do things so quickly in the hollow but you may carry my basket
69. Hurting with herbs is easy, it's healing with them that's hard
70. Swapping apprentices 
71. Pack your things and say your goodbyes. You'll bring that advice to Jizell personally. 
72. Bruna's eyes were wet. You've mastered all I can teach you,  girl, so let these years be my last gift to you. Go, see and learn as much as you can. 
73. They can be stupid and wilful, but there's good in them, when the night is dark
74. The entire town and Erny was waiting for her 
75. Cob isn't young and loves you like a son. Would it be such a curse to take over his shop and marry that pretty girl I've seen you with?
76. We have nothing more to say
77. I think he's trying to desperately feel alive
78. The moments I had with him were worth all the ones apart.
79. I think the risk of losing his life made him appreciate how precious it is, and sparked an instinct in him that would never allow him to die
80. I'm sorry I could not be what everyone wanted. 
81. I don't care! I have to try!
82. All she wanted now was to find him before he left and tell him that she loved him and that she found continue loving him no matter what he chose to do. 
83. Creator, Arlen. Of course I understand
84. Then he wept
85. One day I wish to see the land that makes noble men like the son of Jeph
86. By night my enemy becomes my brother
87. Krasia part too closely aligned with Arabia?
88. I was meant to die a long time ago, and everyone that tries to save me ends up dead
89. I'll take my chances. We survivors need to look out for one another
90. Rojer and Leesha random
91. There's no need for sexual content
92. She wanted to throw down the spear and wrap him in her arms
93. Leesha wanted to scream
94. It's coincidence then that you showed up in our hour of need?
95. It is not you that should fear them, Benn the glass blower! It is they that should fear you!
96. All of you are Deliverers. 
97. Wards tapped into the demons magic using the corelings own power against them
98. Loved this book but wish Leesha had been left alone and not ravished. Also think it was a bit sudden how Arlen Leesha and Rojer collided into each other's paths
99. 4.8-4.9/5

Dust (Silo 3)

1. "Heroes didn't win. The heroes were whoever happened to win. History told their story. The dead didn't say a word. All of it was bullshit."
2. All action and not really that much intrigue 
3. Didn't really like it - horrible actually 
4. No interaction between Donald and Juliette
5. Let me say that book 1 was outstanding; book 2 was ok, good in some parts; book 3 I felt was horrible. I just felt like it wasn't as intriguing or mysterious as book 1 and book 3 felt more like a book about action than trying to intelligently tie up loose ends. Am I in the minority here or being unreasonable?
6. 2.5/5

Shift (Silo book 2)

1.  Let me guess..Troy and Donald are the same guy in shift (AI says I'm right)
2. First third of the book is kind of boring..I dislike American centric books 
3. References to Wool are of course interesting
4. Shift is a play on Troy's shifts and a shift in perspective 
5. Helen of Troy
6. Use of memory as a theme is quite good
7. The reason people stop taking pills is because they begin to remember, not the other way around
8. Skipped Mission chapters
9. Donald ignored what looked to be an invitation. He ignored the throbbing, the yearning, the v hormonal rush of being near an ex-lover after centuries of need, and searched instead for his wife. 
10. 100 years too late, Athena and Karma Brewer. Anna's non reaction is a bit weird
11. It's a burden to do what is correct, sound and logical.. how much better for us all, if we had people brave enough to do what was right instead. 
12. Interesting maths problem for Solo who's stuck in a saferoom (desperate people trying to get in and kill him / the room keeps him safe): There is a 4 digit code to enter the room. 1218. There are 10,000 possibilities if you include 0000. Every day, the desperate people will try 3 attempts at the code and then get locked out for 24 hours. The boy calculated that if they start at 0000 eventually after 400 odd days they will enter. But he doesn't know if they started at 0000 going in ascending order or 9999 and going downwards, and what system they are using. So he is having a debate about whether to change the code to a number they have already guessed because otherwise he feels like he's just waiting to die and be found... but he can't be sure what to do because it's possible they are guessing random numbers. I'm sure there is an algorithm or optimal formula for which number to change the code to each day to maximise prospects of survival??
13. The devastation of Helen and Mick long passing, and him being deceived and manipulated by Anna who wanted him all to herself
14. It's time for the truth. You're the reason I'm here, aren't you? 
15. A shadow slid across Anna's face
16. The poop corner
17. Interesting but lots of boring chapters (Solo, Mission) - maybe a 3-3.5.5 - I know that's vague.

Wool (Silo series book 1)

 

1. Or do you just hate that the blur has had so much time to build?
2. I enforced those rules for most of my life, even after I realised they were bullshit
3. No Mayor has sent more people to cleaning than I have
4. Nervous that he won't do the cleaning because most say they won't then they will
5. Uprising took place regularly, once every generation
6. Good guys wiping the servers and evidence of uprisings every 2 decades
7. No uprising since the last one
8. Forgotten history like Rodda
9. What if some part of our known history..or knowledge of whatever it was that made people move in here long  long ago... what if that built up some kind of pressure
10. He could feel the pressure as sheriff to fit someone (to clean)
11. Wool pads
12. A spark of calm clarity registered there..of cool calculation 
13. None of it is real
14. IT make the pictures on screen look real
15. I'll come right back. 
16. Expressing any desire to leave. The great offence. All the uprisings started that
17. Damn them if they are staying here. I'm only coming back for you
18. Green Hills Green carpet
19. What would they see, anyone who had chosen to watch
20. Down-deeper
21. Why does Marnes not want to be promoted
22. Planning holiday trips to see the view for an hour
23. Anyone with wrinkles in their eyes knew better. 
24. Keep us going, don't let it unravel not just yet
25. Wool refers to cleaning the cameras but also wool over one's eyes
26. Bernard from IT appearing to pick candidates 
27. I gave you my list in confidence. You betrayed that. 
28. Their time was almost up. The most important thing they could do for the silo was to make sure their legacy endured. No uprisings. 
29. Existence of other silos?
30. 3x48 levels
31. Juliette
32. The point is it's going to happen.
33. IT has 3 floors of 144
34. He radiated confidence. His smile threw shadows
35. I figure you don't need me to talk you into something you've already walked this far to get. 
36. Cause she'll damn well do it
37. The shared meal was breakfast for one and supper for the other 
38. They make the best ones. The ones who have no interest in it 
39. He'll be getting more guidance from the thirties or from the Pact.
40. Heat tape for IT
41. I think I'll have a lot to learn before you go calling me that
42. The juice of her efforts and sacrificed years had dripped down through a silo that.. hardly knew and barely cared
43. A whispered word of tenderness and appreciation 
44. Testing the memory of old attractions
45. The Pact is clear
46. Billings as judge
47. You think you'll outlive another sheriff?
48. (Bernard kept his eyes on this curious exchange - set up the murder)
49. Two people who interviewed Juliette died
50. It almost felt like an affront, to bring her here and then leave her so suddenly. 
51. Or good depending on who you were. She noticed childless couples biting vigorously into their fruit, their hands intertwined, silently doing the maths.
52. Peter billings shadowed a silo judge but he seemed more the IT type.. maybe IT plant spies everywhere
53. It never occurred to her that the view could be fabricated
54. She was after all following the breadcrumbs of someone else following more breadcrumbs, a much easier and more obvious trail 
55. Making wiring and conversing with each other more difficult
56. Limned in grease
57. Scottie killed
58. He loved you. Damn, how that boy looked up to you. 
59. This roughly 8 inch by 2 inch sheet of glass
60. I knew it.. there are 18+ other silos it seems that don't want each other to know of their existence 
61. 4.95/5?
62. Walker called all the favours in. Best of the best
63. Think we have more hope among the toppers. Say again?
64. Shook his head at those who spent hard earned chits on food that would never repay the favour
65. People feared him and wanted to feel safe. But they respected McLain and wanted to feel loved
66. Killing a man should be harder than waving a length of pipe in their direction. It should take long enough for one's conscience to get in the way
67. We are the seeds, this is a silo. They put us here for the bad times. 
68. I'm coming for you. I'm coming home and I'm coming to clean.
69. characters a bit too easily killed
70. It's because we knew
71. Peter had taken the risk, had listened.
72. Probably justified 4.9-4.95/5

What is the point

Ecclesiastes 1:8

The eye never sees enough;

the ears never hear enough;

Life - free time, precious moments - never seems long enough.

How do I grapple with my existence, if life itself, does not suffice?

God help us all, if life in of itself cannot satiate...

...help us all, God, and satiate us.

When the going gets neutral, the neutrals tough it out

Is it common human experience to feel somewhat neutral about life; it's not great, it's not bad either; I know how privileged I am relative to the world as a ~middle income earner, yet I'm not that happy about it either or particularly excited; I love my family and what I have; I'm reasonably content; finances are not an issue; but life and the cycle of work feels mundane, especially with young kids; it's not that I'm not thankful, but I often feel tired and sometimes I don't know what I want. Things are going relatively well but life can feel more like a chore than anything else. Part of it is that both work and family don't seem to appreciate anything I do, and it's hard to be standout excellent at both spheres of life,  as distinct from feeling average and not advancing as far as I'd like in either 

:)/:( (sad / happy at the same time). 

Perhaps this is a very normal feeling that will simply pass, or will this hang around no matter what? I suppose that's up to me. I hope that this phase too shall pass.