The Ninja Reader

Here's a tidbid about your reviewer, stalkers: I'm a language buff. I love languages so much I almost wished I had a bunch of Karou's wishing coins to save a little time. Almost, because half the fun is in the work you put into it.Anyway, today in Japanese class we learned the following tidbit: The diffence beautiful (Kirei) and "Kirai", which means hate, is a single vowel, and your sentence can morph from "You're beautiful" to "I hate you" just as easily. Luckily for me, both sentences apply to the books I read lately: Beautiful package, putrid content. (although I do think that this particular Photoshop creation makes it look like Patch belted his pants under his armpits) Yes, Patch, even he has more style than you. Why am I even bothering commenting on the cover? Well, first of all, because it's been nagging me ever since the day I went to pick up Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Also, because I can't muster the enthusiasm to repeat what everyone else has already said.Some complaints (told in a voice best reserved for faking orgasms and not caring what the other person thinks): OMG, Patch is such a creeper!Could Nora get any stupider? The plot of this book couldn't have been more cliched or stretched. Seriously, was she payed by the adverbs? Isn't she tired of milkin' that cash cow? I mean, if she's that hard up for money, she could just ask her fans to buy her a laptop!And when the hell are those two going to have sex anyway? That has to be the most chaste fallen angel ever! And I don't count Daniel Grigori, since I firmly believe he's a woman! Face dirt is manly? Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Look, people a lot smarter than me have already reviewed this... work. I'm a firm believer in not repeating stuff that's already been said, but let me state, for the record, that Fitzpatz had absolutely no reason to make a fourth book, since the plot to Silence can easily be condensed into a hundred pages (if not less) instead of four. The book starts off three months after the cliffhanger that COFA tried to top. Nora wakes up in a cemetary with no memory of the last five months, and spends the rest of the book trying to get it back. There's more shit going on, but the basic gist of it is that Silence is basically Hush, Hush: Revamped. No pun intended.The really hilarious thing is that this book is supposed to be where Patch and Nora face the music with nothing but their absolute faith in each other (that's the blurb, not me talking). What trust? She spends half the book not knowing who he is, and doubting him for the other! Okay, so maybe Fitzpatrick realized how problematic her portrayal of Patch and Nora's relationship was and wanted to amend it by letting them start anew? Um, no, that's not it. The character development is almost non-existent. Admittedly, Patch is less of a stalker, but that's really not much of an improvement. There are still copious amounts of slut-shaming and fat-shaming. And as for the nitty-gritty, Nora almost immediately believes everything Patch says, and never questions the mythos, which is just as well, since I wouldn't have stood another heavy-handed description. And, since we're talking about the writing, I think fans of Fifty Shades of Grey will be relieved to know that the fanfic writing style is not limited to pull-to-pub books! If they ever suffer from Christian-detox, they can pick up Silence for consolation. It's almost the same, but with less chains and ball-gags. But only a little less. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some detox. Philip Reeve makes me cry, but damnit, he makes me believe in the future.