Book #67 of 2023: That Game We Played During the War | 3 DNF

[thistlechaser]

That Game We Played During the War by Carrie Vaughn. I first read this in 2019 (review here), and loved it. When my Kindle had the technical issue and deleted all my books, I added this one back on even though I had read it already.

Plot: A war between two nations ended, but real peace was starting between two people, one from each nation. He had been a POW under her care, and years later she had been a POW under his. Once the war ended, they met again.

I think my expectations had been too high. I went into it expecting to love it, but it didn't seem so special anymore. I liked it fine, but nothing more than that. (Also, it's so short that I feel guilty counting it as a book, but I have no other category to sort it into.)

DNF #132: Dirt by C.C. Hogan. I feel sure I tried to read this book before, but I don't have a review for it here or on Goodreads. Horribly written. Grammar issue in the dedication. Prologue was wall-of-text dialogue. Didn't get more than a couple pages in before I dropped it.

DNF #133: The Builders by Daniel Polansky. A Goodreads review described this as a "grimdark Redwall story", so it really, really should have worked for me. A talking animal story, but not in a way that worked for me. They were clearly animals (mouse, stoat, possum), but they were also just people in animal shapes (captain/mouse, killer/stoat, and assassin/possum). The stoat was a Frenchman. I think I was just the wrong reader for this.

DNF #134: Children of the Fleet by Orson Scott Card. I never read Ender's Game, so I'm not sure why I picked up this book (it's a stand-alone book, but set in the same universe). Issues about him aside, I know Card is a good author, so I stuck with this book to 20%, trying to get into it. Eventually I put it down and checked Goodreads reviews. There was a line that said something like "How you feel about Dabeet [the main character] is how you'll feel about the book".

I really, really, really did not like the main character. 11 years old and a genius, he was just so unlikeable (apparently purposefully written that way). I just didn't want to spend an 8-9 hour book with him, so I gave up on it.

Comments

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I don't know if I'll ever read That Game We Played During the War, but just have to say, that looks like the image was made by one of my favorite artists (whom I found by admiring book jacket covers) John Jude Palencar. I can see how someone would want to write a darker version of Redwall, to make it appealing to a further audience? but I never liked anything about the original Redwall so I won't try this one. I was SO BLOWN AWAY by Ender's Game when I first read it- and three or four times over again- but then, I was an impressionable 14-year-old at the time. Now I can't read any of that author's books without seeing all kinds of issues because I know too much about his um, opinions- so I haven't read any in a long time. Even though some of them sound good. I just can't bring myself to do it. Too many other good books out there!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I might one day try Ender's Game eventually, but without buying it. As long as I don't give him money, I think I'll be okay with reading the book. (Though I'm not sure I'll ever seek it out either...)

I was curious, so I looked up who did the cover for that story. You were right, good eye! "illustrated by John Jude Palencar"