Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[AntonSlavik020]

I read the entire game of thrones series in 4 days, go summer!

Holy shit. I got the series for Christmas and I'm a little over half way through the third book.

[Helbereth]

It response to the question, the reading period could go for 2 weeks, it depends upon the fic we choose, and through the magical powers of the Library and randomly scrolling down and clicking a link, the first fic shall be:

Katawa Kijo - Route by Mirage_GSM (completed, 46.862 words)
PoV: Hisao; Pairings: Hisao x Misha, Kenji x Hanako; Begins: after Act I – “Misha end”
Remarks: non-standard setting (magic)

Hmm, I've read this at least twice, and the first time was while it was being posted. I believe I shall be able to participate.

I've seen it on the forum before I think, but never gave it a look. It was started 2 years before I joined the forum, so that's hardly surprising.

Edit: Thus far my major problem is its complete lack of navigation links.

[griffon8]

Edit: Thus far my major problem is its complete lack of navigation links.

Each chapter is linked in the first post, so you should be able to figure out a way around that.

[brythain]

This has been my first time reading Katawa Kijo. It's very smoothly crafted in its present form; the plot is clear, nicely linear, and does not dig too deeply into the psychological matrix of KS. This is a strength for this kind of story; it can be seen as a weakness, but only if you're looking for very detailed character development. Here are a few points from my first read-through...

What I like: 1) The clever interweaving of canon. For example, while Nurse/Emi is obvious, there's only one Mutou/Misha scene that comes to mind (the one where she's suffering through extra lessons) — yet that makes it a clear pairing which is better than the more obvious Mutou/Hisao (Science Club, anybody?) one. 2) The crafting of the magic milieu. It is a bit like AD&D meets Harry Potter, but the underlying logic makes sense and is relatively uncomplicated. I can think of ways to make it more coherent, but they would slow the story down a lot. 3) The level of characterisation, such as it is, allows for some new insights particularly into the nature of the Shizune-Misha relationship and the Kenji case - in fact, there's a lot of good extrapolation and interpolation going on, but because the tale covers so much ground relative to its length, it feels a bit thin.

What I thought might be better, purely subjectively: 1) A look into more characters' heads to see how they coped with their newfound abilities — Rin and illusion, to take just one example… it boggles the mind! 2) A lot of the canonical interplay between characters was sacrificed — Lilly/Shizune, Rin/Emi for example. 3) The experience of using magic could have been better described. All these things were problematic because of the viewpoint adopted, but that's fine; the tale stands on its own with its own sense of what it's worth.

Thanks for the read! It was much appreciated.

Edit: It was tactfully pointed out to me that this piece was based on an Act1-only reading. In that case, much of what I've said about character interaction is nullified, and the work is the more impressive for it.

[Helbereth]

Edit: Thus far my major problem is its complete lack of navigation links.

Each chapter is linked in the first post, so you should be able to figure out a way around that.

Still not a very convenient setup.

[Comrade]

Ithink it would be best if you people wait for the beginning of the first meeting before posting your thoughts

[Mahorfeus]

The entire deal is spread over only 9 pages, with minimal reader commentary, so getting from chapter to chapter wasn't terribly inconvenient. Now, if it were monster-sized like some of the other fics around here, well...

Also, was there any specific idea as to what should fill this thread after the reading has been assigned? Giving everybody time to read the fic is all well and good, but I don't imagine the thread staying on topic over an extended period. Nor do I expect anybody to just leave it alone during that time period.

[brythain]

Ithink it would be best if you people wait for the beginning of the first meeting before posting your thoughts

Ooops. Sorry. Thought I was late to the party, actually. Hard to remain situationally aware when under the KS influence.

[Comrade]

I suppose if there's something you really wanted to say about a different fic you can go ahead with it, but during a meeting you'll have to stay on topic.

Also, started my new fic, yay

[dewelar]

One suggestion I'd like to make is that those participating in the club should read the chosen story "clean". In other words, only read the story itself, not any user comments or author's notes within the thread or elsewhere. I realize this could be difficult (i.e., Katawa Kijo itself has occasional author notes at the beginning of the chapter posts), but I think we should try and form our own opinions rather than be influenced by others.

[Comrade]

One suggestion I'd like to make is that those participating in the club should read the chosen story "clean". In other words, only read the story itself, not any user comments or author's notes within the thread or elsewhere. I realize this could be difficult (i.e., Katawa Kijo itself has occasional author notes at the beginning of the chapter posts), but I think we should try and form our own opinions rather than be influenced by others.

I don't think thats necesseary, the whole point of discussions like this is to get new prepectives on things. Personally I do prefer reading "clear" but it would be impossible to enforce on others

[Umber]

One suggestion I'd like to make is that those participating in the club should read the chosen story "clean". In other words, only read the story itself, not any user comments or author's notes within the thread or elsewhere. I realize this could be difficult (i.e., Katawa Kijo itself has occasional author notes at the beginning of the chapter posts), but I think we should try and form our own opinions rather than be influenced by others.

Playing devil's advocate. On one hand, the idea of a 'fresh' discussion might make the talks a bit more solid, with everyone together on their own, defaulted state - on the other, we might find some insight on a topic that everyone's delving into anyways, and therefore comment on through the book club then.

And yes, it would be extremely difficult to mentally pseudo-spoiler tag all the reader/writer comments on a certain story, but I also see the value of original thoughts and opinions. Perhaps that's something we should leave to whomever it may concern. (Which would be all the participants, I guess.)

[Helbereth]

Usually if I'm reading a multi-chapter story here, I don't bother reading the comments until I've finished the story itself. It's usually only the ones still 'in progress' that I end up reading interim comments, and that's because the later chapters have yet to be published.

It's kinda related to something I've seen in the comments on TD. People make wild speculative assumptions sometimes, especially when they're commenting following a chapter that diverges from the expected flow of the story. If I were to go reading that stuff in the middle, I'd probably end up with a somewhat distorted view of the narrative. It's like cross-contamination, and I don't think I'd enjoy salmonella poisoning.

[Mirage_GSM]

Edit: Thus far my major problem is its complete lack of navigation links.

Those weren't really a thing back when. I think my story was one of the first to even have an index, and I only added that halfway through I think...
Regarding "clean" vs "contaminated" reading: I always read the comments if only so I don't needlessly repeat arguments that have been made before, but of course ymmv.

@brythain:
Not going to comment on anything content-related yet, but one thing that it's probably good to keep in mind when reading the story:
When it was written only Act 1 was out, so no science club and no extra-lessons for Misha - and of course no Lilly and Shizune being cousins.

[brythain]

@brythain:
Not going to comment on anything content-related yet, but one thing that it's probably good to keep in mind when reading the story:
When it was written only Act 1 was out, so no science club and no extra-lessons for Misha - and of course no Lilly and Shizune being cousins.

Thanks very much. Helps a lot to correct my perspective!