5 tips for new students

  

1. It you are going to write a thesis start considering the subject as soon as possible. You want to have time to do a preliminary check to see how doable it is and change it. Also this lets you start collecting notes for it early. If what you want to write about turns up in a text book write down the reference  and you don't need to find it later.

2. Keep all your thesis notes in one place and make sure you always gave it with you. If you have a good idea in the grocery aisle you don't want to forget it. When I first started studying ages ago that meant a dedicated notebook in my handbag today it means a folder on google drive.

3. Start immediately at a high tempo. The assumption is that studying is a full time job so spend 8 hours a day on lectures and reading. But some subjects are more chill than others and if so you can always lower the tempo later. But you don't wan't to cram late into the night the day before a test.

4. Don't buy textbooks, or at least buy as few as possible. They are expensive and you are never going to open them again, seriously never. Most if not all should be available through the university library but check local public libraries too depending on the book you might get lucky. If you find that you have to buy them try to get them second hand and sell them immediately.

5. When writing an essay read the question and guidelines thoroughly. Then read it again during the writing and again before you turn it in. You don't wan't to fail because you misread the question, or you went on a tangent. and you don't want to be like me who the day I needed to turn it in realized that I needed to add another reference to meet the minimum requirement.

Chilling reflections by Drew Hayes

Plot

After the end of the last book life has gone back to whatever counts as normal for our superheroes and villains. With the addition of Tories line of self-defense products that are being launched forcing her to spend be presentable and spend time in the corporate world. That it until a dimensional nova bursts and sends shock-waves through the multiverse including earth. For a time the barriers between dimensions are weaker causing random (and not so random) portals to open releasing various monsters.

The nova is a time of chaos but also opportunity for those like VRX77 who can more easily travel to this dimension. Traveling here means hiding from Lodestar but it's worth it because this Tori Is a 97% match and VRX77 will do anything it takes to get her.

the New science sentries are struggling with the death of their teammate at the end of the last book. Something that's hitting Ellie hard and professor Quantum is plotting to get the team back to how he wants it even if it means kicking out certain members.

My thoughts

I didn't know the short story collection would be so integral to this but it is. For a large part of the story Ivan is off doing his own thing after getting called away to an other dimension by a friend from one of the short stories. Which I don't mind between him and Lodestar there are a lot of potential deus ex machina characters.

It had a point in the middle that felt very much like it was the end. With the main threat being neutralized. This book however is one where different characters follow different plots intersecting one another rather than converging like the other books. 

After Ike's death in the last book the characters ever present need for more power takes on a new urgency. Tori realize that even her new suit made from the material she stole from Alfred Settler doesn't hold up as well as she had hoped against VRX77 and the other more powerful foes they are coming up against. In this world there is always someone stronger and so getting stronger just means more difficult opponents.

Also professor quantum gets worse the more you learn about him to the extent that it's questionable why he is even in the AHC. At least if Quorum or Lodestar knew about it their reaction would be interesting. At least in this there are a sense of petty revenge in that his plans all fail and some theirs steal his stuff.

The epilogue sets up so much plots and I can't wait for the next book.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Chilling.

Witch king by Martha Wells

This book has been languishing on my to read shelf for far to long. I originally bought it because I like other books the author has written (Murderbot) but this one never really caught my attention. 

Kai wakes up imprisoned and held in stasis/dead under water with his demon powers bound. Realizing he has been dead for almost a year and now that he is free he sets out to find out who and why he was held prisoner and where his missing friends are. Since he found out they had disappeared at the same time he had. Finding a larger conspiracy then he was expecting. Interspersed in this is flashback from his youth and the war against the Hierarchs and rebellion he and his friends lead against them.

My thoughts

There is a lot of world building here to be explained, about the demons and their powers, about all the other kinds of magic users and their powers. This isn't really helped by every other chapter being a flashback too the original was and rebellion. The war it an other thing to be explained though even after reading quite a bit it's still confusing. There is some big meeting happening and they have been kidnapped to keep them from going but its not clear what the meeting is about or why it's important. All this explaining means that it took a long time for the plot to get going, over a hundred pages. In general it feels like a sequel. Maybe it's because of how it started, with them already imprisoned and with all that happens before. But just as it feels like a sequel it also feels like it never really got past the beginning. Even after 300 pages it still feels like it haven't really started.

Appart from this it's fine, but I don't like the characters as much as I like others she has written. Though that might have to do with this book having a larger number of them. All in all it's a bit meh to me. The descriptions are good, so is what action there is and the descriptions of magic but there is nothing tat realy speaks to me. In the end I might read the next in the series if it seems like it has more plot but also I might not.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Witch king