Placebo Effect

[Original blog post on Tumblr: July 31st, 2015]

Some highlights of the last EDA I’ve read (Placebo Effect).

This isn’t exactly a review, more like some sort of retroactive liveblogging, since I took these screens while reading, along with my reactions. As usual, this is full of spoilers.

I hated this book. Hated it. It’s not that bad at first, mind you, it’s even kind of enjoyable during the first 70 pages or so, but it only gets worse and worse after that. The plot is horribly drawn-out and only leads to an anticlimactic end. There’s a lot of bad exposition, terrible dialogue (especially near the end), useless continuity references, and it even manages to make the Ark in Space look less interesting. 2/10

Mr Wilcox, you are extremely obtuse, and you’re kinda setting a pattern for all the characters in this book.

What

Okay so Ssard the Ice Warrior and Stacy the human are going to get married and to be fair it’s (surprisingly) more interesting and enjoyable than the actual plot of the book.

SAM YOU ARE A HORRIBLE LIAR

SAM SHOULD I REALLY GO GET THE SCREEN OF THAT DIALOGUE FROM SEEING I WHERE YOU ADMITTED YOU WANTED TO, QUOTE, “THROW HIM ON THE FLOOR“ AND I’M NOT GOING TO QUOTE THE REST OF IT

SHOULD I REALLY

At least there’s an interesting discussion about companions, here.

Also, Eight picking grass.

Also, Eight making dollies with grass, oh noooooo c:

Probably the best character in this trainwreck.

Told you he was the best character.

YOU DON’T SAY

And we are on page 70, and the best part of this story has ended. Welcome to 200 pages of drawn-out plot.

Doctor, you do realise you’ve just wasted a perfect opportunity to introduce yourself as John Doe, right?

You probably still have that toe tag somewhere in your pockets.

Holy shit Eight

That’s the only time the assimilation in the Wirrn hivemind is described in an interesting way in that book. Also, somehow, it’s written “Wirrrn” in that book. Why? Who cares?

Meanwhile Eight is playing cards in an interrogation room.

And Sam finally admitted her one-liners were a defence mechanism.

THIS LEADS TO LIKE TEN PAGES OF CREATIONISM VS DARWINISM BULLSHIT I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING AT ALL

AND SAM JUST STAYS POLITE THE WHOLE TIME

SAM, AKA THE VERY VERY ENGAGED PERSON WHO HAS AN OPINION ON EVERYTHING AND T-SHIRTS WITH POLITICAL MESSAGES ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS

WHY

Okay, that was a nice nod to 1984.

NEVERMIND THE AUTHOR IS BASICALLY LAUGHING AT HIS OWN JOKES

I kinda liked that part.

AND I REALLY LIKE CUTE-LOOKING ALIENS THAT ARE NOT CUTE ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW THEM, TOO

Sam, you do realise what that means, right

Wait for it

Oh my god

BECAUSE YOU ARE A CREEPY STALKER, KYLE

Meanwhile the reverend now thinks the Wirrn Queen is a goddess. Really

Uuuuuuuuuuuuh I do that a lot too, like, if I see an insect or something cool, I want others to look at it
Is that an annoying habit
I never realised it could be annoying

He’s surprisingly calm about being locked up in a cell again.

Okay, I laughed

SEE THAT'S WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID SOME DIALOGUES WERE ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT, IT LOOKS LIKE A PARODY

IT TOOK HIM EXACTLY 246 PAGES TO REALISE THE WIRRN WERE INVOLVED IN THE PLOT AND THAT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE

THAT WAS TERRIBLY WRITTEN AS WELL

YES LET’S CHEAPEN THE ARK IN SPACE WHILE WE’RE AT IT

CAUSE WHY NOT

AND THE CONCLUSION IS: KYLE IS STILL A CREEPY STALKER

That book was a waste of time. I’m sorry this post is so angry. I just hope the next one will be better.