Books (General)

[minor sleet]

Metal from Heaven by August Clarke

[long sorrel]

What Stalks the Deep 14 ||I love Fragment ||

[snow vessel]

Bury Our Bones 88% || ||

||poor charlotte||

[long sorrel]

What Stalks the Deep end ||“Come now, Alex, what are the odds of something else this strange happening in the next week?” But that, as they say, is another story. does that smell of more books???||

Well that's that

Next books on release are all Nov 11th

[wraith lynx]

What 11/11 book are you reading first??

You said there were 4 you wanted all coming out that day, my goodness 😂

[long sorrel]

The Kingfisher one I linked probably

It'll likely be a 2h read

And SoF will be much longer I expect

SoF after probably

Specially if you all are reading it here

[wraith lynx]

YES :3

[snow vessel]

Mmm no libro, I don't think I want to read more fourth wing or sjm...

[wraith lynx]

Yeah haze we promote self care not self detriment 🥰

[light drum]

dont do it

Its not worth it

[snow vessel]

Part of me is tempted to try Iron Flame but i know I won't enjoy it like I think I will

Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm looking for

-# well, I do know, but a lot of those I already have physically and so don't want to buy again as audiobooks

[wraith lynx]

I feel like you were more confused and lukewarm about the end of FW so I can see why youre all :/

[sage crystal]

a little late to the party but heres my septemeber wrap up

[snow vessel]

The ending had a lot more plot and stuff than the rest of the book. And I hadn't been paying much attention to that sooo

I enjoyed the fun middle of FW but I think if it's getting more serious I might not enjoy it as much

[cloud socket]

I am currently reading Iron Flame, about 40% rn and I am very annoyed with Violet (a rushed read because I checked out Onyx Storm as a lucky read at the library, forgetting that it was book 3. Luckily, IF was available on Libby

My friends tell me the ending of IF is more tolerable if I can immediately go into OS

[wraith lynx]

I also struggled with violet as an mc... I dont think a week goes by without me thinking about (FW) ||Her saying "im proud of my mom protecting our borders" to an orphan... whos parents were murdered BY Violets mom 😂||

[cloud socket]

My main annoyance is how she's mad at MMC because he's keeping secrets to keep her safe when she's doing the same thing, digging into secrets for his safety

I think that's vague enough but I can spoiler tag

More of a #you-people thought but also IF ||I keep hearing that this series is fantasy smut but it took until the 40% mark for them to bone because of these "why won't you just trust me" fights!!!|| I'd forgive the wait if the plot could support me going until then but ehhhhh

General empyrean ||also the mortality rate at battle college is WAY too high considering their circumstances||

[hollow forum]

maaaaan

[ripe tide]

What did you think of black company?

[snow vessel]

Bury Our Bones 93% ||YESS ALICE LETS GET HER||

||also kinda of weird and funny to see a book I really like irl be mentioned a bunch here xD||

Mmm do I finish this now or tonight

[analog geode]

Now

[snow vessel]

Very well

[snow vessel]

Bury our bones done

I have Thoughts (positive) but I don't know if I can articulate them now

BOB all ||this is definitely the vampire media that has most made me feel like being a vampire is a curse||

||storms that was sad 😭 ||

[snow vessel]

same ||it was a lot. Very strong themes and characters imo. They hit||

[long sorrel]

||the cycle of neverending violence, the concept of the self dying ||

[snow vessel]

Yuuuup

[long sorrel]

And the last line???

[snow vessel]

Bury Our Bones ||I think it really all clicked for me with the reveal that Charlotte came to kill Alice in the end||

[long sorrel]

||Alive. Alive. Alive. And she is hungry.||

[long sorrel]

Yeeees

[snow vessel]

Bury Our Bones ||perfectly triumphant and tragic. She got her new life, but nothings really going to change||

[long sorrel]

Literal chills

[snow vessel]

Bury Our Bones ||turns out our nice vampire was still ultimately a toxic immortal!||

||mm I really love how much... all the characters just ultimately are or are set up to be morally bad, but we still follow them||

[long sorrel]

||i realised at the same time as Alice that Lottie was going to kill her and damn, damn||

[snow vessel]

||Like the ending seems to be setting up Alice just going full vampire with it. Lottie ended up sucking despite everything and Sabine's hunger led her to suck just as much as the people who hurt her. But we still follow them||

||Even the side characters like Matteo. They suck but also we sympathise with them and understand them||

[long sorrel]

Yes yes

[snow vessel]

||Feels very real, very human||

[long sorrel]

Yes

Which is funny

[snow vessel]

||these people just... are given a path to being bad people and no one can really resist it||

[long sorrel]

I think part of it is ||the book tells us that bits of you die when you're a vampire, leading to the eventual death of the "you", the self. But at the end of the day it could be applied to "immortal human that has to do horrible things to survice"||

[snow vessel]

||I feel like the vampirism like...||

||it takes you out of humanity||

[long sorrel]

||maybe it isn't because they're vampires but simply living so long with the consequences of your actions||

[snow vessel]

||it very much makes you a separate distinct thing, which is great at first when your human life was... gestures at Maria's everything. But that also means all the human bits start to slip away, and you get a very very easy avenue to becoming worse||

[long sorrel]

Yeah

I mean, the book very clearly stats what you say

[snow vessel]

||you're given the freedom and drive to sort of do whatever||

[long sorrel]

I mean as a sort of simil

[snow vessel]

Simil?

[long sorrel]

Like a parallel if you wanted to compare to humans

[snow vessel]

Ahh sure

||I feel like its very much just... the opportunity to do what you want and the time for it to build to the extreme a little||

[long sorrel]

Yep

Have you read Addie LaRue?

I forget

[snow vessel]

Nope

Bury Our bones ||I really feel for Alice. Everything just really sucked for her||

[long sorrel]

Schwab really likes to play with a lot of this concepts

I liked bob way better

[snow vessel]

Addie LaRue is the invisible one right?

[long sorrel]

But Addie was a hit for a reason

Yes, the concepts of it are absolutely wild

[long sorrel]

||i think my fave is toxic Lottie, can't help it||

[snow vessel]

||Lottie is very fun. Sweet, thinks she's helping, but still toxic. Alice is just... man what a wreck. Alice feels so wrapped up in loss||

[long sorrel]

||Sabine would be my fave until the very end where she's just a monster tho. ||

Yeah

[snow vessel]

||Honestly part of me is still drawn to Sabine a little because I enjoy evil people||

[long sorrel]

A lot of Alice's story was ||"I should have seen that coming"||

[snow vessel]

||I was so scared Alice was going to run into traffic like Catty did on the last page||

||I love like... how little aftermath the ending gives. Just leaving the implication that Alice is going down the same path and nothing else||

ok now I just need to find more books like that

Yknow, its funny that [bury our bones/the secret history] ||the secret history was Lottie's book given how that has similar "everyone sucks" energy||

Hm. Question is now... what next. Thinking interview with the vampire again, frankenstein again, crime and punishment or midnight tides

[long sorrel]

[snow vessel]

Mm yknow maybe I'll reread a little bit of Bury Our Bones... just a few chapters...

[long sorrel]

Famous last words

[snow vessel]

Often I'll finish a book and immediately want to reread it tbh

[long sorrel]

Oh you know who I really liked? ||The og Sabine, I do love that she got devoured but I'd have liked to get to know her a bit more, she seemed so interesting||

[snow vessel]

Because its like... ok now I want to see how everything fits together, now I know where its going

[long sorrel]

also ||She's Mrs. "How did your husband die?" "Slowly" Ought to have been such a delightful character 👀 ||

[snow vessel]

Bury ||I really wonder what she was like. Was she broken and toxic like the others, or was she young enough to still be actually seeking good things and not fully have fallen like that?||

[long sorrel]

also ||do you think Alice is just going to be Sabine all over again?||

[snow vessel]

||which sabine? xD||

[long sorrel]

I don't particularly want a sequel of this book or anything, I think it ends perfectly but damn, I'm curious at the same time you know?

||María-Sabine||

||Sabine 2.0||

[snow vessel]

Yeah I dont really want a sequel but I think there's a lot of potential for expansion, whether prequel sequel or spinoff

[snow vessel]

Bury ||Honestly kind of, if maybe in a bit of a... different font I guess||

||maybe more lashing out and destructive compared to Sabine's hunger||

[long sorrel]

||I think this book makes me giddy in ways I cannot explain||

[snow vessel]

||Oh! I also love how like... looking at Sabine throughout the book, she feels very consistent yknow? Because there's the whole big moment of her sort of taking control over husbandguy who's name i've forgotten, and then in a lot of her later encounters we see she keeps being in control, controlling, etc.||

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/bunny-nod-nodding-yeah-cute-gif-21922661

It is very well written overall 😩

It's also one of those books were like, I have so many feelings about it that I cannot put into words

[snow vessel]

I've been having a little trouble lately maintaining my attention on a book outside of right when I'm reading it, but I definitely have a lot of thoughts about this one

[long sorrel]

It just, conveys so many things at once, and they are all so well woven and also like the characters! And the vampires! and like! You know?

[snow vessel]

Yes!!

[long sorrel]

words

[snow vessel]

Also the prose

[long sorrel]

OH yes, the prose

[snow vessel]

I shouldn't totally immediately reread Bury but...

[long sorrel]

You should read Schwab's Villain's series 😌

[snow vessel]

Is that Vicious and the other one?

[long sorrel]

yep

[snow vessel]

Ahaha guess what's been on my tbr list all year xD

[long sorrel]

Vicious general + Bob ||The concepts of morally grey and like, what do you do with what you're given or with the power to do so many more things, etc. It's completely different than Bury Our Bones by miles mind you, but it has a common theme there that I do love on it too||

[snow vessel]

Ok let me just slide that wayyy up the tbr

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/evil-smile-gif-1974600105454603239

[snow vessel]

Honestly I reckon Bury could easily become a total favourite book for me given some time

[long sorrel]

I think i like it more the more I think about it

Like I loved it when I finished it but it just gets better the more I mull it over

[snow vessel]

Yeah I reckon given some time for my feelings to solidify + to think on it more...

[long sorrel]

Bob End ||I think the end feels like... you need a long breath to process it, felt a bit like a punch in the chest, not like negatively or emotionally but impactful enough?||

[snow vessel]

||its just such a fascinating story||

||so many ideas i did not expect going into it||

[long sorrel]

||yeaaaah also like, i didn't want to tell you even though i knew that'd be more compelling because discovering those is so much part of the plot as the plot itself ||

Unrelated, I have found Dark Rise 3 has a sneak peek and idk if i want to do this to myself or not

[sage crystal]

I thought it was pretty good. The pacing felt a bit odd in places and some of the characters were really boring. But the other characters make up for that by being quite distinct. I came in expecting something super dark, but honestly thought it was more funny than dark. And spoilers: ||by the end of book three I just wanted croaker and the Lady to kiss||

[ripe tide]

Haha yeah I get that feeling under spoilers.

[sage crystal]

Which is surprising to me cause romance isn’t usually my thing lol

Overall like 7.5/10

Maybe an eight

What did you think of it?

[mossy gyro]

City of Brass 22 ||Dara you boneheaded idiot, she wants to marry you, not some Daeva nobleman. ||

||she's totally going to find his relic in the catacombs and idk how that's going to turn out||

[long sorrel]

am not opening my book to see how far in chapter 22 is

ooooh 3/4 in 👀

[ripe tide]

Shadows Linger is the best of those three, but my faves of the series are at the very very end of the entire series.

[sage crystal]

And there’s what, like ten of them?

[ripe tide]

Yep

And a new one coming this year. Spin-off series.

[mossy gyro]

City of Brass 23 ||bro what is assassinating the one member of the royal family who is at all sympathetic to the Shafit meant to accomplish? ||

||also Muntadir is aware his father wants him to marry Nahri but he doesn't want to. He thinks Ali would be a better match but apparently second sons aren't allowed to marry so there's fewer heirs||

[mossy gyro]

City of Brass 25 ||dang girl knows how to haggle ||

||ohhhhhh Dara hasn't heard there's an actual wedding planned now||

[mossy gyro]

City of Brass 25 ||what in Hell just happened?||

[long sorrel]

Lmao

[vale gulch]

what is this server's opinion on The Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursula K. LeGuin? imo even though it's middle grade, it is some of the best fantasy ever written.

[sage crystal]

Love it

[minor sleet]

Gave me nightmares as a kid so I’ve never liked it

I read it as an adult and it still didn’t stay with me, probably due to the nightmares

Specifically the scene from book 1 where Ged makes his big mistake

[lusty meteor]

Honestly i found it difficult to get through

[rugged tartan]

I read it in like, one sitting, it was my first full full Le Guin book

Oh wait the series as a whole, not just the first one

love it, but not done with it yet

[vale gulch]

i love it when in the 4th book LeGuin just randomly starts writing a gender studies dissertation /srs

[cloud socket]

I've only read Tombs of Atuan because I read an excerpt in this collection of Newberry award winners/honorees and thought it sounded interesting, not realizing it was book 2 in a series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/945061.Newbery_Girls

[analog geode]

One of my favorites

[rugged tartan]

Especially since Tombs of Atuan was already about gender in fantasy and the way women were allowed to have power, and then tehanu is her own counterargument against herself saying "Actually, I didn't go far enough last time"

[vale gulch]

part of my love for LeGuin is her willingness to admit mistakes and revisit complicated topics

[long sorrel]

Random reminder that Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die is a thing that will exist and we are getting closer to its existance 😌 (I was going over my tbr lol)

[mossy gyro]

I have 1 hour left of City of Brass

[long sorrel]

I'm sitting tight waiting for the reactions

[mossy gyro]

What is happening

Sadly I don't have time to either react or finish it right now

[random dome]

Oooh, I just checked back in to see where you are and you're right at the end! 🍿

[minor sleet]

Ok so I borrowed all these Robert Heinlan books impulsively from the Boston public library and I’ve no idea where to start

I haven’t read Heinlan before but I’m aware he’s part of the scifi canon

• time for stars also by him

[alpine drum]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1216483218350669954/1409890693782175784/2buixh4q29lf1.webp?ex=68dfce07&is=68de7c87&hm=003eb27f0c22be5641ed7a06f4b515255156be714014098680f7f95b60a9fdc3&

[potent linden]

Hemlock and Silver 8 ||Snow smiling to herself like she knows more than anyone - is she making herself sick for some reason?||

||I love this protagonist and also the king and also his aunt and also the guards and also and also||

[sleek jungle]

children of time 1.1 ||an intriguing set up. a shame that uplifted monkeys won't be met by super ais, though||

children of time 1.2 ||the virus will uplift the spiders, huh. the setup got even cooler||

[potent linden]

Hemlock and Silver 14 ||I'd read a whole book of her testing things and learning about the mirror world||

[long sorrel]

The mc is

[sleek jungle]

children of time 2.5 ||poor elisa||

[potent linden]

That was a very good book

Occasionally had moments where I had no idea in hell what process it was trying to describe (which could just be me being subpar at visualizing things spatially), but they weren't pivotal moments so it's alright lol

H&S all ||I just about teared up at the end when she brought the mirror Sorrel all the colorful bright blankets??||

||I hope Grayling does spend some time with her because if anyone can actually win him over it might be her||

[long sorrel]

||I loved the dash of body horror that it added. I felt it had a Alice's glass looking world vibe inside the mirror that ||

[mossy gyro]

Okay City of Brass up to 29 highlights
||after that argument with Muntadir, Dara tried to escape with Nahri since he no longer believes she's safe in Daevabad. Ali showed up too since he needed to get his wounds looked at, and got dragged along as a hostage. They popped out the other end of the secret escape tunnel to find a bunch of Gaziri soldiers in ships since the Kitanis have known about the tunnel for centuries. Dara was going to surrender but Nahri accidently made a wish for him to be free and he started attacking everyone, killing most of the soldiers, severely injuring Jamshid, and kicking Ali into the lake. The lake's curse was going to kill Ali until it learned Dara was on the boat. It then forced him to give up his true name and then turned him into some kind of water zombie that went back on the boat and killed Dara by removing his ring. He then collapsed and remembers nothing of what happened. When he woke up days later, he was informed of everything and found out he now has strange water powers and is horribly scarred. His family is now fed up with his mistakes and sees him as too dangerous to live, so he's being banished to Gaziri territory where he will most likely be assassinated without the king's protection. ||

City of Brass 29 ||honestly the king's whole story about how much he's had to do to keep Ali from being killed just for being a second son and related to a powerful family was pretty touching, even if he's kind of a bastard. He also explained that the Marid have almost certainly cursed Ali, and assisted in the Kitani overthrow of the Nahids which is very illegal in supernatural politics. How many more secrets do these people have?
Furthermore, I expect that Dara can be revived with his slave ring and/or his relic since that's still in the palace catacombs. No way the hot genie love interest is staying dead.
Oh and from the argument with Dara and the reaction to his injuries, I think Muntadir and Jamshid are secretly in a relationship which is both bizzare and hilarious||

[long sorrel]

||why would that be bizarre?||

[mossy gyro]

||he's so openly interested in women that it's funny that he's secretly in a gay relationship. Like you wouldn't think of him as someone hiding anything about his sex life||

[merry galleon]

Had some time to myself, and I’m now at 580 pages on Inheritance. Not much but I’m making progress.

But I’m a little confused ||I thought Umaroth was dead||

[long sorrel]

||Hmmmmm, I think the fact that he's so obviously flaunting women constantly while also not very interested is kinda telling on its own. to me it was like "yeah that makes way more sense than what I was seeing" ||

[mossy gyro]

City of Brass all

City of Brass all ||Nahri is understandably grief-stricken and forced to go along with the king's plans. She has some kind of plans of her own but idk what those are. He also explained that Dara scourged and destroyed an entire city during the Kitani rebellion and that's why he's regarded as a war criminal and what turned the other tribes against the Daeva. Meanwhile in the epilogue, Jamshid and Muntadir are totally gay and Kave knows and is covering for them. Jamshid, Kave, the assistant woman, and presumably many other Daeva are also part of some kind of plot against the king that's moving ahead faster now that the king is cracking down on their tribe. They also know Monaiza is still alive and are in contact with her, which raises a bunch more questions, and they have Dara's ring and are going to take it to her and not tell Nahri about it. ||

Debating if I can afford to buy the next book when I just bought some more modeling stuff and need to buy another new remote for my TV

Could get it on Libby but it will take a few weeks

[tight kindle]

coughs

Link

@wraith lynx

[mossy gyro]

Holy url batman

[tight kindle]

I know

I tried trimming it but it didn't lead to the correct edition

[light drum]

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/red-rising_pierce-brown/917103/item/84376570/

[alpine drum]

Link

[Link](<https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/red-rising_pierce-brown/917103/item/84376570/...>)

[tight kindle]

Yes
That's the incorrect edition

[alpine drum]

Link aliasing is the way to go for that

[tight kindle]

Got it
Thanks

[light drum]

Evik tracking Link for premiuk rr edition

[wraith lynx]

Oooooooooooooooooo see id get it if I didnt already have the ones I have 🤣

[tight kindle]

I have RR already but I want to anyway XD

[wraith lynx]

I knowwwwwwww maybe I could convince a friend to get this as a gift 🤔

That or the IC broken Bindings.... gosh those are so pretty

-# and it would be nice to have a copy of inheritance with all of its pages

[winter fern]

In Harry Potter, does Voldemort unwittingly ||make Harry essentially invincible so long as Voldemort was still alive||? I’m trying to remember. 🤔

[long sorrel]

||I don't think so? Pretty sure killing Harry does include breaking the horrocrux, but it's been a long time since I read||

[high latch]

I was yapping in general about books

Continuing convo here

[analog geode]

Read Honor Harrington. Great scifi, first book is free

[light drum]

In my reread im pretty sure Golden Son is the best RR book

[wraith lynx]

How would you rank all 6?? 👀

I feel like i have a hot take with putting GS as low as I do but its not because I didnt like it, its just MS, DA and LB are all that much better imo

And Golden Son was [redacted] PEAK

[light drum]

Haven't read them in a while tbh and dont remeber LB at all

But off the top of my head GS IG MS RR DA

[tight kindle]

I didn't buy a single book in the entire month of September and I'm very proud of myself.

I think that, as a reward for showing such restraint, I deserve a treat

[royal carbon]

The Devils seems to have exponential growth in the crazy stuff that happens. ||Reminds me of an unhinged D&D party.||

[long sorrel]

Do I spy A Marvelous Light? 👀

[somber timber]

We had similar lists

[tight kindle]

Mhm
I was going through my TBR like "hmm what do I want to buy?" and I saw that one and remembered that you really liked it

[long sorrel]

mhm

I think you will like it too

it's got nothing to do with Swordcrossed but it has the same vibes?

like level of stakes/intensity/relationship

(though it's a bit more explicit)

[wraith lynx]

Dark Age at the bottom is WILD... do you remember why??? 👀👀

[light drum]

It was 50 pages of amazing and then like 450 pages I had to get through

[wraith lynx]

Ahhhh I see

Yeah DA is long long

[light drum]

Also I read dark age like 6 years ago so idk

[tight kindle]

Yay!

I bought the $50 of books

Keeping a budget and then never spending the money I set aside specifically for spending comes in handy 😌

[wraith lynx]

Oh did we?? Hm, I knew you had taste 🥴

[long sorrel]

Nice! You deserve a treat, you've been doing great with everything

[random dome]

Ayyyy did you finish then? 👀

[mossy gyro]

I was wondering when you were gonna show up

Yeah I did

Dunno how long it will be until I can get the next book though

[random dome]

Ooof, that's rough...

You liked it though it sounds like? 👀

I feel like the ending is very intense all at once

[mossy gyro]

I am mad and need to find out what happens next

(Mad as in "how can you end the book like that?")

[long sorrel]

Haha

I think city of brass has a peak ending

||equal parts infuriating (highly)||

[snow vessel]

Time to reread frankenstein

[wicked notch]

yeah it's written by a Chinese author. it's a really interesting take on scifi. i can't recommend it more. please please please read it. I need more people to fall in love with this series.
(three body problem)

[vital ibex]

I want to reread it before the Del Toro film releases but ive been moving so HoC so slowly

And not due to me not liking it, I've just had limited reading time

[vivid valve]

Honestly James biggest reccomendations from me are the children of time series, 3 body problem and the expanse

All 3 are solid pick ups in the science fiction space

[vital ibex]

1 of my books for exams at school was Frankenstein and I really loved it

[vivid valve]

Also love me the new "Mercy of God's"

By the same ppl as the expanse books

[snow vessel]

I read Frankenstein for the first time earlier this year and really liked it

Wanted to reread it for October + the Del toro film

[mossy gyro]

Exactly

[vale gulch]

honestly for me Frankenstien is peak sci-fi

i read it, and it kind of ruined the genre

it was so good everything else sucked in comparison

[snow vessel]

Currently downloading memnoch the devil audiobook

[wicked notch]

Frankenstein is peak scifi? alright I'll bite. personally I think three body is peak scifi

Frankenstein by Mary shelley yeah? or is there another version?

[analog geode]

Yeah Mary Shelley

Peak science fiction is the Hainish Cycle

She somehow managed to fit 2 different books that would both be considered masterpieces alone into it

Both of them are life changing to read

[wicked notch]

alright I'll read that after Frankenstein

[analog geode]

In particular, read The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness

[wicked notch]

what flavor or scifi is it?

[analog geode]

Anthropological?

I genuinely believe Le Guin is the best scifi writer to ever live

[wicked notch]

wait kinda like three body problem. looking at how society reacts to stuff

okay I'm definitely reading le guins stuff

[analog geode]

Yes, but in a more… deep? way

I think that’s the wrong word

She is the daughter of an anthropologist and married a historian

[wicked notch]

ahh interesting

[light drum]

The Left Hand of Darkness is so good!

[wicked notch]

idk i would say it's anthropological in a society/collective way? 3b is more an eastern take on scifi. How the collective cause and deal with problems. (trying so hard not to spoil)

[light drum]

Rememberance Of Earth's past us great but the writing doesn't approch Le Guin

Also Have you read and Octavia E Bulter?

[wicked notch]

sadly no. I've been working my way through Asimov atm

[analog geode]

She’s on my list! What do you recommend reading?

[analog geode]

Well that’s going to take forever, I hope you’re not going for his entire bibliography

[light drum]

Lilith's Brood/Xenogenesis or Parable of the Sower if you want to look outside and be mega depressed

Also Liliths brood has hot aliens

[wicked notch]

noo just reading robots and the foundation

[light drum]

I found his short stories more approachable and enjoyable tbh

[analog geode]

I enjoyed robots and the foundation books

They did get a bit dry by the end

His short stories are stellar though

My favorite is Nightfall, which eventually he turned into a full novel

The Last Question is another great one

[light drum]

Last question and The God's themselves

[light drum]

Anyway aliens from Lilith's Brood

[wicked notch]

what do you suggest I start with?

[analog geode]

The Left Hand of Darkness

[wicked notch]

same here

[analog geode]

IMO her 4 masterpieces are The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven, and Tehanu

[wicked notch]

should I be careful about spoilers? can I lookup what the books are about or should I go in totally blind

[analog geode]

In my opinion spoilers don’t matter for them. You aren’t there to be surprised by plot twists or anything

They are both extremely character and society focused

[snow vessel]

...I really should've waited longer after Bury Our Bones to start Memoch. I'm really feeling the difference

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/wiki-but-made-them-up/789895763515850752

but I made them up

Tumblr · Jul 23, 2025, 8:41 PM

Elric of Melniboné should consider this

[vivid valve]

Left hand of darkness was also delving into trans issues in like the late 60s

[vivid valve]

Honestly they are also a bit dated now. I love them and they are key moments in science fiction history. But your right his short fiction is where its at

[high latch]

Got it

[cloud socket]

I really should read more LeGuin. I reread The Lathe of Heaven last year and it's still very good (though it's funny because she wrote it in the 70s and set it in the near future of 2002... some predictions were evergreen)

Also read Frankenstein a few years ago with my book club, first time for me and the monster's parts were my favorite; Victor is not a good person

[ripe tide]

@low hill starting Lights of Prague because my mood reread via Audio of the Lady Trent series got interrupted by library holds... oh well...

[lucid isle]

Someone recommended The Blade Itself by Joe Abbercrombie.

Apparently I've read it but completely forgot. I can't rememeber anything about it

[main wren]

I couldn't imagine ever forgetting a character like Sand dan Glokta lol

[quaint burrow]

Have you read the entire series/trilogy or just the Blade Itself?

[lucid isle]

Just the one book

Absolutely nothing is coming back to me, it's never happened before 😄

[wraith lynx]

TCP 15 + Apothecary Diaries ||If i had a nickle for every time a mc indulged in poisons to build immunities... id have two nickles 😂||

[low hill]

Enjoy. I finished it a couple of days ago, so let me know how you get on.

[quaint burrow]

+MB ||three if you count Zane||

[long sorrel]

Ngl surprised its only 2

I can count more than 5

[wraith lynx]

Omg youre right 😂

TCP 16 ||Finally, these kids are getting stabbed 😭||

[quaint burrow]

I didn't read the book, nor do I plan to.... but I must ask.... what?

[wraith lynx]

TCP up to 16 ||so there are these freaky fairy kids that have been bullying my girl Jude (and her sister) and there hasnt really been retaliation until now when she finally stabs him. Trust me they all deserve it||

||lowkey I think thats what has been part of my reason for reading so slow. The bullying is a little intense and hit some unfortunate nerves for me 😵‍💫||

[wraith lynx]

TCP 16 ||I like that i dont trust Locke. Its clear hes not like the other plastics but... theres something about him thats off.... I cant figure it out yet||

[wraith lynx]

TCP 17 ||"Who knows? Maybe a new ruler will make a new crown."

Me, glancing at the third book's title: 👀👀👀👀👀||

[random dome]

I'm so amused you're calling them the plastics

[wraith lynx]

Im glad, nothing else feels fitting 😂

[long sorrel]

Not safe for cosmic! TCP all ||waiting for her to reach the coronation 👀 ||

[wraith lynx]

TCP 17 ||Locke's mom wins the best name award. Liriope is so 💖||

[long sorrel]

Yup

[wraith lynx]

Halfway through TCP

Didnt mention that before

Should I keep going? I feel like i got super far in one sitting

[long sorrel]

you should

what ch you on?

[wraith lynx]

Halfway through 17 I believe

I didnt mean to stop halfway through but I did 😂

[royal carbon]

Book club book finished. Automatic Noodle is fun. Now back to one of the in progress books.

[wraith lynx]

Saw project hail Mary in a store today.... I neeeed ittttttttt

[somber timber]

Read along?!?

[wraith lynx]

YES!! after folk of the air we shall see

I think with the way ive sped up I can get done with the trilogy befofe September ends

[somber timber]

Cosmic

It’s October 4th

[wraith lynx]

Oh

Damn it sure is 😭

Well I meant october you get the idea

[somber timber]

So February or March?

[wraith lynx]

NO 🤣

I promised id get to 20 books this year and I wanna read the book before the movie starts

[white pond]

I am rereading Dungeon Crawler Carl and I am reminded of why I love this series.

I keep devouring these books even with college whooping my butt.

[random dome]

I'm like three chapters into the first book of DCC and... I am wondering if I should keep going if I'm not really enjoying it yet

Like, if I'm not really a fan of the premise, should I keep going because the rest of it is going to be good for other reasons like the plot or characters are really going to be worth it?

[cloud socket]

hmmm I really like that it has heart despite the absurdity of the world, and teh characters are a big part of that

[hollow hedge]

three chapters may be a little brief but you probably don't need to read too too much if you're not enjoying it

I'd probably focus more on the story & tone? The main standout character of the story is the AI running the show, there are other solid characters but I wouldn't say they make or break the book

it's also something that's definitely elevated by the audio performance

[cloud socket]

Yeah, I think when (DCC general) ||Donut starts speaking|| is a pivot point because then you've got at least another character chirping up about everything

[little dock]

Huh, I wouldn’t say the AI is the standout for me at all. Donut, Katja, and Carl are the big ones for me. Plus I love the bigger thematic things and statements Dinniman is making, but that comes out more in later books.

[hollow hedge]

I think they're all reasonably likeable characters, just kind of vanilla archetypes? The AI's a little more dynamic to me

[wraith lynx]

TCP 17 ||Viv absolutely clocked Judes tea with "you arent saving mom with this. Shes dead" is crazy 😭 leave it to viv to always speak her truth, I love her||

[white pond]

I believe that DCC is a very, very, veeery divisive series. Either you don't care about it and think it's just meh, or it's an instant love at first sight.

If the premise isn't interesting, of reading about the dungeon crawling and all of that, then I think you will find it miserable at best.

It has a lot of great characters, but they are inevitably in the universe.

[white pond]

I LOVE THE AI

(A sentence I would only say in this context)

[random dome]

I am doing the audiobook because it was specifically recommended and I do think the performance is good, but the setting being (Dungeon Crawler Carl) ||"it's like a video game but it's real life and both wacky and scary at the same time" is just not really my taste. I think a little bit of that kind of premise goes a long way. Like, I was never into Ready Player One or things like that. Dungeon Meshi sort of does a little bit of this but it's more subtle.||

DCC ||"What if a video game was real life" is not a very interesting question to me and I'm wondering how long this book is going to be just that and if it's worth waiting it out for it to become something more than that. And if it does become more than that, am I going to like what it becomes more than I like what it is now?||

[royal carbon]

Hmm

[vale gulch]

Personally I love DCC, but if you do not enjoy the premise, I could see how it could be a drag. Same with the humor. I personally like it, but I could see how someone could be unimpressed.

Although for me, the highlight is the reality show aspect.

I especially love the various talkshow interviews

[cunning pivot]

DCC || It does pick up as it digs into the themes. It was very much Covid era let's have fun with tropes literature but it does evolve into more of a story about found family and fighting the man. The tone does not change even as the characters (mostly) get more depth.

But that develops over several books and if the tropes and AI shenanigans don't click then I don't think it will work as well.

It has other problems too but I think that is the biggest barrier to getting into it.||

[cunning pivot]

DCC ||It does start to change in this book but really only towards the end and the next book I think you start to see the real overarching story play out||

[vale gulch]

Personally I really love that series because I read it when I was in the hospital. It was there for me during a really tough time, so despite its flaws, I will always treasure it.

[cloud socket]

What I find most astonishing is that Dinniman is apparently a pantser, not a planner because his later books do a very good job of tying to things from earlier

[cunning pivot]

I think at some point he figured out where he wanted things to go and he had enough open ended unplanned things up front he could plausibly tie them together and started being a bit more intentional. He also wrote in quick succession for a while so I think he carried a lot more continuity in his head from book to book.

I am more interested in his new book coming out next year as it seems to be in a similar vein so I'd like to know how it isn't going to just be the same story all over again.

Also less thrilled he has two Kickstarter/backerkits this month. I backed the comic but may skip the special editions of DCC 2&3. I backed the first before he had a trad publishing deal and have been buying those as they have come out.

[tulip crater]

DCC series general || The overall story is a lot less "we need to beat the video game" and a lot more "we are being exploited and murdered for profit and entertainment and we need to violently fight back by any means necessary". However, while this is present from book 1, it only really starts coming to the forefront in book 3, and really becomes the main focus starting in book 5. ||

DCC series general || Also the series generally leans less into videogame elements and more into the reality show elements as it goes on, plus the world outside the game becomes a lot more relevant as you get further in. There is a lot more to the series than just "videogame but in real life" and it has a lot big emotional moments but it takes a while to get there. I'd give it more of a try than chapter 3 but while I think the series gets a lot of better it remains pretty wacky so if you're not clicking with it maybe dropping it is for the best. It is a very hit or miss series.||

[hollow forum]

DCC 1 ||I've only read book 1 but for book 1 I'd recommend until the first boss fight, it won't change much from that point||

||at that point I think it's fair to say that you've seen all that book 1 has to offer||

[snow vessel]

Memnoch the devil 1 ||so lestat is being stalked... interesting. If I had a nickel for every VC book that started with lestat being followed by someone mysterious, I'd have at least two nickels||

||I kind of love the dynamic between lestat and David. Lestat has sooo much nonsense to say and David tries so hard to keep him on track||

[snow vessel]

||god imagine getting personally stalked by (presumably) the devil||

||I do like that armand is being mentioned again. Hopefully he shows up||

[merry galleon]

Inheritance. Best scene ever? ||Galbatorix saying the words of vanquishing the citadel and the events after it||

I’m at 725 pages, and I cannot stop. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!

[wraith lynx]

Ooooooo!!!

[long sorrel]

Oh my god, i was going over my tbr, and I saw I had this Freya Marske book on my tbr and I thought "hmmm I should get that"

and i look it up and I can't find it and then I finally find it and it's not out yet

it releases in... 30h

pure coincidence

[merry galleon]

Welp, I couldn’t stop reading the rest of Inheritance. And let me tell you, ||I was literally screaming into the void for how it ended, both good but WHHHY!|| I did manage to finish it.

[wraith lynx]

YIPEE

Im so happy you loved it!

[sleek jungle]

DCC general ||I would say it's already at the forefront from book one, but it gets more visceral and obvious as the series goes on. ||
And I got to say, it's so strange to me when people say that DCC is just "life is like a video game" story. Maybe it's because I read a metric tonne of trash tier LitRPGs and isekai but it was instantly obvious to me that this story was more than that.
DCC 1 all ||every subplot and arc in book 1 feeds into the theme of exploitation for profit, hard. the first boss, everything about goblins (from the room where Carl and Donut explode a bunch of their children, to the way they are manipulated by the Syndicate with drugs and stuff), the whole thing with bathrooms, the elderly care people and residents, frank and maggie plot. ||

[tulip crater]

Yeah, thinking it about it more, you're right

[hollow forum]

it's also very...

american humor about it

it's like South Park litrpg

so I feel that can dilute the message because people might chalk it up to the book just trying to be edgy or something

or that it's going to be too frivolous with its topics

[quaint burrow]

RR 25 ||Is Ares Noral? Rhetorical||

[cunning pivot]

The other thing about DCC and, Matt spoke about this in SLC last year, is that he somewhat regrets how heavy the lit RPG detail stuff was up front. It loses granularity pretty quick in the subsequent books because this is not a power leveling story it's the gamification/commiditization of suffering that he really is poking at.

[ripe tide]

@low hill Lights of Prague ||Oh boy these two. Domek, shes not trying to kill you. Ora, he isn’t either, only reason he’s reacting like this is training.||

[low hill]

Hehe.

[minor sleet]

Finally finishing up Legend of the Condor Heroes

Lotus loves him even though he’s a blockhead 😭

He is learning to sweet talk

[hoary path]

Finished the first Harry Potter. Was pretty good. I really appreciate how every single adult at that school is completely incompetent at keeping students safe, it is the funniest thing to me XD.

HP1 ||"Oh, let's put a three headed Cerberus that could tear any human apart in seconds by a wooden door with a lock that can be charmed open by a first year. Oh, and let's have them practice flying broomsticks for the first time with no cushioning or spells to catch them while falling so they break their wrists." ||

[minor sleet]

Any guesses on who will be the Noble Laureate for literature this year?

I’m hoping for Anne Carson (again) but people seem to think Murakami or Pynchon or maybe Can Xue

[analog geode]

You guys read books released in the last decade?

[minor sleet]

Or a whole bunch of other more literary names I’m not familiar with

[minor sleet]

It’s a lifetime achievement award, the author has usually been publishing for decades

Thomas Pynchon started writing in the 1960s (and has refused to appear in public the whole time)

[analog geode]

Ahh

Definitely Brandon

[minor sleet]

Are you seriously not familiar with the Nobel Prize or are you messing with me?

[analog geode]

Joking

I didn’t know Churchill won one

[ripe tide]

I keep forgetting Pynchon is still alive.

I think one of my classes has Gravity's Rainbow this semester

[minor sleet]

They’re going to bury him in an open casket with a paper bag over his head like his simpson’s cameo

https://youtu.be/-Ds4OLUDIvg?si=tM4Ytgy4vggBD5g4

[ripe tide]

I honestly didn't know how to react to The Crying of Lot 49 despite thinking the classes on it being interesting.

Its just such a weird book

[minor sleet]

It’s so good!!! It was my bookstore rec for years and it sold shockingly well

[ripe tide]

Huh

I should perhaps reread it. I didn't get to finish

But it also isn't the most me book out there

[minor sleet]

I think because when you hear a book described as “Oedipas Maas was appointed executrix of her estranged ex boyfriend’s will and begins to untangle a conspiracy theory that may or may not exist. Full of 1960s references, and so deeply strange that the fact her therapist is an ex Nazi dosing her with LSD isn’t even a plot point, this book is many things but isn’t boring” works as a great pitch on a card below a stack of them for 30% off

[minor sleet]

No I bet it isn’t

I read it in high school because I’d been talking to someone about how much I liked X Files and he said you should watch Twin Peaks, so I did and told him I really liked it, so he handed me this book and said it was very similar

[ripe tide]

yeah true

[minor sleet]

Which is true! (twin peaks + Lot 49) ||for both of them- You never get a resolution for what’s going on! Is it real? Is it sort of real? What will happen? The story just ends!||

[ripe tide]

I never actually have watched twin peaks

[minor sleet]

It’s deeply influencial to the history of tv. Esp. Genre tv

[ripe tide]

Oh I know

[minor sleet]

It’s also really good & it’s got a great aesthetic, so if it’s time and Pacific Northwest

And the actors are so pretty. But it deals with some deeply awful, upsetting stuff and it’s so damn bizarre it’s hard to reccomend

Like many Pynchon novels

[cunning pivot]

My book club was trying something a bit different this time and we read A wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking and A Dragon Rider's Guide to Retirement. The first was a bit more serious than expected and the second was less. Both were good reads though.

[tight kindle]

A Wizard's Guide is one of my favorite books!

[spring turtle]

note that I have already read these and am just looking to own the audiobook

[random dome]

I had to go look up the term "litrpg" but I was immediately like, oh yeah, that's the part I don't really like. I didn't know this was a genre...

DCC ||I guess it's good to know that maybe those gameified elements don't stick around as prominently, because that was kind of what killed my interest. I don't really think I'd like reading about people leveling up, gaining XP, getting loot boxes and silly achievements.||

[alpine drum]

if there was one person I would have thought would know what litrpg was, it'd be you feather
my worldview is shattered

[random dome]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Honestly I've probably heard the term before but I would have assumed it was the other way around

Like it's a TTRPG that has more literary elements in its mechanics, not that it's a work of literature with rpg elements in the story

[long sorrel]

I know what litrpg is so I can stay away

[vital ibex]

Fighting Fantasy 😌

[ivory cypress]

I've been working through T Kingfisher's old works, finally checking some boxes

and imo it's not as good as her new stuff, but interesting to see a lot of the same threads

it's still so HER

[long sorrel]

Mhm

What have you been reading? 👀

I still got 3 or so left

[ivory cypress]

I did Minor Mage (it was okay), Illuminations (good, I liked this one), now I'm on Summer in Orcus

Jackalope Wives will be after this

[long sorrel]

Oh these are the ones I've not read either

And uuh the Toad anthology?

[ivory cypress]

idk if I know the toad anthology

[long sorrel]

I forgot the name I'll look it up in a bit

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7766e073-7863-417f-8c5a-8f2b0206002d

tbh every time I go over her books I find there's something else that went through my radar

my most recent addition was Summer in Orcus

[ivory cypress]

damn I don't think I have that one

[long sorrel]

Illuminations I kinda ignored because it didn't seem my thing 👀

[ivory cypress]

I paint enough that I was like, ooooh

tbh it felt very much more in line with my experience as an artist than shallan

[long sorrel]

Shallan's experience as an artist isn't... idk, yeah lol

I don't paint nowadays but I have for years

[royal carbon]

T. Kingfisher has so many books out

[long sorrel]

And tbf I've liked them all

but as Grey said some are certainly way worse than her more modern stuff

I think the one I liked least was Bryony and Roses

but I still somewhat enjoyed it

[ivory cypress]

I'm reading What Stalks the Deep alongside this and it's like....

yeah 😅

[long sorrel]

and like

I think What Stalks the Deep is... on a writing level quite better than the previous 2 already, and you know I LOVE What Moves the Dead

[ivory cypress]

it's really good

I am feeling spooked already

[long sorrel]

I think I still like the 1st most of all 3 but I think the writing is just...

and Alex is written so much better imo

[ivory cypress]

I love 👏 a creeping sense of unease 👏 that threatens to turn into alarm at every moment 👏

[long sorrel]

I am so looking forward to Snake Eater

[ivory cypress]

yeeee

[mossy gyro]

https://tenor.com/view/ladder-climbing-kojima-konami-solid-snake-gif-27596974

I'm assuming due to the channel that this is refers to something completely different but this is all I can think of

[long sorrel]

I believe it is the same with everyone that is even vaguely familiar with MGS

Snake Eater

When Selena travels to the remote desert town of Quartz Creek in search of her estranged Aunt Amelia, she is desperate and short of options. Fleeing an unhappy marriage, she has exactly twenty-seven dollars to her name, and her only friend in the world is her dog, Copper.

On arrival, Selena learns Amelia is dead. But the inhabitants of Quartz Creek are only too happy to have a new resident. Out of money and ideas, Selena sees no harm staying in her aunt’s lovely house for a few weeks, tending to her garden and enjoying the strange, desolate beauty of the desert. The people are odd, but friendly, and eager to help Selena settle into her new home.

But Quartz Creek’s inhabitants share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbours. Selena finds herself pursued by disturbing apparitions, visitations that come in the night and seem to want something from her.

Aunt Amelia owed a debt. Now her god has come to collect.

[marble sinew]

Spooky supernatural debts? That sounds like the perfect cover story to hide the development of a Metal Gear. I hope you enjoy this strange adaptation!

[ripe tide]

@low hill I finished

I enjoyed it quite a bit

Interesting take on the creatures for sure.

I liked the characters.

And the end was nice.

[low hill]

Yeah, I thought it came together well.

Might keep it as a backup comp, as well.

[ripe tide]

It feels very different stylistically

[low hill]

Yeah.

[zinc flicker]

Chat help me pick 🙏

[analog geode]

Both

[zinc flicker]

😭

[analog geode]

(Tainted Cup has a cooler cover)

[hybrid kettle]

Will of the many

[ripe tide]

Tainted Cup

[alpine drum]

Tainted Cup

[somber timber]

Tainted cup!!!!!!

[ivory cypress]

tainted cup

[hybrid kettle]

recency bias 🙄

[somber timber]

Tainted cup came out 20 months ago what are you talking about

[main wren]

tbh I see where the appeal in will of the many is but I found it kinda meh so I would lean tainted cup lol

[hybrid kettle]

the sequel is recent

[somber timber]

It released 6 months ago

[hybrid kettle]

is that not recent

[somber timber]

And will of the many has a sequel coming out in less than a month

Not really

[hybrid kettle]

It is, and it's expected for people to have a more positive opinion of book 1 if book 2 is good too

[somber timber]

Multiple people in the channel have been very high on tainted cup since well before the sequel released

[main wren]

not to mention there are lots of good book 1's with bad sequels <_< imo recommending based on what's out now is a good plan

when other books come out then judge the series then

[hybrid kettle]

I think you're taking this a bit too seriously, I thought using a silly emoji made it clear I wasn't that serious

[versed agate]

IDK about anyone else, but 🙄 comes across as a more serious representation of feeling

[brazen pilot]

if you're gonna annoy others be funnier

[zinc flicker]

I’ll get Tainted Cup lol

My goat got a cover tho

[analog geode]

Damnn

[zinc flicker]

Queen slay 💅

[hybrid kettle]

The roll your eyes emoji in particular? Because it's obvious your message is meant to be less serious if you use emojis, barely anyone uses them in serious texts

[versed agate]

discord itself is "less serious text"

most internet "speech" isn't formal writing

it's casual, and we need tone markers
for a lot of people, first emoticons, and now emoji, fill that gap

so unless I can tell someone is being ironic/sarcastic (always a dangerous guessing game without voice tone), I'm going to read the emotion straight

[long sorrel]

to me the eyeroll comes off as condescending

(and that's how I intentionally use it )

[wooden dust]

The Shadow of What Was Lost has a lot of || Person 1 gives character a mission, for the greater good of people, Person 2 comes in and proves/says that Person 1 was lying and does bad stuff. || I expect more of these in the future lol

[untold leaf]

Lost my hold on Castle In The Air before I was even halfway through it 😔

I'm behind on my yearly goal again

[cunning pivot]

Yeah there is a way to handle it with (quite) a bit more subtlety.

Orconomics I think tackles similar themes while being a more satire than parody by addressing the TTRPG/fantasy tropes but not making it about the mechanics of it all. It's very good and not LitRPG but also has TTRPG vibes structurally without needing to quite literally do a voiceover.

[junior dew]

Wow I am alone

[long sorrel]

I decided to vote upon reading this and by pure chance you're no longer alone

[wraith lynx]

Solidarity!!

[long sorrel]

I didn't do it on purpose!

Cosmic how goes TCP?

[wraith lynx]

I had a really big burst of reading 2 days ago, so im a wee bit more than halfway now! Didnt read today because I was sleeping off a 6 am flight 😭

[sleek jungle]

I didn't know... Guess I know what I'm reading next

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/terpsikeraunos/794449279645335552/frankenstein-1818

[uncut shoal]

Damn, Victoria Schwab's books get more and more messed up the more she writes heh

[low hill]

I think she would argue (and indeed does) that she has stopped caring so much about what other people (her publishers) think about what she's writing. ;)

[long sorrel]

Yes! (Highly)

Though I think I've gotten to a point where I could tell it's her if you have me one of her books as anonymous

Cause like, they all just have this... thing to them

[uncut shoal]

Schwab all ||Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones have a very similar tone||

[long sorrel]

Yeah

While being rather different

But they have her signature and common themes

[uncut shoal]

Both end in different messed up ways heh

[long sorrel]

I think none of her books attempt a happily-ever-after

The wheel keeps turning and many of her characters don't get out of it by the end of her books

[uncut shoal]

A Darker Shade of Magic mostly does

[long sorrel]

I think most idealistic ones she has are Shafes of Magic

[uncut shoal]

It's also the one I like best I think

[long sorrel]

Well there are 2 books left

So maybe not

[uncut shoal]

I haven't touched the sequel series yet. Waiting to see if 1. It gets finished, 2. It gets finished in a slightly less messed up way

[long sorrel]

I think it will likely not be very messed up? But who knows

[uncut shoal]

I want her to finish the Villains series too

[long sorrel]

I think, Shades of Magic trilogy all ||despite having a more idealistic ending it still has quite a few bitter touches||

[long sorrel]

I'm pretty sure it is?

[uncut shoal]

Ehhhhh

[long sorrel]

I think writing a 3rd book was dismissed and all put into book 2

[uncut shoal]

I remember reading somewhere that she wanted a final book

[long sorrel]

Did you read it?

[uncut shoal]

I've read book 1 and 2, and the spinoffs yeah

[long sorrel]

Mhm

[uncut shoal]

I think I've done her entire bibliography by now

[long sorrel]

So I felt that was conclusive 🤔

[long sorrel]

I'm still missing some stuff

I read Gallant recently, was fun

I wanted to read Monsters of Verity and The Archived

Cassidy Blake sounds fun but it also says middle grade so I'll see if i feel like it eventually

[uncut shoal]

It's a spin off of Villains and has much the same characters

[long sorrel]

Which?

[uncut shoal]

Oh wait Villains/Cassidy ||I think I got Cassidy and Sydney confused||

||Which just goes to show that they are similar heh||

But honestly, book "age" genres make very little sense

[low hill]

She's talked about a third Villains book recently, I think, yes.

[uncut shoal]

Yeah I remember it being some time after book 2 was out

[low hill]

Yeah, but I mean in the last year or so. :)

[uncut shoal]

That counts

[long sorrel]

Must be recent cause I found nothing about it when i looked it up when i was reading it

Which was what... last year?

I think Villains might be my favourite by her

I love things in Shades of Magic more, but in isolation, I think as a whole I prefer Villains

Though Bury Our Bones is clawing its way up just by existing in my head

[lucid isle]

I’m likely going to finish Project Hail Mary in only a few days. It’s such a page turner

[little dock]

I get Schwab’s newsletter and she’s finished the first draft of the third Villains book. I think she’s shooting for later next year?

[low hill]

See. I know what I'm talking about... >_>

[long sorrel]

Wouldn't expect otherwise...
-# When you remember

Villains all ||isn't Eli dead tho?||

[low hill]

Do I need another copy of Dracula? No.
Do I want another copy of Dracula? Yes.
Am I going to buy a deluxe edition? Obviously.

[snow vessel]

Ive gotten so close to buying another dracula a few times lately

Don't have the money/space really for it right now, unfortunately

-# well, I do, but its probably better spent on other things

[spring turtle]

Jokes on all of you. I have no impulse control and got Bury Your Gays anyway

[quaint burrow]

RR 26 ||Bosombutthead?||

[royal carbon]

I am behind on my TBR, as usual.

[junior dew]

Gahh I really need to read some Schwab. Have heard good things

One day…

[lucid isle]

Im half way through Project Hail Mary, ||my guess is that Rocky is a child, at least not a scientist. ||

[long sorrel]

I was reading some other completely unrelated book and suddenly Lions of Al-Rassan all ||the scene of the duel at the end just intrusively popped into my mind and now I'm sad? Wtf brain 😭 ||

[minor sleet]

Reading Vanya and the Wild Hunt, a new children’s novel

[ivory cypress]

feeling the urge to reread something but idk what

it's like the equivalent urge of going to the kitchen to look for food when you're not REALLY hungry but you want something specific maybe but nothing sounds good

[minor sleet]

Hey who let this new kid’s book call me out like this

[potent linden]

YES BIG MOOD
"I want something comfortable but not this and not this and idk I could read that but is it what I'm looking for...what am I looking for???"
and then I never choose anything because decision paralysis 😭

[long sorrel]

Luckily this doesn't generally last long for me, 5-10 minutes at times. Sometimes I'll pick something sometimes I'll get distracted with something else

[merry galleon]

Like I’m feeling the urge to wanting to read dragon rider books since Eragon, but I want something very specific, like a female protagonist who can ride dragons (and yes I read Fourth Wing, and no it hasn’t satisfied that urge)

[versed agate]

mhmm, you could try going old school with Pern?

[merry galleon]

Oh I already have

[analog geode]

I have a male protagonist with a female author if that works?

[merry galleon]

Daindreth’s Assassin ||Thadred, even Amira can beat you in a skirt||

[merry galleon]

Don’t worry, this urge will go away with time. I just to find other books that can take over

[grim veldt]

Male protag with female author does not satisfy Shallan

[merry galleon]

Daindreth’s Assassin ||he’s smitten||

That or make a story about a female dragon rider protagonist

[minor sleet]

What about Mercedes Lackey’s Dragon Jousters series

Although I think the lead is male actually. Ancient Egypt style setting tho so that’s fun https://www.goodreads.com/series/40366-dragon-jousters

[merry galleon]

Hmm. I’ll take a look.

[minor sleet]

There’s also Dragon Slippers, a kid’s novel

And if you want a good kid’s book about a girl just hanging out with a dragon, Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede

It’s about a princess who runs away to live with a dragon in a cave because she’s tired of being a princess. She’s constantly turning away knights who try to rescue her and melting nosy wizards with soapy lemon water

[grim veldt]

There's also "The Last Dragon", kids/ya
I don't think any of them are large enough to be ridden, but they are dragons

[analog geode]

Everybody should read Temeraire

It’s the napoleonic wars but with dragons

[grim veldt]

👀👀👀

[minor sleet]

Temeraire my beloved large socialist cat of a dragon

[grim veldt]

Honestly, dragons are just oversized cats

[minor sleet]

I should get my dad those for his birthday. I bet he’d like them.

[grim veldt]

Oh!
I have one! The Ninth Rain, by Jen Williams!
The dragon only appears right at the end of the first book, but it's a trilogy, and the female protagonist does ride the dragon, with promise of much more dragon-riding to come in the rest of the trilogy (The Bitter Twins and The Poison Song)

[minor sleet]

Although he’s not a Napoleonic Wars buff

[minor sleet]

https://tenor.com/view/toothless-gif-27195069

[grim veldt]

Speaking of (pseudo)historical fiction, I should find some about Edward III

[analog geode]

Temeraire is basically Toothless if you think about it

[merry galleon]

I’ll take a look. It sounds rather promising

[minor sleet]

Considering that Naomi Novik famously writers fanfiction it is possible that Temeraire is literally Toothless

I know the series started as Master and Commander fanfic before she admitted this was basically different enough to make into a new novel series

[grim veldt]

One of the major antagonists from my story is basically evil Harry Potter.
A very specific evil Harry Potter, though, so I doubt anyone would recognise him.

[minor sleet]

That’s ok, it’s what JK deserves

[analog geode]

Temeraire came out 4 years earlier

[minor sleet]

Maybe it’s the other way around then

Or maybe it’s just that everyone agrees that friendly dragons would be feline

[snow vessel]

Memnoch the devil 4 ||we better not be spending this whole 1.5 hour chapter on Roger's life story...||

[lucid isle]

Finished Project Hail Mary today, simply amazing.
Then I wathced the movie trailer and it's not as I imagined it in my head

[modest olive]

There's always Skyward, I think girl with dragon was the premise he built upon

[minor sleet]

Ok so The Cat Who Walked Through Walls by Heinlan SUCKED

just so bad

Who let him publish that dreck

[lucid isle]

Project Hail Mary finished ||Around chapter 35ish, Grace used the 3d printer to make a structural model of the Hail Mary for Rocky to use in the design of supporting struts.
They were docked and at 0g at the time.

However, earlier in the book when Rocky first boarded the Hail Mary and took an interest in the 3d printer, Grace said it wouldnt work in 0g. What have I missed?||

[merry galleon]

Welp, this is a problem. Just started Daindreth’s Assassin and 70 pages in, and I’m hooked. And this is meant to be a break read as I also read The Fork, The Witch, and The Worm.

I’m between a rock and a hard place

[lucid isle]

I intended Project Hail Mary to be a Sanderson cooldown but finished it in 2 days

[long sorrel]

I love doing books as break of other books and then just readng them in 1 day

(that's my perpetual state)

[hollow hedge]

I remember reading The Martian in 2 days, that was unexpected

I guess Weir is just like that

[long sorrel]

I've yet to read any of their works

(It's on the tbr ofc)

[deft stream]

Read all of Im glad my mother died yesterday, it was amazing5/5

[main wren]

That statement thinking I was in another channel hit different lol

[hoary path]

Harry Potter 2 ||More magic, more fun wizarding stuff. She does a really good job at having a lot of casual humor with 'What? You've never heard of a garden gnome? Or a flying car, what a weirdo!' I liked that we got to see more of the castle and some other characters getting some time. One of the things I disliked was how everything is such a mystery, but you can't really piece it together yourself. Most of the information for revelations is just straight up telling you the moment they give a hint. You'd never be able to piece together that Ginny was the one possessed, or that Hagrid didn't open the chamber. Also, Hagrid: maybe next time don't send children to a giant evil spider just because she likes you? Only for her to basically say stuff that Dumbledore could've explained? Which brings me my next point: the humor in this book is hilarious. The adults are so incompetent and terrible that it doesn't even come to unrealistic and plot breaks, just funny. I just assume wizards and witches are so extremely reliant on magic that they just lose all basic common sense because of it. I will admit the ending being basically deus ex machina takes away a lot from Harry's character. It is the same in the first one where he feels like he is stupidly lucky rather than doing stuff on his own, but at the very least he does something in this ending. The 'memory of Tom Riddle' felt SUPER forced though, even in this universe. Like, was he really so evil at Hogwarts he was able to use evil magic to store a clone of himself? Why don't more people use it? I'm probably overthinking it but I feel it is a valid question LOL. Overall I enjoyed it though, and also Molly Weasely is still the best and only competent adult figure in this entire wizarding world.||

[minor sleet]

Oh this is 100% a series that cannot be questioned or thought about too deeply or it begins to fall apart instantly

[ripe tide]

Origin behind a lot of the comments Mike Schubert made when he did Potterless.

[minor sleet]

Which is why even before Rowling began to be a horrible person I didn’t understand why so many adults where still so adamant it was rhr best book series ever and made it their whole personality

[ripe tide]

Nostalgia is the answer to that

But yeah I get your frustration

[deft stream]

As a former potter head, I have nostalgia cause I read it when I was between 6-9 but when I read it again on 2020 at 17 it was....interesting. Now I often forget about them

I prefer PJO anyways

[ivory cypress]

because a lot of people think the thing that they read as a kid which is their first experience with xyz tropes is the best form of it ever

[long sorrel]

Everyone does this all the time with many things, nothing special about HP except that it was more popular than other franchises for a long time

[buoyant whale]

I think the movies being such an event™ was part of it, too

[long sorrel]

Also almost everyone loves things that aren't very good and, a lot of those people do consider those things the best because a lot of people consider "liking something" = "a good thing", which is fine, a different way to analyse things but

[deft stream]

In other news, I am reading how to lose a time war, I love it. I dont understand anything about the time war, but the banter and the yearning are amazing

[wet belfry]

I also think an independently operating setting is sort of sales point in "modern" fantasy and HP doesn't care to engage with that at all (until later on when continued monetization became a factor). HP's setting exists explicitly to tell this specific story

Its why when Rowling (and King) insists she's not a fantasy writer, part of me takes her at her word on that. She's not interested in or engaging with many of modern fantasy genre conventions at all (and neither is King, except kind of Dark Tower)

[lusty meteor]

I think many people who read HP and called it their favorite ever did not read many books

HP broke contain in a singular way

[alpine drum]

many people who read HP and called it their favorite ever did not read many books

just as a consequence of how popular it was

[hollow hedge]

that's true for many large franchises, including the Cosmere

[brazen pilot]

The other day I was on a dating app and someone's answer to the prompt "I'll brag about you to my friends if..." was "You've read Harry Potter"

And like ????

Every person our age has

[long sorrel]

also not quite a selling point nowadays

[ivory cypress]

one of my key turnoff phrases is "I've never read anything like this before!"

unless I know for a fact that you read a ton, 9/10 times this phrase says to me, oh they're new to reading...

"glad they're getting into it again"

[long sorrel]

I had this moment the other day with my friends where someone was talking about this concept for this book he's writing and everyone else except me and a friend's partner were like "oh that's so original I've never read anything like that before" and the guy was like "huh?" (I was internally huh-ing but chose to say nothing cause you don't need to go "oh no he's not original" to the guy, which tbf what he said can turn into a very original story but the concept isn't unique in isolation!)

[low hill]

Authors, eh...?

[long sorrel]

the guy in question wasn't claiming it was an original concept at all (he does read a bunch of fantasy!)

[main wren]

Idk if other writers are like this but when I explain an idea and someone says "Oh they did that in this other book XXX" I'm usually like oh neat I wonder how they did that, or maybe neat this idea did land for some people

[long sorrel]

I think it's fine on like a more personal level, and if you know the person to go "oh this reminds me of X"

But I felt kinda trashy to contradict the person saying "that's original" with "no it isn't" in front of a whole group of people that half of them don't even read

and he didn't ask for our opinion at all (which makes a huge difference in whether I'd give my opinion on what someone has created or not)

[main wren]

[quaint tendon]

Started butchers masquerade today

Man these books have been so good

[viral fractal]

The worldbuilding for Harry Potter is certainly not consistent but it is genuinely fairly high quality for middle school/ YA, and that’s when a lot of people stop reading

[long sorrel]

I think HP has also a massive self insert component

Like I read LotR before I read HP and I loved it and it was fantastic on every sense

but in HP when you read it as a kid you feel you could be part of it, right? It makes you immerse in the world differently

Probably similar thing to some other series that are on the same style

Like I imagine other people felt like this when reading PJ as a child for example

This isn't a necessary component to enjoy a book or to consider a book good (obviously) but I think it does something different to a child's mind

[buoyant whale]

just like being sold to one direction

that could have also been any one of us 😌

[main wren]

Honestly I think a lot of it is also like, it's an easy book to recommend for kids to get them more into reading. Getting non-readers to read was a big component to its success/popularity. And even among parents who hate JKR, it's like if this is the book that gets my kid reading then 🤷

[long sorrel]

It is also very easy reading yeah

And there's some things it sets out to do and it does them very well imo

Does it do everything else remotely good? Nope but alas

It takes you on an adventure

My parents both read HP when I was a kid after I read them and their general opinion was "highly entertaining, trash writing" (they both read a lot)

[main wren]

for my nephews and niece it was a starting point where they read the first book or two, and then branch out into other books they like after that

[quaint tendon]

I think if I were to try and introduce kids to fantasy I’d go with the Bartimaeus books

I agree HP is a decent way to get kids to read some more but. On a moral ground I’d rather not

I guess realistically I could probably find older publication editions in my childhood home somewhere that could be read without financially supporting Rowling these days

But I think Bartimaeus just offers a bit more like. Substance for a foundational series

I only read Earthsea for the first time a few years ago and I’d probably see if a kid liked those too

[analog geode]

Bartimaeus is great

I loved Earthsea as a kid, one of the first fantasy series I read, back in like 2nd grade

[quaint tendon]

Can’t go wrong with Le Guin

Idk much about the book versions of those dog man/ captain underpants books.

[analog geode]

Magic Tree House was peak

[quaint tendon]

I don’t particularly enjoy the other media attached to it. But if I’m keeping my authors straight I think the author is pretty rad morally

[long sorrel]

Yeah I'd not give HP to kids nowadays, plenty of other books out there to get children to read lol

[quaint tendon]

Oh I did like magic treehouse

I only read the dinosaur one tbh

But it was great

[ripe tide]

I loved the Emily Windsnap books, School for Good and Evil and Land of Stories at that age.

[analog geode]

Percy Jackson too

[quaint tendon]

Narnia is probably still pretty cool

[analog geode]

I adore Narnia

[quaint tendon]

I stopped at the silver chair and I haven’t finished the series

[ripe tide]

The latter two hold up particularly well to more modern readings of it. Though LoS is definitely more formulaeic but that's because its meant to follow the structure of a fairy tale.

[long sorrel]

I'm so-so about Narnia

[quaint tendon]

But there was a big big moment in my childhood for Narnia

[ripe tide]

Yeah I feel like that's the elephant in the room that goes without saying.

[analog geode]

My mother brought me back a full cast audiobook of the whole series on CDs from London one time. I played those discs until they were unusable

[quaint tendon]

Riordans ability to learn from his mistakes is admirable. The books can be hit or miss if I’m coming from a critical position but I’ll give the guy points for using his platform to help lesser known diverse authorship to the forefront

But in reality I am too biased to be judgmental of PJO

[analog geode]

I later found out the company that made them is horrible, but I can’t bring myself to stop listening because they were such a massive part of my childhood. They were probably the primary reason I love fantasy so much

[quaint tendon]

I haven’t looked into it since the trials of Apollo but I found them a really fun read

Also a vastly improved experience audio book wise those Apollo books were

[ripe tide]

They were always good, but he just kept improving and I definitely agree that him just learning and bringing in more diversity is definitely admirable.

[analog geode]

I was so obsessed with Percy Jackson I forced myself to read the Illiad in 1st grade just because it was mentioned

[quaint tendon]

PJOs first series.

Those audiobooks. Yikes

[ripe tide]

Yeah I've heard the audio is famously bad.

[quaint tendon]

I also tried to read the Iliad

I failed

[ripe tide]

Its the whole Jia joke from Newest Olympian.

[quaint tendon]

Too much sail setting content

There is some. Accent work

[analog geode]

I spent the whole summer reading and hated every second, but I did finish it

[ripe tide]

I need to actually read the WIlson translation one day. Literature student that hasn't read either the Iliad or the Odessey is a bit embarassing. Of course I know the stories, I just haven't actually read them. I have read sections of the Aeniad though.

[quaint tendon]

In those OG versions of those Percy Jackson audiobooks that was

Wild.

Accents are a tight rope even for the most skilled narrators imo. But Jesse Bernstein Jesus

[ripe tide]

Anyway, I actually need to sleep now because I have a 9am tomorrow, and being a bit sick hasn't helped for. that.

[quaint tendon]

Ethan Nakamura was

Horrifying

Good night Cheyenne

I listened to the books again during my early days using Audible and they got rid of all those accents at some point between the original release and 2020

[analog geode]

Night!

[ripe tide]

I can’t believe I’m complaining about 9ams when I had 7s most of my life and back home I’d have 8s pretty regularly.

[analog geode]

Anything before 11am is a war crime

[quaint tendon]

Truth

Though, working night shift has irreparably ruined the very concept of the time 9am for me so

I may be biased.

[long sorrel]

I loved the Illiad

I should reread it

I have a special edition that i've not read

[quaint tendon]

I should give it another shot

[long sorrel]

I read it when I was like... 13

so it's been a bit

[quaint tendon]

I was in such a classical era when I did those sorts of books

[long sorrel]

I wonder what I'd think now

[quaint tendon]

I attempted the Iliad

I read the odyssey and loved it

Loved 20k leagues under the sea

[analog geode]

I just don’t like reading epic poetry

[quaint tendon]

I really dug Beowulf too

[analog geode]

I went through a huge Jules Verne phase

[quaint tendon]

I loved Treasure Island too

[analog geode]

I worked my way through most of his bibliography, then stopped because I could not get through Around the Moon. It was sooooo boring

[quaint tendon]

Read some Sherlock Holmes once upon a time

[analog geode]

I read a bunch of Sherlock Holmes

[quaint tendon]

Those penguin collections at Barnes and noble were my jam growing up

Tried reading Moby dick

[long sorrel]

I read some Verne and I was... fine with it

[quaint tendon]

Much like the Iliad. It was a bit too

Sailor lore heavy

[long sorrel]

I do quite enjoy that kinda stuff

[quaint tendon]

I was not very interested in the economics of the whaling industry I’m sorry Herman

[long sorrel]

even if I'm fully unfamiliar with it

anything that's not making me look into sports generally

[quaint tendon]

So you didn’t read quidditch through the ages

You didn’t miss anything trust me usha

[analog geode]

The Mysterious Island is what got me into historical fiction

[quaint tendon]

I read common sense by Thomas Paine in 8th grade

Couldn’t tell ya nothing about it these days lol

[analog geode]

Fun fact: his house is now a gay piano bar that plays show tunes. Really fun time

[quaint tendon]

Thomas paine?

[analog geode]

Yeah

[quaint tendon]

sick

[analog geode]

In nyc

[quaint tendon]

That’s the coolest thing Thomas paines ever been attached to then

I never read another Verne novel

Giant squids were a special interest for tiny child Thorn

[analog geode]

Around the World in 80 days, 20k leagues, and The Mysterious Island are my favorites

[quaint tendon]

Plus the Nautilus is just one of those Great fictional machines

[long sorrel]

I was obsessed with mythology as a child (thus the Illiad among others)

[quaint tendon]

Big time

[analog geode]

The Mysterious Island bug spoilers ||Nemo and the Nautilus even show up at the end||

[quaint tendon]

I loved my Egyptologist book

[analog geode]

I had dragonology and pirateology

[quaint tendon]

I had those too

And wizardology

And I had the Inheritance one of those that came out too

[analog geode]

I had the dragonology board game, it was pretty fun

[quaint tendon]

Oh guide to alagaesia was just a similar kind of book done by Paolini

Lol probably should have known

Homage the best and homage well that’s how my brain has come to feel about ol Paolini

I’ll never forget the multiple times in my first read through of Wheel of Time where I was like…”huh. So that’s where that comes from in Inheritance”

[minor sleet]

Stranger in a Strange Land is so good

If it wasn’t for the clear similarities in narrative voice, in the thing about spanking women which they all take in amused stride and in the paternalistic misogyny I would not believe they were by the same author

And he wrote The Cat Who Walked Through Walls later

Robert, what happened??? Did your editor die???

[royal carbon]

Narnia was probably elementary school for me.

[snow vessel]

Frankenstein all ||it's funny how good Victor is at blaming things beyond his control for his situation||

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/haywardfreud/790458423112351745

-# #stranger in a strange land #😮‍💨😮‍💨

Tumblr · Jul 30, 2025, 1:44 AM

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/its-exactly-the-same-elsa-dutton-isabel-may-1883-theres-no-difference-gif-24935948

[minor sleet]

Don’t worry though, during the (spoilers) ||Martian sex cult orgies, only the women are together. The men are Not Touching or having sex because that would be gay and Heinlans libertarianism can only bend so much||

[hoary path]

Libraries are good for this too 🙂

[quaint tendon]

Also that

[hollow vigil]

Ugh I need to reorganize my bookshelf.

[royal carbon]

What about second bookshelf?

[merry galleon]

I have to reorganise my bookshelf as well. But I’m waiting for installation of another shelf

[junior dew]

I haven’t. I tried starting on book 4 multiple times as a kid for some reason (I guess my mindset was that I had already watched the prior movies). Loved the HP movies and games as a kid. Had the books. Just never ended up reading those in particular really for some reason

And then as an adult it has always been a hard pass for me because of Rowling. These days I won’t touch anything HP with a ten foot pole

[junior dew]

Nice! I just finished the following book! Definitely good stuff!

[merry galleon]

The Fork, the Witch and the Worm, and I’m at 83 pages

[quaint tendon]

That’s the inheritance anthology is it not

[minor sleet]

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2025/press-release/

[snow vessel]

Almost done Frankenstein. Question is, what next?

Probably dracula or midnight tides

[minor sleet]

Carmilla

Go for Carmilla

It’s shorter than Dracula and older too

[snow vessel]

Dracula would be a reread

I have Carmilla on my list but dont have a copy of it on-hand right now

Although I might be able to pick up a copy tomorrow... we'll see

[minor sleet]

It’s on Project Gutenberg

Fully public domain story, available wherever you get your ebooks and also on Wikimedia

[untold leaf]

I have finally obtained a copy of The Will of the Many!

[sleek jungle]

Right on time to finish it before the Strength of the Few!

[wraith lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/eevee-jumps-gif-2696845723667273642

I will feast on the reactions

[tight kindle]

WotM 2 ||There are no druids, anymore
I wanna know MOOOOORE
That's not enough information!||

[tight kindle]

||I maintain that Vis reads as a raging bisexual||

||Emphasis on the rage part||

[wraith lynx]

||yes hes my beautiful crashout son 🥰||

[quaint burrow]

Atrus has started WotM👀

[wraith lynx]

I know 👀👀👀

[untold leaf]

WotM 1 ||Hold up, what's going on there? Hrolf just has a really short-term memory? Or is something causing him to randomly forget things in real time? That alone makes me the most curious.||

Yes, I've started WotM too 😁 I just hope I'll be able to finish it before my loan expires.

[quaint burrow]

14 days? Or 21 ?

[untold leaf]

21

[quaint burrow]

Niiice

[untold leaf]

Which still might not be enough with how scatterbrained and/or busy I can be.

[quaint burrow]

True true.... I borrowed Memories of Ice like four times (I was the only one borrowing , I'm not evil)

[tight kindle]

This is a reread
I read it in like March already

[quaint burrow]

Ooooh for SotF?

[tight kindle]

Yup

We'll see whether I finish it 🫠

[wraith lynx]

Do it for my son

[tight kindle]

Your crashout bisexual son.

...Cosmic if you have a son and he isn't a crashout (bisexuality optional but encouraged) you will have failed as a parent. 😔

[wraith lynx]

Tbh it would be really funny, albeit stressful (the crashout part, not the bisexual part) 😂

[tight kindle]

WotM 12 ||They drew blood from Magnus Quintus Cerrud last week. He's the only new one I heard about. But they said he wasn't infected.
WAIT WHAT.
I don't remember this||

[snow vessel]

...oh i forgot sotf was coming out soon

[wraith lynx]

gasp

I couldnt imagine

-# says the woman whos been counting down day by day and plans to order it day 1

[snow vessel]

This maybe changes some of my reading plans...

[low hill]

-# Why don't you preorder it then?

[long sorrel]

I think I've never shown this here but this is a thing in the metro here

"Leave one take one"

It doesnt work very well but it isn't dead smh

maybe cause someone left the Da Vinci Code

[long sorrel]

Started Royal Assassin 👀

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/evil-laugh-bwahaha-bobs-burgers-gif-5632048

Thorn reading the dungeon crawler Carl series live reactions

[lucid isle]

I just started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl and it's hilarious

I assumed it was just some YA fiction at first

[snow vessel]

Well my next read will not be either of the options I was considering

Picked up the first omnibus of Vampire Hunter D... novels? novellas? today

And that'll be what I read next, I think

[wraith lynx]

-# i didnt think abour that for some reason 🤣

[spring turtle]

https://fxbsky.app/profile/joabaldwin.com/post/3m2tu4qj3ps26

Joaquín Baldwin (@joabaldwin.com)

Today marks 2 years since my first book came out!
︀︀
︀︀Now is the perfect time to get started with the series (Book 4 announcement happening SOON).

**🔁 6 ❤️ 22 **

FxBluesky · Oct 10, 2025, 2:13 PM

I come to proselytize again

[quaint burrow]

RR 28 ||Is Titus..... Red?||

||IS TITUS RED||

||Titus is a Red||

OK Red Rising is getting hot

[long sorrel]

is it rising?

[quaint burrow]

It is indeed

RR 29 ||Is Fitchner..... Ares?||

[alpine drum]

ASOIAF ||fun fanart of young Jaime and Cersei when they'd swap places (and by fun I mean very depressing) source||

[long sorrel]

Chapter 1 of Royal Assassin was very... wow 👀

||And we had a lot of Fool 👀 ||

[low hill]

I am not getting anywhere with Jade Legacy. I think I might need to read something else for a bit...

[hybrid kettle]

great book

[brazen pilot]

What was wow about it for you

[long sorrel]

||The entire scene of Fitz in Shrewd's body. Knowing a bit more about the Fool!||

Idk just... basically the entire chapter lol

[junior dew]

Piranesi Early Part 3 || Piranesi just met this professor guy who was in jail. The guy saying something happened to piranesi + the book cover has me thinking this is a pan’s labyrinth thing going on. Book is very compelling so far ||

Same tags || If it is a pan’s labyrinth thing then I’ll be really bummed that the cover gave it away ||

Same tags || If it’s misdirection, goated. Pardon the pun ||

[orchid obsidian]

I liked those but also found I had to pull myself through them at the same time

[ivory cypress]

hmmmm maybe i'm not feeling the desire to reread something cozy... maybe i'm feeling the desire for something spooky and dangerous..... gonna see if The Twisted Ones feels like it

T Kingfisher is currently the only one i can stand to read (finished Jackalope Wives, yay, it was great actually) so that might be it

[tight kindle]

So....
I was on page 20 yesterday morning

(this is WoTM)

[quaint burrow]

Heh, 420

[tight kindle]

snorts

I forgot how good this book is

[royal carbon]

Working through Seven Surrenders and The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

[tight kindle]

WotM 59 ||I still ship Callidus and Eidhin||

(Also Firerust if you see this, this is not the average speed at which people read this book )

60 ||The Foundation scene is still my favorite. It's just so good and hits in all the right places||

[low hill]

I think it doesn't help that I don't like half the characters...
I don't think you're supposed to, mind you, but it makes it a bit of a slog.

[small bloom]

||I remember shipping Callidus with Vis but I could see this too||

[tight kindle]

WotM all ||I actually forgot that Callidus died 😭
My first read I was shipping Vis and Eidhin but switched to Callidus + Eidhin after Vis and Emissa became a thing.||

Also I just finished it again

Tis very good book

I'm excited for the next one

I've read like 600 pages in the last two days

[small bloom]

Officially a month until SotF as of today

[ripe tide]

Who’s the other person that was reading Interview? I only know to tag @low hill for this

[low hill]

@snow vessel

[long sorrel]

imma have to cut my Royal Assassin read short cause my brain is too muddled to comprehend it right now 😭 my mom got over whatever this is in 2 days so I guess I'll read something else for 2 days

[orchid obsidian]

Mmhm I had the same thoughts about them. Iirc I warmed up to some eventually but I never connected with anyone.

[snow vessel]

I appreciate how much this is just a vibes trailer while also hinting at a lot of story stuff

Iwtv s1-2/TVC books 1-4 ||like, lots of rockstar lestat stuff but also teases of magnus, gabrielle, armand, raglan??, etc.||

||I saw someone point out that lestat seems to be hallucinating magnus at one point 👀 ||

Also we got an actress announced for [TVL] ||Akasha!||

[snow vessel]

Same ||I also like how much they seem to be doing with the modern-day stuff. Given TVL kind of just did a start and end, I like that we're getting more modern Louis, lestat, Daniel, etc.||

||I think I saw Claudia?? So I assume we're bringing forward some ghost-claudia stuff from body thief/queen of the damned?||