Books (General)

[junior dew]

Wotm part 1 || I would have guessed Ikwa ||

[long sorrel]

Uhm.... yeah okay

[merry galleon]

I’m at exactly 50 pages on Lightlark. Colour me intrigued so far, but this may change as I read on

[craggy cargo]

He's got that clark kent vibe, if that makes sense.

[sleek jungle]

As a heads up, there will be a section towards the end that's extremely difficult to follow in audio format

[long sorrel]

not into clark kent so I'm not seeing that

[craggy cargo]

Yeah, makes sense.

My friend has clark kent posters all over her apartment.

[long sorrel]

lol

I don't think I've ever done that

Having Uta eating an eye doesn't count

[craggy cargo]

I'm so glad I had both the book and audiobook for that part.

[long sorrel]

SotF preview chapter ||I'm currently invested in ... I forgot his name! the guy that was supposed to be dead||

[craggy cargo]

||I guess you couldn't... Care(or) enough to remember his name.||

||(it's actually caeror)||

[sleek jungle]

I didn't and I really understood what happened after reading through reddit breakdowns

It will be interesting to see if the audio will be handled the same way in SotF

[craggy cargo]

I think there's no other way to do it though.

I guess if you rewind and relisten multiple times it'd eventually work?

[sleek jungle]

WotM all ||I think the narrator can read out what dimension/plane/world the scene is taking place on. Like those aren't graphics, but text||

[craggy cargo]

WotM all ||I'd bet good money all Vis' get three separate names.||

[sleek jungle]

we'll see in a week

[craggy cargo]

||maybe Res Vis stays Vis. Because otherwise it'd be hell to read any sequence where they interact.||

[sleek jungle]

I just realised I forgot to finish my notes before sotf, damn

[craggy cargo]

||There would be great Visdom in changing the names.||

[sleek jungle]

wotm all ||obiteum Vis should be Visio||

||luceum will obviously be Lucio ||

[craggy cargo]

I was thinking something much dumber.

||Vis, Miss and Diss.||

[sleek jungle]

if only Islington wrote bloopers like Will Wight

[craggy cargo]

The wotm all ||secret fourth one, kiss.||

[craggy cargo]

I think ||almost all of them would have to involve Veridius and Ulciscor kissing.||

Also, now that I think about it, wotm all ||Ulciscor has to be the worst judge of character in the whole damn Hierarchy.||

[spring turtle]

Either the B&N preorder sale happens in the next couple days or it doesn't happen until after Christmas

Hopefully the former

(they've been having them consistently every two months this year)

[tight kindle]

...Oh damn

[cloud socket]

yeah, I feel like I missed the last one but I remember thinking, "didn't they already do this this year?" thinking it was an annual thing, not more frequent

[spring turtle]

They did one late April, early July, and early September

And early February

[untold leaf]

WotM uh idk XII or something? I don't have the book ||The early-ish scene where Vis wakes up to the physician tending to him|| ||I was reading that scene where he wakes up and the students are there questioning him, then leave as the "physician" walks in. The book describes him as being in his mid-twenties with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and some other familiar descriptor and all I could think was "Huh, this book is just describing my own appearance". So I just clocked this physician guy as a lookalike of me and pictured myself when visualizing him, like a self-insert. Then I found out this "physician" guy was Veridus and I regretted that. 😆||

[ivory cypress]

Nameless Land tomorrowwwwwwwwwww i'm so anxious ahhhhh 😖

[long sorrel]

YEEEEEES

I was going to say that yesterday and I forgot

I am going to buy it as soon as it's out 👀

I'm glad I read it just 2 days ago

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads ||I'm very curious about if this story will have a happy ending and what is a "happy ending" here?||

[ivory cypress]

i can't even guess. i can't even imagine. my heart is sick about it

[long sorrel]

||I sort of expect a bittersweet ending... but damn, I'm so worried about the Prince, in like, a negative way, I'm not sure what to expect of him now that he's back, and ofc the Haunt is out there...? and and and and, you know ||

It was an absolutely mean point to cut the story in half lol

[ivory cypress]

i'm SICK

[long sorrel]

It's the 4th! Let me in!

[ivory cypress]

oh you'll be done before I get it in my hands haha

I'm getting a physical copy from the store after work tomorrow

[long sorrel]

nah, it won't be up til midnight your time and I've got a lot to do tomorrow

so I'll get on it in the evening probably

[ivory cypress]

i'll be slow regardless i guess

i'm worried i've already forgotten too much of the Witch Roads

[long sorrel]

That I hope doesn't happen to me given it's been like 5 days

[junior dew]

Wotm XXXIII || Obadium is lost. Do not open the gate. Synchronous is death ||

[quaint tendon]

This book was 0-100 immediately sheesh

[junior dew]

Wotm XXXVII || SODOCHIA IS AL CONQUISTADOR’S WIFE!? ||

[wraith lynx]

||Sedotia, but yeah 🤣||

||also I adore this twist, it literally catches everyone off guard XD||

||also also it should be me not her 😒||

[quaint tendon]

I assume these are just how the chapters in Will of the many are numbered. But if not y’all’s command of Roman numeral numbers is incredible

I lose track after I-X

[wraith lynx]

Oh I did too

When I was doing my chapter reactions I messed up the numeral translation like 3 times 😂

[quaint tendon]

I don’t even know what Super Bowl we’re on until they say it out loud

[tight kindle]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HierarchySeries/comments/1onsqyn/my_bookstore_sold_me_this_today

Someone got lucky

-# @wraith lynx

[wraith lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/yugioh-punch-ground-punching-ground-it-shouldve-been-me-it-shouldve-been-me-not-him-gif-18069003738146878767

I whine as im literally going to get it on Tuesday

[tight kindle]

I still need to preorder

[craggy cargo]

The trick is to just add up. XXII is just 10+10+1+1

The only other confusing part is the IV thing.

In which case, it's not being added up but being subtracted, -1+5=4

[wraith lynx]

VI and IV look similar so I get tripped up with them sometimes

[craggy cargo]

Yeah i definitely need to do a double take at times.

[analog geode]

One is a needle in your arm, the other is a lesbian, how hard is that?

[craggy cargo]

One heals, the other breaks your jaw and you say "thank you ma'am"

[long sorrel]

Yeah, reading roman numerals is fairly easy but if you've never gotten used to it your brain might block instead of reading fluidly

[random dome]

just play more final fantasy

[quaint tendon]

I can figure those out. It’s when L enters things I’m supremely far gone

[craggy cargo]

L is just 50. Behaves the same way as the rest otherwise.

[snow vessel]

-# roman kids being mean: "L + XVI"

-# I have no idea if this joke will make any sense to anyone

[untold leaf]

My stupid brain forgetting how Roman this series is and thinking "Woah, book eleven?"

Despite me already knowing it's book two, that was still my first thought. 😛

[wraith lynx]

Youre manifesting great things Rusty

[mild lance]

has anyone here heard of The Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee?

it's a fantasy book about a young king, inspired by Chinese and Mongolian elements and written entirely in poems

and it's freaking fantastic

Sign of the Dragon general + Goblin Emperor general ||the two books have very similar premises, both focusing on a young ruler who unexpectedly took the throne and breaks norms by actually being a good person||

[cunning estuary]

guys

The Strength of the Few is only a week away

!!!!!!!

[ripe tide]

I just realized Lies Weeping raleases today!

Im going to have to wait for the library to get it, and my reading is kind of chaotic atm anyway so that’s fine.

[quaint burrow]

MS 23 ||huh? There are only 18 billion people? It feels so.... Little... ||

[long sorrel]

It is the 4th!

Ill be home in 30 and i won't be able to read it yet but I'm sure buying it

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 21 ||kind of insane to think that lestat just wanted to be an actor and now he's in hell with the devil||

[long sorrel]

That sounds so Lestat

[snow vessel]

||Its kind of crazy as well to just think... like how much Magnus changed Lestat's life. He's been through so much that he just wouldn't have if Magnus hadn't given him this curse/gift||

||like, lestat didnt really do anything to get this except for act well enough to catch magnus's eye||

||I think this book also connects to a lot of consistent themes of the series in interesting ways||

||like, the whole question of whether suffering is deserved from QOTD and kind of books 1 and 2, the idea of like... what is evil and is lestat evil and what is goodness explored in basically the whole series, and the idea of the... "savage garden" of aesthetic laws compared with the more traditional sense of goodness||

[junior dew]

WOTM XLI 4 minutes into the chapter || Definitely giving mole people/underground bunker. Religion probably found living people under here and genocided them or something ||

WOTM XLI + Clair Obscur || For those who come after.

Alicia eeeeeeeeeee ||

I feel like I’m making surprisingly good pace on this book. Should have it done within the next 2 days probably

Which means I should be able to do Ghostwater before Strength of the Few comes out 👀

6 hours left on WoTM so far (listening at 2x). So just a bit over halfway through I believe

Wotm XLI + Cradle through book 4 || Remnants guide the way. This is where Vis will get his gold sign! ||

[heavy dove]

[A Brightness Long Ago Part 1] ||this is off to a great start. a story set in GGK's version of renaissance italy, centering around a power struggle between two lords of minor city-states in central Batiara who serve as condottieri for the more powerful kingdoms surrounding them and whose feud affects the delicate balance between the various polities in the peninsula and beyond? sign. me. up. love that the two lords in question, Folco and Teobaldo, meet so soon into the book in the way they do and have such a fascinating conversation. GGK loves his rival duos, eh? this reminded me of Ammar and Rodrigo from Lions for a second with the larger than life characters but it's also more like Bertran and Urte from Arbonne and there already seems to be much more depth to this compared to the latter. the other characters are all great as well. Adria and Jelena both being women who have rejected their destiny to take ownership of their lives and carve out a different life for themselves and answer the calling of their souls. it is much more defined and certain for Jelena but Adria is yet to completely figure it out. Coppo's short POVs leading to his untimely were incredibly sad as well. Danio being a man of low birth who gets the opportunity to learn a bit of everything under a great man and how that shapes his view of the world and who seemingly becomes a wise old man and narrating his own POVs here as a recollection. he considered settling into a much more mundane life but his teacher gave him a new calling, a responsibility to make good use of the knowledge he has received and even pass it along. appeals to me a lot.||

[junior dew]

Wotm XLIII || Reloquia totally killed a kid and made it look like a suicide ||

[junior dew]

Wotm XLIV || Inissa speaks kaimirian and understood the discussion that was just had in front of her with Aidan about how Vis should pursue her romantically ||

[craggy cargo]

WotM XLIV ||As an audiobook listener too, Inissa as a spelling is just inexcusable.||

[junior dew]

Same || What is the spelling? ||

[craggy cargo]

||Emissa.||

[wraith lynx]

Same tags ||also is Cymrian, which is way more excusable 🤣||

[junior dew]

Same tags || I blame my autism and the resulting auditory processing deficiencies + listening at 2x speed 👀 These names are rough lmfao ||

[craggy cargo]

Will of the many ||Yeah, the narrator also says it a bit weirdly. I first heard it as Chimeran and was hoping there was a former country of chimeras.||

[marble sinew]

"Oh, Superbowl El-Ex, you should've said!"

[junior dew]

WOTM XLV || Broooooooo Vis what are you doing. You’re going to get expelled ||

WOTM XLV || Oh huh, he’s getting away with this. I thought there was a big thing against hurting other students ||

~5 hours remaining

Gahh, I must get some work done

Book is fun

[wraith lynx]

-# but what if you kept listening

[junior dew]

Not at all what I expected this read to be tbh

[wraith lynx]

Seee I told youuuuuu~

Ive been feral about this book since march, its a problem 😭

[junior dew]

WOTM through XLV || It’s interesting. I’m enjoying it but it’s also… tamer than I expected so far? I think obviously like the hype build up it had was so huge. So like it’s proving fun and enjoyable and it’s a very compelling read so far, but I’m also like just waiting for it to go full feral mode. Because I know based on what I’ve seen others say that this book at least has some wild ending.

Also I will say it does feel like Vis is getting away with showing a level of competence that should be viewed as highly suspicious/he should be receiving far more scrutiny over things like running the labyrinth on first try. ||

[long sorrel]

Mhm, I liked the book and it was entertaining and fun but certainly not something crazy

WotM general ||Vis is sort of a hypercompetent mary sue, I don't mind it, I think it carries the story well, but it makes his personality sort of unintetesting to me||

[marble sinew]

||I think there's some level of societal expectation that people will find interesting, creative ways to cheat, and that that's actually okay because they'll either still underperform anyways, or their method will become the new standard strat (eventually)||

[long sorrel]

Well, you might not agree with this by the time you're done though

[marble sinew]

||Less "the rules don't matter", more "the rules only matter if you get caught"||

[junior dew]

Yeah I keep telling my gf about things that are happening and she’s like “I don’t remember that at all”. Then last night she said basically all she remembers is the ending.

And mind you this is a woman who for years has been rabidly checking the author’s website for updates on when Strength of the Few will release. She has been desperate for that book to come out haha.

[long sorrel]

Yeah, you'll see! I'm excited for StoF but WotM is maybe a 7.5/10 for me. Because it's still a full book of things I'm only mildly interested about

||plus, i hate academy settings ||

That's just personal taste though

||the "roman inspiration" i particularly dislike, it feels like a rough paint coat at best||

7.5 is good though, defs worth the read mind you

[marble sinew]

A lot of my excitement for SotF comes from having read the author's previous trilogy

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I haven't

But I'm expecting liking it more than WotM

And that it'll raise my opinion of wotm a bit

We'll see! (Soon!)

[marble sinew]

WotM All, SotF 1 ||TBH, I could see this literally being the case, like after the last apocalypse a large chunk of the survivors were IRL Rome fanboys, or the Roman History section of a library survived near where the Hierarchy was founded or something||

[long sorrel]

That'd make me love it though also roll my eyes

[junior dew]

Fair! Yeah definitely still very much enjoying the book currently, but I’d agree with that sentiment. Like a 4/5 so far for me. It’s a really smooth read so far and I have enough seeds of curiosity that have me wanting to keep picking it back up.

WoTM through XLV - Just talking about pacing || It’s definitely not dragging even though as I look back I’m like huh, we have both covered a lot of ground and simultaneously we kind of haven’t had that much happen just yet. So the fact that it’s still compellingly paced is a testament to Islington. It would be very easy to have the pacing of what has been done so far not work I think or feel slow.

Granted I have also just come from the first 4 cradle books which have some wild non-stop pacing kind of ||

[craggy cargo]

Wait wrong reply.

[craggy cargo]

WotM through XLV ||I liked vis a lot more once I realised that he's basically as privileged as the rest of them while having the bonus of being from a society that didn't use will in a scenario where will usage isn't permitted.||

||It's a lot better than stuff like red rising to me where he just crash courses his way to being the best.||

[long sorrel]

Yeah that doesn't help my interest particularly

[craggy cargo]

||Hmm, as a big history nerd, I thought it at least put some effort into the Roman inspiration unlike most other fantastical works inspired from one part of history. Especially Rome.||

[long sorrel]

||like, no matter the reason Vis has a very uninteresting personality for me||

[craggy cargo]

||or medieval europe.||

Medieval europe in fantasy settings is so distant from actual medieval europe at this point that it's own full set of tropes.

That have nothing to do with actual medieval europe.

[craggy cargo]

That's fair. I really enjoyed him but i can see why someone wouldn't.

[long sorrel]

I don't think medieval settings mean to be medieval, at least that's not how i read.

In fantasy that is

[craggy cargo]

I think they are copying settings which mean to be medieval.

[long sorrel]

I don't not-enjoy him, nor enjoy him, he's a perfect conduit for everything that happens around him

[craggy cargo]

It's like a bad game of telephone.

There's a throughline from medieval history to modern fantasy for sure.

But it's lost all actual... Depth to the connection or logic.

Without Tolkein we never get the modern masterpieces like... Horrible fantasy light novel number 17853.

But now that I think about it, is there any fantasy series that actually does a lot of work to represent a particular group or area in history that isn't just borderline historical fantasy. GGK does a really good job sometimes but he honestly just writes them so bluntly that it feels like he just renamed them slightly and switched up the geography a bit.

[junior dew]

Wotm through XLV || I was going to say this same thing in my message right before this one, but I couldn’t remember the male equivalent. I wholeheartedly agree though and would say it’s one thing that really stands out and does kind of bring things down just a notch ||

[untold leaf]

I think I'm just sleep deprived 🥴

Waiting on my hold for WotM to be available within the next couple weeks 🙏

[wraith lynx]

||Gary Stu would have been what you were looking for~||

[ripe tide]

I was going to argue and then you said borderline historical fantasy and now I’m like wait, yeah….

[craggy cargo]

Yeah exactly. There's plenty of great authors who can play around with history or even sometimes low fantasy history. But I'd be hard pressed to think of someone elegantly working broad fantastical concepts into fresh worlds while still being heavily faithful to the real historical cultures, faiths and events they're pulling from.

A part of this is also that it's hard to be super faithful when the world is radically different, but I don't think anyone has even tried to faithfully take a historical culture, add magic and try to simulate how it would have existed in that circumstance. It's always just original and distinct.

[junior dew]

WOTM XLV || Thanks. Yeah he’s a Gary Stu through and through ||

[tight kindle]

A Darker Shade of Magic 4.3 ||Well. White London is horrifying. And horribly depressing.
Yikes.||

[craggy cargo]

What I'm saying is, more authors should ask the all important question... what would Genghis khan do if he and his enemies had access to mechas.

[untold leaf]

That's kind of how Orientalism works too. Fanciful depictions of the Middle East that are so far removed from history and blend together so many tidbits of various cultures not even being represented properly, and they all get mish-mashed together into a clump of inaccurate clichés that are nothing like anywhere actually in the Middle East.

I saw a 2-hour video just about how this Orientalism applies to Middle Eastern music.

[tight kindle]

||And the rulers are horrible and the lack of magic is doing terrifying things to the people.
Crazy how living "next to" Black London with things leaking through have driven everyone to such desperation, and it was that desperation that was their undoing.||

[ripe tide]

I hope I am able to achieve that, though I think it’s more of your other category a bit.

[craggy cargo]

Anything that has appeal but limited amounts of people actually able or willing to research it from the ground level will turn into a distorted caricature sooner than later imo.

With fantasy it's also that... Well... If I want to write a story, about say, shogunate japan with fire magic...

And i start going back into the history of the world...

And put in a lot of time and effort in thinking up how the world would be altered by the existence of fire magic..

Well, I'd have a world so radically different that i no longer have shogunate japan with fire magic. I have an entirely distinct thing.

It'd take so much more effort and compromise to weave everything in together in a way that makes sense.

Of course, no "simulation" of this kind could be fully accurate, but I'm surprised no one has just tried to slap on high fantasy magic onto a very faithful representation of some irl setting and made a good story out of it.

Is urban fantasy...

The best example of this?

[long sorrel]

Okay, but best coat!

[random dome]

For people looking for cool middle eastern fantasy that doesn't do this: Daevabad

[somber timber]

Worth it

[proven token]

IMO people don't do this for the exact same reason; if you just say "Anyway Admiral Perry has just shown up in the harbor but for some reason 38.961% of the population of Japan gets pyromancy" people are gonna be left wondering exactly how the Edo period began given that being able to incinerate outsiders who threaten to corrupt your culture kinda makes isolationism moot.

[barren valley]

Reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I like it.

[merry galleon]

I’m at 93 pages on Lightlark

[analog geode]

Imo urban fantasy tends to work best when the common people arent aware of the magic

[long sorrel]

got Nameless Lands!

[hollow forum]

uh

Temeraire

[hollow forum]

do the 1001 Nights count as fantasy series

legend of the five rings tries to do this with sengoku japan but it is super orientalist

it is a weeb's fantasy

[analog geode]

Temeraire is great

[hollow forum]

harry turtledove does historical isekai if that counts?

[low hill]

• October: Jade Legacy [Fonda Lee], Evocation [S.T. Gibson], Memories of Ice [Steven Erikson].

[hollow forum]

like roman legions ending up in fantasy worlds with magic and dragons and stuff

he also has a fantasy 'translation' of world war 2

I should try this one eventually

I enjoyed the first book of Videssos

though I probably should reread to see if I still enjoy it

[long sorrel]

I'm starting Nameless Land soon 👀 I'm worried about starting and also worried about not stopping

[minor sleet]

Sold my old comics at a local shop. The guy suggested that he take the New52 Teen Titans v1 off my hands for free and toss it in the trash because it’s that bad

As he is correct (it really is that bad and nobody should read it) I agreed

The other ones he didn’t want are going to the library book sale

[lusty meteor]

new52 moment

[minor sleet]

He took some of the new 52 comics. Just not that one

He took the new 52 Dick-as-Batman run

It’s just that Scott Lobdell is a hack and he should never write comics again. And also he’s been credibly accused of sexual harassment which is another very good but unrelated reason why he should never write comics again

[lusty meteor]

imagine being a titans fan

tough life

[long sorrel]

Nameless Land 3 ||“I have.” He preened a little, looking smug. “I have negotiated successfully with a Sea Wolf, killed a Sea Wolf, and f[redacted] a Sea Wolf.” “Different ones, or the same one in that order?” El still the same ||

[minor sleet]

I was so confused and upset when I bought that and it not only wasn’t the cast from the cartoon but also was bad and charactered assassinated Cassie Sandsmark

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads all ||I keep thinking I had expected the prince to be not so bad by what we saw early in the book, but the end of the book says otherwise ||

[ivory cypress]

got the nameless land!! I got the only physical copy it looked like they had

[long sorrel]

I'm slightly wow right now

Nameless Lands 9 ||But where's my haunt 😩 ||

[ripe tide]

What book is this?

Like, why is everyone so excited for it?

[hollow forum]

it's witch roads 2, I think

aka new from Kate Elliott

[long sorrel]

Book 1 ends very cliffhangery

[ripe tide]

Ahhh ok

[long sorrel]

Actually it reads like one book split into 2 in the most cliffhanger spot

Buuut that's it for me for tonight, I don't wanna get into the thick of it and not sleep for a third night in a row

[ivory cypress]

i forgot i even have raid tonight so i can't even start now

ahhhhh 😖

[analog geode]

Who are you raiding

[ivory cypress]

uhhhh sugar riot

[hollow forum]

if I had to guess Brute Abom oh

[analog geode]

That sounds like a very, very gay all girl punk band

[hollow forum]

more kpop than punk but pretty much yeah

[wraith lynx]

Back in my TCP era, didnt realize I was more than 3/4ths done and omg

[junior dew]

WOTM LI || Big one here. This message is relevant because IT’S THEORY TIME. 4 hours and 14 minutes left in book.

So vis followed Reloquia at festival and she met with a man. She asked man to show her his improvement with some ability. He said something like “It’s dangerous. The other side is looking”. This immediately has me thinking we’re playing with another dimension or realm or world and this place has entities or beings or people, and having their attention is no bueno. Also Vis saw some other place when he touched Estevan during the terrorist attack at the colosseum.

He uses ability and teleports. She comments on him being faster. He says he has to. Mentions knowing terrain being helpful. When he used it there was a thrum. Which I think calls back to the colosseum attack to, I believe there were thrums. So link to terrorism exploding people ability. Possible time dilation stuff with the teleportation. Unclear markage of time passing during the man’s teleportation test.

This I feel pretty clearly links to the mole people. The labyrinth in the ruins of the mole people saw people get punished for breaking synchronous I think. And it was mentioned that only the top dogs get synchronous. Something along those lines. Seems like some pact or something. Maybe use of these abilities that tap into this realm are highly restricted because they’re dangerous and bring the attention and ire of the entities on the other side. More usage == more looking. More looking == cataclysm. And so anyone who breaks synchronous/taps into that realm or whatever is severely punished for putting everyone at risk.

Obadium was mole people home that was lost. Synchronous aka tapping into other realm is death. Opening the gate possibly refers to Synchronous perhaps or some sealing of their land from the other side that prevents Synchronous or whatever. ||

Also WoTM LI + Skyward series || Mayhaps we be dealing with the nothing and delvers ||

Also WoTM LI || I really don’t like Reloquia or this group. Like they have points about the will of the many and upholding the rule of the hierarchy through being complicit. And colonialism and conquering obviously very bad. But my god these people are not good either.

Reloquia is not a good person ||

Wotm LI || Both the hierarchy and the guerilla faction trying to take them down are bad in their own ways and I like that. Because humanity kinda sucks ||

[junior dew]

My gf

She has been waiting so long for me to read this book lol

[wraith lynx]

Sounds like you've hit her with a fair amout of RAFOs in the past 😂

And that too

[junior dew]

I have indeed

[wraith lynx]

Because this book is awesome

[junior dew]

Tonight may be binge night

Because I feel I’m onto things

And I can’t wait to find out how terribly off I am

[wraith lynx]

Same honestly

Im ordering The Wicked King tonight

[snow vessel]

Yess

I think TWK is my favourite of the trilogy but it's also the only one I've reread, so I might be biased there

[wraith lynx]

Idk why it took me so long ngl but I DO know now that pookie is getting me SoTF i can use my gift cards to just get tainted cup + drop of corruption

[somber timber]

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

[junior dew]

Wotm LII || I hope his friend kalaban or whatever his name is doesn’t turn out to be secretly working against vis the whole time. Him caught with girl in class three that Vis is now going to Zeus with. And Kalaban or whatever seemed exasperated. Bad stuff may be coming. ||

Also we have started part 3 👀

[craggy cargo]

Oh yeah that works as an example of the latter. Good shout.

[craggy cargo]

Nothing by turtledove counts imo. I used the words "good" and "elegant" one or two times, so he's out of the picture.

[hollow forum]

I enjoyed the one book by him I read 😔

[craggy cargo]

He's written a lot of terrible stuff.

He tries to do a lot of simulation work too but he's like... Always just breaking his own premises constantly.

For example if he's writing alt history he'll alter one thing and pretend that that's the big diverging point and then diverge at a dozen other things to make it actually work while still having the gall to constantly push the "oh, you see how history can turn on a dime!" Narrative.

And I agree with that narrative! But you actually have to do it!

It's like if I wrote a story where the theme is that people are fundamentally good but everyone is a terrible person the whole time.

[craggy cargo]

I think if someone was really really good at it, they could make it plausible to a large extent with obviously some alterations.

In general though, somewhat bringing this back onto the original idea I was discussing, I think WotM does a good enough job of emulating Rome by fantasy standards compared to how most works deal with it, especially compared to the competition.

[craggy cargo]

Also, Turtledove, like most fantasy or alt history authors, is not a systems guy, he's an event guy.

[wraith lynx]

||omg you passed one of my favorite parts then!

Indol: Hey vis wanna come to my colonized vacation home? Its on this funny lil island called suus!

Vis: ||

It cracks me up every time I think about it

[craggy cargo]

The best part of that also is (same tags) ||That Vis says yes first before he learnt where it is.||

||So he can't say no cleanly anymore.||

||Good life lesson tbh. Don't say yes to a social event before knowing deets.||

[hollow forum]

Witch Roads ||I like that Kem is trans 🙏 ||

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 21 ||well it cost an eye but we're out of hell||

||oh lestat you freak||

[tight kindle]

I know you're an audiobook listener and I totally don't judge you for it but your spelling of the words is absolutely sending me

[uncut shoal]

Andy Weir's The Martian ||Hey is this just Mission to Mars all over again?||

[craggy cargo]

Nah, it's different.

[junior dew]

You’re welcome 🙂

[uncut shoal]

||Only in that there're no aliens :D||

||Watney is a hoot though||

[craggy cargo]

||Lmaoo, yeah aside from that minor point and the rest of the plot, very similar books.||

[merry galleon]

I’m at 154 pages of Lightlark. And I have… thoughts.

I can understand why people have problems with it.

[ripe tide]

I want elaboration

[merry galleon]

Lightlark ||the worldbuilding is confusing. And the process of breaking their respective curses is even more so. Like it all it takes is one person to kill another and end their curse. But no, they have to go through all the pomp and grandeur before they actually try to kill each other||

[ripe tide]

Yeah so I've heard.

[merry galleon]

Plot wise, to me, does not make sense. ||and why they have to be on that island only to break the curses? (Pretty sure it will explain in later books).|| so many questions and too many plot holes to fill for my liking

[junior dew]

Wotm LV || Not Imissa (yeah I know, spelling was already corrected but I forgot it) saying “finally” when Vis kisses her ||

[junior dew]

Wotm LVI || Military secretly funding the Anguis to keep themselves relevant. And they only care about their pyramids being hurt. Makes sense. People suck. ||

[wraith lynx]

How do you feel about the characters so far?? 👀👀

I also want elaboration 😂

[junior dew]

WOTM LVII || Oh no is Federique leading Vis into a trap. Idk whether to actually trust him or not. He could have sold out Vis’ family/been a spy.

Don’t expect that but I’m wary ||

[hollow forum]

maaan

[merry galleon]

Lightlark. ||I think that the characters have been developed okay, sort of? Like they each have their own agendas. Grim, I find mysterious. But par these characters with the plot, it feels… disjointed? Like the author is trying to make something new but there is something not quite right|| but I’m only at the 154 pages, so my current assumptions may change.

[hollow forum]

I'm always awed by (and a little jealous of) people's passion

like, this is quite a lot of words for a self insert Cradle fanfic

I'd like to be this passionate about anything in my life

let alone writing

[sleek jungle]

you got to link the sauce after something like that

[hollow forum]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33759979/chapters/83916814

Blackflame + this fanfic ||the protagonist learns the Broken Star path||

[craggy cargo]

Hyperfixation and habit formation is a helluva combo.

[hollow forum]

||which is still my favourite path even though pretty much the only thing we know about it is that it is based on Bass.exe from megaman battle network||

[craggy cargo]

This convo may be better for the dedicated willverse thread Cradle upto like, book 5 ||My favourite path is one that doesn't exist in cradle. I was reading cradle around the same time as I was listening to some song which contains the words "so you're on the path of the starving artist" and that got stuck in my head and the idea became actually funny to me for some dumb reason.||

[versed agate]

||Hunger-Light Path?||

[junior dew]

WoTM LX || Belly getting what she deserves. 2 1/2 hours left. To be continued later ||

[junior dew]

I feel that for sure. I bounce between so many hobbies and interests but I always wonder what I’d be able to accomplish if I was able to pursue a single passion with consistency.

Alas my brain doesn’t work that way. I get my bursts of consistency and motivation on a variety of things and move the needle on those

[long sorrel]

I think imma go dye my hair, that is, I think i'll have a few hours for Nameless Land 👀

[wraith lynx]

👀👀

[long sorrel]

Yeeees

Reading time

[ivory cypress]

[long sorrel]

Nameless Land 14 ||Captain Raven is 😳, she's also an ass but but but 😳 ||

||So raven is interested in the Shorn and calling them out, and El is entranced with her beauty, last time she was, that person ended up with a Shorn inside... thus I wonder... ||

15 || That bequeather is the only pie-not-sausage person I've ever felt a hankering after is a sentence Xilsi just said . I guess Raven really is 😳 on everyone's eyes||

[ivory cypress]

the urge to click....

[long sorrel]

This is safe-ish, it's a silly quote

It has names you don't know but that won't tell you anything

[ivory cypress]

ahaha nice

[long sorrel]

20 ||I'm only 30% in! How's everything gone to hell???? ||

||wtf ||

[long sorrel]

Oh my god, i don't want my hair dying to be done before I finish

Book 1 was too chill I guess

[ivory cypress]

👀 👀 👀

[quaint tendon]

Hm

[long sorrel]

Aggh time is up

[tight kindle]

sighs
I guess I'll spend $7 extra to support a local business

If I order it into a local bookstore, will it be available Day of release? Or will I have to wait for it to ship?

[long sorrel]

Like, for pickup on release day?

[tight kindle]

Yeah

I have no idea how any of this works

[long sorrel]

Probably available at the store same day but you know who can answer better?

Call the store

[tight kindle]

I TRIED calling them
They didn't pick up lol

[long sorrel]

Well, most stores have the releases on release date

So generally you're asking to have one copy saved for you

[quaint burrow]

airport Wind and Truth flashback

[tight kindle]

Ok they picked up this time

They'll put my name on a copy and email me when it comes in

[hollow hedge]

someone, somewhere, usually breaks the street date, though usually it's in eastern Europe or something

[quaint burrow]

What book is that?

[tight kindle]

Yay supporting local businesses!

[tight kindle]

The Strength of the Few

[quaint burrow]

Dammit libby is failing me

[tight kindle]

Which several people have already because their bookstores gave them copies early

If the warehouse processes the order fast enough they'll have it for me on release day

[long sorrel]

I have some local stores i but my epubs from, many of them don't have all English releases tho

I bet sotf will be there tho

[ivory cypress]

what's the date on that one again?

sotf

[long sorrel]

11th

Same as Kingfisher's Snake Eater

[ivory cypress]

yeah i'll probably make the choice for kingfisher first

[long sorrel]

that's what I'm doing, 100%

Snake-Eater just sounds so good too 👀

[long sorrel]

now am home and I need to decide between book or game 😩

[mild lance]

Same date as the Legends and Lattes sequel too

Huge day for Fantasy fans

[hollow forum]

sins of the father?

[tight kindle]

I'm going to an author signing tonight :D

[ripe tide]

Oh fun!

[ivory cypress]

okay, as usual, a book came in on libby and interrupted ALL my plans, about two hours ago.... and i'm now 27% into the raven scholar

i didn't even mean to get this far into it, i just fell in

[untold leaf]

I get that. I read over half of the last Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy book yesterday and I don't know how it flew by like that.

[long sorrel]

oh that's somewhere in my infinite tbr

however, I'm just resuming Namless Land ofc 😌

[ivory cypress]

the library line must be respected

[long sorrel]

Nameless Land 26 ||He's BACK 👀 ||

I almost typed "Nameless Road" lol

[long sorrel]

||internally screaming||

||"I was given permission for one kiss" did he ask or was it offered I wonder, he probably asked||

27 ||He smiled. “My name upon your sweet lips is all the balm I need.” too cheesy 😩 tho it does fit him||

[long sorrel]

30 ||everything's so sad 😭 ||

this chapter title 😩

[junior dew]

Wotm LXIII || 2 hours left. Udiquium starting shortly. Will be continuing in a bit ||

[tight kindle]

Oh so that's how you pronounce that

I have all the spellings right and the pronunciations wrong and you have all the pronunciations right and the spellings wrong

The dichotomy

[long sorrel]

Nameless Land 33 ||The Haunt now being in a body that isn't the Prince's means that the Prince and the Haunt are having dialogue and absolutely freaking love it . ||

[ivory cypress]

raven scholar now at 47%.......... pretty unputdownable so far

[long sorrel]

I'm suffering

[ivory cypress]

also, raven scholar's mc has the same name as one of my first tabletop ocs ever

so i can't decide if it's weird or not

actually a bit weird given how much overlap of personality and skills and so on

[wraith lynx]

Omg grey ravens scholar was put on my radar as recently as like... a few days ago 😂

[long sorrel]

The summary goes "it starts with murder" and it went straight into the tbr

Cause I'm easy like that

[ivory cypress]

ooooh cosmic

yeah I've been hearing about it for some months

so I'm like

🍿

[long sorrel]

Maybe I'll go there if Nameless Lands doesn't destroy me

I'm now 2/3 in

Nameless Land 40 ||and he's gone again! I... Just... I don't see a solution to this situation? 😭 ||

[craggy cargo]

Hopefully it's about someone who's still in a dream.

I started reading military sci fi recently, and i must say, I expected better.

The lost fleet has to be the plainest 5/10 I've ever read.

[junior dew]

Wotm LXVI || Approaching the dome. Vis has encountered Diago the Alopi ||

[craggy cargo]

The core idea is so interesting and then it's done so badly.

[junior dew]

WOTM LXVI || Probably trying to protect/warn Vis from the dome I imagine ||

[craggy cargo]

Honor Harrington seems better but it's got this... Weird Enid Blyton vibe to it that put me off.

Feel like I'll just reread some wodehouse till SoTF comes out.

[analog geode]

Honor Harrington is my favorite series

Lost Fleet was very, very bland yeah

Also I couldn’t help remembering that Lost Fleet (TW SA) ||oh so honorable main character thinks about raping his flag captain when he first sees her just to see her expression||

[craggy cargo]

John "Blackjack" Geary wins by bare competence truly was a choice.

[craggy cargo]

Wait really? I don't remember that.

[analog geode]

It was a throwaway line

Still absolutely insane

[craggy cargo]

That's wild. Even aside from that though, he's such a ridiculously dumb gary stu.

Because it's not like he's good at his job or anything!

[analog geode]

Exactly

[craggy cargo]

Everyone else just sucks.

How did you all get worse at war after fighting a war?

[analog geode]

Just the blandest military commander to ever exist gets to teach some morons how to do basic military stuff

[craggy cargo]

That almost never happens historically.

The dumbasses who charge straight in get killed and everyone else stops doing that.

[analog geode]

I think I read the first 6 of them on an international flight and got bored and never finished

[craggy cargo]

I read the first 2 and a half over a series of flights.

The one thing I can commend the author on is that he seemingly did put effort into the actual mechanics of space combat.

But that's it.

[analog geode]

Honor Harrington is the only series I’ve read that did space combat truly correctly

[craggy cargo]

I read the first honor Harrington book and the prose felt really annoying to me.

[analog geode]

That’s fair, it’s not for everyone

I’m not that concerned with prose, i loved it

[craggy cargo]

I don't really mean the line by line, it was just weird things the author was doing at times like... ||Her calling that one officer Horrible Henkel.||

[analog geode]

I mean, that’s pretty realistic lol

[sleek jungle]

OOOOOOOOOOOO
I have so many reccomendations

[craggy cargo]

Which really felt like I'd been teleported into an early 20th century kids book in the middle of my sci fi book.

[craggy cargo]

That's fair. Maybe I was also just burnt out by ultragenius Blackjack John Geary.

[craggy cargo]

Feel free to give them!

[analog geode]

I’ve recently been recommended The Republic of Cinnabar Navy and the Chanur books in the military sci-fi realm

[junior dew]

Wotm LXVII || Vis just announced he wants to take the test. Ghost mole woman is talking. Mentions her being traitor the commandment of isolation. She tried to gain synchronism and remove the seal to obatium during 11th era after the rending.

Doubling down my theories. Obatium being part of this other realm or world or dimension or something and isolation being from that realm. Synchronism is linking to the realm to get these super abilities. The rending may be the cataclysm. Some people survived above ground and some became mole people. The mole people remember stuff and the above grounders don’t. Also hmm isolation could be mole people isolating from the above grounders.

Also hmm the synchronism could be related to the special things that enable seeding. Synchronism could be what seeding is.

I imagine I will soon find out ||

[analog geode]

Currently I’m reading Safehold by David Weber (same author as HH), which is scifi used as an excuse to write historical fiction

It’s so fun

[craggy cargo]

The lost fleet ||Why is he a war hero anyways btw. He just died at the start of the war without actually accomplishing much, but they explicitly remember him as great commander.||

[analog geode]

That should be spoilered

[craggy cargo]

Yeah my bad.

[analog geode]

Lost Fleet ||iirc he was held up as a martyred hero as a propaganda effort||

[craggy cargo]

||That's one thing, but i wouldn't think that some guy who was a great soldier would be this great leader either. They're just very different posts.||

[analog geode]

||Well he was already a captain, so he wasn’t just a soldier||

[craggy cargo]

||Probably just another case of everyone-is-dumb-itis i guess.||

[junior dew]

Wotm LXVII || Test time ||

[cunning estuary]

Im seeing SOOO many posts about people getting their Strength of the Few copies early today

https://tenor.com/view/yugioh-punch-ground-punching-ground-it-shouldve-been-me-it-shouldve-been-me-not-him-gif-18069003738146878767

[craggy cargo]

||Oh that's fair, to some extent. Maybe they just hyped his last stand up to a large extent.

Oh I actually get it now. He died trying to face massive odds and since they hate tactics they love that stuff.||

[junior dew]

Wotm LXVII || He made it through. Belly being there is weird though. Makes sense that Iro and her went for there given that Vis marked them using his strategy was weird.

Did she flicker though? Was she real or some weird trickery. Are we in a simulation?

Still standing by my original theory. We continue ||

[craggy cargo]

WotM LXVII (covering upto when the rules of the contest are explained, don't read if they haven't been covered) ||I do appreciate them actually at least having some kind of system that doesn't actively incentivise killing your fellow students which is a common feature of these types of stories which never makes sense.||

[sleek jungle]

So!

1. Black Fleet by Joshua Dalzelle. 9 Books of pure capital ship engagements. Doesn't take relativity into account, but the characters are a bit better than LF, the MC isn't a son of Sherlock and Jesus. And the second in command doesn't feel like an awe-struck teenager. My favorite popcorn read for space combat.
2. Poor Man's Fight Series by Elliott Kay. Best political component out of any mil sci-fi. Follows a kid who lives in a chrisitan interstellar techno oligarchy, and has to join the military after he fails space SAT rigged by corpos. Huge caveat, the MC is written like a son of Superman and Mary Sue, which almost made me put down the books at times.
3. Frontlines by Marko Kloos. 18 year old joins the military to escape an overpopulated and polluted Earth. Mostly ground combat, but space fights pick up during/after book 3 for story reasons. Solid on all fronts, but not too deep.
4. Michael Mammay's Planetside series. Retired colonel gets called back into service to solve a mystery. Mysteries and action are fun and interesting. Very contentious ending of the first book, but I hesitate to elaborate because spoilers.

[junior dew]

Wotm LXVIII || He’s reading stuff. He’s reading it as harmony and there’s mention of duplication. This may be the synchronism thing. Duplication of one’s self on another plane of existence or another realm or world? 🤔 Perhaps ||

[analog geode]

You should read Honor Harrington

[sleek jungle]

I have. I like the setting and action and strongly dislike Honor herself. If I hear about her soprano voice one more time, I'll start throwing stuff =)

[craggy cargo]

What's funny is that actual Sherlock in space wouldn't really bother me. That's basically thrawn and i love him.

I'll be sure to check all of these out.

[sleek jungle]

Of the classic mil sci fi, the only ones that stuck with me are Starship Troopers and Old Man's war

[craggy cargo]

Starship Troopers was great, haven't read old man's war.

[sleek jungle]

Read the blurbs and reviews before getting the books. I don't want to present my opinion as a definitive list in any way

[craggy cargo]

I typically prefer reading post 2000s or at least 90s stuff just because they read a lot more modern.

[craggy cargo]

Oh I'll walk out to my local bookstore and ask the person who runs it if she has any, if she does, she lets me read a couple of chapters in the store before I buy.

[sleek jungle]

Cool

[analog geode]

My plan is to read these next, Ill let you know if they are good

honestly, a good place to discover military scifi is just the Baen website. He liked to take chances on that genre

[sleek jungle]

I tried lots of othe mil scifi, but a lot of the newer ones are below average and unfun =(
Especially sad, because I haven't found a single decent mech/mecha book

[craggy cargo]

For mecha you're probably stuck with japan and all that comes with it.

[craggy cargo]

Or pre ww2 stuff because at that point it feels really distant.

[sleek jungle]

I wanted something less anime, where people don't scream to channel the power of friendship when shooting big lasers.

[analog geode]

Just watch Pacific Rim and pretend its a book

[sleek jungle]

-# There's also warhammer 40k, but I refuse to touch it

[analog geode]

Valid

Theres some good Halo books

Fall of Reach for example

Pretty much military scifi, but not much real space combat

[sleek jungle]

I love (new) Tharwn books, and dislike Lost Fleet. LF is very obvious about making the MC only capable officer in their whole navy, and the rest of the cast feel like thrice copied traces of caricature archetypes.

[analog geode]

The new Thrawn books are great military scifi

[sleek jungle]

I've been listening to a new mil scifi series recently, before I paused it to do a comfy Cradle reread. Miles Cameron's Artifact Space. Fun enough at the point I stopped, though the MC feels slightly too competent. I do still plan to finish it after I'm done with Cradle

[craggy cargo]

I feel like people will tolerate a lot of a character being superman as long as the character is shown as unreasonably competent with somewhat justifiable reasons.

The problem starts when it's very blatantly the author making everyone else around them dumb.

If every Sherlock Holmes story had Holmes use the most basic deduction possible while everyone is going wild about how much of a genius he is it'd be insufferable.

[junior dew]

Wotm LXX || Mass grave. hmm. I feel like it’s not clear exactly if it’s the safety team dead and a student team killing them or students dead and safety team killing them. ||

[craggy cargo]

I like the new thrawn books but spoilers for the whole first trilogy to be safe... ||there's one point where he reads the enemy by listening to their music which felt pretty silly.||

[junior dew]

WOTM LXX || Maybe safety teams dead possibly caused by other safety team members that are part of anguis? Infiltration? Maybe not? Like I said not super clear ||

[craggy cargo]

It's not space sci fi, more like dystopic or post apocalyptic but I can recommend 86 for the most part.

[junior dew]

Rewinding a smidge now

WOTM LXX || Seems like safety team dead. Killed by students or other safety teams as part of anguis infiltration ||

[analog geode]

lmao, I loved that. Truly Thrawn being Thrawn

[junior dew]

Wotm LXX || Maybe it’s safety teams killing students? All still super unclear ||

WOTM LXX || Oh now they’re theorizing its anguis infiltration||

[sleek jungle]

I've seen it and didn't like it much. It inspired my search for more grounded mech stories, actually

[craggy cargo]

I think that's about as grounded as it gets for mecha in japan, unfortunately.

[sleek jungle]

Hence why I was looking outside of Japan =)

[craggy cargo]

Does battletech have books?

[craggy cargo]

Fair enough.

[craggy cargo]

OH YEAH IT HAS HUNDREDS.

That could be what you're looking for.

Not sure how good they are though.

[craggy cargo]

In general i wouldn't recommend 40k for mech stuff.

Just because the way it works is that they'll either be side characters who serve as jobbers for the space Marine protagonist or as jobbers for the villain of the week to make them seem like a bigger threat.

There are some dedicated books to them but those are rare and quality varies. Titanicus is the only good one I've read.

[junior dew]

Wotm LXX || Conversation time with the man who met with Reloquia who got the abilities and was practicing. Almost certainly both him and via have gained synchronicity ||

Wotm LXXIII || Did his girlfriend just telekinesis daggers at him? Maybe she gained synchronicity too and reacted to something on his body because she knew what it was? That was weird ||

[junior dew]

Wotm LXXIII || Did she throw it? Was it someone else? Was it an accident? This makes no sense. She said she “can’t risk us getting separated”. Maybe the us doesn’t mean her and Vis but instead her and her harmony thing if she gained synchronicity? Because like why would she be worried about being separated from him and then dagger him in the stomach possibly killing him. Maybe him stepping forward made her think he was going for a trick? Aka she doesn’t actually trust him ||

Wotm LXXIII || Idk that part makes no sense ||

[proper silo]

Erha 277 ||well, this went from 0 to 100 in the best possible way ||

||But I can't believe the book wouldn't give me the art of Chu Wanning charging into the court on a giant dragon and solo'ing like a hundred people to rescue Mo Ran Guess the art of Mo Ran's naked back was more important to include||

[junior dew]

Wotm LXXIV || Viridias mentioned his blood is tainted. Inissa noticed the blood and attacked him for that reason. Viridias wants him to join religion to help prevent the next cataclysm. ||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags ||When summarised it reads like such a scam lmao.||

[ivory cypress]

... ok I guess I read the Raven Scholar in one day. okay. wow

[proper silo]

Erha 278 ||There is a version of this story where Hua Binan succeeds in planting the Flower of Eightfold Sorrows in Chu Wanning instead of Mo Ran, and I am fascinated by the possibility.||

[junior dew]

WOTM All || I eventually got there! ||

[tight kindle]

Got to meet Travis Baldree this evening!

[cunning estuary]

Same tags ||well she initially was saving him, but her tone completely changed once she saw his infection and then she attacked him. So I imagine she knows a lot more than we do about the infection. Maybe it turns them into a husk, or maybe its a tell that he achieved synchronism and thats really bad for reasons we will find out in book 2. At least thats my read on the situation||

[junior dew]

Wotm All || Not bad. Solid 4/5. Would have maybe fallen a little flat without the postlude. The book really kinda feels like it’s setup for the real story. (Not a bad thing necessarily) Strength of the few I think is poised to be a lot more interesting and has some very neat stuff it’ll be able to play with now.

I think the whole book there was all this stuff that felt like a gorilla in a phone booth that I was so laser focused on and it was kinda drip fed/sprinkled in here and there. Like the book was interesting and read smoothly but I will say I don’t think it’s blowing me away or anything. Looking forward to seeing where it goes though. Hopefully we get a much heavier focus on the really interesting stuff in book 2 ||

WOTM all || Also yeah the character work definitely still leaves a lot to be desired I think ||

[junior dew]

Same tags || Yeah having more context in later chapters helped clear it up ||

[cunning estuary]

WotM all ||I actually think the character work was really good, especially for characters like Ulciscor. Some like Veridius and Emissa are currently under-developed, but I think book 1 sets them up very nicely to be explored more in book 2||

[junior dew]

Wotm all || Ehh yeah idk what it is but I definitely don’t feel attached to the characters like I have been in other books I’ve read. I’ve been spoiled. Vis is a completely adequate protagonist character but I still think he’s very Gary Stu.

I wish I could pinpoint why the characters just don’t hit like some others I’ve read. Like they’re fine. Not actively bad or anything. Just I guess weaker than I’ve gotten used to? ||

[cunning estuary]

||Ulciscor is absolutely psychotic but in a way that feels very believable for a particularly obessive/unstable person put in his situation. I also like how he kind of has his own rogue allegiances that dont allign with any of the 3 branches or with the Anguis||

[cunning estuary]

||Vis is absolutely an overpowered protagonist, and in ways that are only sometimes justified by the plot. But on the other hand, his internal voice is strong and it was really easy for me to root for him.||

||so yeah I did like Vis well enough, but Aequa and Ulciscor were my favorite characters. I explained Ulciscor above, but as for Aequa I like her slow transition from bratty hater to one of the few loyal friends Vis has||

[junior dew]

|| For sure, yeah. I don’t dislike him/I do root for him. That plot armor is so beefy though lmfao. ||

[cunning estuary]

||it would probably benefit the story a lot if Vis didnt succeed at literally everything he tries haha||

[junior dew]

|| I think Viridias and Aidan were probably the most interesting characters for me? Maybe? ||

[cunning estuary]

||Veridius is fascinating, I am really interested to learn more about what he knows and has been up to in book 2||

[junior dew]

|| Honestly though. It felt like he never really seriously struggled. Even in the times when he was “struggling”. It all felt too easy/not quite earned? ||

[cunning estuary]

||for me Veridius and Emissa are in the "lets see what Islington is cooking here" category rn||

[cunning estuary]

Yeah I dont disagree with this, its one of my few complaints

[junior dew]

|| Yeah I’m really curious about where book 2 goes despite my personal gripes with the book. WoTM was decent and had an interesting mystery that thankfully at least ended with some answers. I think the story could have been tighter as a whole in a lot of ways but like everything was generally serviceable at the very least ||

|| Keeping in mind that my expectations were above the stratosphere for the book going into it. Living up to the expectations and hype was going to be difficult ||

[cunning estuary]

Honestly it was one of my favorite books of last year, so im actually a bit nervous for book 2. Like, my expectations are so high I am worried if it's just OK I am going to be disappointed

[junior dew]

Wotm all || A copy of the brother still being alive is cool. Bouncing between two Vis povs and seeing this alternate world will be fun and cool. That postlude did SO MUCH heavy lifting ngl lol. The way the story is going to play out across the two worlds should be pretty neat ||

[junior dew]

I think that’s super valid. I think my expectations are super tempered going into book 2. I expect it to be fun but I’m not over the top excited about it. In fact I’m hyped that I finished WOTM in time to knock out another cradle book or two before SoTF drops.

[cunning estuary]

I think hes set up an extremely complex plot and lots of opposing factions with opposing motivations and complex loyalties for book 2

Its gonna be hard to pull off but I think he can do it

If nothing else, never let it be said it isnt an ambitious story

[junior dew]

Yeah it does some neat stuff

I will say I don’t think it’s even in my top 10 reads for this year

I do think SoTF has the potential to really impress

[cunning estuary]

WotM was my #2 book of last year

After Yumi

[astral atlas]

Wotm all ||Just so we're clear, there are three worlds and three Vis's||

[junior dew]

Oh huh it may not even be in my top 20 for this year after doing a quick count

I’d have to think on it a bit more

[cunning estuary]

The complaints you brought up are valid but they just... didnt really bother me

[craggy cargo]

||I found Vis fairly likable not in terms of the plot in as much as his narration. It's got such a fun sense of paranoia and lies baked into it. I don't think any other narrator who isn't being agressively misleading lies as much as this guy. My biggest gripe would be if all the lies don't catch up to him. Because he tells a consistent story, but there's many points where I felt that if the people around him started talking about him they'd figure out who he is.||

[junior dew]

Wotm all || Yeah it feels like one of them is kind of an afterthought. Seems like we touched there for like half a second ||

[cunning estuary]

Yup agreed

[craggy cargo]

||He's the sole POV in a really long book and it never felt stifling to the experience which was impressive to me.||

[junior dew]

Yeah don’t get me wrong it was a good time. I think I’ve just read a lot of really great books this year haha. More of a testament to the fact that the year has been surprisingly stacked

[junior dew]

|| Yeah pacing was pretty solid. Book felt like it didn’t really drag its feet at any point even if the most interesting stuff was really sparsely drip fed ||

Anyways I need to get some sleep

Everyone should read The Sword of Kaigen

Entirely unrelated

[craggy cargo]

Kaigen was great but that start was rough. I bounced off it a few times before it clicked.

[junior dew]

Huh, I’d have to read it again haha. I remember really digging it from the beginning

[craggy cargo]

||There's a bunch of long exposition dumping in the first quarter or so.||

[cunning estuary]

Give me the pitch for Sword of Kaigen

Why should I read it?

[junior dew]

Do you like avatar the last airbender?

[cunning estuary]

Yes of course

[junior dew]

That’s why

[cunning estuary]

[junior dew]

But no in all seriousness

[craggy cargo]

I'd say it's a fantasy book that tries to do something fairly different narratively than most others and succeeds at it.

Which is inherently worth checking out imo.

[junior dew]

Blurb.

I don’t want to give away too much but that book takes you for one hell of a ride. Also the worldbuilding is fantastic, character work is stellar, plot is really well done. It made me feel things. It made me really feel things.

Also there’s some incredibly badass stuff done there.

It’s also a standalone novel and it truly stands on its own. Granted it made me desperately crave more of that world, which I suppose is a bit of a downside.

Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. It truly excels at what it aims to do

Gah I wish I could read that book for the first time again

And again

And again

Obviously ymmv but definitely think it’s worth checking out some time for sure

[craggy cargo]

I didn't like it nearly as much as spooky did but 100% agreed that it's worth a read. I think it's one of those books that'd be way better if the author wrote it after a few more books but is still really good.

[cunning estuary]

Ok ill add it to the TBR!

[ripe tide]

Nice!

[snow vessel]

I think I have just over an hour left in Memnoch. Not sure what I'll do as my next audiobook

Thinking maybe Carmilla or something else that's relatively short

[proper silo]

Erha 280 ||tf you mean he's dead???||

||could y'all stop dying for five damn minutes?!||

||wake tf up Mo Ran, we still have 40-odd chapters to go before the book ends||

||oh gods, but Chu Wanning being deep in denial is really depressing ||

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 23 ||lestat described David as "juicy and succulent" ||

[low hill]

waggles eyebrows

[snow vessel]

||I keep forgetting David got swapped into a young man until lestat mentions it||

||mmmm lots of angst for poor little armand. Can't wait for his book||

Memnoch 23 ||oh lord armand don't die here||

||armand 😭 😭 ||

||surely he must be OK if his book is next||

[merry galleon]

Holy biscuits! I just counted how many books I have read this year, and it’s 40 books! I must be sleep deprived…

I’ll recount when I have more sleep

[long sorrel]

You've been reading more, right?

[merry galleon]

Yes, Murtagh and Lightlark are my current reads

I’m just surprised that I hit the 40 mark

[merry galleon]

You think you're sleep deprived? Laughs in 70 books

[long sorrel]

watches from the sidelines

[snow vessel]

cries in 33 books

[ripe tide]

Literally me

[snow vessel]

No tbh I'm already getting slightly overwhelmed with this pace at times. I wouldn't want to read too much faster I don't think xD

[low hill]

I am very much behind where I normally would be this year, for a number of reasons.

[snow vessel]

Dangit. Looks like libro doesn't have the book I was thinking of reading next

[snow vessel]

Am I remembering correctly that someone here was reading the all souls/Deborah harkness/a discovery of witches books?

[long sorrel]

Whoops, I dropped my stats by mistake 👉 👈

[snow vessel]

Over 5x my number of reads 😭

[low hill]

Someone has been reading it recently, yes. But Cheyenne and I have both read it in the past.

[snow vessel]

What did you think?

[low hill]

I liked it. I think the original trilogy was best, but I've not read book 5 yet.

[snow vessel]

Oh Vecna also

You read the Mayfair witches books as well as TVC right?

[low hill]

Yup.

[ripe tide]

Love those books. I got a hardcover copy of book 1 coming anf while I know I don’t have the time to reread anytime soon I am so dearly tempted every time I see the posts from the real time reread last month and now the subsequent rewatch of S1

[snow vessel]

I've probably asked this before but how essential is it that I read the witches books before the crossover stuff

(I really don't feel enthused to read them but will if it's absolutely necessary)

[low hill]

Good question. I only read the WItches books this year for the first time, and didn't really feel when I'd read some of the cross-over books originally that I'd missed anything out.

However, having now finished the Vampire books I think you do need the Witches context for some of what happens towards the end - so if you have time and interest it might not be a bad idea.

[snow vessel]

I think I'm mainly put off by the size of them

[low hill]

Yeah, the first two Mayfair books are large...

[snow vessel]

I keep seeing some of them in bookstores and they look like the sorta thing that'd take me ages, especially if I'm not feeling super motivated

Eh, I've still got The Vampire Armand before then (and the end of Memnoch)

I'll see how I'm feeling once I actually get to that space

[ripe tide]

I was surprised when I spotted them in the library.

[snow vessel]

-# maybe if I read the first crossover book and then the witches books I'll have more interest...

[low hill]

I read The Witching Hour after The Vampire Armand so you've got time to decide.

Merrick is the first crossover and it's a lighter crossover I think, but probably does have some spoilers for The Witching Hour/Lasher/Taltos.

I'd say there's three crossovers: Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle - but the last three Vampire books (Prince Lestat, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, and Blood Communion) very much build on the shared world with a lot the Mayfair stuff coming back in.

It's very confusing is what I'm saying...

[long sorrel]

I've no idea how Nameless Lands is going to ... close? all the plot threads in what I've left aaaaah

[ripe tide]

My reading has been chaotic. A ton of DNFs of uni reading between time and not enjoying some of it. Theres some books I’m making the effort for because they’re tutorial books but I really don’t like this pace. I’m at 100+ books for the year but doing so many at once is the issue when it’s a book a week per class. Some are longer than others, but there’s also plenty of these I can only take in small doses. Hopefully the winter break will allow me to get ahead on the material for next term.

[low hill]

I'm at 63, but there were two books that took me longer than I'd like because they were dragging, I've not read anything for hte last week due to being away/ill, and because my autumn holiday was replaced with the aforementioned con instead of an actual holiday that meant the aforemented week was 0 instead of +10... We'll see where I end up, as I'm working through a Malazan book at present and then I've got a fair few options for where to go next (including the final Jay Kristoff Vampire novel and all the new things from the con).

[long sorrel]

Do we get to see a haul?

[low hill]

Yes, when I actually unpack it. gestures vaguely at the "being ill" part of it

Tomorrow also sees the end of Dracula Daily for this year, which isn't included in the above count as it never is.

[snow vessel]

I've gotta remember to do that next year

[low hill]

I actually did the Re: Dracula audiodrama this year instead.

[snow vessel]

In that case, I'll probably fit the witches books in before/after Merrick depending on how I feel

I kind of forgot about Re:Dracula and Dracula daily until it had started and then felt less motivated after that

I'll probably do the audio drama next year because I think I'll struggle with a consistent but broken but read

[long sorrel]

Hope you get better soon

[low hill]

I'm mostly there now. Well enough to be back at work today anyway...

[minor sleet]

Torturously reading a lesbian fantasy anthology

So far the only story that’s been a standout is the Ellen Kushner story. What a surprise

Ellen Kushner stays winning, 40 years running

[low hill]

Met her last week.

[minor sleet]

Swordspoint remains the lgbt fantasy novel I reach for as an example

For real!!!! So jealous!!!!

[low hill]

She was so nice.

[minor sleet]

!!!!!

Just like…. Out and about or at an event?

[lusty meteor]

What is lacking here

[low hill]

At a con.

[minor sleet]

You know when you read a story and you’re like “this person is writing this for social media because this scifi society/medieval fantasy world/elf country is obsessed with modern labels and concepts”? Yeah

Also it’s not like most of them are bad. It’s more that they’re mostly like a …7/10 and only 30 pages so everything I finally get into it, it’s over

Except Ellen Kushner, who manages to write a 15 page one that drew me in from the start, because she is amazing

[lusty meteor]

My least favorite trope

[minor sleet]

Neon Yang and Kaitlin Zivanovich’s stories in the anthology (Silk & Steel) were the worse examples

[snow vessel]

WAT?

[minor sleet]

You haven’t encountered this?

[snow vessel]

No as in... WAT

The book

Wind and truth haha

"Our neuroses would feed each other" or whatever it was

I also can't totally say I have encountered it, but I've also not read as much of the genres that would probably be most likely to do it as I should

[minor sleet]

Oh trust me it can get a lot worse

But yeah that was an odd/unnatural thing for that character to think

[long sorrel]

I've read books were some gender stuff felt forced rather than natural, for example, Everina Maxwell includes a lot of gender things in her books in a way that feels natural and organic rather than shoehorned, but I've read others attempt the same in a way it felt very "look at me! I'm talking about gender things!"

However I can't quite tell if they're trying to be trendy or just bad at writing it yknow?

[snow vessel]

Quickly: is Vicious (by VE Schwab) a canonically, actually gay book? Or just like... subtextually/hinted at/fanon

[long sorrel]

It isn't gay no

I don't think it's subtextual or hinted either

In my head however

I'm pretty sure Schwab knew what she was doing though

[snow vessel]

Right, right

I'll probably still read it, just want to know what to expect

[long sorrel]

Expect me telling you "isn't that gay as hell?" But it isn't

Nameless Land 49 ||I had expected from early book 1 to like the prince, then I didn't. However it's finally working, I like him very much, I like that he was forced to see the vibrant rankless world the Haunt saw through his eyes, I can't wait to see what becomes of him (assuming he doesn't die) ||

[junior dew]

I’m at 39 so far this year. Had gotten 60 last year but I’ve had a few really slow months of reading this year

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/daisywords/798059171003105280/if-you-put-a-weird-character-in-a-normal

Just Trying To Do The Write Thing

if you put a weird character in a normal situation, people call it "literary fiction." If you put a normal character in a weird situation, people call it "genre fiction." If you put a weird character in a weird situation, you will have produced a forbidden, elite type of fiction that attracts one-star goodreads reviews from the most boring people you can imagine

-# #this is a joke post not a real attempt at taxonomy btw

Tumblr · Oct 21, 2025, 11:15 PM

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 25 ||hey! Lestat got his eye back!||

|| the letter||

||I cant believe theyre locking him in a dungeon so he shuts up 😭 ||

26 ||kind of sad how literally no one has mourned armand or mael or anyone here||

[snow vessel]

Wait. Was Memnoch meant to be the last Vampire Chronicles book?

That ending felt a lot like a final ending

[long sorrel]

||he does need to shut up sometimes||

[snow vessel]

That's Memnoch The Devil done!

Dare I say this might be one of my favourites of the series? I thought that was really solid

[minor sleet]

?

[low hill]

Weird. It's one of my worst. :P

[minor sleet]

Is this your newest attempt to get me to read Kaguya?

[lusty meteor]

I wouldnt say newest

I would say elaboration

Honestly this is only hurting you at this point

[snow vessel]

Its definitely very... out there

[low hill]

Yeah...

[snow vessel]

I can imagine if you aren't vibing with what its doing it would probably fall very flat

Especially with what, [Memnoch] ||a solid 60+% of the book being Memnoch's story?||

||actually probably less than that, it just felt like ages ||

[minor sleet]

I think it is tormenting you far more

[wraith lynx]

Hes seething and coping inside, keep it up codenames 🥰

[lusty meteor]

This is a war of attrition between codenames’ love for high quality comedic romance and the desire to continue a played out comedic bit

[minor sleet]

…….maybe

My parents stuffed me into a harlequin outfit for my first ever Halloween and I’ve been committed to the bit ever since

[long sorrel]

It was one of my faves too

Seeing Duck suffering is rather entertaining, I hope Codenames continues to not watch/ read Kaguya.
-# It gets pretty boring anyway

[lusty meteor]

Irreparable damage

[minor sleet]

My dad is also like this. The family dinners growing up often felt like a sitcom

[lusty meteor]

Is annoying obstinance genetic?

[long sorrel]

Oh I did one of those things were you start the page and get impatient and read the last line and goddammitttt

[long sorrel]

... this would explain a lot ngl

[minor sleet]

Typically yes

[long sorrel]

@ivory cypress I finished 👀

deep breath moment

I shan't say anything else

Now I need to decide what to read next

I think i need something lighthearted

[alpine drum]

hmm

[long sorrel]

going through my entire tbr with one of those "what now 😩 " moods

though I should get to work

[ivory cypress]

mmm uh oh

[long sorrel]

I don't really properly rate my books but it went high

[merry galleon]

Welp, all I can say is that I finished Lightlark. ||the climax was good but the worldbuilding was so hard and confusing to follow.||

[long sorrel]

What are you reading next?

[merry galleon]

Finish reading Murtagh and start reading the Exiled Queen

[long sorrel]

I looked up The Exiled Queen and had a "LotR????" moment

the cover:

[merry galleon]

That’s the one!

I thought I needed to add the author for a second

[long sorrel]

It's always more helpful but that made me think so much of LotR regardless

[merry galleon]

Don’t worry, I read Demon King, the first book, already

[wraith lynx]

I didnt know you stopped in the middle of murtagh to read lightlark.... 😭😂

[long sorrel]

cough

That says something about Murtagh

jk jk

[merry galleon]

Don’t worry, I’m enjoying Murtagh. I normally read two books at a time, I’m enjoying the journey that is Murtagh, so I’m pacing myself.

I got Lightlark out the way, I’m going back into Murtagh. ||Christopher Paolini is really setting up really good plot potential for the universe||

[uncut shoal]

Ahem
not including the last 15 or 20 that I haven't added yet

Or the books I've been rereading

[tight kindle]

My 50 book goal ended up being more realistic than I thought

[long sorrel]

I, too, had put 100 books as the goal...

[small bloom]

I had put 50 and reached it in July so moved to 75, currently reading my 72nd

I think WoK was my 50th actually

[tight kindle]

A Darker Shade of Magic 4.5 ||"Pretty thing," whispered an old woman from a doorway in Maktahn. "Pretty skin. Pretty bones."
sorry what||

[little dock]

In case you don’t get RF Kuang’s newsletter ( @ripe tide I think you’d especially enjoy this)

I am doing research for my next fantasy novel, which I have convinced myself requires becoming properly fluent in French

[ripe tide]

Yes I did read that as soon as I got the notification

I am sooo curious to see what that book is.

[long sorrel]

bones bones bones

[wet belfry]

https://tenor.com/view/gustave-coe33-expedition-33-clair-obscur-baguette-gif-13519385428911712143

[untold leaf]

Finally finished the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series!

I can now comfortably say that I'm glad it's over with. I didn't particularly enjoy that series, but at least it contributed to my 40-book goal this year.

[heavy dove]

[A Brightness Long Ago 11] ||i can't believe Adria has just been killed off. that was completely unexpected. i need to mull over why this had to happen. part 2 with the race was fantastic. i'm also liking the commentary on stories and storytellers picking and choosing what they want to tell and how they want to tell it and it's nice how he shows in the frame story going on just with Danio's POVs. we see that his POV section right after Adria's death is the same paragraph as the very first paragraph of his first POV and of the book itself. it just has a slight twist at the start because Danio chose to tell it that way to hide that she was dead and kay chose for Danio to make that choice. kay has also chosen to reveal, at least partially, the mundane reasons for the feud between Folco and Teobaldo but he has chosen to withhold other parts of it. probably forever. he evokes great imagery to ride home his points as well. of how the tale that is offered to us is just some of many events, important or otherwise, selectively weaved together but it still feels like those other events still exist and their influence can be felt and they can spin off into their own stories like the sparks splitting from the bonfire that is the main tale. it's pretty reflective of how all kay books feel to read really. this can potentially be one of his best ones.||

[long sorrel]

still don't know what to read, Grey makes me want to check out Raven Scholar but should I? hmmmm

I guess i got like a couple more hours to decide

[ivory cypress]

👀

[small bloom]

I really enjoyed Raven Scholar, was gonna say my favorite read of June but I read WotM that month so nvm

Speaking of which SotF just shipped 👀

[ivory cypress]

for Usha - Raven Scholar is not like WotM for me

[small bloom]

Yeah they’re very different I just happened to read them in the same month

[wraith lynx]

Oh wait speaking of books

[alpine drum]

who was speaking of books in this channel

[wet belfry]

And how dare they

[alpine drum]

please point them out so they can be disciplined for being off topic in #1404497733108236318

[wraith lynx]

TCP 24 ||So let me get this straight. Liriope is Locke's mom. Shes also one of Dain's Dad's consorts. She started to cheat on him with Dain and got pregnant with Dain. Dain, the asshole, poisoned her to kill the baby, bur daddy maddy's wife saved oak and pretended that oak was maddys kid the entire time, and hes the secret chosen one now. Wow. Its been two days and Im still just 😳😳||

And (TCP 25) ||Cardan somehow pulling a 180 and going from an annoying plastic to a pathetic loser in a matter of a singular chapter is so funny omg||

[random dome]

hey look what time it is:

[random dome]

my thoughts about this:

[lusty meteor]

[long sorrel]

||he's the best pathetic lame dog ever||

[minor sleet]

Reading Hemlock & Silver by T Kingfisher

She always has these fun little details in her books

[long sorrel]

What does this mean?

Is it compared to WotM? 🤔

OH

I just read the message above yours

[long sorrel]

positively or negatively? It sounds like something completely different

[ivory cypress]

positively

also just different

Raven Scholar has a much higher quotient of things I like and think are good

[long sorrel]

All right, you weren't trying to convince me but you have

[ivory cypress]

interestinggggg can't wait to compare notes after

i am genuinely curious how it'll land with you

[long sorrel]

That makes me even more curious

[ivory cypress]

probably not as exciting as i'm accidentally making it sound - it'll hopefully make more sense when i explain later

[long sorrel]

hahaha

No, I'm always genuinely curious to compare why different people like the same thing for different reasons (I assume it'll be different reasons), so that's interesting without being exciting (if that makes sense)

[untold leaf]

Reading Avatar; City of Echoes now

Looking forward to seeing how this book ties into Season 2 of ATLA.

[snow vessel]

I might commit to reading sotf as a December book

[proven token]

I just realized that I finished The Troupe and forgot to post about it in the channel

Loved the part where [all] ||The book decides it's horror now and Silenius gets brutally clubbed to death in one of the most painful scenes I have read||

Overall pretty good, RJB has definitely gotten a lot better since publishing it

Onto American Elsewhere and Mr. Shivers

I WILL finish RJB's entire corpus

[wraith lynx]

TCP 29 ||Taryn girl. Dont resent jude because you decided to stick with the two timer and jude upgraded to the twink prince 😌 sure, jude says shes not sure Taryn is looking at her that way exactly buuuuut wr know 🥴||

||I feel so bad that I dont like Taryn because I do get it, and I sympathize. Locke can kick rocks though||

[long sorrel]

||But Locke is best boy||

[long sorrel]

||Taryn is very hard to like, but most of the fault is on Locke.||

I'm on ch 4 of The Raven Scholar now 👀

Surely i will sleep tonight...

[snow vessel]

CRUEL PRINCE 👀

[wraith lynx]

Is it good???? I might get it on tuesday 👀👀👀

[long sorrel]

Surely starting at like almost 1am is a good idea?

[long sorrel]

I've only read 4 chapters

So far it has made me go "wut" once

[snow vessel]

TCP/fota gen ||I really like how taryn and Jude are written||

||the series is so good with complicated relationships||

I'm not sure what I want to read next (audiobook) (not sotf). Leading options are:

• mistborn secret history (again)
• Vicious
• A darker shade of magic
• swordcrossed

[wraith lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/shrek-farquaad-number3-pick-number-three-my-lord-gif-27226327

[wraith lynx]

TCP 29 ||I cant even blame you because im over here all 🥴 while Madoc is telling Jude hes going to wage and win wars 😭||

||WAIT NO DONT SWORDFIGHT!!||

[long sorrel]

okay, I can't really vote such a lineup, but not SH

[wraith lynx]

Especially since you've read it already, try something new!! XD

[long sorrel]

Imma go for Swordcrossed, that's my vote

There was a very long 1 minute debate in my head

[long sorrel]

Oh, oh

i thought you still had a long way to go in the book

Never freaking mind

[snow vessel]

OH WAIT

[long sorrel]

Damn, now i can't go to sleep til you finish

[snow vessel]

Yeahh

That's nearly the end right 👀

[long sorrel]

end just realized where cosmic's at

yes

last chapter is chapter 30

[snow vessel]

I'm mainly hesitant with that because I know it's the start of a trilogy iirc? And right now I'd prefer standalone/duology

Mainly because I can't guarantee I'll get back to it too quickly

[long sorrel]

swordcrossed is a standalone!

[wraith lynx]

I had a feeling with the way the percentages were looking in storgraphs + also 30 being a clean number 🤔

TCP 30 ||Locke dude like actually leave her alone 😭 Jude is over here thinking of toppling the government and here comes Locke all like "hey i still like you btw" NO||

[snow vessel]

I can't promise I'll read it next but I'll put it at the top of the list

Something else might snag my fancy in the next few hours but I'll probably go with that

[long sorrel]

I went and reread chapter 30

sigh

TCP all (not safe for cosmic) ||Ah is Cardan's rage at Jude for being used like the pathetic dog he is so absolutely delightful. The giddiness at this never ends it seems. 😇 ||

well you can check that as soon as you're done with ch 30 actually

Raven Scholar 5 ||I can't believe her twin actuality exiled her??? And his thoughts about it? I'm in between 😠 and 😳 ||

[snow vessel]

TCP all ||such a good scene||

||you're so mean to cardan but I struggle to argue with it ||

[long sorrel]

I mean...

We can discuss if you want

But i don't think youll win this argument

Specially in book 1

@random dome you're missing the last reactions

[wraith lynx]

Mannnnnnn oh Mann I got CHIIILS XD

[snow vessel]

I don't actually have an argument

[long sorrel]

Did you finish???

[snow vessel]

TCP gen ||it's the impulse of "hey, I like him!" Followed by "oh yeah, that's why"||

[long sorrel]

This describes it greatly id say

[wraith lynx]

now im done!

And look at that, its not 3 am!

[snow vessel]

Time for book 2

Lorddd now i want to reread TWK

[long sorrel]

Ok you can read this now cosmic

But also thoughts?

[analog geode]

Yet

Time to start LoTR

[wraith lynx]

TCP all ||man oh man, Jude had me FOOLED and I love it. I love it when the plan is presented to me and I get so immersed in it, the twist comes and I get TWISTED. Also it is SO cathartic for Jude's personality and upbringing to come full circle and end her up being in the position of power shes always wanted.||

||also I like that her and Taryn's outlooks on being in faerie kinda sorta resulted in where they are as of right now. Taryn wanted to keep her head down and accept and Jude wanted to overcome. So noe Jude is essentially queen of faerie and Taryn is stuck with the two timer (who is still actively two timing her btw)||

||Jude, Vivi, Madoc and The Bomb are my favorite characters and jude especially is one of my favorite mcs period. Granted I havent read a lot of books where the mc is a girl but im sure itll stand||

[snow vessel]

Yesss

[long sorrel]

||I love that Jude's basically outplayed Madoc through learning from him. She really feels like his daughter ||

Also Jude! Jude! Jude!

[wraith lynx]

TCP all||my one and only gripe is just i think the relentless bullying took me out of it a lot which made it a struggle to keep reading first but that stopped being an issue literally halfway through. Literally when Jude kills valerian, its like the book itself flips a switch||

[long sorrel]

||and yes, queen made herself queen using every stone in the way, including her family ||

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I felt this too

[wraith lynx]

But thats like 1 issue in a sea of greatness so im fine 😂

[long sorrel]

Once more, I want to reread TCP, I shall continue pushing it away

[lusty meteor]

Just got here does cosmic have a new personality yet

[long sorrel]

Why i read that in your actual voice I don't know

[lusty meteor]

Lmao

Rent free

[long sorrel]

Surely that must be it

[wraith lynx]

No but I do have a new pookie does that count :3

[long sorrel]

Wicked King when

[wraith lynx]

In like 2 hrs 🤣

[ivory cypress]

yayyyy cosmic

👏

so glad you made it

[wraith lynx]

I did! Took 5 weeks but I did it! 🤣

Now the plan to read 20 books this year is still in motion, because this triolgy isnt long

And now I have a rhythm again 😈

[ivory cypress]

🎉 excellent

[uncut shoal]

I keep mixing up RF Kuang and KF Breene

[craggy cargo]

If the cover looks bad, it's kf breene. If it looks good, it's Kuang.

@sleek jungle I got book 1 of the black fleet! Looks fairly interesting.

[untold leaf]

The tie-ins happened very quickly. City of Echoes general and ATLA Season 2 ||This book follows the story of Jin, that side character from Tales of Ba Sing Se who goes on a date with Zuko.||

City of Echoes 5 + ATLA Season 2 all ||Already, Jin has had her first glimpse of Zuko (he snapped at her for staring at him, so he clearly forgot about that by the time of their date.) She hears rumors of the Avatar being in Ba Sing Se, and the last part I left off at is her watching Zuko and Jet's fight. What I'm most interested in is her story after Season 2 ends.||

[sleek jungle]

I hope you like it!

[random dome]

I'm here now! I had stuff tonight, whoops and I missed Cosmic reaching the end but yaaaaaaaaaaaaay

okay now Wicked King

[wraith lynx]

👀

Its on my doorstep as we speak 🥴

[random dome]

huge agree on Jude being one of the best protagonists in anything ever though

[somber timber]

Probably should bring it inside

[random dome]

TCP all ||She's just so the perfect blend of having all of her experiences having shaped her into exactly who she became. She can be so wrathful and brutal but she's also so justified in it. She's had to fight from the back foot just because everyone around her is fey and magical and dangerous and yet she still finds ways to win that are totally believable and earned. ||

[wraith lynx]

I did! TWK time!!

[random dome]

if you're cold, cardan's cold

[somber timber]

Can’t believe you’d let them freeze like that cos

[wraith lynx]

TCP all ||I also really really like that what Dain told her was the reason she succeeded. Her power was in looking weak, using their bigotry against them. Sure it was her standing on buisness, but everyone underestimated her. Madoc said she wasnt a killer, he didnt think he raised someone so ruthless and ambitious, and she proved them all wrong. It comes full circle so gloriously||

Of the 4-5 girl mcs ive read this year, Jude clears all of them tbh

I need to read more books with girl mcs but I fear its always a coin toss between getting someone like Jude or someone like Violet

Speaking of Violet

[random dome]

jude is the kind of mc where you're like "i think she should have done more war crimes. she deserved it. a couple more atrocities feel fair tbh"

[wraith lynx]

TCP + Fourth Wing ||Jude is a general's daughter. Shes thoughtful, planning, cunning, ambitious, and makes moves to benefit herself. Violet.... also a generals daughter just... kinda sits there and lets things happen to her? Theres no ambition, no tact... and granted her circumstances are a little different but even then.... your experiences shape who you are and theres a disconnect to me||

Anywhooooooooo

TWK prolouge ||opening with daddy Maddy being dilfy and howling??? Ive won, peak book, no notes 🥴||

[random dome]

welcome in, enjoyyy

[wraith lynx]

TWK prolouge ||No, her mother had run. Jude planted her feet.

AURA 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥||

||also the sad fact that the twins genuinely thought he was gonna kill them too..... ||

[random dome]

TWK prologue ||Me gnawing on toxic and complicated family dynamics in this book||

[snow vessel]

TWK prologue ||I love the mixed up mess of a relationship Madoc has with them both||

[wraith lynx]

TCP + TWK prolouge ||I didnt talk about it much but its so tasty. One of my favorite things about the book is their relationship with him. And I can only imagine how much more it will get 👀👀||

[snow vessel]

||every dynamic in this series is so good||

||there's not too many simple dynamics, everyone's screwed up and messy||

[ivory cypress]

chef kissing the glazing of these books

excellent

good

everyone appreciating what it's doing well

[wraith lynx]

TWK 1 ||Oh! Okay, 5 months later, cardan is... himself. Taryn is marrying the two timer in 3 weeks..... oh boy 😭||

[random dome]

(Cosmic safe) TCP + TWK ||As much as I do love the original book, I'm really excited to see Cosmic dig into the Cardan and Jude stuff in their current situation this book, because it's just SO good||

[snow vessel]

Same ||I think this book's Situation is what makes it (currently) my favourite of the trilogy||

[random dome]

TWK (cosmic safe) ||When people say "situationship" this is what they should be talking about and nothing else||

[wraith lynx]

TWK 1 ||omg locke, dude. Jude is actually not thinking about you dude||

||I love that over the course of the book hes gone from "yeah hes alright" to "public enemy number 1" in my head||

[random dome]

(not safe for usha)

[snow vessel]

I hate that Usha made me enjoy [Character name, TWK] ||locke||

[proper silo]

Erha 284 ||Man, I keep making fun of Mei Hanxue for only showing up once a volume to annoy Xue Meng, but turns out he's a real bro when it counts||

||(Xue Meng, I know this is a bad time to say it, what with you being covered in blood and discovering murder, but there's still time for you two to get together)||

Oh dear, the cover art really was ominous after all

||Xue Meng really speedrunning the traumatic backstory rn... Someone savr my pookie, he doesn't deserve it)||

Erha 285 ||In a story full of characters dying left and right, I think Madame Wang wins "best death scene" contest. Gonna be hard to beat immolating yourself with a phoenix while protecting the whole sect||

||...I'm sorry, what? Jiang Xi is Xue Meng's dad?! Godammit author I was shipping them!!! You can't do this to me!||

[tight kindle]

I already have the itch to buy a copy of A Darker Shade of Magic and I'm like 30% through the book 😭

[low hill]

Then buy it...

[tight kindle]

If I wasn't going to buy a $35 copy of SotF next week I probably would

But yeah I'm definitely going to be reading and buying a lot more Shwab in the future because wow

[low hill]

Christmas is coming up. Ask for it then.

[tight kindle]

Mmmmmm
Good point

[low hill]

I am very wise.

[tight kindle]

Ever since I opened the used books door it's gotten a hook in me that I don't know that I'm ever going to get out

Hey it's been almost a full month since I've bought any books though

[low hill]

It's not even been a week.

[quaint tendon]

This Inevitable Ruin 26 || “This is how it ALWAYS is in the end! “This is how it ends for ALL tyrants! Big and small!”||

https://tenor.com/view/pato-fumando-sonfys-pato-fumando-sonfys-gif-5554005238997164974

God I love these books

[long sorrel]

I mean, I agree with this too! Lol

[quaint tendon]

The name of this book is especially chilling after a recent refresher on some Marxist terminology

Dungeon Crawler Carl theorizing All || one of the potential outcomes of the class struggle, where neither the bourgeois nor the proletariat manage to claim victory is “The Common Ruin of the contending classes” needless to say, the conspiracy theorist in me can’t help but feel it’s similar to “this inevitable ruin” is very intentional||

[minor sleet]

From Hemlock & Silver

[quaint tendon]

I like cats

The cruelty of being allergic is one of the greatest sins this world has levied upon me

[minor sleet]

There are allergy treatments. There’s also taking antihistimines, enjoying your friends cat, and going home, which is what my mom does

[quaint tendon]

I’ve taken antihistamines. I am just stupid and I tend to touch my face and or want to cuddle too closely

Also I have no more ready access to friends cats, sadly the last cat amongst my friend group died quite a few years ago

[merry galleon]

9 days until Sigra’s Roost by TD Orel is released to the general public

I’m excited - I need my dragon rider fix

[quaint tendon]

This inevitable ruin 30 || snail trail and grandma sticky? Jfc splash zone.||

This series man. Dinniman has managed to create a feeling of weight to the gore and violence of open warfare that I haven’t experienced outside of Wheel of Time

[minor sleet]

True

[lucid isle]

About 5 years I read 6-7 Terry Pratchets Discworld books. I tried reading a couple recently but just dont enjoy them

Has anyone else fallen out of love with a series and not known why?

[wraith lynx]

I didnt fall out of love with Eragon + The Inheritance Cycle buuuuuut ot was really hard for me to read actually again this year. It was the first time in about 6-7 years, and I have since exposed myself to a lot more books and refined my taste a little bit. Not that its bad! It just isnt something that alters my brain chemistry anymore and thats okay~

It always and forever will bave a special place in my heart, purely for the fact that (Eragon) ||Nasuada existing made me realize that I can, in fact, belong in fantasy settings 🥰||

[wet belfry]

She really did get a new personality

[grim veldt]

...Cosmic, I don't know whether to be happy for you that Eragon gave you that representation, or sad for you that you didn't get that representation until Eragon
Have a 🫂 (and )

[lucid isle]

Maybe thats it, I've refined my reading preferences

[low hill]

-# Embrace the power of AND, etc. etc.

[grim veldt]

(Yes, that about sums it up, I am both happy and sad.)
(Sappy...Had)

[lucid isle]

I've tried a few highly recommende books by other authors recently can couldnt make it past the first coupleo of chapters.

People have Piranesi by Susanna Clarke on their top 10 lists but it was easily the worst book I've tried to read in years

Now I'm trying to find whatever it is A Psalm for the Wild-Built is selling but just can't see it.

[low hill]

Not every book is for everyone. You don't have to like things because they're popular.
-# Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell is better anyway.

[lucid isle]

It took me a while to be comfortable not finishing a book

[long sorrel]

Huh

[lucid isle]

I used to just labour through something until it was finished even if I started to not enjoy it.

[long sorrel]

It is not my top 10 or even close, but i did enjoy it

What did you not like any it? (If you wanna say we don't have to get into it)

[lucid isle]

I just found it extremely confusing and coudln't find that reading flow

I have dyslexia which I think effects my comprehension sometimes. Certain writign styles just do a better job at stiking in my head

[long sorrel]

that's fair, the book is weird to say the least

[wraith lynx]

Tbf I didnt read any fantasy before that so I just had the expectation that there wouldnt be brown people, she was an entire surprise 😂 and it was such a joy to actually tell that to Mr Paolini directly, and yes I cried afterward 😂

[old flint]

You need to become comfortable with the notion that everyone else just has atrocious taste

[junior dew]

Yeah as others mentioned not everything is everyone’s cup of tea. There are so many books out there and everyone’s tastes are different!

I found it quite interesting and enjoyed the read but it’s not in my top 10 either.

Also expectations always can impact how you experience a book too

[lucid isle]

This is a good observation. I think we can all get wrapped up in social hype of a book

[junior dew]

Yeah for sure. Like WoTM for me recently, which based on seeing others talk about it I expected this super wild, non-stop, out of this world 10/10 masterpiece.

Meanwhile I found it fun. Compelling to read. Solid 4/5. Definitely looking forward to the sequel. But it may not even be in my top 20 reads of the year.

[marble sinew]

You're just saying that because you're also reading Cradle

[junior dew]

Which part? The top 20 bit or?

[marble sinew]

Yeah

[junior dew]

Lol. Books I would probably put over WoTM so far this year would be:

• Fool's Assassin
• Purple Hibiscus
• Fool's Quest
• The Girl with the Louding Voice
• Assassin's Fate
• The Devils
• Alien Clay
• The Sword of Kaigen
• Isles of the Emberdark
• Kindred
• Project Hail Mary
• Probably all 6 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books I've read?
• Probably the first 3 Cradle books?

That's 20 books right there