Books (General)

[ivory cypress]

🍿 at aaks forever

[long sorrel]

||Dain, fyi||

[long sorrel]

saaaaaame

[long sorrel]

I went get Grief of Stones and I already had it

[ivory cypress]

jfgdkfjkdsa

oh that's funny

[long sorrel]

so I got The Tomb of Dragons

[long sorrel]

I was so certain I was going to like the series I just bought it all (this was before the last one came out)

I usually get them one at a time

[ivory cypress]

:D

ahaha

that's so good

[long sorrel]

I was going to read something in between but I think the day, and talking about it, has been enough so Imma jump straight into book 2

[ivory cypress]

oooh

[long sorrel]

Grief of Stones ||so we start with the execution, I thought itd do a little time skip but nope straight into the matter||

[junior dew]

TCP 14 || Yes, the paper Carden wrote your name on repeatedly is hateful. Totally hateful. Uh huh. Yep. 100%.

And totally not weird to just write the name of someone on a paper over and over and over whether you hate them or secretly desire them either. Not weird at all ||

TCP 14 || Also the way the narrator says her name over and over while reading the paper sounds uhhh… a certain way ||

[long sorrel]

Jude! Jude! Jude!

Its a pretty normal sentiment I get every other day

[somber timber]

https://tenor.com/view/animal-screams-animal-shouts-beatles-beatles-hey-jude-ground-squirrel-gif-1959627282211085819

This popped up in the discord search so…….

[long sorrel]

Lmao

More like

https://tenor.com/view/jude-duarte-the-cruel-prince-folk-of-the-air-holly-black-gif-17847492777606139336

[junior dew]

I can’t say what it really sounded like when the narrator was saying it in this channel

[junior dew]

TCP 15 || I will say I am interested in the book so far and where things are going to go exactly. I do wonder if Lock is also a spy or something. That or it’s just love triangle establishment for book 2 or something.

I do think that there’s a bit of valid criticism from Merphy in the “why would you choose to stay in this world” bit, but I also understand why she stays regardless of the awfulness ||

[ivory cypress]

TCP general ||tbh i don't think that's valid criticism, i think that's Merphy not understanding the charater of Jude, like, at all. that's fundamentally a "what makes Jude tick" thing. it's consistently brought up in book, in character from Viv - like constantly. so it's not a mistake or oversight or error... it's character||

[junior dew]

|| Yeah 100%. Which is why I say I understand why she stays. But I mean more so I can understand looking at the character and being like “what are you doing everyone treats you terribly yet you willingly stay”. Like you said, it’s very clearly addressed why she as a character makes the choice to stay and I think it’s personally done well.

But I also on the other hand agree with the view of omg why, you should really gtfo. In the sense that I personally can relate to Viv’s view more readily/easily because I feel like I wouldn’t want to live there either.

But that’s one thing that makes books fun imo. You get to explore perspectives and choices that wildly differ from your own or what you feel you would do or recommend in a given situation ||

[junior dew]

|| I think when I say valid criticism I mean more so valid criticism of her as a character/I can understand why that could be frustrating for some to read.

I disagree with the assessment that it contributes to the book being terrible/the idea that a book is terrible because you don’t like a character or don’t agree with a character’s actions ||

[long sorrel]

Grief of Stones ||we're back at the opera! This time it isn't work 👀 ||

[junior dew]

TCP general continued || Nor do I dislike her as a character myself. So far I like her. I just also personally wouldn’t make the choices she makes. Which is absolutely fine! ||

[long sorrel]

I think up to that point, Id make very similar choices

I don't think they're good choices but being realistic

[junior dew]

Yeah I mean I like to think I’d be more viv coded. And I do think I would be. But who really knows unless you’re in the scenario.

[wraith lynx]

TCP general ||I wouldnt last five minutes in Faerie, id either be dead or in tears 😭||

[long sorrel]

Grief of Stones (idk how to number chapters) ||I'm really scared about what's going on in the school with the girls . Secondly I quite like the aprentice! But damn they've done her dirty. And lastly Thara overthinking stuff about Pel-Thenhior has me going all ||

exhales
||I had thought about suicide, after Evru’s execution, after my disgrace. Some days I had thought about nothing else. It was probably the emperor who had saved my life, by giving me a purpose, a task, a question to answer. damn 😭 ||

[vital ibex]

Royal Assassin ch22 ||Molly's night with the wolf was "perfect" ||

[alpine drum]

What Moves the Dead a few pages through Ch 11 ||so theres a fungus in the lake which infected Madeline and has been trying to learn to be human, for some reason Roderick is not experiencing the same symptoms. I feel like the maid was infected and walked off the roof accidentally and isnt dead. Still not sure who the witch is||

||also burning the fungal infected bodies doesn't seem like it pleases the lake...||

[alpine drum]

What Moves the Dead all ||very fun horror, I was kind of surprised that there wasnt much inner conflict about the morals of killing the fungus.||

WMtD all + Gideon the Ninth all ||also I will admit that my guess that Madeline was behind this stuff (albeit not in the correct way) was just based on the twist in GtN||

[long sorrel]

Now you have 2 more

Alex is a great character

Grief of Stones ||“Yes!” she said. “Who is the dead body in her attic?” After a moment, I said cautiously, “That seems like a very reasonable question.” how outwardly calm Thara is about everything is sometimes very funny||

||is Thala about to commit crimes??? Pel-Thenhior is such a wonderful influence!||

[ivory cypress]

||oh iäna........||

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/awoo-heavy-weights-yeat-wolf-gif-1326479860896545498

[long sorrel]

||They are about to commit crimes!||

[junior dew]

TCP 18 || Dang, all that only for Sophie pack her pockets full of rocks and let the sea swallow her 😢 ||

[long sorrel]

||They did not 😔 yet maybe||

||oh... one of the girls from the school is dead... i can't help but thinking that the woman is prostituting them or forcing them in some other way||

||oh... 🤮 ||

[long sorrel]

I don't know what type of "... oh" this is and I'm worried

[ivory cypress]

just trying to match vibes with where you were at!

[long sorrel]

I know you wouldn't imply anything

But I'm worried!

This book is much darker

||or maybe the whole children and porn is just way worse for me||

[ivory cypress]

no, i think you're right, the subject matter is significantly... uglier, in that plot

[quaint tendon]

I grabbed this is how you lose the time war on sale

Looking forward to checking it out

I think after I finish my current book I’m going to check out this Star Wars book Resistance Reborn

[long sorrel]

Grief of Stone 60% ||uh... he's being forced to rob a tomb||

No! ||i thought he couldn't feel anything because she had been murdered by that thing but Thara believes he can no longer witness??||

||i hope I'm right||

[long sorrel]

I need to go sleep but can't

[ivory cypress]

uh oh

[junior dew]

TCP 18 || You’re telling me being in Dain’s control isn’t all happy go lucky sunshine and rainbows? Huh. Color me surprised ||

[long sorrel]

I finished

I feel mildly destroyed

Grief of Stones end ||the final 2 pages when he's too overcome with grief to continue the cornless corn maze kind of just killed me||

[untold leaf]

I read The Will of the Many a bunch today. Finally finished Part 1!

I think I'm now on chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXVII ||I get the feeling that Vis is now in a bit of a Harry Potter situation, where he's famous right upon entering his school for the first time. Though his poor interactions with other students on day one seems sure to offset that with infamy. Also, is it weird that I find myself shipping Vis and Aequa? Idk, I'm just vibing with that. Also, Veridius seems too nice to be an antagonist. He's so disarming I'm actually led to wonder if he's really that bad, and I just know that's the author manipulating me. 😝 ||

[astral atlas]

There's a Hierarchy forum channel btw

#1438404310429073489

[untold leaf]

Ooh

[random dome]

Oooh you got so far last night 👀

[junior dew]

TCP 20 || I knew Lock was sus. But what kind of sus ||

[junior dew]

Yet not as far as I intended!

Will be finishing it after work today

[random dome]

And I will be here munching popcorn while you do!

[junior dew]

TCP 20 || So I had been wondering whether lock is either a spy, the group’s real “leader” so to speak, or her sister’s love. Curious to see what actually ends up being the case ||

TCP 20 || Yep, seems like Taryn Lock is the direction. Pending confirmation ||

[random dome]

This is only a little adjacent to what you were saying here, but while TCP was my rebound read off my Fourth Wing DNF, the series it compares the most favorable to in my opinion is ACOTAR and its sequels, just because of how fae the faeries are in this book. ||They're so terrible and capricious and cruel, willing to play awful games with mortals for their amusement, yet so beautiful and somehow their world is still enchanting even when you know it's so dangerous. They feel fae, as opposed to just... pretty humans with pointy ears who call their partners "mate" and don't really act that different from regular people.||

[junior dew]

|| Yeah I am really digging that vibe so far. Definitely leans into it ||

TCP 20 || I do very much wonder if The Wicked King refers to Dain. My gut screams that it does ||

[random dome]

In a sea of very mediocre fae court stories, The Folk of the Air is a head above the rest imo

[junior dew]

TCP 20 || Oh it seems like Maddock is going to perhaps steal the throne 👀 ||

TCP 20 || Ohhh nvm it may be the other brother and then Carden is probably there to crown him ||

TCP 20 || Huh, really solid chapter. Executed fairly well (pun intended) ||

[junior dew]

Yeah it’s a niche I haven’t really run into yet. But it’s a solid book so far

TCP 21 || Being unable to outright lie is a fun inclusion ||

[junior dew]

TCP 22 || Fun setup so far. Has hit the point where I don’t want to stop reading, but I’ll unfortunately need to pause within the next few minutes to get my work day started. Looking forward to finishing this later though ||

[random dome]

I should probably be getting on with my workday too 😅

[long sorrel]

Btw, best boy name is spelled Locke

I hope you don't mind my spelling annotations, I can leave them out if you prefer since we all know each one you're referring to

[junior dew]

Nah I appreciate it. Audiobook life be like that

[long sorrel]

TCP 20 ||Is suuuuuch a good chapter||

[junior dew]

TCP 23 || I feel like this stands out even more here. The way they’re breaking up Jude and Taryn. Sowing these seeds between them to tear them apart. Locke is quite vile. They kinda all are ||

[long sorrel]

||he's just a bit bored 😩 ||

[junior dew]

Okay this chapter is longer than I can do right now. I must continue later

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/good-place-tgp-chidi-thats-gif-18334989

[random dome]

TCP safe for spooky ||I love the way Locke gets set up like he's the nice one out of the mean bullies squad and then he turns out like THAT. ||

[wraith lynx]

Excellent work my friend

[ivory cypress]

lolll

[random dome]

I feel... used...

Ushed, even...

[long sorrel]

I read your message and that's all I could read, I hope you appreciate my masterful writing on my phone screen

[junior dew]

TCP ~23 || Yeah for sure. Though I still thought it was weird that he’d be all nice like that and then hang with THEM. And his reasoning did feel somewhat like red flags but I think I kind of immediately wrote them off because I was so focused on the Carden stuff lol ||

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/good-place-tgp-chidi-thats-gif-18334989

[long sorrel]

you got got

[long sorrel]

I am fully aware 😈

[junior dew]

Yeah TCP up to 23 || I was totally thinking it would be more like they end up together but then there somehow ends up being this gradual love triangle with Carden and then she ends up ditching Locke for Carden somehow ||

Same tags || This direction is much, much better ||

[long sorrel]

TCP does all the troupes, but it's sure as hell not boring about it

[long sorrel]

||Yes, I don't like love triangles.||

[random dome]

I do love how often you can see the boring, typical narrative choice in these books and then see how Black chose to do something way crunchier and more interesting instead

[long sorrel]

The Book of Night duology picked up that very Holly Black quality on the second book

[junior dew]

Yeah I really appreciate that for sure

[long sorrel]

the first book is like "okay this is fun! Interesting setting, cool." (ofc the morally grey are morally grey too so yay)

Then the second book was like "OH, we're doing the things"

[junior dew]

TCP 20 || Funny enough I expected some twist during the coronation and it’s interesting to me how we kinda got one but also kinda didn’t entirely? Like things played out like expected in the sense that the brother did in fact go for the crown. And it was indicated that the poisoning wouldn’t be the path.

But Black misdirected in a way that I feel had me looking for more of a big twist, such that it almost feels like a twist that there… wasn’t really a twist per se As in the book really did tell us what was going to happen there kinda. But it feels like the book intentionally pulls your direction in specific directions to then pull the rug out in other places. I dig it ||

[long sorrel]

Sadly, while some of her other books are fun, none of them reach this narrative quality imo. Not that her other books are bad but they're not... this series

[ivory cypress]

sometimes people just have The One

[long sorrel]

yeaaah

[ivory cypress]

the one that hits

[long sorrel]

I do think book 2 of Book of Night got close in some aspects, given it's a completely wildly different setting and it's trying to do something vry different but that one did hit me pretty well. Still not as much

[old flint]

Oh, I need to read the second book of night. I thought the first one was great (though as so often is the case, the love interest was a bit of a wet dishrag). I haven't read any of her other stuff

[long sorrel]

Yeah, the first one was quite fun, the second picked up a lot on the specific things I like

(as in, it's far more messed up)

[zinc chasm]

Does anyone have book recommendations for a very picky reader (me)?

[vital ibex]

What are you picky about?

[zinc chasm]

IDK, I get bored so easily. I DNF a lot

[versed agate]

what have you enjoyed (and finished)?

[zinc chasm]

Latest was Will of the Many (reading Strength of the Few now)

[ivory cypress]

do you know what aspects of stories you tend to be picky about?

characters? tropes? writing style?

[zinc chasm]

Probably writing style? For WotM for example, the world was way more dystopian than what I'd normally pick up, but the narrative hooked me right away. I read one page and knew I would probably finish the book.

[ivory cypress]

what kind of things have you not liked?

[zinc chasm]

Let's see, Malazan I tried to read the first page and didn't understand half the words, and started questioning whether I knew English

Name of the Wind was good but the second book seemed to have no direction so I couldn't get invested

[old bone]

So you want a plot focused book with English level similar to Name of the Wind

Have you read Red Rising?

[zinc chasm]

I will add it to my list to try, thank you!

[old bone]

You could try the previous trilogy by Will of the Many author

Licanius

[random dome]

Stuff I always recommend. I really like court intrigue/fantasy politics and love stuff with deep character work:

Folk of the Air (first book: The Cruel Prince) - This is the one we've been talking about in here lately. Fae court fantasy with really excellent character work and leaning heavily on the dangerous and capricious nature of the fae. Badass female main character and a very crunchy enemies-to-lovers relationship.

Daevabad Trilogy (first book: City of Brass) - Historical fantasy based on Islamic folklore. Cutthroat politics in a djinn city bursting with historical grievances, religious tensions and faction wars. Also has some messy romantic relationship trappings, and a great female MC.

A Memory Called Empire - Sci-fi that reads like fantasy, the main character is a new ambassador from her tiny space station to the lavish, sprawling space empire of Teixcalaan. Lots of complicated themes about being an outsider in a foreign culture and the fears of losing your own culture. Also fun technology stuff with stored memories and personalities.

[long sorrel]

I was thinking of Daevabad, the prose and the plot are both so crunchy

[random dome]

I love crunch!!

[long sorrel]

But I went check my 5* reads and I got distracted looking at books (whooops)

(I got distracted rating grief of stones and deciding if it was going into the 5 or the 4 )

[tight kindle]

Oh that's reminds me

Found a pretty edition of it at the store and thought of y'all

[long sorrel]

ooooh I do love the edge!

A lot

can you show the cover better?

I think I do prefer the other cover itself

[random dome]

Oh that's gorgeoussss binding

Also I could have put Priory of the Orange Tree on there too, but I figured 3 was a good number

[tight kindle]

No I took this picture two days ago :P

[long sorrel]

go back in time

[low hill]

You know what that means then...

[long sorrel]

@zinc chasm do you have like, specific genres and do you like more action-y stuff or do you not care either way?

[tight kindle]

Here found another picture

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/books-reading-reading-books-cat-cats-gif-25982955

[random dome]

That's such a good Nahri, I love her little smirk

[long sorrel]

yeah the art is gorgeous

But i do prefer my book covers that are more like, about design than characters (?)

[random dome]

Yeah I do think the original is very iconic

[long sorrel]

I'm looking at covers and I do dig this one too

[random dome]

First edition:

[long sorrel]

yeah

croatian went their own way... lmao

[tight kindle]

That's the one I have

[tight kindle]

...That's a choice

[long sorrel]

... yeah

[random dome]

I guess it's meant to be the six djinn tribes maybe?

But it's pretty boring

[long sorrel]

Oh... maybe?

It feels somewhat... "this looks sort of arabic" kinda vibe to me 😅

[random dome]

Yyyyyeah

[long sorrel]

I found this one too

Kinda cute

Nahri feels too ready to submit on that one though, which is very not Nahri

[tight kindle]

He's hot
I like books with hot men on the front

[long sorrel]

You know Atrus

He's like a feast

[tight kindle]

holds in laughter

I'm in calc I can't burst out laughing

Tis hard

[long sorrel]

Like the feast? 🤨

[low hill]

smirks

[long sorrel]

-# Vecna could see that one coming, just like the-- gets dragged out and back into yp

[random dome]

I'm guessing that's Dara with her? But I admit I think he looks a little too pretty? I do think Dara is meant to be very attractive, but in this art he seems kind of roguish and playful instead of like, ||a brutal warrior filled with guilt because he, oops, did a bunch of really famous war crimes that everyone's still really mad about||

[long sorrel]

Anyway, to Feather recommendations i'd like to add Tainted Cup and maybe Witch Roads

[long sorrel]

I think the entire art is very elongated anyway so he's kinda wide in proportion but yeah

Davaebad all ||There's no way that's Ali, and it'd make no sense in that book anyway||

[random dome]

Daevabad spoilers ||maybe if they made the lamp a scourge instead ||

[tight kindle]

I got out of calc and started uncontrollably giggling and had to explain what was going on to my roommate

It's like my sleeper agent phrase

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/saltshroud/802286750754127872/new-phone-wallpaper-for-finals-season

FULL FATHOM FIVE

new phone wallpaper for finals season

-# #id in alt #i think it might be earnestly helping #text

Tumblr · Dec 7, 2025, 3:11 PM

[zinc chasm]

Fantasy, and usually I like action, but I have to also care about the characters or the plot

[tight kindle]

I went back and reread the original feast conversation and it's still amazing

[long sorrel]

then yeah @zinc chasm I think check these out, and maybe check out Emily Wilde too (that's the series name)

[tight kindle]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR_9dS2jv2g/?

Usha I don't know if you have Instagram but I found a list of one person's five-star MM romance books that are basically all now going on my list lol

Instagram

[zinc chasm]

Ooh, tainted cup sounds interesting

[long sorrel]

I don't have any socials! You are in fact, my friend in all my socials

Well I suppose you aren't in discord, GASP, but that's unneeded

and steam

that's all

hmm

these books are very... contemporary romance

probably not my thing

I do see Lily Maine mentioned in there and ofc I do have that one on my tbr already lol

for something contemporary to hit it has to be either really dark or just smut, everything else I'm not interested in. Lily Maine does have... an imagination however. So the Folk series might be really interesting

[hoary path]

The Last Wish (Witcher Book 1)
||This book has some of the best dialogue I’ve ever seen written and mediocre prose everywhere else. It goes from this beautiful discussions between characters to ‘Geralt bowed stiffly with a nasty smile’ over and over. It feels like such a weird disconnect but he really plays to his strength sometimes, like one chapter being straight up only dialogue (making it the best chapter in the book). I also love his depiction of monsters and characters with varying degrees of good and bad, makes them feel real and fleshed out instead of just grimdark evil like a lot of other fantasy in this genre. One thing that I thing is my biggest complaint might be in my head but… It feels like women are written kinda badly? Or inconsistently? At times they are really good, and I don’t think I would call him sexist per se, but there were anatomical descriptions of teenagers that weren’t needed. I also didn’t like the ‘sorcerresses were ugly, so they became beautiful but their angry ugliness still showed in their eyes’ and that’s how Geralt learned Yennefer was formerly a ‘hunchback’. It just seemed like kind of weird with their roles and I hope this is just a thing of the times and gets better as the series go on. Overall though I quite enjoyed it, and I also liked it was more a compilation of short stories. I’ll probably read the next one as an audiobook too (which this was very good).||

[alpine drum]

||In terms of the prose, I assume you are reading the English translation? From what I understand it's not the best translation of the original but idk how good the Polish prose is. I think the descriptions and treatment of women does get a bit better but it's sort of like the Dresden Files where there's always gonna be some of it||

[hoary path]

||Yeah, it was the English translation. That would make sense. Glad at least the dialogue stayed intact.||

[junior dew]

Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin. First book is Fifth Season

[tight kindle]

Yeah that's the one that intrigued me the most

[long sorrel]

This is the author of the one I was telling you the other day

[tight kindle]

The Captive Prince?

[long sorrel]

No, the monster stuff

[tight kindle]

Ahhh

[long sorrel]

Im on book 7 of that

[zinc chasm]

Thank you everyone! Now I have some things to try after I finish Strength of the Few

[light drum]

(If you like WoTM Red Rising is strikingly simular albeit scifi)

[zinc chasm]

I have a slight sci fi aversion, but I will keep that in mind!

[tight kindle]

I have the urge to buy more romance books but really can't justify it in the budget

[marble sinew]

It isn't as nice as owning, but I'd imagine your school's library still has a considerable fiction section, even if it's proportionally smaller than you're used to

[tight kindle]

No it's not great :/

They've got some but very little romance

[long sorrel]

is epub not an option?

[tight kindle]

All my Libby libraries also suck. In general and also in the queer romance department

[long sorrel]

yeah but they're cheaper to buy quite often

specially if it's sorta niche mm romance you're going to find quite cheap epubs

[marble sinew]

Do you have enough of a local address to sign up for the library system of the city/town your school is attached to?

[analog geode]

You know what has tons of queer romance? AO3

[tight kindle]

I need to check
But the local library is also pretty small iirc.
I hate living in small town Idaho 😭

[tight kindle]

Where do you usually look for things like that?

[long sorrel]

I buy from kobo when i can't find on any local stores

It isn't the best but I refuse to use amazon

I do usually look at my local stores since they do sell epubs quite often

I do put more effort than needed when buying, since I'd rather buy from anywhere but amazon or the big markets. Sometimes you can buy DRM free books frmo the publisher directly

[minor sleet]

Try this one: https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org

[tight kindle]

I have that one too lol
Very long wait times 😔

[junior dew]

TCP 25 || He hates her because he can’t stop thinking about her. And there we go. The worst kept secret that everyone but her knew is finally out there.

Also omg she’s actually kissing him?! ||

TCP 25 || “but what if I kissed him, but like… as a joke” ||

[long sorrel]

duh

[junior dew]

TCP 26 || And… she’s into it too Of course. Lmfaoooooooooooo.

I’m sorry but this is so god damn funny lol ||

[junior dew]

TCP 26 || I literally had to stop and laugh at this and then rewind to explain this whole thing to my girlfriend and play the end of chapter 25 + beginning of chapter 26 because this is just hilarious.

“I’m going to kiss him as revenge because he’ll love it and hate that he loves it and I’ll just enjoy having that power over him and I obviously won’t like it because I hate this asshole”

“Wait, oh no. Why do I love this”

||

I’m dying over here

[long sorrel]

||It is ultimately a power play though||

[junior dew]

|| It is. It’s just so funny how it backfired immediately for her.

Also can we just note that if the genders were reversed I feel like this would spark some very different conversations? ||

[long sorrel]

yes

[junior dew]

Okay we continue

TCP 26 || yes, interrogating the princeling is what she was doing. Very interrogatively ||

[random dome]

TCP 26 ||The absolute emotional MESS of Jude deciding to kiss Cardan as a way to torture him because she figured out he hates that he's attracted to her, and... whoops, turns out she REALLY liked that but was it the torturing him part or the kissing part or maybe it doesn't matter because she accidentally entangled those two things in one action and now they're linked up in her head. ||

TCP 26 ||This is exactly the kind of nastiness I want to get in any book that dares to call itself enemies to lovers. I want them to despise each other but also maybe be attracted to each other at the same time but ALSO hate that they're attracted to each other, thanks||

[junior dew]

TCP 26 || Yeah I mean it is fun. Just was absolutely hilarious how it all played out there. ||

[oblique zodiac]

hmm

maybe I should read something new

those books mentioned sound interesting

and wassup with these mias?

[junior dew]

We’ve been infected

[low hill]

I have just finished a strange Tim Powers* novel featuring the Bronte sisters† and werewolves...
-# *Yeah, ok. That says it all really...
-# †Yes. Those ones.

[ripe tide]

WHATTT

[snow vessel]

I felt like I was going crazy xD

[tight kindle]

yp broke containment

[rugged tartan]

For a slightly more complete (Though still unsatisfactory tbh) answer: Its in reference to a regular user, likely in part because its also the time of yea rthat everyone changes their username to include the word "ookla" in reference to... I forget the full details

Point is, its an in-joke in reference to a different in-joke; yp is #you-people, an 18+ general discussion channel in the server (Its way more boring than it sounds), and is where a the first of those in-jokes sees the most use

[long sorrel]

time for Tomb of Dragons

oh, what happened was that Mia's wife changed her name to Mia then Mia came about and was like "wtf" so we all went in for the troll then started dragging everyone else. But now it is so, December 8th is Mia's day.

[junior dew]

Is it too late to vote for Dia de la Mia?

[long sorrel]

I think that works better

[lilac quiver]

yeah I vote for that too

[junior dew]

TCP 28 || Hmm I wonder if Teryn in a later book is going to be an adversarial twist or Teryn + Locke will disappear in book 2 and then pop back out in book 3 ||

[long sorrel]

||Taryn||

You're going to finish today? 👀

I guess I can't sleep if that's the case

[junior dew]

Yeah I should have been done by now. 25 minutes left though that depends on distractions, pausing, rewinding, etc

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons ||I'm worried he won't get the calling back while thinking that it is better that he doesn't, but I so get the emptiness from losing it and I'm empathising too hard. 😔 ||

[junior dew]

TCP 29 || Maddock poisoned. Nice work Jude ||

[ivory cypress]

🍿 is too light-hearted but that's essentially the vibe

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons ||what the hell is going on with the catacombs???? Oh wait, the title 🤔 ||

[ivory cypress]

heh

[long sorrel]

Jude! Jude! Jude!

Its like really frustrating but really funny how this bit is happening

Once again really well written

Tomb of Dragons ||the way everyone is side stepping Thala with the catacombs issue has me nearly audibly groaning but it's also hilarious||

[ivory cypress]

oh?

[idle trellis]

Is the prince really that cruel?

[long sorrel]

omfg

I was in bed yesterday when you sent it

I just listened to it

the crescendo is.... uhm... uh...

I see what you mean

this is probably less bad in 1x

[junior dew]

See! Yeah I imagine 2x is what makes it so…

TCP 30 || GHOST WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ||

[random dome]

One great way to find out

[junior dew]

TCP 30 || Dayummmmmm Jude ||

TCP 30 || Honestly the name Wicked King should have made this twist obvious lol ||

TCP 30 || Oh this is going to make book 2 so juicy ||

TCP 30 || A gift he plans to repay in kind.

Delicious ||

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/meu-gif-27420939

[snow vessel]

nonono I shouldn't reread Wicked king

[junior dew]

TCP 30 || You know, in hindsight they were getting a little too buddy buddy for it to only be book 1 ||

[long sorrel]

I am nodding at the screen with evil smile on

[junior dew]

TCP 30 || My thought now is I wonder what book 2 is going to do to stoke the fires of hatred even further because at this rate surely things are going to get a lot worse before book 3 starts to reverse course ||

[long sorrel]

You're done?

[junior dew]

Epilogue almost done

[snow vessel]

I am popcorning at the screen with the same

[deft stream]

If I were to read a ln would it be anime/manga or books content?

[long sorrel]

we have been using books?

I suppose if the LN has a manga you might want to talk over there in case people want to comment on it

[junior dew]

TCP 30 || She has made hella enemies today. Maddock and Carden. I wonder if book 2 is going to end with the year of power ending and Jude ending up with hatred to match his ||

[long sorrel]

for the overlapping audience (just like how Expanse TV series sometimes gets talked here)

[deft stream]

Has a manga and anime, but the anime caught up with the manga

[idle trellis]

how many mias in chat

[long sorrel]

Yes

[idle trellis]

😭

[valid cloud]

Books is generally what people use, especially if the material hasn't been adapted into a manga or anime yet.

[deft stream]

Thanks

[valid cloud]

Though, if you wanted to start a discussion about stuff that's already been adapted, you could head over there.

[junior dew]

TCP all || Juicy. Delicious. “You be queen. I’ll be your puppet for a year. Good luck.” This is fun ||

[long sorrel]

||Jude's power hungry and she used everything at her disposal. Screw being knight, she'll just rule by using Cardan as her dog puppet||

||and that coronation scene is just one of my favourite scenes||

[junior dew]

|| Yeah it was really good ||

[junior dew]

|| Yeah Cardan’s hate is justified now. Was an asshole move ||

[long sorrel]

||Yeah but I mean, Jude's just a little ambitious, let her be 😤 ||

[junior dew]

Welp. Onwards to book 2 and urgent care

[wraith lynx]

TCP all ||I agree, maybe he shouldnt have been such a punk then he wouldnt have to be here 🥰||

[junior dew]

|| I mean yeah I do agree there ||

[long sorrel]

||Yeah like "boohoo I bullied her, made her eat dirt, almost drowned her, but she betrayed me and put a crown on my head||

I am happy you liked it

I wasn't entirely sure if it was gonna be your thing

[wraith lynx]

Me too

Now to make sure tou dont pass me 😅🤣

[random dome]

TCP all ||Cardan spends all this time bullying Jude and building up her resentment and then she gets her revenge by inflicting his worst nightmare on him: kissing him and making him king. Truly sadistic of her, really ||

[junior dew]

|| Lmfao yeah I mean he is very much a prick and honestly deserves to suffer a bit. He really brought it upon himself ||

[long sorrel]

||do you see all the jude hype? 😍 ||

[junior dew]

|| She’s definitely an interesting character ||

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons ||Thala told Iäna why he got disowned 👀 ||

||Im so proud of Thara for saying it out loud 😭 ||

||i think imma cry lol||

[junior dew]

Yeah… good luck with that 👀

[wraith lynx]

Im barely 1/3 through TWK 😭

[junior dew]

Yeah it was a fun read. Definitely did some neat stuff.

I haven’t read much if anything with this specific trope but I have enjoyed what I’ve read of the genre

[long sorrel]

Welp

Id say this is the top

You can join us in chasing the high

[junior dew]

That’s fair. I tried reading Tempest recently-ish, book 8 of the Relentless series by Karen Lynch, which I really enjoyed in college.

I only got a couple chapters in 😂

It did make me curious whether the original relentless trilogy would hold up or not

[junior dew]

I’ll probably be done with the book in a day or two

How have I not noticed prior to today that Libby’s audio quality is so much worse than Audible’s?

TWK 4 || Can we talk about how Taryn is a terrible sister and twin? Like no matter what, choosing to be with someone that plays games with your twin sister like Locke did is pretty awful. Being okay with that is not okay ||

[wraith lynx]

Chapter 4 already is crazy, chill 😂

I 100000000% agree though

[ivory cypress]

TWK 4 ||hey, you know... she belongs to Faerie too, in her own way||

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons ||Thara is getting kidnapped and we just started! What???||

What's going oooon

||what does this tea do???||

||wow he's being mean to himself “Thou art in love with thine own tragedy,” Zhemena said, as if he could follow my unspoken thoughts. maybe it is progress||

[ivory cypress]

😭

[long sorrel]

This book is going to be tough, but hopefully healing too

[somber timber]

Wait the book is named tomb of dragons and isn’t a romp????

-# I was legit considering it because tomb of dragons sounds sick

[long sorrel]

Lol, the first book is Witness for the Dead if you want to check the setting

[zinc flicker]

I’ve read a lot of this trope being bad

[long sorrel]

Mhmmm

I've read it being fine but you still get the "okay but still miles away from TCP"

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/gohine-hohino-no-hohineee-gohineee-gif-17792172174678204487

TWK 6 || She got Carden in her bed already ||

[long sorrel]

Btw

It's Cardan

[long sorrel]

This is messed up 😂

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons 25% ||there's a tomb, and a dead speaking dragon this is wild||

[junior dew]

TWK 8 || Yikes young Carden was taught that bullying other kids earns attention and approval. That’s messed up ||

[long sorrel]

I was not expecting this turn of events

[junior dew]

Please stop igniting my heavy curiosity

[long sorrel]

You won't believe what happens next

[junior dew]

Probably!

I’ll probably place a hold for the books on Libby at some point in early 2026

[long sorrel]

Well idk til i keep reading

[ivory cypress]

if more people get into the goblin emperor/witness for the dead booksssssssssssss 👀 vibrates

🙏 lord i've seen what you've done for others--

[junior dew]

I mean the Witness for the Dead series is like 15 hours so it’s a no brainer for me in 2026 to knock out after Licanius

[ivory cypress]

have you read the goblin emperor?

[long sorrel]

It is quite short and, it has perfect pacing, it's just one of those

[ivory cypress]

it's in the same world, though a very different setting within the world, has some bg info that might make it info

[junior dew]

Wait, same world as What Moves the Dead?

But they’re by different authors?

[long sorrel]

These are different series all together

I am reading the series that starts with Witness for the dead, which has nothing to do with What Moves the Dead

[ivory cypress]

oop

[junior dew]

Ohhhhhhh

Do I buy the first two books? Book 3 is on Libby. They’re on sale 👀

I also just bought a few more books. This Audible sale is putting my weakness on display

[long sorrel]

Well as Grey was saying Id recommend The Goblin Emperor before the trilogy

Tho it isn't necessary and has quite a different vibe

Check the premises I guess

[junior dew]

I have not. I have it in my wish list though since it’s above the price of a credit and not on Libby

Will hold off for now

[ivory cypress]

👀

[junior dew]

I think I’ve spent like $200 on this sale lol

[ivory cypress]

okay............... 🙏

next time....?

[junior dew]

Plus just got charged for my annual membership

[junior dew]

I have 12 credits so Goblin Emperor will be a credit purchase. Since on sale it’s $12, and buying more credits at the most cost efficient option puts a credit around $10-$11

I am definitely primed and ready for next year with so many new books + some others in my backlog I haven’t yet read

[mild lance]

The Aeronaut’s Windlass ||very solid first book! Really into these characters and world. I wish they’d given us a little more info about the mysterious Enemy, because a war with the Aurorans isn’t very interesting on its own.||

[junior dew]

TWK 9 || “How’d you get Carden on your side?”

“I kissed him on the mouth and threatened to kiss him more if he didn’t do what I say”

“LIAR. How dare you! You evil, evil human”

The ridiculousness of all this will never not be funny ||

TWK 9 || Oh yeah forgot to mention earlier and don’t remember which chapter but I hate that I also kind of am on the daddy Maddy train ||

[wraith lynx]

TWK 9 ||I swear Nicasia is so stupid and annoying, I cant stand her 🤣||

[junior dew]

|| Lol. Yeahhhhhh. Also thank you for that spelling ||

TWK general || But honestly the fact that I more and more am begrudgingly like okay yeah I can see it @ Maddock… I think that’s a first for me. So points to Black there ||

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons 34% ||"A dragon told me" ||

[long sorrel]

||it is so weird to see the emperor from the outside||

[ivory cypress]

YES

it is

[junior dew]

TWK 11 || This place is so toxic my god ||

TWK 11 || The fae are so toxic ||

TWK 11 || “I have too often been troubled by my dreams of Jude. Her face features prominently in my most frequent nightmare”

That is a very carefully worded way to say what you think of Jude ||

TWK 11 || I do think Jude is also clearly very much a product of the environment and toxicity of the fae world she has been raised in. As is her sister ||

TWK 11 || I have never so deeply felt in a book that two characters desperately with every fiber of their beings want to engage in some hatred fueled activities with each other ||

[junior dew]

Time for rest. Will finish the book tomorrow

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons 62% ||I do love Iäna with all his... everything. He is overwhelming||

[royal carbon]

Apparently I have read 80+ books this year, maybe 100ish

[ivory cypress]

finally making some headway into ellen kushner's Swordspoint

[low hill]

Yes, it was a little strange as I didn't work out from the backcover text it was about the Bronte's. But I enjoyed it. :)
My Brother's Keeper.

[random dome]

https://tenor.com/view/brooklyn99-jake-peralta-andy-samberg-thats-what-the-f-im-talking-about-yes-gif-14014556

[junior dew]

The way I had to dance around what I actually wanted to say

[random dome]

Oh it came through, don't worry

[junior dew]

Lol oh yeah I had no doubt that it came through. Just doesn’t quite read with the same level of… impact that I feel properly represents this particular scenario

[junior dew]

TWK 15 || Excuse me, CAT MILK? Jesus ||

[junior dew]

TWK 15 || Speaking of hate fueled activities 👀 They gave in to that so much sooner than I anticipated ||

TWK 16 || You go Jude. Tell Locke how it’s going to be ||

TWK 17 || I know she has been in faerie mostly but she doesn’t even know what pepper jack is? ||

[junior dew]

TWK 18 || Viv just being like surprise. Really girl? I mean cheers and celebrations for you that that worked. But really? ||

[wraith lynx]

And now I cant read anymore 🤣

[junior dew]

To be fair, I did warn you

Been sprinting to hit my 52 books for the year with most of my free time so that I can hit that goal and then shift some of that free time to other stuff

[random dome]

TWK ||I think this book does a good job of starting to explain why Cardan turned out the way he did. Like it absolutely doesn't excuse his behavior, but he was so neglected himself it's no wonder no one taught him any better...||

[junior dew]

TWK || Yeah I agree for sure. Honestly I feel like it does a good job at demonstrating how cruel and toxic this world is and how you end up with Carden, Jude, and Taryn being the way they are to an extent. Then contrasted by Viv. Good exploration of nature vs nurture to some extent. ||

TWK || Like let’s be honest, even Jude’s actions are questionable morally. But she’s a product of her environment and it’s understandable why she is the way she is and why she acts the way she does. Absolutely empathize with what she has been through though. Honestly, this book so far even has me liking Jude more and more as a character because she is just such a strong character in the face of all she has been through and she does have the aim for a better faerie even though she also is power hungry (which is admittedly also fun to explore).

Talking about Sanderson’s sliding scales for character, we see her progressively grow in competence and proactiveness, paired with all of the empathy for her built up in book 1 and then continued to be built up in some of the scenes in book 2. All makes for a strong and compelling character to follow.

She’s a very interesting character to be in the mind of ||

[random dome]

TWK ||Black's willingness to let a protagonist (especially a young, female protagonist) have really dark, sometimes even violent motivations and do some really morally questionable things is part of what makes Jude so compelling. The story established the setting as so toxic and dangerous that you agree that Jude needs to go to those extremes to not only protect herself... but also to get ahead and to be the one that wins. She's openly power-hungry, she's vengeful, she is not afraid to solve problems with violence and it's great.||

[long sorrel]

||she's quite morally grey imo, regardless of reasons. Just like Cardan is an asshole, regardless of reasons||

[long sorrel]

Jude! Jude! Jude!

[junior dew]

|| Yeah, she Black did a really good job on that front for sure ||

[random dome]

Alright, obligatory art time, all hail the queen https://x.com/i/status/1698814433525686390

Frostbite.Studios (@frostedsparrow)

Been rereading The Folke of the Air, so here’s another obligatory Jude Duarte. ⚔️

#judeduarte #hollyblack #thefolkeoftheair #thecruelprince

X · Sep 4, 2023, 9:44 PM

[long sorrel]

😍

I've been holding back, Feather, you know I have

[random dome]

TWK 11 ||Oh I forgot this is the Queen of Mirth scene, which is just one of my favorites. Jude's intensity as she forces herself to go along with the humiliation because she must prove they can't break her and she'll hold onto her own dignity even though something like that is so ||

[versed agate]

suddenly I understand Usha a little bit 🫢

[alpine drum]

maam you have something in your hair

[random dome]

Those are just her hair nubbins, she styles it that way on purpose don't worry 😊

[half raven]

the dark forest ||i wonder if the “golden age” is an intentional allusion to the “gilded age”||

[long sorrel]

Only now?

Normal ways to do your eyeliner

[minor sleet]

Listening to Tim Curry’s self narrated memoir. His voice is so shaky. It’s really a shame how much his stroke affected his life and career. He was such a vivacious performer before

[long sorrel]

I could game, or I could finish Tomb of Dragons 👀

[charred swallow]

Is that why I can never get eyeliner right? I needed a knife?

[long sorrel]

Yep

or the eyeliner that works like a marker instead of a thin brush

[buoyant whale]

can i just say i love that hair???

[long sorrel]

Its great

I posted some jude and cardan cosplay somewhere in the old channel before

And I'll tell you

It looks great irl too

There were quite a few TCP cosplayers

Though the funniest one was one who had an event about how to pose

And she was cosplaying Cardan and so all her examples in person were "how to look like a sleazy alcoholic bastard" based on camera angles

Tomb of Dragons 70% ||It turned out Captain Olgarezh, too, liked honey in his tea. typical crush "omg we like the same things" moment Thara is having here ||

Also ||the fact that Anora, Iäna and Tomasaran all have banded together to stop Thara from being an idiot for most of the entire book since he got kidnapped warms my heart. ||

[proper silo]

...oh i just realized that Tomb of Dragons is the latest Thara Celehar book

i should probably read that at some point

well, after rereading Grief of Stones cause my brain is completely empty of everything that happened in that book

[long sorrel]

It is!

It's being really fun

I think it's doing a little bit of a swerve from the vibe of the previous 2 books, not by much, just a bit

[proper silo]

i see i see

welp, time to add it to my reading list

[long sorrel]

77% ||the panic attack when anyone shows Thara physical attention is, in a mean way, kinda cute||

Uhuuuu ||Thou art ridiculous, Celehar, I told myself. Pining after my own guard, like the ingenue in the stupider sort of opera. yes, the man that was clearing your hair of snow a few days ago after dragging you alone with him. Mhmmmm||

||"You have answers for everything" "I have common sense" is such a roast in such a Thara way ||

[valid cloud]

The Queen of Nothing 18 ||One of the interesting things about reading this series is that my personal level of scheming is much closer to Cardan's than it is to anyone else. So I saw the 'pardoned by the crown' loophole at the end of TWK, but when Jude dismissed the possibility I deferred to her superior knowledge. Alas, the master only has to fear the player who has no idea what they are doing.||

[long sorrel]

||I was very confused about this myself though, like... even if she dismissed the possibility it is wild that she didn't just find a loophole herself and took back but she wanted instead of just SULKING, but also like, I guess she was hurt and upset instead so it makes sense||

[snow vessel]

Does anyone have recommendations of big, sprawling epic fantasy series by women? Preferably over 5 books, though also preferably less than 15/20. Series like malazan or stormlight or wot, but by women

[alpine drum]

Realm of the Elderlings

[snow vessel]

I'm thinking I might read some more epic fantasy next year (shocking, i know) but I feel like I only really hear about male-authored series in that area

[lusty meteor]

Janny Wurts has one, but i have not read it

[alpine drum]

Actually I guess that might not be epic fantasy

I think its sprawling though and would recommend it

[analog geode]

Earthsea maybe?

Roots of Chaos, but it’s 1 book with 2 prequels

[snow vessel]

Oh I started Earthsea

I gotta get around to the rest of it

[minor sleet]

I have an older series for you: Katherine Kurtz’s Dernyi series

She has been writing it on and off since 1970, the 16 books feature a fantasy medieval England but with magic. The thing that really makes it stand out to me though is that the author is deeply religious and so the fantasy Catholic Church is intergral tot her series, the characters lives, the politics of their realm, and the in general everything in a way that is highly unusual for fantasy

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons 86% ||“There are such things as letters, Mer Celehar. We know you know how to write them.” Maiaaaa lmao. I love him. ||

||Thara told Iäna he's indispensable. I feel this is so huge for Thara to admit 😭 i hope he doesn't have to leave in the end||

[ivory cypress]

Kate Elliott has Crown of Stars

[quaint tendon]

Onward to the next adventure

[long sorrel]

I wonder if we can slip Inda here, Grey. The world is very expansive...

[ivory cypress]

hmmmm! 👀

hell yeah

[long sorrel]

Okay, okay @snow vessel check Inda out as well, the series is 4 books but there are more series in the same world, its not... traditional in any way. Author is Sherwood Smith

Tomb of Dragons 90% ||i love seeing Maia so grown as an Emperor, I didn't expect otherwise but it warms me to see it||

[junior dew]

TWK 25 || She’s in quite the pickle right now huh ||

[zinc flicker]

TWK ||I adore how unquestionably bad these characters can be and we can still understand and enjoy them. Both of them are so much fun to read because they aren’t “good”. Jude is able to be violent and cruel and do bad things to help herself and Cardan is able to be Cardan. ||

[long sorrel]

Uhhmmm same ||why are all the plot points resolved but there are 30 pages left well i suppose they still need to go to the dragon||

[junior dew]

TWK 25 || Baelkin feels so… gross ||

[long sorrel]

Tomb of Dragons 92% ||good bye dragon, what a sad story she had, though I'm glad she murdered the miners lol||

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 14 ||I did not expect quite how painful this chapter would be||

[long sorrel]

which is it?

[junior dew]

TWK 29 || Him proposing she marry him has been what I’ve been expecting for some time now ||

[snow vessel]

SC 14 ||we've been bouncing back and forth between smut and emotions for the last hour or so. They're in luca's room after the... half moon ball?||

||the standout bits (in terms of suffering) were luca telling Mattie he's a "season" and their conversation about Mattie being in a box and not, actually, fine||

[long sorrel]

aaah

it does a little rug pull tbf

[snow vessel]

||I've been like... half-listening to the smut parts because it's still not really my thing and then I get hit with this and 😭 ||

||this book better get a happy ending ||

[long sorrel]

Wait, that's the end!???

Okay I finished Tomb of Dragons

huh, hmm, I expect this a trilogy and there won't be more books? 🤔

[torpid kiln]

Tomb of Dragons sounds like an awesome name

[long sorrel]

the entire trilogy has badasas names

Witness for the Dead, Grief of Stones, Tomb of Dragons

@ivory cypress what to do with life now?

Also do you recommend other books/series by this author, if you've read them? I really like her style

[ivory cypress]

despite these books being like, my fave, i actually haven't read a lot more by her!

you might steal ahead of me on this if you look up her other stuff

[torpid kiln]

What’s that series about?

I feel like judging a book by the name is worse than judging it by the cover, but those names are too good for me not to be curious

[junior dew]

TWK 30 || Omg he exiled her. Dayummmmmm. Now that’s one hell of a twist. How the hell is book 3 going to play out 👀 ||

[long sorrel]

And general thoughts of the trilogy (The Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy) ||I was sort of expecting a more obvious change in Thara but tbh it really fits her style of writing to include subtle behaviour changes without slapping the reader in the face with them, like he is accepting help, he is admiting he can't do everything on his own, he is obviously accepting other people's love, he is hoping but it's soooo subtle, damn||

[ivory cypress]

YESSSSS

[long sorrel]

I started typgin an explanation and it made no sense

[long sorrel]

||it's crazy how something can be so blunt and soft all at once ||

[ivory cypress]

There's a cleric... first introduced in the novel The Goblin Emperor, as a side character, but he gets his own trilogy. He's in a different city, kind of a steampunk-y gaslamp-y on-the-verge-of-the-industrial-revolution age but all with elves, and goblins. And his power granted by his god Ulis is that he can "hear" the dead, or see what they saw, hear what they heard, feel what they felt, in the moments before they died. His calling and his job is to be a Witness for the people in his city and as you might imagine, this makes for some great murder mystery material. He's very sad and kind of depressed. His friends want him to take care of himself better. He will never get a new cloak

sigh hold on

[long sorrel]

As for this, unlikely, but I will add one of her books to the tbr for some other time

[junior dew]

Damn TWK > TCP

[long sorrel]

I liked TCP better

[ivory cypress]

OKAY

[long sorrel]

but it's close

Imma add The Angel of the Crows to the tbr for now 👀

[ivory cypress]

i have read Angels of the Crows - ha

i liked it but not as much

[long sorrel]

mhm, that's fine

[long sorrel]

TGE and this trilogy is very high up, so this doesn't say much 😌

Maia is Maia, and now Thara too

sigh

Idk what to do without Thara now

[ivory cypress]

YUP

same

same same

Thara...................... come back to me...........

[junior dew]

TWK All || I found the overall plot to be more interesting in TWK and liked Jude much more as a character in TWK. I found her more interesting here and what she had to contend with more interesting. Both solid in different ways. I found the back and forth with her and Carden also much more interesting here since it got to build on what book 2 had set up. But yeah, both fun in different ways ||

[long sorrel]

||hmm, yeah I don't quite much care about Cardan, and thus I only care about him in the context he gives Jude||

||which is fantastic mind you, and he is a pathethic guy, Jude's perfect dog, but it's still all about Jude||

||I think my reasoning is that the 2 coronation scenes in TCP were just for me||

[snow vessel]

I agree a lot with spooky here

[ivory cypress]

TWK all ||i am all! about! ... both. they are kind of the ideal female AND male character, for me||

||i could go ON about cardan but then i was like, ugh will they think i'm not all about jude then? so i better go on about jude - but wait, they'll think i'm not ALL ABOUT cardan - brzzrpzzp||

||both........ yessssssssssssss. both||

[snow vessel]

TWK all ||I feel like Wicked king gives everyone slightly more complicated situations and dynamics, because it builds on the set up of TCP||

[long sorrel]

I'm going to reread this if the stupid order gets to the store 😩

[ivory cypress]

||jude is just so ruthless and clever and decisive and cardan is so pathetic and a bit nasty and cowardly and mmmmmmmmmmmm||

[long sorrel]

I think TWK will go up in a reread because most of what I love of TCP ||are surprise twists which are no longer a surprise||

[snow vessel]

TWK ||I know everyone loves cardan for his patheticness but I do really like how he's just competent enough to be a problem||

[zinc flicker]

Ugh fine I’ll reread it

[zinc flicker]

TWK ||he is one of my favorite types of characters that I’ll call chaotic stupid. Absolutely pathetic, but wants to be a problem and a diva about it||

[long sorrel]

||I do love me diva characters||

okay, now I start the Guardian, let's see how this goes and how much I must blame @proper silo after

[junior dew]

TWK all || Ahh yeah I personally liked his role here and what it enabled much more than in TCP where it’s just basically he’s big mean lusty angry man. Here they have more of this back and forth dynamic throughout the book that I found enjoyable. Lots of good stuff here. They played their roles well. Jude really felt like a much stronger character here. She made plot happen in TCP but this book really ramped it up. Meanwhile Carden is fighting against her, she’s fighting against time, they’re fighting their hate-fueled lust for each other. Yeah…. Fun book. Very fun book. And then the twist here with exile? Has me like hmmmm was he scheming the whole time or was it because she murdered his brother and that was the final straw as he kept putting his trust in her that she kept breaking ||

[random dome]

I don't think I've ever ranked them in my head before but I do probably have to give it to TWK, just because it does build in such fun and interesting ways on what TCP set up

[junior dew]

TWK all || Yeah it feels to me like TCP walked so TWK could run. Like TCP was still good and fun, but I think the more I think on it the more I much prefer TWK ||

[random dome]

You get to see things go deeper and twistier and the characters become even more themselves than where they started

[junior dew]

Yeah TWK all || TCP had to deal with the character and world setup and establish the background. And then TWK got to just hit the ground running and benefit from it all. Also TCP for the first half also felt a bit… younger to me compared to the second half and compared to TWK? I think because of the school bullying vibes and all that ||

[long sorrel]

if I were to rank them all, Folk of the Air ALL (spoilers for aLL) ||Queen of Nothing is quite a bit behind the other 2 though||

[snow vessel]

Folk of the air all ||QoN was quite different to what I expected. But I didn't dislike it, and I'll probably enjoy it more on reread||

[long sorrel]

||I didn't dislike it at all, but... hmm yeah idk, it didn't reach||

[snow vessel]

||it explored a lot of very different plot points to what i expected||

[long sorrel]

(this is still spoilers for ALL) ||I fairly didn't particularly enjoy the beginning even though it all made sense, and I didn't enjoy the ending until Jude start executing people, like the whole giant snake plot was...fine and that's it, I felt very about it. Everything in between was great though. And Jude pitched against Maddoc was ||

[snow vessel]

Folk of the air all ||I love the implication that this series is only good for you when Jude is doing murder ||

[long sorrel]

implication?

I went "uhm" out loud then realised it's 4.30am

[zinc flicker]

Usha has said as much

[junior dew]

Interesting 👀

I’ll have my thoughts on the whole series in a day or two

[valid cloud]

I have now finished Queen of Nothing, but I won't have time to say much until tomorrow.

Quick thoughts: Great, with an asterisk. Probably my 2nd favorite of the three? Maybe third.

[long sorrel]

The Guardian first thoughts ||lmao this man is ... lol, something||

[ivory cypress]

so what is this the guardian

[alpine drum]

british news paper innit

[long sorrel]

Some sort of gay romance on some paranormal/supernatural investigation

I got uh... sold by the cover

😩

[ivory cypress]

ooh! okay fair enough

[long sorrel]

I am expecting something rather mid, but fun? We shall see

[zinc flicker]

Danmei covers go hard

[ivory cypress]

Swordspoint is so so so good. It's a sin and crime that this book is out of print and so hard to find. Wowwwwwwwwwww

[quaint tendon]

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like this is how you lose the time war

[quaint tendon]

This is how you lose the Time war general thoughts up to 7 || idk if this book is actually doing time travel yuri or not yet, but if it is im fully on board. But also, and this might be bias on my part, there is this really interesting and genuine like. Autistic coding to the flirtations between Red and Blue. The desire for understanding and being understood, but presented in a way that I think to a lot of people might come off as cold logical interview questions. A feeling I know very well. This is of course hilarious to say because Red literally asks to Understand in this chapter, but when has saying what you mean ever helped neurotypical people understand what you mean am I right||

[minor sleet]

Ellen Kushner’s book yes!!!!!

[long sorrel]

So far Mr. Smoke guy is the most interesting

[proper silo]

is Smoke Guy the cop or the not-cop of the couple?

[long sorrel]

cop

the description you get of him and the image on the cover are... funny

dishevelled is... an understatement

more like "rolled out of bed being handsome today"

[proper silo]

mannn... i need to get going through Peerless, you're making me doubt my decision to go with the majority vote

[long sorrel]

super early (like c1) minor ||the other guy is like "this guy is handsome but why does his hair look like a bird nest"||

Or maybe it wasn't him

someone thinks that

[hoary path]

Sword of Destiny ||Ah, yes, the warrior women who for some reason don't protect their biggest artery and keep their thighs uncovered. Very very important we can see legs of flirty warrior twins who just dote over men. :/ ||

[ivory cypress]

I gotta think about what books I'll be bringing to the house for holiday reading... normally I do a lot of rereading of extra special favourite books, it's often been The Goblin Emperor and Curse of Chalion in the past, but I've also done a LOT of rereading this year. a lot.

[junior dew]

I’m increasingly curious about goblin emperor with each mention. But I have some other books to read first

[ivory cypress]

I will be clear and up front and say that the goblin emperor is my favourite book. ever, all time, whatever, sure. it's my favourite book.

[junior dew]

Perhaps early next year once I’m through QoN, DCC 7, and Licanius

[wraith lynx]

owah that is some high praise

[junior dew]

You need to finish TWK

[wraith lynx]

I do i do 😂

Speaking of

TWK 14 ||I am CERTIAN nothing good will come from Cardan's baddie mom being in the picture now... theres stones bing set with her though, that i can tell||

[mild lance]

Since this chat has been talking about The Goblin Emperor so much lately, if you like it y’all should check out The Sign of the Dragon

Epic Fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology, with a similar premise to and MC to TGE, and it’s written as a collection of poems. One of my favorite reads in recent memory

[ivory cypress]

i'll give it a try but i'm not sure it'll hit the same, if it is allllll poems the whole time.... the majority of the appeal of TGE is Maia and being in his head, which is possible because of it being prose

[wraith lynx]

TWK 15 ||"and put your seneschal on a leash" got me 😂||

[wraith lynx]

TWK 15 ||mama mia 😳||

TWK 16 ||FINALLY!! Please please please kick locke's teeth in omg SWEET VINDICATION||

TWK 16 ||boo she didnt stab him 😒||

[long sorrel]

I'm with Grey, what you say sounds interesting but not in the way TGE is interesting because it's not exactly the setting or the plot that makes TGE stand out. I think in fact I'd enjoy more if I approach this without thinknig it is similar to TGE

[ivory cypress]

I did get it already lol, but yeah, maybe this could be a nice holiday read

[mild lance]

You both bring up valid points, I mostly bring up the TGE comparison because it’s a good segue and if you like Maia, you’ll probably also like this book’s protagonist

[ivory cypress]

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/martha-wells-murderbot-and-more-tor-books-encore

MARTHA WELLS IS HAVING A MASSIVE HUMBLE BUNDLE THINGY!!!

pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease please please take a look

i own literally all of these already but y'all

[tight kindle]

Goddammit Humble Bundle
How am I supposed to afford anything else when it has all of these amazing deals?

[ivory cypress]

it's not her whole bibliography but it looks like everything she's done with tor

[long sorrel]

that's crazy good value...

and it doesn't have the only books of her I actually have

(the Raksura ones)

so it is rather convenient cause I don't get doubles

hmmmmmmm

Imma sleep on it

[rugged tartan]

I did not sleep on it. Likely starting... something by her, tomorrow on break

[ivory cypress]

!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god i'm winning

https://tenor.com/view/eevee-pokemon-happy-smile-sparkling-eyes-gif-15588223

[long sorrel]

The Guardian ch 4 ||A strange feeling stirred in Zhao Yunlan when he glanced at his wrist and saw the bruises from Shen Wei’s hold on it.someone explain this guy ||

[ivory cypress]

also since i finished Swordspoint last night (and ohhhhhhhh my god, that was... what a book, Richard and Alec are... they're everything to me. i can't stop thinking about them), i only have ONE BOOK on my currently reading!! it's crazy!

only one!

[long sorrel]

I am so jealous of that!

I have managed to get my count down by one only

[ivory cypress]

oh no

.......oh my god, homestuck is on storygraph

alright i'll mark myself as being on page 2,054/8,130, sure yeah

that'll be TWO "books" i'm on then

[valid cloud]

Alright, so the Queen of Nothing. I really enjoyed it overall! I think it did an excellent job of guiding my emotions through exactly what Black wanted them to be. I appreciated all the character movements and was properly entertained by the twists. My only real gripe with the book comes from (tQoN ALL) ||the resolution of the snake plotline. Emotionally, it worked great, but my mechanical/plot focused mind got stuck on the good outcome feeling like a Deus ex Machina. I kinda understand in that if it had been set up to have even a chance of a positive outcome, Jude would have noticed and therefore not been in the proper state of mind for the emotional beats, but it would have served the narrative better, imo. || Other than that, I thought it was an excellent book, and it's solidified into my second favorite of the trilogy. It was my first real dip into published romantacy (or at least what some of the people here consider romantacy) and I was pretty impressed!

[ivory cypress]

i can't believe they're letting me do this

[burnt girder]

I think it's about time for my biannual malazan relisten

[alpine drum]

#1404515195941945455 👀

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/dont-do-it-stop-batman-gif-18165775

[ivory cypress]

i'm already into act 5, babyyyy

oh yeah i should tag this as a reread

[quaint tendon]

Smh

We’ve lost another one

Tbh I’m like 99% kidding

My time as a homestuck fan is something I look back on with a lot of embarrassment lmao

[ivory cypress]

oh i was up to date at some point, when it was still live

i try not to be embarrassed about things like this

i liked them for a reason and my time reading it and enjoying it with other people was special to me

i'm still enjoying myself quite a bit on the reread

i remember the page i caught up on homestuck for the first time was ||You are now Caliborn.||

[random dome]

I caught up during the gigapause and my first upd8 was [S] Cascade

It did kind of feel like I won

[long sorrel]

@proper silo this is really stupid, idk if in a good way or a bad way but so far it is making me laugh

[rugged tartan]

Just to confirm re:the Martha Wells humble bundle, the books that aren't sequels in there are the duology bundles (Book of Ile-Rien and Emilie Adventures), Witch King, and All Systems Red?

[ivory cypress]

City of Bones and Wheel of the Infinite are two stand-alones

[rugged tartan]

Sick

(The page for Wheel of the Infinite implied it was a Witch King sequel for some reason, which didn't feel right, because I was under the impression Queen Demon was the only sequel to that based on discussion of it here, but I wasn't confident)

[ivory cypress]

huh that's weird

[rugged tartan]

For some reason it lists reviews for WK under Wheel

[proper silo]

Intriguing

[long sorrel]

I'm being called out by this mc in like a negative way

Okay, no, I'm not this bad

I feel vindicated

back to being called out 😩, The Guardian 14 ||Satisfied that he was a feast for all the senses, he strode off to inflict himself on the world.||

14 ||ooooh my god, this is AWKWARD. 😩 kill me now and this second hand embarassment||

[proper silo]

Finally started Peerless, and (ch1) ||"This magic piece of Jade grants immortality!" they say before adding, "the last person we used it on lived into her nineties and only passed away recently!" 🤔 ||

||That's a very short immortality...||

[long sorrel]

The Guardian 15 ||he's wearing pajamas under his clothes, ofc he is, ofc he is||

[proper silo]

I will say, three chapters in, the writing style in Peerless is already improved from Thousand Autumns

Thankfully

(I liked Thousand Autumns but I did find myself dearly wishing someone took the concept of repetition away from the author)

[long sorrel]

I predicted this scene from page 1, it's absolutely nothing special, and I reckon I predicted it from reading manga

Ok wtfff did i just read

The Guardian 18 ||So he's going with a possesed blow up doll to a town, where we know Shen Wei is coincidentally also going, I can imagine how the situation is going to go. Oh the misunderstanding from this is gonna be hilarious. ||

[snow vessel]

Basically done The Bonehunters. Question is, will of the many or a discovery of witches next...

Swordcrossed 16 ||uh oh||

[low hill]

Discovery of Witches gets my vote.

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 16 ||oh nooo||

[snow vessel]

Thats the direction I'm leaning right now

[analog geode]

I vote for it too

Good romantasy

[snow vessel]

At this point I'll end up reading SOTF in june next year xD

[ripe tide]

You know what my vote is

[snow vessel]

-# Oh noo everyone's voting for the one I wanted to read...

[low hill]

-# Oh no! Terrible shame...

[proper silo]

Peerless 8 ||Getting your future love interest hooked on drugs is certainly a start to a relationship... 🤨 ||

[uncut shoal]

Sun Eater 5 ||I still don't know what to think of this series heh. It seems to be delving into creation mythos now. Angels that obeyed, devils/demons that rejected, etc||

||It is rather funny how often Hadrian fails upward though||

I'm also seeing elements of A.G. Riddle, Dan Simmons, and possibly a bit of Brandon in it

[quaint tendon]

Man this book is a stellar read

[uncut shoal]

Sun eater general ||Man he tries so hard not to say lions and tigers and bears that it's actually quite funny||

[long sorrel]

I slept on it, and now I have 14 new books 😌

[ivory cypress]

:D

yay!

[light drum]

Carl's Doomsday Scenerio 19||POLITICAL INTRIGE!!!!||

[hoary path]

Sword of Destiny ||Apparently the audiobook guy was heavily mispronouncing Dandelion's name in the first book in The Last Wish he would say "Dan-dill-ion"||

[uncut shoal]

Murderbot is so good

The show isn't bad. I feel like they're all trying too hard, but it has amusing moments

[ripe tide]

Seeing RF Kuang today! No personalizations nor signings, all the books are pre signed, but I was able to swap my copy of Katabasis for one of the signed ones so I’m good with that. And she’s said to be an amazing speaker.

[low hill]

Enjoy. :)

[ripe tide]

Edinburgh was great too. I mostly just walked, because the castle’s tickets had run out and I had less time than expected because my class got rescheduled in the morning, but I’m excited.

[junior smelt]

Sun Eater
Howling Dark Chapter 1 || I am sorry but did I miss some things? I know my memory with book 1 is hazy seeing how much time has passed but I still think I recall the last scene as it was revealed as an art in Broken Binding Hardcover.

I have time skip but this was both a bit jarring and abrupt. I almost felt like I was some good chunks of chapters there. ||

[low hill]

Ahh yes, Edinburgh is nice.

[random dome]

I like the Murderbot show a lot, as a work that needed to expand its source material to fill a much bigger content space

I think it keeps a lot of the feel of the book, while expanding the scope and finding things to change to reflect the change in medium

As an adaptation, I rank it quite highly

[velvet umbra]

without saying too much about later books, no you didn't, this is the norm, it's an intentional part of the story/worldbuilding

[minor sleet]

Try not to vibrate out of your skin

[junior smelt]

Cool || just really hard to deal with when you are already struggling to remember the stuff that is coming from the 1st book.

It took me so much to make a guess who Bassander Lin is and that is also happening with everything else too. ||

[velvet umbra]

Obv not like a fix in terms of "book quality" but he does make decent little recap videos if you just want to remember what happened for the sake of reading experience

[junior smelt]

Oh I'll definitely check it out some time.

[ripe tide]

Impossible

[ripe tide]

SHE ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!!!

[low hill]

Oh dear. We're going to be picking up pieces of Cheyenne from across Edinburgh for weeks...

[minor sleet]

https://tenor.com/view/adorable-goat-baby-animal-baby-farm-animal-baby-goat-baby-goat-leap-gif-17646777900619830672

I assume this is what Cheyenne looks like right now

[ripe tide]

Well right now I’mPower walking to make it to my train on time. But yes

Ok I made it I’m at the platform

[minor sleet]

Without having a glee explosion?

[ripe tide]

I mean I am still vibrating

But I was also worried

[analog geode]

No train explosions smh

[quaint tendon]

You got a question answered that’s so cool

What was the question if you don’t mind sharing

[ripe tide]

Yeah so I asked about achieving the mental balance better academia, especially in a field like the humanities and English literature and writing. Because I find it really hard to just have the energy when I’m done with uni stuff because it’s taking up the same brain space.

[unique turret]

Love that they’re distributed as ePubs, too

[alpine drum]

when I last used humble bundle it was for a bunch of comics and for some of them they had zips of pdfs but for others they just linked the torrent which was convenient

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/clonerightsagenda/802682891945590784/nick-sending-a-telegram-asking-for-the-abhorsen-in

Clone rights!

Nick sending a telegram asking for the Abhorsen in "The Creature in the Case" is entirely the right call given his situation but considering he's best friends with Sam there's an element of calling your mom's friend to say 'this party is scary can you come get me'

-# #the old kingdom #and then sabriel sent her baby sister who only has her learner's permit to pick him up instead

Tumblr · Dec 12, 2025, 12:07 AM

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 16 ||man, I'm so glad we got luca's pov as well because I would be so mad at luca if we hadnt||

||I'm still a little mad at luca||

[long sorrel]

my guy has never done something wrong

[snow vessel]

||you say, as if everything is not currently falling apart due to his screw up ||

[junior smelt]

Howling Dark ch 2 || Oh so it seems Hadrian is now in a relation with this Captain Jinan. I don't know if she is new character or not, my bet is on being new. ||

[old bone]

Same tags || Was present in first book ||

[junior smelt]

Ahh

Hmmm

I don't remember at all

[old bone]

I just use search function in my ereader when I get confused on that

always helps

[velvet umbra]

||she was a super minor character|| iirc

[junior smelt]

Ah ok

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 17 ||yikes, luca's been pulled aside for... a robbery?||

||murder?||

||ah, it's coz of his past||

[oblique zodiac]

Swordcrossed sounds very interesting

I just searched it

Swordcrossed, I guess ||The queer romance totally didn't catch my eye 👀 ||

[snow vessel]

I started reading a normal romance novel for once and I'm a little shocked by how much easier it is to get through than anything else this year

Not in a bad way, but just... sitting down and reading 50 pages in one sitting is so much less of a task

[old bone]

In what sense and what alternatives feel like a task and why

👀

[snow vessel]

Well I just finished reading two malazan books in a row

And like... I really enjoy malazan, but those books often have a lot to process in each scene and a lot to keep track of in each book and all

[tight kindle]

@long sorrel When you arise from your slumber you have evangelizing to do 😌
I would but it's 1 am and my brain is fried

[old bone]

I mean, you are comparing it to other end of the spectrum for a fantasy book

[snow vessel]

Yeah, I've basically just hopped between polar opposite books xD

Like, I dont have anything against the malazan books, one of the two is one of my top 10 (maybe 5?) reads for the year, but its just incredibly refreshing to have a lot less to think about and have something just... a lot easier

Even Swordcrossed, which is also very romance heavy, has had a lot of angst going on with the characters and so going to this book is just a nice change

[old bone]

Nice

[low hill]

gestures at November where he read most of a Malazan book and one Dresden book
gestures at December which currently stands at 5 completed books

[oblique zodiac]

yes

I felt the same way reading WoT

[small bloom]

Yeah I read Swordcrossed soon after reading the entirety of Stormlight and sped through in two days

[long sorrel]

Usha wants to continue slumber. Please contact again in t+999 years.

[long sorrel]

@proper silo here are my thoughts so far on guardian if you're interested (this contains no spoilers but in case you dont want to read a more detailed opinion) ||the writing could be better, not sure if it's the writing itself or the localisation, it's serviceable though. The characters are sometimes goofy in a way it ocasionally feels like the author is shoehorning it in for a joke. The characterization is incredibly slow (this isn't a negative) and I think it'll pay off. The plot and setting overall is fun and it has some interesting mystery about it that has me 👀. Also when it says slow burn, it means slow.burn.||

[quaint tendon]

How to lose the time war 25 || Red was the shadow the whole time 😭 even in Blues childhood||

[low hill]

[This Is How You Lose The Time War 25] ||Time travel jazz hands||.

[quaint tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/why-would-you-do-this-crying-gif-14682068

This book really knows how to twist a knife

[low hill]

A ... time knife. nods sagely

[quaint tendon]

This is how you lose the time war all || who’d have suspected that time traveling lesbian history assassins would make me so emotional at 20 to six in the morning ||

[low hill]

chuckles

[quaint tendon]

From L to G

So to speak

I’ve never read a Star Wars book before do a lot of audio books do the crawl music

https://tenor.com/view/yikes-awk-awkward-uncomfortable-whoops-gif-11676380

Sound effects

Force help me

[earnest grail]

Popping in here for book people

Do people have experience with bookshop.org?

…That's not a productive question

[low hill]

Yes.

-# Is that a productive answer?

[earnest grail]

Oh never mind, it has DRM locks, how is its reader app and/or browser

[low hill]

Ahh, I've not tried their ebooks.

[earnest grail]

Hmm, I just went to Xiran Jay Zhao's website and went to the store that they said would support them the most, and it seems nice enough

It's either here or Kobo, probably

[proper silo]

Thanks

I'm definitely interested

Peerless, otoh, is... Not pulling me in yet, tbh

I appreciate that both MCs need to be hiding things from each other but it does result in a situation where the most I can tell you about them 11 chapters in is that one is an asshole and the other is cranky

[long sorrel]

Ngl, this is the case for me and im almost done with v1

The most it has done is let me see some stuff that has let me guess some stuff

[proper silo]

I see 🤔

[long sorrel]

I have reached a very wtf point maybe what I thought I had guessed was wrong hmm 👀

[long sorrel]

I finished v1, I'm enjoying but glad it's only 3 volumes

That said, I made a promise, so it's time for Unsouled. @lilac quiver

[low hill]

Roughly what did she say?

[ripe tide]

Sorry I meant to elaborate but I’ve been super busy today

[low hill]

No rush.

Find the right balance, and all that. :P

[lilac quiver]

(We have a thread for it #1404905613674283041 come feed us your reactions if you want, all the friends are there)

[long sorrel]

I am aware it exists

[zinc flicker]

If Usha’s reading it, maybe I’ll reread to prep for reading the rest 👀

I only ever read the first one lol

[lilac quiver]

Maybe I should...

[versed agate]

https://tenor.com/view/water-spray-stop-sprinkle-water-gif-11895255

[lilac quiver]

The 21th's the charm they say

[ripe tide]

Ok so she talked about all the very conscious work she did to disentangle her creative instincts from her critics one. She had this metaphor about driving a car vs taking apart the engine. As a critic she's taking apart the engine, trying to analyze and understand how all the parts work together, as a writer, while that knowledge can be very useful, many times she needs to just write, and not try to make it this perfect thing.

[low hill]

Makes sense.

There's a whole genre of film and books I have to turn off the part of my brain that did my degree to be able to enjoy, so I guess if your degree is "Take this thing apart to see how it works" you need to not be able to do that to enjoy the things normally.

[ripe tide]

I did record the audio, I haven't listened to it yet, but my friend from uni back home said that the audio quality is surprisingly good

[long sorrel]

I will stop if you do

[lilac quiver]

Okay

I have another book to read anyways

Speaking of the devil

the devils

[alpine drum]

I will warn you: you May Cry

[lilac quiver]

I don't think these characters can even cry dawg

[wraith lynx]

TWK 20 ||I feel so bad I want Taryn's wedding to be ruined, she deserves to be happy, she does! But... you know 😂||

[random dome]

We're baaaack

[wraith lynx]

TWK 20 ||Miss holly: ah so you want Taryn's wedding to get ruined? Alright, ill try to kill jude, thats what you asked for :))

Me, in distress: ||

[random dome]

The monkeys paw curled

[wraith lynx]

IT DID

TWK 20 ||I do love the... vibe of the series though. Most of the time I cant suspend the idea that the mc wont die and it takes me put of it... this though? Miss holly has convinced me she'll take out jude if she has to 😭||

[long sorrel]

My book store told me finally that there's a delay in my Folk of the Air order

Which i could have guessed given expected delivery was Dec 1st

[low hill]

-# 1st December ... 2026.

[wraith lynx]

TWK 21 ||Ohhhh.... viv, that was not the move girl 😭 her being so flippant about faerie was fun but this??? Hard realization she kinda doesnt get it 😅||

[long sorrel]

||She is fae||

[wraith lynx]

TWK 21 ||okay.. omg||

||first of all, How dare locke hunt my queen down???? Its like hes getting worse and worse and im HOPING he gets humbled||

||SECOND!! GHOST??? BRO WHAT 😭||

[wraith lynx]

TWK 22 ||I love that Jude is so unbothered by nicasia 😂 I wouldnt be worried about that plastic mermaid either||

[random dome]

||She's got bigger problems right now!||

[alpine drum]

In my head the title of this book is The Wruel Kince

[wraith lynx]

TWK 24 ||Im with dulcamara on this one, Jude you kinda 10000% have to kill balekin hes a freak||

[lilac quiver]

What's TWK

[lilac quiver]

SAME

[wraith lynx]

Book 2 of The Folk of The Air!

Very tasty, very yummy

[random dome]

Specifically, The Wicked King

[long sorrel]

The Ween of Kothing

[somber timber]

The witch king of angmar

[ivory cypress]

witch king by martha wells

[somber timber]

The which king?

[long sorrel]

Oh my, I have all 14 books on my downloads and I'm kinda lazy to sort them out

Tomorrow maybe

Not like Imma get to them yet anyway

[ivory cypress]

oh, which? this king

[long sorrel]

that is part of the bundle, right?

[ivory cypress]

😌

yeah!

[long sorrel]

or whichever the first one is

[ivory cypress]

it is the first

[long sorrel]

i am very curious about it but I wanted to get back to the Raksura series first!

[somber timber]

Which king with the witch king

[ivory cypress]

ohhhhhhhh well i can't say anything to that, give that raksura is my fave..........

[zinc flicker]

Peak

[hollow vigil]

Am I the only one who feels like red rising isnt YA

It feels pretty well written and I love it so far

[buoyant whale]

YA ≠ badly written lol

[snow vessel]

I think the arguments for YA would probably be more along the lines of the style and story

RR style/general ||an academy/school arc, a single first person pov, a younger/teen protagonist (iirc), focused on things like growing up (into a role), romance, friendships, etc.||

Probably also some of the way book 1 very much feels like it's following some YA trends

[long sorrel]

The 5 ch ive read read like bad YA

[somber timber]

I think there are things in book 1 that exist because state of publishing when he was shopping it

[snow vessel]

Given how different book 1 is from the rest... yeah I'd say so

Im pretty sure I've heard that bk1 was mainly written the way it was so that PB could get it published but I'm not sure on the reliability of that

Bk1 does also admittedly feel very rough to me. Especially in certain areas

[old bone]

Same

[hollow vigil]

Ive really liked it thus far. The first person is odd, I can admit that, but otherwise I have quite liked it thus far.

It doesnt feel like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson

[junior dew]

QoN 8 || Clearly got some miscommunication and misunderstanding going on. Carden being all casual and being like did you get my letters? Clearly his expectations of things and her understanding are very different ||

[snow vessel]

I would personally probably put them in a younger age range than YA

[hollow vigil]

Hm

Maybe i havent read enough YA to distinguish YA from normal stuff

My age ranges might be skewing

[buoyant whale]

Yeah I'd put those in like. Nerd kid literature

[alpine drum]

Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, at least the first few, are categorized as Middle Grade

[hollow vigil]

Ah

Yeah makes sense

Well at any rate, love red rising, YA or not

[snow vessel]

Yeah i see PJO/HP as middle grade, RR 1-3 as YA, RR 4-6 as adult (personally)

[junior dew]

QoN 8 || Going to be funny when she kills Maddock though ||

QoN 8
||
“you’re a good girl”
I am never that

Girllll you absolutely would be if it was for Carden be so for real
||

[random dome]

QoN ||Jude spending several months seething with rage and thinking about how she's going to disembowel Cardan next time she sees him and knit a scarf with his intestines as revenge for betraying her, and then finally seeing him again and he's all "yay my wife is back, wasn't that such a mischievous trick we played on everyone, uwu, wait are you mad at me, Jude why are you mad at meeee "||

QoN ||they're so dumb, this is peak romance||

[junior dew]

QoN || And then he’s like… did you read the smut I wrote? You never sexted me back ||

[random dome]

||10/10, your honor I hate them||

[junior dew]

QoN || They really are so bad at this ||

[random dome]

QoN ||it's just peak them vibes. Jude being wrathful and violent and Cardan being absolutely smitten with her and also a little too mischievous, and also they keep misunderstanding each other about it||

[snow vessel]

Welp this little romance book is not taking me as long as I expected to get through and I'm now having to think about my next read again

ADOW or WOTM are still my main inclination, but I've got a few others I'm considering

[ripe tide]

ADOW!!

[snow vessel]

Maybeee

That's what I'm planning on doing and have been planning on doing but I'm horrible at sticking to the plan

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 19 ||I have no clue how this is gonna work out. But luca is here, so we'll see||

||OH MY LORD LUCA WHY ARE YOU STILL LYING||

||tell Mattie the truth about your injuries and it might just help prove your story!!||

...nevermind

I was too quick to judge

[earnest grail]

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/martha-wells-murderbot-and-more-tor-books-encore

Murderbot has been on my radar, but I missed the original bundle…

[snow vessel]

SC 19 end ||WAIT WHAT||

[oblique zodiac]

You haven't finished WoTM?

[snow vessel]

I read it, but am hazy enough on what happened that I want to reread it before I read SOTF

I was talking about it with a friend a week or two ago and realised I barely remembered most character names

[long sorrel]

But what's the end of the chapter? 👀

[snow vessel]

Oh, this was SC 19 ||Mattie's sister being in love with Sofia||

Side note/thing: How do I spell both of those characters' names?

[long sorrel]

||Matti and Sofia||

[snow vessel]

SC 19 ||At least, luca alleged that she was||

[long sorrel]

aaaaaaah

[snow vessel]

||What about... mayanesh?||

[long sorrel]

I went check what's the end of SC 19

[snow vessel]

||Maianech? Maianesh?||

[long sorrel]

and got distracted reading the chapter instead

[snow vessel]

SC 19 ||its mattinesh according to the blurb, so I guess mayanesh?||

[long sorrel]

I think so

lemme open up my epub

It is Maya (I opened the epub and forgot lol)

so it must be Mayanesh

I can't find any instance of that

nvm found it

[junior dew]

Apparently my dad has started ACOTAR

[wraith lynx]

why?? I have to know the pipeline 😭

[long sorrel]

Why indeed?

Tell him to read Cruel Prince instead

[junior dew]

Lol because it was already downloaded and he needed to start another book. Was already downloaded on his phone because when he was going through Audible it was popular and it was free.

That’s also how he ended up reading the fourth wing series

[long sorrel]

series

so like

he read past book 1?

[junior dew]

He did indeed

[random dome]

Oof

[junior dew]

He’s like 65

He enjoyed them too apparently

[random dome]

You know, whatever brings joy

[long sorrel]

Yep

[random dome]

Good for him

[junior dew]

lol yeah. He said he liked the dragon stuff

[zinc flicker]

Glad he enjoyed it lmao

[long sorrel]

My dad was one day making a whole (ironic) joke about how horrible "woke stuff" is. And then he was like "this spiel would work better if I wasn't reading "woke" books wouldn't it?"

[junior dew]

I had tried to help him pick other books. Last time I visited I was supposed to help him spend some credits but we forgot to do so before I left

[long sorrel]

I wonder if he's gone through all the books I gave him

[long sorrel]

(We had just been talking about The Archive Undying 5 minutes before that)

[junior dew]

Yeah I am very curious what he’s going to think of acotar lol

[long sorrel]

Every time I visit my dad I'm like "leaving at X hour"

and it's always X+30 minutes, where the 30 minutes is talking about the last books I recommended him and he read or getting him new ones

[junior dew]

Lmfao very nice

[long sorrel]

Alas he's currently in Italy since September and until March

[junior dew]

Yeah I think prior to acotar he had just done Grace of Kings?

[long sorrel]

have you read ACOTAR, Spooky?

[junior dew]

I have not yet

[long sorrel]

yet

And you read Cruel Prince first

I'm so sorry for you