Books (General)

[junior dew]

I tend to prioritize stuff more widely considered to be good

And then I’ll get to the controversial ones

I did just buy the fourth wing books on sale. All 3 combined were like $10 so I figured why not

I gotta see for myself, you know?

[long sorrel]

Yeah I did too

I read ACOTAR in about 1h

I'm not touching book 2

[junior dew]

Wait it’s that short?

[long sorrel]

nope, it's just so easy to diagonally read

[junior dew]

Oh lmfao

[long sorrel]

harder for you with audio I guess

I think fourth wing is probably more entertaining

not better but more entertaining

maybe one day I'll get curious enough to touch it

[junior dew]

It’s very possible I enjoy both fourth wing and acotar

But also it’s going to be quite a while before I hit either series due to uh…

[long sorrel]

someone went a little ham hm?

[junior dew]

Ham?

[burnt girder]

Is that 260 not started titles?

[long sorrel]

on the sale

[burnt girder]

"going ham" or went crazy,

[long sorrel]

I was kinda vague on what I meant

[somber timber]

https://tenor.com/view/хограйдер-хограйда-кабан-всадникнакабане-райдер-gif-26473223

[long sorrel]

like spooky could guess my line of thought

[junior dew]

Ohhhhh yeah I bought like 40-50 new books my bad I read had some ham, not went ham. And so I was confused

[long sorrel]

I did mean specifically on the sale since he had mentioned

[junior dew]

I did just wake up

[burnt girder]

Fair lol

[junior dew]

Also I listen to books. I’m not literate

[burnt girder]

Might've been an idiom you hadn't heard before lol

[long sorrel]

this is on my "Unread" list on calibre

[junior dew]

(I do read physical books too)

[long sorrel]

doesn't count print

😩

[burnt girder]

<.<

I listen to all of mine as I get them

.>

[junior dew]

But no god no.

Unfortunately my not started is not real because my girlfriend and I share accounts with each other and I used to share my account with my dad back in the day

[long sorrel]

And you'd think that given how many books I've read this year, 200 isn't that much, but somehow I end up reading books not on the list instead

So the list barely goes down

[junior dew]

Not started says 119 books, but there are more I haven’t gotten to than that

[long sorrel]

like I think I was at 240 in January

[junior dew]

Yeah idk how you read so many books in a year

[long sorrel]

and I've read 208

so why is it at 290???

MATH?!

[junior dew]

I have a problem

[long sorrel]

And I haven't added the ones frmo Martha Wells yet!

[junior dew]

Also now that I try to do 52 books a year, it’s nice to get stuff on sale so I’m saving my credits for the more expensive books

My TBR is spread across so many places at this point the numbers are all made up

[long sorrel]

fixed

[long sorrel]

I do trust my storygraph one... more or less

sometimes i forget to add sequels of a series to the tbr even though I've gotten them already

well, my tbr says 247 so maybe it isn't that accurate

[junior dew]

Yeah my life is chaos

My Bookmory TBR isn’t too bad

[long sorrel]

Yeah because my storygraph has a bunch of books that aren't even out?

[royal carbon]

I have several bookcases that are mostly TBR, some piles around, and then the digital stuff I can mostly ignore.

[long sorrel]

So it has to be bigger than my calibre list

[junior dew]

But it doesn’t include certain stuff probably and then it also doesn’t include sequels at all

And some of my TBR is just baked into my Audible library

[long sorrel]

lol

Yeah this is pissing me off

mine I mean not yours

sounds like chaos, Embrace the Whimsy (but my lists need to be accurate)

[royal carbon]

I should remember to track my reading starting next year

[burnt girder]

My Audible library

[long sorrel]

I really wanted to clear up all the books I've halfway before the end of the year

but I'm not going to force myself, with this little time

[burnt girder]

+3 for libro

[long sorrel]

Bury Our Bones!

[junior dew]

I may finally hit up some Schwab next year

We shall see where the winds take me

[long sorrel]

She has a variety of things so you can choose a vibe and we can recc you something

[junior dew]

Yeah I would probably just ask my gf which Schwab book she would recommend the most in this case tbh

[royal carbon]

Only 316 unread books in Audible

[long sorrel]

She would surely know better lmao

[burnt girder]

+60 from Libby lol

[royal carbon]

Some of those I have read physically, probably

[burnt girder]

My favorite book of 2025

[long sorrel]

ooh

It is pretty high up for me yeah

And proof of it is that it sends me thinking every time it comes to mind

[royal carbon]

Well I did get DCC after reading them all physically

[burnt girder]

Had more weight that katabasis which is my number 2

[long sorrel]

it's not like, okay I loved The Devils but it's ultimately just a fun book

Bury Our Bones gets my brain churning

[burnt girder]

I couldn't finish the Devils

I need to try again

[royal carbon]

The Devils is a wacky D&D campaign

[long sorrel]

no need to force yourself, if you didn't vibe with it that probably won't change

Favourite 2025 books 🤔 hmmmm

It's so hard

Hemlock & Silver has to be up there somewhere too

Ascension too

[royal carbon]

You read like a million if them so pick a few?

[junior dew]

#1 favorite of the year for me is the easiest it has ever been: The Girl with the Louding Voice. Probably the best book I’ve ever read

[long sorrel]

Yeah idr off the top of my head what I read this year

[minor sleet]

Thankfully my book tracking app filters my 5* reads

My top 25 books this year (the 5* ones) are thus easy to see

[long sorrel]

I'm inconsistent with rating my books

[junior dew]

Sword of Kaigen is probably my second favorite of the year

[junior dew]

Big same

I tend to rate a lot of stuff very highly

[long sorrel]

I mean I just forget to rate it

[junior dew]

Oh lol

[royal carbon]

I just forget to track what I read

[long sorrel]

Let's see, present on storygraph's faves I have, read in 2025
Hemlock & Silver
Bury Our Bones
The Hollow Places
Inda
Empire of Gold
Dark Heir
Swordcrossed
Goblin Emperor
Ascension
Liosn of Al-Rassan
Night Circus
Dollmakers
El circo de la luna rota
At the Feet of the Sun
The Devils

[junior dew]

I should probably adjust how I rate things. Since right now I tend to view 3 star as mediocre, so almost nothing gets 3 stars or below. I think the only things around 3 stars or below have been Eragon and Percy Jackson?

[long sorrel]

but I'd not put all of those on the same level 🤔

[junior dew]

I tend to treat ratings more like how did I enjoy the book in the moment

[long sorrel]

like Dark Heir isn't even good, I just had crazy fun reading it and I can't even tell you why

[junior dew]

Yeah that’s how it is for me

[long sorrel]

Well, sometimes I enjoy something really bad and I'm like "you don't deserve a 5*, I'm giving you a 4*"

[junior dew]

Yeah like I rated Alien Clay 5 stars but it’s nowhere near books like the girl with the Louding voice, sword of Kaigen, any Robin Hobb books not in the rainwild chronicles. And alien Clay was a good book! But just not on that level

I wish I could give some books 6 stars

Which I can do, by adjusting how I rate books

[long sorrel]

Sometimes I get the "comparisson in books between the series"

[junior dew]

Yeah I need to make some changes

[long sorrel]

So like I don't have A Drop of Corruption as a 5, because Tainted Cup was better, but it's actually better than many of my 5*

[junior dew]

Granted it was a banger of a year

[long sorrel]

This is why I have Empire of Gold on the list but not City of Brass lol

I can't help but compare within the same series

[somber timber]

I think I only read two books that came out this year

[junior dew]

These have been my 5 stars so far for the year

[long sorrel]

Oh, I'm listing that I read this year

I do agree on the ones we have in common

[minor sleet]

Ok so I have rated at 5 stars this year
-Searoad + Birthday of the World (Le Guin)
-The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Le Carré)
-The Good Soldier Švejk (Hašek)
-City of Last Chances (Tchaikovsky)
-Exordia + Baru Cormorant 1-3 (Dickinson)
-Absolute Wonder Woman v1 (Thompson)
-It Was Vulgar and it Was Beautiful (Lowrey, NF)
-Inventing the Renaissance (Palmer, NF)
-The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (Chabon)
-The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest (Hartman, kids)
-Who We Are and How We Got Here (Reich, NF)
-Parable 1-2 + Lilith’s Brood 1-3 (Butler)
-On Tyranny (Snyder, NF)
-Superman Smashes the Klan (Yang)
-They Were Her Property (Jones-Rogers, NF)
-Notes of a Native Son (Baldwin, NF)
-The Failures (Liar)

Standout authors are clearly Seth Dickinson, Octavia Butler, and Ursula K Le Guin

[junior dew]

Rating stuff is so hard so I don’t take it too seriously

[long sorrel]

I need to read more Octavia Butler

I've only read Bloodchild

[junior dew]

I do always do my tier list at the end of the year now though!

I did one halfway through the year so I’m curious to see how I’ll rank things this year

[minor sleet]

You will not be disappointed by reading more Octavia Butler! She makes it onto Scifi/fantasy tier lists for a reason!

[junior dew]

So that is always the hard one, ranking everything relative to each other

And yes! Butler is so good! I also need to read more of hers, which is why I bought some stuff of hers during the sale

[long sorrel]

I'm aware, I have Lillith's Brood on the list next but idk when I'll get to it

[minor sleet]

Well, you would be disappointed if you didn’t want wierd sex stuff in your books but if you’ve gotten through Bloodchild that shouldn’t be an issue

[long sorrel]

At this point I'll be disappointed if it isn't there

[junior dew]

You very much will not be disappointed

Lilith’s Brood is a ride

That’s for sure

[old bone]

gonna start Parable of the Talents early next year

😎

[junior dew]

These were some of the last books I bought during the sale

[old bone]

nice books

[minor sleet]

All authors of color, except maybe Max Gladstone

[junior dew]

Oh true! Didn’t even really clock that

[long sorrel]

Why do I not have What Stalks the Deep on my faves? gotta fix that

I think every book that has come out in 2025 that I have read has been a 5* this year

[minor sleet]

After a quick Google, Gladstone is in fact a white guy

[long sorrel]

that reminds me @alpine drum you gonna continue the series? 👀

[junior dew]

Almost curious now what the percentages are for books I bought during the sale overall

But not curious enough to look things up for like 50 books

[alpine drum]

The Kingfisher series?

[long sorrel]

yup

[alpine drum]

I am, just need to sort out some Libby stuff

[long sorrel]

~~you could also read every other Kingfisher and surprise Kingfisher book after ~~

[minor sleet]

Ms Kingfisher please you need to give us a break every so often

[long sorrel]

No no, don't

[junior dew]

So many books and authors to read 😮‍💨

[long sorrel]

I'm sure I'll be done with all her books sometime in 2026, this time for real

[junior dew]

I really want to read more Tchaikovsky in 2026

And I might make 2026 the year I finally start WoT? Maybe eventually

[long sorrel]

looking into the fiction lit fair I went to this year, which I plan to go again, I should get to some of the authors that are going that I already have on my tbr

Which include, that I know of so far (that are not spanish), Becky Chambers, Joe Hill, Samantha Shannon, Alastair Reynolds

And I have all of those on my tbr ofc

[old bone]

Becky Chambers 🙏

[ripe tide]

Elise Kova revealed the cover and blurb for book 2 of Arcana Academy and of course I couldn’t resist thr call to read book 1. Elise loves her cliffhangers. I’m too impatient for July

[lucid isle]

My wife got me The Princess Bride for my birthday. I love the film and have wanted to read the book for ages

[analog geode]

Look what I got!

[snow vessel]

Ugh I've gotta choose a book again

I'll probably either read ADOW, the first Drizzt book, or WOTM

I think I've spent enough time planning to read adow or wotm that I've psyched myself out of it

[oblique zodiac]

read wotm

sotf is very good

[long sorrel]

do you ever think about reading a book so much that you just sort of make into a mundane task somehow and now it sounds boring?

[ripe tide]

Noooo

[analog geode]

Nooooo

[snow vessel]

I'm sure it'll be fine once I start them

If I'm gonna force myself to read one of the two it'll be ADOW

[ripe tide]

DO IT

[snow vessel]

I cannot promise I won't be overtaken by the random urge to read some other book between now and later today

But if I'm not, I'll probably start adow

[ripe tide]

I am so excited for reacts

[oblique zodiac]

whats adow

I'm very interested in Swordcrossed ngl

[snow vessel]

A discovery of witches

[snow vessel]

Read it 👀

[tight kindle]

The Starless Sea reread around p. 40 but also themes from the entire book (I've started defaulting to this book when I'm stressed) ||The discussion at the very beginning of the book that Kat sort of mirrors the theme of the rest of the book in a way that's just masterful.
I especially like the line

"Isn't that what everyone wants, though? To be able to make your own choices but to have it be part of a story? You want that narrative there to trust in, even if you want to maintain your own free will."
This feels like an idea that's central to the human experience. I think there's a much longer possible conversation about the role of religion in the world and how this desire ties into that.
Right at the beginning Kat says
"Everything should come back to story"
And I personally think that that's a beautiful sentiment. It should.||

[tight kindle]

Tis very gay and horny and it's an excellent book if you don't mind those two things.

[snow vessel]

Very accurate pitch

[long sorrel]

It's not that... horny... right?

[snow vessel]

Weeeell

I mean it depends on what you are comparing it to but I would say it is pretty horny compared to your average book

[oblique zodiac]

More horny the better!

[tight kindle]

The Starless Sea p. 42 ||

They see what has come before
I hadn't ever noticed that line before. Hints of what is revealed later only forty pages into it.||

Ooh ooh p. 43 ||Kat is talking about site-specific theater where different parts of the story are being performed in different places and you decide where to go and try to piece together the story, and this is literally what Outer Wilds is. That's really funny actually that my favorite piece of media references my second-favorite piece of media, sort of.||

[long sorrel]

||technically this is also what happens in Starless Sea||

[tight kindle]

||True, although the stories here are presented in a prepared order. Not much else you can do when writing a book like this, though in this context it makes perfect sense to omit the chapter numbers.||

It's like the only book I've ever read where I didn't hate the omission of chapter numbers

[long sorrel]

I don't mind, only pain to talk about it with other people

Dollmakers sure was a pain to talk about with ongoing readers

The Devils was a bit easier since at least the chapters have titles

[oblique zodiac]

The first love scene I read was in Fourth Wing

And innocent angry me was so shocked

I wasn't even a teenager when I read it too

[snow vessel]

I feel like Swordcrossed is a bit spicier than FW

But I also skimmed a lot of the smut in FW so

[zinc flicker]

I didn’t think FW was spicy enough

[snow vessel]

I just generally tend to not super enjoy smut, and FW especially felt like it was... further in the direction I dont enjoy than the direction I do

[random dome]

I didn't read FW because I'd been told the spice was not that interesting that the writing was bad enough I was not willing to suffer through it for something vanilla as the payoff

[snow vessel]

I feel like if you read FW solely for the spice (and have read much other spice) it probably won't be worth it

[random dome]

That was my algebra yep, and that's why I bailed

[uncut shoal]

Sun Eater final book ending ||And....it just ends....||

||That's a lot of words to not tell you what happens||

[snow vessel]

Started ADOW 👀

Only a few pages in though

[uncut shoal]

I was going to start This is How You Lose the Time War but actually ADoW sounds better

[ivory cypress]

what's adow again?

[uncut shoal]

A Discovery of Witches

Sun Eater ending ||I'm more than a little irritated at that ending lol. Seriously we don't learn anything by the final chapter that we didn't know in the first||

[potent linden]

Tor was giving away temporary tattoos at Nexus, and I dunno if they or Schwab have posted the designs online before so maybe this isn't new, but I know there are other Bury Our Bones fans in here 👀

those came out a little blurrier than I realized when taking them, RIP. the text is "love is hungry", "love dies last", "tend me, plant me, water me, end me", and "toxic lesbian vampires"

[snow vessel]

Ooh

I got a tote bag with my BoB copy that has the title on one side and "toxic lesbian vampires" on the other

[long sorrel]

Toxic lesbian vampires is great lol

[ivory cypress]

oh my god i just learned the title of the sequel to The Mercy of Gods

[long sorrel]

Faith of Beasts!

[ivory cypress]

The Faith of Beasts. good lord. that's hot. what a great title

[long sorrel]

Yeeeeessss

April 👀

This is, needless to say, my most anticipated 2026 book atm

[ivory cypress]

mannnnnnnnnn

april isn't so far away

[long sorrel]

Have you seen the blurb?

Mercy of Gods all ||it has a bit about the Swarm which makes me all giddy||

[ivory cypress]

just now

||VERY interesting||

[long sorrel]

||delicious even, you have made me hype again, I try to ignore this when I can||

[ivory cypress]

haha

sorry

just looking through my library catalogue........

[long sorrel]

This keeps happening every time I remember it exists

Idk what's coming out on 2026 besides this and more Kingfisher

Ooooh

Sir Cameron too

[snow vessel]

Went into a bookstore and now I've been reminded of so many books I want to read but haven't yet

[royal carbon]

Probably like 20 Kingfisher books

[long sorrel]

I only have noted down 2 for now

[snow vessel]

can I count sotf as a 2026 release if I only get to it then

[long sorrel]

for now

[ivory cypress]

Sir Cameron's author, whom i follow on tumblr, seems... VERY zany and the book promises to be really out there

cannot wait

i hope it's sOOOO offputting and weird

[uncut shoal]

Murderbot!

I think Dresden?

[tight kindle]

Literally wasn't even this excited for WaT

[ivory cypress]

they are canadian, and here in my country, there are some grants for artists of all kinds and mediums to support artists, particularly if there's canada stuff IN the books. recently they've been showing bits of an upcoming romance between giant spider alien (because they wanted to romance a drider in bg3 SO BAD) and a brain slug inhabiting the brain of the son of a canadian prime minister

watched everyone stop typing at THAT

[potent linden]

skadasldkmls yeah my entire train of thought was knocked off, what's that one called??

[ivory cypress]

i don't know if it has a title yet

i'm following the project and you'll know when i do :P

[uncut shoal]

I'm so excited for a new Murderbot book

Six months away

[potent linden]

there's a new Wings of Fire in 2026! though I know you don't read those, I'm just excited about that XD

[tight kindle]

Which is so funny because I know nothing about the author or the book because I've intentionally read nothing but the blurb, but just based on that I'm so excited

[long sorrel]

Is Ana and Din 3 also 2026? 👀

[royal carbon]

We can dream

[long sorrel]

I only know what Grey has shown here and I'm like 95% sure imma enjoy it

[ivory cypress]

theoretically June

[long sorrel]

Penguin random house does have a date

[snow vessel]

Is that still going?!

[potent linden]

yeah! this is the start of the fourth arc

[long sorrel]

I do have book 1 in the tbr!

Which doesn't mean much but it's there

[tight kindle]

Like how could a book with "In Which Many Dangerous and Homosexual Things Happen" on the front cover not be amazing?

[snow vessel]

Fourth arc?!

[ivory cypress]

A Trade of Blood

i gotta get these in my 2026 calendar

[royal carbon]

Available on Jun 09, 2026 | 384 Pages

The publisher says June so

[long sorrel]

Lastly i do wonder what's the status for The Devils sequel

[tight kindle]

I don't think I ever read past The Poison Jungle because I was young and homophobic 😔

I should get back to it at some point

[ivory cypress]

oh WAIT DAGGERBOUND

next august

[potent linden]

imo the series writing has genuinely just leveled up consistently as it's gone on, it doesn't feel like Tui is dragging it on or running out of ideas like some middle grade series, it's a world and characters that I could watch living forever, if that makes sense. I think I would do unspeakable things for an adult WoF novel, not in the NSFW sense, just in the types of character arcs and length of the book that more worldbuilding could be packed into and the themes aren't childish as is, but they could be explored more deeply? but I will keep devouring the books we do get, they're still good.

I guess you could argue that the books are repetitive in tackling similar themes for fifteen books, but they explore different nuances to them as they go on and it hasn't gotten stale for me yet

[ivory cypress]

okay, so in order...

(might give Nine Goblins by Kingfisher a miss, but it's January for the rerelease)
Feb 3 - Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die
March 24 - Wolf Worm
April 14 - The Faith of Beasts
May 5 - Platform Decay
June 9 - A Trade of Blood
August 25 - Daggerbound

lots to look forward to in 2026

no dates for Kate Elliott's anything yet :( oh well

[somber timber]

If I remember his last update I think RJB says the release date is very squishy

[ivory cypress]

and i have lots of Victoria Goddard and perhaps Rachel Neumeier, but they're indie and frequently i find out about book drops from them like, when they say in their newsletter "hey i released a book"

[somber timber]

He had something in the last 10 days or so about whatever version he was working on probably sticking

[ivory cypress]

yeah, all are probably sticky that far ahead

[somber timber]

https://bsky.app/profile/robertjbennett.bsky.social/post/3m76d52hmws2i

robert j bennett, ceo, results omega (@robertjbennett.bsky.social)

got the umpteenth draft of the third ana and din book off to the editor yesterday. I'd say this should stick, but this one is like giving birth but the kid has a say and keeps crawling back in there

Bluesky · Dec 4, 2025, 3:49 PM

[potent linden]

like yes we've explored xenophobia and racism before, but have we specifically gotten into [WoF book 13 vague] ||characters talking about being furious about injustices, and it being right and good for them to be angry, and how to direct that anger at the people who are in control and choose your battles productively or you're just going to exhaust yourself? no we haven't yet? well then let's have them talk about it and be very emotional and gay about each other (sorry the lesbians are wholesome and not toxic in this one). deep breath||
-# I love Wings of Fire book 13 The Poison Jungle and its characters a normal amount and will talk about it any chance I get. please someone yell about the gay plant dragons with me. or Snowfall's arc in book 14. or Qibli in any book ever. someone read the later books beyond the first five I am begging

I will stop rambling about Wings of Fire after this one example but. books good 😭

[analog geode]

Hi it was great

I think I read the first 12 before I got bored

[potent linden]

13 and 14 are genuinely excellent, I'd give them a shot

[snow vessel]

I remember I got to somewhere near the start of the second arc before I lost track of what was going on

I feel like I must've read some of it out of order or something

[potent linden]

it's worth trying again!

[uncut shoal]

ADoW ||oooh.....I didn't realize this had vampires in it... I swear vampires are just discount elves||

[snow vessel]

I don't remember how I read it but from what I remember I think I did it wrong xD

I remember being confused about the order of some stuff... and I feel like I remember discovering some of the story after id already read that part? So I dunno what happened there, maybe I just wasn't paying attention

[analog geode]

Yeah but I have to read 12 books to get there

or wait

no I read the Poison Jungle

Yeah that was the last one I read

[potent linden]

you can start at book 11 if you want

as long as you vaguely remember the generalities of the earlier books you should be fine I think? though to be fair I've reread them a lot so I can't really say

[analog geode]

All I remember clearly are the original 5

[potent linden]

tbh I think I might've also read a couple books out of order when I was younger, but I just did it out of impatience iirc?

[analog geode]

WoF ||Then all the Darkwing stuff happened I think?||

[potent linden]

||Darkstalker/NightWings?||

[snow vessel]

I think I mightve read the series around just before The Hive Queen came out

Part of me thinks I mightve read arc 2 before arc 1?

[analog geode]

That

[ripe tide]

Ooooooooo. Also @uncut shoal I would love reacts.

[ripe tide]

Honestly thw first part of this sentence was my reaction when I started the show.

[uncut shoal]

I haven't watched the show, just started reading the book. I really like the main character so far, but vampires argh

I swear I'm going to start writing urban fantasy parodies where I replace the vampires with elves

And the shapeshifters with dwarves

[ripe tide]

I know. I just watched the show first and had the same reaction as you of ‘I had no idea this had vampires’

[snow vessel]

Wait just quickly Cheyenne I have a random, mostly unrelated question

[ripe tide]

Even if I don’t have a problem with the trope

[ripe tide]

Sure

[snow vessel]

Was it you who was talking about/planning on watching the Talamasca show?

[uncut shoal]

Now I want to edit my ebook and just find->replace all vampire->elf

[ripe tide]

I don’t think I was talking about it, but I am about halfway through the show.

[snow vessel]

Mightve been talking about the IWTV or mayfair show, then

Just wanted to ask: how is it?
-# though maybe I should ask in the media channel

[ripe tide]

It’s been interesting.

[snow vessel]

Worth a watch?

[tight kindle]

So my uni WiFi requires me to sign in with my email and password
But my Kindle can't do that and I got the book from Libby
Does anyone know the best way to get the book there?

[analog geode]

Got a hotspot?

[tight kindle]

In theory yes but I've never been able to make it work

I'll fiddle around tomorrow and see what I can do

[ripe tide]

Yeah.

[analog geode]

Steal your friends

[snow vessel]

Thanks. Ive been tryna find something to encourage me to actually watch it

[ripe tide]

It’s not groundbreaking but it’s fun

[low hill]

It might have been me, but I don't think it's on iPlayer yet so I haven't.

[merry galleon]

I have to wait until new years to order Sigra’s Roost along with another book because it’s out of stock. But on the bright side, I ordered some books by Ryan Cahill as part of my Christmas present. Hopefully it arrives before Christmas.

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 21 early ||yknow, I wonder what happens if Matti and luca marry. Would that mean Hart house, Jay house, and Sofia's house who's name I can't remember are all tied together?||

[snow vessel]

Not much left on SC 🙏

Two long chapters, one short

[quaint tendon]

Overtime always feels like it should be a great time for me to listen to my books. But tbh plowing and salting completely takes over my attention span

[vital ibex]

I know what it is but in my head every single time i see "a drop of worruption"

[long sorrel]

Im glad Im not the only one

[quaint burrow]

IG 35 ||Ayo, Lyria, chill||

[analog geode]

Stayed up all night to finish Memory, by Lois Bujold.
Holy, that was an amazing book. I went into it expecting some pulpy scifi, and while it had some of that, it was brilliantly written with a seriously compelling main character. It went in a completely different direction from what I expected and pulled me in instantly. ||I don’t think there was a single fight in the entire book, but I was still on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next.||

I jumped in halfway through the series, but each book is isolated enough that it doesn’t matter, and it helps that when she references previous events it’s clear what happened.

I highly, highly recommend it to any fan of classic scifi. I will absolutely be reading the rest of her books

[uncut shoal]

ADoW up to ch 11 ||I really like Diana, but she's fallen into the classic thing where she tries to deny she has an ability, instead of learning to control it. Which literally never works lol. If you don't want to use it you have to learn to control it so you don't accidentally use it, like she has been for decades. And her aunt's method of pushing her definitly isn't helping. Yes, I know this is called character progression. It's still illogical 😄 ||

[uncut shoal]

Vorkosigan is so good. I highly recommend reading the earlier books too

[ripe tide]

hahah. ||Sarah definitely doesn't help. Knowing a lot of the context behind why they both are like this I can see why they're doing it, but that's information you don't have right now. People sometimes are illogical like that.||

[uncut shoal]

ADoW ||I know people are illogical like that. It's still illogical! lol. I get that it's from the trauma of her parents dying, at the least.||

[ripe tide]

Yeah that's a huge part of it.

There's some more

[junior dew]

QoN 20 || That comment about how one day maybe he would get to hear her scream 👀 ||

[long sorrel]

I have had a terrible thought 😭

It is horrible and I must curse you all with it

but I think TCP is kind of isekai

[analog geode]

…

[ivory cypress]

lmao

[astral atlas]

Alright maybe I should read TCP /s

[analog geode]

Does it really count as Isekai without a truck

[long sorrel]

Who said there isn't a truck? 🤨

[analog geode]

Idk I read the beginning of it and there wasn’t a truck

[long sorrel]

Fair, there's no truck

[snow vessel]

Do you need to die for it to count as an isekai?

I'm not super confident on the definition of isekai but I don't think TCP counts because it's all on earth, right?

[versed agate]

only insofar as every "stolen to the fae realm" is an isekai

(if I'm reading the synopsis correctly)

[long sorrel]

Yes

[snow vessel]

Isn't the Fae realm on earth though

So it's more equivalent to being stolen to another country

[long sorrel]

thinly veiled other dimension?

[long sorrel]

1?

Tbh we aren't discussing the genre

[versed agate]

there's only so many source images 😔

[long sorrel]

paint a 0!

(1 is correct since it wasn't today!)

[snow vessel]

I suppose? But it feels closer to something like CHB in Percy jackson than a proper other dimension

[zinc flicker]

I feel like Isekai you have to get teleported to another world?

[analog geode]

Or reincarnated

[versed agate]

there have been all sorts

(reminder that genres/tropes are not well defined, they have fuzziness)

[long sorrel]

reincarnated isn't really a part of isekai nowadays

(there null, now you can reset)

[somber timber]

Your words can’t hurt me if I don’t know what they mean! (This was supposed to be to Usha’s I’m blaming the being outside for hours in the cold for this mistake)

[versed agate]

fix'd

[long sorrel]

anyway reincarnation is its own subgenre nowadays

[wraith lynx]

TCP ||if you think about it... Maddy is truck kun because he kills their parents and is the reason why the twins + vivi are in faerie...... I hate you for making me say this btw 🥰||

[quaint burrow]

Anyone here read Red Rising audiobooks?

[vital ibex]

Does anyone else think the epigraphs in the farseer trilogy are kind of lame?

[random dome]

TCP ||And here I thought you'd just say he's the truck because he has a dump truck... 👀 ||

[long sorrel]

Why did i not think of that

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed 21 ||lord only five minutes in and it's already gone off track||

||I suppose Adrian wants to out luca, even though I'm not sure what that would achieve||

||oh, I suppose he didn't know Mattie knew already||

||Adrian better hope he can beat luca after all this big talk||

||xD, didn't matti barely pay anything for luca 😭 ||

||I don't remember if they ended up planning on throwing the fight or not. I'm scared luca's gonna lose, though ||

||oh thank goodness||

||YESSS YOU TELL HIM SOFIA||

||ahhhhh||

||ok, a few of our problems are solved. Just politics left||

||I think?||

SC 21 ||ahhhhh||

||oh Luca.||

||not luca getting to do a big detective speech ||

[long sorrel]

Oh yes

[snow vessel]

||alright, I suppose we're just admitting to breaking in xD||

||ooh, the plot thickens||

[snow vessel]

Sc 21 ||I feel sorry for everyone who has to deal with matti and luca and maya in politics, now||

Ok, 1 chapter left, I'll finish this off later today

[random dome]

great news everybody

i was reading wind and truth to my sister, and she mentioned her dnd game she's running has the party in the feywild, but she feels like she doesn't know enough of the "faerie rules" and her players know more than her sometimes so she's just winging it

so i pitched Jude Duarte's Guide To Faerie Mechanics (aka The Cruel Prince)

and she checked out the audiobook from the library on the spot 😤

[ivory cypress]

lmaoooo

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/excited-fuego-gif-12099368701239660790

Whoops, didn't mean to ping

[random dome]

i gotta be normal over christmas, i cannot bother her too much about it

[long sorrel]

Tbh my mom said she'd read when I get the print Spanish version but I think she'd hate it

[ivory cypress]

(i was wondering how wat was going to be relevant and then it just never was)

[random dome]

it never was! just the set dressing to this tale

[long sorrel]

She is very... elitist. I'm pushing Tainted Cup

[ivory cypress]

my mom would never read sff

[long sorrel]

We still talking about Feather's story?

[random dome]

i did do a little joke where after we'd done our usual Shardcast Standard Hour Of Just Chatting, I was like "okay are you ready to read? i'll go get the cruel prince from downstairs" as a psych

but i relented and read the silly sanderson book instead, like we'd originally agreed upon :p

I do think my sister is not as into like, crunchy enemies to lovers style stuff as I am, but it's not a hard out either

so I think she'll like the fact that it's just genuinely high quality

[wraith lynx]

Im sad I cant read more this week but im really busy these next few days :((

[random dome]

i will forgive you for this horrific betrayal, its ok

[wraith lynx]

😂

Come thursday and we lock back in, I just have to graduate first 😂💖

[random dome]

i guess that's also important

[uncut shoal]

ADoW I have no idea what chapter ||On the bright side, I'm actually liking Matthew. He actually smiles/laughs and otherwise emotes, instead of the broody angry usual vampire||

[analog geode]

||but broody is hot 😔 ||

[analog geode]

Should I start at the beginning or read the next one? Does it matter?

[uncut shoal]

It doesn't matter too much since you already read Memory, but the earlier books are also really good

Mirror Dance, the book right before Memory, explains the circumstances that led to Memory

[analog geode]

I’ll go back and read them eventually, but I think I want to see what he does as a ||full Auditor||

[uncut shoal]

There is a slight tone shift starting with Komarr, but A Civil Campaign is probably my favorite (most hilarious) book

[old bone]

No? Isn't that require Transmigration or reincarnation

TCP afair isn't a portal fantasy

[alpine drum]

in the original stories (like from the 1800s) the fae realm is in a place on earth that is just "far away"

[zinc flicker]

That’s kinda-ish what TCP is like

[random dome]

legit, this is why i recommended it to my sister as a crash course on traditional faerie rules, b/c it does use a lot of the traditional stuff in fun ways!

these fae feel fae!

[uncut shoal]

What's TCP?

[analog geode]

The cruel prince

[uncut shoal]

Oh I think I passed because I was getting annoyed with tsundere

[astral atlas]

Alright maybe I should read TCP (2)

[wraith lynx]

YIPEE XD

[astral atlas]

*Yippee

Alright you know what

I was thinking if it's available to borrow literally right now with no hold, I can start it on my plane ride in a few days

And well

Actually never mind I'm trolling. This is the library card that got discontinued

[wraith lynx]

[junior dew]

Oh yeah

[astral atlas]

Alright fixed that, I got it. Will possibly be reading it during my flight this week

[junior dew]

QoN 22 || Was a few chapters ago but they did it. They had sex. This book has absolutely not gone how I expected.

Carden being like I thought you’d come back, you could have ended your exile whenever, and she just gets pissed.

Ngl they’re a pretty toxic couple ||

Funny how books proliferate in here

The TCP propaganda machine has been effective

[astral atlas]

I will always fall for propaganda

life before death strength before weakness journey before destination

[ripe tide]

He definitely has both of those things.

[quaint tendon]

I really need to read poppy war at some point

I forgot I had it on audible

[uncut shoal]

I'm seeing that. But they're not his defining characteristics. They don't have to fight to get a smile out of him, at least

[ripe tide]

Absolutely.

I know you don’t remember the chapter, but what’s the last thing that happened narratively? To get a sense of when you are in the timeline.

[uncut shoal]

I'm now on chapter 29

[ripe tide]

Chapter numbers dont really tell me much on their own

But you’re making some good progress

[uncut shoal]

ADoW 29 ||Diana was just kidnapped and brought to Gerbert and Domenico||

[ripe tide]

Oooohhhhhhh

Ok Thats such a moment. Can’t wait to see what you think

[uncut shoal]

||I'm willing to hold back from judgement but it's not looking good for Matthew||

||Satu seems to be casting a spell on her||

ADoW ch 30 ||Did he really feed her his blood though, and control her? If so that's not cool. I assume he killed Gillian for threatening Diana, which is....somewhat less not cool lol||

Also ||Her bloodline is supposed to be so powerful? Buuuuutttt it sounds like she won't be passing that on any time soon lol||

[uncut shoal]

||Still not cool. He will get forgiven for doing that if he promises to never try to control her again||

[ripe tide]

What is going on with my Discord replies? It sends me to your earlier message, but it shows up as a dog picture?

[uncut shoal]

Errrr that's weird

[ripe tide]

Yeha I don’t know

Not the first time it happens. It did yesterday in a beta server and it was showing a reply to a user who isn’t even in that server.

[uncut shoal]

That's...not even from this channel, I think?

[ripe tide]

Probably not

[low hill]

I've seen a few people complain about replies being all over the place for the last week.

[ripe tide]

At least it’s not just me

[low hill]

Discord is going to Discord.

[uncut shoal]

ADoW 33 ||I never understand how "keep her ignorant and away from her power" keeps someone safe. It didn't even mask her power, just made her determined to not control it||

I really want more of the science stuff

ADoW 34 ||Roll credits!||

||Ewwwwwwwww||

ADoW and Orson Scott Card's Maker series ||They did that in Alvin Maker too and it was gross then||

[ripe tide]

I think I know what you mean but can you clarify?

[uncut shoal]

||Magic placenta||

[ripe tide]

Ok Thats not what I was expecting

[uncut shoal]

Ew is there something more gross coming? haha

||I'm so glad a piece of placenta was not on the book page||

[ripe tide]

Not in that way. I was just thinking of the general response to ||what Knox and Satu and Gerbert do. They just make my skin crawl. Not as much as another character Thats not in this book, but still||

[uncut shoal]

||Random placenta is way more squicky than torture||

[ripe tide]

I had legit forgotten about that. Like of course I remember when you say it, but it is never in my thoughts when I think about the series. And I reread it like less than a month ago.

[analog geode]

||I was waiting for it to reappear||

[low hill]

I have no memory of that at all...

[uncut shoal]

ADoW ummm somewhere between 35 and 40 I think ||I knew Marthe's tea was suspicious. I expected it to be either contraceptive or fertility. Cross-race fertility isn't surprising here||

[ripe tide]

This is the first time I’m seeing your reading speed in real time and I’m enjoying getting reactions to what happens later so quickly.

[uncut shoal]

Ahaha

Yeah that happens with me lmao

||Anything or anyone. That's not foreshadowing at all...||

ADoW 39 (that's where I was!) ||Man, they're just reeling from event to event. Almost dying. Almost dying x2. Unexpected visitors. House party||

[ripe tide]

||Yeah there’s a lot happening||

[uncut shoal]

ch 40 ||Mmmmmmm smallpox||

Slightly reminds me of a hilarious scene in Kaiju Protection Society

||Oh, only 7 needles? There were at least 20 in KPS||

||Ewwww haha. I'm just a little too young to have been given the smallpox vaccine and that certainly sounds like a nasty one||

[analog geode]

I wasn’t fast enough for you?? 😭

[analog geode]

Is that worth reading? I keep seeing the cover and it looks a bit tacky

[uncut shoal]

It's a bit kitchsy but it's got several incredibly hilarious scenes and is a fun story

[ripe tide]

You were fast too. R’Shara’s speed is just something if only ever heard abkut.

[ripe tide]

||Probably because she already had a lot of them.||

[uncut shoal]

ADoW 40 ||Matthew's panic at losing site of Diana is both endearing and annoying haha. It's cute buuuuttttttt a girl sometimes needs some privacy?||

||"Shyly pleased" Awwww he's so cute though||

||Pot faces is hilarious to me||

[ripe tide]

Yeahhh.

[snow vessel]

40?!

I think I'm only on ch4...

SC 22 early ||matti's leaving???||

[uncut shoal]

42 ||He rubs feet? Seriously this guy is no vampire. He's a teddy bear||

Annnd done

||A hectic last few chapters, getting ready for the time walk. I look forward to seeing their relationship growing, not looking forward to the lack of showers 😄 ||

Time for bed for me

[snow vessel]

Swordcrossed done!

[ripe tide]

Glad you’re enjoying it!

[snow vessel]

The Vampire Armand ch1 early ||I'm already a little confused. Who is this pov character? Armand before the end of Memnoch, is my guess||

[ripe tide]

I love the initial journey of book 1, 2 has all the history I love, 3 has all the climax of the original trilogy. 4 and 5 are a different beast but still great.

[snow vessel]

TVA ch1 ||ok, it's armand. He gets his own little vampire lestat intro!||

TVA ch1 ||ok, lestat is asleep, so maybe this is after memnoch??? How is armand alive?||

[ripe tide]

I see you started TVA, what are your plans? That then ADoW? Or simultaneously?

[snow vessel]

TVA on audio, adow physical

Simultaneously

[grim veldt]

The Time Variance Authority??

[low hill]

The Vampire Armand.

[snow vessel]

Not quite

What vecna said

[grim veldt]

Lol

[snow vessel]

TVA ch1 ||ok, so this is after memnoch. Armand just... survived somehow||

[grim veldt]

|| Somehow, Armand survived.||

[snow vessel]

TVA ch1/iwtv show s2 ||speculating, I remember the show had a thing that lestat (supposedly) could only die if he wanted to. I wonder if that's the case here, and that's where they got that piece of lore||

||although, armand would've wanted to die. So maybe he just... can't?||

[ripe tide]

Ok ok.

I do that a lot so good to know

[snow vessel]

Ive started ADOW as well, but I only got a few chapters in and didnt have much time to read so far today

TVA ch1 ||I cant believe Im going to have to put up with Marius all book 🙄 ||

||I joke, he's not that bad.||

Gosh I'm so excited to be onto Armand's book. My favourite vampire from the series 🤩

TVA ch1 ||why did we let armand have children||

[grim veldt]

What's the series name? My interest has been piqued

[snow vessel]

The Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice

Starts with Interview With The Vampire

[low hill]

There's 13 of them, and the series is finished.

[grim veldt]

Cool, thank you!

[low hill]

-# I read them all earlier this year. Some re-reads, and some "I hadn't got around to these".

[ripe tide]

Yeah this is why I’ve taken so long with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

[snow vessel]

I'm approaching half way (starting 6)

[snow vessel]

Ooh thats another on my list

[low hill]

-# Plus there's the interwoven Lives of the Mayfair Witches series.

[snow vessel]

-# I'll get to those... eventually

TVA 1 ||Holy crap armand calm down 😭 ||

TVA 1 ||Oh, are we getting another actual vampire interview?!||

||armand is deranged||

[junior dew]

QoN 23 || Serpent Carden is definitely a twist ||

[random dome]

Oooh you're very close

[ripe tide]

ADoW all series ||This is such a Bishop-Clairmont family coded Christmas ornament||

[junior dew]

Indeed

[random dome]

Is this about TCP or was it about a different book? I'm curious what you saw as tsundere in TCP if that's what it was about

TCP ||The only thing that sort of comes to mind is Cardan's hate-writing Jude's name in the book over and over, but it doesn't really strike me as tsundere. They just genuinely loathe each other and feel real hatred about it||

[low hill]

-# Am I going to regret looking up what this means?

[uncut shoal]

I just read the blurb, something about how much Jude hates the guy who's probably going to be her romantic interest

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

That guy

[random dome]

Ahhh yeah, I would say Jude's hatred there is very genuine, not really a tsundere thing

[uncut shoal]

What's the difference between tsundere and enemies-to-lovers?

[random dome]

There is an enemies-to-lovers setup in the book, but one of the things that makes it good is that they are legitimately enemies

[random dome]

Tsundere to me is someone who's flustered about having a crush and is trying to cover that up with rudeness because they're embarrassed about it

[uncut shoal]

Okay

Enemies to lovers was what was annoying me at the time, then

[random dome]

It's kind of cutesy/immature. Can't be honest with themselves so they pretend they don't like the person they're secretly swooning for

[long sorrel]

tsundere people generally hide behind being rude or cold or uncaring but are caring and loving underneath

(can be so with friends too)

I had a very tsundere friend who would invite me to walk out "so I'd help him hold his camera" so he'd actually "put up with me only for that reason" (I'm being very unironic)

IT was really REALLY funny

[hollow hedge]

I think it can overlap with enemies to lovers, sometimes, but is much more often 'friendly' rivals to lovers

[long sorrel]

(he might have had a crush on me tbh, things ended with some unresolved stuff on both our ends)

enemies to lovers would be like, tsuntsun

[proper silo]

I didn't realize tsunderes existed irl

[long sorrel]

they DO

[hollow hedge]

the way it is being described reminds me of something in 8th grade that I'm not going to talk about further

[long sorrel]

It's usually really annoying though

[hollow hedge]

it was described earlier as childish

[long sorrel]

That is usually how it is used in anime/manga

(my friend was very emotionally immature if that is what you're getting at)

[astral atlas]

Cold or uncaring front is more kuudere, I would say

[long sorrel]

This is like borderline genre discussion

[astral atlas]

Reset the counter 😛

[long sorrel]

I don't want to ping the count resetter, he's scary 😔

[versed agate]

I was requested

[long sorrel]

You have to decide if that's worth resetting or not

[long sorrel]

Acceptable

[ivory cypress]

I didn't realize that I'd never read a good enemies to lovers until Cruel Prince

this one felt great - I wasn't annoyed on the FMC's behalf nor was I annoyed at the FMC herself, cause Holly Black did not write a little chump

[wraith lynx]

TCP + TWK ||Yeah if anything, I was just annoyed at the fact that everyone else was just a little [explatives. Many explatives] but then one of them died and hopefully locke gets stabbed and nicasia gets punched. Thats high key all I want 😂||

[long sorrel]

I have read good enemies to lovers in the sense that the troupe was well done, but I don't think I've read one that I thought the whole book was good

(besides TCP)

[random dome]

I feel like most stories move too quickly with it, is the real problem

[long sorrel]

Or they spent the entire enemy phase just thirsting

and do none of the enemies

[random dome]

They're "enemies" because they're on opposite sides of a conflict, or they get off on the wrong foot and don't like each other, but right at the start they're attracted to each other and having chemistry from the get go

[long sorrel]

Folk of the Air all ||The enemies in this series lasting at least one book and a half is ||

[random dome]

And I'm like, no you gotta simmer this stuff like a good broth

[long sorrel]

You gotta be personal enemies though

if you just hate each other because you're on opposite sides of a conflict I'm like "okay, this is just being unempathetic more than enemies"

Captive Prince does do the enemy part pretty well but I can't go around recommending that because the setting is so thoroughly messed up

[random dome]

Put these idiots on a stove for and let them really get some resentment for each other. Make it nasty and personal, make them fantasize about destroying that other person in some violent vengeful way long before they're imagining any kissing going on

[wraith lynx]

squirms

I hate doing this i really do (no i dont) but FW ||This is kinda how violet and xaden felt? Like he straight up tells her to kill herself the moment he sees her (validly, her mom killed his dad) and all shes thinking about is undressing him with her eyes 😭||

[random dome]

I want this relationship to be festering

[long sorrel]

That's the thing though

when I see "enemies" that are enemies because of some ancestry things, even if they make sense in the story, and not everyone is like... us (in modern society) my entire thought is that that's just dumb

like I don't do very well when all the characters are acting based on something unrelated to them because my dad and your dad and what have you

🙄

It's fine when it's like one or two characters, some people are like that, that's fine.

[random dome]

To be clear: is my example of when I think the trope is done poorly

[long sorrel]

Yeah

[random dome]

Or at least weakly

[long sorrel]

I do think there's some merit to enemies that don't wanna be enemies though

if well done, but that's a different sub-troupe I guess

[random dome]

Maybe it's not actively terrible but it certainly doesn't pack any real impact

I think there's a lot of authors, especially newer authors, who are afraid to let their characters be really nasty to each other

They want the protagonist and the love interest to be likeable and they're afraid the audience will be upset if they do genuinely bad/mean things

[wraith lynx]

Right, I see that happen a LOT

You have to be brave and let them BE as they are

[junior dew]

Oh yeah I finished QoN earlier before work!

[long sorrel]

A lot of them end up justifying horrible crap in the process of that though

Which is realely funny

[random dome]

but that's the whole point. if you aren't willing to stick the blorbos in the moral and emotional muck of it all, go write a nicer trope than enemies to lovers

[long sorrel]

make them do sometihng nasty
immediately excuse it
everyone understands poor character just had a harsh life
me:

[wraith lynx]

It annoys me so bad 😭

Lore Olympus did that a LOT

[long sorrel]

I'm not familiar with it

[wraith lynx]

LO ||Hades (the mmc) basically owns slaves, abuses his power over his love interests and throws hissy fits when he cant spent time around his teenage wife, but its all handwaved away because boo hoo his daddy ate him when he was six 🙄 this is the actual excuse he gives to the adoptive son he abused btw 🥰||

[random dome]

Readers who like this trope want the muck!

[long sorrel]

That sounds worse even lol

I think I've read some authors side-excuse slavery by mistake

[wraith lynx]

🙂

[long sorrel]

Like, I genuinely don't think these authors would ever actualy, actively excuse it

[wraith lynx]

LO ||Hades goes on record saying he enjoys the benefits of unpaid labor. When persephone calls him out on this, they have their first kiss in the rain and is never brought up again. He srill owns slaves when the web comic ends 🥰||

[low hill]

(LO?)

[random dome]

Yeah I feel like the two big pitfalls are either the characters do bad things but the narrative doesn't take it seriously and excuses/absolves them of it immediately without engaging with it, or the narrative just doesn't let the characters do anything genuinely morally complicated or wrong, but still wants to pretend they're "bad" without actually getting them dirty

[wraith lynx]

Lore Olympus! Its a web toon and was HUGE back in the day

[low hill]

Oh, you said. I just missed it.

[wraith lynx]

But thats not enemies to lovers, its more about throwing excuses to the characters so theyre never punished, really takes you out of their conflicts :/

[long sorrel]

I got distracted midrant by work

but basically I think these authors are trying to genuinely have their characters do something bad, but they don't know how to write morally grey or morally bad while making the character enticing

And end up excusing horrible crap as a side effect, and it does feel in many cases it is fully unintended

[random dome]

Y'all are making me want to reread TCP now

[long sorrel]

I do prefer the second of these

act like they're bad but don't make them do anything bad is a bit boring

but making something juicy, and then snatching the candy away as irrelevant/excused is 😩 😭

[random dome]

I feel like I sort ACOTAR and its sequels like this, though admittedly I don't remember them super well

[long sorrel]

There was no one being "bad" in the main character cast for ACOTAR

For the sequels ||I'm aware they excuse all of Rhys horrible SA behaviour||

Thanks to end's raging

[long sorrel]

It is funny because I'm completely ok with this if the book is leaning into erotica/pure smut, but ACOTAR is so far away from that I'm not okay with that.

[random dome]

I think Feyre is supposed to be this scrappy, fend for herself hunter girl and the LIs are supposed to be these dark and dangerous powerful fae ||but none of them... do... anything to back that up!! It's all just vibes based character work. You can't just tell me characters are dark and dangerous and have them do some slightly edgy dialogue and then call that enough. Like. come on.||

ACOTAR general ||I do not want to throw shade to fans of this series but I do think there are a lot of readers who are enough of a fan of the idea of these tropes that a story can just say "this trope is what's happening" even if it doesn't actually... really do the trope... and people don't really notice, because they got excited about it and that was enough to have a good experience with it||

[long sorrel]

||I was expecting a hypercompetent character! Then she was just NOT!? Like, I went in expecting a bad book and found an empty book!||

[long sorrel]

No, I totally get that, I do that with Sormlight characterization because it's more fun that way

[random dome]

ACOTAR general ||Or maybe I just want a level of morally-conflicted intensity that other readers aren't into. Like I will admit I'm maybe doing a "it's only hot sauce if it has ghost peppers in it and leaves your eyes watering for an hour afterwards" and other people just like mild flavored wings and that's ok||

[long sorrel]

I do think that that's why some authors are scared of going too far?

I have seen people crap on TCP because they can't love Cardan for example

And I'm like, "sure! I'd be running far away irl!"

I think something like TCP is divisive in its own way

Like, we are quite on the extreme of the spectrum I think

[random dome]

Probably! I know "spice" is usually usually used for sex things in books, but I do think there's a decent comparison to spice levels for moral depravity

[long sorrel]

Yes, TCP is spicy but not very spicy 😈

[random dome]

TCP high moral spicy, lower sex spicy

[wraith lynx]

High moral spicy 😂

[long sorrel]

I need more morally spicy books

[wraith lynx]

But I agree with the fact that when I want to engage with these tropes, its always a mid time so I write off the experience altogether and pivot to othet genres

[random dome]

Like hey, I think the Mirror Empire is a genuinely well written work that has super unique worldbuilding and is skillfully crafted

[wraith lynx]

TCP conversely knows what the hell its doing

[random dome]

But the morals are a little spicy for me there

[ripe tide]

It’s one thing I appreciate about ||Arcana Academy. || ||Even by the end of book 1 where there have been some sexual encounters, the conflicting feelings are still there in a major way and those are mostly about the physicality of it, Clara doesnt know what to feel, only that she can’t be indifferent towards Kaelis||

[random dome]

TME gets hard to read sometimes

[long sorrel]

I have to give it to Black that she has written a lot of mid stuff in this matter and has clearly wiggled her way into what is the middle point in her morally grey characters

You can see her testing if you go through her books

[ivory cypress]

I think that's as intended for Mirror Empire

[long sorrel]

And while I think books after TCP aren't as good, she still hits the right spot of morally juicy for me in later stuff

(I mean after the trilogy)

what does Mirror Empire do?

[random dome]

Oh yeah, the Mirror Empire is a work that is trying to evolve deep levels of discomfort in readers and nails it, I agree

[long sorrel]

I don't think I've heard of this

[random dome]

It is not a fun romp

[ripe tide]

I agree, but I can also acknowledge that I just don’t enjoy writing abkut people being nasty to each other either. It’s not about being afraid for me it’s more about not being interested in writing those even if I do enjoy reading them on occasion.

But I’m not going to go write an enemies to lovers because of that

[long sorrel]

But in that case you just don't write that genre

yeah

It's not like that troupe is the only good one anyway

[brazen pilot]

Okay but cheyenne

What if we paid you one million dollers to

[long sorrel]

I'll write you whatever you want for that amount

[ivory cypress]

like tbh, part of it is how it's talked about. I adore Cruel Prince and "they're so nasty to each other" just isn't in my own personal sell

I think it's worth a try

[ripe tide]

Like SiSG was fun, but I’m also not going to gravitate to Dier type characters.

[long sorrel]

I think Cheyenne has read TCP iirc? and liked it fine which doesn't mean wanting to write about it yourself ofc

[ripe tide]

There’s a reason I played Eliane with that vastly different world view

[ripe tide]

Yes I have.

[alpine drum]

is the difference between high and low spice whether the spice respects the laws of physics or whether the spice is a system which is explained?

[ripe tide]

It was fun but I don’t obsess over it like you guys do

[long sorrel]

if the system is explained that's fine enough for high spice actually. But respecting the laws of spice also works. Both cover high spice, it is lacking of either of these 2 pillars that makes it low spice actually.

[random dome]

Mirror Empire, some general things, CW:sa ||The world is overall a very dark and heavy one, there's quite a bit of oppression and characters who are a very realistic kind of evil less than a fun villainy kind of evil. There are also narrative elements that are intentionally uncomfortable that the book will make you stare at, like the brutish general lady from the matriarchal society who is physically and sexually abusive to her waifish "trophy-wife" husband who just wants to please her. Like the author is doing something very intentional with those characters and you aren't supposed to enjoy it, but the discomfort is the point.||

[long sorrel]

hmmm

I think I'd like to read that, I'll throw it in the tbr

[random dome]

It's genuinely very good

[long sorrel]

I had read the blurb when you mentioned and paired with that I'll give it a go

[ripe tide]

Ok ok a base premise what is ME about and by who?

[long sorrel]

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself.

In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.

As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father’s people or loyalty to her alien Empress.

Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself.

In the end, one world will rise – and many will perish.

Kameron Hurley, says storygraph

[random dome]

Read the spoiler above for some vibes. It's by Kameron Hurley.

[ripe tide]

Oh wow ok

[random dome]

Meanwhile I find myself gravitating towards Dier type characters a lot, one could say

I am perhaps, a black hole unto myself, of Dier's character type, creating an impossibly dense gravitational well from which there is no escape

[alpine drum]

SiSG ||I thought Dier was a steel misting, not an iron misting||

[random dome]

Har har har

[ripe tide]

I’ve noticed.

[zinc flicker]

TCP is aware of the tropes and is aware of actual fae lore not just “humans with pointy ears”

TCP ||and? I think what’s really smart about TCP is Cardan is a bad person, sure. He is terrible. But Jude is bad too! And that changes the power dynamic of “dark broody, moody prince x weak human” to something more interesting. ||

anyway I’m super pro high moral spiciness

Give us juicy characters with lots of moral complexity

Let them be evil without justifying or handwaving it

Be aware of the toxicity and morally grey topics

Like House of the Dragon ||as a show is scared of letting it’s characters do bad things, making it’s MCs (especially the female characters) anti-war paragons to contrast with those evil patriarchal men who go to war || and the book Fire and Blood ||everyone sucks, everyone is a war criminal. None of them should be rulers. And that moral complexity lets interesting story beats get told ||

Both ||and look at a character like Aemond, whose evil becomes a way of making one side seem bad, where in F+B his being a supervillain can be fun because everyone is villainous||

||so they make the “good side” morally good and remove bad actions. They make the “bad side” even more evil just to make sure everyone knows who to root for. When the POINT is everyone sucks, none of these people should be rooted for||

Anyway

https://tenor.com/view/you-sly-dog-pointing-at-monologue-gif-12390392

[random dome]

I love a good everybody sucks story

Sometimes the joy of it is watching bad people make each other miserable and they both deserve it

(or characters in deeply nasty and toxic situations figure out how to make something functional of themselves and become healthier)

[alpine drum]

For no particular reason, have you read Age of Madness by Joe Abercrombie?

[ivory cypress]

i admit i mostly hate everyone sucks stories

if i find myself enjoying stories described that way by other people, it's not because the characters suck

[long sorrel]

I need to read more Abercrombie 😩

[ivory cypress]

i read one abercrombie and went "........nah"

[long sorrel]

I have realised that the 2 main things that make not like a story is: its too cheesy or. Its too redundant

And then a bit less if I find the setting very boring

(Sports or academy settings)

Once those things are fine it just varies so much what work the author is doing or how are they doing it

[long sorrel]

It doesnt sound like your thing

[ivory cypress]

generally my trouble is that most of the time i can get myself on side with protagonists - i will never experience the "oh it's so fun to watch people bring humiliation and punishment on themselves because they're terrible" because i end up on the inside, even IF they're not great people. but i am still there, not on the outside of the dynamic but inside that, wincing at the bad stuff happening to them

abercrombie is mostly... felt a little young

like yeah the subject matter is adult, but the way it's written had me feeling like it was meant for teens

[long sorrel]

I can see that

though I tihnk the character work isn't very teens? At least some of the stuff I'd not have comprehended in the way I do now if I had read it when being young-young

[ivory cypress]

could be just the one i read

i haven't read the devils, i read the blade itself

just walked away thinking, this was meant to appeal to folks younger than me

[long sorrel]

Aaah

I've not read that one but I think it checks out with my expectations

[alpine drum]

I think that The Devils is more mature (for lack of a better word) with how it treats characters

I do think that The First Law characters have depth and all that but The Devils has some more nuance or something

[long sorrel]

I found the character work mature in The Devils

the rest of the book is... not particularly mature or immature I guess

It's a thing that's there, you can take a bit of nuance from the setting if you wish

[random dome]

Nope, never read any Abercrombie

[ancient bay]

Man

By the time I die

I am gonna have so many decks of playing cards if Brandon keeps making them

Because yes I will keep buying them

I think I have every one so far

My bookshelf rn has the Stormlight, Spren,a nd Wax and Wayne. Is there a fourth one? I feel like there's a fourth one, I probably have that kicking somewhere

[idle trellis]

I didnt think so personally, I think the Devils is among his shallowest work

He doesnt really do anything fresh with it, if you have read first law or age of madness, there isnt anything really that he attempts to do better in this one

From the way its setup, to the character work, it is stuff that he already did before and much better, every new character that he introduced has very strong similarities to characters from the first law saga

[long sorrel]

the characters are all stereotypes

[idle trellis]

thats not bad per se

[long sorrel]

he has said so himself

No it isn't

[idle trellis]

its what he does with those stereotypes, he uses the same plot beats and character arcs that he used in other books with very small changes

The devils is gonna be a trilogy so who knows maybe the next books are gonna be better, Abercrombie for me always had weaker first books

[long sorrel]

I'm expecting more of the same

which is good for me

[idle trellis]

Let me put it this way, if you love first law, you are most likely gonna love the devils, but if you wanted him to actually do something new and fresh, which is reasonable considering he is starting a new series, you are gonna be disappointed

[tight kindle]

The Starless Sea || @long sorrel And @low hill I don't think I've asked you this.
If you found the Harbor, would you leave? Would you still live on the surface and visit often, or would you make your life down there?
Does your answer change depending on whether it's in the state it was during the book or during its heyday?
I know without a doubt that I would stay. I would probably visit people I know up on the surface but I would make my home down there, because I literally can't imagine more of a paradise than being there for my whole life.||

[long sorrel]

||I am very different than both of you in this regard, I dislike the idea of settling in one place, so I'd go and live periods of time there, could be a few months or a couple of years, and each time it'd bee different, but I cannot imagine just spending my life in one place, I get extremely restless. I could have a retreat of sorts maybe, a place that is my own to go hide from the world when I feel like (which isn't often)||

I DIDN'T INTEND THE BEE PUN

but I'm so riding with it

I love living in the middle of the bustling city and I dislike small communities (I think this is relevant in the context)

[tight kindle]

Interesting
||Would you want to stay awhile if you found it right at the beginning of a new story? Like right after Kat finds/creates the newest one?
A line that hit me on my reread is These people stay and take up residency and these are the ones who begin to shape what the space will become while they inhabit it.
The idea of being able to shape the space while inhabiting it is also extremely appealing to me.||

[long sorrel]

So perhaps if I had to choose one singular place for the rest of my life, it'd still not be there

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I think so, I would

||the beauty of it is that it isn't a static place, well, nowhere is, but this even less. Which is why I'd be okay being there for a while||

[alpine drum]

New library card obtained

Its kind of insane how long i was able to use the library card at my childhood library despite having changed my address several years ago

[low hill]

Visit often.

[snow vessel]

Yeah no everything bad the love interest did in acotar either never actually happened or was totally perfectly fine because isn't he such a sad boy and guess what it was all actually to help her, yknow?

Though they did let one character be bad!! Because apparently every thing he ever did was horrible and evil! Guys, make sure you don't ship feyre with him! You aren't allowed to ship that!

Uuuugh

Oh I didn't realise quite how long ago those messages were

Goddd I'm mad about acotar again

[wraith lynx]

Worked yourself up 😂

[snow vessel]

Genuinely I don't know how I'm meant to line up the ending of acotar and what's said in acomaf

I would not be shocked of acomaf was not totally planned, and so sjm had to basically rewrite the previous book to make the new ship work

The most frustrating thing is how I've seen large parts of the fandom regurgitating the lies and rewrites from book 2

Ughhhh

It's very apparent to me that a lot of the events and characterisation of acomaf just exists to make one ship not ok and make us ship the other couple

Acomaf ||and it's more annoying because I do think there was a decent arc for tamlin and feyre breaking up??? They were both traumatised and not communicating at the start, I don't think we needed to go and make up reasons why he was also bad and horrible in book 1 (that didn't match the actual written book)||

Anyways

Rant over

[random dome]

Love a good book rant thank you

[wraith lynx]

The way the Fandom talks about Rhys would make you think he saves babies from burning buildings 😭

[snow vessel]

😭 and the way the fandom talks about tamlin would make you think he puts the babies in the burning buildings

[random dome]

The fact that he's definitely supposed to be my type and fully whiffed it is all the data I needed

like Zane, tbh

[wraith lynx]

And xaden!!

Xaden would have been a textbook pookie but no, miss Rebecca wanted to throw a brick at my face instead

[snow vessel]

Acotar/acomaf ||the worst most annoying thing I see people hold against tamlin is that both the book, and some of the fandom I've seen, talk about how tamlin "did nothing to save/help feyre under the mountain" in bk1||

||now, technically this is true. He didn't do much to help her, because he was being held prisoner by the main villain 😭 who personally hated him specifically, by the way!! And as soon as Tamlin was freed, the very first thing he does is kill Amarantha (said villain). Meanwhile rhysand, who is praised for being there and helping feyre, has literally had to make himself the most hated and evil person on the continent to get the freedom to help her, and he still supposedly has to disguise his help as harassment so he doesn't get in trouble.||

||so, I think the book is very clear on why tamlin was not able to help feyre. And like... are we forgetting that rhysand's "help" included basically constantly sexually assaulting/harassing her??? Including in private?? With the only justification given being that:
A) it was a cover so his interest in her didn't look suspicious
B) "making her mad at him gave her something to survive by"||

||ALSO FEYRE SAYS IN ACOMAF THAT TAMLIN NEVER CRAWLED/BEGGED FOR HER TO BE SAVED AND I CHECKED and he literally did. That is a thing that the book describes him doing||

||a lot of feyre's complaints abt tamlin, especially in the end of book 1, end up feeling sort of immature because they ignore all of the context and everything of the moment. It kind of came across like she just wanted tamlin to throw his life away in a doomed attempt to save her, rather than wait until he actually could, so... she felt better? Idk||

||and the thing is, I don't think any of this revisionism was necessary. The whole arc of the two of them becoming mutually toxic and traumatised because of book 1 was decent, and the progression of tamlin into someone toxic felt a lot more natural than "oh, you didn't save me when you were a prisoner, you're horrible"||

||the book also treats tamlin and rhysand so incredibly differently because rhysand can literally assault and SA her and its fine because "it was to protect her" but the big big problem with tamlin in bk2 is that he's doing things to protect her that she doesn't want him to||

[minor sleet]

I’m reading a book called Jewish Comedy and this 16th century joke would read exactly the same if it was a modern newspaper comic strip

[snow vessel]

Really xaden should've been the mc

Give us the rebel protagonist

[snow vessel]

I feel like acotar is very much this version of enemies to lovers ^

[wraith lynx]

HAZE. YOU GET IT 😭

[snow vessel]

For whatever reason sjm is scared to let us think and choose a love interest, and scared to let the love interests be messy

So one gets totally whitewashed by the narrative into being perfect and everything he did was OK. And the other becomes horrible and irredeemable and evil for doing far less

[snow vessel]

That whole thing is so strange

FW ||why are we forcing rebels to join our military||

||that feels like a recipe for disaster||

Honestly FW feels incredibly divergent/divergent-era coded. FW ||and so having the hot morally grey rebels that turn out to be the good guys and she joins them... is how we get that||

I'm thinking of like the... divergent, maze runner, etc. sorta subgenre

God I wish acotar was good. I guess that's just the cruel prince.

||Tamlin|| deserves to be in a better book

I wonder if the very simple, in your face morality of the characters is part of why acotar is so generally popular (especially compared to tcp)

You don't have to worry about the characters or ships making you uncomfortable or being messy because the book will tell you exactly who is right!

-# I thought I had left my acotar hate behind but apparently it was just simmering 😂

[ivory cypress]

lmao

i've read them all so i could have an opinion and i gotta say, it didn't really work, i can muster up maybe 10% of an opinion

acotar series ||my opinion is that i didn't like or care enough about tamlin to go to bat for him in any way, but i wish lucien had been vastly more central||

[snow vessel]

Acomaf ||i think the thing with tamlin that made me like him was his screw ups in the start of book 2. They felt... like i understood why he was doing those things, but also why they were bad. And I feel like a series not so focused on making the ship work/not work could've done some interesting things with that sort of toxic hero||

[zinc flicker]

Xaden was such a snorefest

[snow vessel]

TVA 1 ||dang armand really can't get away from the creeps||

[random dome]

My thoughts about ACOTAR is that it happened to get noticed for doing a good idea

I don't think it did the good idea well but everybody liked the idea and then all the other authors went "oh i could do that too"

and here we are

[minor sleet]

Temeraire series ending || https://www.tumblr.com/glowspider/802647841248002048 ||

-# #forgot I had this one in my drafts #Temeraire #tenzing tharkay #william laurence #my art

Tumblr · Dec 11, 2025, 2:50 PM

[analog geode]

Awwwwww

[minor sleet]

I love how pleased with himself Temeraire looks. Cat who got the cream

[uncut shoal]

Shadow of Night 10 ||So far this little trip into the past hasn't accomplished anything. They've learned and found nothing and have a bunch of people pissed off at them||

[snow vessel]

ADOW 5 ||I wonder how much Matthew's research interest is genuine, and how much is him trying to work towards some sort of plot goal||

[snow vessel]

ADOW 7 ||I'm ngl, Matthew does make me a little worried. It's the... anger and possessiveness, I think||

[analog geode]

@uncut shoal Just finished A Civil Campaign. Loved it

[uncut shoal]

Got through Komarr and A Civil Campaign in a day? Nice! Also yeah it's hilarious

You definitely want to read Barrayar and Shards of Honor, and probably The Vor Game before Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

[analog geode]

I’ll definitely go back for them. I’m a quarter of the way through Diplomatic Immunity atm

[uncut shoal]

A Civil Campaign ||The dinner party was so freaking funny and terrible. I loved it. The butter bugs. The Orb. Dono. I died laughing||

[analog geode]

||The guy picked the literal worst time to propose. My favorite part of the book was the butter bug disaster during the vote||

[ripe tide]

Yeah it ||starts off rough||

[grim veldt]

[RR all, apropos of nothing] || TBH, the Telemani have the right idea with their love of foxes.. ||

[snow vessel]

TVA ch2 ||lord I'm not even 20 minutes into armand's story and it's already so screwed up and horrible 😭 that poor boy||

||I'm not surprised he's a little screwed up in the present day||

||geez it's been like two seconds, Marius, how are you already assaulting armand||

[ripe tide]

RAFO. I have thoughts but I can’t share.

[astral atlas]

Tcp 14 ||Lol he's so normal||

[unique turret]

I need to read those books. I have the first one on my TBR.

From what I understand the author was inspired by one of my favorite series, so I’m hoping it will scratch that same itch

[random dome]

||Cardan? Or is this someone else? 👀 ||

[astral atlas]

Yeah. This chapter was ||jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude jude||

[random dome]

Ahhhh yes ok

That one :3

[long sorrel]

As I said, that is a very normal feeling to have

(there are 26 results)

TCP 14

[alpine drum]

John Lennon and Paul McCarthy in late July 1968

[long sorrel]

This is also TCP 14 (this has been a funny search)

[ivory cypress]

aaks always has a zinger ready to go

[astral atlas]

Zinger? I ha....

Anyway I think I'm getting close to (TCP) ||The coronation. I've heard I should stop reading just before it and not pick it up again for months||

[long sorrel]

I did go "oh my god" out loud

not again

[astral atlas]

TCP up to 18 ||So some thoughts are tumbling in my head but idk if any of it makes sense and I don't remember if it's compliant with all the information I've been given. But is oriana who liriope's acorn was meant for? Is oak her son by the king?|| Hmm...

I am conspiracy theorizing over probably nothing lmao, but. Going back and reading random snippets though I don't know what I'm really looking for. ||Oak does have horns, and it would explain why oriana's so protective of him. He was "born" pretty close after their marriage, so maybe it'd make sense as far as like, she's running with liriope's baby and quickly sets up this cover story. I am not sure how she would've fooled madoc into thinking he was their child though, unless he's also in on it. And, liriope wanted "him" to be taken far from the court. If this is in fact oak then they didn't make it very far.||

[random dome]

Cala have mercy on us

[astral atlas]

Tcp up to 18 ||For a brief moment when I first heard about liriope and her death, I was trying to tie it back to jude's mother even. But the body she had burned was human, wasn't it... But like why is balekin still hanging out and doing suspicious stuff with madoc lol||

[astral atlas]

I'm stopping for now but I do have multiple ~4 hour plane rides in the next week! I've already checked out TWK from the library too lol

[long sorrel]

🍿 to all

[wraith lynx]

👀🍿 Indeed

-# if crispy passes me im gonna crash out

[astral atlas]

Wait where are you lmao

Maybe I will stop reading after all 😛

-# Save cosmic a crashout and cause everyone else an even bigger one

[long sorrel]

she has finished TCP and started TWK

so you can continue reaeding

we will allow it

[astral atlas]

Is there a similar point in TWK I can stop before to cause similar anguish

[random dome]

We will not give you the means to torment us 😤

[long sorrel]

Yes!

We can tell you when you get to TWK

[proper silo]

i am so glad i clicked on this

[hoary path]

Does anyone have a very light fantasy novel recommendation that reads like an Agatha Christie novel? It is a gift for my grandmother who was interested in fantasy but struggles with a lot of the like, naming and magic and stuff but wants to try it still

[proper silo]

Hm... I remember rather enjoying Jackaby. It's urban fantasy set in 19th century, and the main characters solve a mysterious supernatural crime

and if your grandma likes it, I do believe it's part one of a series

(I'm not sure if "our world but magic" is something you're interested in wrt to "light fantasy", admittedly)

[wet belfry]

A Natural History of Dragons

Less Agatha Christie and more Elizabeth Peters imo, but surprisingly close imo

[ripe tide]

Love this series, I second the rec (though I haven’t actually gotten around to Christie so I don’t know how suitable it is for the tone you want)

[proper silo]

Inasmuch as I love A Natural History of Dragons and all its sequels, I can't say I see the comparison between it an Agatha Christie 😅

it has more in common with ye olde pulp fiction, imo

[deft stream]

A yarn square for every book I have read in the year

[wet belfry]

The connection in my head is that Lady Trent reminds me a lot of Amelia Peabody, in Elizabeth Peters' detective novels, which are fairly Christiepilled themselves

[proper silo]

i haven't read these, so i can't compare

[minor sleet]

Seconding Lady Trent

It’s the inuniverse memoirs of a woman dragon scientist from the fantasy Victorian period

The narrator of the audiobooks is going for the “outrageous old Victorian lady” voice

[wet belfry]

They're very fun but I also have some hazy memories of them that make me think they might be a little uh dated

I read them 20 years ago

Maybe more

[ripe tide]

It's Kate Reading and she plays it to perfection

[tight kindle]

Fifty Shades of Grey 1 ||So that's... a start. Anastasia is strongly established as a "not like other girls" stereotype because... She's got messy brown hair and wears a sweater?
The trip and fall into Grey's office was definitely a choice, and the awkward fumbling afterwards only further cements her quirky relatable-ness.
The contrast between her and Blonde Number One and Blonde Number Two (yes that's what she calls them in her head) is very forced.||

(I'm reading it fully for the funny)

[burnt girder]

Nice! Second favorite of 2025 for me

[snow vessel]

Adow 8 ||magic yoga?!||

[analog geode]

@uncut shoal Finished Cryoburn. Crazy cliffhanger to leave it on, but I’m going back to Falling Free now

[ripe tide]

I am so sad we didn’t have time for that in the show.

[snow vessel]

Adow ||did they cut the magic yoga club??||

[uncut shoal]

I'm almost done with Shadow of Night ||I'm not liking this book much. They're wasting a ton of time, Matthew keeps giving out random ultimatums, some of which he doesn't even follow up on, Diana is being an idiot about her magic and everyone is just feeling very repetitive||

[spring turtle]

so, I'm reading He Sees You When You're Sleeping for book club

[ivory cypress]

is that a santa horror

[spring turtle]

between this and Quicksilver...are straight people okay?

it's dark romance

[ivory cypress]

😭 oh NO

rip???

horrifying title

[spring turtle]

it's been a trip

unrelated

https://youtu.be/mNtqRY1R6Yk

https://tenor.com/view/ineedit-needit-spongebob-squarepants-need-it-gif-4883495

[snow vessel]

...is it a santa dark romance??

[spring turtle]

I'm nearly done with it and not really. it's more a Christmas-time dark romance, but even that is more circumstantial

[spring turtle]

it's so pretty omg

[snow vessel]

Bit of a random question, but I've branched a bit outside my comfort zone by starting Notes from underground by Dostoyevsky, and I'm finding it... a little difficult to read. I wouldn't say I'm struggling nevessarily, more that I'm having a bit of trouble holding onto everything that's being discussed

Has anyone ever had a similar experience with a book? Would it be worth me trying to make notes or something?

[craggy cargo]

I've always felt that the book is very intentionally made to be slippery.

I always took it to mean that it's more about the mood and tone than the actual plot.

I think taking heavy notes may get even more frustrating pretty quickly, but maybe short chapter by chapter summaries or even reading online chapter summaries of older chapters could work.

Also I swear I can never even memorise that guy's spelling, let alone his books.

[snow vessel]

Helps that his name was on the book sitting next to me :p

[snow vessel]

It's definitely very rambly

I feel like I'll be following each paragraph, then get to the end of the segment and have lost half of what I just read

ADOW 9 ||I must admit, I think Matthew's irritability is making it hard for me to really get behind him||

[craggy cargo]

Huh, then there's multiple spellings lmao.

I've never seen the Y in there.

[craggy cargo]

I thought that was a Notes From Underground spoiler for a second and that sent me for a loop.

[snow vessel]

Huh, weird

[snow vessel]

This is what comes from me reading multiple things at once

[snow vessel]

ADOW 9 ||this is definitely reminding me of some tropes I don't love. With Matthew talking about his "craving" for Diana, and how he's mating...||

[uncut shoal]

I had that same feeling at that same time

[snow vessel]

How did you feel about it later on? Would you say it got better?

[uncut shoal]

It definitely got better

[snow vessel]

Thanks, thats reassuring

[somber timber]

ANA AND DIN 3 DONE

he said august 2026

And a short book in the universe coming out in universe in February/march but might be part of a special edition of tainted cup. Don’t know if sold separately

[snow vessel]

Adow 10 ||oh, Peter Knox, isn't he the guy who was working on the murders?||

[ripe tide]

Yeah

[proper silo]

Peerless 26 ||"I'll save your life if you call me 'daddy' " Excuse me. What. What. What.||

||This book sure has Characters||

[snow vessel]

TVA gen ||every few minutes of this book I come to dislike Marius more and more. I know they're all monsters, but what he's doing is... eugh. Seriously messed up||

[snow vessel]

TVA 3 ||yknow, the armand/Marius stuff here kind of reminds me of armand/Daniel in qotd, but with armand there having taken on the Marius role||