Books (General)

[tight kindle]

Which is only 2/3 of my highest reading speed

[potent linden]

I've seen stamps in the middle of books before, but I don't remember why it's done (despite doing some of it myself as a high school library aide - I must have asked then but I don't remember now)

[quaint burrow]

A stamp in the middle of the book would discourage a thief from defacing the book by removing the stamped page.

I asked my school librarian once

[tight kindle]

Fascinating

[merry galleon]

775 pages on Seeker’s Bane!

[royal carbon]

Good news, I forgot to take a picture of my book haul. Also forgot to update storygraph for the book I finished yesterday.

[quaint burrow]

Owyn wanna trade storygraphs?

[mild lance]

The Spear Cuts Through Water Day 3 ||what an incredible chapter. Getting the Moon’s POV really elevated things imo, and the ending as she finally accepts her death was beautiful||

[tight kindle]

Ahhh man
That's still sitting on my shelf and I need to read it

[tight kindle]

The Hollow Places 1 + Gravity Falls 1.1 ||Why is he just Stanford Pines||

[tight kindle]

The Hollow Places 7 ||I like Simon. He's funny. He's the kind of gay friend I aspire to be.||

[long sorrel]

👀

[tight kindle]

I like this
It's chilling

Not great to read at 1 am though so I think I'm done for the night

[long sorrel]

Lol

I had to finish it in the morning after a certain point

[merry galleon]

I may have overdid it and read Seeker’s Bane until I finished (I am bored and have nothing but time)

But it was a rather interesting read, ||a clear balance of lore, worldbuilding and plot||

[merry galleon]

I’m going to start reading Daindreth’s Traitor

[rare edge]

Sword crossed looks interesting...

That looks cool, what's it about?

[proper silo]

It's a fantasy mystery romance. The premise is that there used to be two generals, Mo Xi and Gu Mang, who were the closest friends, practically inseparable - and, very secretly, lovers. But then, Gu Mang betrayed his country in favour of the enemy, leading Mo Xi to pick up the pieces. Now, years later, Gu Mang is returned to his homeland as a prisoner of war, his mind seemingly utterly broken by whatever he experienced. Mo Xi sets out to figure out what pushed Gu Mang into betrayl and what happened to make him lose his mind now; which, of course, leads to the uncovering of some manner of a conspiracy spanning both countries.

[rare edge]

Your copy to your cousin: this is not for you.

[rare edge]

Ay, book goblin's books!

[rare edge]

Sounds really cool, might get to it sometime.

[proper silo]

It's really entertaining so far! Though, do be aware that it's very much an NSFW novel

(which if, of course, why I'm reading it during downtime at work... 😅 )

[rare edge]

No problem by me! But thanks for the warning!

My favourite comic is Saga + been on AO3 for years at this point, so NSFW stuff doesn't really faze me

[true falcon]

My fav comic series is invincible

(Still hate two issues of that compendium 3)

[proper silo]

I will say, the books are illustrated and while none of the pictures are strictly showing anything, there was one moment where I had to be covering one of the illustrations with one hand and reading the adjacent page as fast as possible cause I was worried about someone coming in and looking over my shoulder

[true falcon]

And no I won’t describe them

[rare edge]

Not read that one, but it's on my list of things to get to.

[rare edge]

So it's just not a book for me to read before lectures is what you're telling me?

[quaint burrow]

read the first six or seven volumes

[true falcon]

It’s a really good superhero story that’ll get you hooked (not the stuff on compendium 3 tho)

[rare edge]

Jeez, what did that do to you?? 😂 Yeah, I think I'm going to try it after Astro City, cause that one has been on the list for a while!

[proper silo]

unless you really like living dangerously

[true falcon]

Again I won’t describe them because they really bad

[rare edge]

Yeah, I was jokingly asking, didn't mean to cross your boundaries.

[true falcon]

No no it’s fine I’m just warning you if you get all 3 compendiums

[rare edge]

My version of living dangerously is to have hardcover books in my bag with the dust jacket on.

[rare edge]

Ah, cool!

[true falcon]

Have you seen the show invincible?

[proper silo]

Also, I guess this is as good a moment as any to gush about the fact that I really love the artwork in Remnant of Filth I am unfortunately very bad at photographing it, but you get the idea

[minor sleet]

Yes it’s great

Too bad seven seas didn’t keep hiring this person because some of their new art is not so good

See the cover for Joyful Reunion

[proper silo]

they seem to have a bunch of different artists working on them, almost every book i've had of theirs had a slightly different artstyle 🤔

but yeah, i think this one is my favorite (I think they also did Erha artwork?)

[ancient bay]

?

[rare edge]

House of Leaves opens with "This is not for you."

[ancient bay]

Ahh

I see

[rare edge]

OOH, that's pretty!

[proper silo]

yeeeah

[long sorrel]

I've still not finished Dark Rise

Kinda lost all steam when you reached what I wanted you to reach

The very end

I just wanted you to suffer

But I'll finish it this week lol

[proper silo]

Rise or Heir?

[long sorrel]

... dammit

[proper silo]

i'd joke but you corrected me on the same so many times, it's not even funny 😅

[long sorrel]

I felt like the mod!

[low hill]

FYI, @ripe tide

[royal carbon]

Good series

[proper silo]

opened "Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs To Die" and I must say, this might be the first time I've seen a book begging me for a review before I started reading it

i won't hold it against the author cause definitely not their decision, but not the best start

my heart is immediately won back by my favorite way of naming chapters

[long sorrel]

You're in for a treat

[proper silo]

if all chapters are named like this, undoubtedly 😌

Sir Cameron 1 ||Oh gods, the first person took me by surprise ||

||Honestly, I am beginning to really dislike the trend some romance novels have where they only ever show you the POV of one half of the relationship, so this has me immediately concerned||

2 ||I like the conceit that Cameron is the one writing chapter titles. I like Cameron, too. He's pathetic in a funny way||

3 ||Is... is the name of the world literally just Narnia with an L?||

4 ||why is Cameron's first plan always seduction ||

||I admire the self-confidence but bruh||

||correction: why is Cameron's first plan always seduction when it never works||

6 ||oh hey, other characters POVs. So my hopes for peeking into Merulo's head are not entirely dashed||

||but also why did it have to be glenda||

7 ||well, that explains the vulture on the cover 🤔 ||

[proper silo]

Sir Cameron 7 ||man, I hope Glenda gets the crap kicked out of her before this book is over||

8 ||i would love for this book to speak a little less about bowel movements. It is neither interesting nor particularly funny||

[light ruin]

Who else here is on the patreon for dungeon crawler carl and reading the book 8 chapter releases?

[junior dew]

Oh do I have to read sir Cameron now too

Peer pressure is a real thing

[junior dew]

I’m not personally. I’ll listen to it all when it’s on audible

[tight kindle]

Yes

[royal carbon]

Hmm

[proper silo]

Sir Cameron 11 ||I wonder how many more different forms Cameron will assume before this book is over||

Ngl, as of right now, I am finding this book distinctly whelming

Like it's not bad, but y'all were hyping it up so much here, and thus far I've found it just alright at most

[proper silo]

13 ||Huh, so it's a post-post-apocalypse setting 🤔 I wonder what the God is, then, an alien?||

[oblique zodiac]

I took the next step. I am back!

Continuing The Wind in the Willows

[oblique zodiac]

I can't do this..

[tight kindle]

The Hollow Places 13 ||I'm amazed they made it back tbh||

14 ||Random Mormonism cameo?||

[snow vessel]

Is it worth taking a break?

[oblique zodiac]

Idk. I didn't realize how severe this was. I can't even read one page properly now

[snow vessel]

That sounds like it may be worth taking a break, imo

Do you know if its because of the book, or because of exhaustion/something on your end?

[tight kindle]

I need to go to bed
I'm getting extremely unsettled

[proper silo]

Sir Cameron 15 ||wait when did Merulo start finding him attractive, I thought he found Cameron just annoying and now they've suddenly had sex?||

||and now he's back to being standoffish??? Them having sex at this point feels like it makes 0 sense||

||...I wonder if Merulo is a dragon/former AI. Would explain his age and his magical power||

[tight kindle]

I have not yet gone to bed

And may not be able to put the book down until I finish

And then probably have horrible nightmares

[analog geode]

No sleep till Brooklyn

[tight kindle]

Finished The Hollow Places
Chilling, captivating, disturbing

[merry galleon]

95 pages on Daindreth’s Outlaw!

I realise that I wrote I was starting Daindreth’s traitor - but no, I am starting book 2 which is Daindreth’s Outlaw

[long sorrel]

||I love the body horror in it so much||

||It wasnt hair 😈 ||

This earthsea cover

[low hill]

That is nice.

[grim veldt]

Neroconfetto immediately grabbed my attention because at first glance it looked like two guys kissing

[snow vessel]

...I also saw that, and now looking at it I'm trying to figure out how on earth I saw that

[proper silo]

Remnants of Filth 126 ||You know, I've spent the entire book thus far feeling like Mo Xi is one bad day away from absolutely losing his goddamn mind, and now that it seems to be happening, I am absolutely down for it 🍿 ||

(yeee, reading two books at once, what could go wrong)

[long sorrel]

I have been purposefully leaving my book at the hotel

Least i sit down and read away my day and half in Venice

But now I'm waiting for the boat and I miss it

[low hill]

[Labyrinth's Heart] A good opening twist, I had been sort of wondering when it was going to happen but ||given that "Ren might be exposed as not e noble, although that's not actually illegal now she is a noble legally" was a major plot point in book 2, I do wonder what they're going to do differently about this version of the same threat?||

[proper silo]

Gods, 21 chapters into Sir Cameron and this is the first time this allegedy comedy book actually manages to make me chuckle

Like don't get me wrong, it's not bad, just sort of... I do not find it funny

Amusing, maybe, worthy of a sensible chuckle every once in a while, but not funny

[long sorrel]

I did think some stuff was pretty funny

But I wasn't expecting to find it funny at all

Since I don't generally like comedy

I did know I was reading comedy mind you

[low hill]

From what Grey said it sounded as though it was appealing to a particular Tumblr style of humour? Which might not be your type of comedy.

[long sorrel]

I don't like any style of comedy, though I do have some sort of morbid humour on occasion but I don't generally see that well done in media anyway

Like The Devils does that a little I guess

[low hill]

That was mostly directed at Rasarr to be fair. :)

[long sorrel]

Mhm

I think specifically, Sir Cameron ALL ||It doesn't develop the romantic relationship in a way that's either common or traditional or in depth. It's more like a focal point of the story but it just simply happens and a lot of it is off page and not fleshed out for the reader (I personally loved that)||

[merry galleon]

Whelp! I gone and done it. It was simply too good to put down and read Daindreth’s Outlaw until the end.

I’m moving onto reading Daindreth’s Traitor.

[proper silo]

I'm not sure what "tumblr's particular style of humor" here is supposed to be, tbh

[low hill]

No, neither do I, because I don't use Tumblr.
-# Except for following Erin Morgensetern.

[proper silo]

Is it the poop jokes? The fact that one character is the most annoying POV I've had to read in a good long while? The interesting, but not particularly amusing references to the modern world?

Sir Cameron 23 ||I am genuinely confused by Merulo and Cameron's relationship development. Like, did I skip a scene? A chapter? Several?||

25 ||I am, however, quite intrigued by how the plot will proceed now that our main character is headless||

29 ||Theory confirmed, yay||

[junior dew]

Oh cool thanks for letting me know this is a book to skip

[long sorrel]

Does it have a lot of poop jokes? I remember like one lol

[proper silo]

At least 4 come to mind

[proper silo]

It's not a bad book, I'm just finding it kind of... Mid

[long sorrel]

Well, I think 2 of them are like ||how Cameron is rather lame rather than poop joke||?

That's safe for you

Yeah that's fair

[proper silo]

But I'm at 50%, so there's room for improvement

[long sorrel]

Its not like you have to like it

[proper silo]

I'd like to, though

[junior dew]

Which means I don’t need to add it to my TBR

[ivory cypress]

the tumblr humour is the way it's written, like down to word choice. the entire book feels like a Tumblr user shibboleth

I personally found it hysterical from moment one. and that's just the way it goes sometimes, humour is the most subjective thing

no improvement needed, it was what I wanted (and expected) from the beginning

not only did I read the preview chapter and go "yes, good, if it's all like that, then I'm happy" (and it was and I was), I also do follow the author on Tumblr, and had a very accurate idea of the tone of this book

[rugged tartan]

Is tgat about Sir Cameron? Because that might get me to read it

[ivory cypress]

it is a 5 star book for me, and also a book that I can see not landing with people outside this sphere

[proper silo]

The writing style I like, it's entertaining enough, it's just not laugh-out-loud funny

And also I feel like I'm missing chapters even though I know for a fact that I'm not

[ivory cypress]

I mean, it's fine, but above you were talking about how it wasn't funny for you. and that's fine, that's a big humour be like

[proper silo]

I mean, yeah, i get it, I was just trying to explain what I meant

[ivory cypress]

yeah very different sounding opinions, is all

[oblique zodiac]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ||Hmm. It is interesting how Hagrid didn't notice Harry was alive when he was carrying him because of his physical limitations such as his calloused hands and thick clothes.||

[minor sleet]

The author of Sir Cameron is a big name on tumblr so I’m not shocked

[proper silo]

Finished Remnant of Filth vol 4. ||Now that we've established that the Emperor is a lying liar who lies, I am 100% certain he is not surviving this book (GOOD). Which begs the question of who's gonna replace him 🤔 On one hand, my asshole pookie Murong Lian would be a hilarious choice and he already got foreshadowing for being in line of succession, on the other hand, I am still quite confident he's gonna turn out to be a villain too, which decreases his odds of survival||

||Then there's Murong Mengze, who frankly is both a better administrator and a better person than both the Emperor and Murong Lian, and if there was any justice in the world, she's be the emperor already So she has my vote. She did so much for Mo Xi, I'm sure he could pay her back with a little coup.||

Also the next volume has my blorbo on the cover and actually mentioned in the back cover description for once so that's rather exciting

[warm leaf]

Guys, I'm undecided about which saga I should read next; I'm torn between Malazan and Red Rising

[wraith lynx]

manifests red rising 👀👀

[proper silo]

well, if nothing else, i think red rising is shorter, so you'll get to the other series faster

[warm leaf]

I'm currently reading the second WoT book, but honestly, I might put it aside, although I won't abandon it because I bought the first six books.

I've heard wonderful things about Malazan and its complexity, which doesn't really intimidate me; I've read The Silmarillion

I've seen very little of Red Rising, but from what little I've heard, it's also great. The only difference is that the last book has a huge rating on Goodreads, and it's another masterpiece

[snow vessel]

Oh noooo

Both of those would be my choice to recommend

Like, if it was malazan or, idk, the expanse, I'd go "oooo malazan". Or if it was red rising or, idk, fourth wing, I'd go "ooooo red rising"

But now I have to choose between them??? How cruel

[lusty meteor]

I would recommend malazan, but dont feel pressured to read it in one shot

It is structured for breaks in between books

[snow vessel]

I think both series are very good. RR's first trilogy especially is comparatively very short, so I'd maybe be inclined to recommend that first

I suppose there's also... what are you in the mood for right now? Something more scifi or fantasy? More action or more lore?

[warm leaf]

Okay, obviously I'm going to read both, I just want to decide which one I should buy first

[snow vessel]

I think I would recommend at least RR 1-3 first because that's a self-contained trilogy of faster-paced, shorter books

[warm leaf]

Mmm, well, maybe I like fantasy more, although perhaps that's because I haven't finished reading Dune, It's another book I have on my reading list

Although I have read Ender's Game and Ready Player One

Which of the two has an epic ending?I mean, I suppose they both have it, but which one closes everything up really well?

[long sorrel]

Please don't answer that outside of spoilers 😔

[snow vessel]

Well RR kind of isn't finished

RR series structure
||books 1-3 were written as a trilogy, so 3 wraps most everything up with a big neat finale. However, Pierce later had some things he felt he wanted to explore more (that I can't explain without spoiling the ending) and so he wrote a sequel series, books 4-7. Those books are bigger and larger in scope, but 7 isn't out yet, so we don't know how everything will resolve||

I've not finished malazan yet so someone else will have to speak for that ending

[snow vessel]

-# so, it has a set of books with a neat ending, and then another set of books that dont yet have an ending

[warm leaf]

what

[snow vessel]

Think like mistborn eras or stormlight arcs, yknow?

[warm leaf]

Okay, and one last question: which series keeps improving despite starting off well?

[snow vessel]

RR starts off a bit rough in book 1 and gets a lot better very quickly and keeps improving. Malazan... I know some people say book 1 is rough, I disagree, but I would also say malazan generally improves as Erikson gets more experienced at the style

I think I would say RR grows a lot more, but maybe starts a bit lower (just for book 1), whereas malazan (imo) grows less but starts better

[warm leaf]

ty, So, I think I'll buy both anyway

[snow vessel]

As a fan of both, that means I've done my job

[warm leaf]

And which one to read first, I suppose RR would be better because I'll finish it faster to get into Malazan

[analog geode]

IMO RR gets much worse after 3

Dune starts good then gets weird, then he died and his son and Kevin J Anderson did even weirder stuff

[snow vessel]

I would probably recommend that, yeah

[warm leaf]

but, the final book its releasing this year or not?

[snow vessel]

Maybe

There's been no official announcement, so I wouldn't count on it

I think Spring 2026 was when Pierce said it might release, but it's still in the works. So I imagine that date may change

[warm leaf]

And is it true that the book, I think it's called Lightbringer, is as good as they say?

[snow vessel]

I really loved light bringer

I can't speak for everyone, but it's personally my favourite of the series

[snow vessel]

Twice this book has referred to one of the characters as a "cruel prince"

[wraith lynx]

Everything reminds me of him 😔

[snow vessel]

Exactly

[light drum]

Pierce has been very intentional about not giving a date so idk

[wraith lynx]

Has he?? So he just hates me personally thats it

[analog geode]

Yep

[snow vessel]

I remember a qna semi-recently where I think he gave a sort of... "idk maybe spring 2026", which is where the date a lot of people have comes from, I think. But yeah, its sorta just been "when it's ready"

Praying for red god and alecto the ninth in 2027

[junior dew]

Wizard of Earthsea is neat so far

I’m on chapter 5 currently

[analog geode]

One of my favorite series ever

[junior dew]

Wizard of Earthsea through partial chapter 5 || I dig the vibe of “arrogant kid is steered by ego and hatred and gets a big FAFO moment, and it shakes him to his core and also unleashes some formless shadow monster from the the land of the dead”. Cool premise ||

[junior dew]

It’s very well written so far

[rugged tartan]

Le Guin can write

[junior dew]

This is my first exposure to her writing

I also have Left Hand of Darkness but I haven’t managed to get to it yet

[analog geode]

IMO her masterpieces are Tehanu (Earthsea 4), The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed

[junior dew]

Duly noted!

[rugged tartan]

I should get back to Lathe of Heaven. Tonight maybe!

[analog geode]

The Lathe of Heaven is my favorite of hers

[light drum]

Ya at dragonsteel he basically said he didn't want to give a date cause he'd feel like failing the fans if he didn't make it

[mild lance]

Finished The Spear Cuts Through Water! On the whole, I liked it quite a bit!

[minor sleet]

The Lathe of Heaven is so good!!!

[light drum]

Added to my tbr

[proper silo]

Sir Cameron 30 ||Merulo getting drained by turning back time for the whole world makes sense, but the fact that he'd do that for Cameron at this point doesn't, tbh||

||Frankly, I thought we were at most at the stage where he's physically attracted to Cameron at most, and now he's sacrificing all of his magic for him? When the hell did that happen?||

The romantic development between the two leads in this book feels less like an arc and more like a staircase, and I have no idea what causes it to ascend each step 😫

[proper silo]

still ch30 ||Now that the relationship is established it's nice, i like it, I just wish it was established better||

[long sorrel]

@proper silo i got an email from Pacat's patreon but it was just a q&a, maybe I'll give it a look later

[proper silo]

To set my expectations low, what I imagine it says: "Q: When is the next book coming out? A: I don't know yet"

[long sorrel]

Oh I'm sure id know if the book was out

[proper silo]

Also, ty for the reminder I need to check the Patreon for that book 3 snippet

[long sorrel]

He would have posted about the date I'm sure

[long sorrel]

There is actually 2

[proper silo]

Even more important for me to remember to check it at home

[long sorrel]

We can suffer together once more

[merry galleon]

It took me a couple of hours but I finished Daindreth’s Traitor. I was enjoying it so much I couldn’t put it down.

[proper silo]

Sir Cameron 32 ||I am glad Hydna exists, her presence is a very welcome reprieve from Glenda||

[long sorrel]

||but Glenda is such a lovely woman||

||i think her chapters are at least rather short in general? Though all chapters are pretty short||

[forest sierra]

Yeah

And I'm of the opinion that RR's back half is worlds above the first trilogy

Book 5 is kinda whack as it tries to be as dark as possible, which is fine most of the time but can seem extra at points and has the worst of Pierce Brown's signature asspulls imo

But books 4 and 6 rock

4's my personal fav

[snow vessel]

I think I heard Pierce had a rough time on 5

DA ||that kinda shows, imo, with just how... a lot of plots do some big pivots, some things get discarded and random new stuff added||

[silk crypt]

Any recommendations for like about epic fantasy but more focus about cultures and all that. Less about powers and all that and alot of grounded writing ? Like lifestyles, warfare, who the people are, clothing etc etc

I want for alot of things to be undefined kinda like an archeological/explorer experience rather than a everything is defined sanderson style

[merry galleon]

I’m starting Daindreth’s Sorceress! IM EXCITED!

[long sorrel]

You sure are plowing through those books!

[merry galleon]

I’ve got nothing but time (and my paranoid thoughts needs a distraction)

[long sorrel]

Mhm, sounds like you're having fun

[minor sleet]

Read Ursula K Le Guin

This is her trademark

You can also have luck finding authors who have completed or dropped out of anthropology or history PhDs like Marie Brennan, Ada Palmer or Arkady Martine

I love finding a fantasy or scifi author with anthropology training because you know they’ve thought about their world building in depth

[silk crypt]

Which book do you have in mind ?

[silk crypt]

Same. It doesnt have to be perfect but I honestly care alot about details and like how grounded it feels

Like clothing, food&water, daily life, locations, culture, military culture, gender roles, settlemen locations etc etc are something i really really enjoy reading and discovering whether fantasy or historical

[minor sleet]

Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed are both about outsiders visiting a very different society from their own and remarking on the cultural differences while pursuing personal or political goals of their own

But I think you’d like her short story collection Four Ways to Forgiveness

[silk crypt]

Oh wait I remember getting recommended those. Which one is like not as depressing ? I am currently probably not in the mood for depressing stuff

[minor sleet]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Ways_to_Forgiveness

Uhhh… The Disspossessed maybe?

[silk crypt]

It is part of the Hainish Cycle apparently 7th book. I assume I do not have to read uhm the other 6 first books ?

[minor sleet]

No

Her Hainish cycle books are not really connected

[silk crypt]

Aight. Just disclaimer i'm not against depressing toned stories. I just like a blend of depressing and hopeful rather than leaning too much on both ends

[minor sleet]

They share a universe in concept and background details only to the extent that most people don’t notice

Another short story collection option is The Birthday of the World and Other Stories, which feels very anthropological

[junior dew]

Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu 100%

[forest sierra]

He really didn't need to do all that

[finite sonnet]

I have now

[potent linden]

Finished Project Hail Mary the other day bc my mom's book club is going to read it and I wanted to finish before lending my copy to her. Good book! Emotions! PHM all ||I want the catharsis of him yelling at Stratt though, damnit!||

[true falcon]

I need to start reading soon because I messed up my reading streak

[potent linden]

PHM minor ||on another note, singular they for unknown genders was RIGHT THERE, my dude 😭||

[true falcon]

DCC is getting a ttrpg

[forest sierra]

Wouldn't have been very gen X nerd trying to be a dudebro of Weir

[potent linden]

oof, is he transphobic or smth?

[hollow hedge]

I don't know about that, just from a different generation when people were taught things differently, Mistborn itself has a 'neutral he' before he did things differently in RoW

(of course PHM is much newer)

[forest sierra]

Nah I don't think so

But he's very much...what I said

I mean even at the beginning of this book there's a semi dismissive remark about someone getting something vegan

[analog geode]

Was it the author or the character though

[silk crypt]

Reading the book description of it but can you tell me what it is like ?Themes wise ?

[proven token]

The manual for Azul uses a neutral she as a deliberate subversion gag

Peak game

Oh yeah finished IOTE
The Aeneid 8 ||Love how when talking about the queen of the amazons the first thing that Virgil thinks to do is mention how she is so manly that she can't even spin wool||

||Not "oh wow powerful warrior with great heritage like literally everyone else but "yeah no she doesn't do woolspinning"||

[minor sleet]

Yes!!! The Aeneid!! Another person reads epic poetry

https://tenor.com/view/sickos-sicko-haha-yes-creeper-gif-25057805

Aeneid 8 ||this is Penthesilea, right, not Hippolyta?||

||Or is it Camilla, who isn’t an Amazon queen but is a super cool fighting woman like an Amazon who can run across stalks of grain||

[merry galleon]

6 more days until Of Blood and Fire is rereleased!

[true falcon]

Finished chapter 1 of Carl

[mild lance]

more detailed thoughts on The Spear Cuts Through Water ||I realy liked the unique narration style and how it jumped in time between the main story and the narrator's life. In particular, letting us hear characters' thoughts throughout the story even for minor side-characters really helped flesh out the world and made every participant in the story feel like a real person. The romance was well done (add it to the list of good MLM fantasies). My only complaints are that not every story thread felt like it got resolved satisfactorily, and I feel like the sudden apocalyptic threat introduced in the last moments was an unnecessary escalation compared to the rest of the book before it, but overall still very good||

I watched an interview with Simon Jimenez where he talked about how after his first book The Vanished Birds, which I guess really plays with time in the narrative, he decided not to do that this time and keep to a simple, linear story, but he just couldn't help himself lmao

[junior dew]

Been a few years now since I read it and I don’t consciously think about themes.

Basically the first book effectively serves as a prequel for the rest of the series, laying the foundation for the rest of it.

Here are some of the author’s own words on the matter, taken from an article I just found. The article is light on spoilers but has some, so I pieced together the spoiler free snapshots from the article that address your questions and specifically touch on themes central to the story

[analog geode]

I need to finish the first one. I wasn’t really vibing with the writing style

It kept telling you that things happened without actually diving into any of them

[junior dew]

The first book does read very much as a really interesting revolutionary history and the subsequent books explore a lot. Clashing of cultures, technological innovation and discovery and engineering in exploration of an alternative path of technological advancement, some fantastic character work (at least based on my standards at the time I read it), and some stuff I don’t want to spoil.

It’s one of the best series I’ve read. Might give it a reread this year actually. The moment I finished it I wanted to reread it and I also ended up really coming to appreciate how excellently the first book laid the groundwork for all that came in the subsequent 3. Also one of the most satisfying endings to a series I’ve read.

[junior dew]

That’s definitely really fair! I personally felt like it did dive into the events still, though I can see how it wouldn’t be as deep as you would perhaps like.

That said, the first book very much does read like a (more compelling) history textbook. So it covers a lot of ground and lays down a lot of foundational context that spans a broader scope rather than going super deep into each moment of each event it covers.

I wasn’t completely sold on the series in book 1, but my gf had raved about the series and I’m so glad I continued. My appreciation for book 1 really came about in full force throughout the rest of the series.

Book 1 very much is like a prelude or prequel, establishing the history that grounds the story of books 2-4

Damn, I have so many things to read but maybe I’ll do a reread after Earthsea

I absolutely would recommend finishing book 1 and giving the second book a chance. And evaluating from there. It’s a bit of an up front investment for sure but my god the payoff is so good (imo)

[wide hearth]

I find with third person omniscient narrative it is harder to engage emotionally with the characters, so if that's something you look for in a book then Book 1 (or other series that use a similar voice, like Earthsea?) might not land? I wonder if Book 1 would have made sense in any other voice though.

[long sorrel]

I find 1st person quite often harder to engage

I think it's not about 1st or 3rd person but most 1st person I've read is too... closed or not fleshed out enough

I've read some that is good but quite often it falls flat and it feels I'm reading through a caricature of a person. 3rd person makes it clear that you're only getting bits of it and not their entire brain.

Which gives me feel that there is more to the character that's not being put on page

[random dome]

I like first person best when it's actually being used to convey a character's unique voice in the way they tell the story

Like I think the Murderbot books are a great use of first person because Murderbot itself has such a unique and engaging perspective on the things that happen to it

But if someone is just having regular narrative stuff, third person feels most neutral

[long sorrel]

I've read some great 1st person. But it's usually a miss for me. Just... its Just aggressively fine

[ivory cypress]

I genuinely don't experience a difference as a reader between first and third

if asked about a book I've been reading, it actually requires me to go look because I don't even remember which one I'll have been in

[long sorrel]

There is also like, if you've multiple povs in first person and the voice doesnt change whatsoever it falls even more flat

[long sorrel]

I forget after a while for these. Tbf I'm comparing mid 1st with mid 3rd

[alpine drum]

I feel like with 3rd person the author generally can pull off better prose without calling attention to the prose if that makes sense?

For me at least, flowery language or clever turns of phrase work better from an external narrator

I think there is also stuff that works better in 1st person than 3rd tbf

[long sorrel]

If the prose is really good I'm fine with either, just take me for a ride, thanks

[wet belfry]

At some point I have to wonder if this is a failing of the tools the author is using or a failing of the author

Like, bad writing is bad, I agree

[long sorrel]

But if its a mid prose 1st is more boring

[long sorrel]

I think 3rd person hides the lack of skill better basically

My current favourite id 3rd person present, which is not a common or easy choice. But those who pull it take me to heaven. But if done worse its worse

Realistically there's more mid prose than good or bad. So I default to the more neutral option

Though i do like when people take risks even if it didn't fully work out in the end

I should probably note that I read a lot of smut that defaults to first person and the writing is not good for many of those

[true falcon]

I like how short the chapters are in dungeon crawler Carl

[random dome]

Lbr, the most valid narrative POV is second person and Harrow the Ninth was correct to do it

[minor sleet]

Everyone say thank you Andrew Hussie for writing homestuck in the second person and indelibly influencing Tamsyn Muir

[random dome]

The ways in which The Locked Tomb is so extremely not at all like Homestuck while simultaneously being derived from the existence of Homestuck are multitudinous and compelling

[brazen pilot]

usha you should read wolf hall

[long sorrel]

Why, besides the prose?

[brazen pilot]

Well it's a 10/10 book imo just in a general sense but the prose is a huge part of why

[velvet umbra]

Isnt second person like “you” instead of “I” or “he/she/they”?

[brazen pilot]

It isn't just third person present, but third person present that's viscerally close to the main character in a way that makes it jump around in time and topic easily, while still maintaining flow and being cohesive, because it follows the natural pace of his thoughts. And it uses that to paint a really nuanced and compelling portrait of him as a person.

Also just very strong historical fiction overall, took a time period I didn't care about at all and made me invested in its political and cultural struggles

[long sorrel]

I will add it to the tbr

This doesn't mean much but it's there

[long sorrel]

That is second person usually yeah

I really should read TLT

[velvet umbra]

She must change the perspective for the second book cause Im pretty sure the first one was normal third person limited

[brazen pilot]

Yeah

[velvet umbra]

Interesting

[alpine drum]

TLT prose stuff ||so far each book has had a different perspective (idk what the technical term is for the 1st person limited/3rd person omnicient/etc is)||

[cosmic sundial]

The newest show made me revisit ASOIAF and once again

What a stellar series of books. Like, even when I do have complaints (I have, several) what it does well is done so well

Hell, even some of my complaints (ASOIAF) ||stem from GRRM accidentally making something much much cooler than he intended and having the prose pivot hard to not make them too protagonical. How good must the book be for a complaint to be you make stuff cooler than expected||

[random dome]

Correct! The POV is quite different in the second and third books (but the second is notable because it's second person and it's such a rare kind of prose)

[alpine drum]

is there a name for the category that 2nd person belongs to?

past : tense :: 2nd person : ?

[wide hearth]

Voice?

[random dome]

Point of view, I believe

[alpine drum]

that makes sense

[buoyant whale]

i've seen perspective used as well

[minor sleet]

Wonder Woman v Absolute Wonder Woman in DC KO #4

[versed agate]

all words that Aaks used and then asked "is there a word for this? 🤔 "

[random dome]

Thinking back, I think Harrow may be my favorite of the Locked Tomb books and the second person narration is a big part of my love for it

[velvet umbra]

I haven’t read that yet but Im so used to past tense third person anything else is kind of jarring

[random dome]

I will say (vibes, no plot spoilers) ||it is supposed to make you feel that way and there are extremely satisfying reasons revealed later why it's doing that. The reader being put in an uncomfortable headspace where the narrative doesn't feel like it's right is entirely on purpose.||

[long sorrel]

I really like present tense

1st person present tense too

And the very little 2nd person present tense I've read I've loved too

[random dome]

I do present tense for RP, but most other kinds of prose I do past

[long sorrel]

I read something not long ago that was present tense but I dont remember what rn

[velvet umbra]

I dont dislike it, it’s just jarring at first and takes a minute to get used to

Like rn I’m reading the Fifth Season and ||it has one POV that’s second person present and the others are like typical third person (past I think) which is fine once your used to it but threw me at first||

[true falcon]

Finished 3 chapters of dcc today

Now I’m on chapter 5

[ivory cypress]

I like second person

because it's honestly just stealth first person and if the author is doing it right, the switch from "you" to "I" is chef kiss delicious

[brazen pilot]

i agree it's stealth first person and that that's a good, but that does make me wonder about alternatives

i've not sure i've read any uses of second person that deliberately leaned into how the narrator does not know what's in the protagonist's head, and might disagree on things

like that's generally a subtle aspect of it but it could be more in the forefront

maybe a few short sections of homestuck do it more but nothing else comes to mind

i wonder how well it would work; it feels like something that might get old pretty fast in a full novel

[old flint]

Iain Banks's "Complicity" has the killer's perspective sections in second person since it's, well, about making the reader complicit

[unique turret]

Iain Banks did some cool stuff with perspective and PoV

[ivory cypress]

DCC series general ||I kind of can't wait to catch up so I can take a breather from these books, the bleakness is getting to me a little bit, a little cloud over me. Carl is EXCELLENT in the midst of all this but bruh....||

[true falcon]

DCC so far when I read chapters 1 through 6 ||aliens invaded earth for mining materials for dungeon crawling and tutorials based on video games||

[ivory cypress]

I'm trying to decide what DCC feels like as I approach the end of the published books so far (general tone/other media touchstones in case anybody would feel a mood spoiler is too much) ||and it feels like... yeah there's a bit of Cradle but that's its theoretical litrpg foundations. it's also like hunger games/squid game plus the mercy of the gods. there are a lot of touchstones I could reach for but really trying. Carl and Dafyd aren't really alike but there is at least one axis where they VERY much are, which reeeeeally works for me 😍 ||

[long sorrel]

Oh, you said the one forbidden thing

That would make me consider it

[ivory cypress]

I wondered

DCC mood spoiler for Usha if you want ||Carl is... like he fits the tone of the books which aren't as serious as mercy of the gods, but he does have "accidentally the face/leader of the human rebellion to a seemingly overpowering alien empire keeping them in impossible bondage" and the rage and smarts to get through a lot of difficult things||

[long sorrel]

Hmmm, I understand

||the rage and smarts are what would work for me I think||

[ivory cypress]

there is also a lot of stuff in DCC however where I'm like. oh some people just aren't going to be down with that. DCC spoiler from the first book on ||like the game's system ai having a non ironic foot fetish which it enacts on Carl, which I don't care about, but I don't expect everyone to be as neutral as me on the things like that in these ||

[ivory cypress]

DCC general ||it's sooooo hot 🥵||

DCC general (once you're well into the premise) ||it was very clever and good writing in a lot of ways to have Princess Donut the cat, not least because she's actually a REALLY excellent character and nowhere near a joke character, by having this relationship, Just A Man and His Cat, it lets a LOT of really good internal motivations come out in conversations between them. a lot of Carl's deep philosophy and motivations for what he does comes out in the relationship with this hilarious cat in serious moments between them and it's kind of the best scenes in the books are when they're talking seriously||

[long sorrel]

I've gone back to Fifth Season I did a quick skim of the 5 chapters I had read. I'm now halfway and damn, I have so many jumbled thoughts!
I'm on chapter 13. ||Things I've picked up, there are missing things in the sky? The PoVs of Essun and the others do not seem to happen in the same timeline. Though it it's possible that the other PoVs don't know the Season has started but hmmm. I don't understand the obelisk or where they come from but they might have people inside? I've many other scattered thoughts and things I've picked up||

Also this chapter is called ||you're on the trail||

And I fully read that as in "you're on a path in the woods"

[ivory cypress]

never mind, Matt Dinniman you are my enemy

DCC 7, chapter 2 spoilers

[tight kindle]

Shots fired lmao

[long sorrel]

Oh also ||everything about the Fulcrum is so messed up 😬 I hope they elope or something but I have a feeling she's going to die (Syen) though hopefully not||

Fifth Season 15 ||So I guess the 2 storylines are before the prologue and Essun's is continuing the prologue. The man that helps provoque the cataclism could be Alabaster (or could not, no specific reason) and Hoa likely came out of the geode and the bundle is basically the geode pieces he needs to eat. Whether that is related to the boy in the Obelisk at Allia idk... probably unrelated. ||

||... hmmm Im starting to be suspicious of who Essun was||

||I remember from when i was skimming the first 5 chapter she mentioned a deep male voice from her consciousness and it being "from another life" 🤔 ||

[somber timber]

Yay! You’re into the book!

[long sorrel]

Yes

Completely hooked now, too

Ah

17 ||So I was thinking Syen might be Essun, but now I got confirmation that Damaya is Syen which I think confirms the other as well, then. This poses some questions. During the prologue, I'm pretty sure Damaya's brother is the one that talks to Essun about his sister... which means he was telling ... his sister? Didn't Essun kill him? When she was leaving 🤔... what a mess! ||

[snow vessel]

Yes!

[potent linden]

Usha I thought you didn't like The Lightning Thief

and I don't really know whether I can recommend The Longest Thread, it had its days but also a lot of variance in quality of storytelling tbh

[snow vessel]

Ughh now I want to reread Harrow the Ninth

[potent linden]

(End do you actually know what The Longest Thread is or are you just laughing at the joke in general?)

[long sorrel]

Also Fifth Season 17 -ish ||the stuff missing in the sky has to be obelisk. I thought it might mean stars (or other astronomical bodies) but now I think it means stars. And he (the man that broke the earth) reached "up" for power... so reached up to the obelisks? Given I now now they can connect to them and use their power. He talks about freeing slaves which I had thought meant orogens but what if he meant also the stone eaters trapped in the obelisks?||

[snow vessel]

(Just the general joke)

(Wait.)

(It sounds familiar)

[potent linden]

it's a sort-of-RP from the 17S forums - lives up to its name at currently 4400+ pages (damn, they hit 4k when I wasn't watching)

[snow vessel]

Right! I think I might’ve seen that on the forums

[wraith lynx]

Ooo should I hop into 5th season too?. 👀

[snow vessel]

I was tryna think of a book called that lol

[wraith lynx]

Hmm I was going to read a short story first but ahh it calls to me

[long sorrel]

Hmmm~

Yeees

[potent linden]

probably has more than enough words for one at this point

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season 19 ||The narration for Syen just said "you had no idea". Which is either a mistake or the voice is starting to mix.
... has that been happening before and I've not noticed???||

[ivory cypress]

canadian news highlight ||oh no maybe we're not beating the allegations||

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season 19 ||Well crap, she is pregnant ... this... can't be Nassun? I'm... more certain that the guy that broke the Earth in the prologue is Alabaster||

[brazen pilot]

the fifth season is crazy

[long sorrel]

20 ||random ass 2 year time skip||

[long sorrel]

||Ok, pretty sure Essun's partner believes both kids to be his? So probably that can't be Nassun. Though maybe I'm making that assumption, given there's not been much about him||

20 ||Corundum is maybe the worst name I've heard 😩 ||

[brazen pilot]

fifth season 20 ||so who's your favorite main character of the 3||

[long sorrel]

||Yes||

||I defs like Essun's povs most||

[spring turtle]

https://fxbsky.app/profile/tkingfisher.com/post/3memf4pffcs2j

Kingfisher & Wombat (@tkingfisher.com)

For those who do not gram:

**🔁 60 ❤️ 586 **

FxBluesky · Feb 11, 2026, 9:08 PM

[ivory cypress]

lmao

[long sorrel]

That's a very Kingfisher reply.

Fifth Season 21 ||well, I didn't put all the cast in their place I guess. Though idk that there was absolutely anyway to guess Tonkee was Binof||

[somber timber]

YES!!!!!

-# I’m saving more in depth reactions until you’re done with the book

[junior dew]

Oh damn do I click the fifth season stuff or reread it

[wraith lynx]

Reread it with me?? 👀👀

[brazen pilot]

[long sorrel]

I'm at the metaphorical edge of my seat

I should sleep...

(Not happening)

Fifth Season 22 ||I was expecting for her to have to kill Coru from the moment the attack started but that didn't make this any easier to read...Crap.||

||I did have minor suspicions that Hoa was the narrator, I guess that means he's not related to the other Stone Eater.
So I've only missed Tonkee so far, but this is so interconnected that I'm sure I've missed more. ||

||So I guess when Hoa decided that he needed to get into Essun's life he just shed himself into a crystals. I thought that had been related to the cataclysm||

[junior dew]

Maybeeeeeee

I do have 7 minutes left in Wizard of Earthsea

[long sorrel]

23 ||Confirmed Alabaster did start it all||

Damn what a book this is being

[junior dew]

And while I think it is really good, my brain has been really struggling to stay attentive while listening to this one. So a reread may be good for this point in time

Yeah I’m going to click these when I get home even if I do a reread

[junior dew]

About damn time you’ve taken the book back up!

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season 23 ||It was a freaking celestial body!||

This book has given me chills (bad chills) and made me huff (negatively) so many times. It's too well written

||But I think I broke in minor cold sweat when she killed Coru.||

The good news is that before going on my trip I thought this might be one of the books I read so I got the rest of the trilogy

[junior dew]

Gahh maybe I do reread fifth season

You know what? Fine. I’m giving in. That’s next after Earthsea book 1

[long sorrel]

Am done

In every sense

[tight kindle]

I have The Obelisk Gate sitting in my bag
But kinda want to do a Game Changers reread 😭

[long sorrel]

... I'm going to read a chapter of Dark Heir before bed 😭

Moved my started books down to 8 tho!

[somber timber]

5th season all || I really love the way it all came together. Like I could sense that something was going on with the timelines and then it all clicked somewhere in the teens and it just is such a beautifully crafted book||

[junior dew]

Looks like you need to start Fifth Season now 👀

I wonder if I’m just really sleep deprived this week. The amount of rewinding I’ve been having to do lately is ridiculous

[long sorrel]

@proper silo Dark Heir 38 ||Philip and Visander are going to have sex with Katherine's body aren't they? ||

... i knew i was saying a cursed sentence but that's way more cursed than i intended even

[junior dew]

This is a very curious spoiler to click with 0 context

Also fifth season prologue || Oh yeah I forgot I’m going be butchering the spellings of everything in this book.

Sesipine? ||

[wraith lynx]

Looks like i do 👀👀👀👌🏽

[junior dew]

That triumph emoji does not look like triumph lol

Also oof I’m going to have to tread super carefully with my spoilers

[long sorrel]

Well, you can mark as all or reread

But if you wanna share with cosmic then yeah

[junior dew]

Yeah I plan to do so in a number of cases

[long sorrel]

Perfectly reasonable

[junior dew]

I think what I’m recalling right now isn’t safe for you either Usha

But I think I’m already starting to recall things

[silk crypt]

Clashing of cultures, technological innovation and discovery and engineering in exploration of an alternative path of technological advancement

Sounds amazing

[silk crypt]

Thank you !

[junior dew]

Fifth season series all not safe for Usha - I think this was a book 2 or 3 reveal || I feel like I remember something about the people who have sesipine/people who use the magic system eventually turning into stone and the stone eaters eating the magic users post-stoning and that being why the companions follow them around 👀 But I feel like that was a book 2 or 3 reveal? ||

[junior dew]

It really is! If you pick it up and give it a try, I hope you enjoy it! I try to give ample warning about the first book, but it’s such a rewarding series imo

[silk crypt]

Oh right I gotta ask.

It's not like overtly about redemption or modern ethical revolution presented in a fantasy world, right ?

I have nothing against those books(i enjoy reading stuff like that from time to time like i'm a sanderson fan as you see) but at the moment if i feel like reading fantasy or historical fiction I just want like consistent moral and ethical conduct from the story characters appropriate to their timeperiod OR like their fictional cultural setting than them having somehow modern ethical framework and living in the fantasy world (it kinda breaks my immersion)

Not grimdark as well, right ? Dont think i could stomach grimdark series atm (which also btw I enjoy like i'm a fan of ASOIAF and Malazan ). It also isnt like noblebright where it is too ? Hopeful I guess? Definitely in the mood for the middleground atm.

I know I sound picky and i'm still willing to bet on this series but i just wanna hear about it if it fits my current preference (doesnt have to)

[junior dew]

Ugh I remembered that Fifth Season was peak but my god it’s all coming flooding back and hot damn. Fifth Season Full Series Not Safe for Usha || The FORESHADOWING? So subtle. But there (assuming my memory is serving me correctly). The reaching up. Faint recollections of stuff. Moon stuff poking at memory ||

[astral atlas]

Fifth season for usha ||So was it stars or was it stars ||

[junior dew]

I don’t quite remember as I definitely wasn’t reading with an eye pointed towards that back when I read it in I think 2023. But I don’t think so? @ overtly about redemption or modern ethical revolution presented in a fantasy world.

I think this will be okay in that sense if memory serves me.

Definitely wouldn’t call it grimdark or noblebright (hadn’t even heard that term before). I believe it struck a good middle ground and to me felt very grounded? Which I think again is part of the benefit of the foundational work that first book lays, establishing the world, the relevant history crucial for the rest of the series, etc.

The author also describes it as silkpunk. Which I think has some tangential relation in that I think the influence of East Asian historical philosophies may extend just beyond the technology? Which idk if that is helpful at all on the moral/ethical side of the question in any way, but I figured I’d include it

That is all to say, I may be completely off, but I think you’ll be okay with this one? Again, my memory is really shoddy and I’m coming up on 3 years since I read the series. So grain of salt there

Still in fifth season prologue but damn I really may need to reread Dandelion Dynasty after rereading this 👀 My poor TBR

Like… I am in the prologue and what I’m learning is I don’t gush about Fifth Season enough

Recency bias I think calls other books and series to mind more readily at a moment’s notice but this series really is so damn good. I remember just absolutely devouring it when I first read it. I couldn’t put it down

Fifth Season prologue. Maybe tag this Fifth Season Full Series? Idk. Full spoilers just to be extra safe || Oh yeah, I forgot the obelisks were a thing that existed 👀 ||

How have I not read everything N.K. Jemisin has written yet

I need to resolve that this year

[somber timber]

It’s really funny but the only book of hers that I’ve read more than once is the first city book

One day I’ll get unstuck on the sequel

She’s a phenomenal writer I just enjoy things that are more fun lol

[junior dew]

Yeah I’ve only read the fifth season series

I have a feeling this is going to be a good reread though

Also I finished Earthsea book 1. It was excellently written and I really enjoyed it. I plan to get to the other books but I want to do so when my brain is being more cooperative with me and I’m not finding myself stuck listening to the same 3 minutes for an hour on repeat and my brain not processing a single word 🙃

I think it be sleep deprivation

Just felt like I was doing the book a disservice with how my brain was failing to process what was being said at times. Always paused or rewound until my brain cooperated, but that sure was frustrating lol

[silk crypt]

PERFECT.

Also silkpunk ? Nice

Thanks

[junior dew]

No problem! My apologies if I’m dead wrong and I have ended up leading you astray!

[ivory cypress]

<3 fifth season!! i love that trilogy

[junior dew]

I’m very excited to be revisiting it

[silk crypt]

It's fine I will never know if I like till I try it. Even if the right criteria or wrong criteria are there what matters if I actually like it when reading ! Thank you regardless

[finite sonnet]

R.F Kaung is apparently more popular in my area then Sanderson. I have a days wait time on yumi and TES but a 6 week wait time on both katabasis and babel.

This one is currently the only one I could borrow.

[iron pond]

We got any Dresden Files fans in here? I just finished rereading Skin Game, Peace Talks, and Battle Ground, and I'm ready to start reading Twelve Months for the first time

[unique turret]

I read Twelve Months a few weeks ago, I really liked it. There were a couple conversations about it from around when it released

[deft stream]

Has anyone here read the lies of Locke lamora?

[old flint]

Yeah, Lies is great. The sequels less so

[deft stream]

There is an object that's important or a flower/plant (without spoilers)?

I want to make a bookmark but I haven't read anything of it

[old flint]

I mean, yes, but that's a pretty broad description

[deft stream]

Could you tell me what is that object please

[ivory cypress]

ohhh my god, the WHOLE book 8 of dungeon crawler carl is on the author's patreon. i guess i gotta check that out when i'm caught up

[old flint]

I'm not sure what you're asking for. The name? You want to bookmark a name without reading it?

[deft stream]

No I make a thematic bookmark with crochet for every book I read

So I need to know something to make the bookmark

For example I made a Katniss flower for the hunger games

[old flint]

There isn't a flower in that way that symbolises anything so much. Is a falcon any good to you?

[deft stream]

Perfect

Thanks

[old flint]

Cool

[snow vessel]

1hr left on the castle of otranto

So far it's... certainly been a book, not sure I have any strong feelings on it either way

[snow vessel]

I think this will be a 3 star book

It's... alright

[snow vessel]

Finished The Castle of Otranto. 'Twas alright

I'll give it a minute before I start my next audiobook, but I'm thinking I'll go with Merrick

[light drum]

YESSSSSS! Its so good he was posting 3 chapters each day at 6pm for the last 12 or so chapters and it was very exciting

[low hill]

@ripe tide Well, I wasn't expecting that twist at the end...

[ripe tide]

Which one?

[low hill]

[Labyrinth's Heart] ||Tanaquis being behind so much of it.||

[ripe tide]

Yeah I thought so. It caught me by surprise too

[low hill]

Going to read Ninth House next, I think.

[ripe tide]

How did you enjoy it?

[low hill]

Rose & Rook? Yeah, I've always liked them since I read the first one years ago. I do get a little lost in all the characters and toothless and Houses and clans and so on, but so bad that I can't usually figure it out as I'm going.
They have done some stuff that I was fiddling around the edges of with A Darkness Repulsed by Ink that I need to go back and do better in the next draft, so that's always a useful reminder.
The world and magic and metaphysics remain interesting, and I think there's a whole load of stuff there they could easily continue on with in future books.
-# And therefore obviously should, just for me. :⁠-⁠P

[ripe tide]

I would love future books in this world too

[long sorrel]

Dark Heir all ||knowing what's coming and seeing it all go to hell is aaaaagh. Sandy just appeared at the palace. I remember everything that happens now 😔 ||

||Also, Will keeps saying James was all he wanted in his past life so Im not sure I get what's up with the Lady||

[proper silo]

Finishing it after all?

[proper silo]

Darl Heir all ||My read on the Lady is that Sarcean seduced her as part of his plan and ended up catching feelings along the way, not that he particularly yearned for her thr way he clearly did for Anharion||

[long sorrel]

Still have a bit to go

[long sorrel]

Hmmm. ||but it was enough that he wanted to do his sister millenia later lol||

||he clearly yearned for Katherine||

Damn I need book 3 😭

[proper silo]

||I wonder how much of his attraction to Katherine was Sarcean and how much was Will||

[long sorrel]

Hmmm, yeah i don't knooow.

||Pacat is such a tease when James all like "take me baby"||

[proper silo]

Dark Heir ||It's always such a Question, isn't it, like how much of what Will/James are feeling is them and how much is Sarcean/Anharion||

[long sorrel]

||not even a kiss! I did remember that. Very well. As I said I didn't remember a lot of details but I did remember all of the ending||

I'm now out and can't continue reading 😔

I'll finish today for sure

Im glad I already know the ending. Can't imagine leaving at that spot without knowing what comes after

My dad would be dining alone if that was the case

[junior dew]

Finished fifth season prologue. Insert raving about the writing here

[deft stream]

Good raving or bad raving?

[junior dew]

Great raving

The series is fantastic

IMO it’s a must read

I’m starting a reread

[deft stream]

I should read it but gestures at book pile my TBR calls me

[junior dew]

I mean… that clearly didn’t stop me from saying screw it, time for a reread

join us

It’s peak

It’s short

[deft stream]

I must resist

I just organised my TBR

[junior dew]

Oh but you musn’t

[deft stream]

Let's make a deal, If I finish February reading before time I read the fifth season

[junior dew]

Works for me

And if you don’t, you should also read fifth season

[deft stream]

I will

Eventually

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/good-clapping-sarcastic-gif-14772054

[alpine drum]

Important question: Does the Dark Heir have dark hair?

[snow vessel]

Do they breathe dark air?

[alpine drum]

If not, I think you are legally entitled to financial compensation due to false advertising. I would happily represent you in court for a small fee

[snow vessel]

And have a dark lair?

[long sorrel]

Yes

Very dark

[long sorrel]

Sometimes

[soft inlet]

I need to get around to reading that. I've had Dark Rise for a while, but haven't continued the series yet

[long sorrel]

It's fun

[long sorrel]

Dark Heir 47 ||James thinking "Steward hold to your training" is just making me so sad 😭 I hate the stewards||

||Poor James||

I don't want to reach the end

Its just pain all over again

Dark Heir all ||If Pacat gives us a bittersweet ending I'm rioting 😭 ||

||Cyprian destroying the only means of stopping the dark army of taking over the world like "haha I'm so smart" ||

50 ||Will taking command of every Sinclair man and talking through them is pribably not the way to be trusted but damn if it isn't cool||

Dark Heir all ||So... I wonder what had happened between Visander and Anharion for Visander to freeze like that?||

||do they look similar as in, Pacat's Sarcean's type? Or as in, siblings or what?||

[cosmic sundial]

ASOIAF all ||I just realized that, via extremely different situations, Danaerys and Robert are foils of each other. They both find conquering to be much much easier than governance but while Bobby B had governing "easy" he refused to pay any mind to it and allowed whatever to happen, focusing instead on any excuse to bray for more blood, Dany's got issues governing because of the reforms she wants to cause, and all her genuine "civil" governing gets interrupted with bloodshed she doesn't want.

Just find it neat they're two sides of the same coin||

[long sorrel]

Dark Heir all ||I ... forgot that James supermans them both out of there||

[cosmic sundial]

While I'm talking about ASOIAF, you just reminded me of an incredibly awkward time I had on first read when I thought ||Damphair|| (not a story spoiler par se, just a character nickname) was some sort of in-universe foreign word or title that would be translated eventually or something

And like, half a book later I went OH THOSE ARE WORDS

[long sorrel]

I finished Dark Heir

Daaaaamn

Im gonna goble up book 3 when it comes out

Gotta choose my next reas now. Something that'll stop me from being all grumbly about this one

I am in paaaain

[cosmic sundial]

Weeeeelllll...

[alpine drum]

||ah yes, Damph air||

[long sorrel]

If you say ASOIAF I will chuck a book at your head

[cosmic sundial]

That's how I originally read it because Spanishbrained 😂

[cosmic sundial]

No I was gonna say double down on cradle

[long sorrel]

Oh... well that's more acceptable, but not yet

[proper silo]

dark heir ||Visander was a Sun Guard, wasn't he? In this case, wouldn't Anharion have been his commanding officer, before the Collar happened?||

||I don't think they're relatives, or otherwise Sarcean would've mentioned it during the vision where he sees Sandy for the first time||

[long sorrel]

I think so too

||But Visander would know Anharion had been Sarcean's pet. I'm not sure why he's so shocked||

[proper silo]

||I feel like "my old boss who (as far as I'm aware) turned evil and became our worst nightmare has come back from the dead and looks younger and is also (as far as I'm aware) still evil" is enough to get shocked 😅 ||

||Especially since Elizabeth wouldn't know (at least, I think she wouldn't?) about the whole, James is Anharion thing, so I don't think Visander was even remotely ready for that||

[wraith lynx]

Starting Fifth Season

mama mia

[ivory cypress]

Dungeon Crawler Carl 7 31% ||I was wondering when/if this song was going to show up! also. fascinating.||

[long sorrel]

I fell completely asleep between my message and yours, til like, 2 min ago

I see what you mean, but excuse me while I do not trust Pacat

[proper silo]

dark heir all ||well, at least we can be reasonably sure that Anharion and Visander weren't lovers, since Anharion had those celibacy vows back when that would've been possible ||

[low hill]

I did indeed do this...

[low hill]

And onto Grave Peril.

[mild lance]

Oh you already finished? What did you think?

[low hill]

It was interesting. I moved it up my pile because I'm likely going to be playing in an RPG loosely based off of it, so I wanted some background.

[Ninth House] ||I think there were a few things where either I'm getting rusty or the foreshadowing wasn't quite right. For instance, I'm not sure how you're supposed to see the actual murderer coming, given she's been in it for all of one scene before hand.||

[hollow hedge]

DCC General ||I wonder how the Audio Immersion Tunnel version will approach some of these songs? There was a time in part 1 that sounded just like they covered Welcome to the Jungle, and the song wasn't even referenced in the book?||

[mild lance]

||I agree, I think the ending threw a lot of twists at the reader that came out of nowhere||

[low hill]

It was certainly packed...

[wraith lynx]

5th Season prolouge ||I got chills from this entire page. This is what I want my story to sound like.||

[wraith lynx]

5th Season prolouge ||The way the tone is so bitter and gripping?????? Hello??????? I love it i adore it i crave more 🤩||

[rugged tartan]

||Fifth Season was the first book I read where parentheticals felt completely natural and fitting, and it got me IMMEDIATELY hooked||

[junior dew]

Wait… fifth season prologue || It’s doing that all in parentheticals? ||

[rugged tartan]

||Not all of it, but there's a few asides that happen in parantheticals||

[junior dew]

|| which page? ||

[junior dew]

Welcome to peak

[rugged tartan]

Fifth Season ||Sutff like "As the fire and ash rained down on the landscape (which I'm sure I don't need to tell you is bad for the wildlife)"||

[wraith lynx]

This one! (Fifth Season first page)

Fifth Season 1 ||Oh! Its 2nd person for the whole time isnt it?? Interesting~||

[ivory cypress]

DCC general ||yeah I keep thinking there's just no way audio or any adaptation will be able to get all the rights for all of these||

[brazen pilot]

Jemisin can write

[hollow hedge]

DCC general ||I think doing them as cover songs rather than the original recording is easier and thematically reasonable, especially for the AIT version where you don't really want the lyrics of the song clashing with the audiobook, but a full adaptation would probably have to pick and choose which original songs they use||

DCC general ||but it's still not free to do it that way||

[deft stream]

The Hunger games are truly a masterpiece

[cunning pivot]

Matt is getting the merch going(I blame Brandon) and the action figures are a fitting match to DCC.

Including some Donut blind boxes. Slight DCC spoilers across the books if you read too deeply into the images.

https://comicbook.com/gear/news/playmates-toys-reveals-dungeon-crawler-carl-toyline-and-collectibles-and-princess-donut-steals-the-show-exclusive/

[iron pond]

Grave Peril, the third entry in The Dresden Files, or a different book with the same title? 🤔

[warm leaf]

The worst thing just happened to me, I bought a book... and I received a photocopy of the original😔

This is what happens to me for not suspecting the price

[iron pond]

where did you buy it from?

[warm leaf]

Mmm, it's a platform called MercadoLibre? The seller had a good reputation, but I think that was because his copies were of good quality

Ugh, next time I won't skimp on expenses, I hate books that aren't original, no matter how good they are.

[wraith lynx]

5th Season 2 ||So I realized that Essun and Damaya (my new child i have adopted her and id take better care of her bum ass mother) both are orogenes. So in my head im seeing them as mutants from Xmen, is that the right way to look at it? The brutality of the persecution is... stronger though. With Uche being a toddler murdered and Damaya's BUM ASS mother trying to sell her. I like it though, i like it a lot||

||I really love Damaya please I am begging you Miss NK... please dont hurt my girl 😭||

Also @junior dew and @somber timber this makes the question I asked you both about this series so much funnier 😭

Also also also I am kinda loving this book so much?

[long sorrel]

The writing is

[somber timber]

-# remind me of the question again please

[wraith lynx]

Me: 5th season general ||well its not gonna be about racism right||

You and eepy: knowing silence

It still cracks me up and that happened months ago 😂

[brazen pilot]

||The books are deliberately invoking the same ideas that the X-Men are, but Jemisin has a stronger idea of what specifically she wants to say about it.||

[ivory cypress]

broken earth general ||trying to figure out how to say this but one of the things i kept thinking after finishing the broken earth trilogy was that these are books about being Black. and conveyed in a way that broke my heart||

[wraith lynx]

Yeah, I can tell, and I like it more because of it tbh

[somber timber]

|| I mean yeah it’s fine comp to make. I think it’s a lot more about race and societal exploitation than x men ||

[ivory cypress]

Jemisin's forewords/acknowledgements/book dedications for all three books in the trilogy don't leave room for misunderstanding what she wanted to talk about and mannnn....man

[wraith lynx]

Ooooooo

Well consider me HOOKED :3

[ivory cypress]

Dungeon Crawler Carl 7 at 65% ||DE-FACTO LEADER OF EARTH CARLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL 😍😍😍😍😍 ||

[wraith lynx]

||yeah like with xmen its really general because it wants to cater to multiple demographis anf in that regard it works really well! this works even better for me because I... feel the blackness in it, right? Like this is specifically for me personally and I LOVE ITTTTTT||

It is rare for me to fall for characters so fast

[ivory cypress]

||yeah, it's almost tangible - and that carries through all the books. it's genuinely incredible||

[wraith lynx]

5th Season 3 ||"...but then they notice you. People stop waving. And start following you."

I think.... I think Essun being in 2nd person is going to hurt. I... I've never almost teared up this early in a book before ITS CHAPTER 3.||

[junior dew]

Wait what question

[wraith lynx]

This one 😂

[junior dew]

Ahhh

Just getting caught up

I didn’t see that before

[wraith lynx]

Glad your here now cause I got another thing to say

5th season 3 ||Its so intentional. Rogga kinda sorta sounds like the n word, and the way its being used reminded me of it immediately. Rask getting called a Rogga lover felt like a brick to the face||

[junior dew]

|| This time around the dedication really stood out to me “To all those who have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question.” ||

I will have to read most of these later. Gotta do some driving

[somber timber]

It really does mess with your head

[wraith lynx]

I wanna put it down because im very close to crying but I also cannot let it go omg

Okay I can read more tomorrow

I am.... goodness.... 😣

I was expecting... not that but omg it is phenomenal

[junior dew]

Oh I didn’t make it to this comment before I mentioned the dedication whoops

[ivory cypress]

haha no worries i assumed you were talking with me, not over me

[junior dew]

The dichotomy between this and Cosmic rn

[ivory cypress]

yeah the vibes are different

[wraith lynx]

I know, I was going through it 🤣

[junior dew]

Very different

[wraith lynx]

Shoot, the last book i read was Queen of Nothing so the whiplash im feeling right now is 😭

I usually make funny self comments to myself when I read too.... this book? 75% silence. And lots of shivers 😅

Granted this is only the second time I've read a book written by a black woman (tragic i know. Last one I read was purple hibiscus and that was 10+ years ago) but even then.... I've never been so moved so fast.

[potent linden]

Y'all are making me want to read The Fifth Season sooner rather than later in my physical TBR...

[wraith lynx]

Eneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee do ittttttttttttttttttttt :3

[astral atlas]

It's really good!

[light drum]

Elder Race 5 ||Very intrested to see where this is going and what the threat is||

[iron pond]

that's by Adrian Tchaikovsky, isn't it?

[ivory cypress]

yes!

it was actually my first read by him, i quite liked it!

[mild lance]

I also might have to move Broken Earth up in my TBR

[iron pond]

Twelve Months (Dresden Files) thoughts up through chapter 8 ||Ever since the end of Battle Ground when Mab insisted that Harry has to marry Lara Raith in order to seal an alliance between the Winter Fae and the White Court, I've been wondering... can White Court women even get pregnant? Glad to have that question answered.
“Thomas told me what pregnancy with one of your kind is like,” I said quietly. “You can’t have children of your own, can you?”
Also interesting that skin contact between Harry and Lara doesn't burn her if her Hunger is well under control.||

[junior dew]

You really should!

Wrapped up through chapter 5 on my way back

So many feelings

[mild lance]

Anyway if y’all are looking for more Jemisin, the Dreamblood Duology is amazing and severely underrated

[brazen pilot]

Dreamblood did basically nothing for me 😔

I think The Broken Kingdom and The Kingdom of Gods are her most underrated, and two of her best

[mild lance]

Yes those are great too

I also found myself really liking Awakened Kingdom

[brazen pilot]

Yeah, that was great too

Jemisin easily shines the most for me when the pov character lends themself to a fun narration style

[iron pond]

Twelve Months end of chapter 14 ||Oh BLEEP. Ghoul ambush!! 😱 ||

[ivory cypress]

my store book recs are now just all litrpg because i bought all the dcc books 🫣 i need to fix this

also a TON of ilona andrews books, which i wouldn't have thought would be in the same web

[iron pond]

Twelve Months chapter 16 ||ROFL at Dresden's Halloween costume||

Chapter 18 ||Just read this chapter twice to confirm that the text never refers to the "she" that Harry is playing Monopoly with by name. She doesn't interact with the board physically; he's rolling the dice and moving the pieces. Is Dresden talking with Murphy's shade???||

[tight kindle]

Trailer Park Trickster 27 ||ADAM SO HELP ME IF YOU DON'T GO TALK TO YOUR DAMN BOYFRIEND IMMA SMACK YOU.||

TPT all ||WHADDAYA MEAN IT JUST ENDS LIKE THAT||

[low hill]

The very same.

[iron pond]

Awesome. Is this your first time with the series?

[long sorrel]

Oh 👀 you read that

I ought to get on that book one of this days

[proper silo]

Remnants of Filth 134 ||We're getting a character arc focused on my blorbo? Murong Lian is getting a tragic backstory and main story focus? 🥺 Thank you madam author, that's very kind of you||

[junior dew]

Oooooo boy the amount of visceral distaste and disgust I’m feeling right now

[long sorrel]

Ah

You are there

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season all ||this could be a chapter title||

[junior dew]

Fifth season 6 but also fifth season all not safe for cosmic I think || Ooooo boy do I hate Shaffa. I don’t fully remember everything regarding his role in the story, but… bleh. He makes me want to vomit. At the hand breaking scene right now. But every single moment he has been in scene I’ve just felt this extremely strong revulsion. ||

Fifth season I feel is hitting different on this reread. There’s a lot of stuff that I think I was still a bit oblivious to when I first read it. While I think to some extent there’s the element of having read the story before and having some vague recollections of certain things that happened. But I also feel like I have a lot more context of anecdotal experiences my gf has shared. It kinda feels like a certain element of innocence lost I suppose? There’s a lot of stuff about the world I was sheltered from for a really long time. Like there’s a certain depth of understanding about certain things that has developed a lot more over the last 2 years.

So that combined with existing knowledge of certain aspects of what happens in the story I think amplifies a lot of the story relative to the first read.

I mean I also have a bad memory so the moment to moment revulsion very well may have been there but been an aspect that my brain kinda tossed out of memory a bit because oh boy things be flooding back and it’s upsetting. But I do think that added context from the last 2 years definitely causes some stuff to jump out at me that didn’t as much before.

Sorry for the very jumbled thoughts. It’s really difficult to articulate

[junior dew]

I don’t think I’m where you think lol

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || Were you thinking that I was at the node reveal? ||

Like I said my memory is bad. I think there are a few points that I can recall that come to mind when you say I’m “there”

Fifth season all || This whole book is upsetting and vile ||

[long sorrel]

Nope. ||chapter 5||

I more or less know your reading speed to know you can't have reached that other spot

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || Ahh yeah… that’ll do it too…

That, this, everything. Every chapter. Every chapter is deeply upsetting and gross.

Such a masterpiece ||

Also the audiobook narrator is goated too. She does such a fantastic job my god

Fifth season 6 || “Never say no to me.” … “Orogens have no right to say no” 🤢🤮🤢🤮🤢🤮 ||

[junior dew]

|| I was also driving when I read that chapter and was busy after so I couldn’t post reactions. But that was when some of my thoughts in the other longer comment above started to take some shape ||

[long sorrel]

Mhm

[junior dew]

It’s actually unhinged how well written this book is

[long sorrel]

I do wonder which chapter @wet belfry or @lusty meteor told me it was gonna be worse in Fifth Season all ||than the sex chapter|| (idr which of the 2 of you told me that)

[lusty meteor]

Kon i think

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || I mean I feel like if I’m remembering stuff about the nodes properly, that reveal is also prettttttyyyyy bad.

Aren’t they basically keeping children alive and using them as batteries more or less? ||

[long sorrel]

Yep

[wraith lynx]

5th season 4 ||Help me audio book listeners, I am struggling with pronouncing Syenite's name 😭||

[long sorrel]

But that didn't give me any similar reaction

[junior dew]

|| Cyan-ite ||

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season all ||I'm not affected by the length by which human beings are pieces of crap much, not in such a visceral way||

[wraith lynx]

Ah gotcha, thank you! I was saying it right

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || Wait, does that mean what upsets you about chapter 5 and the sex stuff isn’t the eugenics/them being bred almost akin to livestock part? ||

[long sorrel]

||it is how devoid of humanity the sex is. If it was done invitro id be quite rather indifferent about it||

Oh let me be clear ||I think everything's horrible, it just doesn't make me gag||

[lusty meteor]

||the children thing is objectively worse, the sex scene just hit harder. which often happens in books. it is just weird in the 5th season bc it spiked really high in terms of emotional reaction for me and then flatlined||

[long sorrel]

You are right that it is way worse. ||but it is also very human||

[junior dew]

Interesting

[lusty meteor]

i would finish 5th season rn if my backlog wasnt tragic

i have so much stuff to get through its insane

[long sorrel]

I'm not disputing which is better or worse just which one made me viscerally disgusted, the rest made me just not-viscerally disgusted

[junior dew]

Yeah I get you. Always interesting to get insight into other perspectives

[long sorrel]

Mhm

[junior dew]

That apparently hasn’t stopped me from saying screw the TBR I’m rereading Broken Earth

And oh man am I glad I made that decision

I don’t love how that sentence sounds

Not glad

[lusty meteor]

i have reading obligations that deserve my attention

[junior dew]

Glad but not

[lusty meteor]

including another jemisin book

despite her being very talented i havent found of story of hers that has locked me in

[junior dew]

Gotcha, totally fair

[lusty meteor]

i thought far sector was just ok

really weak ending

also the main character didnt make any sense to me

[long sorrel]

Fifth Season all (with a bunch of TWs here) ||reality is that rape, exploitation, racism, mysoginy, etc are part of humanity. We live with it. The idea and concept of Eugenics or using humans (children) as batteries, or prostitution or w/e. Are also part of how humanity is. By which I mean there will always be people that engage or wants to engage in such things (not the we shouldn't try to erradicate/minimize such things). The sex scene falls outside all my concepts of humsnity in every good/bad way I can think of.||

This conversion is making me want to go read book 2

[versed agate]

good

[long sorrel]

But I'm trying to get through my list of books I had midway

[lusty meteor]

what is your tbr looking like usha

[long sorrel]

Its not my tbr that's the issue (its 280 books atm)

Its that I've 8 books started

(Including Deathhouse gates)

[lusty meteor]

hmm

[long sorrel]

Is that the correct name?

[lusty meteor]

a conundrum

yep

next is memories of ice

[long sorrel]

Anyway, I started a bunch of books and kept stopping at ch 5

[lusty meteor]

what is the list?

[junior dew]

You should

[long sorrel]

Red Rising, Children of Time, DHG, Raven Scholar, trollslayer, Long Live Evil, Wolf of Withervale and Innombrable (this last one I'm actively reading on paper when I find the time)

[junior dew]

Oh dang children of time is also good

But broken earth though

Conundrum indeed

[long sorrel]

I was kinda wanting to finish Long Live Evil but I'm kinda lazy

Wolf of Withervale Im actually halfway through but I'm not in the mood for dense (so not Malazan either)

Null, between broken earth and divine cities?

[junior dew]

Hmm, this is definitely an interesting perspective. Will have to ponder on it. I can’t say I like it, but thanks for sharing.

Fifth season all || I think I still struggle a lot with coming to terms with the horrors and evils of humanity. And I feel like dehumanization of people is one element within that realm, which is where I think the sex scene registers for me? ||

[long sorrel]

Mhm fair. Tbc Id be/am horrified irl. But I can separate myself from it in fiction and process it with a few degrees of separation.

Not like I've come to terms with it in reality lol

[junior dew]

Yeah I definitely get what you mean. I think part of what I was trying to mention even earlier in that larger comment I had about the book and the reread hitting differently has to do with that aspect of separation from the story and world when reading fantasy and that method of processing.

But I think that perhaps certain aspects of this story and the parallels I’m seeing to stuff I’m far more aware of today has peeled away some of those layers of separation? If that makes any sense? I’ve had multiple points now where I’ve been like “omg how did I not notice X before”.

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I get that too

Fifth Season all ||Also some of the stuff that happens at the beginning gets even worse knowing the rest of the book and it also becomes more realistic and raw||

||I had a few things quoted for myself and I went back to them later and uuuugh||

Well, I have made it home, I must make my choice

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || Yeah even with 2 years having passed, some memory has definitely returned and oof ||

[long sorrel]

I don't know if I'll ever be able to reread this book

[somber timber]

I’m closing in on a decade now without rereading because I just can’t get into that headspace again

[wraith lynx]

Yeah i can see why 😭

I am happy im reading it now. Excellent book series for black history month

[wraith lynx]

Also 5th season theory ||I think Damaya and Essun are the same person just at different points in life. I noticed that when Essun was introduced she only spoke of the last 10 years at most, not childhood.... curious 👀||

[junior dew]

Yeahhhhh I can understand that for sure

[wraith lynx]

Also its been a while since I've cruised through a book like this. Story graph says I read 12% yesterday which is a lot for me! I could finish all 3 books in a month if I keep up the pace!

[long sorrel]

Once it grabbed me I couldnt stop

Tho tbf it did grab me from the beginning but then stuff happened

[junior dew]

Yeah as others have said, Jemisin sure can write

[wraith lynx]

5th season 6 ||I am going to fly into this book and beat the ever loving BRAKES off of this man||

||hes talking to her like shes an animal that needs to be tamed and it makes me queasy because oh thats super real||

[junior dew]

-# @wraith lynx You should read The Girl With the Louding Voice too as well at some point

[junior dew]

@wraith lynx This spoiler is probably actually safe for you after you finish chapter 6

[wraith lynx]

I definitely want to!

If anything just to read more black women authors

[junior dew]

5th season 6 all || He makes my skin crawl so much. It feels so… predatory and kinda pedophilic in ways and the way after he breaks her hand where he’s like I don’t want to do this to you, I love you, etc and just the abuser playbook vibe too and all that and her being an innocent child 🤮 🤮 🤮 ||

[low hill]

It is indeed. I'm reading them on-and-off, although I've had the first one for a long time I only really started last year I think?

[junior dew]

Octavia Butler should be added to that list!

[wraith lynx]

nods nods

[wraith lynx]

||Damaya realizing that hes going to hurt her whenever he wants to and her just shutting down.... she thought he was safe. That hurts, that really hurts. I love Damaya so much ||

[junior dew]

Not a woman but Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All Stars is also very well done. It will be a long time before I could reread that one, if ever, though

That one is also really rough and heavy so yeah big caveat there

[wraith lynx]

Worse than this?? 😭

[long sorrel]

I need to read more Octavia Butler

[junior dew]

Idk that I would say worse than this. It’s a bit different… in its brutality? It’s a bit more… violently in your face? More overt? I suppose? I think I can’t attest to what your experience would be because I’m coming at it from the lens of a privileged, long sheltered white guy who lacks certain lived experiences. Based on some of what you have said so far, 5th season may hit closer to home for you in ways? Perhaps? Like both are really bad and really tough but in different ways. I think stories can be so personal in how they impact a person, so everyone’s experience with different stories will differ.

Chain gang all stars general + TW racism and slavery. Safe for you cosmic || The story is basically speculative fiction where the prison system I think is entirely privatized and death row inmates can opt into fighting in gladiatorial death matches with the promise that if they win enough they’ll earn their freedom. These death matches are televised and hyper commercialized, and the inmates get a sorta… celebrity status. It’s treated like a sport. A lot of commentary on the prison system and historical ties to slavery and glorification of violence + dehumanization of people + racism + more. It’s really brutal and was tough to read imo. I think in part it could be a result of it being fiction rather than fantasy and thus having a few degrees of separation removed? Though I read this back in August 2024. And some of the state of the world today has shifted a bit in some ways too. It also I think directly cites and calls to attention some real things in black history I believe? If I recall correctly? Like it clearly has stuff that is there to… educate and inform I suppose? ||

[junior dew]

So do I. I’ve only read Kindred, Xenogenesis, and the bloodchild short story collection. Of those, Kindred was probably imo the best of my reads from her so far

[wraith lynx]

Woahhhhh this sounds siiiiick!!!

||youre telling me I get prison gladiator fights and talking points on racism?? Thats like heaven on a plate 😭||

[junior dew]

It was really really good! Highly recommend!

It’s just not one I can universally recommend to people for all the reasons. I try to be conscientious and careful when it comes to recommendations of stories along those lines

[wet belfry]

I don't remember having discussed Fifth Season with you specifically

[long sorrel]

We have

😭

[low hill]

Memorably so, clearly.

[wraith lynx]

5th season 8 ||Syenite is so funny, Essun and Damaya are out here in actual trenches and Syen is stuck with this bum ass dude 😂 i understand the sexual exploitation of it all, but her attitude about it makes it funnier 😭||

[brazen pilot]

||syenite is probably my favorite of the MCs, she just doesn't wanna deal with any of this||

[long sorrel]

Im glad I didn't jump to book 2, I'm still processing

There's this one thing that keeps coming back. Fifth Season all ||He has now killed all of his children himself, at least, I think he killed all the node maintainers. And the one he didn't kill, she did. Ugh. The way I felt reading the chapter where she does it. like "crap I know what's gonna happen but can't stop the boulder rolling down the hill nor my emotions going down with it" 😭 ||

||his request for her to make it worse is so real and heartwrenching||

[junior dew]

Fifth season all || Oh my gosh I forgot they were all his children ||

Fifth season all || I don’t quite recall this event or the context around it hmm||

[tight kindle]

What's a line from a book that lives rent free in your head?
Either because it was impactful or for literally any other reason.

Mine is "I must be the color of The Communist Manifesto" from the literary masterpiece known as Fifty Shades of Grey.

I don't know that any other line will ever be that memorable

[wraith lynx]

I never remember it off the top of my head because its Hella long but its something Saphira says to Eragon

Eldest ||“Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn’t exist and never shall. There is only now.”||

It was going to be my senior quote

[long sorrel]

Reminding her she is alive.
Alive.
Alive.
And she is hungry.

[wraith lynx]

5th Season 8 ||I... I dont even have words for this one, man||

||lots and lots of shivers though||

||one thing I have noticed about this book compared to others I've read is im getting the comparisons instantly. The words, the phrasings, the emotions, I get exactly where its all coming from (I should, I know but still 😂) I just... oooof||

[lusty meteor]

||it is a very blunt book||

||which is a style that isnt seen often||

[long sorrel]

It is also very matter of fact

[cosmic sundial]

‘There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present, so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.

@torpid kiln my binge is giving me Opinions and those Opinions are setting me up for disappointment lol

[wraith lynx]

And I adore that the tone reflects this, the narration is utterly and entirely sensational

[mild lance]

What’s this from?

[cosmic sundial]

Terry Pratchett's "I Shall Wear Midnight"

[torpid kiln]

lol, where are you at in your binge?

[cosmic sundial]

Right now just starting a reread, but was thinking back and theorizing about the grander scope

[mild lance]

This one’s from the comic series Saga: “Anyone who thinks one book has all the answers hasn’t read enough books”

[cosmic sundial]

ASOIAF all + speculation?

||I feel like narratively there's Something about Dorne that'll serve in the long night. Kind of like how Dragonstone has obsidian. It's one of the few kingdoms that has Valyrian blood (from before the Doom), that repelled everything that tried to invade and is incredibly protective of their secrets, foils to the north in many different ways (And we know the north is a darling), strongly linked in-universe with fire, the sun and dragons (As allies AND as the first westerosi to kill one) I just feel there's more to them waiting. I feel GRRM is very pointed when he writes in differently and he went out of his way to underline Dorne is special, in the same way the North and the Iron Islands were unique (And are getting a pretty central story)||

But on the other hand ||whenever GRRM made them do anything cool he immediately made it blow up in their faces so maybe he's just desperately trying to avoid them being cool because he has no plans for them /lh||

[iron pond]

One that I like to quote as a great first line is "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault." It's from one of the Dresden Files, although I don't remember which one at the moment

And of course there are several from Brandon's books that are epic and memorable

[somber timber]

RJB’s author’s note from A Drop of Corruption has been kicking around in my head for the last 10 months

[long sorrel]

Author's note? ||the line about how kings are always a great idea?||

[somber timber]

Yeah his whole discussion of the pratchett quote

[snow vessel]

"If I am an angel, paint me with black wings"

The Secret History also has a lot of lines that sit, spinning, in my brain

[long sorrel]

I have like, scenes in general, but not specific lines

[mild lance]

I have another good quote from Skin Game (Dresden Files 15)
“Belief in a story,” Uriel said, “of good confronting evil, of light overcoming darkness, of love transcending hate.” He tilted his head. “Isn’t that where all faith begins?

[somber timber]

||https://bsky.app/profile/robertjbennett.bsky.social/post/3merpkmmu6k2v||

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

did some work on book 4 today and the goal is to make this incrementally weirder and weirder. like I trick em with the quaint murder mysteries and the sad pretty gay boys kissing and then hit em with the cosmic weirdness and trembling coagulations of ageless flesh

Bluesky · Feb 13, 2026, 11:58 PM

Speaking of Ana and Din

[long sorrel]

Omg

[somber timber]

Vague spoilers for book 1

[long sorrel]

I love that

||the trembling coagulations of ageless flesh ||

[somber timber]

-# posted here because I knew you would appreciate the ||flesh line lol||

[long sorrel]

Give me all the body horror!

[long sorrel]

Aw, you know me so well

[vital ibex]

Yes please

[junior dew]

I want to click

[versed agate]

||"tricked" like that isn't what I'm here for||

[vital ibex]

Wait the third shadow of the leviathan is coming out on August 11th?

[long sorrel]

Yeeeees

[snow vessel]

Merrick ch1 ||huh, we're actually getting into the plot quickly this time||

[vital ibex]

Unbelievable birthday present for me

[somber timber]

I can’t remember if it’s like firmly the listed date or if there was some wiggle room

[vital ibex]

https://tenor.com/view/martin-scorsese-absolute-cinema-absolute-cinema-meme-martin-scorsese-meme-martin-scorsese-absolute-cinema-gif-7188464701423971028

[long sorrel]

Confirmed I think

[somber timber]

Hm so my birthday gift was book 2. Lloyd’s is book 3. Who wants book 4!

[long sorrel]

The 12th there is a total eclipse here, so that'll be something

[long sorrel]

Me!

But it has to be my 2026 birthday

That should be enough time 😌

[somber timber]

Exactly!

Also I still think it’s funny that they haven’t signed the contract for beyond book 3 yet

[vital ibex]

2026 birthday!? How long are you planning to live!? And depriving us of book 4 for so long!?

[long sorrel]

Yes, sucks that you won't get to read it

You mere mortal

[vital ibex]

[ivory cypress]

just finished DCC 8 which I got ahead of its official release date from Matt Dinniman's patreon.............................. y'all. i shan't say more. y'all.

[maiden verge]

The author of a pretty famous and mainstream book series needs a patreon

[tight kindle]

Seems like it probably started before it was famous and mainstream

[maiden verge]

needs the money for hitlerite cameeos in the audiobooks

[maiden verge]

(critical drinker n book 3, might be more after that but i dunno)

[ivory cypress]

it was a very small indie operation before it had a patreon, but yes, i follow lots of successful authors on patreon

[snow vessel]

Wait... critical drinker is in one of these books?

...why?

[tulip crater]

from the author

[mild lance]

lol I was just about to post that

[snow vessel]

Huh, so it was sort of just to get more eyes on the book?

Like, politics aside I'm just interested in why a YouTuber got a cameo in an audiobook, lol

[mild lance]

Also I feel like calling DCC “famous and mainstream” is a pretty big exaggeration?

[snow vessel]

it's famous and mainstream in our niche circle

[mild lance]

This but unironically

[snow vessel]

Like, it's certainly being talked about a lot right now in my experience within epic fantasy, but I would be very surprised if many people outside that space had even heard of it

[maiden verge]

for a book

yeah

[maiden verge]

his peformance is bad

[snow vessel]

I wouldn't even say Brandon is mainstream

Let alone DCC

Right now I think the biggest mainstream/famous fantasy books are like, your fourth wings and acotars

[maiden verge]

i got some book store giitcard and it was id say about 50% of the non romance fantasy section which makke me think pretty succesful

[ivory cypress]

even if it was to the level you imagine, we can look at the facts of how dinniman's career and this series developed and it wasn't always. some people evidently quite like to unload scorn on things they perceive as "popular", particularly things they've decided they already don't like. patreons are a way lots of indie and smalltime authors maintain a stable living and despite anyone's opinion of the quality of the books or how "mainstream" they are or aren't rn, that's where dinniman was for a great deal of DCC's publication history.

and then there's the problem with putting patreon in a category that being successful is supposed to cut you off from, which is... really weird?

[snow vessel]

Right, but that's looking at within the fantasy section of a bookstore

Maybe it's doing really well in fantasy/scifi circles but that ≠ mainstream or famous

[maiden verge]

my point is that tthere selling well

[ivory cypress]

and also even my indie bookstore's smaller sff section has it as FAR less than 50% so it's not exactly good analysis here. my local indie has one shelf or less of DCC in a sff section of hundreds

[snow vessel]

My local bookstore has a very small DCC section when I last looked

Like, just the series I think? No repeat books or anything

Even if it is successful, I don't think an author having a patreon is really a problem?

Maybe locking away a whole book is something more debatable but is having a patreon any different to brandon selling merch?

[ivory cypress]

sanderson, for example, is levels of success, popularity, and earnings ahead of DCC, they actually aren't in the same category

[maiden verge]

okay so patreon/kofi/etc i have my takes on

[ivory cypress]

it's common, for authors. like i said i follow LOTS of authors on patreon, and getting early book release is a common perk

being an author is historically a very unstable career unless you're a complete superstar, even midlisters struggle

it's a perfectly reasonable way to make that career less uneasy

knowing this requires following authors who are smaller than sanderson talking about the nitty-gritty of their careers and why it can end their careers the moment readers start acting like they're the uppity ones for caring about $$ issues, because most readers are truly bad at gauging how successful authors actually are

[maiden verge]

my perspective largely comes from content creation for context but, if you can live comftorably inside your career you DO NOT deserve a patreon because patreon should be a tool to help smaller creators and not doinng so dilutes patreon as a service indirectly harming small characters

[ivory cypress]

besides his company, his enormous team within dragonsteel, his merch, etc, sanderson is rich enough to have made a supervillain lair in a basement in one of his houses. i feel like maybe it needs to be said, but most authors, especially americans, struggle to afford basic necessities and often depend on family members' income to cover all needs. this portion of their careers can last years if not decades for authors, until residuals can start supplying some regular income, assuming they actually make it that long and don't have to retreat out of writing for a living.

yeah, DCC has gotten popular, lately. lately. it's a very recent upswing in popularity. it wasn't this popular from the moment book one started. DCC was indie. it was indie FOR YEARSSSSS. it was only picked up by a traditional pub in 2024

patreon lets so many authors write more books outside of the traditional format, as traditional publishing deals and residuals dwindle

i follow authors who have had a writing career for decades say in the last few years that patreon let them write more than they ever had before, because they finally could breathe and start projects without having to sell them to their publisher first

it's a good thing

[tight kindle]

frowns
I should really read DCC

After Sir Cameron I trust your taste in books Grey

[maiden verge]

some very good audiobook narration

[ivory cypress]

lmaoooooo this one was a wider swing, i will say up front this has some subject matter where it may not work out for you, or for everyone. but if you're going to try it out, at least make it to the end of the first book before making your decision. libby it!

DCC spoilers starting from book one ||i am... cursedly curious what the system ai sounds like when it's being horny for carl||

[tight kindle]

Would you mind giving a quick description of what that subject matter is?
I have a couple triggers I like to be aware of going in

Ever since ASASE I've found it helps me enjoy books a little more smoothly 😅

[sleek jungle]

Jeff Hayse is the best narrator in genre, imo. The man is a machine that turns prose into emotions

[ivory cypress]

sure! dcc 5 minute in premise/warnings ||so in some ways, it's a bit grimdark? it opens with almost everybody on earth dying instantly as the planet is taken over by aliens in a corporate dystopian hellscape and the survivors of this are put into these horrible death games, this one is a series called Dungeon Crawler, where they will probably die and even if they manage to make it out, they'll get to be "citizens" in the galaxy's empire but only after finishing some crappy indentured servitude contract because until then they're not considered like. real people. the deathgames are hosted by a system ai who can do all sorts of things, programmed by capitalist jerks, and it's one of those sff series where the real life comparisons are just.... right there. you may or may not find it VERY bleak. but there's a lot of humour to offset this. the humour itself is also very irreverent, often mocking of earth and its cultures. and the system ai has an extremely unironic fetish for carl's feet||

[tight kindle]

...Huh

Alright that's really good to know!

[ivory cypress]

DCC general warnings ||there are lots of very... like... just VERY GROSS things that happen. gory things, gross things... descriptions of deaths and blood spatter and guts and it's a little cartoonish? but also the descriptions aren't skipped||

[maiden verge]

also dcc vague tw || explicit child murder ||

[ivory cypress]

so much stuff that the above ^ doesn't even register at some point

dcc general ||there are atrocities, you aren't meant to find them funny, it's like, part of the colonization/execution of earth's people in that the people conquering earth are so detached they actually will make jokes about all this kind of thing, but you are seeing it from human's pov, so the level of reaction is appropriate. carl, our lead, is a compassionate guy, and the fact that these are atrocities is not lost on the story||

||but sometimes, like... you might laugh. takes the edge off the horror, perhaps? but i think it's extremely reasonable that the things one might laugh at and the things one can't cause it's horrific are going to be different across the readership. it's all fairly "experience as intended"||

[sleek jungle]

dcc general ||it's a bit like prank era of youtube when the abuse of homeless people was a trend for a while, but much more violent, graphic, and tragic||

[maiden verge]

dcc || i agree but in a book theres a difference between everyone dying and likr 20 kids dying because ones actually realistic||

[ivory cypress]

so many things happen that i don't even remember that particular situation. dcc series general ||there is just a mountain of bad things done, sometimes by the leads||

dcc general ||the dungeon part isn't more or less realistic than the "everyone dying" part. my brain aligned things differently. taking the initial premise seriously, the first several hours of the dungeon crawl are awash in a traumatized unreality, esp when they're being jerked around by an voice that blurs the lines between "this is real, everyone died, and you will die and those children were real" and "this is a tv show where the viewers at home don't see anyone here as real this is being written to make people laugh". the books are cognizant of that and pointing at the line between what feels real and not real is something the series as a whole is very concerned with||

dcc general ||said another way, the ai making jokes about it is part of the atrocity||

[tight kindle]

DCC 1 ||Wow.
That is quite a way to start a book.||

[tight kindle]

DCC 5 ||The contrast between the gamified inventory system and loot system and all of that and the dystopia nightmare that's the reason they're in this situation is... Jarring ||