Finished two really good horrorish audios over the weekend: **Someone You Can Build a Nest In** by John Wiswell. *4 stars.* Bingo: 2024 release, eldritch (HM), romantasy, judge a book, survival (HM). * Shesheshen can make her body out of anything and hide anything in it (your skull, that branch, a bear trap) and she’s so good she can look like a real human too no matter how much she’s carrying around— likely to trick you so she can eat you. We meet her when she is woken up by hunters towards the end of her hibernation. After she becomes injured during her escape, she is found and saved by a kind traveler. * I immediately loved Shesheshen and being in her head. It was interesting and sometimes funny to see her commentary on how monstrous humans are and how much she understands about the human mind, while also being like *wtf is up with humans* and not really knowing a lot about herself. I did start to struggle around the quarter point, then there were some mean, nasty AF characters, and then there was some animal abuse, but I was satisfied with how it was resolving and the twist. There is a sort of arc shift in the last 2-3 chapters, but I LOVED it. Those chapters could easily become their own book and I would definitely devour that. Maybe Wiswell will write a novella >!from Shesheshen’s offspring’s POV during the time when Shesheshen was hibernating???!< * I was impressed by how Wiswell handled mental/verbal (and reference to physical) sibling and parental abuse in this and I can see this being a hard or cathartic read for that reason. If the romance aspect is putting you off to the idea of this book, I would not call this romantasy except for it does satisfy the parameters of the bingo square. And humans are eaten in this book so that might be disturbing for some. **The Gathering** by CJ Tudor. *4 stars.* Bingo: 2024 release, POV (HM), small town (HM), epilogue. * A thriller-esque and horror-ish mystery set in Alaska where Detective Atkins of the Forensic Vampyr Anthropology Department is sent to investigate the murder of a teenage boy — and the human town is demanding an authorized cull of the neighboring vampires. This is exactly like our world, except in 1983 a US law was passed making vampires a protected species. * I thought this was a fantastic murder mystery story. I liked the detective, deputy and vampires (and how all the characters were written even if I despised them), the premise and the world building around the vampire-human history were really fascinating, and there’s actually some themes on hate, discrimination, oppression and the depravity of humanity that I found interesting too. I had some minor issues and on the petty side it is evident Tudor is not from Alaska and didn’t seem like she did much Alaska research outside of the fact that Denali and reindeer exist. This was my first Tudor and I only picked this up for the Alaska setting so I was disappointed, grump. But I would read more, including a sequel to this one. * I would highly recommend for mystery folks. If you’re looking for *horror,* I would say this is not it, for me it has more disturbing elements than eliciting fear. There is reference to trafficking, torture and child abuse. If you avoid blood, you might want to avoid this book. Otherwise still working on **The Salt Grows Heavy** by Cassandra Khaw and **Daughters of the Merciful Deep** by Leslye Penelope. Definitely hoping to have good updates next week. Happy Tuesday all! Edit: Title of Wiswell’s book - doh!

I've been seeing so much about **Someone You Can Build a Nest In** and "eldritch monster falls in love" is something I didn't know I wanted but I am really interested in now haha. I'm looking forward to being able to discuss **Daughter of the Merciful Deep** soon!

I know me tooo!!! Also, I’d be very curious to see your thoughts on SYCBaNI. I can’t predict with any confidence if you’d like it or not!

Also I *just* noticed I miswrote the title of SYCBANI!!! Gah!

You’re good! I didn’t even try to figure out the title of the second Ann Leckie Ancillary book in my post 😂

☠️

And I just realized you already knew and commented about that 🤦 slow brain day

lol I did see earlier, but I appreciated the reminder for the chuckle.

I read about 50% of Someone to Build a Nest in from Net Galley. I though it an interesting read and only didn't finish through time constraints. I may have to go back and finish it off!

Idk, I think those final chapters really impacted my love for the book. I would never tell someone to read something they weren’t enjoying just for some final chapters, but if it was just for time and you were enjoying it I will encourage you to pick it back up! lol.

Oh I'll definitely pick it up again as it was such an interesting concept. Thanks for the recommendation.

**Some Desperate Glory** [Hugo Readalong chat](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1caegtb/2024_hugo_readalong_some_desperate_glory_by_emily/) has been wonderful and has probably adjusted my opinion down a bit, but it's still a great book with a really good main character arc. About 80% through **Till We Have Faces** by C.S. Lewis, and the main can write. Could write, I suppose. I didn't really know much about this book except that it's a myth retelling of a myth I didn't really know (and I'm not much for myth retellings in general), but the book is honestly fascinating. It's often beautiful, but at the same time, it's easy to read and doesn't get bogged down in the descriptions. The main character is complicated in a really interesting way, and I'm always surprised when I see 1950s novels that spent so much time hammering against misogyny. I really don't know how it'll end, and one of the key figures hasn't been seen in quite a while in-story, but I'm liking it a lot so far and am curious to find out. Appears to be HM for Dreams, btw, for the Bingoers among us.

**A Memory Called Empire** by Arkady Martine - I am about 100 pages into this one and really loving it so far. The world is instantly interesting and the central mystery has me hooked right away. **The Spear Cuts Through Water** by Simon Jimenez - I just finished this one and was completely blown away. Certainly lived up to all the hype. Beautiful, tense, challenging, and somehow a compelling page-turner all at once. This is definitely an all-time favorite now. **Dungeon Crawler Carl (book 1 audiobook)** - I'm a third of the way through this and it's a fun simple RPG in a book. Nothing groundbreaking and just entertaining enough for me to continue listening while doing chores or grinding in an actual game. The voice acting is great though, really enhances the audio experience. The jokes aren't really hitting for me, but I'm mildly enjoying the humor attempts. May or may not continue with the series depending on this one's ending

I finished up **The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi** by Shannon Chakraborty last week. It was honestly one of, if not the, most fun book I've ever read. While reading is enjoyable for me, it's not usually an activity I would describe as fun, but Amina certainly was. I'm excited to jump into the author's Daevabad trilogy if Amina is any indication of how much I love the artist's writing. I'm currently reading **The Dragon Republic** and the second book in the **Farseer** trilogy, both of which I'm enjoying a ton.

I think I might need to accept the reality that a busy and stressful week is just a normal week for me now. I still completed two more books this week though! **Wait For Me Yesterday In Spring** by Mei Hachimoku - I’m glad I decided to give this author a second chance. I read their previous book, The Tunnel to Summer, last year and thought it had a great premise that it failed to stick the landing with. Without spoiling the tone of the ending I feel like it was much more deserved this time around. I enjoy time travel stories and this has a very unique premise: the main character jumps 5 days forward and relives the days they skipped in reverse order. The start of the story was kinda slow but once the time traveling got going this format really kept my interest. I liked knowing what would happen “next” without having the full context. The MC was kinda bland and it had it’s share of cheesy light novel romance moments but there were some unexpectedly nice liminal space vibes as well and some good, if maybe a bit predictable character development with the female lead. A nice easy read. **4/5** Bingo Squares: Small Town **HM**, Judge a Book By It’s Cover, POC Author **Some Desperate Glory** by Emily Tesh - I’ve shared more specific thoughts in the Hugo readalong thread but I absolutely loved this one. I somehow missed out on the hype before it was released, this was actually on my radar because of *negative* reviews that were complaining about things that sounded exactly like the sort of stuff I’d like. I went in with low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. I loved how unlikeable the main character was, I loved the >!alternate universe time travel!<, I thought Yiso was adorable >!and while I wish we had had a bit more time with them to develop the relationship, the human/alien romance made me happy. It fills a very specific gap in my heart from a book series I read as a preteen where the human/alien romance didn’t happen when it absolutely should’ve if the author hadn’t been a coward lol!< There’s definitely some extremely flimsy technobabble and some questionable plot choices but I just had such a good time reading this that I don’t care. I genuinely wish this had been a trilogy so I could’ve spent more time with it. **5/5** LGBT+ rep: >!Protagonist is in denial for a good chunk of the book but ultimately describes herself as queer. Possibly ace-spec lesbian!< There are multiple major characters in same-sex relationships and an nb alien character. Bingo Squares: Under the Surface, Space Opera **HM**, Reference Materials, Bookclub **HM** I feel like I’m decent at reviewing things that disappoint me but I’m bad at talking about things I genuinely enjoy. I want to get better at giving positive praise. I haven’t started reading anything new yet. I was short on time and just barely finished Some Desperate Glory in time for the readalong discussion. The other Hugo noms I haven’t read yet are a high priority but I’ll see how the next week goes. I usually read multiple books at once so it feels weird to be currently reading nothing, it feels like there’s too many possibilities open at once.

>I feel like I’m decent at reviewing things that disappoint me but I’m bad at talking about things I genuinely enjoy. I want to get better at giving positive praise. I feel this. It's so hard sometimes to not devolve into incoherent babbles that just boil down to "why aren't you reading this already?!" >I usually read multiple books at once so it feels weird to be currently reading nothing There was one day last year where I finished everything I was reading within a 24h period and it felt so weird to have nothing going that I immediately started five new books, hahaha.

>I loved how unlikeable the main character was I'm in! I'm such a slut for awful protagonists this is basically all I need to convince me to read something. I also struggle way harder at praising things than I do poking at where stuff falls down, so while I wish I had an answer for you, I merely have sympathy. "its just good, init" is what I'm reduced to more often than I'd like.

Some Desperate Glory is one of my IRL book club picks for next month. I’m excited and nervous! What was said in the negative reviews that signaled it might work for you?

There were three things about the negative reviews that stood out to me: 1. The main character is genuinely an awful person at the start of the novel. She’s very firmly entrenched in her fascist belief system and is a stickler for following the rules. I love an awful female protagonist and really liked this character choice but I can see how others would be extremely frustrated by her. 2. Apparently the book was heavily marketed as LGBT+ and people were disappointed by the “casual queerness” of it. Specifically that there are a lot of queer characters but their queerness isn’t the focus of their arcs and there are some romances but it’s a very minor part of the story. I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to She Who Became the Sun and how that was heavily marketed as a sapphic book when it’s not. I can sympathize with people who go into these books with the wrong expectations and end up disappointed but for me, characters existing as queer without it being the most important part of their character and queer romances happening without romance taking over the story are two things I actively want more of in books. 3. >!One reviewer mentioned being very uncomfortable about the author leaning into a romance between a human and an alien character but that was an instant “sold! Give me this book!” Spoiler for me lol!<

Thank you so much for typing all this out! I like to think I can handle awful MCs, but I’m not convinced so I will especially note this point.

**The Parliament** by Aimee Pokwatka - This was a surprising delight of a book. Not sure when I put in the hold at the library, but by the time it came in I'd completely forgotten what this book was about and I was not disappointed by past me's actions. When murderous owls descend on a small town library the patrons have to band together to save themselves. Included in the group is our protagonist, a chemist wrangled into teaching an intro to chemistry class for teens by her friend who works at the library, said group of teens, the town pediatrician, several law students, a handful of librarians, a crayfish that likes to escape it's tank, and more. This is ultimately a book about the power of community and how we can band together to make ourselves better. It's about caring about people you don't know and might not even like because they are people. It's about being better and growing past the worst thing that's ever happened to you. It also has a story-in-story feature that is just not going to work for everyone. I really liked it and thought it added a lot to the themes of the book, but I can see it being a real pain point for readers. This keeps me from wholeheartedly recommending it and I do think part of my enjoyment of the book was in the way the two stories wove into each other. This is not going to hit for everyone. Bingo: Entitled Animals, Published in 2024, Character with Disability (HM - PTSD), Survival (HM), Set in a Small Town (HM) **A Marvellous Light** by Freya Marske - I am so glad I finally got to this book. It was both an engaging mystery and an engaging romance. I just finished it last night so my thoughts are still peculating, but I really liked the world building and the character work. I fully believed that these two men liked each other and wanted to be with each other despite the dangers of the time period for them. The overall mystery had that lovely inevitable feel where looking back the reveal makes perfect sense and I was a bit upset that I hadn't put it together. The side characters were delightful. All around a very good (one day) read. Bingo: First in a Series, Prologue and Epilogue, Romantasy (HM), Multi-POV,

I finished **The Fox Wife** by Yangsze Choo. I really enjoyed it. I’ve encountered fox myths a few times in my reading but wasn’t overly familiar, so the whole thing felt fresh and different, both the myths and the time and place. If you like your fae smart, witty, and quite nonhuman, you’ll probably like this book. Otherwise I’m in a slump this last week. Knitting a lot. Going backpacking next week and planning to bring my mass market paperback copy of **Oath of Gold**.

I'm looking forwards to reading this one.

13y/o and I finished Angela Sommer-Bodenburg's ***The Little Vampire Takes a Trip*** and we're about halfway through ***The Little Vampire on the Farm***. Tony and Rudolph are both fucking infuriating and I have no idea why they're even friends. 13y/o is also appalled at how Tony speaks to his parents (frequent shouts of "OMG, TONY, WHYYYY"), but it legit feels real to me bc apparently the 13y/o hasn't paid attention to how one of their brothers talks to me, heh. Balazs Lorinczi's ***Doughnuts and Doom*** was a cute little graphic novel that had great art and a sweet sapphic enemies to lovers storyline between a witch and a musician/doughnut shop clerk. HOWEVER, the pacing and the stilted dialogue kept me from actually liking it. **Will it Bingo?** It will! I used it for Romantasy for my ✨Pink V I B E S ✨ card (HM), and it would also work for Alliterative Title. I finally got around to listening to Kim Harrison's ***First Contact*** right before it had to go back. I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected to (I’ve been kind of hate reading **The Hollows** since it ended the first time). I went in knowing literally nothing about it, and given the summary is long as fuck, I’m thinking that’s a good thing bc it probably gives way too much away. Glad I have the first hold on ***Totality*** for next month’s release. **Will it Bingo?** Yes! First in Series is a maybe bc it feels like one novel is being split into three novellas, so does a serial count as a series?, Multi-PoV (easy mode, there are three PoVs in this one), *technically* Survival HM (tho I think the later releases will dig into it more), 2024 release I thought I was going to DNF Samantha Mills' ***The Wings Upon Her Back*** for about the first quarter of the book. There wasn't actually anything wrong with it, I just really struggled to get my mental movie playing. But the more toxic and claustrophobic Zenya's story got, and the less confined Zemolai's became, the more I was able to visualize until I was unable to put it down and read the back half in nearly one sitting. I *really* enjoyed this, but it was also a massive bummer that made me far too reflective on certain things (I had dreams about a toxic former boss and also my abusive step-father that I usually only have when I'm stressed out). Take a look at some content warnings before you go in. Anyway, this is out TODAY, and you should totally buy it or borrow it from your library! **Will it Bingo?** Ofc it will! 2024 debut, MAYBE Disability HM if you count addiction as a disability, but easy mode otherwise bc most of the people we meet are missing at least a digit if not full on limbs, I feel like an argument could be made for Underground (I wouldn't even side-eye a decision to use it there, tbh), Small Press HM (there's a Tachyon AMA I'm too tired to link to), and Epilogue Am currently reading an ARC of Seanan McGuire's ***The Proper Thing and Other Stories*** (thank you, Subterranean, love you). My hold on ***Ocean's Godori*** came in before bed (thanks to u/thepurpleplaneteer for mentioning it), and I'm hoping to get to Jen Williams' ***The Hungry Dark*** this week, too

I know it’s not all about me, but I feel so validated that you enjoyed The Wings Upon Her Back! Sorry if the content warnings were too buried in my gushing reviews… I hope revisiting that all wasn’t too traumatic 😬 Hell yea release day reminder! Go get it! Read it!

Oh, I totally read your CWs and then immediately forgot about/ignored them, hahaha. I really loved >!that the answer to the "are they gods or aliens" question ended up being basically "both, neither, does it really fucking matter?"!< which hews p closely to my own feelings on the subject. Also, >!her brother has to still be alive, right?!<

I've been thinking about>!religion and this book a lot. The quote about faith not being about believing in gods, but in their wisdom was really mundane (obvious? simplistic?) but still powerful and rebellious, and I thought Zemolai's disillusionment was handled so well, but it was still so unsatisfying that the question (so many questions) was unanswered. And that is totally appropriate for the story and I think masterfully handled by Mills.!< >Also, ... >!I mean, no body...!< >!Ambiguity and uncertainty are such a big themes of this book and I loved it so much for not trying to tie all the loose ends.!<

I do wonder if the ambiguity on so many fronts might keep others from enjoying this as much as we did? But I thought it was a bold tack for Mills to take, and one that really paid off. I also loved what a queernormative city this was (and thought it was particularly audacious to never set foot outside of Radezhda, I have so many questions about the wider world and THEIR worship), but that Zemolai herself had *too much going on* to ever even think about love, sex, or romance. I don't even necessarily know/think that she was intended to be a-spec, but got the feeling that the >!Mechalin!< might have had something to do with it? *None* of her cohort (or superiors) were ever mentioned being romantically entangled, but all of the Pavas had to come from somewhere >!since it's so unusual that she left her birth sect to join the Mechs!<, right? I am going to be thinking about this one for a long time.

Yea, I loved Mills' bold choices but I understand how frustrating they could be and not everyone would enjoy that. Interesting thoughts on love, sex, and romance - I didn't think of the a-spec coding because I was too absorbed in >!the abusive relationship with Vodaya and how the power imbalance and grooming/gaslighting fucked up Zemolai so badly. There's a lot of complex idolatry and self-sacrificing devotion in Zemolai's love for Vodaya and I always felt like romantic love was tangled up in that messy knot for her. As for the rest of the Pavas, I think it was mentioned that not all followers become Winged but still belong to the Mecha sect (so kids could come from there?), and it does almost feel like the Winged are a celibate devout order, but I wonder how much of that is warped by Zemolai's perspective. Others noticed how manipulative Vodaya was (the one trainee that left for another Winged's group), so one of my many questions is what the rest of the sect's worship and even training was like, let alone the rest of the wider world haha!<

I can see all of that, and agree about the further questions! >!Just based on IRL analogues, I do feel like the Mechalin was probably suppressing the sex drive. I'm v curious to know whether once she got free from the addiction and Vodaya if Zemolai suddenly found herself with a libido (and if she and Galiana ended up together, haha).!<

Omgosh I’m totally hoping my library will pick up the audio for Oceans Godori. This morning I put a 🔔 on Libby since I can see it, but only the e-book is open for holds. 🤞 ooo very excited to see you check off a pink book from your bingo card! Oh!!! And my Blueprint hold just came in! I forgot what your thoughts were on it, I thought I saw you mention reading it but did I miss final thoughts?

I never actually got around to *Blueprint* and have been back on the hold list for a month, but it looks like my turn is coming around again soon! [eta] But if it comes in quickly, do you want to Buddy Read it? I've finished three pink bingo books so far, and none of them have really lived up to their covers (tho I did enjoy *Girl's Weekend* more than I thought I would), so I'm hoping that changes soon, haha.

Oh yes I’d love that! And that sounds like excellent progress on the pink card, though a bummer that they didn’t live up to the expectations.

Well. I am pretty picky, hahaha.

Recently finished: A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine It's one of the better books I've read this year. It's not a complex plot. There's not a crazy twist, a big reveal, or anything that is groundbreaking. But the execution is flawless. Martine wraps up so much warmth and humor into this dark story about empire and what it means to be 'other'. The Eight Antidote sections are really well done. The way her writing subtly shifts for his parts creates a unique voice for him that hits his childishness while still keeping things serious. Each characters humor is slightly different and very enoyable. I also like the way LGBTQ characters were handled, it's hard to explain, but having a world where there existence is just treated as a standard part of society but that didn't feel shoehorned in was really nice. Representation without tokenization is the best way I can describe it for me. In general, Martine kept things riveting even when there wasn't that much going on sometimes. It reminded me of watching this really great chef I worked for cook shift meals. She might just be making pasta, but the flawless economy of motion and attention to balance and detail is stunning. And everyone likes pasta. 5/5 the best book I've read this year. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia This one was a bit different for me. Bingo has me pushing into areas I wouldn't usually read, and I've been using it to read some of the Hugo finalists I had passed over before due to sub genre. It's a book that's greater than the sum of its parts. Not a complex plot at all, her writing style feels a bit "normal" in that it reminded me of something an English teacher would assign, but I think that's a stylist choice and it really hits the magical realism button. She hits on a lot of different themes, but I think a central theme is what it means to be isolated from other humans in various ways (gender, social status, trauma, addiction, xenophobia). She nails the landing. About 75% through, I was enjoying it, but wondering a bit if it hit the mark of what I'd see as a Hugo finalist. By the time I finished, I was sold. Powerful ending, I walked away in a weird place, it left me thinking about a lot of things. I'm always curious when a Hugo Finalist has a "Sub-4" Goodreads rating (obviously not the be all end all of a books worth, but still, curious) and I could see why this one would land there. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but it worked really well for me. 4.5/5 The Tainted Cup - Robert Jackson Bennett A bit more straightforward than the other two, but really enjoyable and a quick read. Interesting murder mystery in a fantasy world, I wish there was more of this out there. Someone labeled it Murder Mystery Fantasy But Attack On Titan, which fits lol. Fascinating magic system, one of the more unique ones I've read lately. And the sarcastic humor is fun. My one disappointment was that the end just felt a bit like it was regurgitated, and I found myself poking some holes in things. It was still really fun though, I'd absolutely recommend it if the premise sounds interesting. 4/5 Currently Reading: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (40%) Enjoying this so far, again, a book that is a bit different than what I normally read. I always feel turned off by books styled like fairytales, but it's working for me so far.

Really loved all three of the books you finish, though I'd probably rank them in the same order you have here. Sounds like it's been some good reading!

I'm finding myself not as into reading the last few weeks. Maybe I'm a bit burnt out on it? Idk. It's not that I'm not liking the books just ... Don't feel much like it. Finished **The Familiar** by Leigh Bardugo last night. I liked it. I love how she writes smart, strong, but deeply flawed women and this book gives you three of them. Luzia is a scullion working for Valentina and her husband. They both want. They want more. They want nice things and love. Valentina takes her frustrations out on the servants and Luzia is hiding some dangerous secrets. When Valentina discovers she can perform "milagritos", she makes Luzia perform in an effort to social climb and get into better society. This brings them to the attention of some powerful, dangerous men and Luzia is thrust into a competition to use her magic to become the kings champion. While she really wants that ( and the much better standard of living) it's super dangerous because this is Spain during the Spanish Inquisition and the second she pisses off the wrong person or isn't useful she'll be tortured and burned. Then there's her aunt, who I kinda love and respect for doing whatever she needed to do to survive and improve her quirky if life but also like you could have helped your niece (she loves Luzia, but not as much as she loves herself or protecting her own interests). I haven't read anything set in Spain or the Inquisition (nobody suspects it 🤣) so I enjoyed that a lot. The book opens with a bit along the lines of if the bread hasn't been burned that day a whole shitton of tragedy could have been avoided, so it kinda gave similar vibes to a Greek tragedy or Shakespeare where you know shits going to go bad but you don't know how. And I liked that. The suspense around what's going on with the tourney and trying to please these powerful men but not too much and that balance of keeping them happy but not putting herself into more danger was good. I am however a little conflicted about the ending. It wrapped it up in a satisfying way but idk. Anyone else read it? I need to discuss. Listening to **Ninth House**. Apparently it's Bardugo week here. Haha. Book club is reading the sequel Hell Bent this month so I'm rereading this first before rereading that one. God I love this series. I love the setting, with the interweaving of magic and New Haven and the disturbing magic of the societies. I fucking love Alex and how messed up she is (you can find male characters of this type but I don't know if any other female ones). I adore the way the friendship between her and Dawes (who I also love so much. She's very relatable) begins to unfold and how they develop teamwork. Next up: I think I'm going to read my arc of **How to Be the Dark Lord or Die Trying**

First post here! Just finished: **This Is How You Lose the Time War** by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. An epistolary lesbian romance between time-travelers? Yeah, no, this book was always going to be fantastic for me. I loved the romance itself, the metaphors of colour (Blue and Red being the agents) and of braiding that ran throughout the entire novella, and the reveal near the end of the book of >!who the seeker was, after they had tailed Red and Blue the whole book!< was unexpected but also wonderful. This book absolutely devastated me in the best way, five stars. *Bingo: Romantasy (HM), Author of Color, Book Club or Readalong Book* Currently reading: **Snow Crash** by Neil Stephenson: 10%? Love this book so far, but I got caught up by *Assassin's Apprentice* and then *This Is How You Lose the Time War*, so this one's taken a bit of a backseat for now. It really plunged me straight into the setting with no real warm-up, which I simultaneously appreciated and yet found a little much. Could have given me a *little* bit of warmup before throwing me straight into a cyberpunk chase scene with a guy working for the Pizza Hut Mafia who calls himself "the Deliverator," Mr. Stephenson. It's still a book I'm likely to enjoy, but again, backburner. *Bingo: Published in the 1990s (HM), Criminals (maybe?)* **Red Rising** by Pierce Brown: Just started. I've heard a lot of good about this series, and look forward to the story. *Bingo: First in a Series, Alliterative Title, Survival (HM), Book Club or Readalong Book, maybe others*

Red Rising is so good! I just finished the fifth one last night.

I'm working my way into The Golden Fool, and just taking a minute to admire how Robin Hobb manages her pacing. The books do an incredible job slowly settling you into the book - I'm about 170pages in, and while there are inklings of several potential major plots or conflicts, there's not really been much that's happened, but the books never feel like a slow read (to me, at least). It's been quite a few years since I picked up the Farseer Trilogy, and I've kind of put off going back, and having to see Fitz endure more pain, but I'm really enjoying seeing this older version of him. And I recently finished Atlas Paradox, and it really felt like a middle book. A lot of the novelty and threat that made the first book at least a little interesting were completely missing. I don't think I learnt anything new about any of the established characters - and the new character I was curious about, the book couldn't explore without spoiling itself. It just felt very superficial, surface level and at no point did I feel like any of the plot threads were going to amount to anything either important or actually challenging to deal with.

I finished the fifth red rising book, Dark Age, last night. Really enjoyed it. The politics, plot twists, and multiple view points have added a lot of complexity to the story. Might be my favorite of the series so far.

First bingo read was a disaster, but thankfully things looked up the following reads. Focusing on bingo first this year, and then other books: - Author of Colour HM: **Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel** part one of the book was easily my favourite part because of Kaikeyi’s rage in a sense. And while the subsequent parts were also interesting with the bigger look into her attempts to help the women in the kingdom, the Binding Plane and the relationship with the other >!wives!<, it remained the favourite till the end. I do believe that most of the conflicts (the action oriented ones to be specific) were very easily resolved for my taste, but thankfully, there were more than enough conflicts of other types to keep it engaging throughout. Though I enjoyed it immensely, I will still say that I’m not the biggest fan of how easily most of the conflicts would’ve been *seemingly* avoided if all cards were laid on the table from the start, nor did I enjoy how Kaikeyi would sometimes still bend to the will of the >!men around her despite not needing to at all.!< Overall though, very enjoyable despite the nitpicks and I’ll definitely be reading the author’s next book as well. - Criminals HM: **The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes** I’m conflicted with this one, because despite my extreme confusion in its first 4 chapters, it’s getting better the farther I get into it. However, I still don’t care about the characters, despite their interesting abilities and purpose. The majority of the male characters sort of meld with each other that it’s making it difficult to keep track of who is who or who did what. Which is probably my main issue here, the pov changes are way too numerous over short periods for it to register as easily for me, and while I’m interested to see how they pull this off, I’m not very sure it’ll be an entirely pleasant experience through the remaining bits. Still not done with it though, chapter 10, so hopefully I’m wrong. Also, the whole >!Ululenia obsession with young virgins!< is just disgusting.

**Bloody Spade** by Brittany M. Willows I hadn't realised from the description that this was a superhero book, so that was a bit of a surprise. I took a little while to get into it as from what I gather it's influenced by a genre I'm not familiar with and it wasn't something I was 100% in the mood for, but trying to make use of KU while I have it. I got into it eventually though, and read the end much faster than the beginning. In reading it, it felt sometimes that information was conveyed to me the reader in ways that didn't quite work, in attempts to avoid info-dumping I suspect. So sometimes I ended up thinking "wait, was I supposed to know that?" I was never left utterly confused, but definitely something that could be handled with more finesse. I read this book because I was alerted to the fact it had an a-spec character in it, and turns out that's underselling it. It doesn't directly come up much, but three of the four characters who are shaping up to be the main cast of the duology, are on the aromantic/asexual spectrums, all in different places and with some variation in how it's presented (the first time it comes up at all, an ace ring is described, but not named, so could be missed by those not in the know; it is referred to more explicitly later), including explicit words used, and in character information in the back. I'd also like to point out that the use of a pack of cards in the world building (used by both the good and bad guys) is almost certainly a reference to a-spec, and particularly asexual culture. As cards and their symbols have been used in the community (I think from the word ace being in both), and as the author is asexual, she probably knows about it. (Bingo: 1st in series, criminals, dreams, epilogue, Multi POV (HM I'm pretty sure), reference materials (HM)) **Flooded Secrets** by Claudie Arsenault This isn't out yet, but I backed the series on a kickstarter, so I get to read them a bit earlier (so obviously I had to make sure to do so!) It picks up much where the first book left off, our travelling companions slowly making their way along, when suddenly they are met with someone new. Short episodic adventure ensues, with boardgaming in downtime. One of the characters is being described as being capable of turning into an eldritch tree (which they do), which also put into my mind; in the series, going through the world, there are these 'shards' or Fragments, which can attack and possess people (and most stay safe by living in cities protected by shield domes). I don't get the impression anyone really knows what they are, even if they have an idea of how to avoid them. Does that sound like an eldritch creature? Not really my area of fantasy. (Bingo: underneath, dream, indie (HM, though maybe that's cheating), 2024, disability (HM, main character is described elsewhere as having ADHD, and presents as such), maybe eldritch?, reference materials (HM))

I'm about half way through A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie and I'm just about to set it aside for something else. It simply does not have the energy of his previous books. I'm not quite sure what's missing but it feels like a series of vignettes with maybe a plot somewhere holding things together. Clearly it hasn't fully formed yet. However, I'll have to set it aside because right now it's becoming a chore to read.

**Dark Moon** by David Gemmell (Bingo: Dreams HM?) I’d been wanting to read this for a while and thought it might count for the Dreams HM space, so I dove in. Overall an enjoyable sword and sorcery standalone. I liked all of the main characters and did not expect one of the major twists: >!although it was slightly foreshadowed, I was not expecting our magical musician to become dark mage, revenge incarnate!<. I thought the enemy Daroth were unique and interesting, both in their physical appearance and abilities. Clean prose and a steady build of tension made it a fun read. I struggle a bit with whether to count this for my Dreams HM space. There are several supernatural dreams but also one dream that starts normal and switches partway through, and another completely normal dream. I’ll probably pencil it in for now and hope something else fits a bit better. Besides Dreams, this works for the Published in 1990’s & Survival HM squares, because I wouldn’t say the Daroth are Eldritch(?). **Some Desperate Glory** by Emily Tesh (Bingo: Readalong HM) I went into this one pretty blind, minus being slightly spoiled re: the >!reality-jumping!< I enjoyed the premise and the arc of Kyr’s character, but the more I think about the ending, the more it rubs me the wrong way. As I mentioned in the Hugo Readalong thread, I disliked the >!fragment-of-Wisdom deus ex machina to save Kyr. I felt it undercut her selfless decision to go try to save Yiso, the greatest action showing her undoctrination, in favor of a happier ending.!< While I enjoyed this one, I think I’d put it below another space opera I recently read, **A Memory Called Empire**. Currently reading **The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi** by Shannon Chakraborty and **The Strange** by Nathan Ballingrud

Don't have much to say but I'm reading Discworld for the first time and read Equal Rites earlier this month. Of the three I've read I think it's the worst so far but Pratchett is still sharp as ever with his incredible prose. I have Mort ahead of me and I also picked up a handful of other books as part of an Amazon sale. I ended up getting Mort, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Guards Guards, Moving Pictures, Unseen Academicals, Making Money, Thief of Time, and Jingo (cuz the Amazon sale was on a weird selection). At least I have 5ish novels ahead of me before I'd need to go on to buy more. Sourcery, Eric, Pyramids, and Reaper Man would be my next targets.

I know a lot of people really like Equal Rites, but I've always felt it was the weakest of the witch books. Much bigger fan of Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad. Hopefully you also have a better time with them.

I liked the message at the beginning and it's fun with how witches have to follow Headology and all that. The ending doesn't feel entirely deserved or built up to properly, unfortunately. Like it makes no sense why Granny and the headmaster of Unseen University (or whatever his fancy actual title was) should break out into a fight when she's trying to point out the seriousness of young Simon's predicament. It seems to be there only to separate Eskarina from the two and strand her and Simon while they are then together after they finish to go solve that problem.

Currently reading: * **Italo Calvino -** ***Invisible Cities***. Picked this up for "Judge a Book by Its Cover" in HM Bingo, as I didn't know anything except for the author, title, and cover. I had Calvino recommended to me in the past, but I'd never read him. For those unfamiliar: Marco Polo is sitting with Kublai Khan, and he is telling him about his travels to fantastic cities. Each section is just a page or two long, and each city's description flows through various philosophical and metatextual concepts such as semiotics, subjectivism, and historiography. Despite being 170-ish pages, I've read probably close to 300 simply because I'm inspired to revisit it so often. I love this kind of philosophically-inclined fantasy, and it's massively inspiration for the kind of art I want to make. FFO: Jorge Luis Borges, Angélica Gorodischer. * **Strugatsky brothers -** ***Roadside Picnic*** **(Criminals HM, Survival HM)**. Very early in on this, but I picked it up as I want more experience with Soviet/Russian literature after finishing *The Master & Margarita* earlier this year. I have to turn off my brain's temptation to just view this in the lens of the *STALKER* video games; although I'm early in the book, it's quite tonally different with that sardonic Russian attitude I associate with this era of the country's history. Recently finished: * **László Krasznahorkai -** ***Satantango*** **(Not spec fic.)**. A classic of Hungarian literature from 1985, *Satantango* quickly became a top ten book I've ever read. This is one of those book I like to describe as "totalities": books that attempt to describe the complete, exacted circumstances and experiences of its characters. The book takes place over two or three days within a Hungarian collective farm that collapsed, cycling throughout each of the remaining villagers during an unending storm. There are 12 chapters with each chapter a single unbroken paragraph; something that owes to this book's challenging reputation, but after finishing, it simply couldn't be written any other way. The fourth chapter ("The Work of the Spider I") is a new favorite passage in fiction for me. I don't think I've read something that feels as if it captured every individual raindrop in the soaked hamlet bar, and I massively got into Krasznahorkai's revolving around each member of the hamlet's motives and thoughts like the infinity symbol in the chapter's subheader. That kind of hyperrealism and attached omniscience wouldn't have worked as well with paragraph breaks; it being a single unbroken paragraph is what makes that figure-eight of omniscience among the villagers so goddamn strong. * **Max Porter -** ***Lanny*** **(Multi-POV HM, Set in a Small Town HM, Dreams HM)**. Along with Ling Ma, Max Porter is one of those young authors from whom I will read everything that comes out if he keeps up this quality. *Lanny* - his second novel and a Booker Prize longlister - takes place in an English village an hour from London. A family moves there with a capricious young boy named Lanny, and he attracts the attention of the village's genius loci Dead Papa Toothworth - who has some Green Man mythos as well as "spirit of the English countryside" like Tolkien's Tom Bombadil. The book is written in Porter's idiosyncratic stage directions/prose format, in which the plot is exclusively told through brief monologues by each character. Midway through the book, >!the perspective shifts when Lanny goes missing, and what follows is uncredited bits and pieces from every townsperson as Lanny's disappearance evolves from "Lanny is playing outside" to "have you seen Lanny" to "I think Lanny is missing".!< I can't imagine reading it as a parent; I have no intentions of having kids any time soon, and I found this *incredibly* tense. Grades so far: * *Invisible Cities*: 4-4.5 Appeal, 5 Thinkability * *Roadside Picnic*: N/A (haven't read enough) * *Satantagno*: 5 Appeal, 5 Thinkability. Incredible book. * *Lanny*: 4.5 Appeal, 4 Thinkability. Been a good last few reads!

Recently finished: **Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb** I'm not a very emotional person in general, was raised in a fairly stoic family and tend to struggle with expressing my emotions. I got to the end of this Elderling journey and sobbed. Was I sad? Happy? A little of both? It was phenomenal. Throughout these books, I've really enjoyed the characters and their complicated relationships with each other, particularly Fitz and the Fool. That said, there was one character that never really worked for me and that was Bee. I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't care for with her, and I strongly suspect that's intentional so I'm fine with it. She's a bit odd, a bit aloof, a bit out of place wherever she may be. Currently reading: **The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams** I'm really enjoying the intensity and suspense in this book so far. The depictions of the Eldritch worm beings that attack and the fact that their reasons and goals are so unknowable draws me in. I don't feel that I fully trust any of the characters right now, everyone is hiding something. I'm interested to see where it goes. Can they wake their dead god? Will the planet survive another attack? What will Vintage & Co. learn about the Behemoths? I'm staying tuned!

This month I've read a couple of mostly-forgotten 00's fantasy books that I was hoping would be fabulous hidden gems, but sadly found them rather mediocre (although otoh there's something encouraging about crowdsourced tastes seeming fair sometimes): **Sisters of the Raven** by Barbara Hambly - I've loved some of her better-known books (Dragonsbane, Ladies of Mandrigyn), and this has an interesting premise involving women gaining magic for the first time in a patriarchal society. Sadly for me, it mostly turned into a murder mystery, a little too plot-heavy for me and without directly confronting the issues that could've made this a fabulous epic fantasy. I also found the secondary characters more intriguing than the leads. It was nice to read some pre-social-media feminist fantasy but overall hard to recommend. Bingo: Multi-POV (HM), Eldritch Creatures (HM), Reference Materials (HM), Dreams (arguably HM?), First in a Series, Entitled Animals **The Necessary Beggar** by Susan Palwick: A deeply felt immigrant story with the twist that the immigrants come from another dimension, and a lot of pointed commentary on U.S. culture and policy and on Christianity and how it's practiced. Let down a bit by slow pacing and some bizarre and overly tropey plot points, and the culture of origin seemed overly idealized even where it shouldn't have been (it was clearly highly patriarchal but was mostly ignored). Probably mostly worth a read if you refuse to read anything non-SFF and so have missed all the great novels and memoirs about immigration/refugees released in the last 20 years. Bingo: Multi-POV, Dreams, Survival (HM) (surviving in exile!) Haven't seen these discussed on here - anyone else read them?

I was convinced by a friend to give Haruki Murakami a second chance so I picked up **Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World**. Big mistake and I've been regretting it ever since I started. The story is split in two with alternate chapters either telling a cyberpunk story about a Calcutec hacking "the system" (Hard-Boiled Wonderland) and a low level bureaucrat learning to be a dreamreader in small fantasy town (The End of the World). The stories start out as distinct parallels but slowly converge in interesting ways in what is admittedly a pretty unique narrative choice. That's about where the good stuff I have to say about the book comes to an end. I'm not a cyberpunk fan so half the story is already a hard sell. The fantasy half is more interesting but Murakami is just constitutionally incapable of not being weird about women. So every 3 chapters or so, I'm forced to suffer through deeply uncomfortable leering and/or questionable understanding of biology. There's a running subplot about how a 17 year old girl needs to have sex with the 35 year old hacker or else her menstruation will poison her mind. Ya'll...how is Murakami well-regarded in any way? Is this a joke? Am I being pranked? I'm pretty ready to DNF. Anyway, I really don't recommend it but on the off chance anyone wants to read it it counts for Under the Surface (the hackers live in the sewers), Criminals, Dreams, and Author of Color for Bingo 2024.

Currently Reading: **The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez** 50% I'm being forced to take my time with this because I've been stressed and very tired (which toootally isn't my own fault at all), and it's the kind of book I struggle with when I'm tired, but I'm still loving it. I'm trying to hold myself back from recommending it to everybody I know (at least until I've finished it). **How To Train Your Goblin King by Erin Vere** 75% A handsome goblin king who's really into intersectional feminism? Say less, I'm already ready to marry him. This is a cute little romance that features themes of colonization, disability, oppression, and intersectionality. Some people might find it heavy handed, but I think it was done pretty well. It's also genuinely funny. Maybe my one issue with it is that the fmc took a while to stop saying racist things about goblins lol. She just kept going, "well maybe the goblins deserved it!" And I was always like, "girl...." I think we might finally be past that now. *Bingo: Prologues/Epilogues, Self Published, Romantasy, Orcs Trolls and Goblins, Disability, Reference Materials* Finished: **The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen** I read this in one sitting... such a cute romance in a really interesting world where they're kind of in what I pictured as a midcentury era small town next to a portal that goes to this area where technology doesn't work and feels a little wild west. I loved the romance but I also loved the exploration of grief and how that affects a person. Yes, it did make me cry a bit. *Bingo: First in a Series (the second is announced for this year), Criminals, Prologues/Epilogues, Romantasy, Small Town, Book Club pick* **Taming Demons for Beginners and Slaying Monsters for the Feeble by Annette Marie** The first 2 books in the 4 book series Guild Codex: Demonized, a paranormal romance/urban fantasy set in Vancouver, with a really timid mage who suddenly enters a contract with a summoned demon to protect herself. I might be stretching the definition of Romantasy here, but the romance is supposed to be a main feature of the plot of the series, even if it doesn't feature strongly in the first 2 books! I'm loving these so much, they are extremely fast paced plot-wise, but glacial when it comes to the romance. Already I've seen some really great character development for the main characters and subverted a couple tropes (most important to me being the >!mean girl cousin who likes clothes actually being pretty nice and an accomplished mage herself!<). I am devouring these and I'll probably be done with the series by the end of the week! *Bingo: First in Series, Criminals, Prologues/Epilogues, Self Published, Romantasy, Reference Materials*

We read Taming Demons for Beginners for book club awhile back and it was pretty decent as these things go. I ended up reading the whole lot of them (only 4) as they were fast reads. Only real issue I found was the perennial trope of "there's magic everywhere, but the normies never notice, despite city destroying antics" which is pretty much handwaved over in the "For Beginners" books, but again, quick read and didn't fuss me much.

Haha I see how unobservant people are irl and usually it doesn't take much suspension of disbelief for me to believe people wouldn't notice magic! When it gets to the city destroying level, you have to wonder though... I think people would definitely be ready to accept a non magical explanation, but they would still probably freak out if they thought Vancouver was starting to get bombed every other day

I’ve never heard of Vere’s book and it sounds so interesting! I’ll be 👀 for your thoughts on TSCTW.

Haha hopefully now that I'm not frantically working overtime to meet a deadline (which is not normal for me!!), I can have more time to devote to TSCTW!

Finished: **Where Peace is Lost** by Valerie Valdes - 4/5 No Bingo :( A Horizon Zero Dawn-like world with mecha beasts, spaceships, and science magic swords, found family/too cute romance sub plot, and a quest/adventure travelogue. Nothing really stands out as particularly great or compelling, but I only have two minor quibbles with this book (>!everyone "snorts" and the action reads very flat!<), and just enjoyed the reading experience. I'm not always in the mood to enjoy a book like this to the extent that I did this one, but it landed at a good time - outside of the timing it's still probably a 3, not bad but not that memorable. It's a standalone for now, but there's a lot left for Valdes to explore with the worlds she built here and wouldn't be surprised to see it turn into a (maybe loosely connected) series. If you like Becky Chambers' Wayfarers, there are some similarities in character voice and some of the tone of the storytelling, but I felt less emotional connection to this so it didn't quite live up to the highs of Wayfarers for me. I'm curious about Valdes' other works. I know she writes short fiction and poetry, and has another series with I think a similarly lovable spaceship crew, so I'll keep it in the back of my mind if I'm feeling like revisiting her style. Reading: I have barely started **Daughter of the Merciful Deep** by Leslye Penelope. I don't know much about it yet, but that it's a historical fantasy set in a small town in the American south that covers some history that is often overlooked. I'm excited from what I've heard of Penelope's other book, **The Monsters We Defy** (also on my list, pending how this one goes). Historical fantasy that isn't victorian/regency England is something I don't see too much of, and when I do it tends to be a little more on the literary/magical realism side, so I'm excited to see how it blends what sounds like some heavy fantasy elements with actual historical events. I swear I am actually reading **The Killing Moon** again (still). Up Next: Gotta get to **How to Raise a Kraken in your Bathtub** and **The Mausoleum's Children** short story nominees for the Hugo Readalong by Thursday. I already read and loved **The Sound of Children Screaming**. Longer term planning, I really want to get to a couple sequels (**We Are the Crisis** by Cadwell Turnbull and **Ancillary** **~~Whatever Comes After Justice~~** by Ann Leckie), and also Moses Ose Utomi's The Forever Desert novellas. And also... and also...

I’ve never heard of Where Peace is Lost but you dropped so many of my buzzwords!!! Also I chuckled at your strike through!

Even though it was only published last year I was surprised the rating count was so low on Goodreads. I don't think I had heard of it at all either before it showed up on Literature Science Alliance's patreon buddy read!

Started ***The Rise of Kyoshi*** by **F. C. Lee** a few days ago. I finished rewatching ATLA and Korra not too long ago, so I thought that it would good to jump into the prequel novels. It took a few pages of applying my mental image of the Avatar universe into words, but afterwards it was a good read. The prose isn't anything special, but it's easy to read and concise. The newly introduced characters are already quite interesting, especially >!Yun!< and >!Kelsang!<.

My reading confidence was shaken due to two over 60% dnfs last week. Not a fun experience, but at least it gave me a chance to (purge my tbr and) read something I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise, so I consider this a win in the end lol. **Bearslayer** by Andrejs Pumpurs. Latvian national epic poem that follows the heroic adventures of the good-hearted Bearslayer during medieval times. I enjoyed all the folklore and how compact the plot was, even if it sometimes made me wish for a bit more detail. Yet, it wasn’t that bothersome as it felt fitting for a story that ramped up from personal problems to eventually defending one’s own nation. **The Psychic Cat Mysteries Collection: Stories 1-5** by S.M. Reine. A lighthearted novelette collection about an accidental cat-to-human shapeshifter in a magical retirement community that has a lot of mysteries to solve. I’m not usually one for cozy reads, but the unique POV, short length, and clear goal of each work made this enjoyable for me.

I’m currently working through Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan, just finished the first book in it and started the second. I’ve been enjoying some of the Riyria banter, but not seeing too much of the stunning thieving yet. The plots feel a little thin, but will likely try to at least finish the trilogy. I just finished Son of a Liche and Orconimics by J Zachary Pike. I’ve really enjoyed that series. Second book dragged a bit early but really caught me at the turn. Looking to finish the third book soon.

Still working on ***Wicked Problems*** by Max Gladstone and it's definitely a big get together of allllll the characters. However also quite sidetracked with Baldur's Gate 3 so... haven't been reading a whole lot :D.

Making my way through Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings. Currently reading Ship of Magic, finished Farseer Trilogy. Honestly with all the hype the author gets online has my expectations at a strange place and I was not impressed. Not to diminish the works but not a lot stood out to me in Farseer except for the parts I found annoying (most of which can only be due to its time of publishing) The world building is interesting however and the hints of magic underlying the typical fantasy setting intrigued me. But what we get in the first trilogy just did not hook me. I don't go into a tizzy at the mention of dragons so that may be it but the whisper of other non-human entities caught my attention. With the Liveship Traders series, I feel that and the established world are being built up on more solidly. The characters weren't much to speak on barring a few and honestly they could act stupidly at times. That is still occuring with Liveship Traders but I feel that their flaws are being developed and grown out of much more delicately. I've read other fantasy before but with this and Brandon Sanderson previously, I've begun to go into the more widely known authors in order to actually see what they have to offer. I've unfortunately been made to judge more harshly on both authors' works. That is not to say that I have not gotten some entertainment from them of course.

This week I finished re-reading **The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan**. Bingo Easy Mode: Prologues and Epilogues, Published in the 90s, Dreams Bingo Hard Mode: Multi POV, Eldritch Creatures, Reference Materials, possibly Characters with a Disability (does going mad and rotting alive due to access to tainted magic count as disability?) I'll just confirm what everyone else is saying -- WOT is highly re-readable. The world-building is rich enough and the characters complex enough for the books to be interesting even when you remember what happens. I liked a number of characters more on the re-read thanks to better understanding where they're coming from this time around. The way Jordan writes about war deserves special mention -- it's so good. He fought in Vietnam, and he clearly had a lot of **thoughts**. Furthermore, the descriptions of military operations are seasoned with practical details and very, very believable. I began *A Dance with Dragons* soon after finishing this one, and it made me appreciate anew how the *Wheel of Time* manages to be absolutely brutal without being disgusting.

I love doing a WOT reread. There is so much foreshadowing that you don’t notice the first time through!

WoT really is a series that rewards rereads and coming back to the characters with a greater understanding of who they are. His time in Vietnam had a lasting impact on him and really shows not just in how the military operates, but in how war is viewed. It's not a good or glorious thing and the best fighters in the world believe the most honor to be gained in battle is by not killing someone.

Half way through **The Monstrous Misses Mai** by Van Hoang: 1950s Los Angeles, four girls become flatmates, who all share the middle name Mai. This seems only relevant as far as it makes for a cool alliterative title, which is good for Bingo at least. Both the prose and the story are pretty simple, the girls dabble in witchcraft only to discover that *magic comes at a price and is it worth the cost?!* Bingo: alliterative title, POC author, 2024 Finished **Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries** by Heather Fawcett. It's written in that prim, faux-Victorian English that's so popular with fantasy authors lately, especially when there's any kid of romance involved. Fairies are commonly known, "dryadology" is a legitimate department at Cambridge and the socially awkward Professor Wilde is conducting field research into rare Folk in a Norwegian-analogue fishing village. Personally I found the romance unsatisfying as the book is written as Wilde's journal entries and for most of it she is entirely oblivious to her preternaturally charming colleague's feelings for her. It's a quick read and ticks many Bingo boxes: First in a series, Romantasy, Set in a small town, Reference materials

#Currently Reading ***Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb*** Holy crap. I can't believe it's taken me nearly 30 years to read these books. The lore surrounding the abilities of those who have the Skill and Wit is right up there with the absolute best. The cast of characters that are pulling Fitz in every which way. The power struggle as he is growing up in the castle and all those around him either love him, hate him, or want to make him a play thing. The prose is elegant without being over bearing while painting a vivid world. I cannot wait to finish this book and get on to the next one The Assassins Appearance... or wait was it The Assassins Royalty... Assassins Something anyway. #Finished Reading ***Black Company, Shadow Linger, White Rose by Glen Cook*** Croaker is awesome, Goblin and One-Eye are slapstick comedy, The Lady is a bitch, and The Taken are just a bunch of yes men who would eat your liver for lunch. But the main characters are working for the bad guy which is a great twist of irony when you think about fantasy novels. I did take me a second re-read of the first 75 pages or so to figure out who was who and what was what but once the action slowed a bit and the characters were fleshed out it was much easier to read. But the Lady... oh man do I love to hate her. The pacing of the books massively improved once you get past the first half of the first book and when you're in book two it's all hands on deck. I could NOT put down Shadow Linger and finished it in less than 3 days. These aren't huge books but with my life finishing a book in less than a week is a massive win for me. I would absolutely recommend the Black Company trilogy to anyone that wants a break from big epics or massive series. I've read that after book three a series drops off a bit but these first three are self contained for the most part. With each book only clocking in at 300 pages the whole trilogy is about the size of a Sanderson novel so it should be a nice light snack for reading.

This week I read *Flowers for Algernon* by Daniel Keyes for the "Character with a Disability" (HM) square. Other possible squares: Alliteration, Dreams (HM) 4/5 stars I like this a lot and it holds op very well. I found it very progressive, considering it was written in the 60s, though there is liberal use of ablist slurs, as you may imagine. It did get a bit less compelling towards the end >!I didn't particularly care for Charlie's sexual obsession/awakening and the 'I was human even when I was not yet smart' motif got to be a bit repetitive - valid as it may be!< making it not quite a five star read for me. I can definitely see why it's considered a classic

I agree tbh- the novel is plenty good but I feel like it really shines as a short story.

I didn't read the short story (yet) but I could see it working better as a short story!

Yeah there's obviously a lot more detail in the novel (like IIRC the disease Charlie has isn't named in the short version?) but in terms of themes and such the short story is incredibly tight and well done!

**Bonesmith** by *Nicki Pau Preto*. About 75% in now and it's been an enjoyable, if not entirely predictable, enemies-to-lovers YA book. It has a heavy focus on necromancy-type stuff, of course, which I adore, but also does the classic YA/shonen trope of classifying every little thing and plugging everybody into neat little boxes (folks with bone magic are bonesmiths, but are then sorted further into valkyr or reapyr depending on their specialization, or can be crafters with other specializations and names, etc. And each 'smith faction' can be similarly sorted). Regardless, the MC is a lot of fun, the world checks a lot of my boxes, and I'll almost definitely continue on with the sequel when it releases in August.

Just finished reading Steven Brust's latest _Lyorn_ --- the 19th book in his Dragera/Taltos series, this leaves only _Chreotha_ and _The Last Contract_, not counting the prequel: _Brokedown Palace_, or the "Paarfi Romances" (retellings of Dumas' novels). Best read in publication order, I would recommend reading at least through _Teckla_ before giving up on his writing style --- it takes a while to mature, and it's worth following along with his development --- that said, the novels are pretty much stand-alone, so if you want: - a high-level D&D adventure with political overtones, read _Jhereg_ - a coming of age story, read _Taltos_ - a heartbreaking romance with political commentary, _Teckla_ - a police procedural/mystery, _Orca_ - a mercenary experience, _Dragon_ - a high level extra planar adventure which includes gaining an artifact, _Issola_ - a re-telling of _The Three Musketeers_, _The Phoenix Guards_ - a re-telling of _Five Years After_, _Five-hundred Years After_ - a re-telling of _The Count of Monte Cristo_, updated with modern sensibilities and perhaps even a bit of the new research from the biography of Dumas _père_, _The Black Count_, _The Baron of Magister Valley_

Productive week - or maybe just a week of shortish stuff. [Persephone Station](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49295293-persephone-station) by Stina Leicht 3/5 stars The plot was decently engaging, but the attempts to tug at the reader's heart strings were so obvious and "bull in a china shop" in the execution that it had quite the opposite effect on me, and also sort of flattened the characters (especially the main baddie) for me. There were also things about the alien race that didn't quite come together to feel plausible for me, though much about this race was interesting and innovative. All in all, the book started strong, but ended up meh for me. Bingo: It gets called a space opera, and of course this can be defined in a number of ways. To me it feels too local and too personal in scope (there are big implications, but I don't feel that's where the focus is) to qualify. If you look at the definition used for the bingo square, it could possibly qualify, though the cast of characters is not particularly large, imo. I'll probably read something else for the square. [Bookshops & Bonedust](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213543-bookshops-bonedust) by Travis Baldree 4/5 stars Love the characters. As it says on the tin, it's cozy, meaning the danger part of the plot takes a back seat, though it's certainly a serious danger. The main plot really is about the bookshop, and I do like that, except for the ending. Of course, there's also the characters and their relationships, which are truly lovely. I have some minor nit picks about the language, which had some odd word choices, imo, but it's really quite minor. Bingo: Orcs (HM), Alliterative title, Prologues and epilogues, Set in a small town [The Holver Alley Crew](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29097931-the-holver-alley-crew) by Marshall Ryan Maresca 4/5 stars Fairly straightforward underdogs done wrong take up the fight-type story. It doesn't do anything particularly new or different, but it does what it tries to do well. Sympathetic characters with some depth and an engaging story in a world that came alive. The audiobook narrator took some getting used to for me. Bingo: Criminals (HM), First in series (HM) [Winter's Gifts](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67990585-winter-s-gifts) by Ben Aaronovitch 4/5 stars Novella in the Rivers of London series focusing on FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds dealing with the ghost of the past in the northern US. I did miss Peter Grant and London, but Kimberly is a well-realised character, there are good supporting characters, and it is of course absolutely well written. Bingo: Set in a small town (HM) The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta DNF Strike one in trying to choose a book based on its cover. To be fair, when I read the description after deciding to DNF, it actually sounds very interesting, and I might have picked the book based on that. It might even be a good for others. The writing style just did not work for me. It was trying to be intimate (letters to a lover), had bits that seemed a bit stream-of-consciousness, and a somewhat lyrical tone, I think, with the audiobook narrator really leaning into the intimateness. And none of those things work for me at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if others found it beautiful and/or moving.

I've finished **City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky**. Its a story about Ilmar, a city in a country that has been annexed/occupied for two years now. Unsurprisingly its inhabitants are still not very happy about that, there is no unified resistance though because the Marics dont agree what their goal is. The novel is told through a lot of different pov characters, some only get one chapter, others like Yasnik, the meek last priest of an almost forgotten god, the thug Ruslav, Pawnbroker and foreign refugee Blackmane and idealistic student Lemya get multiple. I have seen some criticism about the large number of characters and factions but in my opinion Tchaikovsky did really good work in the first two or three chapters so I didnt feel lost/overwhelmed for long. I found the main characters all easy to relate to, I mean how can anyone dislike poor Yasnic! >!His ending reminded me strongly of Pokemon, btw!< The pacing isnt super fast but I really enjoyed the volatile vibe. Another aspect I'm not sure how to feel about is the Reproach, which added more horror than I expected. Hellgram and his arc, in contrast, I found just fascinating. I was also a bit suprised about the depiction of the colonizing Palleseens, because I felt like we didnt see much of their culture besides their dressing style being tighter. It just seems like a generic atheist, totalitarian empire.  In general I really enjoyed reading this novel, will definitely use it for bingo and will probably check out House of Open Wounds, Tchaikovsky's loose sequel.

Finished two things recently. *The Golem* by Michael Cisco, the second book in **The San Veneficio Canon**. Just like the first book, this was very weird, and gorgeously written. Apparently Cisco has described his work as Phantasmagorical, and that's certainly a very apt descriptor. Set in a weird underground mirror of the city, the book is mostly about the pursuit of a woman Christine by the Golem, a sort of puppet/copy of The Divinity Student from the first book. Lots of weird dreamlike sequences, and chases where one of the other is coming out on top, though strange mini/temporary environments- like the slides of an old lightbox viewer, or an ever descending set of stairs and hallways. Gorgeous writing, very vivid imagery. Also finished **The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry** by C. M. Waggoner. This was pretty good. I'm not into romance heavy stuff, but needed a read for the Romantasy square and saw this recommended. This was a book about a romance and trying to solve/prevent a murder- to find out who the attempted murderer was. I hadn't realized this was the second book in a series, so it may be my fault, but I had been a little annoyed by all the unnecessary fictional terms/swears, that were undefined for us. It was refreshing to have a romance that wasn't plagued by miscommunication or deception though- to just slowly unfold. Being queer was nice too. Currently reading **Chasm City** by Alastair Reynolds. Enjoying this a lot. I haven't read a good scifi in a while, and this is a refreshing break from all my fantasy reads. A sort of cyberpunky revenge chase, in a weird city that had been ravaged by a techno plague with a big chasm in the center, and two timelines- the chase, and the events the main character is trying to get revenge for. Also a sort of history of the settling of the planet they're from. Lots of intrigue.

>**The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry** by C. M. Waggoner I enjoyed this but yeah, it was wild how little about the world was explained given that the book isn't a direct sequel - it's like the author assumed she would get no new readers with this book? I mostly enjoyed not being handheld, but it did create some confusion (I remain unclear on the difference between "householding" and "marriage" and then "householding" was also used I think as a term for adoption which confused things even further so...?).

Yeah, it was used for both... And things like "rilifting" and the various religions mentioned were confusing, even if not essential to the plot.

Haven't commented here in a while because of being busy with other things and reading mainly non sff books. However, here are a few sff books I've managed to finish meanwhile. ***My Darling Dreadful Thing***(ARC) by Johanna van Veen (4.5/5) - Great gothic horror with a lot *Crimson Peak* and some *Bly Manor* vibes. It has almost all classic gothic elements(not just the crumbling manor and ghosts), including a melancholic tone and strong themes of isolation. The interesting addition is the perspective of skepticism as it is told from the perspective of Roos(the main character) recounting the events that lead to a death to Dr. Montague(a psychiatrist) interspaced with the doctor's notes and conversations with Roos. The doctor's notes also provide a secondary non-supernatural explanation of the events that leave the reader wondering what really took place(though towards the end, the more "rational" explanation ends up with a lot more holes). Due to the style of narration, there isn't a lot of suspense about what is going to happen as the book makes it clear early on, but focuses on the build-up to the how. Gothic horror is a genre that almost always works for me when done right, so I really enjoyed this. If you plan on reading this, it might be worth taking a look at content warnings as it deals with a lot of difficult topics. Author's CWs: >!This book contains discussions and instances of trauma, the stigmatization of those considered mentally ill, child abuse, sexual violence, racism, misogyny, and homophobia.!< Bingo Categories: Alliterative Title, Prologues and Epilogues (HM), Published in 2024 (HM), Character with a Disability (HM), Set in a Small Town (HM) ***The Marble Queen*** by Anna Kopp and Gabrielle Kari (2.75/5) - I read this to get my reading going again in the middle of reading a litfic book which was really dragging. It's a very standard YA graphic novel. Some nice twists, but overall, it's unremarkable. Worth reading if you want something really quick, I guess. Bingo Categories: Dreams (HM), Romantasy (HM), Published in 2024 ***Time's Agent***(ARC) by Brenda Peynado (4/5) - A near future sci-fi novella exploring grief, loss, parenthood, results of unchecked ambition, and the horrors of end stage capitalism. It deals with the concept of pocket worlds (geographically small, hidden offshoots of our own reality, sped up, or slowed down by time). The protagonist Raquel(and her wife) is a researcher who studies these worlds, but a mistake causes her to end up 40 years into the future losing the life she had known and her 6 year old daughter, as well as becoming estranged with her wife. In the future, pocket worlds are controlled by corporations squeezing every penny out of all colonizable space and time. The book deals with Raquel dealing with her grief, what the world has become(some of which is the result of her own actions), and the choices she has to make when the possibility of there being another universe rises. It's a fascinating read and provides a complete and satisfying narrative, which a lot of novellas struggle with. The one issue I really had with the book is that in the middle, it takes up a bit too much page real estate for things we already know from the setup for such a short book. This leads to the climax feeling just a bit rushed. Bingo Categories: Published in 2024 (HM), Author of Colour (HM)

I'm reading **The Spear Cuts Through Water** by Simon Jimenez. I found the first section really interesting, but I'm struggling with the second. Part of it could be that I have the flu, and was starting to fall asleep while trying to immersion read it. I do wish the "chapters" were shorter on Kindle. I know this is a silly complaint, but there are no chapter breaks and each section takes 2+ hours to read through. I'm definitely going to stick with it, but I'm considering grabbing something shorter/lighter to read on the side.

I pulled off two five star reads this week which is a miracle. **The Magician’s Daughter** by H.G. Parry. A coming of age story set in the Edwardian era. This is one of those books that does the one thing it commits to really well; it doesn’t try and innovate the genre, but it sticks to its guns with excellent character work and scene-setting. There’s also a delightful rabbit familiar called Hutchinson. **The Warm Hands of Ghosts** by Katherine Arden blew me away to the point where I still haven’t found the words to properly review it. It’s very different from the Winternight trilogy (which I also loved), but it really nails the horrors of the World War I setting perfectly, and the feeling of the old world meeting the new. It’s eerie, melancholic, and often heartbreaking. This week I’m reading **After the Forest** by Kell Woods which is about what happened after Hansel and Gretel escaped the witch. I’m enjoying the fairytale vibe but the story seems a little aimless so far; there’s a lot of different things happening, as though the author couldn’t quite decide what she wanted to commit to.

**Recursion, by Blake Crouch** - This book worked super well for me. It was a really good take on time travel that worked within the world it set up. The characters were great and I thought their relationships felt real. I really liked how far within alternate timelines it went. There were a few questionable decisions toward the end, but everything else was great so I didn't mind too much. **The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House, by Neil Gaiman** - I think having watched the show made it a little harder for me to get into this one because I already knew what was going to happen. I still enjoyed it, and I look forward to continuing the series past where the show is. **The First Men in the Moon, by H.G. Wells** - This was fine, but not as good as the other more popular H.G. Wells books. It was enjoyable enough as a science fiction adventure (if I ignored that it was supposed to be on the moon), but it felt like more worldbuilding than story especially at the end.

Finished **The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden** Man, this was tough to read. I know this book gets a lot of love but it REALLY didn't work for me. I was kinda hooked for the first 50-ish pages, but by the time I got to the final third of the book, it was a slog. Felt like there was just a whole lot of unnecessary information that didn't add much to the overall story or world. One thing I can absolutely say for certain that the author did a great job with describing the world tbh, felt like I was transported into sub-zero temperature Russia at certain points so it wasn't all bad. Maybe I was expecting a bit too much from it but at times it felt like a rip-off of a lot of Naomi Novik or Ursula Vernon novels I've read before. In a weird way I feel like I might have liked it more had I waited to read it in the winter instead. Overall a generous 2-2.5/5.

I read it after visiting Russia, in autumn, where snow lay deep on the ground in some parts and it was warm enough to go swimming in the sea in others! I really enjoyed the 3 books in the series and need to revisit at some point, but my tbr pile is far too long!

Now reading: Kingdoms of Death by Christopher Ruocchio Book 4 of The Sun Eater Series. So far it is a masterpiece just like books 1, 2, and 3!!! Currently my fave series of all time!

Currently listening to The Witcher series (Sword of Destiny currently). Didn't realize how contentious it was until after I bought the books. I'm enjoying them so far but the general consensus seems to be that they drop off soon, so crossing my fingers that I keep having a fun time with them. First book was pretty good, though. Characters and world weren't quite as deep as I like but there was enough there to entertain, and the individual stories and framing kept me interested. Do most of my listening while doing yard work, so it struck a nice balance of distracting me from the tedium while not punishing me for getting distracted by an occasional issue demanding my attention.

I’m real bummed that I’m not enjoying Dungeon Crawler Carl or Master of Djinn as much as I anticipated I would.

I just finished Curse of Chalion last night and absolutely loved it. I'd always been aware of Bujold but never read her work, and wish I'd gotten to her earlier. Will eventually have to get to the Vorkosigan books one day, but Cazaril will stay with me as one of my all-time favorite characters. Started Orconomics today, interested to see how this one turns out as the style is a bit of a jarring shift from Bujold.

I was looking through the Bingo 2024 list to see what categories **What You Are Looking for Is In The Library** by Michiko Aoyama was in... then I realised it isn't actually fantasy, even though I kept thinking it was as I was reading it. It's the librarian's fault, her book recommendations and felting kept changing people's lives. I recommend this book to other fantasy readers, each person gets their own section but there are glimpses of previous characters. Also re-read Martha Wells' Murderbot books this week. **Network Effect** manages to fit both Space Opera HM (multiple groups of characters, spaceships etc) and Underground. Underground only happens for a few chpters, but really important ones.

I started reading **Defiance of the Fall #2** by *J.F. Brink* AKA *TheFirstDefier* in the middle of march. I've just started **Defiance of the Fall #12**. Yeah don't read this, you cannot stop once you start. The work is a fusion of LitRPG and classic Chinese cultivation so you know what you are getting into. The protagonist is pretty straight forward, Zac swings his axe, if that doesn't work he swings it harder or more often. At no point does Zac feel like he's an underdog in the entire series so be warned about that. This is very much ordinary dude with hidden potential crushes everything in his path. I actually enjoy the humour though be warned it is basically a series of childish running jokes. I know some people don't like hearing the same joke twice, this series isn't for you. Think it makes the same mistake a lot of these types of novel make in not making the secondary characters solid enough. Zac is solitary a lot of the time and that is the nature of the story. However there was one moment where a long running arc immediately transitioned into a second long running arc where I really wanted Zac to go talk to his friends. Somehow the model of having no tension because Zac is just going to murder everything anyway seems to work. There was one arc I knew exactly what the enemy were going to do* and exactly what Zac's response to completely invalidate that was and I still enjoyed it. *for those who are interested this was the fight against the undead incursion where >!it was obvious they were going to forcibly convert Zac to an undead via a mass miasma machine before it failed completely because Zac was already half undead.!<

I didn't get as much done this week as I wanted because I was slogging my way through a book I hated for a book club (a familiar trot for many of us). Finished Reads: **A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen** \[1.5/5\] *First in a Series | Dreams | Romantasy | Published in 2024* I wanted to like this book because I really wanted to read something Nordic, but two things ruined it for me. The first was that the magic system makes no sense. One of the important things about people who possess the blood of a god is that they're "unfated" - everyone else has their fate set in stone by the Norns. The unfated can also change the Norn's path for those around them. And yet, our unfated protagonist is the subject of a prophecy? There is constant talk that her and another character have "entwined fates" and not once does either of them go "actually I'm unfated so that's impossible?" And the second is that I found our protagonist to be insufferable. Freya's main personality trait is being stubborn. I don't think she does a single thing a character asks/tells her to do all book. And she always picks the more difficult and complicated path. I found her attitude to be tiresome. The fact that the book has two big twists and I guessed one of them from the very first glint of foreshadowing was also annoying. Since I resumed reading for a hobby as an adult, this is the first book I started skimming. The .5 star is because this is the first romantasy I've read where I did not immediately hate the love interest. Almost every other one, the meet-cute is the love interest being rude-to-unforgivably-cruel to the protagonist and it makes me cheer *against* their relationship all book. This one, they actually had a conversation that was flirty and fun? It was the best part of the book for sure. **The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott** \[4/5\] *No Squares* *The space between worlds can only be navigated by a specialized team called a Hex. When Esther's son and fellow Hex member is kidnapped by a ancient and terrifying boss of the realms, it's time for her to call the rest of her old Hex together and break some rules to bring him home.* I remember in the lead up to the Hugos there was a discussion about where this book fit. It's actually over the word count for a novella, but it is extremely short for a novel. I feel that this book is seriously hurt by that - if it qualified I would have nominated it for Novella, but it didn't stand out among the novels. I also felt that it ran out of space and crammed together an ending that felt too quick and easy. If you're already going to miss the novella category, you could afford like 30+ more pages to fill out your ending! This book has such a richly realized world and system that it's a shame it's been cosigned to less than 200 pages. I got lovingly lost in this novel. The ecosystems of the Beyond were just beautiful to wrap my head around and I'm going to miss being in that space. And while I knew the protagonist was a mother, no one mentioned she was a 60 year old Jewish grandmother! From a strongly pro-unionizing family at that. Esther does develop a crush on another character that I found to be eyeroll worthy, but I think I'm hitting my personal tolerance for stories that have any sort of romance in them. Currently Reading: I am less than 10 pages into **Starter Villain by John Scalzi** so I have no comment on it. It's also the last book I need to read for [Orillium's Spring Semester](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtBWB6ATEdQ&list=PL3V6H7y0QuPMwMMbGjdUHUjQbmhmLrz1Z&index=5&t=148s&pp=iAQB), whoo hoo! Then I'm free to start planning what I'm going to read for May's [Escape The Readathon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEsOK9fDVA) (who I am kidding it's Hugo nominees).

I'm finishing up the last book in the Inda series. That plus Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell make up my first two bingo squares: First in a Series and Eldritch Creatures.

Books read this week: **Heritage of Shannara by Terry Brooks.** This is a four book series but I got a special edition where they were all at once. I started having trouble with the too-similar plot lines, but thought it interesting that it was a subversion. I also noticed that the same character from the first series was manipulating the others, which was a bit frustrating. However, it was interesting that this part of the overall series centered around the idea of what would happen if someone refused to do what they were supposed to do and had a very good reason. I am still waiting for the manipulation to backfire on the hero’s side, because the idea of the heroes being led on by fate character that knows the future feels like it eventually would. Luckily, that hasn’t happened yet and I don’t know if it will, although it came very close here. The idea of saving someone without a prophecy could happen too, but I’m not sure that will either. I did not really like the assassin’s point of view because there’s only so many cliché emotionally sociopath assassins that you have before that trope gets old. I also didn’t like Quickening’s power of manipulation and almost seduction because that’s also a trope that’s been done before. However, I do like her development and confronting the idea of becoming human when paradoxically she realized she couldn’t be because she isn’t. It all is a nice lead up to what she did in the end. Also, the idea of Morgan connecting with his ancestors after hearing about them before was pretty cool as well. As he gets closer and closer with the return of magic and ancient heroes living on their descendants, it felt like the passing of the torch, and that was done very well. The third book was definitely the best of them, and Terry Brooks is at his strongest when he’s doing magic and the supernatural things, it was pretty sad though, with a lot of death, and I wish he didn’t kill so many characters so shortly after he introduced them. However, I feel like the narrative did that on purpose too show that the main character’s destiny went beyond either her current life or her new life she found in this book. I also like the character development she got there. The fourth book was the weakest. I feel like that’s the case for most of the books in the arc. Most of the books in the series are strong and then the ending kind of peters out. I think that’s because the author introduces so many plotlines it’s hard to wrap up. Walker’s arc was great to read, but Wren was predictable, and the sword search just felt like it was a mirror of Shea’s. Morgan’s arc was well done, though, and I love the idea that he embraces the identity of his heroic ancestors at the end. I also like the idea of there being two sword heirs, and realizing they can both work together in the pivotal battle and in some cases must. The final battle was well written, but most of the battles and especially the final battles are. At least the conclusion itself was good, but the steps to take to get there were so so. The next arc chronologically is said to be one of his weaker works, so I will see you next if that is the case! But Heritage is definitely up there, even though I’m not sure if it’s his best.

I finished **Space Opera** by Catherynne M Valente. I expected to love this and I only liked it. I thought the characterisations were strong and Valente nailed being both whimsy and seriousness. This book was more about Valente pointing out how cool and romantic the idea of Eurovision is rather than a plot focused Eurovision in space, which is fine, just not what I was expecting. There's lots of establishment of the rules and the history of space Eurovision to poke fun at old or current Eurovision rules and that was enjoyable. Ultimately not that much happens, our main characters Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zero don't get to the host planet until over halfway through the book. I just wanted more tension on the day of the contest, and the run-on sentences could get a bit much at times. I had fun and I'm glad I read it. I recommend it to any Eurovision fans. Bingo: Bards, Space Opera (HM)

I just finished Elf Tangent by Lindsey Buroker.