#House of Furies Audiobook

[keyofjetwolf]

A Jet Wolf 2024 Book List

I keep meaning to do this, and as I'm clearly not in the mood to work my actual job today, why not now? WHY NOT INDEED.

For the first time in a long time, I'm making an active effort to read. It's something I enjoy but have let slip away from me over the years, and after finally admitting it wasn't going to just naturally return without putting in the work, here we are. I've also allowed myself to embrace audiobooks, which has been a sticking point I can't explain, but increases my book consumption about a thousand fold. I "read" as I get ready in the morning, while taking my steps, while knitting, before bed, whenever the fuck. It's not yet April and I just finished the twelfth book out of my 2024 goal of twenty, thus proving I was being weird about something for stupid reasons, as is really often the case so you'd think I'd learn sooner, but why make it easy for myself.

Anyway, I like lists, and also foisting my unsolicited opinion on the world. Here, then, is the former, with thoughts on each to eventually follow as I will inevitably continue to not want to do actual work.

Oh, and the first lines thing, too. Because I think it's neat.

----

How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix [first line]

Never Lie, by Freida McFadden [first line]

Sing Her Down, by Ivy Pochoda [first line]

Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty [first line]

The Change, by Kirsten Miller [first line]

Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty [first line]

The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin [first line]

Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarty [first line]

The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides [first line]

The God of Endings, by Jacqueline Holland [first line]

The September House, by Carissa Orlando [first line]

The Pallbearers Club, by Paul Tremblay [first line] [thoughts]

What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty [first line]

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë [first line]

The Terror, by Dan Simmons [first line]

The Fury, by Alex Michaelides [first line]

Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng [first line]

Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff [first line]

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee [first line]

If We Were Villains, by M.L. Rio [first line]

The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn [first line]

Paused: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver [first line]

Currently: The Other Family, by Wendy Corsi Staub [first line]

[peachblossom-odyssey]

So I am in love with and obsessed with your works, "How Familiar the Danger". So much so I have been reading it to my friend like an audiobook. Each work is compelling and passionate and thoroughly enjoyable. Then my heart sank when I realized it hasnt been updated since last August. Is there any hope for future updates? Do you have other plans for the story? Has it been dropped all together? If so I understand, but I think its just amazing and thank you for writing it in the first place.

Thank you, I’m so happy to hear you like it! It really does my heart good, thank you for making my day! Unfortunately my fixation on Nimona has faded right now and I’m focusing on another series atm, so as of right now I don’t plan to update anytime soon, but that will probably change if the fixation returns because I do love that au and I’m proud of it and would like to write Ballister meeting Ambrosius’ parents and Nimon meeting Ambrosius and all that. I have a half-written wip for the next chapter but the motivation isn’t there. All I can offer rn is a snippet from Nimona’s pov if that’s alright.

—

Then he kissed her Boss.

He kissed her Boss.

That motherfucker.

She couldn’t let that stand, she couldn’t let this happen, not now when the Boss’ health was so precarious and his heart was so fragile. Whatever the knight was planning, whatever sick game he was playing with Ballister’s feelings, she was putting a stop to it here and now. She struck, shifting into a coiling viper to leap onto the bed and sink her teeth into his wrist with a hiss of utter fury, forcing him to release her Boss with a sharp cry of pain.

“Nimona!?” Ballister yelped as the knight practically fell off the couch, twisting and jerking to try and wrench Nimona off of him, only to go prey-still when she reverted to her humanoid form, kneeling on his chest with murder in her eyes as she hissed down at him, her tongue still forked and serpentine as it flicked between her fangs.

“Stay the fuck away from him.” she growled, “You hear me, creep? Get the fuck out of our house now!”

[lia-land]

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

5/5 stars

Spoilers*

I don’t think I can put into words how much I loved this book. A shorter review because I have nothing to criticise. This book is perfect.

I did go into it having seen spoilers that Feyre and Rhysand would be endgame, but I didn’t find that to negatively affect my reading experience. The build-up was amazing and I would gladly read another book entirely made up of the two of them exchanging magical flirty notes.

The twists, characters, and pacing are all so perfect and there was not one boring or slow chapter. I would especially love to see more of Tarquin and the Summer Court. I do feel bad about how Feyre, Rhys, and Amren deceived Tarquin, but it was for the greater good.

Chapter 54 and 55 are pure gold. Personally, I think the tension during the throne room chapter and the inn chapter are unmatched, but 54 and 55 were so satisfying to read after the build-up. I had the audiobook on when I got to 54 and 55 because I was getting ready to go out and I wish I had time to fully process everything. I love when a book has the power to change my mood. I’d seen spoilers for all of it, but it still had an effect, which is impressive. What I’d give to experience this book for the first time again…

I like Azriel, but I was so mad when his arrival robbed us of Rhys and Feyre going to buy lingerie together. Though, somehow, I think I preferred how that chapter ended. Something about Rhys sending her a vision of it was sexier than if it had happened, so I can’t even be mad anymore.

The cliffhanger!!! I hope we get a bonus chapter of Rhys and Feyre’s ceremony one day. It’s a need.

The only thing that would have made this book even better for me is if Rhys’ trauma from Under the Mountain was acknowledged more. It felt just slightly skimmed over. We get little glimpses through lines like ‘it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just your body reacting,’ but I think it’s an important aspect of Rhys’ recent history that should have been acknowledged. Not just in this book, but throughout the series as a whole (I’ll discuss this more in my A Court of Wings and Ruin review).

Also, the House of Wind is a bit of a plot hole because they make it clear that no one can winnow in. They can only fly in or take 10,000 stairs. If this is the case, how do all the people on Starfall get in? Surely they don’t all have an Illyrian plus one and didn’t go up the stairs in their formal attire. I’ll personally be overlooking that because the rest of the book is so good.

Importantly, I should note that the only reason I saw spoilers for everything is because I was so obsessed with Rhys and Feyre that I was reading short fanfictions about them while I was still reading ACOMAF, because I quite literally could not wait for them to finally get together and I also didn’t want the book to end too quickly. In hindsight, I don’t actually know if the plot is any good because I was far too invested in Rhys. The plot could be nonexistent and I’d still give this five stars for Rhys and his charms.

Infinite stars out of 5. This was exactly the kind of book I was expecting and more.

[skyfallscotland]

So I wanted an audiobook to listen to on my long journey to the convention last weekend, so I borrowed the dramatised audio of House of Earth & Blood thinking I'd just see if I liked it (scarred by my Throne of Glass experience, I no longer believe any hype). I actually quite like it, maybe because of the urban fantasy setting? I'm more interested? I don't know. Anyway, here's my thoughts, part one:

Everyone lied. I had fucking flash cards ready? People made flash cards? This is not difficult to follow, I don't know, the worldbuilding seems fairly straightforward to me, but to each their own?

I love Danika already and I hate everything

Oh. I thought...I thought that was going to happen at like...the end of the book. Oh damn. I'm low-key devastated?

E Ithan is blacklisted for life. Fuck off, E Ithan.

Fury is also blacklisted. Fuck her.

I'm ride or die for my little dancing drug addict already, I don't know if you can tell.

Oh, and I'm in the CLUB NOW!!! Ruhn Danaan, Crown Prince of the Valbarran Fae 🎶💃🏼

Don't know if we like him yet or not? But I'm going to go with yes against my better judgement, because he seems like a little emo boy and teenage me is obsessed already 😌

Hunt seems ok? Why does everyone hate him? Never mind, y'all hated Chaol, I'll form my own opinions 😭💀

I love that things are blowing up here. That's my favourite kind of action movie and this feels like an action book.

Also, Danika definitely stole that fucking horn.

"Not interested." Queen, you dropped this 👑

Sabine is also blacklisted along with all the archangels, they can go choke.

I sort of feel like she's showing more of Bryce's depression and trauma, rather than just glazing over it the way she sort of does in her other series', but I just feel like...you can't bring up a suicide attempt and just glide right on, you know? Let me sit with this.

Evil mum says Danika definitely stole that fucking horn. The Bryce-Danika friendship is starting to feel a little lopsided and I don't know if I'm digging that.

I think I'm around halfway through. I like it so far, more than I liked Throne of Glass. Not sure if I have favourite characters yet or pairings. I like the otters 🥹

[handgiven]

TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER!

I. favourite colours: yellow & blue, especially when they occur together (like on van gogh's yellow house painting, or the siesta painting, or like when it's stormy and the sky is dark blue and grey, but the sun still shines on the yellowy buildings, or yellow acer leaves)

II. favourite flavours: palm sugar, pho broth, wild blueberries, masala chai, walnuts & honey, rosehip, elderberry

III. favourite genres: urban fantasy, queer & historical queer lit, poetry in prose, dystopian, philosophical, interviews with ordinary people & stories about ordinary people (bohumil hrabal, my beloved)

IV. favourite music: ambient, indie, folk, folk-punk, folk-rock, lo-fi (mostly i like anything that i can vibe with on account of the Vibes)

V. favourite movies: the fall (2006) -- it's so beautiful and it uses real locations and !!!!!! it's so good and sad and beautiful, maurice (1987) -- historical queer story with a happy ending, thank you mr e.m.forster o7, hombre mirando al sudeste (1986) -- philosophical scifi kind of thing it lives rent-free in my head, rent-a-neko (2012) -- "are you lonely? i'll rent you a cat.", jojo rabbit (2019), lola rennt (1998), mad max: fury road (2015), pride (2014), isle of dogs (2018), inside llewyn davis (2013), samotáři (2000)

VI. favourite series: in the flesh (2013), firefly (2002), the good place (2016-2020), attack on titan (still haven't seen the last two episodes, so no spoilers haha), the magicians (2015-2020), crazy ex-girlfriend (2015-2019), black books

VII. last song: radio by fred again.. & brian eno

VIII. last series: genuinely do not recall, but it might be good omens season 2, i just didn't have time to watch anything else since that came out

IX. last movie: blow-up (1966)

X. currently reading: lots of things started, none finished, but i do carry 'matter & desire' by andreas weber wherever i go these days s o i guess that; i am also listening to vonnegut's mother night as an audiobook :')

XI. currently watching: trying to listen to wtnv for the 5142952 time

XII. currently working on: art project for uni, deep-cleaning up my living space for the first time in months, trying to sort through my drafts & asks so it's all manageable

tagged by: stolen from @chiefofstafftanner tagging: @spookyagentfmulder @beyondthescully @talentforlying @shilohgreen @void-foxy @primordialchoice @amischiefofmuses @ravmalakh && anyone who sees this and is intrigued enough .) (also all you tagged people do feel free to ignore this, i appreciate you either way !!)

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

10 Books to Look Forward to in 2024

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan, an adult East Asian fantasy featuring kelpies, kappas, sea witches, a water dragon princess, and a half-siren captain of the border guard. The city of Tiankawai is half-submerged and the humans are looking down on the fathomfolk from their skyscrapers. Available on February 8th from Hachette and February 27th from Orbit

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, a Balkan folklore crossover fantasy with shadow magic, witches, monstrous exes, Berlin wall-inspiration, and dragons. When Kosara's shadow, the source of her magic, is traded to give her safe passage across the Wall, she is struck with a fatal illness that impacts all shadow-less witches. She has little choice but to go back over the Wall and confront her ex, the Tsar of Monsters, to get her magic back. Availabe on June 25th from Tor and McMillan

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase is an adult Botswanan cyberpunk Africanfuturism Queer thriller with horror elements from a Queer Motswanan author. Nelah has everything she could want except a child. On a rendezvous with her lover, they hit a young woman and Nelah will do anything to hide their actions or else she'll lose her chance at being a mother and, perhaps, her chance at having a body. Available from Kensington Books on January 23rd

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo, a YA mystery debut focusing on young women and their trauma. When Jo-Lynn's former best friend goes missing, Jo seeks out the truth while trying to find herself again. Available from Bloomsbury on April 30th

Goodreads

Pre-order link

The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim, a feminist psychological horror featuring cannibalism and a young woman slowly turning into a murderer. When Ji-won's mother starts dating George, a white man with an Asian fetish, Ji-won because obsessed with his blue eyes and hungers for them. Available on June 25th from Kensington

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Road to Ruin by Hana Lee, an adult Queer fantasy love letter to Mad Max: Fury Road. Jin-lu, a magebike courier, carries love letters from her prince to a princess across the wastelands...and she's in love with both of them. Available from Simon and Schuster on May 14th

Goodreads

Pre-order link

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft is a Sapphic voyage to discover the origin of magic, until the leader of the expedition is murdered. With Germanic folklore and lush prose, it looks to be another hit from Allison Saft. Available from Penguin Random House September 17th

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Teller of Small Fortunes is an immigrant cozy fantasy adult debut. We're a bit too early for a cover or pre-order link on this one, so here is the PM deal. Please keep it in mind as we get closer to the publish date in November!

Kacen Callender's first YA fantasy features polyamorous characters of color, trans representation, and a quest to find the Book of Source, an alchemic text said to give its reader great power. Available on February 6th from MacMillan

Goodreads

Pre-order link

Not in the Plan by Dana Hawkins, a Sapphic contemporary romance. Mack, an author struggling to write her sophomore novel, meets Charlie, a nearly bankrupt coffee shop owner and sparks fly as Mack uses parts of Charlie's story for her book. Available January 31st only in digital and audiobook

Goodreads

Pre-order link

[areiton]

Cap-IM Rec Week - Day 7

Today’s list is short--it’s highlighting work you wouldn’t normally give a chance to, and that’s pretty rare for me. I give everything a shot because I’m a greedy whore when it comes to Stevetony. But here are two works that standout and that I thoroughly loved. I’ve really enjoyed @cap-ironman Rec Week--if you’re looking for more recs, check out @stevetonyweekly where I post all the Stevetony content I read each week. 

Tiny Spy Assassin Steve by copperbadge

An AU in which Steve Rogers was born into the modern day and never received the Serum, but managed to make it into SHIELD as a handpicked protege of senior field agent Abraham Erskine. Along with Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Peggy Carter, and eventually Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, Steve still tries to make a difference.

Particularly in the life of Tony Stark, who picked up what he thought was an art student in a bar, and ended up dating one of SHIELD's top agents...

I am EXTREMELY picky about pre-serum Steve fics and this one is just--fan-fucking-tastic. 

[Podfic] Straight on till Morning by Sineala by M_Samro

Tony Stark resigned his commission in Starfleet five years ago, after a disastrous away mission, and he swore he'd never go back. He just wants to be left alone to build warp engines in peace. But the universe has more in store for him than that, as he discovers when Admiral Fury comes to him with an offer he could never have expected and cannot possibly refuse: first officer and chief engineer aboard the all-new USS Avenger, a starship of Tony's own design. What's more, the Avenger's captain is Steve Rogers, hero of the Earth-Romulan War. Believed dead for over a century, Steve is miraculously alive... and very, very attractive.

But nothing is ever easy for Tony. As he wrestles with his secret desire for his new captain and his not-so-dormant fears, another mission starts to go wrong, and Tony becomes aware that Steve has secrets of his own -- and the truth could change everything.

So this fic--podfic--deserves two spots on the list. First because I almost didn’t read it. Star Trek was the first media I can remember watching as a child (dear god, the nightmares from those fucking ear bugs) and it remains one of the nearest and dearest to my heart, so I’m extremely picky about crossovers--but I trusted Sine and it quickly became one of my favorite Trek fics, in or out of the fandom. I’m ALSO picky about podfic--I get very very little time for podfic and I’m super picky narrators on these kinds of things--audiobooks/podfics/podcasts--so I wasn’t sold on the idea, but I had a house to paint and a friend rec’ed it and omg, best decision ever. As emotional as the reading the fic made me, listening to the podfic was even more so. I love it to an unhealthy degree, honestly. 

[curieincali]

Year in Review - BOOKS - 2023

Audiobooks read:

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

DisneyWar by James B. Stewart

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer

Horse Crazy by Sarah Maslin Nir

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

As You Wish by Cary Elwes, Joe Layden

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

eBooks read:

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (In Progress)

Regular books read:

Wet Moon Volume 4: Drowned in Evil by Sophie Campbell

Princess Jellyfish Volume 3 by Akiko Higashimura

Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney (In Progress)

It felt like I read a lot more this year, but looking back at previous years, not by much! What really happened is I joined not one, but TWO book clubs - one with work and one with friends. It's definitely helping me explore outside of my normal tastes, and I've found some great stuff.

In 2023, I branched away from audiobooks and into ebooks in the interest of not listening to fairy smut on my speaker, and instead reading it on my phone as god intended.

I finally started a GoodReads account, but I'll probably still do these yearly round-ups here on tumblr. But now I can more easily endorse (or roast the fairy smut) items on my my reading list.

[ossidae-passeridae]

tagged by: @trudemaethien

tagging: @elfiver @thegreencarousel @brachiosaurus-on @canonical-transformation

favorite color: we're somewhere in the realm of bluish-purples at the moment I think, with a bit of dark forest green to round things out.

currently reading: *cracks knuckles* alright you asked for it...

Repcomm Series (on Hard Contact right now, but I plan to gnaw my way through them all. Research for Commune Fic)

'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush' by Eric Newby (Research for Commune Fic)

'Dwelling on Earth: A Manual for the Professional Application of Earthbuilding Techniques' by David Easton (Research for Commune Fic)

'Harrow the Ninth' by Tamsyn Muir (for the seventh time)

'Dune' by Frank Herbert (with my partner who's somehow never read it before)

'Between Past and Present: Archaeology, Ideology, and Nationalism in the Modern Middle East' by Neil Asher Silberman (research for that obikin fic)

'The Pursuit of Oblivion: A social History of Drugs' by Richard Davenport-Hines

Most of the fiction is in audiobook form, because I'm struggling to read fiction with my eyes at the moment for some reason. This is the shortlist of things I've touched in the last few days - I'm slowed down hardcore by The Sickness right now :(

last song I listened to: Probably something by Crowded House?? 'Private Universe' maybe? (fantastically surreal music video)

last movie (in theaters): uhhhhhhh... It might be Mad Max: Fury Road?? I have not been to a cinema in many, many years now.

last series I watched: If we're talking series-in progress, 'Star Wars: Rebels' (last time I watched I was there for Rex and only Rex, this time I'm actually watching the episodes he isn't in as well lol). Last series I finished was probably the Kenobi Show. Again. I like seeing him in pain okay don't @ me

craving: salt. so much salt. Also adequate painkillers but that one's a pipe dream

tea or coffee: I am a tea person through and through. On average I drink 8-10 cups of black tea (with milk or lemon) per day, every day. Coffee is an occasional treat lol

currently working on:

Din-centric possession horror fic (so close to being done, sooooo close. this is the only fic which is cooperating with me right now)

sithfic, which needs so much editing I simply want to throw it into the sun. I won't, but fucking hell do I want to

Exchange fic which I need to pivot direction on but I don't WANNA so it's in the time out corner

Revakin fic which, like the exchange fic, is on its last scene and I just need to power through...

Jangobi vampire AU continuation fic

I'm not letting myself touch any of the less-done WIPs until these ones are done, and it's a struggle. Someone bully me into writing pls I need the assistance. My WIP pile overfloweth etc

[palominodragon]

List of all the novels, novellas, audiobooks, comics, and fanfiction I read or listened to in 2022.

This is the second year I've kept a month-by-month list. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something and also helps prevent those moments of "I read a really cool book/fanfic but I can't remember what it was! DX"

In 2021, my favorite was Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. With the 2022 list, it's harder to pick a favorite, but I think it's tied between some of the scifi I read - the Murderbot series, Iron Widow, Project Hail Mary, and Space Opera. They were all so fun and all had very different tones. I also loved Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy and Tracy Deonn's Bloodmarked (the sequel to my 2021 favorite).

Here's the full list:

January novels/novellas/audiobooks: All Systems Red - Martha Wells Wise Child - Monica Furlong (reread) Artificial Condition - Martha Wells Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells Exit Strategy - Martha Wells The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling (reread/for book club) Network Effect - Martha Wells Where The Drowned Girls Go - Seanan McGuire Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells Juniper - Monica Furlong (reread)

February novels/audiobooks: The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao (for book club) The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune February fanfiction: Lovely, Dark, and Deep (Reylo, 4317 words) - junkyardjeditrash

March novels/audiobooks: Dweller On The Threshold - Skyla Dawn Cameron Into The Drowning Deep - Mira Grant (reread/for bookclub) Wanderers - Chuck Wendig (reread)

March fanfiction: Gratify (Reylo, 8132 words) - Anonymous

April novels/novellas/audiobooks: The Magicians - Lev Grossman The Black Stallion - Walter Farley Blindsight - Peter Watts The Black Stallion Returns - Walter Farley Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Matthew Stover (reread) Star Wars: Lost Stars - Claudia Gray (reread) Star Wars: Bloodline - Claudia Gray (reread)

April fanfiction: what's not given (Reylo, 12140 words) - Vittra Time (Reylo, 52536 words) - koderenn

May novels/novellas/audiobooks: Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (for bookclub) The Island Stallion - Walter Farley The Black Stallion's Filly - Walter Farley Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (REREAD, IT WAS SO GOOD) Son of the Black Stallion - Walter Farley The Black Stallion and Satan - Walter Farley The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt - Walter Farley The Island Stallion's Fury - Walter Farley The Black Stallion Revolts - Walter Farley The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt - Walter Farley

June novels/novellas/audiobooks: Legendborn - Tracy Deonn (reread/for bookclub) The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (reread) Feed - Mira Grant (reread)

June fanfiction: The Unkown Regions (Reylo, 13596 words) - constant-reylo Starstuff (Reylo, 40815 words) - voicedimplosives (reread) Silence (Reylo, 85220 words) - Koderenn

July novels/novellas/audiobooks: Deadline - Mira Grant (reread) Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas (for bookclub)

July fanfiction: Mine (Janeway/Kashyk, 5602 words) - Caladenia Bad Ensign (Star Trek Voyager, no pairings, 1643 words) - Curator Bad, Bad Crewman Janeway (Janeway/Chakotay, 3618 words) - sara_sedai Not So Bad Tuvok (Star Trek Voyager, no pairings, 1820 words - Caladenia It's Good to be Bad Chakotay (Janeway/Chakotay, 2313 words) - Manalyzer fics by Lexus (Beautiful_Ruin): Bad Borg (Janeway/Seven, 1966 words) Bad Drone (Janeway/Seven, 1694 words) Bad Pilot (Janeway/Tom, 1694 words) Bad Inspector (Kaneway/Kashyk, 3531 words)

the choice is yours (Edissy, 488 words) - blueyedgurl like a heartbeat drives you mad (Edissy, 4843 words) - redbelles Rainbow in the Dark (Edissy, 5560 words) - Seicchanart aesthetic chills (Edissy, 51623 words) - slowlimbs

August novels/novellas/audiobooks: Seasonal Fears - Seanan McGuire A Girl and Five Brave Horses - Sonora Carver Blackout - Mira Grant (reread) What Moves The Dead - T. Kingfisher Shadow of the Sith - Adam Christopher Space Opera - Catherynne M. Valente (for bookclub)

August short stories: Open House on Haunted Hill - John Wiswell (for bookclub)

August fanfiction: in the second drawer on the right (Edissy, 2035 words) - Seicchanart

September novels/novellas/audiobooks: The Princess And The Scoundrel - Beth Revis The Goddess Of Nothing At All - Cat Rector Space Opera - Catherynne M. Valente (REREAD because FEELS ;_;) The Island Stallion Races - Walter Farley Black Horses For The King - Anne McCaffrey (reread) The Black Stallion's Courage - Walter Farley The Courtship of Princess Leia - Dave Wolverton

September manga: Red River - Chie Shinohara (volumes 1-7, reread)

October novels/novellas/audiobooks: The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik The Black Stallion Mystery - Walter Farley The Black Stallion and Flame - Walter Farley The Black Stallion Challenged! - Walter Farley The Black Stallion's Ghost - Walter Farley The Black Stallion and the Girl - Walter Farley The Black Stallion Legend - Walter Farley (WTF was that ending???) The Thousand Eyes - A.K. Larkwood

October manga: Red River- Chie Shinohara (volumes 8-13, reread)

October fanfiction: Ceasefire (Kylux, 100408 words) - hollycomb (reread) So Now Get Up (Reylo, 5553 words) - Lilander Carry Your Throne (Reylo, 3676 words) - bitterbones

November novels/novellas/audiobooks: Colman -Monica Furlong (reread) The Twisted Ones - T. Kingfisher (reread) The Invisible Life of Addie Larou - V.E. Schwab (for bookclub) Go Hex Yourself - Jessica Clare

November manga: Red River - Chie Shinohara (volumes 14-26, reread)

November fanfiction: hand in unrebloggable hand (tumblr/twitter, 5,357 words) - drxxmingofblue (it was freaking hilarious) sonámbula (Shuri/Namor, 4180 words) - lunarmoonbeam The Importance of Fun (Pitch Black/Jack Frost, 4700 words) - LinesAndColors

December novels/audiobooks: Bloodmarked - Tracy Deonn Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe Prince Lestat - Anne Rice

December manga: Red River - Chie Shinohara (volumes 27-28, NOT reread! apparently I never bought the last two volumes =o)

December fanfiction: Under the Ruins of a Walled City (Kylux, 477556 words) - hollycomb (reread) Like Young Gods (Reylo, 84000 words) - disasterisms (reread) To Kingdom Come (Reylo, 145765 words) - disasterisms (reread)

[paperback-bitch]

Review: Lock The Doors

By Vincent Ralph Hardback: n/a – Paperback: $10.99 – E-book: $8.98 Approx. 400 pages – Audiobook: 9 hours YA Thriller/Mystery

SYNOPSIS

The truth won't stay hidden behind locked doors.

Tom's family has moved into their dream home. But pretty soon he starts to notice that something is very wrong—there are strange messages written on the wall and locks on the bedroom doors. On the OUTSIDE.

The previous owners have moved just across the road, and they seem like the perfect family. Their daughter, Amy, is beautiful and enigmatic, but Tom is sure she's hiding something. And he isn't going to stop until he finds the truth behind those locked doors. . .

Will their dream home become a nightmare?

Themes: Grief and Loss, Survival, Relentless Pursuit of Truth

Tropes: We’re All Mad Here, Blended Family Struggles, The Trauma is Coming From Inside the House

Warnings: Mentions of Physical Abuse, Depictions of Psychological Abuse, Minor Character Death, and severe PTSD and grief around the loss of a child.

REVIEW

This is a weird one for me. It started of so painfully slow for me, and I personally feel the book is about 100 pages longer than it needed to be. The chapters are short – ridiculously short, in fact. Some of them are only half a page long, even. The longest chapter in this book was five and a half pages, and the majority of them average two pages or less. It was such a strange style for me and honestly turned me off so much that my pending 3-star dropped to a 2-star, and for a while, the book was in my DNF pile.

I let books linger there for a while before I give up on them completely, and ultimately when I decided to focus on thrillers and mysteries for September and October, I decided to give Lock the Doors another chance. After all, the mystery was intriguing me, and I did want to see how it resolved. So I picked it up again, and I devoured 2/3 of the book in a single night. I’m writing this review the same night, in fact, because man do I have some feelings about this book.

On one hand, I try to shy away from spoilers, because I believe in letting people experience the book on their own. On the other, I have revealed spoilers in the past when I feel it’s important to the integrity of my review. I’m trying to dance a delicate line on this one, because the twist managed to take me by surprise, which is rare. Well, that’s not quite true. I saw the twist coming, but the motive for it? Now that was a real twist, and it sparked genuine fury in me.

This book has a tangible villain. It’s a psychological thriller in the best way, where it really messes with your head and makes you question everything, but it does have a villain. The book doesn’t want you to think that, though. The main character, teenaged boy Tom, spends the entire book digging and digging into secrets that are none of his business, because he refuses to let someone suffer when he can help them. He saw what his mother endured, and it made him someone who can’t turn away when there’s even a chance someone needs help and he can provide it. And when he uncovers the full truth, he has sympathy for the one that is so clearly a villain in my eyes. I do not.

I understand why Tom sees it this way, and I understand why I believe the author wrote it that way. But I respectfully refuse to agree, and that may be a personal shortcoming of mine. If I relate to something in a book, if I see something in it that reflects my own life, I take it personally. And I took this book personally. Despite the slow start, the twist and reveal drew a fury out of me that had me wanting to hurl the book across the room, and I was turning pages so fast that I very nearly did. The villain in the novel, the cause of all the suffering of the characters, was basically a caricature of someone in my own life. It lent a level of pain to the book that I struggled hard to swallow down when it hit a little too close to home.

In the end, the ending was satisfying if a bit too tame for my taste, but again – personal shortcomings. I tend toward rage when I’m hurt, and I wanted the villain to suffer much more than they did.

FINAL THOUGHTS

4/5 stars. This would have been my first five star review on the blog, if not for the inane chapter lengths and the frustrating pacing. It takes skill to craft a villain so tangible and infuriating that it incites readers to rage, and I docked a star for the simple fact that the flaws almost led me to leaving the book unfinished before the reveal.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Fans of psychological thrillers, this is one for you. The twist was one I don’t see used often, and again, this book manages to get under your skin and evoke true emotion. If you’re into Holly Jackson, she has a similar vibe, and Karen McManus too.

[lesstheshadow]

2023 in books ✨

I managed to read 100 books in 2023! here are some favourites and also some stats because I love stats.

100 books — 48 Print, 12 digital, 40 audiobook. 11 rereads

76 authors — Most read author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Median days taken per book: 4

Slowest read: 79 days to finish The Sound and The Fury

Shortest book 64 pages, longest 1243

Total pages just under 36,000 (estimate due to audiobooks)

Average rating: 3.86 stars

69% of books were borrowed

Most read genres were: Literary Fiction (38), Fantasy (29), Science fiction (16), and Historical fiction (13). also quite a bit of poetry, horror, and mystery too :)

Favourites by Genre:

Best Contemporary: Real Life — Brandon Taylor

Best Fantasy: Piranesi — Susanna Clarke

Best Sci Fi: Embassytown by China Miéville

The Name Of The Rose — Umberto Eco

Best Poetry: Dart — Alice Oswald

Best Non-fiction: In The Dream House — Carmen Maria Machado

favourite book was my all-time favourite which I reread this year — The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

This whole thing was less difficult than I expected! My attention span feels better and I am so glad I put in the effort to read this much. Not going to push quite so hard next year, but hoping for 60 books and at least 30% non-fiction <3

finally here are some weird specific genres I've noticed

Some Surprisingly Specific Micro-Genre In Books I’ve Read/Bought:

Climate change sci fi (How High We Go In The Dark, In Ascension, Venomous Lumpsucker) — entirely predictable

Fictionalised true crime with an unreliable narrator (Devil House, Penance) — not surprised, though wouldn’t have predicted it

Lots of nuns going round rn (Matrix, For Thy Great Pain) — not complaining, but also why?

if u want to see my graphs let me know. i have so many graphs. ty for reading I might post about books more this year <3

[maryadeson]

Aside from wanting to read some dirt, I generally wanted to get a better sense of Trump. Here’s what I learnt: 1. Trump entered the presidential race not wanting to win, it was simply intended to be a platform to build his media empire (allegedly). 2. Trump’s administration thinks his an idiot 3. He likes to eat cheese burgers and go to sleep with his three televisions, rather than in the company of Melanie Trump 4. Rupert Murdoch thinks Trump is a fucking idiot. 5. Trump is paranoid. This is the reason why he prefers to eat McDonald’s because he has long feared a poisoning plot. His rational is McDonald’s would not expect him to show up and so no one would know to prepare a special poison meal.  6. Trump thinks of himself as white trash - "“What is this ‘white trash’?” asked the model. “They’re people just like me,” said Trump, “only they’re poor.“ 7. Steven Bannon wrote the inaugural address, which on reflection makes sense. 8. John Bolton was not nominated for Secretary of State because of his moustache. 9. Ivanka Trump is entertaining the idea of being the first female president. 10. Bannon believes Trump’s son is guy of treason.

The big question is all the content factual.

I haven’t learnt anything of any great importance; I don’t feel I’ve satisfied my curiosity.

Rating: 2.5 stars

[guccifloralsuits]

Vi! What Pretentious American Classics™️ do you recommend? 🥸 I trust your opinion a lot!

Classics:

*Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (if you only read one book off this list, make it this one)

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (if you have trouble traversing through heavy accents I would rec listening to audiobook)

Pretentious Classics if you are an avid classic lit reader/are willing to put in some effort

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Sound of Fury by William Faulkner

I can give more if this is more the area you’re looking to get into just lmk

Poetry Collections

Cane by Jean Toomer

The Wasteland by TS Eliot

Ariel by Sylvia Plath (Plath’s restored original version, not the Ted Hughes approved version, don’t read it like an EmoGirl though I’m begging read it right)

Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens (he’s my fav we looooove the modernists here)

Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

Short Stories:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Ann Perkins

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe

Plays/Essays/misc

The Cocktail Party by TS Eliot

To the best of my knowledge, all of these are American. LMK if that’s not the case, and happy reading!

[gffa]

THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES SPOILERS JESUS CHRIST, THIS BOOK IS REALLY NOT PULLING ANY PUNCHES. I spent some time last night (when I was on chapter eight or so, I think, it’s hard to tell with the audiobook version) thinking and talking about Coriolanus and how he treats the tribute that he’s assigned to, how he both pities them and uses them as things rather than people.  That there is an undercurrent of absolute terror to every word of his point of view. He’s terrified of being found out that the Snow family has fallen into poverty, he’s terrified of not being able to live in the Capitol, he’s terrified of being shunted down to the districts, he’s terrified of being mocked, he’s terrified of starving to death, he’s terrified of being cannibalized because he’s seen his neighbors do that, he’s terrified to even just miss his mother, who died in the war. This comes out when he’s sort of kind to Lucy Gray, his tribute, when he brings her bread pudding or a sandwich, when he confesses even just a sliver of his own vulnerabilities to her, wondering even to himself if he’s doing it because she’ll be dead in a few days and his vulnerabilities will disappear.  He wants so badly to believe her kindness towards him is real, but who knows if it actually is, if she truly is kind or if she’s just playing the game because she desperately needs food or some impossible to know combination of both. As I kept listening, there was another scene at the monkey house where the Capitol was “housing” the tributes, that they were in cages and behind bars for everyone to come look at, but they weren’t being fed, so they had to depend on doing tricks and the pity of the citizens who came to visit them, they have to depend on the pity of their “mentors” (Coriolanus and his classmates, who are given the homework assignment of how to make the Hunger Games more interesting to watch) to bring food. One of Coriolanus’ classmates brings sandwiches again for her tribute, but teases her repeatedly, keeps pulling the sandwich back out of reach just as she’s about to grab it.  The mounting fury on the girl’s face is ignored, only briefly noticed by Coriolanus until everything explodes--the girl grabs the food knife and slits the mentor’s throat, barely able to take a bite of the sandwich before the peacekeepers gun her down in front of everyone.  As the bullets and blood are flying, as his classmate is bleeding out and the tribute is just a pool of red on the ground, Coriolanus has flashbacks of so many things--his mother's death, the bombs falling on his home during the war, the endless days of starvation, the dangers of standing in the food line.  Just so much terror even from someone who lived in the Capitol. That’s the terrifying thing about Coriolanus Snow, that he’s been traumatized and terrorized his entire life, he literally has PTSD flashbacks when gunfire starts because he’s seen so much shit in his life already, he lives with that every single day, he’s never known anything else, and it’s awful.  Life has been brutal to Coriolanus Snow.  And yet he turns that same brutality on others to save himself, we know he’ll get worse and worse, he’ll get crueler and more and more entrenched in this horrible system. It’s hard not to feel for the character in this book because he hasn’t become President Snow yet, but we know he’ll get there. Further, there was a scene with the classmates discussing how to make the Hunger Games more interesting (since they weren’t that interesting to most people, they were too gruesome, so people didn’t want to watch) and they were suggesting all these horrible things and being so callous towards the children’s lives, that they were treated as literally disposable things for a homework assignment, that they were written off as the children of rebels, so they deserved what they got. It was hard not to have a moment of thinking about how fitting it would have been for these teenagers to instead be thrown into the Hunger Games.  These callously cruel children discussing these horrible things like they were fun to talk about, that they thought those kids deserved it. And I realized all over again just how incredible Katniss Everdeen was to break out of the cycle of violence and trauma and abuse.  That, even as someone who’s just reading this, I had a moment of, “Throw them into the Hunger Games and see how they like it!”  Imagine it from someone who’d lived it their entire lives, who’d had their children and their siblings and their friends and neighbors all stolen from them by the Capitol and its horrible people. And she said no.  She rose above and said no more. Seeing Coriolanus Snow suffering real trauma and horror in his own life, but that we know he’ll fall further into the system, he’ll prop it up further to save himself, and you sort of understand why, given the absolute terror he’s lived with, how few options he sees for himself otherwise, all of that highlights the importance of what Katniss does.  She stops the cycle of abuse, she says no more, we have to be better.  We have to heal from this and make the world better for everyone, we can’t become them. I didn’t think I could love her character more, but every bit of sympathy I have for Coriolanus Snow’s circumstances and every bit of disgust I have for him, all of it furthers just how much I really love Katniss Everdeen.

[yikesola]

Thanks for the tag @capriciouscrab 🥰

This was lovely! Just a heads up like I was a super voracious reader before I got sick and I still strongly identify with literary sensibilities, but my brain has made concentrating on written word soooo hard— I’ve been enjoying poetry and essays and short stories, and audiobooks, but yes ,, these book questions will be a little out of date lol

1- how many books are too many books in a series?

A trilogy is the perfect length I think, anything longer than that ought to really have a Reason (she says, fully loving narnia and anne of green gables and little house on the prairie and ASOIAF and hp 😭✌️)

2- what do you think about cliffhangers?

Fine at the end of chapters, if the like tension demands it. Terrible at the end of books, truly cruel

3- hardback or paperback?

Either, also good w ebooks!

4- least favourite book?

The Ladies of Missalonghi — you’re gonna have the audacity to rip off The Blue Castle and not even have the decency to keep the character motivations and ethics the same??!

5- Love Triangle, yes or no?

Eh not if played straight. I think love triangles can be interestingly approached— polyamory, or the two competitors falling in love while vying for the third person, or the triangle point choosing neither person— but idk…. I don’t mind tropes on sight, it’s all about how they’re Done y’know?

6- the most recent book you just couldn’t finish.

sooooo many aksjdks like I said, brain broke! So it’s not these book’s faults I haven’t finished them, I’m just Trying— Titanic Survivor and Today Will Be Different and Sick: A Memoir and In All It’s Fury

7- book you are currently reading.

Ahh wait, see above✨

8- last book you recommended to someone.

YWGTTN 😭 recommending it to all my non-phannie friends who I think could really benefit from the exercises

9- oldest book you read.

The oldest book I have on my shelves is “The Battle of Bunker Hill” a poetry printing from 1830, but the book that has been in my collection the longest is the copy of Holes I stole from my 4th grade class :)

10- the most recent book you read ?

again YWGTTN lmao Danny’s sure winning this round!

11- favourite author?

Alive and writing, I like Morgan Jerkins and Alison Bechdel quite a lot. Dead and gone I like LM Montgomery, Sylvia Plath, and Bess Streeter Aldrich

12- a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love.

The only thing popping into my head rn is The Night Circus but I feel mean saying it ;__; I’m sorry!

13- buying books or borrowing books?

Both! Public libraries are a saving grace in this world where places you can go and not expect to pay money to be are increasingly less and less available, and buying books means I get to have them on my shelves and revisit whenever I like :’)

14 - bookmarks or dogears?

Eh both, but usually I just grab like a spare receipt in my bag and use that

15- The book you can always reread?

So many but my mains are The Bell Jar, The Blue Castle, Fun Home

16- can you read while listening to music?

Oh it’s not can, it’s must 😭

17- one POV or multi POV?

Both good! Depends on the story itself

18- do you read book in one sitting or in multiple days?

Pshhhh multiple days, I did swallow YWGTTN whole but that was an exception and should not have been counted

19- who to tag

Im like a day late and a dollar short w this aksnfks so if you haven’t yet, and want to, please this is me tagging you! 💞