#Nice end to a good fantasy duology! The ending is sweet! I liked the journey and development of these characters.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Savior’s Rise

book 2 in a queer high fantasy duology

after finding out the truth about the oracle stone and the gods, two mages go back to the village one was exiled from, and must find a way to save them from the gods ruling their village and face their pasts

mages, gods, curses, powerful magical objects

m/nb, aro

[beaulesbian]

I decided to finally make a part two of this post, it took me half a year longer than I anticipated, but I rushed to finish it at least for June.

🏳️‍🌈 Happy pride month! 🏳️‍🌈

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley – The best kind of subtle romance I have ever read. Includes mysterious pocket watch, solving bomb threats in Victorian London, a lady scientist, changing of future based on occurring events, an adorable clockwork octopus, and so much more! Did I mention the best, most beautiful romance I didn’t even expect to get?? Read it! (mlm main characters)

All out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages by multiple authors, edited by Saundra Mitchell – This book was so refreshing to read!!! Retellings of fairy tales but queer and poc and mostly happy. I enjoyed each of the short story so so much, I don’t have words to say how much I loved this book, just, can we please have more stories like that? Thank you.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – Ever wanted a book with a main character boy and girl who won’t end up together by the end of the book? Then this is a book for you. Frances and Aled do not only become best friends who won’t end up together, but there’s even more diverse characters than these two main ones. This book even has an ace (demi) sexual representation, which I was very excited about, and the main character is biracial bisexual girl. There is lot of fandom talk and a radio show drama (kind of similar to Welcome to Night Vale). But also talks about other important topics like deciding that college might not be for everyone despite them being a great student in high school.

Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee – It’s a cute and sweet superhero themed futuristic story, first book of a trilogy I think. The main character is Vietnamese American bisexual girl, Jessika Tran, whose parents are both superheroes, but she doesn’t have any powers. She starts working for a company she later discovers belongs to town’s villains, but with time she learns that not everything about superheroes and villains is perfectly black and white. Also she’s working there with her crush, so that’s a bonus. It’s a really great book, there’s wlw romance and lot of diversity, action and silly scenes. The history behind the people’s superpowers and worldbuilding was really interesting too. The sequel is also already out, featuring a poc trans boy as the main character, who is part of Jessika‘s friend squad.

The Gentleman‘s guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee – A book everyone here should read!! A historical roadtrip with lot of angst, fluff and mutual pining of two of the main characters. It takes place in 18th century Europe. Monty is kind of an asshole, some moments you will hate him then you will love him, but as the journey progresses so does he. He travels with his sister, Felicity, and his best friend (and crush!) Percy, to visit few cities in Europe before he has to start work in his fathers company. This book addressed lot of issues, like white privilege and racism in that time period, sexism and ableism. But it’s also an adventurous book that’s funny and charming, and makes you feel really happy one moment and sad the next. There are also pirates!

Dreadnought by April Daniels – This is a first book of a duology about a lesbian trans girl Danny who receives superpowers after witnessing death of the superhero Dreadnought, which means she now has to become the new Dreadnought. But with the powers also becames real the ideal vision of her body, that she always wanted. She is very happy about it, but it also means she has to face her family and best friend and explain why she looks different. On top of that she has to help the other superheroes with stopping the new threat to the city, the villain who killed previous Dreadnought. Trigger warnings for transphobia, but it’s really worth to read.

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller – I’ve seen mixed reviews of this book but personally I loved it. It’s a fantasy YA with lgbt protagonist, that I don’t have enough of. Sal is a genderfluid, also bi? pan? thief who enters a competition to become one of Queen’s Assassins. Basically the last one standing (or rather living) takes the place. Sal knows how to fight and survive but also needs to learn other things to win this position. Like taking classes of writing/reading which teaches him a lady of court they previously stole something from, whom Sal quickly starts to like more than they should, with the competition at play. For me it was a really great book to read and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – I had to read this one quickly before Leah on the offbeat came out, and it was a joy to read this one too! Again so much representation, I love Becky’s books and the Simon vs world. This story is about Molly who has had a lot of crushes but never actually dated anyone. She’s jewish, has anxiety, is fat, loves her family, is very creative, and has another crush on a guy who is her coworker. There’s so much cuteness in this book, I was smiling and crying the whole time reading it. More for representation: her sister is gay, she has two moms, a new Korean-American pansexual friend (who her sister totally likes) and more. I need to meantion trigger warnings for fatphobia, because of part there with her relative, it made me cry so much, it was very reletable and I hated it but there was very good closure for it in the end, which I’m happy about. Anyway read this book, overall it’s a cute and happy book with lots of fluff!

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli – I loved Leah from the Simon vs book, so I was really happy we got more focus on her. She’s fat and funny, unapologetic about who she is, in her words: “basically your resident fat Slytherin Rory Gilmore”. There was mentions she likes boys as well as girls. Because of a tour for her college she goes with Abby to see where she will live the next few years and stuff happens. And then there’s also their high school prom, which she thought she was ready for, but maybe she’s not ready for at all. I’m not even going to write more, it’s an amazing book, I cried so many times.

Timekeeper by Tara Sim – This story takes place in a Victorian era Britain where clock towers are needed for time to flow correctly. Therefore there is lot of mechanics who repair said clock towers, because if the clock stops, the town around it stops in time as well. The main character Danny is one of those mechanics in London, but his father is trapped in a town that Stopped and Danny needs to find a way to save him. But after someone tries to sabotage a clock tower in a small city, Danny is assigned in that town to fix it, and he eventually finds out that the myths he heard – that in clock towers could sometimes be seen beings, spirits of the towers – might actually be true. This book was so nice to read, there was the atmosphere of the Victorian era, mystery, cute mlm romance and awesome female characters.

I’ll give you the sun by Jandy Nelson – I cried a lot reading this book. At first it actually took me few months to read past first two chapters, because the writing style was so different from what I was used to, but after that I got absorbed in it very quickly. It’s a story about two siblings, Noah and Jude Sweetwine, who both go through some difficult times, with family, school and personal stuff, it’s about making mistakes and fixing mistakes. It’s about love, art, sibling struggles and growing up.

Other books that I read and loved and definitely recommend:

Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst (f/f fantasy romance)

We are the Ants –  Shaun David Hutchinson (m/m)

In Other Lands -  Sarah Rees Brennan (bi mc, m/m)

Release – Patrick Ness (m/m)

Our dark duet – V.E. Schwab (sequel of duology, agender character, not much romance at all in this duology, it‘s one of my favourites)

A Conjuring of Light – V.E. Schwab (a beautiful fantasy, last book of trilogy, happy ending for m/m pairing whose each story is important throughout the whole series. Again, one of my favourite series)

Magnus Chase and the Ship of Dead - Rick Riordan (I don‘t want to spoil here but it‘s good, genderfluid representation since book two, more in this final book)

Ice crypt - Tiana Warner (sequel of the Ice Massacre, wlw romance between mermaid and human girl, who knew each other since childhood, there is third final book, Ice Kingdom, already out, but I still haven‘t read it..)

Happy reading!

(tagging few people who i think might enjoy it ♥♥: @eradne, @poefinn, @twomillionfreckles, @eliotcoldwater, @queen-max, @tsukiyam-a)

[bookcasedoors]

Top 7 Books that I read in 2016 (sort of)

I say sort of because some books I’m counting as one whole because they all go together, so here they are in no particular order:

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

This was probably the most intriguing of fantasies I read this year, the premise is very different to most fantasy stories. It’s about a land where the queen always gives birth to triplet girls and when these girls are old enough one of them becomes queen. They each develop a certain power and are raised separately, and the way they choose the queen is that the sisters have to kill each other until one remains and she is crowned queen. It’s a very different concept and I thought I’d give it a read. At the beginning it’s quite slow working out how things work in this world and learning the names and culture of these people, but then when the story really gets going it’s very different from any other story I’ve read. It’s quite dark and some of the turns the story took was really interesting, one in particular blew my mind. I’m more interested in where the story is going rather than the characters, but the characters are actually very complex too I just don’t feel a connection to them. They’re all very fascinating but not very likeable, which could be the point, either way I’m still going to continue with the story and I’m very curious to see what happens next.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Six of crows was probably my favourite book of the year, these books are about six people attempting an impossible heist, and that was all I needed. I love bank heist movies so this was right up my alley. It was intense, emotional, heart and gut wrenching all at the same time. Every single character was fantastic with their back stories woven so artfully throughout both books, you cannot help but love them all. I did try to pick a favourite but honestly they are all so amazing, but the reason for that is because they are all so wonderfully written, every one of them is flawed and perfect simultaneously. The story is also impeccable it takes twists that you don’t expect and you end up somewhere you never thought it would go. It was an adventure to read and I wish there was more, I’d love to see more from these character but also I think it ended very nicely. I would strongly recommend this duology with all my heart.

Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

When I first saw Illuminae I thought it looked beautiful, but looking stunning is usually corresponded with having a weak story. The illuminae files is a sci-fi space adventure told by reports, messaging programmes and some glorious typography. So when I first saw it I though it looked cool but I shouldn’t really expect much from the story but I was so very wrong. The story is so detailed, which I was shocked about, it’s amazing that they can convey all these emotions without writing it in the traditional way. It’s the first time I’ve been genuinely terrified reading a book, it’s so tense and because of the way it’s told it increases the pressure as you’re withheld from some of the information that would be available had it been told in the traditional way. Both the book so far have been amazing but I have a slight preference for Illuminae, however Gemina has some gorgeous illustrations. It’s really opened me up to the sci-fi genre, which I didn’t really like up until these books. It’s a truly amazing idea that is told in a fascinating way.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

Second book in the ACOTAR series (this series really needs a catchy name) I wasn’t that much of a fan of ACOTAR like it was okay and nice but I felt like I didn’t really connect, little did I know Sarah J Maas was saving the amazing characters for the second book. The basic premise of the first book is a beauty and the beast retelling but with fairies, and that’s pretty much what is was. It’s was good but it went where I thought It would go and although the writing and story was good it didn’t really blow me away so I put off the sequel for quite a while, but I am so glad I did actually read it. It was PHENOMENALLY better than the first one but the second book wouldn’t have been as good without the first one being like it was. The characters are amazing, the story is amazing, I have no idea where it’s currently going and that is amazing. It’s like the first book set out the ma of the world and the second filled it to the brim with a twisty turning story and some fantastic characters. I love the night court with all my heart, some truly great characters. I cannot wait for the third one.

 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Nice little contemporary about friendship and finding yourself and all that good stuff a contemporary should have. it was just so nice and relaxing to read, it had its moments of drama and emotion but I’m a massive fantasy fan so usually real life stories kind of bore me or they stress me out because I think of real life scenarios that could actually happen. This was just nice and sweet, it felt refreshing and the characters were great. Nice little story of part of a characters life instead of life and death situations. I read it during the summer so it felt like a hot lazy day kind of book, all about the development of the characters and growing to love them.

 The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

Great story about basically a group of friends doing the weird stuff everyone does but somehow there’s even more weird stuff involved. Things like psychics are real and magic and 1000 year old welsh kings. It’s as strange as it sounds and there’s really no way to summarize it. Just five strange people dealing with life, coming together and hijinks ensues.

This series just gets weirder and weirder as you read it, like half of the time I don’t even understand it but it’s written so beautifully I don’t even care. There’s no way to put this book into a genre, like is it fantasy? Urban fantasy? Magical realism? I don’t even know. I listened to them on audiobook back to back over the summer and it was the perfect time to read it. You really grow to love the characters and their journey, same as with six of crows I could not pick a favourite I love them all. Was I horrendously confused as to what was happening? Yes. Was I also intensely absorbed and ready to enjoy the ride? Hell yeah I was. I also hear there’s going to be a Ronan Lynch trilogy and I am SUPER excited about it.

 Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Another cute little story, about a girl who is allergic to pretty much everything, and then one day she meets the boy next door. Seems pretty mundane however it is not what I thought it would be. Going into it I felt like I’d heard this story before and it was a little cliché, however I stuck with it and I am so glad I did. It’s definitely not what it seems. I’m all about books that change my opinion by the end and this definitely did, and it was still a cute contemporary story overall and I’m looking forward to reading her latest book.