#also the empress of salt and fortune was so fucking good

[tenrose]

Short stories and novellas are not a big thing into french literature. Basically the "noble" form of writing is a full novel here. So anyway, I still read short stories, because it is a part of SFF culture, and also it's a nice introduction to an author, when you're not sure if you want to dig into a 10 books saga. But upon reading short stories and novellas, I've found out that I often have the same problem with a lot of them: I often find them to be underdeveloped. Not bad at all, but I just need to have more you know. I think everything is happening too fast for me. I want to know more about the characters, more about the world... Obviously when it's short stories into an established fantasy saga, I do understand why the worldbuilding is not the focus. But yeah, I always wants to know more about the characters because I get attached to them, and for that I really admire writers who manage to make me attached to a character within a story under 200 pages. I mean it's the strength of short stories to get you emotionally invested with minimalist text. But yeah I think I've been too much fed with french novel elitism lmao.

[uglierdaikon]

I've decided this is going to be a tradition now so here's

My favorite books I read in 2023

(in no particular order)

"Siren Queen" by Nghi Vo

this book is so fucking cool. I said this list is in no particular order but this is without a doubt my favorite book I read this year. This book takes place in a fantasy version of Hollywood in roughly the 1920s-1940s. It has everything: deals with shady nonhuman creatures, fantasy violence, old Hollywood glamour, lesbians. What else do you need? Genuinely the most unique worldbuilding for a fantasy story I've ever seen. Please, if you only take one recommendation from me ever, take this one. The audiobook SLAPS also.

"The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo

Shoutout to Nghi Vo because I genuinely didn't even realize both of these books were by the same author. Queen. Anyways. So you know how the movie Titanic is told through the lens of people hearing the story from Rose as an old woman? Similar set up but also not similar at all. A sort of nun/monk person on a mission of historical and anthropological chronicling comes to the long abandoned residence where a recently deceased empress once lived in exile. There, they meet the empress' personal maid. As the main character (I can't remember the name off the top of my head, sorry) goes through and archives artifacts from the home, they get to hear stories of the empress' early life in their kingdom as well as her time in exile leading up to her rise to power. I'm not selling this well but it's REALLY good and a very quick read.

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

She's the queen of mystery for a fucking reason!!! This was apparently the year of Nghi Vo and Agatha Christie because Queen Agatha was the other author that just dominated my reading list. Anyways, the set up of this is that 10 people are lured to a mansion on a remote island and start getting killed off. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out who among them was The Killer (even though I ultimately failed to get it right).

"I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy

Look. Reading and loving this book in the year 2023 is not a unique experience. This book is a tough read in that a lot of really terrible things have happened to her, but I (like everyone else who's read it) need to give her a lot of props for her skill, frankness, and humor about writing this book, as well as just her strength for getting through all that. Go Jennette!

"Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver

Reading and loving Demon Copperhead in 2023 is ALSO not a unique experience. It won awards for a reason. But I liked it so it goes on the list This is a modern take on David Copperfield that follows a boy from the Appalachians as he grows up in the foster system (and through the opioid crisis). I know that sounds bleak, but he's a character that you really wanna follow and root for, even at his lowest. It's a LONG book, but well worth every page in my opinion.

"The Monster of Florence" by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

One of the authors got kicked out of Italy for writing this book! Doesn't that already catch your interest???

Anyways, this is a nonfiction book. Half of it chronicles the twists and turns in the investigation of the still-unsolved Monster of Florence serial killer case (which is. Horrifying. To give fair warning). But it also delves into the corruption and mismanagement of the Florence police department, culminating in a frame job intended to make the authors keep their mouths shut about this case. It's definitely a creepy case, so if you don't have much of a stomach for true crime I'd skip this one, but I could not put this book down (figuratively - I listened to the audiobook, lol). I went on runs solely so that I would have more time to listen to it some days.

That concludes this list of 2023 book recommendations. Hope y'all enjoyed! See you again this time next year.

[createacamillahect]

You are so far the only pregnant Camilla enthusiast I know of, so like, prepare to be bombarded with prompts, I guess...

Anyways! You know how pregnant people get super wound up nearing their third trimester, anxiety, back pain, body aching, hormonal ups and downs, nausea and headaches, overall not a good time. And Camilla is Camilla, sure, but she is still carrying a whole ass baby, man! She's the most stressed anyone have ever seen her. She has so little apetite that Pal has to coax and spoon feed her all three meals a day, she throws them it most of the time, bursts out crying for the most unpredictable things, which upsets Nona, which turns into a whole lot of other domino effects...

So to counter this, Palamedes decides to give her these special massages for pregnancy he'd taken a class for (surprise!). It's supposed to help release oxytocin, help her relax, soothe her aching body, all the likes. Cam didn't believe him at first, but, well, he's trying his best to help, he always had. So she starts teasing, because god knows they need to lighten up the mood in the household, and the teasing turns into flirting, and the flirting turns into Palamedes full on fingering her; a leg hooked between his shoulder, his mouth lapping up her clit, three fingers deep, and Cam finally gets to have some blessed relaxation with endorphins coursing through her...

YES BOMBARD ME

Yes I'm OBSESSED with pregnant Camilla. It's the same reason I'm so fond of pregnant Wake pissed so much about "He took pity on me!" in her note she said it 3 times 😍😂 There's something about kickass women vulnerable and needing care. The Empress of Salt and Fortune said something like people fear pregnant individuals because the power over life they hold. I also think she deserves to be fucked hard and often.

She rolls her hips into his face, digging her heel into his back for leverage, clutching the pillows behind her as she throws back her head in pleasure. His fingers, much like him, are long and spindly, but three of them are as good as any dick. And his mouth, that clever mouth, is as skilled against her as it is in front of any scholar. He keeps his wrist straight as he drives the full force of his forearm into her, making up for his lack of strength with technique. It's not long before she's reaching down to grab his overgrown hair, riding his face as the oxytocin floods her system.

He works her back down and she goes bone limp, enjoying the calmness of her body. He climbs back up and she kisses him deeply, pleased with all he's done for her. He deepens the kiss and it's not long before she's grinding up against his clothed erection.

She slides his pants down, and unabashedly begs him. Never one to deny her, he kicks his pants off and lines up at her entrance. He kisses her and slowly slides into her, and they both moan. If the last orgasm relaxed her, this one is going to solve her problems for the next week. He thrusts gently into her, his hands massaging her thighs as he rocks her into the pillows behind her. He moves slowly, dragging out her reprieve for as long as he can. He tells her she looks beautiful, his goddess of life. They enjoy the raw closeness as they move together and their pleasure builds. As she gets close, she grabs his hand with one hand and hip with the other and she begs, "Inside, please, I need it," and he obliges, holding himself up with his arms as he pushes his hips into her hard, and her body tightens around him. He is able to get in a few more erratic slaps before he comes with a shout. She tightens again, and he grinds into her firmly to finish her.

Afterwards, he rolls them sideways as they lay joined, softly making out. Eventually he pulls out, running a hand up her side as she hisses, and he goes to get a wet washcloth. She watches him as he gets up and keeps her eyes on him until he is out of sight.

Nona later asks if they had good sex. Camilla answers that yes, they did, and Nona offers to help next time. Pyrrha laughs before almost convincingly jokingly offering her services as well.

[cass1x1]

3, 20, 35, 90, 116, 135!

3. a stand-alone that you wish was part of a series

this is hard for me because i love when things are NOT a series but also the house on the cerulean sea by tj klune created a beautifully fun world that i would love to spend more time in!

20. a book that got you out of a reading slump

ersdgfresfd ok in my YA days i was in a funk and i read every day by david levithan and it just...idk it motivated me to read?

35. a book featuring the found family trope

akata witch by nnedi okorafor is SO FUCKING GOOD

90. the longest book you’ve read

of the books that weren't like "the complete X series" (like my copy of the hitchiker's guide series was 4 books in one) i think it was a little life by hanya yanigahara (which btw i did not like... i think that was the last book i read all the way through despite not liking it)

116. a book with multiple povs

not sure this counts bc it's technically different books but (as above) my copy was one physical book that contained each novel and i read it continuously and also it's my meme and i make the rules bUT i just read lilith's brood by octavia butler and i have......many thoughts and feelings about it

135. recommend any book you like!

oh! okay :D if you like historical fiction with lesbians, fingersmith by sarah waters was a delight. if you want a relatively short fantasy, the empress of salt and fortune by nghvi vo really enchanted me. wild things: the joy of reading children's literature as an adult is a nonfiction book i think about daily (even when i'm not working). and i literally just got the next one in the series so i'm trying to finish my other book so i can start it but heartbreaker by sarah maclean is probably the best romance novel i've ever read and i have read so many!

[cor-aeterna]

books I’ve read in 2023 + any thoughts as I have them (as of 9/17/23)

Fiction

Greywaren, Maggie Stiefvater

Transcendent Kingdom,Yaa Gyasi 

Ms. Gyasi PERFECTLY capturing the feeling of Being Divorced from christianity yet still having a longing for Something left in you

Young Mungo, Douglas Stewart

OUGH.  books that eviscerate you!!! (warning for molesting of a minor and period typical homophobia) 

The Mountain In the Sea, Ray Nayler

what if octopuses had Had Enough and started stabbing mfs. what then.

The Book of Etta, Meg Elison

The Female of the Species, Mindy McGinnis 

An Excess Male, Maggie Shen King 

Truckers, Terry Pratchett

Diggers, Terry Pratchett

Wings, Terry Pratchett

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Kim Fu

Sci Fi

The Scar, China Mieville

Perdido Street Station, China Mieville 

Iron Council, China Mieville

Kraken, China Mieville

Railsea, China Mieville 

Embassytown, China Mieville 

DELICIOUS. MWAH. CHEF KISS. my inner linguist is beside themselves with joy over this book 

Bable-17, Samuel R. Delaney

a language with no concept of the self and how it rewire ur entire brain!!! mr delaney your mind

The Invasion, Katherine Applegate

yes I’m finally reading animorphs as an adult and it slaps!! i would’ve fuckin LOVED these as a kid, I’m sad I didn’t discover them 15 years ago

also. WHEW Ms. Applegate does NOT fuck around!! murder and body horror right off the bat 

The Visitor, Katherine Applegate

The Encounter, Katherine Applegate

The Predator, Katherine Applegate

The Message, Katherine Applegate

The Capture, Katherine Applegate

The Stranger, Katherine Applegate

The Andalite’s Gift, Katherine Applegate

The Alien, Katherine Applegate

The Secret, Katherine Applegate

The Android, Katherine Applegate

The Forgotten, Katherine Applegate

The Beauty, Aliya Whiteley

Peace, Pipe, Aliya Whitely 

Axiom’s End, Lindsay Ellis

Truth of the Divine, Lindsay Ellis

All Systems Red, Martha Wells

reading murderbot diaries for the second time this year and and the hatred of corporations rlly hits :/

Artificial Condition, Martha Wells

Network Effect, Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells

Exit Strategy, Martha Wells

Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

DELICIOUS. MUST READ

Autonomous, Annalee Newitz

The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz

Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro 

Translation State, Ann Leckie

Horror

Garden of Earthly Bodies, Sally Oliver

Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys 

The Vegetarian, Han Kang

The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling

On Sundays, She Picked Flowers, Yah Yah Scholfield 

delicious DELICIOUS prose, omg!!!  this is their first novel and it’s already SO GOOD, can’t wait to read more of faer writing in the future!!!! 

Leech, Hiron Ennes

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery, Brom

Between Two Fires, Christopher Buehlman

This Census-Taker, China Mieville

The Route of Ice and Salt, José Luis Zárate 

Fantasy

Sunshine, Robin Mckinley

Deeplight, Frances Hardinge 

The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, Nghi Vo

Into the Riverlands, Nghi Vo

A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik

The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik 

The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik 

Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

Uprooted, Naomi Novik 

A Marvelous Light, Freya Marske

Melusine, Sarah Monette

this series gives me ALL the fucked up interpersonal relationships!!! yes gd

The Virtu, Sarah Monette

The Mirador, Sarah Monette

Corambis, Sarah Monette

A Companion to Wolves, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

The Wolf and the Woodsman, Ava Reid 

When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb 

what if a demon and angel who are Torah study besties schlepped all the way to Ellis Island to find a missing girl from their shtetl? and are also truly hopelessly forever devoted forever to each other (iykyk)

Babel: An Arcane History, R.F. Kuang

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook, Christina Henry

How to Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell 

a mostly charming kid’s story, if markedly different from the movie (which personally I think is a better story and much more compelling).  Also in the book the dragons are fully sentient and TALK, yet the vikings still catch and “train” them as a rite of passage! ms cowell I have some Questions 

Terciel and Elinor, Garth Hix

The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro

Nonfiction

Becoming Jewish, Rabbi Steven Reuben and Jennifer Hanin

 very beginner friendly, presents info in bite size chunks organized by topic.  good jumping off point into further study, with further reading reccommendations in the back!  

however, it doesn’t acknowledge the Nakba and displacement/murder of Palestinians when discussing the state of Israel, and paints Palestinians as a monolith that have all unanimously “rejected overtures of peace” from Israel. :/ 

Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life - In Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There), Sarah Hurwitz

this book lit a spark of joy and excitement and longing in me! made me excited to one day choose a name to go with bat Avraham v’Sarah 

Choosing a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends, Anita Diamant 

SO much information, yet presented in a welcoming and very newbie friendly way <3 organized by topic which is helpful!

Living a Jewish Life, Anita Diamant and Howard Cooper

excellent handbook on traditions, holidays, prayers, life cycle rituals, kashrut, and pretty much everything you need!  Mrs Diamant im blowing you a kiss <3

Pageboy, Elliot Page

Graphic Novels

As the Crow Flies, Melanie Gillman 

all of Melanie’s work is so precious and beloved to me, but this one!! WHEW. as a closeted child raised in evangelical christianity, and I remember how miserable it felt praying to a gd that (I thought) was either ignoring me or couldn’t hear my voice at all 

Spill Zone, Scott Westerfeld and Puvillan 

Batter Royale, Leisl Adams

Are You Listening, Tillie Walden

Trigun, Yasuhiro Nightow

little guy!!

Trigun Maximum, Yasuhiro Nightow

and then The Horrors 

Mob Psycho 100, ONE

adventures of my beloved Son, his friends, and his cringefail boss

Himawari House, Harmony Becker

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel, Jason Reynolds

Flamer, Mike Curato 

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton

[alectology-archive]

what are your favorite sapphic books? (other than harrow the ninth)

Hi bestie!! here are a couple of my favourites

adult:

the priory of the orange tree - fantasy - bisexual queen x lesbian mage who struggle to carve their own path in societies and cultures that demand conformity. meanwhile there's an evil dragon starting to wake which wants to destroy the world. there's also a contagious disease that magically corrupts people who come in contact with it in case you want to avoid it. it explores how mythologies get skewed over time and is pretty fast paced even if it's ~800~ pages long

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo - romance - it essentially chronicles evelyn's life as an actress and her romances over the decades and her secret relationship with another actress. the characters are really complex and flawed which appealed to me a lot

gideon the ninth - horror + sci fi - I know you said not harrow the ninth but. lesbian necromancers in space is an overdone description but it's essentially that. candidates are summoned from each of the nine houses so that they can piece together a secret that'll enable them to become lyctors and serve the god-emperor. everyone's very gay. the writing style might require some patience on your part though

the traitor baru cormorant - fantasy - the poppy war if it was sapphic. check the content warnings before you get into it because it deals with colonialism, how it suffocates and destroys indigenous cultures, and features lots of economics, battle sequences and characters who're so morally grey that you're literally not going to have any idea about whose side they're on. this book will wreck you

this is how you lose the time war - sci fi - two assassins belonging to opposite sides of a war spending most of the book homoerotically thwarting each other

the luminous dead - horror + sci fi - this is your go to for toxic sapphic relationships. the protagonist descends into a cave system to find something for her employer but stuff starts going wrong soon - supplies go missing and she starts to think the cave system might be haunted. not recommended if you're claustrophobic

the long way to a small angry planet - sci fi - the sapphic relationship is not very prominent but the book is very queer and you'll like it a lot if you're looking for found families in space

a memory called empire - sci fi - the protagonist steps up as ambassador to the empire when her predecessor dies. she suspects that he was killed and tries to uncover the mysterious circumstances behind his death. it explores themes of alienation from the home and your culture and the love that one harbors for a culture that devours your own anyway as much as you hate it.

the empress of salt and fortune - fantasy - the second book is actually the sapphic one but this one also chronicles the life of an empress who was involved in a relationship with her servant. the protagonist is non binary!

she who became the sun - historical fantasy - kind of like the poppy war again. the protagonist is genderqueer and it chronicles her rise to the throne. the book’s based on historical events which are retold through a queer lens. lots of books punish their protagonists for being selfish but this book said fuck you to all of them and rewarded its characters for choosing their desires.

her body and other parties - short story collection - a couple of them are sapphic

the jasmine throne - fantasy - princess x bodyguard. it has major priory vibes in the sense that the princess struggles to deliver on what the society demands of her and the bodyguard secretly practices magic

nevernight - fantasy - it's jay kristoff and I'd usually not recommend him but I like ashlinn jarnheim so I'll make an exception for her :/

young adult:

queen of coin and whispers - fantasy/romance - I thought the first half of the book was very good as opposed to the second half and it did have its issues but it's generally a fun read if you're bored - it's another queen x sworn protector relationship

wilder girls - horror - girls on an island develop strange mutations and try to survive as best as the can as they hope for a cure from the government. the protagonist is vicious in her pursuit to achieve what she wants and I love that.

the language of thorns - fantasy - grishaverse short story collection! when water sang fire + little knife are sapphic

girls of paper and fire - fantasy - it could've featured a better progression from the sort of enemies to lovers part but it was otherwise nice. I heard that the second book was bad so I abandoned the series with the first book.

crier's war - fantasy - I abandoned this because the writing wasn't very good but everyone sings it praises so you might want to try it

[gideongriddle]

my most anticipated 2022 fiction releases, in order of current release date

tagged by @earlymodernlesbian

okay i “understand” that i am just supposed to pick “nine” for this and also that there is a picture limit here on tumblr dot com but jokes on you i am including a runners up list of considerable length after my main ones

dead silence by s.a. barnes (feb. 8): in space no one can hear you scream etc etc. the premise is very classic horror (exploring somewhere a tragedy took place and discovering there’s still!! something there!!) and it’s been blurbed by a lot of horror writers i trust. possibly gay? but i could be misremembering

last exit by max gladstone (feb. 22): max gladstone hive!!! empress of forever and this is how you lose the time war are both all-time faves so auto-buy. definitely gay.

end of the world house by adrienne celt (apr. 19): am i being sucked in by a great title and visually arresting cover?? very possible. but i’m (obviously) a time loop bitch and there’s a very good kristin arnett blurb so here we are. not gay as far as i know

siren queen by nghi vo (may 10): i have not yet read my copy of the chosen and the beautiful but i loved the empress of salt and fortune and old hollywood but with disquieting magic as a concept is catnip to me!! no idea if gay??

the final strife by saara el arifi (june 21): okay some author i really love was talking about reading an arc and loving it and i thought it was amal el-mohtar on twitter but now i can find no evidence of that so maybe i am losing my marbles. anyway this seems like it will be excellent company to the trio of meaty adult sapphic fantasies from last year, so i’m excited!! enthusiastically gay.

our wives under the sea by julia armfield (july 12): kristin arnett blurb strikes again!!! i love gothic fiction and have been anticipating this one for over a year. titularly gay!!

high times in the low parliament by kelly robson (aug. 9): this seems almost like a farcical cousin to the goblin emperor?? anyway i always want to read about fairies and politics and tor dot com has me in a chokehold. the inciting incident is gay!!

the old place by bobby finger (sept. 20): i am a who! weekly listener first and a human second so i am legally obligated to support. but genuinely i love stories about old ladies and texas settings and expect this to be both funny and tender. unclear if gay but seems distinctly possible?

the golden enclaves by naomi novik (sept. 27): thrilled and terrified to see the scholomance trilogy conclude!! cannot recommend these books enough as both genuinely nerve-wracking YA romps and deeply moving explorations of teens choosing compassion in an environment that actively discourages that behavior. side characters gay romance real, protagonist romance gay in my head

!!! releases i am thrilled about but i felt could not qualify for the main list!!!

fevered star by rebecca roanhorse (apr. 19): sequel to black sun, which i own but have not read yet! gay!

i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston (may 3): have already read this and guess what?? it fucks!! about some truly insufferable girls (affectionate) and made me laugh out loud and also cry about growing up queer and religious in the south. multi-directionally gay!!

seasonal fears by seanan mcguire (may 3): sequel to middlegame, which i own but have not read yet! seanan mcguire hive never loses. i assume gay in at least some small way bc of her track record as an author?

the grief of stones by katherine addison (june 14): sequel to the witness for the dead, which i own but have not read, which is a standalone sequel to the goblin emperor, which i have read and am obsessed with. gay!

lockland by robert jackson bennet (june 21): final book in the founders trilogy which okay i do not “own” and have not “read” at all but amal el-mohtar has definitely glowingly reviewed the previous two entries in the series and i trust her with my life so i will be purchasing them all i fear. gay!

don’t fear the reaper by stephen graham jones (aug. 2): sequel to my heart is a chainsaw, which i own but have not read yet! not gay to my knowledge

the oleander sword by tasha suri (aug. 12): sequel to the jasmine throne, which i own but i am licherally going to start reading today!!! famously gay

nona the ninth by tamsyn muir (sept. 13): i am not bothering to write what this is a sequel to, you freaks!!! you know!!!! being unable to talk about this book with people keeps me up at night. the [redacted] of it all... september cannot come soon enough!!!! GAY

a restless truth by freya marske (nov. 1): sequel to a marvellous light, which i own but have not read yet! gay!

!!! general runners-up !!!

the thousand eyes by a.k. larkwood (feb. 15): sequel to the unspoken name, which i didn’t really feel needed a sequel??? but i am v happy to revisit these characters. gay!

extasia by claire legrand (feb. 22): i’m reading less and less YA these days but i loved sawkill girls and weird saint shit is always up my alley. gay!

dead collections by isaac fellman (feb. 22): eternally horny for new spins on vampires and also narratives about archives!! trans, idk if gay!

all the white spaces by ally wilkes (mar. 29): the terror-adjacent, with a trans protag!!! strong blurbs from other horror authors!! unknown if gay

sea of tranquility by emily st. mandel (apr. 5): i never got around to reading the glass hotel but i am a station eleven bitch. presumed straight?

when women were dragons by kelly barnhill (may 3): absolutely the sickest premise of all time?? unknown if gay

misrule by heather walter (may 10): sequel to malice, which i liked but did not love?? very curious if the duology sticks the landing. gay!

this time tomorrow by emma straub (may 17): listen any type of time travel or distortion is interesting to me!!! presumed straight?

yerba buena by nina lacour (may 31): have never read anything by this author but obvi know her excellent reputation! gay!

mistakes were made by meryl wilsner (oct. 11): own but have not read this author’s previous romance, something to talk about. this is being sold as “the milf book” so. gay!

ocean’s echo by everina maxwell (nov. 1): in the same universe of winter’s orbit which i loved!! gay!

even though i knew the end by c.l. polk (nov. 8): have not read any of this author’s work bc i am dumb but all her shit is extremely up my alley! noir AND vampires. gay!

[magpiefngrl]

My Fave Reads of 2021

I reached 100 reads this year on Goodreads, hurray!

I read a lot, guys. 2021 felt like a veeeeeery long year for me and I found escape in books. I was not much into fanfic for most of the year, barely reading one short piece every month--that is until early December when I reached the 100-book milestone and promptly abandoned all books in favour of fanfic lol

(a fanfic rec post is coming too in a week or so)

My fave books of the year were (in order of reading):

1. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (historical fantasy novella) Gorgeous writing, queer, utterly beautiful. This one hit all my buttons.

2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (horror) Gothic horror at its best--here with colonialism and eugenics.

3. Spectred Isle by KJ Charles (historical paranormal m/m romance) Possibly my fave KJC romance, and that is saying a lot. Love the folkloric magic (similar to Tesh's Silver in the Wood).

4. The Lover by Marguerite Duras (literary) A fragmented novel about memory and loneliness and family.

5. Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official’s Blessing) by MoXiang TongXiu Only one of my most beloved stories ever. At over 2200 pages, it has everything (except smut 😞😞). There's lots of humour in it, but when the knives come out, they hurt.

6. Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (fantasy novella) Astonishingly good, very feminist (in a non-lectury way).

7. Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (psychological horror) A chilling, subtle, masterfully written novella with strong lesbian subtext.

8. We’ve Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (gothic i guess) One of the most unique narrators I've read.

9. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantasy) This is the novel that made me think "we're allowed to write like this???". Outstanding.

Runners-up:

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by MXTX

Look, I get it. When I saw that title, I too put off reading the story. Huge mistake. First, the title makes SO MUCH SENSE when you read the novel. Second, this is a hilarious story. There's angst and misunderstandings, but such wit too. It's also very metafictional, very clever in subverting and discussing tropes. (Some people say that MXTX was in high school when she wrote this. How dare she be so talented.)

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

The conclusion of the Will Darling series is fantastic. KJC managed to stick the landing. There's action and adventures and awful, entitled people but there's also real relationship and character growth from one of KJC's best pairings. A really really good romance series.

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E Harrow

A modern, dying girl finds herself in a Sleeping Beauty universe. An excellent, feminist novella with queer rep and a strong voice.

Stay tuned for more book awards lol

Book I'm most ambivalent towards: Dark Rise by CS Pacat. It’s two months since I’ve read it and my main lasting impressions are: “it ripped off LOTR pretty extensively” and “scenes between Will and James were to die for”, and it’s hard to reconcile the two.

Most bonkers book: The Back Passage by James Lear, a hilarious gay erotica. Our narrator and protagonist tries to solve a crime in one of those English mansions, Agatha-Christie-style, while also joyously fucking all the men he encounters. James Lear is the pen name of a literary author so the writing is actually pretty good.

New author crush: Tana French. In the Woods didn’t make my Top-9 list but I loved her prose so, so, so very much. The mood her novels are saturated in is stunning.

Most sultry atmosphere: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo.

Poetry book: The Carrying by Ada Limon.

Short story collection: Sofia Samatar’s Tender. Stupendous. Samatar is amazing at writing with negative space.

Book that hurt me the most: TGCF. The pain is incomparable to anything I've read before, and I tend to pick angsty books. I cried inconsolably for days. There's so much humour in TGCF, and then bang! Book 4 happens.

Best book boyfriend: Hua Cheng of course. Next question.

Overall OK but didn’t grab me: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow.

Most jaw-dropping plot twist: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. Wow. This is how you plot murder.

Most delightful narrator: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. Several years later than everyone, I managed to get my hands on this (thanks, scribd!). Although YA isn't quite my cup of tea anymore, I had a lot of fun with the novel and enjoyed the voice of Monty, the disaster bi narrator. Great prose too.

Short story: Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow in APEX Magazine. Available for free. Such depth and emotion in 5k.

Classic I Finally Got Around to Reading: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

****

Overall, this has been an interesting and mostly satisfying reading year. I DNFed 3 novels (which are 3 more than usual tbh) but I read some bangers too. I've also kept a little rec project going all year, which involved posting 3 book recs each month (tag is here if you want to see the previous 11 months).

I've got about 50 books already on my 2022 TBR so hoping there are some good ones in there. Looking forward to seeing what 2022 will bring!

past years

2015 2016 2019 first half of 2020 top 5 books of 2020

[celiabowens]

Adult SFF edition

High/Epic Fantasy

The Lies of Locke Lamora: heist fantasy following a band of misfits! It has morally gray characters, fun banter but heartwrenching moments and a pretty complex plot. It’s a classic to say “if you liked Six of Crows and want to try adult SFF try this” and it’s probably true. 

Kushiel’s Dart: a political fantasy tome loosely inspired by Europe in the Renaissance. Pretty heavy on romance and erotica (with BDSM elements) as it follows a courtesan navigating the political scene. It has an amazing female villain.

A Darker Shade of Magic: probably the easiest way to approach adult fantasy. It has multiple Londons and a pretty unique magic system and concept, plus a crossdressing thief, knives and great banter. 

The Poppy War: grimdark fantasy (TW: abuse, self harm, rape, drug abuse), inspired by Chinese history. It’s adult, but follows younger MCs and the unique blend of different historical periods/inspirations makes it extremely interesting. The characters are extremely fucked up in the best possible way, plus the use of shamanism is awesome.

The Sword of Kaigen: if you liked The Poppy War you could like this one. The Sword of Kaigen is an Asian-inspired militaristic fantasy, with elemental magic, a badass housewife dealing with her past and hiding a sword in her kitchen’s floor. It has interesting and nuanced family dynamics and a great reflection on propaganda and the use of narratives.

The Priory of the Orange Tree: high fantasy, featuring dragons, a F/F romance and pretty complex world building. The author reuses typical fantasy tropes and roles in a fresh way. Very readable in spite of its length.

Empire of Sand: inspired by Mughal India, this one focuses on culture and religion and has great slow burn romance (TW: abuse, slavery). It’s pretty slow paced, but the payoff is great. Also a good "YA crossover”.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: first book in a companion novel trilogy, following a young woman who finds herself at the center of a vicious political struggle, as she’s suddenly become the heir to the throne. 

Black Sun: first book in a new series by Rebecca Roanhorse, inspired by pre-Columbian societies and cultures. It mainly focuses on religious and political conflicts. TW for abuse, mild body horror and suicide (not very graphic). Nice inclusion of lgbt rep across the whole cast + one of the main characters is blind. Great world building!

Historical Fantasy

The Night Circus: perfect transition from YA to Adult for a reader, The Night Circus is a gorgeous historical fantasy romance. The author’s writing is amazing, the descriptions and the subtlety of the main characters’ relationship are to die for.

The City of Brass: political/historical fantasy tome featuring Middle Eastern mythology. It follows younger MCs (honestly another series that could be a good way to approach adult SFF) and has great character growth throughout the series. The first book has some more trope-y elements, but the payoff is worth it. 

The Golem and The Djinni: historical fantasy (if you loved The Night Circus you could like this one), following two mythical creatures as they navigate New York in 1899. Slow burn romance, rich descriptions, fascinating combination of Jewish and Syrian folklore.

Gods of Jade and Shadow: a fantasy bildungsroman set in Mexico during the Jazz age. Another great way to approach adult SFF as it follows a young girl on a life changing adventure. It features Mayan mythology and a god slowly becoming human.

The Ghost Bride: set in Malaya in 1893, it follows the daughter of a ruined man as she receives the proposal to become a ghost bride. Lovely setting, rich in culture and extremely atmospheric.

The Bear and The Nightingale: a coming of age story inspired by Russian folklore. Another great way to start reading adult SFF: it’s very atmospheric and fairy tale-like. Also frost demons are better than men.

Queen of the Conquered: first book in a fantasy duology(?) set in an alternate version of the Caribbean at the time of Scandinavian colonisation. It follows Sigourney, a biracial woman (her mother was a slave, freed by her father) and the only islander who is allowed to own and use kraft and therefore has a position of privilege, which she constantly abuses, while telling herself she’s doing it for the islanders’ benefit. The book is hard to read, because the MC is no hero and her POV can be quite challenging to get through, but if you’re up for it I’d totally recommend this. (TW: slavery, abuse, death).

The Lions of Al-Rassan: this one has minimal fantasy elements, much like other Kay books, as it reads more like an alternate history. Using Moorish Spain as a template, it deals with the conflict between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Much like Under Heaven and most of his historical fantasy it shows common people being swept up in dramatic events. 

Urban Fantasy

The Divine Cities trilogy: starting with City of Stairs, it follows a female diplomat and spymaster(!!). The whole trilogy features an interesting discussion about godhood, religion, fanatism, politics, without ever being boring or preachy. It has complex and rich world building and a pretty compelling mystery.

Foundryside: heist fantasy following a thief as she’s hired to steal a powerful artifact that may change magical technology as she knows it. Also, slow burn F/F romance.

Jade City:  a wuxia inspired, gangster urban fantasy. Great family dynamics, very interesting political and economical subplots. 

One for My Enemy: sort of a modern Romeo and Juliet, but set in New York, starring two magical gangster families. The female characters are to die for.  

Trail of Lightning: inspired by Native mythology and the idea of subsequent worlds. It has a kickass MC and a good mix of original elements and typical UF tropes. You could like this if you liked the Kate Daniels series.

American Gods: a classic of the genre, pretty much brilliant in how it reuses old mythology in a modern setting.

Retellings

Spinning Silver: a very loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, with a gorgeous atmosphere. It mainly follows female characters from different social and economical backgrounds and reuses the original tale to challenge the antisemitic ideas around the role of the moneylander.

The Queens of Innis Lear: fantasy retelling of King Lear, very atmospheric and gorgeously written. Slow paced, but very satisfying build up, lots of backstabbing and miscommunication. (heads up though, one of the MCs is coded as aroace and I found the rep pretty bad on that. The book does feature casual bisexual rep though, which was great)

Lady Hotspur: genderbent retelling of Henry IV, set in the same world as The Queens of Innis Lear. Lesbian and bisexual rep. Heavy on political subplots, features ambitious women growing into their roles.

Deathless: sort of a retelling of Koschei the Deathless set in the first half of the 20th century. Brilliant reuse of Russian folklore to weave together politics and history. It does have pretty brutal descriptions of war, morally gray characters, unhealthy relationships and overall a lot of mindfuckery.

Space Opera

A Memory Called Empire: space opera inspired by the Mexica and middle period Byzantium. It focuses on topics like colonialism and the power of narratives and language. It has one of the best descriptions of what it’s like to live in between spaces I’ve ever read. Also very interesting political intrigue and has a slow burn F/F romance (and a poly relationship recalled through flashbacks).

Ninefox Gambit: a Korean-inspired space opera with a magic system based on math. It’s honestly quite convoluted and difficult to follow, but it also features some of the best political intrigue I’ve ever read. Plenty of lying, backstabbing and mind games. It also features lesbian and bisexual rep and an aroace side character (TW: mass shooting, sexual assault).

The Light Brigade: militaristic space opera set in a not-so-defined future in which corporations rule Earth and space in general. The book follows a newly enlisted soldier as they go through gruelling training and experience the side effects of being broken down into atoms to travel at the speed of light. It’s a heavy book, featuring raw descriptions of war, and quite difficult to follow (non-linear timelines...) but it’s also an amazing critique of capitalism and political propaganda (TW: death, mass shooting).

Gideon the Ninth: pretty much lesbian necromancers in space. Very loose world building, but a fun mystery full of banter. Can be quite confusing in the beginning, but a relatively easy and fun way to approach science fiction.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet: character driven space opera featuring a found family journeying through space. A fun read, that also deals with topics such as sexuality and race. Quite easy to go through, as the world building and plot aren’t particularly complex themselves. Also features a F/F romance. 

Science Fiction-Fantasy that I can’t fit anywhere else

Vicious: college roommates put themselves through near-death experiences to obtain super powers, only everything goes wrong. Follows a great band of misfits (and pretty much everyone is morally gray).

Middlegame: a brilliant and complex tapestry of alternate timelines, following telepathically connected twins trying to escape the alchemist that wants to use them to obtain godhood (TW: attempted suicide).

Piranesi: the long awaited return of Susanna Clarke, Piranesi is an odd, mysterious book set in a house with infinite rooms and endless corridors, apparently inhabited by only two people. 

Bonus Novella recs: novellas are amazing and don’t sleep on them!

The Empress of Salt and Fortune: an Asian-inspired fantasy novella, it gives a voice to people usually silenced by history. It follows a cleric (non binary rep) as they chronicle the story of the late empress, retold through objects that she used in her life. It focuses on bonds between women and the power that lies in being unnoticed.  

The Black God’s Drums: an urban fantasy novella, based on Orisha mythology and set in an alternate, sort of steampunk, New Orleans. 

The Haunting of Tram Car 015: alternate steampunk Cairo populated by supernatural entities. It has a compelling mystery, starring a great lead.

This Is How You Lose the Time War: epistolary set during a time-travel war, F/F romance and gorgeous prose. 

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls: a novella set in the Xuya universe (a series of novellas/short stories set in a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration), but can be read as a standalone. It’s a space opera featuring a disappeared citadel and the complex relationship between the empress and her daughter as war threatens her empire.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate: an incredibly heartwarming and yet meaningful novella about research and the meaning of it. It’s the tale of 4 astronauts on a crowdfunded mission to explore space, to observe and report without conquering. It’s written in lovely prose and is very casual in its lgbt rep.

The Deep: very good novella set in an underwater society built by the descendants of African slave women that were tossed overboard. It’s not an easy read at all, as it deals with trauma, both personal and generational ones. 

Bonus short story collections recs

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: 16 short stories featuring myth, legend and faith, that mainly focus on women reclaiming their agency. 

The Paper Menageries and Other Stories: features plenty of different fantasy and science fiction subgenres. The Paper Menagerie in particular is an extremely moving tale.

Conservation of Shadows: science fiction-fantasy short stories that focus on topics like colonisation and the role of art and language. 

Graphic Novel

Monstress: series set in an alt 1900s matriarchal Asia, following a teenage girl who survived a war and shares a connection with a monster that’s slowly transforming her. (TW: slavery, death).

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

Can you recommend me a book love, trying to get back into reading after fixing my mental health. Used to like Harry Potter and Agatha Christie

The Priory of the Orange Tree

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If you're a DnD type fan, the DRAGONLANCE chronicles

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I like the Parasol Protectorate books too (Book 1, Soulless) in an England where Vampires and Werewolves are the norm and its all Very Polite.

------------------

Anything by Terry Pratchett, trust me. My favourite series in the Discworld lines are the Tiffany Aching books, the Guards series, and the Making Money series. They all interconnect and you re-read the books as you read more to find the little joins and sneaky its of hidden canon. I LOVE THEM.

To get an idea of how he writes, try The Monstrous Regiment! It's hilarious, sad, ridiculous and a wild ride.

------------------

Historical stuff:

The Silence of the Girls

Out of the Back Land

The Good Wife of Bath

Cleopatera's Daughter

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (very short)

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

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The Belles series by Dhonielle Clayton I know its for YA, but just the world building, the hidden thorns, the way the author describes things, its absolutely amazing. A little generic here and there, but do NOT let that fool you, the story gets Fucked Up BAY-BE

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The Grace Year Loved it, and I got So Fucking Mad at the Patriarchy in this one because of the world its set in.

-------

CIRCE

THE SONG OF ACHILLES

also historical, but with the fantasy element of gods and monsters

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Spin the Dawn

Another YA type one, but very interestingly done. There is romance, I guess, but not traditional as you would expect.

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In The After

A fasinating version of how someone survived the zombie apocalypse, and the dangers of a post-invasion world where every hand out holds a hidden knife.

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LAKEWOOD

Psychological horror and exploitation.

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POSITIVE (POSI+IVE)

When you've been exposed to the undead, you get thrown out of the safety of the cities; surviving the hardened humans out there is almost worse than being eaten alive. There is implication of s/a and csa in this book, so be prepared, but the point is people can be bastards when theres no society to constrain the dangerous elements.

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The FAERIE WARS story

Be warned it is fun and great, but I usually skip the first few pages because it opens on a fucked up scene. The rest is not so bad.

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If I think of others or you think of a more specific type of book you like, i can narrow it down i guess

[syubub]

ENERGY CHECKUP: YOONGI (again)

Now, I know I've already done an energy check up on yoon but I wanted to see how he was doing now that he's gotten his shoulder surgery!

Disclaimer time: tarot is not to be takes as fact and is my interpretation if the cards :) entertainment purposes only~

SHIT IS STRANGE (it is Yoongi though so I'm not too shocked)

So. For starters, his energy is pretty calm and chill. He's also a bit more quiet?

I wrote a note that tomorrow is exciting... idk I wrote it down and I'm not sure if its exciting for him or for us? Maybe its just a general like, "tomorrow is a good day" type thing.

Now. 11... I wrote this down and I'm not sure why though I believe that he might be seeing 11:11 on the clock or possibly that something exciting is happening for him at 11:11 (I just checked and thats in like an hour and a half from when I'm writing this down(( update i just finished writing the whole post and it is about 11 minutes away)) idk. I make no promises but I wrote it down so there you go.

I also kept seeing plants and I'm not sure if people got him flowers or plants as a "get well" type thing or maybe he's stressing bc someone has to water his plants lol

Okay. Okay. Hear me out. Black bean noodles. It popped into my head and I was told to write it down but I'm also really hungry so take that with a grain of fucking salt. (I even pictured a nice elaborate bowl that was red as well as the take out container. Yum. Send me noodles)

MOVING ON

Here's the actual reading lol. He is bored.

Thats all. Thank you for coming.

Jk

I joke. The cards give me a kind of frazzled feeling? Its the struggle of knowing hes done something good but it comes at a cost. Yoongi works. A lot. All the goddamn time. So what now? He's having this shake up thats forcing him to deal with stuff. Him having this surgery also may have brought back some less than favorable memories/ feelings that hes being forced to deal with now. Over all though he feels like its good. The 6 of wands makes me think that he's thinking of our response when he comes back. Its like he's gonna be so much more confident in himself and his dancing and he can finally move on from the car accident? It happed so long ago but he literally carried this burden with him. Its good. The wheel of fortune and is about a change and the 8 of swords is about self imposed restriction, imprisonment and over all bad/ negative feelings. I pulled the wheel of fortune first and asked what was changing and that was the 8 of swords. This surgery is helping to free him from this restricting, painful thing that may have been reminding him of the past! YES HEALING

Now. For this section I just kinda asked "whats up?" And got, easy does it, divine life purpose l, balancing masculine and feminine energies and uplift your thoughts. He may be resting but he's got his mind working on 3,000 my dude. Its the regular "yoongi is woke af" bullshit but damn. The cards say what they say. He's preparing. I'll come back to this.

Now the 7 of cups and the 3 of swords. I asked how he felt about missing out on promoting. He's heart broken with the 3 of swords. It genuinely pains him. And with the 7 of cups he might feel like there's a lot of ways this can play out and he's considered a lot of options.

I was curious how he felt about me coming into his energy so I asked him what he thought of me. Lol. These each came out separately. We got, 2 of cups, four of wands, the empress, justice, the magician, the sun and the lovers. Ha

So. To add to the mood setting my guide said "he's a drama queen" lol yeah he is.

So so so so so. I was confused? Still am a little confused but I'm like 80.9% sure that he isn't bothered by me poking around in his energy n shit. In fact my theory is that he's using this connection to his advantage? Lol sounds dumb but my best guess is that home boy sees my energy/ what I'm doing as a way to figure out his own shit? Idk maybe he thinks I'm his energetic therapist. Maybe even a matchmaker (I mean... I have been putting a lot of energy and work into finding/ connecting with his soulmate so maybe he's letting me do all the dirty work) I really don't understand but I got no further explanation.

Oki oki oki. Now. I was drawn to 2 books. The kybalion and the prophet. I asked yoon if there was any messages that we wanted to point out through the books and I got a number for each book so I took it as page numbers. 28 for the prophet and 54 for the kybalion

Take what you will from these if it calls to you. I haven't read these since I was around 13? The sentiments for each felt important to me so I'm curious what you all might think/ feel when reading these? ( I also get the feeling that Yoongi has read the prophet idk why)

Okay. At this point I was like cool, let's wrap this up but I need to talk about his pjs? Green/grey? Plaid pj bottoms don't ask me don't ask me don't ask me I don't know but It wouldn't go away so I had write it down? Help.

I had written yoongis brother down too. Theres something about him? I'm not sure what but thats all I got lol

I was very strongly told that I needed to remember 7, that its important. Got it. Worth it down.

Oki. As I was going back to the platform blah blah blah the string turned blue too. The cord is usually white or silver but it was blue so that was a fun thing and then I was like "nice. Cool. Thanks. This was awesome, get healthy blah blah" and go to leave/ end the connection but the cord wouldn't go away.

???

What.

Then the string (idk if I said but that string shit is like on the third eye? Its connected to my forehead and his too.) Kind tightens.

I'm like, "oh shit."

Listen. Usually everything is smooth and nice and I just leave.

All is well though bc my guide is like, "stop being a little bitch" so I just let it happen.

Yoon shoves me back off the edge of the platform. Why he gotta be like that?

Now. This is strange. I had dropped down into a library.

Y'ALL

I almost shit my fucking pants. Dear god.

THE AKASHIC RECORDS MY DUDE

He started walking me around until he found a blue book. His mother fucking book.

Home boy brought me to his fucking Akashic fucking blue fucking book.

I was big mad. "YOU LITTLE FUCKER! YOUVE KNOWN ABIUT THIS SHIT?" And he was like, "duh"

I've never felt more disrespect lol

Also the way the library was presented was way way way different from how it looks to me. So thats an interesting note. Looking at his book, on the base of the spine is a number 7...

Oki. Cool. I asked if I could look and he said, "Sure, when you can find your way back."

This mother fucker threw me out of a meditative state. Have you ever woken up just before you hit the ground in one of those falling dreams? THAT WAS THE FEELING.

?? I'm not sure what the fuck just happened or if it holds actual significance.

Anyway. After cursing the fuck out of yoobi I started thinking what else 7 ment.

I was specifically told to remember 7 and it was on his book. Then It popped into my head (I want to say its because I'm smart and thought of it all by myself but I think that was my guide wanting me to keep my last brain cell safe). What is yoongis life path number?

Now I don't know shot about life path numbers but imma read up on them tonight. I used a life path calculator on Google. HIS LIFE PATH NUMBER IS 7 Y'ALL.

Maybe I'm dumb as fuck but yoobi never disappoints.

Conclusion: Yoon is fine. Hes just being a yoongi and a yoongi does.

⬆️Me after this reading⬆️

⬆️ Yoongi rn playing 12D chess⬆️

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What are some books you genuinely enjoyed and think are really well-written?

Liking things?? Me?? Unheard of!

So these are pretty much all SFF because that’s the majority of what I read. Contemporary bores me to death rip

Young Adult:

Shadow glass by Rin Chupeco

I liked the first two books a lot! Unfortunately I think it didn’t really stick the landing in the last one? But the first two are fun, I enjoyed the worldbuilding particularly. And it’s told through a framing device where the protagonist is relaying the story several years in the future, where the circumstances are *completely* different and it’s cool to try to figure out how things are going to turn out the way they are. And like trying to predict how the protagonist is going to inevitably spiral and what is the cause of her falling out with the majority of the people in her life.

The Diabolic by S J Kincaid

This is probably my favorite YA book series? Ever? It’s kind of like… Hamlet in Space if Ophelia was a super soldier bodyguard pretending to be the *real* Ophelia. It’s incredibly YA, it’s incredibly soapy, and an absolute roller coaster. It’s also hard for me not to point out failings in the things I like, and I do think this series makes some… choices, but I do generally love it for how wild it is.

Also the last book came out at some point last year and while I read it on release I’m still percolating on how I feel about it lmao. So I’m still undecided there.

Adult:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Her writing style >>>>>>

I adore the imagery in all of her stories and the atmosphere. I’m incredibly picky about fairytale retelling and I’m generally pretty damn bored with them at this point, but this collection is just so good.

The titular story is a Bluebeard retelling and it’s just so evocative and brutal! Idk I love it. Erlking and Lady of the House of Love were notable faves.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is such an ambitious, odd little space opera! The story follows a colony ship, housing the last of humanity, on a desperate journey to find a safe planet to settle down in.

Meanwhile the chapters alternate by showing us the gradual development and evolution of a society of telepathic matriarchal spiders? Idk it’s impossible to succinctly describe everything this book deals with but it’s very compelling! I felt like the ending was… mildly a cop out? But it’s a very cool book

The Poppy War by RF Kuang

I went into the first book somehow under the impression that it was YA because of the initial academy setting and then it really. really. was not lmao. It lifts heavily from Chinese history, and while it’s not a 1:1 it’s really interesting how it engages with real events. The second book is probably my favorite. Bring me all the naval warfare lol.

But yeah it’s an absolutely gutting series. And like the protagonist commits actual legit genocide. The trigger warnings list is… very very long. So maybe check that out before getting into it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

I’ve yet to finish this series but I looove the worldbuilding and the protagonist is fucking stone cold omg.

I’ve heard this book described as econipunk? It’s everything I love about court intrigue and getting into the real nitty gritty of how government *works.* Basically the protagonist tries to rise up the ranks within an evil empire that colonized her home country. And she’s just a fantastic Machiavellian type. I love her so much.

Misc:

Anyway I ran out of bandwidth to go over everything else in detail rip but I also love most of Haruki Murakami’s work! NK Jemisin has the coolest ideas, and Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, while def her most uneven work, as a debut, also left a huge impression on me. The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence is also extremely grimdark with a villain protagonist but I enjoyed it a lot! Another one where I suggest checking out TWs first. Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is REALLY GOOD it’s also a fairly short novella and I’ve yet to read the sequels. The world buildinggggg. The authors other books also look promising.

I’m also a huge fan of the Vampire Chronicles though…I wouldn’t call them necessarily well written.

Honorable mention to SJM’s first Crescent City book, not because it was necessarily groundbreaking but I was so astonished to actually like it. I haven’t read the sequel yet so idk if that’s going to ruin it for me.

Also to rattle off some classics: the Philip Marlowe series by Raymond Chandler, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Dracula by Bram Stoker (surprising no one). My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier.

[wellhalesbells]

✨✨ TOP FIVES FOR 2020 ✨✨

2020 was, i think we can all agree, a massively chaotic year but i have never consumed as much media before in my life, so i thought others might benefit from my slothery uh, connoisseur.... ship?  yes, that.  below are the books, comics, shows, and movies that got me through!

B O O K S .

the starless sea, by erin morgenstern - i loooove this book because it loves me back.  it says: ‘oh, you’re a reader, well i have just the thing for you.’  it luxuriates in language and story and riddles and fairy tales and it feels like an entire library in a single tome.

they never learn, by layne fargo - oh fuuuuuck, this was satisfying.  i thought it might feel a little exploitative as it is very aware of the zeitgeist and likely would not exist without the #metoo movement but it never ever did.  this was a fucking ROMP, period.  reading about a woman getting away with murdering skeezy guy after rapey guy after shitty human just made me happier and happier.

moonflower murders, by anthony horowitz - this is the second in the susan ryeland series (and the first was hardcore good fun too) and really feels very classic mystery with the artful twist of catering to the literary community.  mainly because: susan isn’t a detective, she’s an editor and she gets drafted in this time because the clue to what happened to a missing woman is in a book she edited, if she can find it.  both of the books in this series have such an excellent coming together moment that is rare af to find.

the invisible life of addie larue, by v.e. schwab - the writing in this is just so good.  it has that feel to me where i just want to drop the book and open up my own page and let my fingers fly.  it’s that inspiring kind of writing that reminds you of all the things language can do.

crown of feathers/heart of flames, by nicki pau preto - aaahhh, this series is SO FREAKING GOOD!  why is there not more of a fandom for it, why???? it is so many of my favorite tropes all resting perfectly together to the point where you almost forget they’re tropes because they just so naturally evolved there.  ugh, it’s just.... it’s so heart-bursty good.

.... number 5, part 2?  raybearer, by jordan ifueko - this was just so original and i was invested af.  like, what a brilliant idea though and an even better execution??  i loved every character and am so looking forward to the next in the series so i can get to know them even better!!

honorable mentions (sh*t i still liked a whole heckuva lot): you/hidden bodies, by caroline kepnes // writers & lovers, by lily king // i’ll be gone in the dark, by michelle mcnamara // the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home, by joseph fink & jeffrey cranor // girl, serpent, thorn, by melissa bashardoust // a little life, by hanya yanagihara // the guinevere deception, by kiersten white // obsidio (and the entire illuminae series), by amie kaufman & jay kristoff // the bone houses, by emily lloyd-jones // house of salt and sorrows, by erin a. craig // we hunt the flame, by hafsah faizal // savage legion, by matt wallace // blacktop wasteland, by s.a. cosby // crier’s war, by nina varela // the empress of salt and fortune/when the tiger came down the mountain, by nghi vo // upright women wanted, by sarah gailey // the monster of elendhaven, by jennifer giesbrecht // a deadly education, by naomi novik // you let me in, by camilla bruce // when you ask me where i’m going, by jasmin kaur // the lights go out in lychford/last stand in lychford (and the entire lychford series), by paul cornell // the devil and the dark water, by stuart turton // serpent & dove, by shelby mahurin // one by one, by ruth ware // ruthless gods (this was SUCH an upshot from the first book - it’s worth sticking with if you’re on the fence), by emily a. duncan // cemetery boys, by aiden thomas // the inheritance games, by jennifer lynn barnes // the fortunate ones (2021 release), by ed tarkington

C O M I C S .

cosmoknights, by hannah templer - the art was gorgeous, the gayness was glorious, and just.... hot HOOOOOOOOT lady knights in space?!  a princess winning her own hand?  find something not to love in there, i dare you.

don’t go without me, by rosemary valero-o’connell - wow. wow wow wow wow wow.  the writing was stunning, so lyrical and atmospheric and deep, and rosemary has to be one of my favorite artists but even that managed to come as a beautiful surprise because it was just so freaking bold.

through the woods, by emily carroll - i loooove emily carroll, the convergence of spine-tingling horror and art that feeds into it, that is both visually and aesthetically pleasing, is hard to beat!  p.s. i also read beneath the dead oak tree from her this year and it was also a BANGER.

the impending blindness of billie scott, by zoe thorogood - zoe is someone that i just want to follow.  she’s just starting and i want to be there for every single step.  i love her art style and her ability to tell a story with it.

above the clouds, by melissa pagluica - this was so unique, and such a baller concept, as nearly half the entire book is conveyed only through the art and yet you’re never once lost, never once confused as to what any character is thinking or feeling.  it’s a story within a story and only one of those gets words though they both are chock full of emotion!

um.... number 5, part 2? crowded, by christopher sebela - everything about this series is fun af.  crowd-funded assassination and a hirable bodyguard who’s rated like an uber driver???  and the chemistry between the two mains is so great and gay!!

honorable mentions: monster and the beast, by renji // long exposure, by kam ‘mars’ heyward // fence, by c.s. pacat // invisible kingdom, by g. willow wilson // ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson // heathen, by natasha alterici // not drunk enough, by tess stone // giant days, by john allison // die, by kieron gillen // be prepared, by vera brosgol // ascender (sequel to descender, which is also great), by jeff lemire // the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north // bang! bang! boom!, by melanie schoen // gideon falls, by jeff lemire // life of melody, by mari costa // cry wolf girl, by ariel slamet ries // the tea dragon society, by katie o’neill // ptsd, by guillaume singelin // heartstopper, by alice oseman // solutions and other problems, by allie brosh // finding home, by hari conner // the magic fish, by trung le nguyen // something is killing the children, by james tynion iv // the weight of them, by noelle stevenson // spill zone, by scott westerfeld // skyward, by joe henderson // miles morales, by saladin ahmed

F I L M S.

parasite, dir. bong joon ho - oh it was satisfying, oh it was suspenseful, oh i had to watch some of it through my fingers but i loooooooved it.  such a good story and so well made.

knives out, dir. rian johnson - okay, everything about this movie was amazing.  every single character was fun as hell and i could’ve watched an entire movie about each of them.  what a great fucking mystery!

blindspotting, dir. carlos lopez estrada -  this made my heart hurt so damn much.  what glorious writing, acting, and story!

portrait of a lady on fire, dir. celine sciamma - gooooorgeous cinematography, amazing chemistry, and such a soft, atmospheric film.

the farewell, dir. lulu wang - i cried and my heart felt so full and i love it so so much.

um.... number 5, part 2? someone great, dir. jennifer kaytin robinson - no part of me expected to love a netflix movie this much but it’s a love story that doesn’t get told that often??  the end of a relationship and the true love of friendship and i love these girls and i love jenny and nate’s broken relationship.

honorable mentions: eighth grade, dir. bo burnham // booksmart, dir. olivia wilde // midsommar, dir. ari aster // the curse of la llorona, dir. michael chaves // the secret life of pets 2, dirs. chris renaud & jonathan del val // jojo rabbit, dir. taika waititi // the invisible man, dir. leigh whannell // the favourite, dir. yorgos lanthimos // can you ever forgive me?, dir. marielle heller // troop zero, dirs. bert & bertie // ready or not, dirs. matt bettinelli-olpin & tyler gillett // brave, dirs. mark andrews & brenda chapman & steve purcell // the half of it, dir. alice wu // palm springs, dir. max barbakow // doctor sleep, dir. mike flanaghan // uncut gems, dirs. benny sadfie & josh sadfie // birds of prey, dir. cathy van // bloodshot, dir. dave wilson // the old guard, dir. gina prince-bythewood // enola holmes, dir. harry bradbeer // hocus pocus, dir. kenny ortega // always be my maybe, dir. nahnatchka khan // finding dory, dirs. andrew stanton & angus maclane // die hard, dir. john mctiernan

S H O W S .

black sails (2014) - this show, this shooooooooow.  i cannot, it just makes me want to cry with how good it is.  the characters, the EMOTIONS, the story, the plaaaaaan.  like, the creators clearly had a plan for every single step of this show and it was a gOOD, GOOD PLAN.

the untamed (2019) - truly, cheesy good fun with one of the best gay romances ever.  i love these characters and their relationships to each other and the way it glories in its own ridiculousness.

the righteous gemstones (2019) - one of the things that bothered me about my next choice (the ratio of female to male nudity) was so much more realistic in this one (i mean, we’ve all gotten five thousand dick pics and i know like three people?  so the fact that there is so rarely male nudity in shows when there are tits everywhere..... no, how does that even make a tiny bit of sense?).  this show was such great, wonderful, awful fun.  they’re not great people and the show is under no delusion about that and it’s GLORIOUS!

the witcher (2019) - this was just hella fun, i loved the characters and the fantasy elements.  i’m excited for the next season, it’s just entertaining swashbuckling through and through!

fargo (2014) - all of this was really very enjoyable with the through line being somebody fucks shit up and gets involved in something they really shouldn’t be involved in that’s going to swallow them whole.  season one and season three were my stand-out favorites but they were all so violent, clever, and vicious!

um.... number 5, part 2? central park (2020) - um..... so many of the hamilton actors in a muscial cartoon drawn and written by the bob’s burgers team? WHAT ABOUT THAT DOESN’T SOUND AMAZING?!  it was such a joy to hear daveed diggs and leslie odom jr.’s voices again!!

honorable mentions: schitt’s creek // the mandalorian // mr. robot // broadchurch // mindhunter // jack ryan // the good place // the end of the f***ing world // big little lies // elite // kidding // servant // letterkenny // curb your enthusiasm // i am not okay with this // ozark // buzzfeed unsolved: true crime/supernatural // you // runaways // dear white people // dickinson // brooklyn nine-nine // will & grace // 9-1-1 // dead to me // solar opposites // never have i ever // killing eve // what we do in the shadows // grace and frankie // avenue 5 // roswell, new mexico // the bold type // evil // tuca & bertie // impulse // the umbrella academy // watchmen // infinity train // corporate // search party // on becoming a god in central florida // a.p. bio // criminal: uk // the morning show // mythic quest // last week tonight // prodigal son // the great

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update

it’s been a hot minute since the last time I posted one of these, because things refuse to stop happening and I’ve recently felt like my brain was completely breaking down. focusing on any kind of reading lately has been hard, and probably not helped by the fact that I decided to try to start off the year with some dense-ass academic texts. 

that’s been getting me nowhere fast, so I’m gonna say fuck that and focus on clearing out the fiction from my to-read list for the time being. 

what have I been reading?

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (Jane Ward) - smart and punchy, always delightful to read research that presents cisheterosexuality as the strange Other to parse and make sense of. much like when I read Angela Chen’s Ace, I was equally excited about actually reading this book and about the future of queer nonfic that it represented.

Real Life (Brandon Taylor) - I’m not generally a contemporary lit fic kind of man, but maybe Brandon Taylor will be my exception? he captures the hypnotic tedium and introspection of my favorite short stories and makes it into a full-length novel without ever losing my interest, and that’s doing something. he seems to be sort of a publishing whiz kid right now, and I’m looking forward to seeing where his career is going.

When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir (Patrisse Khan-Cullors) - file this under ‘books to make you want to set some things on fire.’ 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Seth Dickinson) - ‘surely it can’t be as good as all that’ I thought. ‘it’s a fantasy about economics, where’s the fun in that?’ I thought. ‘nothing ever lives up to the hype,’ I thought. readers, I was delighted to be wrong. 

The Death of Vivek Oji (Akwaeke Emezi) - I’ve talked more than a little about how Emezi’s debut YA novel fell flat for me, but we’re right back on track with their second novel for adults. I think I might have liked it even more than Freshwater, which I didn’t think was possible, and in conclusion we have no choice but to stan.

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel (Julian K. Jarboe) - very few short story collections are slam dunk winners all the way through, but also very few short stories are this screamingly queer and punky and weird, so it all balances out and I still very much consider this a win. I wish profoundly I’d written down the name of a few stories I liked in particular before I returned the book to the library but alas, art remains ephemeral and all that.

A Quick and Easy Guide to Sex and Disability (A. Andrews) - exactly what it says on the tin, which is to say, pleasant but not particularly in-depth. regardless, definitely not a bad one for any sex educator (or sex witch, as you do) to keep around, and if you don’t know shit about sex for disabled folks then give it a gander.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape (Sohaila Abdulali) - oofa doofa, what to say? I love this book for how refreshingly frank it is; Abdulali is a survivor and extends the utmost empathy to fellow survivors while refusing to be precious about rape, which kind of kicks ass. she’s also Indian and does a pretty solid job not grounding the book in an entirely Western context, which is rare to encounter in this type of literature, and overall it would be a big yeehaw from me if not for the book’s passive insistence that only men commit sex crimes, which is a particularly glaring oversight come from a bisexual author.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Nghi Vo) - exactly the novella I needed to get me out of my no-reading rut. short and sharp and delicious, a recollection of rebellion that I devoured in about a day. maybe this will be the year I get novellas!

what am I reading now?

Shades of Milk and Honey (Mary Robinette Kowal) - I literally just started this, like, 20 minutes ago, and I’m already obsessed even though I’m only a chapter deep. this is definitely for people who like Pride and Prejudice (hi) and also reminds me of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Beautiful Ones, which I also devoured, so this should be an excellent time. 

[lanseax]

8, 16, & 25 for the book asks? 💕

8. Favorite book read this year?

oh man, I've already read so many books this year... I have to say it's going to be a very close tie between Gideon the Ninth and Crier's War. Both of them were so good, Crier's War was such a roller coaster of emotions and Gideon was so funny and clever.

16. Favorite genre(s) and author(s)?

Fantasy is always going to be my first love, anything with magic and it's own universe of imagination will be immediately on my radar. Authors are a bit harder... I don't really pick books based on authors but I'd say Samantha Shannon is a favorite just because she wrote my favorite book of all time: The Priory of the Orange Tree

25. What books do you read over and over?

Obviously, The Priory of the Orange Tree. I've read Empress of Salt and Fortune multiple times cause it's so short and sweet. Then there are the George RR Martin's ASOIAF books, because when the fuck is The Winds of Winter coming out? We may never know!!

Thank you!!

(also hi bianca!! ily!! hope you're well!!)

[veliseraptor]

since it came up with @my-lady-knight and all the cool websites are doing it, I thought I’d go ahead and share my

Most Anticipated SFF of 2020

(it’s a lot of sequels, but not all sequels.)

Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton. I loved her take on King Lear in The Queens of Innis Lear; I’m very interested in seeing what she does with a genderswapped Hotspur in this one. (January 7, 2020)

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett. The sequel to Foundryside, aka the book where I spent the first third grumpily comparing it to the Divine Cities series (unfair of me) and then promptly went “oh shit this is actually really good” and slammed through the rest of it and then went looking under the book for the rest. Suffice to say that I’m very excited. (January 21, 2020)

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood. This one comes highly recommended, for me, personally - the basic conceit (”an orc priestess destined to be a sacrifice turned wizard's assassin”) had me listening, but I hear there are also empires involved, and a queer relationship. I have an early copy sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read - I plan to make it one of my January books. (February 11, 2020)

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso. This is one of the ones in the first half of the year I’m really holding my breath for. The jacket copy includes what I’m guessing is the first line: “They called me the Bitch Queen, the she-wolf, because I murdered a man and exiled my king the night before they crowned me.” Hello there, I’m listening. (February 18, 2020)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Yes, I know I know this came out this year (2019) but I couldn’t manage carrying that hardcover brick and the ebook from the library hasn’t yet arrived, so I’m putting it on here for the paperback which I am planning to buy. (February 18, 2020)

Docile by K.M. Sparza. I actually have this one sitting on a stack in my apartment waiting for me to read it - I just need to get around to it. It’s been pitched to me as in concept looking at consent under capitalism. (March 3, 2020)

The Poet King by Ilana C. Myer. This is the third in a series I don’t talk about much, mostly because the first one (Last Song Before Night) didn’t impress me that much; the second one (Fire Dance) a great deal more. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one compares to both; it’s definitely a very original world and concept, which gives it credit in and of itself. (March 24, 2020)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. Tor.com tends to publish novellas that I either love or am distressingly indifferent to - but they’re almost always fascinating in concept (and the cover designs are spectacular). The keynote for this one mentions “empire” and “storytelling” (gotcha, Lise!) and it’s East Asian fantasy (inspired by imperial China) so there’s three points that have my interest right off the bat. (March 24, 2020)

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. It’s a new N.K. Jemisin book; of course I’m here for it. I’ll probably be here for anything she writes from here on out. (March 24, 2020)

The Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth. I am a sucker for “what happens after” stories, and this one - pitched as being about five teenagers who fought and defeated an Evil Overlord, but after, when they’re all fucked up - sounds right up my alley. Enough that I’m not letting ‘author of the Divergent series’ turn me off. (April 7, 2020)

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The sequel to Gideon the Ninth is coming out this year and I already have a standing request with my book hookup at the publisher to get me an advance copy as soon as they land. (June 2, 2020)

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. This is one of those books where when it comes out I’m going to drop everything I’m reading at the time to pick it up, because this is a series I am so deeply attached to. Even if I didn’t like The Monster Baru Cormorant as much as the first one (a very high bar), I’m holding my breath to see where this one goes. (June 9, 2020)

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho. I have loved Zen Cho’s other books (particularly Sorcerer to the Crown) and this one (”found family wuxia fantasy” sounds very promising. (June 23, 2020)

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. I believe this is the finale? to the trilogy begun with City of Brass and continued in The Kingdom of Copper. I loved the first two - the second I think even more than the first. I look forward to seeing if Chakraborty can continue that crescendo and finish strong. (June 30, 2020)

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler. This is an author I’ve been circling around for a while - I read the first book in his YA series (and will probably read the second), and the first in the series he’s most well known for (and probably want to read the rest at some point), but this book at least by description sounds very much up my alley. Siblings in conflict! There’s an empire involved! It’s published by Orbit (which isn’t a guarantee of quality but they have been acquiring a lot of good shit lately)! Yeah, I’m there. (July 21, 2020)

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. Another sequel, this one to A Memory Called Empire, which was among my favorite books of the year in 2019. I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but that book hit a lot of the same buttons as the Imperial Radch series, mixed with Embassytown by China Mieville. (September 15, 2020)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. We don’t know much about this one yet, but it’s the first book in over a decade from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (which I loved) so that alone is a selling point. What we knows so far (it’s about a man in a seemingly endless labyrinth who starts to realize that there may be in fact a world outside his walls) doesn’t have me grabbed in terms of concept, but neither did Jonathan Strange - I’m willing to let Susanna Clarke take me for a ride anyway. (September 15, 2020)