#c.s.e. cooney

[drastrochris]

Hi! Go read Saint Death's Daughter!

Do you like Gideon the Ninth, and Harrow, but want to think about if she were sunshine and rainbows?

Let me tell you about Lanie Stones!

She's got:

This whole religion thing around her.

Toxic relatives.

But if SexPal was royalty.

Best friend: Dead friend.

It's a baby. I'm not going to be a jerk to a frickin' baby.

Did you order the skeleton war? I've got a delivery here for "skeleton war," and it has your address.

[literary-illuminati]

50 pages into Saint Death's Daughter and I will admit that my extremely uncharitable first reaction is 'publishers have really noticed The Locked Tomb, huh"

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Saint Death's Daughter | Author: C.S.E. Cooney | Publisher: Solaris (2023)

[rhetoricandlogic]

Breathcatching: The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E Cooney

Posted 3rd February 2023 by Sia in Fantasy Reviews

I was so determined to write this book a review that did it justice, I actually ended up reading it twice – once over a period of weeks; the second time, I gulped the whole thing down in a single day.

I REGRET NOTHING.

For real, though: this is a book that lost none of its lustre on a reread, which is a noteworthy accomplishment all by itself. I wasn’t bored for a moment, even when I knew exactly how everything was going to go down; I still felt all the Feels; I still got thrill-shivers at the breathcatching parts. I still loved getting to see an older (‘older’; 38 isn’t actually old, but you know what I mean) protagonist who is equal parts cynical and hopeful, snarky and smart; I was still gleeful over the system of holy benisons-as-currency; I still adored Betony, from her platinum crown to her dusty feet. I still wanted to watch movies at the Quick and wander beautiful, fruitful Bloom and take a peek at what books a public library in a city ruled by angels might hold.

But.

Cooney routinely leaves me speechless, and The Twice-Drowned Saint is no exception – despite having read it twice, I have no idea how to describe, never mind explain, this brilliantly, beautifully bizarre little novel, with its properly unbiblical angels, a possessed police-force, and a sacred cinema of silent, black-and-white movies! What am I supposed to say???

I loved it. Obviously.

I was not completely sure I would, at first! I dove in as excited as I could possibly be, but I was not expecting first-person narration, and was a bit disappointed, since first-person makes it hard to justify the gleefully ostentatious syntactical and lexical extravaganza that is Cooney’s prose in third-person. But I shouldn’t have doubted her; she’s established in multiple short stories that her first-person writing still glitters and gleams and glitzes, and so it does here in The Twice-Drowned Saint. In fact, I might actually recommend this as a good place to start if you’ve never read Cooney before and are wary of the purple prose (a term I use not derogatorily but with love) that I’ve raved about in her other books, because here, the dial’s turned down on the logophilia, but the story still sizzles and sears with Cooney’s signature quixotic whimsy and vivid, fantastical weirdness.

There were two things every Gelthic citizen knew. One: only saints could see the angels who ruled us. Two: Alizar the Eleven-Eyed, Seventh Angel of Gelethel, had no saint. He hadn’t had one for a long time. Now I will tell you what the angel Alizar looks like.

Neither of which would shine quite so brightly seen through the eyes of a lesser narrator, but Ishtu Q’Aleth is a main character whose personality and voice are every bit as uniquely distinct – and perfect for the story she’s telling – as were Maurice’s of The Bone Swans of Amandale or Mar’s of The Witch in the Almond Tree (short stories that can be found in Bone Swans and The Witch in the Almond Tree: and other stories respectively). But rather than being a shapeshifter (Maurice) or a witch (Mar), Ishtu is a little bit of both; a saint hiding in plain sight, having refused the call to serve the angel Alizar – at least, in the traditional way.

I was the Seventh Angel’s best kept secret. And he was mine.

Instead, she and Alizar are secret besties, while Ishtu runs the only cinema in a literal city of angels and Alizar does his best to mitigate the bloodthirstiness of his peers, the rest of the angels who rule over Gelethel, a rhombus-shaped city surrounded by a ginormous wall of ice in the middle of the desert.

Oh, and there’s holy popcorn.

Are you intrigued yet?

There’s so much to love here – silent movies so lovingly described I wish I could watch them for myself; a crime family that is also a charity family; attention to detail that goes right down to Gelethel’s very unique currency; and of course, the thing I was most excited about going into this book: Cooney’s take on angels. As someone ardently following #biblicallyaccurateangels on every platform that lets you track hashtags, I loved the angels of The Twice-Drowned Saint, because although Gelethel’s angels are not made of wheels and fire, Cooney has absolutely captured the vibe of Eerie Alien Otherness, the visceral feel of terror-glory-horror-awe that imbues old-school angels, and channelled it through her own aesthetic.

The angel Alizar sometimes looked like a human-shaped paper lantern, or a sudden release of soap bubbles, or a cloud. He glowed on the inside as if he’d swallowed a hive of horny fireflies, and on the outside, he looked as if a toddler with a glue gun had gone wild with the craft buckets containing outrageous feathers, and twining golden vines, and trumpet-like lowers, and thin, prismatic insect wings.

Superficially, The Twice-Drowned Saint is about how 38yo Ishtu (I’m still so delighted to see an MC who is neither a teen nor in her 20s!) wants out of Gelethel – which is completely forbidden – to get her ailing parents the medical care they need in some other city (angels, apparently, not being fans of public health care). Due to belonging to what I can only call a charitable crime family, Ishtu and her parents could sneak out – but Ishtu doesn’t feel she can abandon Alizar, who is the least of the angels who rule the city, bullied by the rest.

So it’s a good thing another saint of his appears to get the story rolling.

Because really, The Twice-Drowned Saint is a book about a revolution, a massive subversion of our typical assumptions about strength and power, about the rewards of violence versus the rewards of open hands and open hearts.

“That ain’t weakness, Q’Aleth. Weakness is killin’ someone for their bread. Strength is splittin’ your last loaf with them.

It’s about many different kinds of faith, and the treatment of refugees and immigrants, about the hoarding of resources when there’s plenty to go around. It’s about movie-making and storytelling and upending the status quo.

Of course, the poets and the outlaws won against him in the end. That’s what they did, in movies. Maybe the only place they ever did. And that’s why we need movies, Uncle Eril had once told me. That’s why it was such a great good thing–the day your father came to Gelethel.

Which is not to say that this is a preachy book bluntly bleating Moral Lessons at you; instead it’s scintillatingly electric, twisty and rich, fierce and gentle and sizzling. This is a book that bats its eyelashes at you and invites you in, then pours a cocktail of invisible wonders and sheer heart-full humanness down your throat; it’s sitting down in a theatre to a black-and-white silent movie and being blasted with sparkling jewel-tones and a full orchestral soundtrack instead. It always feels a little tongue-in-cheek, as though the story is giving you a wink and letting you in on the joke, even as it takes itself seriously with punctilious care.

Which, yes, sounds like a contradiction, DO YOU SEE WHY I’M HAVING TROUBLE EXPLAINING IT???

It’s so weird! It’s so wonderful! It is such a big glorious story somehow distilled into a powerfully short novel, and I am not doing it justice at all, but please believe me when I tell you it is marvellous.

As in, excellent.

As in, full of marvels and miracles.

Alizar the Eleven-Eyed was waiting there to welcome me. He was there, in the firmament, in the clusters of star-like eyes and the spaces between them. He was also all around me, sitting in my bones: jewel-flame flower bells, feathering ferns, the fluttering of membranous wings, a warm and golden thing, like a lamp filled with fireflies.

Do I have any critiques? Sure, but they’re extremely minor; I found it a little too easy/obvious that Alizar, the one good angel, is also the only angel who is aesthetically pretty – the others we see are all quite horrifying and monstrous. And although the grand finale was appropriately goosebump-giving, I didn’t understand why A Certain Thing was necessary – even on my second read, I didn’t catch any explanation or follow the reasoning.

You know, you gonna be a poet, you gotta get yourself some ink. In the real world, poets are head-to-toe tattoos. ‘War flowers,’ we used to call ’em, in Rok Moris.

But I really don’t care, because literally everything else is freaking EPIC. The surreal, wildly imaginative setting and worldbuilding; the pretty incredible complexity of each member of the cast and their relationships to each other (the uncles!!!)(no for real though THE UNCLES!!!); the frankly ridiculous number of times this book took me by surprise – both in terms of big plot twists and itsy-bitsy details–

And, of course, Ishtu herself.

He was like a cricket some kid had poured diatomite over. He was a murderer. A fanatic for the angels. Worse, a teenager.

Oh, Ishtu. *happy sigh*

In short? Yes, I loved it. Obviously. And I will be reading it again – not least because I caught two Easter Egg nods to Saint Death’s Daughter and Bone Swans, and am sure there are more that I missed!

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

Desdemona and the Deep by C.S.E. Cooney

A friend gave this to me: she'd picked it up as a "blind book date," as it was marketed for fans of the film Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, shapeshifting, and one other thing that I'm blanking on, but the first three are all things that I enjoy! This book definitely has some of these elements and echoes of some of those things, as well as beautiful prose at times, but I didn't care for any of the characters. I'm not one to be unhappy with unlikeable characters or characters who are complex who make me feel a variety of ways about them, but this spoiled rich girl going off on a quest to satisfy some small moral uncertainty within herself didn't quite convince me. I wish I had more to say either way, but I felt pretty "meh" upon completion, but I think I'm in the minority opinion on this one.

[good-books-to-read]

Ooh Fae

Sounds interesting

2023 reads // twitter thread

Desdemona And The Deep

historical fantasy novella

the spoiled daughter of a rich mining family discovers that her father tithed the lives of miners to the fey underworld, and goes on a whimsical adventure to bargain them back

weird fey & goblins

explores the relationship between fey & human artists

trans girl major character, sapphic MC, no main romance

[victusinveritas]

In case you are wondering what I've been reading this year... here's a list from Goodreads (which I largely use so I don't have to update my handwritten book journal as much). Favorite off this list is probably C.S.E Cooney's Desdemona and the Deep, but it's a close run between that and a few others (Middlesex, Manhunt, The Mushroom at the End of the World).

[annleckie]

Just finished reading St Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney and HIGHLY recommend it.

[booksandchainmail]

What books other than Nona did you nominate for the Hugos?

Babel, by R.F. Kuang

Last Exit, by Max Gladstone

Wrath Goddess Sing, by Maya Deane

Saint Death's Daughter, by C.S.E Cooney

Things I didn't nominate but almost did:

Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo

The Thousand Eyes, by A.K. Larkwood

The Oleander Sword, by Tasha Suri

[gretchensinister]

Book Recommendations 2024!

Hello from someone who read 142 books this year! Time for favorites and recommendations!

First, however, you may say “How did you read 142 books this year?” Reading is my main form of entertainment. I’m not keeping up with movies, video games, TV shows, comics, etc. I have no qualifications with these recommendations except that I am a person who reads a lot.

Also, this year I completed my re-read of the Animorphs series, and those books are short, which will account for the higher-than usual number. I’m really glad I did this re-read, which I actually started in 2020 when the libraries were closed, and then paused for a couple of years. I find this series impressive for the way that it is very clearly written for a 9-12 year old audience (vocab choices, book length, story structure) but also obviously respects that audience and understands that kids at these ages are capable of thinking about difficult choices and issues. And I think this book series gives space for the intended audience to think about difficult things and come up with their own thoughts, even if their decisions are different from the ones the characters make. The ensemble cast and the extreme situations they face mean that different perspectives and questioning plans and decisions happen all the time. Of course I still have worldbuilding questions (secrecy would have been tanked at the start if any of the kids had had braces), but I know that’s hardly the most important thing to focus on.

I read Animorphs as they were being published, and something I didn’t think about then but I learned this year was that the last book was published in May 2001. And then I had The Summer I Was Twelve Before Everything Changed and then everything really DID change in September 2001 and not just because of turning 13.

Now, I know this is not connected, but I finished this re-read just a few months before another bad, major national event is due. So. Despite what my rational brain knows. I feel like I probably will not re-read Animorphs completely again.

Favorites, in no particular order:

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blaché: This is a science-fiction story set close to the present day about a man with the unique power to see the truth about statements or objects and his government handler investigating a substance that makes it possible for nostalgia to produce physical manifestations. The reason it’s on my favorites list is that in addition to the main plot it also has a slow burn romance dynamic between the two characters I mentioned above. It’s the kind of thing that I rarely find in a form I like and this book did it very well.

Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney: An alternate-world fantasy where the main character is a young necromancer with an allergy to violence (literally) who must navigate the loss of her ancestral home, political machinations, and protecting her niece from powerful magical assassins. I just had a really good time, it felt fresh, and I really hope there will be a sequel soon.

Textiles: The Whole Story by Beverly Gordon: Textiles are everywhere in the human world and in my opinion they really, really deserve more notice. This book is a great starting point for that, discussing textiles not only in terms of technology but also in terms of meaning and significance. It’s one of those books that shifts your perspective about the material world.

Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe: This book takes a close look at labor in professions that are supposed to be done for the “love” of it, such as teaching, non-profit work, art, and sports, among others. I think everyone who earns money on any level from work that is supposed to be “fun” or is something that is considered a gift/privilege to do (like art/sports) needs to read this to get more perspective on what/why capitalistic culture says what it does about certain jobs and how to like, see where it’s bullshit and not give work more than it deserves.

Feel It All by Casey Tanner: This book is excellent for unpacking negative cultural messages about sex and pleasure and giving a guide to finding ways to move forward positively without a focus on some singular endpoint where one is “healed.” I can’t explain it adequately in a few sentences, but I HIGHLY recommend this book. I found it very compassionately written, and written from a perspective that I felt was inclusive of many different forms of relationships without prioritizing any one kind. That is, being very chill with the idea that friend relationships may be the most important in a person’s life, for example. Also, I’m pretty sure this book was the one I read that talks about how it’s strange that “pleasure” so often means a particular kind of sexual pleasure and that opening up the idea of pleasure will help it be found in more forms and more places.

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski: I’ve seen people recommend this book a lot, and they’re RIGHT. If you’ve ever had a vagina, ever interact intimately, or might ever interact intimately with someone with a vagina, read this book. Yes, the caveat is that the book is primarily written for cis women. The author acknowledges this, I acknowledge this, it is what it is (and part of the issue is that at this point in time, most scientific studies that consider vaginas/vulvas/clitorises only discuss cis women). This is a book with a lot of scientific data to basically say: there’s nothing wrong with you. It discusses how arousal works (several competing factors!) and gives practical ideas for being able to figure out what you want and feel more pleasure. However, I did think this book was somewhat more prioritizing of one primary sexual relationship as compared to Feel It All.

About Feel It All and Come As You Are: If you can read only one chapter, read the chapter on nonconcordant desire in Come As You Are. Whatever genitals you have, you need to understand this. If you can read only one of these books, read Come As You Are, which I say because there’s just so much foundational information in this book. But I really, really recommend reading both of these books because I think Feel It All goes beyond the scope of Come As You Are when it comes to how expansive the emotional landscape can be.

Other recommendations:

I Feel Love by Rachel Nuwer: This is a book about the history, present, and possible future of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, with hopes for its therapeutic and recreational use. The book doesn’t shy away from past issues with production and club culture, though.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik: This is the last book of the Scholomance Trilogy; I liked the whole series and this final book did a great job at tying together everything that was set up in the previous books. It’s only not in favorites because I don’t like including later series books there.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem: This is a science fiction classic that I recommend to people who want to have a greater understanding of science fiction as a genre. But it is one of those stories where the main character’s perspective on women makes me doubt his ability to make accurate observations of other(s) who aren’t human at all.

The Just City by Jo Walton: What if Athena and Apollo caused humans to try to actually create the city as described in Plato’s Republic? People are plucked from throughout history to find out if the philosopher-king society can actually work. I found the book thoughtful it its perspective and recommend it to everyone who has had to read the Republic and was annoyed at any point.

The Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrel: There’s too much about fabric to fit in one book. So here’s another to blow your mind even MORE about cloth.

The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson: I agree with a lot of the philosophy of translation as described in the introduction to this book, as well as the discussion of the balance that needs to be found between evoking a world very foreign to our own but also conveying a story that the original listeners would have heard as vibrant and exciting. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in The Odyssey but hasn’t ever read the original—it’s very different from every adaptation I’ve encountered.

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse: This is the third and final book in the Between Earth and Sky series, which is epic fantasy set in a world that draws from non-Columbian Central America (and North America by this point, there’s more traveling in this last book). I recommend this whole series, especially if you like people having to deal with finding themselves named characters in apocalypse-level events unexpectedly (except for one guy, he knew about it, but it’s not really great for him either).

Dungeon Meshi by Ryoko Kui: You don’t need me to recommend Dungeon Meshi. It’s all over the place. It’s still really good, and now that I’ve finished reading the series I can’t wait to see it all animated.

And again, I’m deeply aware I’m not typical when it comes to book numbers. Just don’t worry about it.

[sleepnoises]

book ask book ask book ask! 3, 4, 5, 16?

3. What were your top five books of the year? Okay, in chronological order, The High Sierra: A Love Story, Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes, Unraveller by Francis Hardinge, A Visit from the Goon Squad and Never Let Me Go (last two being rereads). Maybe also The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada trans. David Boyd. See also my answer to 24. Also maybe Chelsea Manning's memoir!!

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? Hmm I'm gonna try to keep an eye out for more C.S.E. Cooney, I love her prose!

5. What genre did you read the most of? Probably fantasy/speculative fiction. Due to who I am as a person.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year? -> Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow babyyyyy

[literary-illuminati]

I admit I am finding Saint Death's Daughter a slog. I'm not opposed to a 650-pg book in principle but I'd at least like the sense you're doing something with the length.

I guess it just feels kind of...fanficcy? In the sense that there is an overarching plot, but frankly the story doesn't seem particularly interested in it compared to delving at length to the specific outfits worn by secondary characters at a midsummer festival and just generally happily meandering in between the points where things would happen.

Which can absolutely work where I already know the plot and am invested and charmed by these secondary characters, but at the moment-

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Twice-Drowned Saint | Author: C.S.E. Cooney | Publisher: Mythic Delirium Books (2023)

[anntickwittee]

Books I read in 2023:

January:

Petty Treasons by Victoria Goddard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spellbound by Allie Therin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Suki, Alone by Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera

Legend of the Fire Princess by Gigi D.G., Paulina Ganucheau

Babel by by R.F. Kuang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Eidolon by K.D. Edwards ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

February:

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Starcrossed by Allie Therin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wonderstruck by Allie Therin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

March:

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

April

The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Greenwode by J. Tullos Hennig ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Saint Death's Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

May

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

They Hate Each Other by Amanda Woody ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nimona by ND Stevenson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Check, Please! Book 1 by Ngozi Ukazu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Check, Please! Book 2 by Ngozi Ukazu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

June

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heartsong by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Command by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

July

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Brothersong by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

August

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sourdough by Robin Sloan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic edited by g. haron davis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb Cat Sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once a Rogue by Allie Therin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by E.M. Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dawn of Yangchen by F.C. Yee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lion's Legacy by Lev A.C. Rosen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Legacy of Yangchen by F.C. Yee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The House Witch by Delemhach ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fence Disarmed by Sarah Rees Brennan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

September

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Aurelius (to be called) Magnus by Victoria Goddard ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dark Lord's Daughter by Patricia C. Wrede ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Circe by Madeline Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

October

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cassiel's Servant by Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

November

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Top Story by Kelly Yang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If Found Return to Hell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Death I Gave Him by Em X Liu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander by Victoria Goddard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

December

Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Some Desperate Glory Emily Tesh ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Husband Material by Alexis Hall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[webedragons]

What I read in 2023

And what I thought about it. Pretty much all Scifi/YA, read on if you want book reccs or just to be nosy <3 Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Do you have a favorite book of 2023? please let me know <3 Images and image descriptions included below the cut.

I will be using a 5 star system to rate each book.

(Image Description, 4 books covers in a collage including half a soul, the house of lost wives, Saint Deaths Daughter, and The stargazers war). Half a soul By Olivia Atwater. I picked this book up on sale on kindle, and I liked it! It was easy to read but covered some interesting topics. The main character is cursed by the fae as a child and the book covers her dealing with this curse as an adult in victorian england. Think pride and prejudice but with curses and wizards. 4/5 stars. The house of lost wives by Rebecca Hardy. This was another kindle sale book and while i liked it, I think it could have used another run through editing as the pacing was strange. This book follows a young woman who can see ghosts and is trying to find answers behind the death of her sister. 3/5 stars. Saint Deaths daughter by C.S.E Cooney. This book was probably my biggest surprise of 2023. I loved this book, its beautifully written and very fresh. It follows the daughter of 2 famous necromancers as she struggles with family members both alive and dead. 5/5 stars, excited to see more from this author. The Stargazers war by JP valentine. This author has become one of my favorites this year. I love his sense of humor and the fact that his books often have found family feels. 5/5 stars, cannot wait for the next book.

(Image description, 4 book covers in a collage including Briar heart, The false princess, Nona the Ninth, and This quest is Bullshit). Briar heart by Mercedes Lackey. This is a fairy tale retelling that plays with the usual tropes of that genre. Any book by this author is very comforting to me and this one was fun but not stunning. 3/5 stars. The false Princess by Eilis O'neal. This felt like a book 12 year old me would have been obsessed with, and 24 year old me really liked it too. It follows a princess who finds out she was a body double this whole time, and her journey after leaving her childhood home. 4/5 stars. Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Listen, this is Tungler dot com, I do not need to sell this book here. 5/5 stars, I will break into your house and leave copies of this series for you to start reading :) This quest is Bullshit! By JP valentine. This is this authors second appearance on this list and for good reason. This book was my first foray into LitRPG - fiction written as though the characters are in a roleplaying game. It was extremely funny and very fresh and exciting to me. If you enjoy playing DND or baldurs gate, you will probably like this series. 5/5 stars.

(image description; 4 book covers in a collage including Terrier, A coup of tea, Wolfsong, and Hyperbole and a Half). Terrier by Tamora Pierce. This was a reread! I love Tamora Pierce, she is one of my go-to comfort authors. This series is not my favorite of her Tortall series, but it still stands up! 4/5 stars. A coup of tea series by Casey Blair. This series follows a princess who chooses her own path - which turns out to be making tea! If you loved Uncle Iroh, you will like these books. 5/5 stars, I wanted more! Wolfsong by TJ klune. This was my first TJ klune book and it delivered. This book will have you asking "Did TJ klune grow up reading high quality werewolf fanfiction?" because it reads like high quality werewolf fanfiction. 4/5 stars. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. This is the only nonfiction on the list but for good reason! It is an absolutely hilarious collection of true stories that had me hooting like a goose. 5/5 stars.

(Image description; Just one book cover, Girls made of snow and glass by Melissa Basherdoust). Girls made of snow and glass by Melissa Bashardoust. This book is an honorable mention because I'm pretty sure I read it in 2022, but I really loved it. This book was special to me because it involves a positive relationship between a stepmother and stepdaughter and nice sapphic representation (NOT between stepdaughter and stepmother you guttersnipes). 5/5 stars for me :D