#sidheag

[wisterialust]

💖 • #KissArtFebruary2025 Huctia & Sidheag ⤷ Day 1 : “Il Bacio” by Francisco Hayez (1859)

[princessasmosprincess]

I listened to the entirety of the Finishing School series when I was in college and I really liked it, but I could not tell you anything that happens in it except for how the love triangle ends.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

You’re on the third book already?? Omg!! Do you mind if I ask your thoughts?

I just started it! My library has the audiobooks 😅 And ABSOLUTELY I will share my thoughts!

First, on the audiobooks themselves, I LOVE the narrator. She does a fantastic job with the dialogue and pacing. My only complaint is that she mispronounces Sidheag's name. She says "sid-hey" instead of "she-ah" (or "she-ak"??).

The books themselves are so so much fun. The cast is obviously the best part, and I love how every character, even the minor ones, stands out. I keep getting a couple of the teachers mixed up, but otherwise they're all very distinct characters who serve the story well. Sophronia's friend group is delightful. And Sophronia herself was a pleasant surprise. Based on her introduction, I was worried we'd get the usual fare of a girl going "Oh, but I don't want to go to finishing school and be made into a lady! I want to wear trousers and climb trees and read books and be independent!" and then sulk for the whole story. Sophronia took it as an intriguing challenge and leaned into the quirkiness, and doesn't complain about corsets and dresses all the time, which I loved. (As the overarching story progresses, she's turning more toward the very special, very cool young person poised to stun the world with her prowess, which I'm iffy about, but I still love her character.)

And I ADORE a good steampunk Victorian setting, and Carriger writes hers so well. Some reviews point out that this is a YA spin-off of an existing adult series, so she spends less time explaining the world of the story, but it doesn't feel like the world-building is lacking; for me it's a perfect balance of explaining some details and letting the reader extrapolate the rest. The characters have relatively historically appropriate sensibilities and tastes and approaches to life (insofar as they can when vampires and werewolves exist), which I really appreciate.

The writing itself? Splendid. There's fun and hijinks balanced by moments of gravity, like when Sophronia realizes this isn't all a game and her actions can have devastating consequences. The pacing flows so well without feeling rushed. I would have liked to see more of the classes, especially in the first story, but it makes sense why those were summarized in favor of developing character arcs.

The only thing that confuses me is character ages. Sophronia starts out at 14, and I assumed it was a young-ish 14, but then about a year later she's already 16 and I don't think there was any mention of her birthday. I do like her being a little older given the developing romance plot line, but I'm still a bit lost there. (Also, this is just personal taste, but it's weird to me that the werewolves are functionally immortal and [I think??] women don't turn into werewolves. Weird choices to me.)

Oh, and I'm not a fan of the grumbling about how restrictive corsets and skirts are but, again, that's mostly personal taste lol.

Anyway, it's all very fun and light-hearted and a good change from the volume of horror I read in October. I would love to hear more of your thoughts on them! But keep in mind that I'm only like four chapters into the third book.

[another-fucking-bookworm]

Book: The blood queen

Author: David H. Millar

Genre: historical fantasy

⭐️ ⭐️/5

“It is a king’s decision,” said Brion.

“It will not be you who deceives and delivers the lamb to the butcher’s block,” retorted Eimhir.

True evil is a persistent and tenacious beast. Its desire for existence is eternal and insatiable. It needs to infect only one mind for its insidious philosophy to take root and spread.

It is 394 B.C. At a remote loch in the highlands of Northern Albu, a priest sacrifices nine innocents. Below the water’s surface, a shape feeds on their blood and begins to take form. Soon it becomes sentient and begins to hunt. Sidheag has risen.

Humans cannot defeat the abomination. Neither can Mongfhionn, the powerful leader of the demi-goddesses of the Aes Sidhe. The only remedy is the Blood Queen and Gràinne is the sole heir to that throne. Will the Blood Queen stand alongside Mongfhionn to confront Sidheag?

Yet the cost for Gràinne may be too much—unless her daughter, Brianag, is in jeopardy.

Passions, always near the surface of the Celts, burst into flames in The Blood Queen where father is pitted against son; mother against daughter; sister against sister; brother against sister; and father against daughter.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I found it a bit hard to get into. There are a lot of characters introduced at once, so it is hard to keep track of them all.

There is also quite a bit of battles and war in the book, which is not an objectively bad thing, it’s just not my cup of tea.

I had a bit of a hard time grasping the plot of the book, but that might just be me having a hard time keeping the characters apart since I’m not used to only having Irish and Scottish names on the characters.

[ohyouillustrate]

Long time no art! Well, I have been drawing, just taking a break from posting on socials... Here's what I've been working on between commissions and  regular work - NPCs for an RP group I help run ^o^/ 

Top left is Sidheag, top right is Isaac, bottom left is Pip, and bottom right is Basile.

[ghost-inacup]

Would anyone be interested in a gail carriger's books' discord server?

please tell me cause i dont want to put in more effort than i have to before exams

[anonymousrobinhoodqueer]

I’m listening to the second parasol book.

Capt Niall is dead?? Do we get to meet sidheag (that’s definitely spelled wrong I’m sorry) she will be like 40? Is she a wolf yet? Did she marry Niall? Has she seen her grandfather since he denied her the bite?

The fourth finishing school book is in. Cant wait to find out what happened the set technology back 20 years before the parasol series

[carrigerpigeon]

Honestly me on this blog with Gail following me is a compilation of literally every single “don’t be suspicious” Tik Tok in existence

[ayzrules]

finishing school girls + runway details! og pics from my lovely friend @bebemoon

[prodigaldaughteralice]

Found this in pencil in the front of my library copy of Curtsies and Conspiracies by @gailcarriger . Thanks, previous library patron. I’d already looked it up but I’m sure others haven’t. 💕

[rainytuesdayart]

Sophronia, Dimity, Sidheag and Agatha form the Finishing School series, reblog if you like them :)

Check out my parasolverse tag for more fan art!

[cultivating-wildflowers]

2024 Reading - November

I started off with a reading plan in mind for November (read the books on my shelf!) and almost immediately got sidetracked with a couple of series (not on my shelf!). Two attempts at a "Q" title failed; and for the first month this year, I didn't so much as touch a nonfiction. (I had one all ready to go but couldn't focus on it.) But I had fun, and I’m content to have narrowly completed the requisite eight books this month.

Total books: 8 |  New reads: 6 |   2024 TBR completed: 2 (1 DNF) / 35/36 total   |   2024 Reading Goal: 82/100

October | December

potential reading list from November 1st

#1 - Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett - 5/5 stars

Reading this on the heels of Witches Abroad was absolute fun, because it picks up almost where Witches Abroad left off and all of the chaos just flows into a new narrative.

And awwwwww, Magrat!!! I loved her in this one.

#2 - Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger - 5/5 stars (audio)

Note: If you want a more squeal-filled overview of my thoughts on this series, I answered Penni's ask about it here. (Thank you again for the rec, Penni!!) That was written as I was just getting into the third book, but it holds true for the whole series.

Ahhhh, this book was so much fun! I can see why my mutuals recommend it. The cast absolutely shines, and they feel so authentic for their time period of the 1850's. Sophronia had the potential to be obnoxious, a know-it-all, impossibly clever, or insufferably whiny and argumentative, but she was none of that; she was a fun, inquisitive main character who understood her faults, leaned into her strengths, and knew how to rely on other people for help. I loved her to bits. The rest of the characters were just as colorful and came together to create a delightful story that never let up. Y'all weren't kidding, this was an absolute treat! I will definitely be recommending this one.

Also, the narrator was perfect. She nailed the dialogue. Only complaint: she didn’t pronounce “Sidheag” correctly. I actually thought it was Sidhe until I read some reviews. (Which, upon reflection, wouldn't entirely make sense as a name. I've just read a lot of stories with faeries lately.)

More like this: "Princess Academy" by Shannon Hale; "The Thirteenth Child" by Patricia C. Wrede; "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking" by T. Kingfisher; the Chrestromanci series by Diana Wynne Jones. It also vaguely reminded me of "The Paper Magician" by Charlie N. Holmberg, but for a younger audience. Ironically, only one of the books on this list doesn't have magic, and neither does Etiquette and Espionage. But it has vampires and werewolves, so that has to count for something.

#3 - Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger - 4/5 stars (audio)

Don't ask me what happened in this book because I don't know. I just know it made me laugh several times. I'm also recognizing Carriger's formula (at least for this series) and it's predictable but it's fun!

My only complaint is that Sophronia is becoming a bit more of everyone's very special girl, and I was hoping that wouldn't happen. I do like that she still knows there is strength in the friend group.

#4 - Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger - 5/5 stars (audio)

I loved that consequences were examined early on in this one. Yes, the espionage school is a delightful angle, but it's not often we get to move past the glamor and drama and say "hey, people are actually going to get hurt, and the people hurting them are also human". It's nice.

I mean, the consequences themselves aren't nice. But that is one way to muddle a love triangle....

On the other hand, the ages are starting to confuse me. Sophronia was 14 (a year older than her classmates) when the series started and, while I have no idea when her birthday is, I think it's only like...just over a year since the first book and now she's 16?

#5 - Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger - 5/5 stars (audio)

Another time jump for this one, and everything rushes toward an ending. I really wasn't sure how Carriger was going to wrap up everything in a satisfying conclusion--even at the halfway mark I was worried.

Silly me, of course. That was a splendid conclusion! And once again I love that despite Sophronia being the best intelligentsia the world has seen (at least in a while), she never accomplishes the impossible on her own. There's always someone beside her to help carry the weight, and she asks them to help. It's nice.

Overall, a fantastic series. Absolute fun and, while largely light-hearted, not so to the point of fluff. I had a wonderful time.

More like this: Weirdly, by this final installment, I kept thinking of the City Between series. On the surface the only thing they have in common is vampires, so my guess is it has something to do with style--in writing and/or in the cast. Carriger is stronger with endings than Gingell, but otherwise I'd say I enjoyed them both to the same degree. Also, they both have amazing audiobook narrators.

#6 - We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor - 4/5 stars (reread) - 80th read of the year!

I found this series at random back in 2017, when it was still just a trilogy, and tore through it. Weirdly enough, it's one of those stories that's stuck with me. Then I discovered there are two new additions to the series (one published this year) and I decided it was time for a reread.

This isn't the sort of book I would ever expect to enjoy. I don't typically go for stories featuring clones, or consciousnesses uploaded into computers, or universe-sweeping discoveries--but I guess I found it at the perfect time.

It holds up on a reread, despite a rocky start. Something about Taylor's writing just works. It's not fancy (his main character, Bob, is best friends with characters named Carl, Alan, and Karen), and at times the dialogue is stilted, but it flows well, driven by a hilariously pragmatic main character and under-girded with just enough sci-fi mumbo-jumbo to feel clever without getting too technical.

More like this: "The Martian" by Andy Weir; "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi.

#7 - For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor - 4/5 stars (reread)

This whole series reads like one continuous story broken up into volumes, which explains why the installments were impossible to differentiate in my memory of reading them the first time. Something that happens right at the end of this book is one of the big things I remember from the series.

This installment remains a fun, somewhat silly read. I had to make myself ignore what looked to me like a pretty obvious plot hole, and things kept moving quickly enough that there wasn’t really time to rubberneck. For anyone considering checking out this series, know that the chapters tend to be quite short and there's a lot of POV changing. (Though it hardly feels like a change because, y'know, clones.)

#8 - All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, tr. A.W. Wheen - 5/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

I knew this book would be a heavy one, but wow.

Books I would make GRRM to read, though I’m confident he wouldn’t get it.

More like this: The style/tone reminded me STRONGLY of Cormac McCarthy. Other than that, I haven't read much like it, though even in a line-up of "war novels", I'm confident it would stand out.

Honorable Mention Short Stories:

The Star by Arthur C. Clarke - Holy. Cow. That was a gut punch. I feel like the Inklings circle here (and adjacent folks) would go ham in a discussion about this one. Shout out to Lyds for recommending it, and I NEED to get my hands on more of Clarke's work. (He's been on my list, but here I am. Drowning in that list.)

DNF:

The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James ('24 TBR) - This is the second Lauren James book I've read and, as much as I love her concepts, I really struggle with her execution. It's fine if you don't squint. But I squinted and all I could see were plot holes. So I looked up reviews, accidentally found a spoiler for the big twist, and got plain irritated. Plus, the environmental overtones and token character identity markers were irritating from the get-go, even knowing what I do of James's style.

The Queen's Blade by T.C. Southwell - Lost me on the first page when the readers are told that the citizens pay their taxes in gold and, having no other use for it, the royals use it to guild their halls. In a kingdom fighting an Endless War so endless it's capitalized. Um. I gave it until the end of the first chapter to see how it would progress, but I can tell the style isn't for me. The desperate scrabbling for a "Q" title proceeds.

[cicatrixtwigs]

So it struck me while reading Reticence that i feel the same way about the Finishing School ladies as i do about The Maurauders in Harry Potter. Only we’ve actually have a bunch of books about the Finishing School ladies. And they are a lot less... well... deceased.

I really love the choices Gail has made in setting her various works across different generations and timezones. We get to see the mortal characters at various life stages, and the immortals continuing their long games throughout the series.

Now... give me that book about the trio in Egypt please Miss Carriger. *grabby hands*

[transannabeth]

[ace-artemis-fanartist]

Anyone remember my Finishing School girl gang au? Quick sketch of Sidheag.

[daijvina]

Lady Sidheag Maccon from Etiquette and Espionage written by @gailcarriger

I blame this wonderful lady for wishing I lived in this wonderful universe she made and craving tea when reading her wonderful books