#the unbalancing

[aroaessidhe]

Aro & Ace ghost books

Funeral Girl -  YA Paranormal fantasy / Aro-coded Ace MC / a girl who can talk to the ghosts of those who come through her family’s funeral home

Elatsoe - YA Contemporary Fantasy / Aro-coded Ace MC / a girl who can summon animal ghosts investigates a murder

Archivist Wasp - YA Postapoc-fantasy / aspec-normative world that barely acknowledges the existence of romance /  a girl priestess who studies ghosts finds a powerful one who wants her to help him find the ghost of his friend

Vespertine - YA medieval fantasy / aroacespec coded MC / a nun in a world plagued by ghosts is possessed by a powerful revenant

[the above are ghost-heavy, in the below a ghost is just one aspect]

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester - YA Contemporary / ace-spec MC with an aroace dad moves into a new house that is possibly haunted by the ghost of a boy who died 30 years ago 

The Unbalancing - Adult high fantasy novella / a (demi) poet who is haunted by the ghost of their (aroacespec) ancestor

Compound Fracture  - YA thriller / aro-questioning MC haunted by the ghost of his ancestor

She Who Became The Sun - adult historical fantasy / acespec MC, the light fantasy element is ghosts

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[transbookoftheday]

♾️🌈 Trans Books To Read For Neurodivergent Pride Day 🌈♾️

("The Spirit Bares Its Teeth" isn't out yet, but you can preorder it or request an ARC on NetGalley.)

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg

goodreads

New love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home; a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds. Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor. Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of the stars by the goddess Bird. When Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks begin to fly. An unforeseen configuration of their magical deepnames illuminates the trouble under the tides. For Ranra and Lilún, their story is just beginning; for the people of Gelle-Geu, it may well be too late to save their home.

Mod opinion: I've read it and I really liked this one. The magic system was very cool.

[gealach-in-a-misty-world]

Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor. Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of the stars by the goddess Bird. When Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks begin to fly. An unforeseen configuration of their magical deepnames illuminates the trouble under the tides. For Ranra and Lilún, their story is just beginning; for the people of Gelle-Geu, it may well be too late to save their home.

"To heal, you must first become trusted".

R.B. Lemberg's The Unbalancing is a quiet story of salvation, an Atlantis-like story set in a world governed by a Bird goddess, where stars are kept by starkeepers and people do magic with their names. The main characters, a nonbinary demisexual poet and a loud starkeeper with much hurt in her past, come together to save their island from destruction, and they find love with each other.

The poet is a quiet character, unwilling to take on the role that others are sure should be hers; the contrast with the starkeeper, who took what she could to emancipate herself, makes for an interesting dynamic. The starkeeper is an extrovert, taking on many lovers, but behind the exuberant veneer is someone who is deeply hurt. The poet is still questioning, attempting to find their place and the precise iteration of their nonbinary identity, for this is a world where nonbinary people can be of five different types, and they signal it through hair tokens and complex hairstyles. This is a story of acceptance, too, and finding one's worth, and overcoming one's past.

The worldbuilding is immaculate, painting with deft strokes a world that is complex and different and deeply accepting, where consent matters to acts of magic and the stars come from afar. It is a slow unraveling, when the mystery of the stars' origin is revealed, and it is deeply touching. The ending feels just right in its inexorability, with pages of exquisite prose.

The Unbalancing is a quiet treasure of a novel.

✨ 4 stars

.

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* Keeper of the Dawn, by Dianna Gunn

for: community, consent

[You can find more of my reviews about queer speculative fiction on my blog MISTY WORLD]

[ryttu3k]

"Our gardens, our learning, our magics - all that is good and fine," said Dorod with a firmness. "But above it all, we must remember who we are. We are fierce and free in our loves and our choices, and nobody rules us, not even the Keeper. We come together in councils and we choose our leaders, but none of them would even imagine taking our deepnames away, or indeed our ichidi tokens. We gift all to each other. Unless we perish, every single one of us, nobody and nothing can destroy this."

- The Unbalancing, by RB Lemberg

[qbdatabase]

Daily Book - The Unbalancing

The Unbalancing R. B. Lemberg Adult Fantasy, (Birdverse) 2022, 241 pg queer female MC x autistic ace-spectrum non-binary MC Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor.

[wearethekat]

December Book Reviews: The Unbalancing by RB Lemberg

I picked up The Unbalancing from the library based on its interesting back cover copy premise. Poet Erigra is compelled by the ghost of their ancestor to calm the star sleeping in the sea before it destroys the island. But only the starkeeper is supposed to bond with the star, and the new starkeeper is Ranra, with whom Erigra shares an uneasy attraction.

This was a very odd little novel. Erigra's profound social anxiety and discomfort in the spotlight is not always a comfortable POV. But I loved the casual queerness and nuanced take on a culture's perspective of nonbinary identities. And the book reminded me strongly of Le Guin's Earthsea books.

An odd but interesting book with a surprising and daring ending. I'll probably read the sequel.

[mythtakens]

Eddie + validating and valuing Buck

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Unbalancing | Author: R.B. Lemberg | Publisher: Tachyon Publications (2022)

[araekniarchive]

@mnvart // Kaveh Akbar, 'Calling A Wolf A Wolf' // @PinkRangerLB on Twitter // @kosmogrl // @devinsturk, '15 Proverbs for the Fellow Chronically Ill' // Jasmine Deporta // Anaïs Nin, House of Incest // the gentle wisdom uquiz by @inkskinned // Rora Blue, 'Sweet Dreams' // Hala Alyan, Dear Layal

[transbookoftheday]

The Unbalancing by R.B. Lemberg

Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor.

Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of the stars by the goddess Bird.

When Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks begin to fly. An unforeseen configuration of their magical deepnames illuminates the trouble under the tides. For Ranra and Lilún, their story is just beginning; for the people of Gelle-Geu, it may well be too late to save their home.

[eddiethehunted]

here’s a steve version of this silly post lol

[billskaarsgard]

Sebastian Stan as Nick Fowler

— The 355 (2022)

[thenightshadowqueen]

I think one of the things I will always love most about Merthur is that I adore loyalty taken to the extreme. I love someone abandoning all their morals and reframing their entire belief system around one person. I love someone willing to do absolutely anything for someone, no matter how horrendous it is. I love someone who would let their love kill them if they wanted to.

I adore loyalty taken to the extreme, and Merthur, specifically from Merlin’s perspective, is exactly that.