#though i want to read Priory of the Orange Tree eventually-

[beauzos]

i know it probably ain’t impressive but it feels GOOD to start reading regularly again. i only read 4 books last year and i am still proud of myself for that, but i’m reading regularly now. i am up to 6 books this year, counting the one i am on now. it rules

[bonesandthebees]

after barely reading (published) books for the past few years, I finally got back into reading around the end of 2023. I ended up reading 6 books total in the year, which isn't a lot but in total fairness I'd only read two books into november. then I read the other 4 all between november and december.

anyway in case you're curious what I read in 2023 was

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (listened to it as an audiobook when I was driving from New Jersey to Florida, I think McCurdy is an incredible writer and her authorial voice was so unique especially with the way she adjusted the writing style based off her age in the time period being talked about. incredibly raw and painful to listen to)

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (worked through it so slowly from february all the way to november, I tried watching the first episode of the show while I was reading it and I got so pissed off at how much the show changed and flattened out characters, especially the women)

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (amazing, showstopping, absolutely love the exploration of gender and sexuality in it along with the constant push and pull between morality and ideas of destiny and grandeur. It's set in China during the time when the Mongols ruled and that's a time period I didn't know much about before reading so it was incredibly interesting to learn about, and I cannot wait to read the sequel)

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (definitely still think Gone Girl was better, but I adore Flynn's writing and how she explores incredibly fucked up women and their relationships)

The Poppy War by RF Kuang (wasn't my favorite, I've heard amazing things about RF Kuang as an author and I really like her writing style, but I know this was her first novel and it definitely feels like a new author kind of book. Loved the worldbuilding and thought it was super fascinating and appreciated the grim and brutal depiction of the realities of war. didn't grip me as much as I wanted it to. very excited to eventually read Babel though)

and then

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (one of my new favorite books ever. literally could talk about it for ages. amazing worldbuilding and a plot that takes you all over this incredibly detailed world, a fantastic cast of characters who are all so nuanced, a very deftly woven plot, gorgeous writing style, lovely wlw romance, just such a great epic high fantasy novel) (it's over 800 pages but didn't feel that long at all it's so easy to get into)

my goal for 2024 is to read at least 20 books which might not seem like much to some people but considering reading 5 books in 2023 was more than I've read in the past 3 years combined I think it's a pretty fair goal. probably will ramble about my to read list here soon, I've already started reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which I'm really enjoying so far. as always I love Suzanne Collins' writing style :)

[indigo-creates-chaos]

Hey there! It seems as though at least a few people are seeing my posts. Considering that this is the only social media where I'm actively posting, I thought I should write a little introduction!

You can call me Indigo. I'm almost 20 years old as of posting this. I'm aromantic and asexual, my gender is still to be determined. My pronouns are they/any, which basically means that any pronouns (including neos) are fair game as long as you throw in a "they" every once in a while.

(This is long so I'll cut it here)

If you've seen my posts you'll know that I enjoy yelling about mcyt stuff, specifically about fable smp. I'm also following smps like bound smp, mer smp, siege smp, craft smp, EoD, Hermitcraft and occasionally the life series though.

I'm also an enjoyer of fictional languages/writing systems. I learned Ender back in the day and I wanna at least write down Telchin, Enchantment table, Quixian and Luxtent to name a few. There's a bunch of others that I wanna write down too, with the goal of having a key for a bunch of them in the same place eventually. I'm so normal about languages guys ^^

I also enjoy reading. I have a lot of books and will gladly give book suggestions if anyone asks me. I mostly read fantasy and science fiction books, ideally without a prominent romance aspect. I also read what might be considered murder mysteries? That's probably not what the genre is called, but you get my point. I've read thinks like a "a good girls guide to murder", "Dune", the aurora cycles, most of the grishaverse books "the priory of the orange tree" and "the sunbearer trials". This isn't a complete list by any means, if i wrote a complete list this would be way too long.

I also enjoy watching crafting content on YouTube. It's really fun to watch other people make stuff! I mostly watch people who make cosplays or just regular clothes, but there's some diorama/sculpture makers in there too.

If you've been here for a while, you've seen the posts about the beginnings of my technoblade cosplay journey. That is still a project I really want to make and it's the reason I started posting here in the first place. I am going to finish it at some point, I don't know when yet though. I'll still post updates here if I work on it.

I likely won't post here all too often, it'll mostly happen if I've got more mcyt theories or other fandom related stuff that I need to yell into the void to get them out of my head. Other than that it'll be reblogs of stuff for the most part. I am working on a tagging system but it's not done yet (:

Well then, that's the introduction! I didn't expect it to get this long lol, but that goes for all of my posts. As always, thank you for reading and have a nice rest of your [timezone]!

[friedmagazineprincess]

"Pride, is a very common failing; I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." -Pride & Prejudice, ch. 5

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Of the first six chapters I've read thus far of Pride and Prejudice, this is, by far, the best quote I've read. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book to read other than I didn't want to read Priory of the Orange Tree for school and that my best friends favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. But the beginning is not what I had in mind. And why is a married couple referring to each other with "Mr." and "Mrs." ? Aren't yall married? Shouldn't you call your own spouse by their first name or a term of endearment? And the way they speak is painstaking. As much as I love historical fiction and reading it, it really irks me, ironically enough. Though I do love the scenes and the wardrobe and the silly rules they have to follow.

It'll probably pick up as the book progresses but at the current moment there's not enough action to keep me entertained. I'm writing this at a Panera with my friend Maggie, and we had a discussion earlier about the types of books we like to read. I prefer fantasy with kids who have to save the world and go on crazy life threatening quests while Maggie like to read philosophical books about government and society to question why societies society and why the government governments and I told her I don't like to read those I'd rather watch them because me personally that's how I think about them deeply.

But yeah I'm gonna continue reading and see what all the hype about the book is about. Also since it's my first read I'm bound to be confused a bit until everything clicks later on + when I eventually re-read it already knowing the characters and the story so I have knowledge to guide me then.

[createddoom]

Quotes I think fit au!aimsey or something (because really I just really wanna talk about quotes I like)

So first one:

"The life you live, the hate you feel—it’s poison. I can drink it no longer." - Six Of Crows, Leigh Bardugo.

First things first, this is one of my favourite scenes in the entire book. I love Matthias in this scene and this line makes it just even better. It is such an important moment in his character arc (which is amazing). I imagine this line sort of around the time au!aimsey ran away from the demons and stuff. Star was always too human for the demons, but not human enough for the humans. But the thing is it wasn't really like he could go anywhere else, but eventually, they did decide to step away. It's why I think this life fits because at one point au!aimsey must have made the decision as to who they would follow. Themselves or their family. (psst, I did write an au!aimsey fanfic inspired by this line if you want to read it the link is here)

Second:

“When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.” - Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

Okay so maybe I just wanted to talk about this quote because I really like it without really having a character in mind, but I think it can fit o!aimsey. So, hear me out. Although it doesn't really make sense, I don't mean this quote literally. The quote very much applies to Kaz's character, but if you look at the quote without specifically looking at the words monster and monstrous, you can also see it as you don't need to prove a point that's already proven, you are wasting your time. It is why I like the quote so much. But it is still not really how I think it applies to o!aimsey. o!Aimsey is constantly boasting about all the famous people she knows and how important end is. It s like they are trying to convince everyone that they are important without realising that no one has said that she doesn't matter. She feels the need to prove herself, even though no one has asked her to. He is wasting his time proving a point that doesn't need to be.

Since I have done o!aimsey and au! aimsey now it is only right I do c!aimsey as well, but please keep in mind that I don't think I know c!aimsey that well. The majority of what I know is from aimsey talking about them on stream. Anyway:

“You wear so much armour by daylight that, by night, you can carry it no longer. By night, you are only flesh. And even the flesh of a queen is prone to fear." - The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon. (This quote had a second part but I wanna talk about the first part)

Now, replace the word queen with knight. From my not-very-expansive knowledge of c!aimsey she really wants to protect others by being the town's knight and tries for everyone to be happy. But because of this people assume she is always happy and that they are naive, when really they have gone through so much, but struggle to put themselves first especially after it goes very wrong if they do decide to do that. (Don't know how well this is explained I just like the quote)

Last minute addition of an au!sunshipduo thingy of these:

“Does darkness not follow light, and light follow darkness, neither one truly ahead of the other?” - Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Ngan

It is quite simple, they balance each other out. au!aimsey is chaotic, doesn't try to help or appeal to anyone around them, the darkness (in this quote at least). au!guqqie just wants everyone to be happy, ze wants safety, the light. It creates a balance between the two. au!guqqie will calm au!aimsey down so they don't do anything too stupid. au!aimsey pushes au!guqqie to also just be a bit chaotic every now and then.

[hollow-lime-green]

Ok, I have now finished Circe. I'd give it like an 8.5/10. The writing is very nice, and I enjoyed the journey. I didn't love the ending, but I understood the arc and the point of it. Overall, I still prefer TSoA, but this was a nice read and it's opened me up more to single character studies. I never got over Daedalus either, Circe.

One of my friends described it as "a slice of life - the life of a goddess, but still slice of life", which I think is a good summary of what I do and don't like about it. Personally, I can't do slice of life anime because I find it just so so uninteresting so much of the time. But past that, slice of life can sometimes feel directionless in an unsatisfying way to me. It's all "journey before destination" this and "stop and smell the roses" that, but I like stakes and looming plot points - sorry! I know I'm a little too Type A for my own good lol. But there are writers who are capable of making me truly enjoy a journey, and Miller is one of them.

Next book is The Left Hand of Darkness. I'm super picky with sci fi, and I generally do not enjoy it in text (love it in video games and shows though), but I want to know The Reference, so I will push through.

Alongside that, I may also start Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. Someone on Twitter hooked me by describing it with "you will want to puke like, at least once" - how can I say no to that?

Looming (literally) on my bookshelf is Priory of the Orange Tree, which I will eventually read after I gain the 10 lbs of muscle needed to lift that monstrosity. The space in the margins offend me - it didn't need to be that big! I have read 3/4 of The Stormlight Archives (still working RoW... it's a slog) - I KNOW Priory did not need to be printed that big.

how are you liking circe so far? its been on my list for such a long time

Really enjoying it so far! I'm about halfway in. I previously read TSOA, so I thought I might like the writing style, and I do! I kind of have shipper brainrot where it can be hard for me to get into character-driven stories if there's not interesting relationships for me to latch onto. But one of my goals with reading more is to fix that and appreciate other genres lol! Circe has been doing a great job with that - she's a compelling character, the world is neat (I am vaguely familiar with but not a massive nerd about Greek myth, although I was in the Hades fandom for a minute), and the writing is melodic. No complaints yet!

[qqueenofhades]

Overall I liked priory of the orange tree, but there were definitely storylines I liked more than others. It’s been quite a while since I read it, but I remember not really caring one way or another about the one main guy that much and I really did not care about the doctor guy. Do you like sci fi books?

I do like sci-fi overall, though I can tend to be selective about it. For example, I adore space operas with all my heart, and that genre alone can cover a multitude of sins, but sometimes the writing or world-building or character work isn't quite good enough to hold up the grand theoretical concepts that the author wants to explore otherwise, especially when they're getting really abstract or philosophical. I did enjoy the entire Expanse series enough to read all eight very long books (or nine, can't remember, but yes, a lot of them). I liked some of them more than others, but overall, yes.

In the same genre, I've also quite liked Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, and some others I can't remember now. I had high hopes for A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White, but it wasn't quite as engaging as it tried to be, though I did finish it. Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shards of Earth was likewise in the enjoyable-enough-to-finish category, and I might check out the next one in the series. (He's also written some well-regarded other stuff that I may or may not look into.) I also read Dune for the first time this year, which, while it wasn't totally groundbreaking for a reader in 2022, you can definitely see why it revolutionized the sci-fi game in the 1960s. I've also been recommended Becky Chambers' A Long Way Down to A Small Angry Planet (I think that's the title) which I will get around to checking out eventually.

Anyway, yes, I do like the genre, I'm willing to test out most of what looks interesting, and I always enjoy the way you can explore big themes of eternity, time, space, death, and humanity's ultimate purpose (see why Interstellar makes me cry so damn much). But yeah, sometimes authors think that a fancy or complicated setting alone will make it interesting, and I always like them to do a little more.

[moghedien]

Could you recommend some adult sff? Love your blog btw!

Thank you! 

And ok, I could give you better personalized recs if you give me some idea of what you’re looking for or what you like, but I’m gonna give you some general recommendations. Also I only really feel comfortable recommending books that I have personally read, and there are tons more out there than what I have read. If you want to find more, looking at recent Hugo nominations over the past few years might be helpful. Also one of the reasons why I know anything at all about the SFF world is that I’ve been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast for like, a decade. I never really mention that podcast, but its literally why I started reading at all and also they have a pretty active goodreads group as well. 

So recommendations: 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: 

This is one of my favorite books period. This is a far future space opera about an artificial intelligence who used to be a spaceship and now is only one human body, and she is ANGRY ABOUT that. I don’t really want to say more than that, but if you like AI shenanigans and being sorta confused as to what is going on the entire time, then this is the book for you! It’s the first book in a completed trilogy.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: 

Obviously I’m gonna recommend the Wheel of Time. This is the first book in a 14 (actually 15) book series and if you need something to do with the next 1-5 years of your life *motions toward EoTW*. 

So the Eye of the World, I think is uniquely good as a book if you kinda want to get into adult fantasy for a few reasons. For one thing, its kinda considered to be one of those “classics” of the genre but its not too old to be offputting to some readers. It’s a 30 year old book, so its not reflective of the genre now, but you can definitely see its influence all the place, even outside of just books. The Eye of the World specifically, also goes out of its way to make readers comfortable. It leans heavy on Tolkien references and tropes at first without being a straight up copy of Lord of the Rings like some classic fantasy books are. Its done very purposefully, in my opinion, to make the reader feel like they have some idea of what’s going on, and the series quickly drops the Tolkien references as soon as its established itself enough. 

Also the Gandalf parallel for the series is a smol bi lady and there is 24 year old rage healer who wants to fight everyone with her own two fists.So many women to stan. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of the Expanse, which is a nearish future space opera that takes place in our solar system. Mars has long ago been colonized and is a completely separate government entity than Earth, and conflict between the two planets has been stirring. The Asteroid Belt has also been colonized and have long been little more than tools of corporations that run their colonies. A group of ice haulers working in the outer planets get in the middle of one of the biggest secrets in the solar system and find themselves in all kinds of trouble. 

I don’t really want to say more than this, but this is probably the only SF series that I actively keep up on when a new book comes out. There are 8 books our currently, and the 9th and final book will be out sometime in the near future. There are also several short stories and novellas set in the world, and there’s a TV show that I really like though I need to catch up on it. 

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Hello, this book comes with content warnings for literally everything, but it is such a good book/trilogy. This is book about a woman trying to find her daughter again in the middle of the apocalypse. Definitely a heavy read but absolutely brilliant. The world has a magic system based on geology and the people that can use that magic....saying they’re discriminated against is an understatement. I don’t want to say much more about it, but if you have any kind of content you can’t read for whatever reason, I’d check before picking this up. This is the first book in a completed trilogy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

So this isn’t really super SF heavy and is actually sold as a literary book, but it takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out a large portion of the population...so maybe this is a bad time to read this book, OR its the best time to read it. Depends on how you’re dealing with *motions at the world*

The book flashes back to before and during the pandemic a lot, but is largely about art’s importance and is actually quite optimistic in its messaging, and this is another of my favorite books ever. But yeah, might be a bad time for you to read it of you can’t deal with the content now. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

I just remembered that this book also has a plague, but its a subplot and not the major thing. So this is a big ol’ chonky standalone book that is high fantasy, deals with multiple cultures having to interact and work together, and has dragons. Also there’s a genunine slow burn f/f romance and *chef’s kiss*. I can’t really say much else, mostly because I struggle to explain this book, but its very good and probably my favorite book from last year. 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 

In this house we stan Mary Robinette Kowal, ok? 

So this is a science fiction that is more an alternate history that poses the question, hey, what would have happened if an asteroid slammed into the east coast in 1952 and the world had to scramble to colonize Mars so that everyone didn’t die on earth when the climate got catastrophic, because that’s the inciting action of the book. The main character is a Jewish woman who was a WASP pilot in WW2 and is a computer for the space program when all this happens. The book deals with sexism, and racism, and xenophobia, and all the social issues that are gonna come up with it being set in 1952, but Mary Robinette doesn’t flinch away from addressing social issues in any of her books, even when it makes her main characters look bad. (Also if you like Pride and Prejudice, she has a series that is just Pride and Prejudice with magic and like, yeah, its good). 

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This is a book which poses a question, what if dragons were like weird animals that were real and an eccentric woman spent her entire life traveling the world to study them and then told the stories of that in her memoirs when she was too old to care about the consequences of publishing all her scandals. That’s what the book is about. This one is probably actually the weakest in the series, just because it deals with so much set up. It’s a great series to get on audio because Kate Reading is a fantastic narrator, and the prose works so well as audio, because it’s just someone telling you her life story. There are five books in the series. 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

So this is a novella and is the first in the murderbot series. Basically a killer robot gets addicted to television shows and accidentally became sentient. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I really need to reread this one and get to the others. 

Jade City by Fonda Lee

This is a fantasy set in world sorta inspired by the early 1900s but is in a fantasy world. It’s like a mafia movie and kung fu movie had a baby and it was this book. The sequel is out currently, but the third book is set to release next year.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon 

This is another heavy read. This is a SF story set on a generation ship that has a society very heavily inspired by the antebellum south. There’s class issues, race issues, gender issues, mental health issues. All kinds of things intersecting here. Its fantastic, but a heavy read.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is another fantasy classic, and is the first of the Farseer Trilogy. The title is sort of also a description of the book, so like. I’m not sure what else I can say. I haven’t read further into the series, but people I trust love it, and honestly I need to reread this and read more of the books. 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

So if you think that Station Eleven might be a bad book to read at the time, then this is THE WORST POSSIBLE BOOK TO READ RIGHT NOW. Or, maybe the best. Depends on how you cope. This is a book about time travelers based in Oxford and the main character accidentally gets stranded in the past right as the Black Plague is about to hit. And it hits. The book is horrific. The second book in the series is much funnier. This one ain’t funny, but is good. Just, oof. 

Mistborn or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So if you want to get into the Cosmere, which is a series of series that interconnect and will ruin your life, then then my personal opinion is to either start with Mistborn or Warbreaker. People might not agree with me, but that’s my personal opinion. 

Warbreaker is currently a standalone (a sequel will come out eventually but its not set up for a sequel so you can 100% read it as a standalone). The magic in this world is based on colors, and the story revolves around two sisters. One of them is betrothed to the horrific God King of their neighboring kingdom. The other sister ends up being sent in her place because their dad hates her. I adore Warbreaker so much. It has it all. Two women discovering their true places on the prep/goth spectrum. Talking swords. Vivenna. Everything you can need right there. 

Mistborn is a trilogy that is very emo and will ruin you. Its about people who swallow metal to get magic powers and live in world where the dark lord won already, so they’re all emo. And that was the worst description of Mistborn I ever could have written, but I find it too funny to change. 

So if you’re interested in the Cosmere, but are afraid to commit long term, pick up Warbreaker. If you want to get into a series right away, pick up Mistborn. 

[write-the-stars-and-shadows]

Tag Game Thingy

Okay, so @ink-fireplace-coffee tagged me in this ages ago, and I’m only now getting to it, thank you and I’m sorry Carmen. 

Rules: tag 9 people you would like to know/catch up with

Last Song: Ashes performed by The Longest Johns

Last Movie: A Silent Voice, which is an animated movie by Kyoto Animations and it’s *so* sad, but honestly I’m not sure I liked it? I mean it was beautiful and moving, and I liked the theme of making amends for past wrongs and changing and growing and being better and opening yourself to the world/people, but some of the characters who were redeemed I don’t think should have been, at least not with Shoko herself.

Currently Watching: uh, nothing. Eventually I’ll finish FMA: Brotherhood, but I’m not what you’d call currently watching it, more I’ve taken an extended break with plans to pick back up at some point (listen I just can’t stand Ling, I got through one episode with him and then stopped watching for a year). I’ll definitely be watching/listening to Critical Role when they come back from winter break, though.

Currently Reading: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The World of Critical Role by Liz Marsham and the Cast of Critical Role, The Descent of Monsters by Neon Yang (third in the Tensorate series), and I’m picking away at The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I also have The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow checked out as an ebook from my library and I’m about a third through, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to try and finish it in the three days before I lose it, or wait for my hold on the audiobook to come in and just blast through on 2x speed.

Thanks for the tag Carmen!!! Sorry it took me so long to answer it.

Okay, who to tag?  Uh, let’s do @theelectricfactory @fictional-ghost @littlehenrikehd @bloody-hugs

I hope you guys don’t mind being tagged, no obligations to do this, just if you want to.

Good health and good cheer, friends! <3

[biblionation]

Book Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree

Synopsis:

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

My thoughts:

Aside from Game of Throne, I've never read epic fantasy before and just the sheer size of this book intimidated me. Honestly, it's been years since I read something this big, I had come to think I couldn't read big books (despite reading 800-1000 pages books without a problem once a upon a time). So I was very intimidated to start this.

But my favorite booktuber, Sam from Thoughts on Tomes, announced Tome Topple, which is a readathon to read big books (of more than 500 pages), and I've always wanted to participate. So I challenged myself to read this in 9 days, and guess what? I did! I completed my first big book in a week and I proved to myself that I CAN read big books, I CAN read epic fantasy. I think my fear of big books is slightly related to the need to complete the stupid Goodreads reading challenge, and to my notion that I, not only have to complete that challenge, but read 100 books for it.

So, getting into the book, I really enjoyed this story! It was VERY complex, with so many characters and POVs that, at first didn't seem connected, but little by little, their paths started to converge into this epic quest to stop the Nameless One. My favorite characters were Loth and Tané, so those were my favorite chapters, Tané for obvious reasons (DRAGONS!), and Loth because he's such a pure cinnamon roll who must be protected at all cost.

But, I did like Ead's chapters, she's obviously the protagonist so the most interesting plotlines revolved around her. I wish there were more dragons, the book focused a lot on the political aspect and the quests to defeat the Nameless One, and it didn't delve deeper in the dragon side of the story, obviously they're explained and mentioned a lot, but, come on! I wanted epic dragon rides and battles, and I feel like we didn't get enough of those.

The world-building was crazy sometimes, there were so many places, characters, history and legends, it was hard to keep up, but eventually, I started making sense of the gigantic puzzle Samantha Shannon had built. Hats off to the author, because this is massive and I can only imagine what it meant to research, create, and write this incredible world and epic story.

This book is astounding in its diversity and feminism, I've heard older epic fantasy is not very inclusive. But this book truly has it all in terms of representation: there are so many people of color in this story, so much LGTBQA representation, and the amount of female power is HUGE.

This book is 100% focused on the women, their struggles, their power, their strength, their vulnerability, the friendship, loyalty and love between them. I loved how it's completely unquestioned to see all these women in positions of power: Sabran as a queen, the incredible warriors of the Priory, Tané as a dragonrider, even the antagonists, Kalyba and the Golden Empress, are far more powerful than the Nameless One and far more developed. Even Loth is often saying he wished his sister Meg had been the heir, because she's far more capable than he is. (But I still adore Loth and Chassar, they're not threatened by the strength of the women around them, they're respectful and devoted to them and I LOVE IT!).

Overall, I'm very happy to have read this, not only for the amazing story, but because now I want to read ALL the fantasy (something I haven't felt in quite a long time), and because now I see that this stupid Goodreads challenge doesn't actually mean anything and I don't HAVE to read 100 books a year.

Rating: 4.5 stars

[vanimeldes]

Hey, I saw you reblogged a post that Samantha Shannon made about consent, and I saw in the tags that you dislike her most of the time. I was just wondering why that is?

Potential spoilers for The Priory of the Orange Tree

Check the #anti sjw tag my main blog (@marta-elentari), I think you'll find more posts when I discuss her and the attitude of the likes of her. She represents what I hate in what I dub the angry SJWs/radfems. To be more specific, I find many of her messages very toxic. She basically makes huge points about how great she is because she chooses to be single and this is absolutely awesome and laudable, in this society which still forces women on traditional gender roles and sidelines those who don't conform to those roles. On the other hand, I find her takes on women who are in a relationship very very toxic. A woman who chooses to be single is great. A woman who wants to have a husband and a family is also great. Wanting a partner to love, respect and support you doesn't strip you of self-respect or independence. This very wrong IMO view of hers is more evident in her book, The Priory of the Orange Tree (which, overall, I really liked), where Sabran feels like she will be worthless after she will have given birth to her child (she miscarries, eventually). And, I am sorry, but this is such a sick idea. What mother thinks this way about her future child (I'm not including here women who get pregnant as a result of a rape — may God protect us from such a tragedy! — which isn't the case). I felt so....disgusted reading this because I really want a husband and children and nowhere in the world should women be told the message that they will somehow be less worth or capable after they become mothers (I really advise you to check the tag, I screenshotted a GR review that conveyed every thoughs I could possible have on her and her book). I found the post and I add the screenshots, so you don't have to spend too much time scrolling if you don't want to see my other posts on this matter:

Moreover, by making this implicit statement that a woman is more than a mother, she ironically views women and female characters through those very same rigid, patriarchal lenses, only worse: a woman cannot be wife & mother and also strong & independent in the same time, and only single women can be strong & independent. In other words, never fall in love, never marry (a man), never have children because these things and you having a career and be financially and psychologically independent don't go hand in hand.

What is more, she really says some reaaally dumb shit from time to time. A couple of months ago, she complained that "Romance languages are sexist" because they use the male plural pronoun for a mixed group of males and females and I was honestly astounded. More than that, she said she was going to write whatever in French and alter the French language so that a mixed group which consists in more females than males goes by the female plural pronoun. Like...are we altering the languages now???? My native language is also a Romance language and...this is how we speak, lol. If the Academy of the Romanian/French/Italian/Portuguese/Spanish/Italian language decides to use the female plural pronoun for the mixed group with more female, okay, but let's not confuse readers because Karen Someone Smith from Somewhere wants to satisfy her radfem agenda even though this world is so very Angloamerican-centric, you still can't consider yourself entitled to criticise languages now.

If you follow me on my main blog, you probably know my views on this third wave feminism in general, but I tried to offer you a big picture and be as concise as I could.

[beautifulpaxielreads]

June Wrap Up

Books completed (ratings out of five stars)

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) by Neal Shusterman (★★★★)

The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman (★★★1/2)

Green Valentine by Lili Wilkinson* (★★★★)

Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman (★★★1/2)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (★★★★)

Books currently in progress

Saga Land by Richard Fidler* and Kári Gíslason*

Thorn by Intisar Khanani

*Australian author

Challenges, Games, and other Booklr interactions

Posted a photograph of Onyx & Ivory (Rime Chronicles #1) by Mindee Arnett for @myownlittlebookcorner’s monthly Shelf-Confidence Book Photography Challenge (June 10th)

Good Reads/Storygraph 2020 Reading Challenge: 31 books out of 70. I’m a bit behind!

Finished 1 book on my backlist, unofficially as part of @bookbandit​’s Beat the Backlist challenge

Original Posts on Tumblr

Posted photograph of my copy of The Priory of the Orange Tree to celebrate my completion of it (June 26th)

Posted quote by Samantha Shannon about libraries (June 26th)

Posted update of my initial experience using Storygraph (June 24th)

Posted a notice regarding the creation of my new user account on Storygraph (June 18th)

Posted a photograph of my then-current library haul (June 2nd)

Reflections on June’s Reading Goals

I finished The Priory of the Orange Tree! I know I said I was going to take my time over it, but the last 200 pages or so set such a cracking pace that I had no choice but to read it to the end. I’m proud of myself for finishing this one, more so than anything else I’ve read so far this year.

Finished Harley in the Sky and Green Valentine. I DNF’d Onyx & Ivory in the end because I felt the plot was too familiar and was riddled with cliched tropes. Or maybe the Throne of Glass series ruined me for books of this nature.

Still did not start any e-books, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I’m going to get to them anytime soon. I still prefer the feel of physical books. But the e-books aren’t going away so I will get to them. Eventually.

Finished The Toll. Overall I enjoyed it, although I felt like it was a bit long, and the ending felt rushed. I also feel like the villain of the story did not get a satisfying comeuppance for all his acts of evil. I think Shusterman perhaps tried to cram too many ideas into this one, and it confirmed what I’d initially thought about these books – the romance did not need to be there!

Didn’t reread The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but TBH I pretty much expected that. My heart isn’t ready yet!

Not as much Booklr interaction this month – but I think it’s always going to be a bit up and down, so I’m not TOO worried. Yet.

Still behind on my reading goal for 2020. I’m getting there though!

Started Saga Land (see above). I’m finding it a little difficult to get into fully, but I’m going to persevere with it for now. I suspect it’s one of those books that works well if you read it slowly, so that’s what I plan to do.

No more moodboards for now. I’m not so motivated to do them, especially as the first one I did received literally no attention.

As for reading authors of colour, see my notes under “Interesting observations” and “reading goals for July”.

New followers

66 FOLLOWERS! HOLY -! I have no words. Seriously, you are all amazing.

On a side note, I’m now less than 70 followers away from reaching that big old 1K mark. Think I can get there?

Interesting observations

I signed up for Storygraph this month. I read raves on Tumblr about how good it was (especially as compared with Good Reads), so I decided to give it a go. It’s got some neat features and I’m looking forward to seeing what the developers bring to it in the future. I’m keeping my Good Reads account for now, mainly because it lets me update my progress which Storygraph doesn’t yet (although here’s hoping they’ll do it in future).

The Black Lives Matter movement had a definite (and positive impact) on my reading and book blogging this month. For the time being, I’ve decided to focus on reading books specifically by Indigenous Australian authors because I want to relate to the BLM movement as it exists here. I plan to read more books by non-Australian authors of colour in the future for sure though!

Reading (and reading-related) Goals for July

Read more books by authors of colour, particularly those by Indigenous Australians. I just finished (as of July 1st) Catching Teller Crow but I also have Growing Up Aboriginal (edited by Anita Heiss), The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (The Tribe #1) by Ambelin Kwaymullina, and Grace Beside Me by Sue McPherson on my TBR shelf.

Finish my current reads, Saga Land and Thorn.

Make a start on the other books on my TBR shelf (besides  the ones I mentioned in my first point on this list): The Midnight Lie (The Midnight Lie #1) by Marie Rutkoski, Dark of the West (Glass Alliance #1) by Joanna Hathaway, Caesar’s Women (Masters of Rome #4) by Colleen McCullough, and Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr.

Participate in more book photography challenges – I felt this month was a bit lacking.

Catch up with my goal of reading 70 books in 2020 – I’m up to 32, so I want to reach at least the halfway point this month (I’ve been a bit behind lately).

I think I have a habit of setting myself too many goals with my reading and end up falling short, so this is where I’ll leave things for now. Hopefully, these July goals will be a bit more manageable.

See you all in August for my July wrap-up!

[nausikaaa]

Top 10 Books Of 2020

Thanks for tagging me @lotus-of-light! I’ve been wanting to do this, and i have a whole shelf of TBR books, so this might motivate me to read them!

There Is A Light by @basic-banshee i have the PDF of this and will buy the book when it comes out in paper. I’m one chapter in and so far i love it! it’s very scottish and pretty gay, what’s not to love?

Girls Of Paper And Fire by Natasha Ngan this has been on by TBR list for a while. i want to read more wlw stories and this was on a list of good ones.

The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon i got this for christmas and tried to make a start on it, but got as far as the maps in the front and felt a bit overwhelmed. it’s SO. LONG. i’ll get to it eventually, but it’s going to take some time. anyway, there’s dragons and kingdoms and lesbians i think, and it looks like lots of high fantasy stuff, which is always fun.

Loveless by Alice Oseman more wlw, this hasn’t been released yet but i’ll be buying it as soon as it is. it looks good from what i’ve seen.

Nick And Charlie by Alice Oseman once again this hasn’t been released yet, but i already know i’ll love it because i already love the author and the characters.

Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo i’ve heard good things about this online and the description sounds fun, so i want to give it a read.

Otherbound by Corrine Duyvis i got this for christmas and am a little way into it, and it’s really good, but i haven’t worked up the motivation to keep reading yet. it’s fantasy and apparently there’s lgbt characters, though i’m not far enough into it to tell who.

Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli once again i’m a little ways into this, and know i will love it, but just need to put in the time and effort. i ADORED Simon vs The Homosapien’s Agenda so there’s really no reason for me to be putting this off.

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone another book i got for christmas and started reading but then forgot about. i seem to have this problem a lot. i actually fell asleep reading this on christmas, so i don’t remember exactly that it’s about, but i think there’s time travelling gays who are enemies which, i assume, will turn to lovers.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman a friend suggested this to me a year ago and it’s still just sitting on my shelf, untouched. i have no clue whatsoever what it’s about aside from the fact that Odin is in it, but i liked Good Omens so hopefully i’ll like this too...

I tag @justasfacelessasever (who had better have Gentleman’s Guide on this list, i lent you that damn book in JANUARY LAST YEAR) and also @flintandfuss and @paintedmoths- i’m not sure if you read much, but you’re both in my notifications a lot, so here you go.

[sampagnereads]

Hi, lovelies! In July 2019, I’ll be hosting my first ever readathon, which is the DND Readathon, Race Edition! Basically, an edition of this readathon will take place about every two months (they won’t all be one-month long, though), and the main goal is to build up a DND character based on knowledge that can be found in the Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook! If you don’t have access to that, though, this website has a lot of information about DND that can be helpful. For more information on the readathon itself, I recommend following its twitter account right here! And just in case, here’s the thread that explains everything, and to which information will be slowly added throughout the month of June!

Basically, for this readathon, you need to complete all three challenges associated to a race for your character to be part of that race. You can try to complete as many challenges as possible, though, so that you have more options. Plus, if you read at least one book for a race, you’ll have an advantage when it comes to choosing your companions’ races! But, yes! Enough explaining! Let’s talk about my TBR now! I’m going to try to complete four races altogether, which are dragonborn, gnome, half-orc and tiefling! I’ll also be doing my best to read at least one book for all the other races. And so, below the cut, you can find all that I plan on reading for the readathon during the month of July!

DRAGONBORN

INVOLVES DRAGONS.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Shatter the Sky, by Rebecca Kim Wells. To put this summary really simply, it’s about a girl who plans on stealing one of the empire’s dragons to save her girlfriend, and basically, it sounds right up my alley. I was lucky enough to receive an eArc of it through Netgalley, and I honestly cannot wait to get to it. Obviously, there are dragons, or at least one dragon in this story, and so it fits perfectly for this challenge!

RECOMMENDED BY A PARENT/GUARDIAN/MENTOR.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Le Roi de fer, by Maurice Druon. This is called The Iron King in English, and is the first book in Les Rois maudits series (The Accursed Kings). It’s about a line of kings descending from a king who killed templars, and on whose family was placed a curse by one of those templars. It’s historical fiction, very much romanticized, and I’m oh so excited to read it. My mother has been trying to get me to read it for years now, and I’m so excited for us to be able to talk about it together. 

BUDDY-READ.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Girls With Sharp Sticks, by Suzanne Young. This is a book about girls who go to this academy where they’re taught to be docile, obedient, and not have any opinions of their own, until one day they realize there’s more going on than they had originally realized. As for the buddy-read, I’ll be buddy-reading this book with two of my favourite people, aka Sage ( sageshelves ) and Kat ( stardustreviews )! 

DWARF

FOIL ON THE COVER. 

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Mirage, by Somaiya Daud. This is a moroccan-inspired sci-fi fantasy about a girl who’s forced to become the body double of a princess who’s very much so hated by her subjects. Problem is, the main character starts to get used to life at court. This has foil both on the dusk jacket and underneath it (as I have the Owlcrate exclusive edition), so I think it’s a perfect fit for this challenge!

ELF

UNDER 200 PAGES.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Giant Days, Vol. 5, by John Allison & more. This comic series follows three young women who became fast friends in university, and I’ve been loving it so far. It’s a lot more interesting than the premise leads you to believe, and I cannot wait to get to the fifth volume! It’s only 112 pages, too, so that works perfectly for this challenge!

GNOME

BRIGHT COVER.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Prince Charming, by Rachel Hawkins. This follows an american teenage girl whose older sister is marrying the fictional prince of England, and who has a temperament that could lead her into some trouble, hence why the crown appoints a guy to help her like, chill! I don’t know if everyone would consider this cover to be bright, but I do, so! Yes!

5-STAR PREDICTION. 

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Captain Marvel, Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis, by Kelly Sue DeConnick & David López. This is the last volume in this particular run of Captain Marvel, who’s a superhero who mostly helps out in space. She’s my favourite superhero, and though I have given the first two volumes only four stars, I have a feeling like the third volume will get a higher rating than that!

CALLED UNDERHYPED AND/OR UNDERRATED. 

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Wild Savage Stars, by Kristina Pérez. This is the sequel to Sweet Black Waves, which is a retelling of Tristan and Iseult told through Branwen’s perspective, who happens to be Iseult’s lady in waiting, cousin and best friend. The first book is my favour of all time, and it is way too underhyped, in my opinion. I was lucky enough to get an arc of the second book, Wild Savage Stars, and so I’ll be reading it in July!

HALF-ELF

ONLY ONE POV. 

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling. It is definitely at least 99% told from one POV, so it definitely counts. I’ve decided to re-read the Harry Potter books physically this year, and so I’m planning on reading two of them in July! One of which you’ll hear about a bit later on in this list. 

HALF-ORC

THAT ISN’T IN PRISTINE CONDITION. 

For this challenge, I’ll be reading The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi. This is an adult sci-fi novel about three people who are trying to salvage what they can from an empire on the brink of collapse. It comes highly recommended, and I cannot wait to get to it. It fits this challenge due to the fact that there’s a tear in the hardcover; I got it from BookOutlet and so I didn’t fuss about it, which worked out well for me since I can now use it for this challenge!

WITH A MORALLY GREY PROTAGONIST.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Sadie, by Courtney Summers. It’s a book about a girl who sets out on a revenge quest after her younger sister has been killed, and a podcast that talks about her and what happened. I heard a few people describe the main character of this book as morally grey, considering what she’s doing, and so I’ll be counting it for this challenge!

OVER 500 PAGES.

For this challenge, I’m either going to read Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon OR A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin. Both are well over 500 pages long, and I know I’ll go for one of the two for this challenge. I’m currently reading A Game of Thrones, and so I feel like I might want to read the sequel next month, but also, I’m super excited for Priory, so! We’ll see!

HALFLING

WITH A POV THAT DIFFERS FROM YOUR OWN. 

For this challenge, I’m going to be reading Blanca & Roja, by Anna-Marie McLemore. This follows latinx characters, and as I’m not latinx myself, it works perfectly for this challenge! Basically, this book follows two sisters who come from a family where, out of every two girls born to a woman, one will eventually be turned into a swan. Anna-Marie McLemore’s one of my favourite authors of all time, and I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet!

HUMAN

BORROWED AT THE LIBRARY.

This might change depending on whether or not it’s available at the library, but if it is, I’ll be borrowing I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 2: Fluff My Life for this challenge. This is an adult comic that will also work for The Book Junkie Trials, a readathon I’m also reading in July and for which I’ll post a tbr asap!

TIEFLING

BANNED BOOK.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter is one of the most banned series in the world, and so I feel like it will work perfectly for this challenge! I’m not reading the first book in July, though, because I read it just a few months ago. However, I am counting this as the start of my physical re-read of Harry Potter in English! 

FOLLOWS A HUMANOID (BUT NOT FULLY HUMAN) CHARACTER.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading Unnatural, Vol. 1: Awakening, by Mirka Andolfo. I’m not exactly sure what this is about, as I think it’s nice to go into some comics without knowing too much, but I do know that it follows a pig girl, and therefore a humanoid, but not fully human character, which is perfect for this challenge!

RECOMMENDED TO YOU BY SOMEONE YOU TRUST.

For this challenge, I’ll be reading La Reine étranglée (The Strangled Queen in English), by Maurice Druon. This is the second book in Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings in English), a series of historical fiction novels that are heavily romanticized. It comes highly recommended from my mother, and as I’m already reading the first book of this series for the readathon, and I’ve heard that I’ll want to continue straight away, I decided to add this book to July’s tbr!

[themelodyofspring]

I Should Have Read That

Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post

Link to the creator’s blog (booksnest.co.uk) in your post

Answer the questions below

Tag 10 others to take part

ENJOY THE TAG!

Thanks to @flamingmirrorbookish for tagging me :D Post link: Here. I enjoyed this.

A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read: 

There’s nobody around me IRL who reads. Period.  But people on here are always recommending Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik that I really want to read (but want matching hardcovers first).

A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up: 

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons - I own book 1 but there’s so many POVs and the second story creeped me out xD

The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov - Best Sci-Fi, can’t find matching covers because it’s so old :(

A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t finished yet: 

Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman: I’m on book two - Thunderhead, but am not able to get it going even though it’s amazing.

The Stormlight Archive - Book 1: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, because I have the paperback edition (red and white color scheme) and I’m not liking the way the paper looks, and I want to buy the hardcovers but the cost of one book equals two imported hardcovers so I’m stuck! The story’s great though!

A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A popular book that it seems everyone but you has read:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - This is here because I’ve read too many reviews for this and people keep describing the MC as an idiot(?) who makes lots of mistakesss... (spoilers?!) and someone burns down a library!!! I don’t know when I’ll pick this up x_x

A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet:

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett - The TV show isn’t out yet but I wanna read the book before watching it!

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle :D - I’ll get through this eventually

A book you see all over Instagram Tumblr (also don’t have Instagram) but haven’t picked up yet:

The Villains series and Monsters of Verity by V.E. Schwab (ordered!)

Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Tagging: (If you’d like to do) @myownlittlebookcorner, @thefairybookhoarder and I don’t know who all have been tagged so free pass for all.

[glasstownentertainment]

Interview with Mary Watson - #YAGlasstownChats

This week we’d like to welcome Mary Watson, author of The Wren Hunt, to our blog!

What inspired The Wren Hunt?

For a while after moving to Ireland, I was pretty homesick. Eventually I decided I would write a book I could only write here. Writing this book became an act of belonging, a kind of conversation with the landscape and mythology of Ireland. I believe in every day magic, the magic of ordinary things, where enchantment is not so much sparks and smoke, but small and persistent, and I wanted to draw on that.

Your book is set in contemporary Ireland, but ancient traditions are still in play. This is still a kind of world-building, though – what kind of research did you do to create this world? What are your recommendations on bringing magic to our own contemporary world?

I did a lot of research into topics like druids, brehons, augury, Irish folkore and visited dolmens, standing stones, ring forts. Or just walked outside, down in the woods or near the lake to be inspired by the world around me. For me, magic is subtle, like standing down at the bottom of the garden when the sky is tinged with purple and the rooks scream in the rookery and I feel like I’m at the threshold of something. That magic has always been there, but it’s easy to become too distracted to see it.

You’re writing the next book of the series – is there anything you could tell us about it?

The Wickerlight is more a companion book than a sequel, and it picks up two months after the end of The Wren Hunt. It follows the story of Zara who is reeling from a tragedy, and she finds herself increasingly drawn in to the middle of a dangerous feud. It’s a dual POV book.

The Wren Hunt is your first YA book, but not your first book – what is something you have learned along the way that you would like to share with aspiring writers?

I think every book is a learning curve. Everything I write, every deleted paragraph or cut scene is practice and that can only help. My priorities as a reader have changed - before I would have been more interested in books with beautiful sentences and mood, that capture elusive ideas and complex emotions. While a little of that remains, I’m now much more story driven and want to learn as much about this as I can. I think there has to be agreement between one’s reader and writer self: write the books you want to read.

If time stopped, which book would you read over and over again?

When I was eighteen, at university, I discovered a collection of One Thousand and One Nights and it was so utterly magical. I could read that many times.

Which 3 fictional characters would you want to have an adventure with?

Inej from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Elias from An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, and Circe.

Do you want to recommend any books, comic books, podcasts, games, TV shows, anything that you’re enjoying right now?

I am currently reading and loving The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, which will be out next February. I’m listening to the audiobook of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, which is wonderful, and also the podcast West Cork.

My favourite game remains Witcher 3, and I’m looking forward to watching Westworld 2 when it’s out on DVD at the end of the month.

Every Christmas, Wren is chased through the woods near her isolated village by her family's enemies—the Judges—and there’s nothing that she can do to stop it. Once her people, the Augurs, controlled a powerful magic. But now that power lies with the Judges, who are set on destroying her kind for good.

In a desperate bid to save her family, Wren takes a dangerous undercover assignment—as an intern to an influential Judge named Cassa Harkness. Cassa has spent her life researching a transformative spell, which could bring the war between the factions to its absolute end. Caught in a web of deceit, Wren must decide whether or not to gamble on the spell and seal the Augurs’ fate.

This interview was conducted by Diana Sousa, Glasstown Entertainment's graphic designer. She lives in Portugal, where she splits her time between all things design and illustration related, and all sorts of nerdy things. You can bribe her with chocolate, comic books, video games, Dungeons and Dragons shenanigans, and yet more chocolate. And, of course, books.