#Deeplight

[balaenabooks]

It's spooky season so I dug my old Watermill Classics horror anthologies out of my in-laws' basement (I was actually looking for my copy of Deeplight by Frances Hardinge but I couldn't find it 😟).

[howlsmovinglibrary]

*Top 5 Books of 2024!*

2024 can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned, but I had a really good reading year! 63 books (compared to a goodreads goal of 30), 18 5* reads, and only 2 dnfs!

Here are my top 5 books of 2024!...

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

Cosmic horror and eldritch transformation in a post-apocalyptic aquatic fantasy world (...in a YA book).

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

I love villainess isekai and I love Sarah Rees Brennan, this book was written for me <3

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Academic rivals-to-lovers with a faerie prince, another book written specifically for me <3

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry

Fantasy university story that lovingly performs dark academia conventions, about a scholarship student at magic Oxbridge

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

I read a lot of romance this year, but this was my favourite! Katherine Center's first book was hit or miss for me, but the pacing and tension and high stakes of this story were perfect!

Honorable mentions (not pictured)

Feast While You Can and The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley...

[book--brackets]

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber (1950)

The hands of all thirteen clocks stand still in the gloomy castle on a lonely hill where a wicked Duke lives with his niece, the beautiful Princess Saralinda. The Duke fancies he has frozen time, for he is afraid that one day a Prince may come and win away the hand of the Princess—the only warm hand in the castle. To thwart that fate, he sets impossible tasks for Saralinda’s suitors. But when the bold Prince Zorn of Zorna arrives, disguised as a wandering minstrel, and helped by the enigmatic Golux, the cold Duke may at last have met his match.

The Edge Chronicles by John Stewart and Chris Riddell (1998-2019)

Fourteen-year-old Quint Verginix is the only remaining son of famous sky-pirate Wind Jackal. He and his father have journeyed to the city of Sanctaphrax – a great floating rock, bound to the ground below by a chain, its inhabitants living with their heads literally in the clouds.

But the city hides a dangerous secret: deep inside the great rock, something horrible lurks. With his father away, Quint may be the only one who can save Sanctaphrax from the dreaded curse of the gloamglozer . . .

The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba (2018-present)

“No killing Goblins.”

So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].

The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1996)

Half moorfolk and half human, and unable to shape-shift or disappear at will, Moql threatens the safety of the Band. So the Folk banish her and send her to live among humans as a changeling. Named Saaski by the couple for whose real baby she was swapped, she grows up taunted and feared by the villagers for being different, and is comfortable only on the moor, playing strange music on her bagpipes.

As Saaski grows up, memories from her forgotten past with the Folks slowly emerge. But so do emotions from her human side, and she begins to realizethe terrible wrong the Folk have done to the humans she calls Da and Mumma. She is determined to restore their child to them, even if it means a dangerous return to the world that has already rejected her once.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean (2006)

In August 2004 the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, who hold the copyright in Peter Pan, launched a worldwide search for a writer to create a sequel to J. M. Barrie's timeless masterpiece. Renowned and multi award-winning English author Geraldine McCaughrean won the honor to write this official sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet. Illustrated by Scott M. Fischer and set in the 1930s, Peter Pan in Scarlet takes readers flying back to Neverland in an adventure filled with tension, danger, and swashbuckling derring-do

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V. (2022)

Humanity is on the verge of discovering immortality. As a result, the avatar of Death is cast down to Earth to live a mortal life in Mumbai as twenty-something Laila Starr. Struggling with her newfound mortality, Laila has found a way to be placed in the time and place where the creator of immortality will be born. Will Laila take her chance to stop mankind from permanently altering the cycle of life, or will death really become a thing of the past?

Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton (1937-2000)

Once Mollie and Peter have discovered the Wishing-Chair, their lives are full of adventure. It takes them to all sorts of magical places, from the giant's castle where they rescue Chinky the Pixie, to the amazing party at Magician Greatheart's castle.

Die by Kieron Gillan (2018-2020)

DIE is a pitch-black fantasy where a group of forty-something adults have to deal with the returning unearthly horror they barely survived as teenage role-players.

Poison by Chris Wooding (2003)

Poison has always been a willful, contrary girl, prone to being argumentative and stubborn. So when she discovers that her younger sister has been abducted by the phaeries, she decides to seek out the Phaerie Lord to get her back.

But finding the Phaerie Lord is just the start of it. By leaving home, Poison steps into a murderous world of intrigue and danger, where the Lords of the Realm, a sinister pantheon of demigods, are conspiring to overthrow the Hierophant- the most powerful lord of all. For the Hierophant is writing again, and his pen will decide all their fates... including Poison's.

With only her wits and her friends to aid her, Poison must survive the lethal attentions of the Phaerie Lord, rescue her sister, and thwart a plot that could mean the end of her people. What awaits her is beyond anything she can imagine.

Deeplight by Francis Hardinge (2019)

The gods are dead. Decades ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why. But are they really gone forever?

When 15-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of a terrifying deity, he risks everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, military scientists, and a secret fanatical cult so that he can use it to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But with the heart, Jelt gradually and eerily transforms. How long should Hark stay loyal to his friend when he’s becoming a monster—and what is Hark willing to sacrifice to save him?

[the-laws-of-physics-were-harmed]

Why you should read Frances Hardinge's books:

Most of them have little to no romance (I hate amatonormativity)

She is really good with words? Like idk how to explain it but the way she uses them is... idk how to describe it

A lot of her protagonists can be seen as autistic or having ADHD if you autism hard enough /hj

The book covers are always absolutely gorgeous

Some of my story Under a Golden Moon's worldbuilding originated because of Deeplight (I will not elaborate for reasons of Spoilers)

Her social media is full of things like this:

which is just. Relatable.

I occasionally make references to her books. I don't think I've made any here but there's a first time for everything :)

Her worldbuilding is so cool like seriously

The first book of hers I read was A Face Like Glass when I was about eight or so (I think?) I got it for Christmas last year, and it's somehow better than I remember?

She's definitely influenced my writing style a lot because her writing is just ridiculously good???

I think I've read most of her books, if not all

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[grammarpedant]

Ohhh. The gods to their priests are like abusive partners, aren't they. A parallel to Hark's relationship to Jelt.

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[andytheoverthinker]

i am in desperate need of a frances hardinge fandom, please more people need to read those books

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[alwri-tes]

I don’t think Frances Hardinge’s books should ever be made into movies (because no movie could ever come close to capturing their essence) but if they are, they have to be animated

[i-want-my-chirfugging-goose-back]

i drew selphin and hark!!

[howlsmovinglibrary]

...Any codependent besties want to start an eldritch underwater god cult with me? Question our loyalty to each other, while we learn about the cosmic horror underlying our universe... and the burdensome responsibility of carrying that knowledge forward, lest we let it be forgotten?

[gonecartographic]

i think it is absolutely criminal that these wretched harry potter fans can go and find out their patronus or their house but I, a sophisticated frances hardinge reader cannot find out which patron beloved i would be born under!!!!! or which island in the myriad i would live in!!!! WHICH ELDRITCH SEA GOD AM I???????

[aspec-friendly-reading]

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge contains no sexual content and barely any romantic content!

In terms of romantic content, a relatively major side character mentions that he did something because he was in love with a girl, but that's the most detail there is if I remember correctly.

Genre: fantasy and horror. Young adult.

Thank you!

[the-laws-of-physics-were-harmed]

Trying to work out if the dream I had last night is primarily because of Deeplight or Fallen London

Deeplight seems to have had the most influence because I talked to an underwater woman with crab legs and also I was breathing the sea water like it was air (also in the unofficial Frances Hardinge Discord server somebody said, and I quote, "Omg you literally spoke to the hidden lady that's crazy")

But on the other hand I've been playing A LOT of Fallen London recently and I just got a zubmarine a few days ago. And I have been just zailing around everywhere (side note: zailing autocorrected to failing. I have not yet died at zee I am in fact doing remarkably well. Which is weird because Fallen London me is constantly dying because I like to just throw hir into stupid situations and see what happens /hj)

[crow-with-too-many-books]

May Month in Review

Here's May! (A week late as always even though I had it saved before oops)

8 books this month! Read quite a bit. (Only 4 fanfic this month: only a third of a book total so none there.)

Finished of the Life As We Knew It series before I had to fly out of state for family matters so I brought other books for that week. I had gotten Deeplight not too long ago and been wanting to read it but kept putting it off for some reason (there wasn't a reason I had the too many books to read paralysis) Finished that in 2 days and realized I was happy I had downloaded extra books on my phone lol. I did enjoy the story of Deeplight a lot and realized it was by the same author of another book I've read: A Face Like Glass (Frances Hardinge - my header is actually a quote from that book) And thinking back, I feel like the writing is a lot different too.

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher has been on my tbh for a bit and I finally had time to read that. Definitely enjoyed it had some fun moments. (83 year old chosen one)

What Waits In the Water I picked up before Addie LaRue because I had too much time to read (not a socialite so sitting with a book was my alone time lol) and didn’t want to finish the other physical book I had on me then. The book I went over is What Waits In the Woods by the same author (Kieran Scott) which I had read a while back and enjoyed. I had remembered about that and chose it as a quick read before I read the longest book while I was away from one. I enjoyed the twists in the Woods one and thought this one would be good as well. It was.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Read this book a few years back and loved it. Had thought about it again before family matters cropped up and wanted to read it. I read it after the other three though, because I told myself I needed to stop rereading old books and read the new ones on my shelf XD. I still wanted to read it again so I had it as a backup book in case I ran out. Which I did lol.

A Darker Shade of Magic. Same author as Addie LaRue and I enjoyed her writing (and this series was during a B&N splurge like 3 years ago and I NEVER READ THEM. These pretty books have been just sitting on my shelf for that long ;-; so I decided it was time to read. I am quite enjoying the series to be honest, halfway through the last book as of this post and still am enjoying it. (I also read around 140 pages of the 2nd book of the series but decided not to show it here because I wasn't that far in)

So that's May's Review! See you next month!