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Please retire the "we are made of stardust" phrase I am so tired of it

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ok ik it's not queerbait bc obviously they both r queer but that doesn't change the fact that peacemaker is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. too reminiscent of classic 2 men acting like a couple + forced romance with a girl who doesn't want one back. if main universe peace and Harcourt get together fr I will crash out. u can't do that to my bbg murderer vigilante

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straight up eating him

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just finished villain route, somebody better shoot me in the head

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let me hit it (as a bonding activity) PEACEMAKER

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tw suggestive

I just really like the way I rendered his face here

(also full version on bluesky👀)

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May/June 2025 Reading Wrap Up

Much to my chagrin, I've had very little to complain about for the last two months

1) Voyage of the Damned by Frances White (4.5⭐)

Gonna keep this review very short because I don’t want to spoil it, just know this is probably the first time a twist in a book has ever hit me so solidly in my chest to the point that I had to sit on the floor and cry for a bit. 

This is a fantasy story set in a land split into twelve provinces, each with an assigned animal. Each province has an heir who is set to inherit a unique blessing from the goddess, and now that all twelve heirs have received their blessing they must embark on a twelve day voyage to honour the goddess. The main character Ganymedes (Dee) thinks his biggest problem will be hiding the fact that he never actually received his blessing, but then dead bodies start piling up, and stuck on a boat in the middle of an ocean with no way to contact the mainland, he’s faced with the task of rooting out the murderer before it’s too late. 

Don’t get it twisted, this book has issues. It’s marketed as an adult book but reads very much as young adult. The diversity of the characters is done in a very race blind way which, in a book focused a lot on class divide and oppression, can sometimes come across as very ignorant when race is not brought up at all in the discussion. Unfortunately there are a lot of times where a white character has to stand up for themselves against members of the “upper” provinces, most of whom are people of colour, and it just doesn’t read well. That’s the main reason I couldn’t in good faith give it a full five stars, but the characters and the twist got to me so good that I also couldn’t give it a low rating. 

2) The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett (3.5⭐)

This book was very much a tale of two halves. I really enjoyed it all the way up until maybe 70% of the way through, where the book just completely failed to stick the landing. 

The story is based around a mysterious forest, and goes back and forth between two timelines. One set in 1643, following a group of soldiers who are forced to seek shelter within the forest, and the other set in the present day following five women who are investigating the soldiers’ disappearance. One by one, members of each party start to go missing, and the forest appears to be changing before their very eyes, pulling them deeper and deeper towards the center. 

The setting is great, and for the most part the book has a very Blair Witch feel to it which I really enjoyed. Spooky woods always give me the creeps and the atmosphere and tense pacing of the book genuinely had me feeling spooked, but all of that fell flat with the final climax of the book which just overall started to feel kind of goofy. I think the concept was interesting and I’ve seen similar ideas done well in other books, but this one just didn’t do it for me at all. 

3) Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (5⭐)

This is a classic so I don’t think I need to say too much about the book itself, plus there’s a level of ambiguity and unreality to the whole plot that makes it quite a difficult thing to put into words. In short, a group of scientists are sent to observe and study a quarantined piece of land known as Area X, and it turns out there’s some really fucked up things occurring in there. 

I loved this book. I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time, and have been putting off watching the movie adaptation specifically because I wanted to read the book first, and it didn’t disappoint. The surreal atmosphere, disorientation, and body horror are all done incredibly well and I ended up sitting and devouring the entire thing in an afternoon. 

4) In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane (3⭐)

I picked this book up mostly because dark academia is a genre that I know very little about but sounds like it should appeal to me, so I figured the best way to really get an idea of what it’s all about is through a collection of short stories. 

To be honest, of all the short story collections I’ve read this is definitely at the lower end. The stories weren’t necessarily bad, but a lot of them felt very anticlimactic or just generally lacking in any real plot. There were a couple of authors in here that I recognised from other longer books I’ve read and enjoyed, but their stories in here didn’t do it for me at all. Maybe dark academia just isn’t really for me, I don’t know. 

There was one story that I really enjoyed, probably because it veered a lot more into horror territory, and that was The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant. Definitely the stand out story of the collection for me. 

5) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (5⭐)

I’m not gonna write a lot for this because I’m already five years late hopping back onto this bandwagon but yeah, it really was as good as everybody said and I’m really glad I finally read it. I promise it won’t take me another five years to read the next one. 

6) Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen (4.5⭐)

If you’ve read my reviews from earlier in the year you’ll know I absolutely adored My Darling Dreadful Thing, so my expectations for the author’s second book were pretty high, especially since this one sounded very much like it would also involve vampires. 

The story follows Lucy, who has travelled to be with her twin sister during an extreme illness that has apparently been causing her to lose her mind ever since a mysterious body was dredged from the nearby bog. With a history of insanity running in the family, Lucy has to unravel the mystery of her sister’s illness before she is committed to an asylum. 

Like I said, my expectations were very high for this book, and it absolutely did not disappoint. This author is wonderful at capturing the atmosphere of gothic settings with really vivid and unique prose, and I love the strong but slightly toxic and codependent dynamics she creates between characters. The only reason this wasn’t a full five star book was because the ending fell a little flat for me. The last three chapters or so became a bit muddled, with a few brand new elements being introduced that then had no bearing on anything. And ultimately while I was trying not to compare the two, I much preferred her first book over this one. 

7) Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin (3⭐)

This should have been an absolute winner for me. Sapphic plant horror is basically my personality at this point, but this just… didn’t really hit. 

The premise is pretty simple: A woman named Shell is at rock bottom but sees a help wanted sign in a florist window, but gets more than she bargained for when she finds out that the florist, Neve, is under the influence of a morally and ethically ambiguous sentient plant. The plant wants Neve all to himself (yes, the plant has pronouns), and intends to use Shell to finally get his wishes. The story is also told almost entirely from the perspective of said sentient plant, which is pretty cool. 

Like I said, this really should have been a hit for me, and I did enjoy a lot about it, but when I finished it I just felt unsatisfied. It felt like the book was a whole lot of set up with very little payoff. About halfway through the focus seemed to suddenly shift onto an entirely new character who had very little actual development, and from there the story just fizzled out. 

8) A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (4⭐)

If T. Kingfisher is publishing a book you better believe I’ll be reading it. 

This is another of her retellings which I always enjoy (although from what I’ve read it’s a very loose retelling). The story follows Cordelia, the daughter of a sorceress who is set on marrying a squire. She moves herself and her daughter into his home where they also meet Hester, the squire’s sister, who suspects that Cordelia may need help. 

That wasn’t a very good summary because there’s a lot going on, but for me the best part of this book was the relationship between Cordelia and her mother. This author never shies away from themes of abuse in her books but this was by far her most brutal depiction and I think it was done really well. In terms of the story itself, it was good. Definitely not my favourite of hers, it kept switching directions a few times and I feel like some of the pacing wasn’t great. I do tend to prefer her horror stories over her fantasies, but this still had some of the horror elements I enjoy from her, and I just generally enjoy her writing and her characters so much that it’s hard for me to rate anything particularly low. 

9) The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke (4⭐)

Another newish release from another of my favourite authors. As with all of her books, this story focuses predominantly on two women in two different periods of time, this time connected by a strange book. 

In 1594, Allison Balfour is accused of attempting to use witchcraft to end the life of a ruthless Earl, while in 2024, single mother Clem gets a call that her teenage daughter has been brutally injured in a fire, and appears to have no memory of who she is anymore. 

As always, C.J. Cooke does a great job at tackling dark themes, in this case the brutality of the witch trials, and weaving both storylines together over the course of the book. As with a couple of her other books, I think this was let down a little by the addition of too many character povs, which ultimately didn’t add anything to the story and made things feel a little jumbled. But besides that, this author continues to consistently deliver great books, and I will continue to eat them up. 

Honourable mentions: 

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice: it was alright 

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A withered floure needeth naught

I think alot about how throughout his arc Henry both gains and loses agency in becoming a soldier. And how he as a person gets lost to many characters as a tool, and to himself as a vessel of revenge.

I also like to think that the events of kcd1 and kcd2 take wayyyy longer than they canonically do. So I wanted my kcd1 Henry to look younger </3

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Eyes.

(And extras/bts)

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today, for contrast, let's have a bite with these two sirs.

this time, both Henry and Hans were born and raised in noble families, and they have the opportunity to meet and whisper at lavish banquets...)

3/4

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You can rely on me. Always.

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Kingdom Come Deliverance II | Misc Shots

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My Personal Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Modlist

I’ll update this list as I find more mods I enjoy!

Gameplay

Praise Hans Redone Tournament Preferences Stronger Hans Capon Bow Play Dice With Hans Capon Stay Clean Longer Rain Cleans Easy To See Herbs Realish Prostitution Alcohol Doesn't Spoil Nighthawk Cleanser Potion Kit Smith - Repair Kit Consolidator

Armor & Clothing

Henry's Iconic Plate Outer Garments Refined Garments Custom Clothing & Armor Silver Lys Gear Capon's Combat Drip Armor Edits & Fixes

Graphics & Textures

Enhanced Global Illumination and Lighting Dynamic Fog - Weather - Lighting Rabbit's Realistic Kingdom Reshade HD Henry and Hans Verdant Vegetation Landscape and Materials Overhaul Enhanced Common Furniture Enhanced Entertainment Pack Ultimate Clothing and Armor Overhaul Detailed Everyday Objects Horse Equipment HD Enhanced Alchemy 4k Enhanced Alchemy - Checkers Contribution

Camera Tools/Photography

Otis Camera Tools ReShade IGCS Depth of Field No Depth of Field in Conversations Hide Ranged Weapons Outside Battle

Remember to read mod descriptions carefully & download all requirements! 🤍

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The last time I ran away, I lost everything. I'm never going to do that again.

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"I bid you farewell..."

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Not yet. |220825 -

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