#Doctrine of Labyrinth series

[letosghanima]

From the comments on Goodreads I got that this book is either intensely loved or hated. Luckily, for me this one worked. Really well even: I couldn’t put it down. 

If this were fanfictin I’d say the author is going to go for brothercest. It isn’t, so ... Curious about where she will end up going though.

[ravelqueen]

Realising once again that it's just so relaxing and nice to read books with GODDAMN ADULTS as protagonists which is so extremely rare in fantasy so if you have any recs to throw my way it's appreciated

[sheepydraws]

Mildmay: I'm so stupid and ugly I don't know why women like me sometimes

Mildmay: *built like an olympic gymnast, brooding demeanor, heart that won't quit, SICK-ASS facial scar*

Felix: Yeah, I don't get it either.

Felix: By the way, are we ever going to fuck?

[vinelark]

I love how I get both fanfiction recs AND published fiction recs from following your blog and that is so very special. On average in a week how much time do you spend reading? Just curious!

i’m glad you think so! i’m not very good at reading as a solitary activity, so being excited about things here or in dms/groupchats is part of the process 😅

i spend at least a few hours a day reading, if not more! i have no idea where to begin doing the math for an average weekly amount. 30 hours? 35? some days my job is very reading-heavy, and almost any downtime i have in between activities i’m reading either fic or books. (i’m often bad at finishing things i read for various reasons, which is where talking about them helps.) but other days i don’t get to read until i get home, and sometimes not even then, so it’s kind of inconsistent.

that said, while reading fic piecemeal between activities is doable for my brain, it’s really hard for me to read books (for fun) that way. i’ve been trying to prioritize reading-for-fun time on evenings/weekends this year.

[mildmayfoxe]

actually speaking of here's a link to read melusine on internet archive and here's another link to read it on another site where it looks like you can also download a pdf. the books were out of print for a while but when i just googled it looks like the whole four book series got rereleased as ebooks this past summer under sarah monette's new writing name katherine addison, which you may recognize if you read the goblin emperor which i would also recommend. actually you know what here's the goblin emperor on the internet archive too that's also really good

[grassangel]

"The novels are narrated by two half-brothers in alternating first-person point of view. In many ways, these characters are broken. Mildmay the Fox is a cat-burglar and ex-assassin. Felix Harrowgate is a gay wizard and former child prostitute. Monette’s series explores the reality of abuse and recovery.

It’s a great set up to explore queer identities. Queerness is not new to Monette’s writing. She has been queering the fantasy and horror genres since the lesbian relationship she featured in “Three Letters from the Queen of Elflands.”. In fact, she lists heteronormativity as a trope she refuses to write into her fantasy novels. As Monette explained in an interview with ofblogspot, “Felix is a campaign against heteronormativity all on his own.”"

[just-eyeballs]

I started reading Doctrine of Labyrinths after seeing it mentioned in the TLT sub and here are my thoughts so far:

Overall the vibe is “dark 90s yaoi” (over-the-top Bad Ex Boyfriend with huge hands and all)

Wow, this book has a Harrow and a Gideon AND an Ianthe…?

Wow, this was just re-released for ebook LAST MONTH?

The Tumblr fandom for this is much larger than I expected, how have I never heard of this before?

When will the suffering END?

I need to read this entire thing as quickly as possible and then probably twice.

[bloody-wonder]

mid-year book tag

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024? i have read so many good ones this year but no particular one stands out to me as The Best so i'll name top 5 instead (in the order i read them in): a thousand stitches, doctrine of labyrinths, in other lands, big swiss, my brilliant friend - so, quite a range of genres and tones, as usual :)

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024? the virtu is definitely my favorite part of doctrine of labyrinths and the tropic of serpents, the second book in the memoirs of lady trent, was just a perfect historical fantasy adventure novel - it's like if jane austen wrote indiana jones except it's also a nature documentary about dragons. last but not least, empire of the damned which came out in march solidified jay kristoff's empire of the vampire as my favorite vampire book series. you might have heard me screaming about it from the rooftops. all three of these sequels, i find, are even better than the previous book in their respective series.

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? i'm saving kj charles' death in the spires for the fall since it's a spooky campus murder mystery (i think?) and i also want to read apostles of mercy and so finish lindsay ellis' sci fi series (which i have lost interest in somewhat tbh but i'm nothing if not a completionist lol). i was curious about the familiar but the reviews i've seen don't look too promising so i'm probably not going to prioritize it.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2024? i'm looking forward to kj charles' new romance book, the duke at hazard, as well as the new evander mills mystery, rough pages, but the piece of fiction i'm anticipating the most is actually the radioapple southern gothic au by my favorite fanfic author reminiscentbells. she's going to write the whole thing this summer and start posting in september - i'm so excitedddd😱

5. Biggest Disappointment? emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries is the book equivalent of a ghoul wearing the skin of your beloved. i wasn't a fan of a deadly education either😒 was very excited to read gaywyck but the expectations of "jane eyre but gay" which the cover of that book gave me were unfortunately not met🤷‍♀️

6. Biggest Surprise? i didn't think i might be into extreme horror and neither did i fancy myself a sally rooney girlie so i was quite surprised that i liked her conversations with friends as well as the sluts by dennis cooper. will definitely read more from both authors next year. an even bigger surprise however was solitaire which i picked up on a whim after tori came out as ace in the last heartstopper volume. i have a complicated relationship with alice oseman's books mostly due to the fact that i'm years past the target demographic age but still feel compelled to read them bc it seems they're the only mainstream books with prominent aro/ace rep out there. so i didn't expect much and was astonished to discover that tori spring is like looking at a mirror reflection of my 18yo self - uncanny in a fun way. ig i shouldn't be so surprised this turned out to be my favorite oseman book since it's the one with the most mixed reviews lol people like to hate a depressed teenage girl😬

7. Favorite New Author? i have devoured doctrine of labyrinths and the cemeteries of amalo in february so now i can safely say sarah monette aka katherine addison is one of my favorite authors. each of her series has a different tone but there are consistent themes of real or magical disability and non amatonormative relationships which are explored in creative ways throughout her stories. i also like her worldbuilding quite a bit, especially the naming systems and fantasy terminology. i read more books by celeste ng as well as by vale aida - both are likely to become favorite authors too. in the latter's case - provided she writes a sequel to hostis. if not, i shall never forgive her😅

8. Newest Favorite Character? okay this is just impossible to narrow down! first of all, liathe from empire of the damned bc i want her Gender: wearing a porcelain mask and a splendid crimson coat, formally bowing to her adversaries before she beats the shit out of them with her blood sword, referring to herself by the royal we and hissing every time she speaks - character of all time material right there. behold my beautiful girl who has done nothing wrong!🥰

(official illustrations by bon orthwick)

secondly, elliot schafer bc he's the most obnoxious prickly boy in other lands and yet everyone wants him carnally lol. i adore his internal monologue - probably the best i've read in ya. his dialogue too tbh - his cutting repartee game is off the charts. honestly, he's just my favorite type of character: a mean bisexual gremlin who scolds people so creatively that they fall in love with him on the spot. what more can you ask.

finally, i have to mention that to my great surprise i liked mildmay more than felix harrowgate🤯 idk felix is this cunty traumatized savant which is a character archetype i'm used to liking so it was a safe bet. the opposites attract sidekick or love interest of such a character is usually not my cup of tea but mildmay is the exception that proves the rule ig. mostly it's bc of his unusual manner of speaking with those funny slang turns of phrase and just generally the contrast between his expressive internal monologue and his reserved demeanor. as a result, he easily rivals felix as the most interesting guy in the book. such excellent character work! taking my hat off to monette🎩

9. Newest Fictional Crush? i reserve this question for that special kind of obsession only a very particular character can inspire and this year it's alastor from hazbin hotel. which, i know, is not a book but i have read so much alastor fanfic in the last few months that he's basically like a book character to me at this point lol

💕Best Ship💕 elliot schafer and luke sunborn are very cute. i don't usually go for cute but here we are. especially after reading that short story from luke's pov i realized i just need more of these two together😌 felix and mildmay with their unholy magic bdsm union - need i say more? forbidden ship that watered my crops. last but not least, i'm currently trudging through the realm of the elderings bc of fitz and the fool and as of assassin's quest it finally started paying off: i'm being queerbaited and asking for more🥲

10. Book That Made You Cry? a thousand stitches is such a wholesome cozy book and it made me cry multiple times the way that a nostalgic movie from childhood can make you cry sometimes. especially the pug scene😭 the scenes of thara celehar walking the corn maze in the cemeteries of amalo made me cry a lot too. the symbolic depths addison is able to achieve with the labyrinth motif, the exploration of grief and forgiveness and letting go - unparalleled🤌

11. Book That Made You Happy? a thousand stitches made me happy! especially the pug scene!!😅 honestly it was like watching a disney movie back when they were good except also more relatable bc atwater's characters read neurodivergent and aspec-coded to me. love how she maintains that the kiss of true love that breaks the faerie curse doesn't have to be romantic. re-reading the three musketeers made me very happy too - it's one of my top 10 favorite books of all time and i was kinda nervous i might not like it as much as an adult. well the joke's on me bc now i can confirm it's one of the best books ever written😊 reading in other lands and big swiss cheered me up a lot too bc they're just so damn funney😄

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? haven't seen a lot of adaptations so ig dune part two wins by default. twas a fine movie. the wheel of time is also a nice show in my opinion but i didn't read the source material so idk how good it is adaptation-wise🤷‍♀️

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? my favorite ones are probably the ones i wrote about the three musketeers and in other lands but i think i also wrote some good critical/negative reviews of the mask of mirrors and of the vorkosigan books i read this year (1 2 3)

14. Most Beautiful Cover? behold the cover of the voyage of the basilisk!🤩 i want to frame it and hang it on my wall so that i can gaze at it adoringly and connect with my inner ishmael

(art by todd lockwood)

i also like this vintage romance cover of gaywyck and the uk covers of the farseer trilogy. it's a shame that the books are not as good as the covers led me to believe. especially in the case of gaywyck - this cover is Such A Vibe! but alas

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? in terms of series i want to finish the memoirs of lady trent, read one more witcher book, at least a couple vampire chronicles and then reread swordspoint and hopefully complete that series too. other fantasy i want to get to at last is fire & blood and the hands of the emperor - both are big and intimidating tho. for my classics challenge i need to finish a couple of tomes i'm reading slowly throughout the year and then also read the name of the rose. american psycho and mona awad's bunny have been on my tbr for ages - maybe i'll finally read them this fall. and i also want to finish reading kj charles' backlist bc the completionism drive is stronger than the fear of having no kj charles to read lol

i never do things a normal amount - every time i take up new media i go all in. so i had a musicals phase, a movies phase, a tv show phase - each lasting a few years and then i barely watched any of these once the phase ended. which is why i've been wondering if my current Book Phase is about to wrap up soon but, given how many books i managed to read since january, it sure doesn't seem that way. instead, it feels like the more i read the better i am at finding books that i'm likely to enjoy - which leads to more reading. and i cannot complain about that tbh😁📚

tagging @magpiefngrl @doh-rae-me @oliviermiraarmstrongs @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @counterwiddershins @figuringthengsout @sugarbabywenkexing @fandomreferencepending @venndaai @weirdsociology @sixappleseeds @theodoradove

please tell me what you've been reading this year (if you want)! one can't have too many book recs👀

goodreads │ old mid year tags 2020 2021 2022 2023

[veliseraptor]

I just read the Doctrine of Labyrinths series and good god those books are wild (pos, mostly). Makes me wonder what kind of fanfics Katherine Addison was writing before she published… like her livejournal must’ve gone crazyyyyy

i wish i knew what sarah monette was writing back in the day if she was writing fic, i feel like i'd enjoy reading it

anyway doctrine of labyrinths was ahead of its time in a lot of ways as far as dark queer fantasy goes and should be republished (preferably with new covers), send post.

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia.....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks if you want to answer...

Hi anon!

So... they change and tbh I'm going to forget a ton of characters I love and then scream in my head later like 'oh no but THAT character and THAT character and THAT character' but I'll do my best!

Kiriyama Rei from March Comes in Like a Lion - Probably my favourite character possibly of all time. Introverted, kind of ace-coded right up until the end of the manga when it changes (and since the anime never ended he stays ace-coded throughout that lmao), very human, extremely depressed, and I just think he's a very good depiction of like...what it's like to live with extremely repressive depression and post-trauma while not necessarily knowing you have those things.

Dazai Osamu from Bungou Stray Dogs - He's a brilliant intellect genius with too much ability to know so much about the world that he kind of ends up suicidal all the time due to his upbringing / some of the things he's done and also what he's experienced. I just enjoy him. (Notable runner up here is Nakahara Chuuya but dslkajf)

Felix Harrowgate from the Doctrine of Labyrinths trilogy - Angsty, PTSD, waspish, 'I'm going to hurt you because I was hurt and then hate myself and do very self-destructive things about it but keep that part a secret so I just look like a constant dickhead,' brilliant, very good at magic. Love this dude. Would walk hundreds of miles for this dude, like the song. Would definitely write a long-ass fanfic about him.

Daeshik from Love So Pure - I love this guy SO much. He's a side-story / secondary pairing in the manhwa but I LOVE him because he's so against type. He's dorky but not in a very cute way, he's overbearing, he's SO neurodivergent coded it's painful and sometimes hilarious, he's determined and ambitious, he's not 'hot' in any typical kind of twink way, and I know he's split the fandom between 'god he's so annoying' and 'Daeshik is the BEST.' The whole webtoon is fucking amazing anyway, but Daeshik has my whole heart in his journey from 'dorky annoying overbearing friend' to 'oh I just realised I'm gay and now everything is Pride Pride Pride and I'm definitely crying next to a dildo I bought that was too big for me.'

Presenting Daeshik:

You'll never guess what he's sitting on sdlkjfas (he fails abjectly and then cries about it in a way that's kind of hilarious honestly).

Dana Scully from The X-Files - I didn't know it at the time, but this was very much my bisexual awakening. I mean I'm pretty heavily ace now, but I'm mostly not into cishet dudes, and I had pictures of Scully up on my wall like how did I not fucking know. Anyway, scientist, smart, 'so done with your shit' and just wry and witty and *clenches fist* so short and tiny and powerful. I love her. (And Gillian Anderson).

Loki from the MCU - Not necessarily every iteration, but I do love how Tom Hiddleston plays him, and I appreciate the queerer representation. Adore this guy. Look at him, what an absolute dickhead of a god. 10/10 would read him in hurt/comfort fics and PWPs again.

Hyunsoo Seo and Youngchan Baek from Perfect Buddy / XXX Buddy - Possibly my favourite manhwa of all time and I really hope that stays true because it's not finished yet. Idk how to describe these characters because they're both very complex as you get to know them better, but basically 'angry wet cat man with past trauma that he hides exceptionally well vs. Gwyn-dimensioned blond puppy dog who is just pretending to be a puppy dog because he knows exactly how threatening he is and is willing to be to protect the people he loves.'

Murderbot in the Murderbot novella series - I think all of us - or most of us - find Murderbot incredibly relatable and that's refreshing as fuck in any novel series tbh. (ART as runner-up though, love that fucker).

Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler - Honestly there were a lot of kind of 'extremely powerful but kind of shitty fuckboys' I wanted to put in this category including Gojou Satoru from JJK, Reigen from MP100, and even Louis from Beastars, but Sebastian's gonna win out because I still don't know if he's going to eat Ciel at the end of that series and I very much love not knowing because he's such a devious fuckhead. Love that not-actually-a-man.

Yuurakutei Yakumo (Kikuhiku) from Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - I just... *flails* Almost no one has seen this anime series and it kind of kills me because firstly the books were written by someone practiced in writing BL and even though this isn't BL you can still tell the vibes are there. Secondly, one of the most ace-coded characters ever. Gender-fuckery abounds, which is fun. Thirdly just, honestly, more folks should watch this?

There were a lot of characters I know I missed but I'm pretty satisfied with this list.

I've just given myself a bunch of stuff to rewatch and reread because of this anon! :D

[ameliarating]

Challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone’s favourite. I was tagged by @veliseraptor

(Please note it says five of. If I were tagged again, I would have five more, easily.)

I tag @paradife-loft, @vegaseatsass, and @stripedroseandsketchpads

[letosghanima]

The best book yet of the 4. I totally took to the new POV guy, Kay (despite his indeed frequent moaning). The brothercest disappears like a candle bowing out, but the brothers grow towards each other beautifully. Far too many loose ends for this to be the final book though.

[winged-cries]

have you read the doctrine of labyrinths series by S Monette? it seems like the kind of thing that would be up your alley

i have not, and i had no idea katherine addison was a pseudonym or that she also wrote that kind of book. i can see what you mean when you say it might be up my alley. captivity, torture, trauma, two survivors bonding over dark secrets... i'll definetely give this a try.

[bowen-arrow-art]

Linocut

From the Doctrine of Labyrinths series

[naamahdarling]

I've recommended Kushiel's Dart to all my new kinky friends and now I kind of want to start a kinky book club, any suggestions for the next one? fantasy & queer vibes preferred

I am WOEFULLY out of date on my kinky fiction, I was doing most of my reading before the queer revolution in publishing, so I open this up to the floor!

I know the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop are also popular, and Sarah Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths is GOOD...extremely fucked up, but also very sexy. Just...trigger warnings on that one, please check Does The Dog Die or something. If you didn't cough up the Kushiel books I think you'll be okay, but it is massively fucked up in places. It's not as soaked in weird hallucinatory sex fantasy vibes, so the fucked-up-ness stands out more, and IIRC it hits you in the teeth RIGHT out of the gate. TW TW TW on those.

[wiltking]

hiya wilt! I have not read cs poe's other works but I look forward to hearing your thoughts about them 👀 may check them out if they're good!

I actually have a rec request from you: do you happen to know any fantasy/sci-fi books like the steel remains where MC is a gay man versus the world but he tears his way thru it all anyway? I know that's a pretty specific concept but that book is one of my favs (sadly the other two books aren't as great) and I've been chasing that feel the first book gave me

i know the feeling you're talking about and agree that ringil is a very special character and if i could take him out of that series and put him somewhere more deserving of him (or more like the first book, even), i would.

a few characters come to mind that i think you might like, that touch on some of that same unapologetic faggotry and anger, but disclaimer that your mileage may vary.

Chess Parteger from the Hexslinger trilogy by gemma files - the most angry and faggoty on this list by a mile, chess is one of the characters of all time to me, and he definitely spends a lot of time fighting against the world and everyone in it, and raising hell wherever he goes. heads up that the series contains a lot of disturbing content, more so than usual, as its part horror.

Felix Harrowgate from the Doctrine of Labyrinth series by sarah monette - not a series i recommend much, because i think it has a lot of weak points, especially in the middle. but in the end i found it very worthwhile with a strong, thoughtful conclusion. felix is a very flawed man, and a large part of the story deals with him working through the unsavory effects trauma has had on his behavior and thoughts. but i enjoyed the rage, and the grief, and the healing that came along with it.

John from The Rifter by ginn hale - less outwardly angry and unapologetically gay than the others on this list, but still fits the bill and is worth a mention for the colder vibe of the story itself, which reminds me a little bit of the steel remains. and he's just an incredible character who definitely does his fair share of tearing through the world.

Vanyel from The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by mercedes lackey - i have issues with this series (mostly the conclusion which i found to be insulting. among other things) but vanyel himself is a great 'gay hero' type character who prevails against all odds. much of the story deals with his gay loneliness and grief and his journey of healing while also saving the kingdom. less fire and more slowburn though, hence his position here at the bottom.