#The world of the white rat

[freckles-and-books]

Currently reading: I can never stay away from Kingfisher for long.

[heyitsrink]

I finished Paladin's Faith last night. Here's some highlights.

[reviewsthatburn]

The main reason I didn't enjoy Spellbound by Allie Therin is that the more the characters learned about each other, the more it felt like they were ignoring red flags in order to make it all work (for more details, refer to the review linked above). I prefer books where, as the characters learn more they find out that either they're more compatible than they thought, or at least that what seemed like insurmountable issues can be substantially erased or mitigated in a durable and mutually supportive way.

Please enjoy this non-exhaustive list of books and series I've enjoyed where it originally seems like it won't work and then it does as the characters learn more about each other. Most of these are fantasy and/or romance.

Authors who frequently write this kind of story:

Most things Seanan McGuire writes, if there's a relationship it tends to be this style.

October Daye

InCryptid

T. Kingfisher's World of the White Rat books

Clockwork Boys / The Wonder Engine

Swordheart

Paladin's Grace / Paladin's Strength / Paladin's Hope

Most of what Ilona Andrews writes:

Kate Daniels and associated books

The Edge books

Stand-alone books:

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

Bone Weaver by Aden Polodoros

Curses by Lish McBride

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

Peter Darling by S.A. (Austin) Chant

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (stand-alone story in a shared universe)

Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell (stand-alone story in a shared universe)

Ongoing series:

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

Completed series:

The Celestial Kingdom Duology by Sue Lynn Tan

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Heart of the Sun Warrior

Witchmark by C.L. Polk (Book 1 of The Kingston Cycle trilogy)

[thedrownedlibrary]

In case y'all haven't noticed, I am in fact rereading the Saint of Steel books by T. Kingfisher.

But in audiobook this time, because Chirp had the first 3 on sale for like, the price of one, and I am having an Audiobook Moment right now. Also the narrator is really good.

[punsbulletsandpointythings]

Might fuck around and reread Paladin's Faith.

[pieandpaperbacks]

Currently reading: Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher

After a month spent reading the absolute masterpiece and mammoth that is Nicola Griffith’s Hild, I needed something short and sweet as something of a palette cleanser. So of course I picked up the only unread T Kingfisher book I own. I think ‘sweet’ might be something of a misnomer here, as there are sentient tattoos that will eat you, dancing rat corpses, and the main plot centres around a suicide mission. But it’s funny and the romance is silly and I’m having a good time dammit.

[tam--lin]

@beradan and I went to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire today as unnamed White Rat and Saint of Steel acolytes.

Emily's embroidery is from art by @magpiemalarkey, mine was designed by my partner based on art from various Kingfisher romance covers.

[crabs-with-sticks]

Just a lil rant about my newest beloved fantasy author

Something I love so, so much about T Kingfisher's (@tkingfisher) work is how she portrays the mundane as something so beautiful and wonderful. The majority of her protagonists are all quite regular people, with regular lives, regular hobbies, and regular bodies. And how despite that, all her characters are so interesting, so lovable, and so deeply and utterly human.

Its amazing seeing a series where multiple female romantic leads are plus sized, and there is a mix of both body positivity and body neutrality. Because like yeah, they are gorgeous. But also, at the end of the day bodies are just bodies. A bit in Paladin's Faith got me thinking about this, where the male lead asks about the female lead's stretchmarks, and its very much treated as just a normal thing that she has as a woman, not detracting from her beauty, not adding to it. They just are.

And don't get me started about how nearly all of her male romantic leads, who are for the most part, big, strong, sword-wielding paladins, have knowledge of some form of textile craft, and how it doesn't detract from their masculinity at all. And instead it is something that would actually be very useful for a soldier to know.

Tldr if anybody else is obsessed with T Kingfisher's work as much as I am please let me know so that my long suffering reading friend can have a break from it.

[remarcely]

Something was itching me about Kipperlilly as a character for a while that I couldn't place down but I just got it.

There is so much of a connection between her storyline and the radicalization a white suburban kid can have to something like white supremacy that it's not even that deep, it's surface level.

Think about it:

She has a strong hatred for a minority kid in her school because he's got great grades and is viewed as a hero

She's envious of the hardships he's gone through and starts hating her family for being so 'normal' (a lot of white people can feel angry about their identity and what they think is a lack of a culture because they 'don't feel oppressed enough' to justify their own feelings of unfairness)

She takes all that anger and infects the people around her, hurting them and 'radicalizing' a few others

Is so insistent that this random kid had an unfair start because of his family situation that she wants to permanently change the bylaws in her school so he's put at a crazy disadvantage, just so she feels like she has an upper hand (think of racist people being mad that there's more POC going to college and crying that they're only getting in because they're a minority, ignoring the real work those students put it despite the disadvantages they might have faced)

She doesn't do any self introspection, doesn't decide to put more effort into her grades or personal relations, she takes that hatred and lets it poison her from the inside out. She rants about fairness when she doesn't put the work in and chooses to despise the people that do, just because they're not as miserable as her.

Her guidance counselor doesn't know how to combat that anger because he doesn't agree with her politics, a creepy adult in her life recognizes her hate and takes advantage of it to stir up the flames, we don't even see her parents but it's safe to say they're not exactly involved or watching her.

I don't know, I'm just annoyed because I keep seeing people say 'if you hate Kipperlilly that's just misogyny' as if she is not a genuinely hate-able character.

You can hate a woman for being evil, you're allowed.

And on the whole 'redemption' thing, sure that's entirely possible but let's face it. You cannot force someone to change, that's not how redeeming yourself works, you have to want it. Kipperlilly has no desire to change because she believes she is right. What use is it to her to abandon a worldview that suits desires her so well?

There was no way that could have been covered in an epilogue well enough to justify it and do you really think all the people that had their lives ruined and were literally murdered (Lucy, Oisin, Ivy, Ruben, Mary Ann, Buddy, etc.) would be bending over backwards to check on their killer?

[beradan]

It's RenFaire crunch time!!

Original art by @magpiemalarkey based on the World of the White Rat novels by @tkingfisher

Faire is in two weeks. Send help.

[palabarian]

World of the White Rat (collapses and dies) (full image undercut)

[sweeter0da]

Saw MIW tonight… TOOK THIS PICTURE AT BARRICADE

I took so many photos I could share with y’all if you want 🫵😧

[reviewsthatburn]

PALADIN'S HOPE features Galen, one of the paladins of the (now dead) Saint of Steel. He appears in the first two books in the series but now gets a story of his own. The main story is entirely new, as Earstripe the guard-gnole requests that Galen and the lich-doctor, Piper, help him find out the cause of several mysterious and violent deaths (which are both introduced and resolved). Very late in the book I figured out that this wraps up some things left hanging from other White Rat books, not just the first two Saint of Steel books (though it does that as well). The epilogue, in particular, exists to show the state of Galen and Piper's relationship some time after the main story, and to continue the underlying thread of the death of the Saint of Steel. It leaves the book on a bit of a cliffhanger, but one related to the general course of the series and not to the central plot of the book. 

[vanweezer]

ma'am your dog i mean husband needs a leash | x

[goodgrammaritan]

Couldn't remember Zale's name from the White Rat series by T. Kingfisher, and I was like "Zillow? Zagat?"

No, no, their name is not associated with real estate or restaurants.

(I had to grab my copy of "Swordheart" to check.)

[labyrynth]

ok so your first problem was assuming mdzs is a story where Good People are Rewarded and Bad People are Punished.

your second problem was assuming that MXTX—who goes out of her way to showcase unresolved, tragic, undeserved endings in all of her works—would ever write a story with such a shallow notion of “deserving.”

the only reason wangxian makes it out unscathed is because they’re literally the protagonists. authorial intent and plot armor ensure their happy ending. that’s it.