#read a book ma

[ash-and-starlight]

Every Day i think about the official radiant emperor Fuck Tier List

[dearlyjess]

the ideal monday morning

[atissi]

okay all of the reviews for "severance" by ling ma said it was a hilariously deadpan satire on the post-apocalypse — and maybe that was true in 2018 — but now that i've read it i can say i probably laughed Once and felt a bone-deep nihilistic dread Constantly. the bit about the protagonist's company gifting her a self-care kit of 2 N95 masks, a nutrient bar, and an expanded insurance plan in response to a worldwide pandemic isn't really funny post-2020, it's just realism.

[sublecturas]

Nunca más

[the-forest-library]

Raven Used Books - Cambridge, MA

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[jay-moonlight]

So I rewatched Overly Sarcastic Productions JTTW...yep, I loved it and  decided to draw it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aeide-thea]

okay, question: are nicknames that shorten someone’s full name to one of its unaccented syllables ever actually a thing outside of badfic, or…?

[dearlyjess]

all i want to do this summer is read and buy yarn!

[critical-quoter]

Who needs parents? What good are they for anyway? Emotional support? It's much healthier to repress emotions and ignore red flags.

Psycho Shifters - Jasmine Mas

[biboomerangboi]

Okay so finished book one and ugh spoiler free review as best as I can. First of all 9/10. I would say 10/10 but it’s very clear that this book is like set up to be a duology so like it’s very slow build with a lot of the meat of the story happening in the later half. Which just means that while the beginning is written beautifully is just a little bit meaty to get through cause there’s not that much going on plot wise.

Character wise though there’s a lot. Zhu is such a wonderful protagonist and narrator truly the way she sees the world is so vibrant and they have like an insane fairytale trickster energy to them that I adore. Also despite this not being like a clear genderqueer story (as in it’s not modern so that understanding of gender isn’t really said) she is such amazing representation and I related to her a lot! Her dialogue is so bright and vibrant and full of vitality even in the darker spots it’s great!

Meanwhile Ouyang is this wonderful foil. He’s so deep and angry and bitter and jaded and instead of it feeling like a slog to get through your chomping at the bit reading it. Great unreliable narrator I never knew entirely what he was thinking because even he was so conflicted about it. (For my TGCF girlies he’s extremely He Xuan coded and it’s great).

I can’t wait to see them interact more in the next book. I stand by my statement that their dynamic is gender euphoria sword fighting body dysmoria in a parking lot

Also Ma Xiuying you’re so wonderful and compassionate and angry and full of fire and life I am so so in love with you please yell at more people it’s so sexy of you. It’s so great to get a POV character that is just as intelligent as the other protagonists but while they are both cold thinkers she’s like full of empathy and emotion. I adore her I need more of her in the next book.

Also thank you Shelly Parker Chan for giving me two wonderful insane queer relationships I was surprised by the sex scene (if you know you know but good for her) but it was so well written and perfectly fit in with all the politics and scheming and war.

Anyway on to book 2 but if you haven’t read this yet you should it’s great!

[diverse-reads]

Book lovers, let’s try something new: Reblog this and give the previous user a book recommendation. Let’s help each other find good books :)

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Who's is That Face in the Mask?

So, it's rare when I pick up a book on the strength of a YouTube video, and honestly even rarer that I enjoy books selected based on that criteria. However, since Marie Brennan is one half of MA Carrick and the book is often described via *that* quote from The Princess Bride (and no, I'm not specifying even though Princess Bride is all *that* quote depending on context), I had hope. After all, I loved the Lady Trent memoirs and The Princess Bride. And folks, this book did not disappoint. Let's talk The Mask of Mirrors.

What do you get when hundreds of years of colonization mixes with a rogue vigilante for the oppressed population and a con woman who sets out for money but comes up with found family? Youu get some stunningly well written characters, intrigue that I frankly preferred to A Song of Ice and Fire, and just beautifully nuanced worldbuilding.

Ren--or Renata Viraudax or Arenza, depending on the day and location--grew up as a dirt-poor half-Vrazenian kid who was completely disconnected from her mother's people in a city colonized by the Liganti. She was a gang member under the objectively abusive Ondrakja until she watched Ondrakja beat her brother to death. Next thing we know, Ren has poisoned her Fagin and made off for another country with her sister, Tess. They end up serving in the household of Letilia--a disgraced member of House Traemantis.

Fast forward a few years, and Letilia being an absolutely irredeemable human gives Ren the idea to con the remaining members of House Traemantis in Nadezera. Mother and daughter are sufficiently estranged that Letilia won't out Ren, but other actors in the city might.

Those actors include Grey Serrado, captain of the Vigil (read police force) and Vrazenian slip-knot (read traitor to his people because he assimilated into Liganti society. He is running himself ragged trying to sort out why street kids keep dying of insomnia, track down the mysterious Rook, and running petty errands for the Liganti nobility. He does not get help from the rampant vanity and nepotism in the Vigil ranks, nor the racism of most Liganti hawks. Add to that his deep grief for his brother's recent murder and Grey needs a hug and a paid vacation.

Then there is Vargo Derossi, crime lord extraordinaire with an eye toward becoming too powerful to be ignored and choosing to pretend to go legitimate to achieve the dream. He is charming and deadly all at once, has someone else in his head, has a pet spider named Peabody, and some serious germophobia. Whether he is caught in Ren's con or she is caught in his web is an open question for most of this book. Vargo is 100% unanswered questions, and every single one is dangerous to ask and even more dangerous not to know the answer to. Especially since he is also SUSPICIOUSLY competent at numinatria...

We of course cannot neglect Donaia, Leato, and Giuna Tremantis. This remnant of a once proud family are an unusual bunch, but they're also different enough that watching their personalities mesh and clas ended up being one of my favorite things about this book.

Beyond the character work, the worldbuilding in this book is first-class. The Vrazenians and Liganti are culturally and visually distinct at a glance, and then for those who care to stay and look harder, there is depth and nuance. Both cultures feel real and vibrant, which makes the all-too-clear harms of oppression and colonization, as well as the messiness of navigating mixed-heritage identities, all the sharper.

It also highlights the different magic systems, religions, and ways of knowing and relating to your community based on those cultural differences. Patterning and numinatria are both valid, but neither quite likes the other and thy don't cross cultural lines. The Rook is a folk hero to the Vrazenians and a half-mythical, pain-in-the-ass vigilante to the Liganti. Even fashion is sharply divided.

Overall, the Princess Bride comparison is apt, but perhaps also mixed with some Leverage and some Batman. I loved this book, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next two.

[siobhanroygirl]

our share of night/nuestra parte de noche, mariana enriquez

[kazz-brekker]

my fellow kaz brekker fans while waiting for sab renewal/soc spinoff announcement i IMPLORE you to go read the rook & rose trilogy by m.a. carrick. the first book is called the mask of mirrors and among other things (swashbuckling masked vigilantes, secret societies up to no good, long cons to infiltrate the rich and steal all their money) it also features my other favorite crime lord, derossi vargo, well-dressed possessor of both a sword cane and a pet spider, who is literally always scheming and double-crossing people and is also very tightly wound and secretive and has hidden childhood trauma around disease

[pridepages]

Happy Holidays from PridePages 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✨