#this is now just books i enjoyed and gideon and harrow the ninths both get mentions here

[sharkneto]

1, 6 and 16?

.1. fave book? MEAN why did you ask me that when it was one of the options, hard question. My default answer is Aron Ralston's autobiography, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (what the movie 127 Hours is based on). I've read it quite a few times and Twin gave me a signed copy for Christmas one year. Idk, reading about a man's mental and physical survival journey to cutting off his own arm (and all his adventures before this moment) hits me in the right spot. Books I've read recently, as I'm getting back into the whole reading thing, I supremely enjoyed Six of Crows and The Goblin Emperor.

6. fave trope? Another hard one. For this I'll say... main character denying that they're Special as they figure out they're Special. I'm listening to The Way of Kings at work and the few chapters it took for Kal to realize something was up, making excuses for why x or y happened, was delightful.

16. fave day? Fan of Thursdays. Something about it being over the hump of the week, get to look forward to the fact that tomorrow is Friday and then the weekend. It's nice.

faves ask game

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Review

firstly, i just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in and encouraged me in doing these liveblogs! this has been such a fun project to work on, and reading these books for the past nine months or so has been a bright spot in what has otherwise been a relatively tough period of my life. i’ve really enjoyed getting to theorise about all of the lore of these books and make horribly ill-advised emotional attachments to inevitably doomed characters

more fun statistics that no one asked for: this liveblog was the longest, at about 20,000 (!!) words. my GtN liveblog was 12000 words for comparison. i have no excuse other than i like to talk

NtN definitely was an interesting diversion from the other two books so far. it wasn’t exactly a breather, since it was still incredibly heartbreaking and horrifying, but it was fun to see a part of the worldbuilding very different from what we’ve seen before. as much as I missed both Harrow and Gideon, i liked that it gave other characters time to shine outside of interacting with them. it was fun to see more of Palamedes, Camilla, and Pyrrha, and how those characters act in a vastly different environment to the Nine Houses

although NtN was essentially telling two different narratives, John chapters vs Nona’s, it still didn’t feel particularly disjointed - i think it was thematically held together by being a bit more grounded than the other books so far, sci-fi and fantasy elements notwithstanding (contemporary issues like climate change and nuclear war, & John’s world being a setting far closer to our own vs Nona’s domestic life & very real problems of living in a warzone)

i also loved getting John’s perspective in the chapters narrated by Harrow, his point of view and recollections were equal parts funny, terrifying, and fascinating. he’s certainly got a … unique perspective on the world. it was just a slow horrifying journey trying to figure out how the world ended, knowing that it was doomed but not exactly how it happened

Muir really has a talent for endearing you to a protagonist, and Nona was no exception, I absolutely loved her, and just, her whole story and how tragic it was physically hurt me. i also wasn’t expecting to get as attached as i was to Hot Sauce and the school gang - i hope we get just even just a mention of what happens to them in AtN

tldr: 11/10. reading this series is like the emotional equivalent of voluntarily getting stabbed in the heart repeatedly. i have absolutely no clue what I’m going to do with my life now that this is over for the meantime, other than go crazy in a locked room with a red string conspiracy board trying to figure out whats going to happen in Alecto the Ninth

speaking of, obviously its not a pressing issue since to my knowledge there isn’t even a release date yet, but i’m not sure if i’ll do a liveblog for Alecto when it comes out? on one hand the most fun bit about liveblogging has been the reaction from everyone who’s already read the books and we’ll all be in the same boat of not knowing what’s going on when Alecto comes out, so i don’t know how much of a point there is? on the other i would very much enjoy doing it anyway, and i’m a perfectionist so it would be nice to have completed all of the books like that. so i guess it depends on how impatient i am to read the whole book when it comes out lol

[dunno1234]

Gideon the Ninth review, I guess

So, Gideon the Ninth, huh? The darling of Tumblr, along with the rest of TLT. I read it. Finished yesterday. And now, for my first post ever on Tumblr, I'll also make my first full review of a book. It'll probably be long. I'll divide this in the following sections: Prose (yes, we're starting with it); characters; story; what I liked; and what I really wish had been done. Full spoilers for literally everything in the first book, and warning that I did not like the book much. It's like, 3 stars. But hey, that was a passing grade in college, and thus I'll also read the next book. Also, it will be extremely rambly. I did an editing pass, but to ramble is my nature.

Prose

This is the most relevant aspect to my experience, which is really sad, because I hated it. And it's really weird, because it's the first time I disliked a technically good prose (and I assure you, the prose is good in the technical aspect). The descriptions are very verbose (I learned 4 new words while reading it), but also, well, descriptive, and it has its own distinctive style, and theoretically I would've enjoyed it a lot. So, why did I not? Well, the quips. Oh boy, the quips. They were extremely prevalent throughout the story and I hated almost all of them (other than the Dr. Skelebone one. That one was great, specially how they committed to it), and they actively ruined my experience because I was always bracing myself for them. Another thing I heavily disliked was the use of parentheses to denote both thoughts and quips characters said (I think parentheticals do not belong in prose in any situation, and this book just reinforced that belief). And the funny thing is, it's not as if I'm against the idea of it. Pale Lights (which I absolutely recommend) is also in third-person limited and uses quips during the dialogue, but the main difference is, well, I like how it works in PL and not here, I guess. And it sucks, because, if I dislike the prose, I automatically dislike the entire book experience, since it is an always-present aspect of it. I would even have preferred aggressively mediocre prose, like anything written by Wildbow, over what I got here.

Characters

I loved Palamedes and Camilla.

I liked Harrow, and Gideon was well-written.

Coronabeth, Naberius, and Ianthe were somewhat interesting, or at least interesting ideas behind them (and Naberius had a parrying dagger, which is extremely hot). Would've been good if Coronabeth had existed after the Ianthe review, though. I assume the intention is that she becomes relevant in HtN?

Teacher was fun.

Silas Octakiseron (worst surname in a cast full of impressively bad surnames (although I don't think that they are actual surnames since Harrow's parents have different surnames than her)) is a good antagonist, I guess. Brother Asht had a cool scene.

I have run out of characters to say positive things about.

This is mean (and honestly most of this review will be mean), but yeah... I don't care about anyone else. Most of them are one note with barely any personality traits, and there are simply too many of them for the story's own good. Who cares about the Second House members, who are so irrelevant that I don't even know who is the cav and who is the necro. Magnus was kind to Gideon, but he was also obviously going to be sacced from the start, while his wife I don't even remember having dialogue. Both of the Fourth were developed literally the same chapter as they died, and while they were mildly amusing before, I never got to care about them. Dulcinea/Cytherea was a twist villain, and not a good one. Her cav was literally dead before arrival.

The main problem of the cast, I think, is how they all have to share screentime (or pagetime, I guess) with everyone else. I don't get to see Naberius's life history and training to be sad about his death, when I also have to get attached to Fourth Necro (I do not remember his name) for his death. As a result, none of them get the necessary focus, and they fall flat to me. The worst offenders are the Second, who are completely indistinct from each other and whose only impact in the story is killing teacher and calling Necrolord Prime, two actions that Cytherea could've done with barely any rewriting.

The romance between Harrow and Gideon also fell pretty flat. Gideon spends 90% of the story flirting with Coronabeth and Dulcinea, while Harrow is either not in the scene or emotionally distant, and then in the last couple chapters she gives The Reveal in the pool (which revealed barely anything) and in the penultimate chapter we see how much she actually loves Gideon.

Palademes and Camilla were cool as fuck, though.

Story

It started pretty good before they left Drearbuh (of whatever it's called), but as soon as they arrived in the First planet, it just meandered. I've seen some people who actually liked the book, and they also seemed to agree that it was slow, but I don't think it improved greatly later on. After Palamedes and Camilla first appeared and Gideon was finally allowed to speak it did pick up, and the tests she and Harrow did were fun, but soon after the story became about who has which keys, and I refuse to believe anyone was interested about that part.

Eventually, it had the plot twist that Ianthe is actually a fucking genius who is proving Palamedes wrong about him being the best necro of his generation (sadly) and she fights the Eighth and kills them and also apparently Dulcinea isn't Dulcinea and Palamedes kills himself to kill her but it doesn't work and the remaining characters take turns to kill her until Gideon sacrifices herself and Harrow kills her. And then we get an epilogue.

So, 90% of the story is contained in the last 10% of it. This is not good. The pacing of this book sucks. The last 10% of it is pretty good, but that does not redeem the rest. There is also a lot of telling instead of showing. We only see Ianthe after she becomes a Lyctor; Palamedes's backstory is told by Camilla literally a chapter before the reveal; we never get to see the Second killing Teacher; we never see Silas grabbing Dulcinea's keys. Gideon as the PoV character doesn't really work, because she only becomes the central point of the story at the very end, and for the most part everyone else is doing their own things out of screen.

What I liked

I already said this, but Palamedes and Camilla were great. Harrow was very fun, and, while I did not enjoy Gideon, she was pretty well written.

The setting was very interesting, and felt much bigger than what we saw. I wish that the glossary had been at the start of the book, but it isn't that big of a problem. The necromancy was also fun, with all of the different styles, although I wish it were better explained (and I understand that it probably wasn't because Gideon knows dick about shit about it, but it doesn't really change me having a problem with it).

The last two chapters were easily the best in the book. Like, I genuinely liked them. This is mostly because Gideon wasn't the PoV, I'll admit, but the Necrolord Prime (I do not remember if he's actually called that or not, but I'll still call him that) was very fun in the like, three pages he was in.

What I Really Wish Had Been Done

So, I'll try to be as direct as possible. Have multiple PoVs. Preferably one for each House. This could solve literally every problem I denoted here. The Ianthe reveal came out of nowhere? Well, now we can properly set it up. The Palamedes backstory was explained through exposition two pages before it became relevant? Well, instead of Camilla giving it, we see him think about it. I hate the quips? Other characters won't have quips. The story meanders at the start? Go to characters who have stuff to do. And you can even use the skulls besides the chapter number with the Houses to signify which character is the PoV, and, at the epilogue, have it for the first time have the skull of the First. Wouldn't that be a cool usage of it? I am completely aware that this would require completely rewriting the book, but I think it'd be worth it.

Conclusion

I'll still read the next book, and I will probably enjoy it more due to not having constant quips and Ianthe presumably having focus, although I've heard from multiple people that it's confusing as fuck. So yeah, I'm decently hyped for Harrow the Ninth, and if I have was many thoughts about it I'll probably also write a review. Also, hey, Reddit!

[edenfenixblogs]

Hello Eden (is it okay to call you that?)

Do you have any current favourite songs? What kind of music do you generally listen to?

And do you have any favourite books? What kind of books do you like to read?

If you are okay with sharing, no pressure.

Sending you love and strength ❤️

Ah!!! Thanks for this ask @sunnenfinster! What a lovely change of pace.

Eden is fine!!!!!

Ok, so I love music and books!

Of all broad genres of entertainment media, music is probably what I follow least closely. It’s not that I don’t like it; I just am always behind the curve in my tastes. I love listening to most confessional singer/songwriters. I love folk, rock, pop, and rap. I also get a lot of music I like from the background of media like TV, Movies, and podcasts. In general, I love confessional singer-songwriters from any genre.

Fave singers (and the albums I’d recommend from them: songs I’d recommend from that album [notes]):

Jem (Finally Woken: Come on Closer, Falling for You, Just a Ride). All songs on this album rock, to me.

Sheryl Crow (Sheryl Crow: A Change Would Do You Good, [about choosing love over anger and stopping gun violence], Redemption Day [about the Bosnian war], Maybe Angels [could be about aliens or being in a cult idk but it’s a good song about misplaced belief] I love every song on this album tbh. Wall-to-wall bangers.

Missy Elliot (Under Construction: Gossip Folks, Work it)

Suzanne Vega (99.9 F: 99.9 F, Blood Makes Noise, Rock in the Pocket, When Heroes Go Down)

Artists and songs I like in general: Aimee Mann (her voice is like butter and I could listen to her sing forever); Eliza Rickman: Pretty Little Head; Sims: Icarus; Dessa: Call Off Your Ghost; Sifu Hotman: Matches (I know no other songs by this artist but I LOVE this one so much. I’m gonna go listen to it right now); Lorde: Yellow Flicker Beat; Björk: Human Behavior; G Flip: Hyperfine, Gay 4 Me, Killing My Time; Aimee Mann: That’s Just What You Are [I love Aimee’s voice and could listen to her sing the phone book. All songs off her Magnolia Album are amazing too]

And gosh. So many more…

As for books!!!! OMG! I love books so much. I love so many different kinds of books. Some fave genres include: Classic Lit, Magical Realism, Sci-fi/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction; Engaging YA Series, Historical Fiction; Culinary History and Analysis; and Mythological Retellings

Classic Lit Faves:

“To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf [This contains my fave quote in all of literature. This could also never be adequately adapted into a movie. It’s a fascinating look into how people think and how we all process internal thoughts. Must be comfortable with long sentences, semicolons, and allowing sentence clauses to wash over you like ocean waves in order to enjoy this book]

“Cider with Rosie” by Laurie Lee

“All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque

“The Portable Dorothy Parker” by Dorothy Parker

“The Odyssey” by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

“The Iliad” by Homer — both Emily Wilson’s Translation and Stanley Lombardo’s Translation

Magical Realism

“The House of the Spirits” by Isabelle Allende

“Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter” by Mario Vargas Llosa

“Bless Me Última” by Rudolfo Anaya

“Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel

SFF Faves:

“An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” and “A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor” by Hank Green

“The Martian” by Andy Weir

The Tiffany Aching line of the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (“The Wee Free Men,” “I Shall Wear Midnight,” “A Hat Full of Sky,” and “Wintersmith”)

“The Locked Tomb” Series by Tamsyn Muir (“Gideon the Ninth,” “Harrow the Ninth,” “Nona the Ninth” so far)

Engaging YA

“The Hunger Games” Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

“Grishaverse” Series by Leigh Bardugo

“Shadow and Bone Triogy” (related to the Grishaverse) by Leigh Bardugo [note: I didn’t know until making this list that Leigh Bardugo is an Israeli Jew! Very cool]

Historical Fiction:

“Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe” by Fannie Flagg [the associated cookbook is very good. Also, you’ll never eat ribs the same again]

“Tracks” by Louise Erdrich [one of the most interestingly written books I’ve ever read. Has two dueling narrators. This is part of a series of books but can be read as a standalone]

Culinary Analysis History

Bree Wilson’s books (“First Bite: How We Learn to Eat,” “Consider the Fork,” and “The Way We Eat Now,” specifically) are some of the best out there. [I didn’t realize until a couple weeks ago that Bee Wilson and the classicist translator Emily Wilson are sisters! They are both extremely smart, engaging writers.]

“Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

“An Edible History of Humanity” by Tom Standage

“Food: A Cultural Culinary History” by Ken Albala (this one is a Great Courses course, so not technically a book. But it’s available most places you can get audiobooks. And it’s what got me fascinated with this subject)

Mythological Retellings

“Circe” and “The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

“The Silence of the Girls” and “The Women of Troy” by Pat Barker [TW Rape]

“Norse Mythology” by Neil Gaiman

Genre Defy-ers

(These are some of my All Time Faves that can’t really be confined to any genre)

The “Outlander” Series by Diana Gabaldon [and the related “Lord John” Series by the same author] (TW: for Rape)

“The Anthropocene Reviewed” by John Green

Just Finished Reading

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote (Wow it was so good. I haven’t seen the movie in a while but I seriously doubt they adapted it faithfully. It was so surprising!!!)

Currently Reading

“Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie

Selections From My To Be Read List

“The City of Brass” by S.A. Chakraborty

“Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus

“The Source” by James Michener

“The Secret of Cooking” by Bee Wilson

“Equal Rites” by Terry Pratchett

“A Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England” by Ian Mortimer

“What You Are Looking For Is In The Library” by Michiko Aoyama

“The Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis

I also love to read cookbooks from various cultures to gain insight into those cultures in a very tactile way.

Sending you love and gratitude! 💜💜💜💜

I’m always down to discuss books!

[maxalotlxl]

My Top 5 Favourite Reads In 2023

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir This seems like my obvious winner, The Locked Tomb is easily my favourite series at the moment and I want to eat up everything Tamsyn Muir releases from now on. I did actually finish Harrow this year too, and I did really enjoy it but I have an easier time reading characters like Gideon and Nona. The characters in Nona was more my speed than Harrow.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner Nona was only the obvious winner because it's part of The Locked Tomb Series as individual books Godkiller and Nona is so hard to pick a preferred favourite. I really only picked this book up first because the cover is stunning and you can't blame me, but these characters had me in a chokehold. This is what I want from a reluctant allies to found family story, they were all so wary of each other at the start but found themselves doing the absolute most to protect each other at the end. I am screaming for Sunbringers release early.

Harley Quinn: Reckoning by Rachael Allen Harley my beloved, I can't even remember when my love for this character started I know it started from a purely aesthetic point, I loved her design. I moved into reading the Suicide Squad comics, because I really dislike Joker and wanted a Harley story without him. Then this book happened, Harley back in college (kind of) and still being the chaotic character while actually showcasing this brilliantly smart person. I loved this! The second wasn't a favourite but was still amazing and I can't wait for the thirds release.

The Faithless by C.L. Clark Yes I picked up The Unbroken because Touraine is hot, and yes Touraine and Luca are infuriating characters that make you question why you have such a loyal need to support them. Didn't stop Magic of the Lost become a favourite pretty much immediately, this sequel tops the first for mainly one singular reason, Sabine. Sabine was my self insert, shamelessly thirsting after both of the main characters while playing the dutiful match maker for them both too.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree L&L is the only 4 star read on this list, and this does make me reconsider my rating for that. Originally my 4 star was because despite knowing this was just a cozy read, I do feel the need for some action/drama happening. But this was exactly what I wanted this to be so it really does deserve the 5 stars. I read this with a friend who I play D&D with and we both do like to imagine the future of our characters after adventuring, and this is what that was. Retirement after a long DnD campaign. I do have Bookshops & Bonedust, and while I have started it this time of year is so busy I haven't had the chance to have the cozy atmosphere necessary for this book.

Honourable Mentions

If You'll Have Me by Eunnie Such a cute, fluffy romance between too very different people that are both wanting a romantic relationship but having a hard time to figure out what that actually means for both them. This was exactly what I needed when I was reading it, just unfortunately doesn't quite make the list.

Kill for Me Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh I read this alongside my mother and older sister (eventually the books getting passed onto so many people at work, I have no idea where my copy is anymore), the three of us love a good mystery. We were raised on murder mystery detective shows. I really enjoyed this book and the twists just kept coming. The only reason this isn't in my top 5 was because the others have been in my head a lot more than this one.

[willowcrowned]

hi willow, just wanted to let you know that ur rambling and posts about the locked tomb series made me read gideon the ninth and now i'm not okay (you can guess why lol). I'm kinda hesitant to start reading harrowhark/continue the series; what's you opinion on the next books? thanks :)

honestly, I'm so excited for you! gtn is, imo, the weakest of the books because muir has to spend a lot of time introducing the nine houses and establishing gideon and harrow as characters. htn is when she really gets the space to start complicating both the worldbuilding and their relationship, which I think makes the nine houses massively more interesting. (it's also where she brings in some of my favorite characters)

in terms of specifics about the books: I'm a HUGE fan of the second person in htn, and as a whole I found htn's mystery the most satisfying to unravel. ntn I feel a little less strongly about, but I do think it has a charm that's not altogether present in the earlier books because of its shift in the characters it focuses on, which ends up allowing it to articulate out loud and to the reader what's been subtext before. htn is my favorite, but if ntn plays second fiddle to htn for me, that's only because htn really is that good

tldr; I'm psyched for you to read the next ones. and yes, you will probably continue to not be okay (and I think you'll enjoy that ride)

[what-ive-been-reading]

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

One Sentence Summary:

Lobotomized nun realizes God and his Angels suck so so much.

Did I Like It?

Yes and no. I'm probably not going to read it again for a long while because of the second person writing style. Like, I GOT IT right away and I really did like what it was immediately communicating to the reader, but god damn were the third person "flashbacks" a breath of fresh air. It was like surfacing from my own personal River.

That said, Tamsyn Muir is an expert of her craft and her voice carried me through this book. On my first reading attempt right after Gideon I actually stopped reading for months because I hated the prose. Fortunately, I just couldn't stop thinking about the juicy implications and all that angst waiting for me to crack open and slurp down like so much bone marrow. It was absolutely worth it.

If you're reading the book and you don't "get" or enjoy the second person perspective: just get through it. It'll be worth it, I promise.

This book is so good it makes me feel stupider for having read it. It's like it laid bare all my inadequacies with my own writing. This is a good thing. I think it's still distinctly Upmarket, but it sure as hell isn't Commercial. Many sections are downright Literary.

In short: if you liked Gideon, you need to read it. Simple as.

Would Another Me Have Liked It?

God, probably not? There's a 50/50 chance pretentious teenage me would have thought this was either revolutionary or pretentious. It's kind of both, and that's what makes it so good. It plays it all with a straight face.

I think 17 year old me would've put it on the same shelf as House of Leaves and The Gunslinger. Do with that what you will.

Expanded Thoughts:

THE IDEA OF THE PROSE DRIPS WITH ANGST AND CONTEXT BUT UGH

Undead bees are such a cool concept and I think that it paints what could've been a very boring and samey concept (world devouring space monsters) in a really unique way. Hive structure, colony orders, cooking vibrations, and having your mind fracture when you look at them all works SO well.

Unlike the first book, the humor landed much better this time for me. Again, I still think Gideon the Ninth was funny but sometimes it tried a little too hard. I do not feel that way about Harrow the Ninth.

Much like the first book, nothing here is surprising but that's okay. Some people I talked to about reading the book seemed shocked that I had figured so much out so instantly? Like, I do find that weird but I think it's very much a reader issue rather than a writer issue. Tamsyn Muir doesn't seek to surprise you. Tamsyn Muir hangs the Sword of Damocles above your head and occasionally gestures towards it as if to say "Eh? EHHHH???" while you worry about when it will eventually fall.

For real, just read the Dramatis Personae of these books and you'll figure out like 50% of what's happening, which makes figuring out the rest while reading easy. You have Uno. It literally comes free with your XBox.

I respect Tamsyn Muir's dedication to putting these two kids through the wringer. Honestly? I hope they never meet.

I WAS absolutely wrong about the girl in the Tomb. I thought that was going to be Nona but very clearly that is not the case. Excited to see what that's all about. Surely Harrow isn't going to do anything dangerous. She's so stable. If I came to this series when it was still a trilogy, however, I would have made the same called shot and landed exactly where I intended.

Man this series loves dinner parties. I really enjoy how characters just get to breathe for the vast majority of these books. The action scenes are great and all, but that's not why I'm here.

The book plays with death so well. Genuinely the stuff in the River might be some of the most fun I've had with a fantasy setting in an extremely long time.

When they're explaining why THEY showed up in the River, I picked up on the plan and said out loud "There is no way this stupid poem is going to show up now" but then it does and it works and it was EXTREMELY impactful. Christ what a finale. Ortus, man. What an excellent expansion for a character.

Called Shots:

Have they said it's the Earth Solar System yet? I feel like maybe they have? It's very clearly Earth, right? Did they say it in Gideon and just never bring it up again? It's nine planets, dog. You really think I'll be tricked by the First House actually being the third planet? You made the Ninth Pluto.

Who's Nona? Harrow's in the river, Gideon's where she is, and there are no other Ninth House teenagers. I think we have a real One Body Problem on our hands? Although John could probably fix that Gideon issue lickity split.

The rest of the galaxy is like, normal ass people who are under constant threat from the imperialist goths. Please this would be so funny if true.

[watcherscrown]

Do you have any convoluted military sifi recommendations?

Ooohhh, I really just started in on the genre kind of recently, and not all of these are military/serious. Tones will vary.

To start with a tumblr-popular series and all time fave

The Murderbot Diaries

This series is funny, not That convoluted but has a lot of world building, and includes a lot of shenanigans. Murderbot is a rogue AI/android trying its very best to not get attached to these dumb fragile humans. (Task failed successfully).

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie -

one of my few 5 star series. I love everything about the characters in this book. The main character is the AI of a destroyed spacecraft that is hundreds (thousands?) of years old. She used to be part of a hivemind made of overridden human corpses but is the only remaining part of the whole. And she's out for revenge.

Winter's Orbit and Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

In all honesty, these are both really romance novels set in a space-opera/military backdrop. I think I liked Ocean's Echo more than Winter's Orbit but I'm a sucker for soul-bonding tropes. These are both m/m romance books set in the same universe but each is a standalone book, and you can read them in any order. I did them backwards and it didn't make much of a difference. Winter's Orbit has a murder mystery/conspiracy plot and Ocean's Echo focuses more on the military system.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Is it fantasy? Is it scifi? Is it horror? YES. The Locked Tomb series starts out as a science/magic system oriented And Then There Were None murder mystery set all in one house, but the universe is sprawling and covers much more than that. The sequel, Harrow the Ninth is much more experimental in its prose style, and takes place on a spaceship. The third installment, Nona the Ninth, is more traditional military scifi that takes place on a conflict-ridden colonized planet. All very good.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Okay this one's not really convoluted or military but it is sci-fi and I love it a lot. This is an extremely claustrophobic book with a two-person cast set in an abandoned mining cave on a distant planet (moon? i don't remember). Very spooky very good and I love the two VERY flawed characters and their whole dynamic. The main character lies her way into a job recovering something from this old cave system, but the woman on the other line has an agenda of her own.

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention the series I'm reading now, the first or which is Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. it's about a space empire's extremely fucked up governing system and a military officer who gets bound to the revenant ghost of a dead war criminal. the first one is pretty dense but I'm enjoying the sequel better. Yoon Ha Lee is a trans man married to a man and these books have Lots of gender going on.

Things I haven't read yet but are on my list and I've heard good things about:

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The Outside by Ada Hoffman

The Light Brigade by Cameron Hurley

[hundchentanque]

I made this post on a discord with my buddies, but I enjoyed writing this out so much it gets posted here too. Slight Locked Tomb spoilers ahead.

So! For those interested and in need of background, Gideon the Ninth is the first book in the Locked Tomb series. So far the plot follows two characters, Gideon and Harrow who are both of the Ninth house. Harrow has been called by the Necrolord supreme, the Ressurected Emperor (the setting of the Locked Tomb takes place in a weird, necromantic version of the 1000 year reign of the saints from revelation. It is unknown if the Emperor is Jesus himself or if merely a necromancer who stakes the claim to that misunderstood poem-prophesy) to become a Lyctor (a demigod saint of undeath, who leads humanity's expansion and dominion through the stars. Think a Primarch from Warhammer 40k and you're on the right path).

In order to do so they are summoned to the planet of the House of the First (the Emperor's personal house and definitely Earth) from the House of the Ninth (location of the eponymous Locked Tomb and definitely Pluto) With Harrow to undergo trials and Gideon to act as her bodyguard.

The place that they arrive in (as well as all other prospective future Lyctors) is a massive castle built as its own island in the ocean itself, if you need help visualizing, think an oil rig but instead of a massive industrial building its a castle that doubles as a surface-to-space landing station. This is Canaan House, (probable) palace of the Emperor himself.

Chapter 7 of the book devotes its entirety to the description of Canaan House as Gideon explores it out of intrigue. The first thing the reader learns is that even the most livable areas of the house have become subject to oceanic decay; the air is usually humid, stuffy, and mold can grow nearly everywhere. Just in the suite that Harrow and Gideon are staying in, their bathroom has cracked and broken walls, who's tiled floor has patches of mold growing in the corner.

The great dining hall that is open for all of the teams from the houses to use has an immense glass roof, it now has netting underneath the roof so that birds don't get into the hall via the person-sized holes in the glass. Terraces have crumbled, gardens have wilted, and seaweed has grown in the lower sections of the castle proper. It's described both as a place that's too big and too dense: each door leads to another chamber, and stairwells cleverly loop back to previous rooms for expedient travel.

Some entire paths have been consumed by the ocean itself. Gideon finds a walkway which was intended to be pleasantly below or near the sea level, only now its tiles have been completely covered with seaweed to the extent that they look like little heads of hair swaying under the water.

Doors have rotted away so much that one might "Voyeuristically look through their nakedness to the rooms they didn't hide," immense swimming pools have turned green with mold, and training rooms have merely rusted away.

The book paints this slow, creeping change as inevitability rather than evil; there are no signs of struggle, no signs of battle, no marks of violence. The house is simply being eroded away by ocean and time.

This isn't to say that Canaan House isn't magnificent -- it most certainly still is -- but the rot and decay brought on by time and the ocean have given a new form to it's splendor, one which is appropriate for a place enhabited by old priests and skeleton-automata.

How fitting then, that the dreary and embittered Tomb-Cultists of the Ninth House find it so awe-inspiring.

[empty-pizza]

thoughts on harrow the ninth chapter forty-three

SHE REMEMBERS

AND I AM CONFUSED

LET ME KEEP READING AND GET MY BEARINGS ON WHAT'S GOING ON

this is fucky

it's not just retelling the memories harrow thinks she has

it's on some level a state of existence — where? not the river, is it? in harrow's mind? harrow was in some form experiencing it, but what part of harrow? when? underneath, in the subconscious? when she sleeps?

and are these somehow the real abigail and squad, or just in the mind? was this less false memories and more a play that abigail and squad were acting out for her?

has memories. a revenant.

harrow explains how taking away her ability to comprehend gideon takes away her ability to incorporate her, right. pretty much called a while back, after settling on memory fuckery over time fuckery. the crude systems she refers to include replacing gideon's name with ortus, naturally.

but she is, in fact, being haunted. hmm! hmm! a battlefield inside of her soul! raised an army to fight alongside her!

this is all being presented in a fairly lowkey way for something that PROVES WRONG MOST OF MY GUESSES ABOUT WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON! LIKE YEAH I GOT A LOT RIGHT, ABOUT REMOVING MEMORIES OF GIDEON, BUT I FELL FOR THE RED HERRING THAT THIS IS JUST FALSE MEMORIES! IT IS A BATTLEFIELD INSIDE HARROW'S SOUL. THIS IS ALL ADDING UP.

this definitely justifies this plot beyond just like... being for the sake of a twist. no, it was necessary to get as much of it as we did. it makes it worthwhile both because it's a real, relevant plotline, and because it's about real characters.

hmmmmmmm. i could be entirely wrong that the narration is gideon. that the sleeper is gideon. i could be right, but i could be wrong. it could be the body in the locked tomb. why does it refer to The Body instead of My Body, then? hmm. but the sleeper honestly makes more sense as a representation of an invasive soul than as a representation of gideon. that said i still think there's a fairly good chance it's gideon. i dunno, i just think that's a bit cooler.

but also, harrow didn't do any of this intentionally, it seems? did silas kill himself for the sake of leaving this because he thought it was lame? but didn't he kill coronabeth too? she's alive. maybe that was just a memory, not the real soul.

hmm. is she really being haunted, though? we're running back to the question of, how truthful is it that she entered the locked tomb, and how truthful is it that she saw the body this whole time? because it didn't seem like she saw the body during gideon. she did tell gideon that she entered the tomb, so i still feel like god is just wrong when he says she couldn't have. but then why would this be only starting now, this invasion? was the soul just, laying dormant? maybe it only decided it wanted to take over once she became a lyctor, since that'd be more useful than just a plain old prodigy necromancer.

"what a waste of a woman, to have ended her life at the bottom of the ladder" harrow is referring to my pecking order, and no, abigail wasn't at the absolute bottom. coronabeth was.

some of this is explaining things that were already clear, like how she just replaced memories of gideon with memories of ortus. but other stuff is wild. like i think i said earlier, it's a ply she was directing. how the people involved in the play that realized some of the other people were parodies of themselves. ooh, i wonder if i can notice that in some of the chapters — notice that they're acting weird. if you're reading this, i'd love comments pointing out specific examples.

okay, so this is just while she sleeps. wild.

man. this is such a clever thing to do with the structure of your book. remix the first book in such a way that's re-interpreting the old ideas, re-exploring characters that didn't get a chance, and still make it a relevant new plotline.

man. i really enjoy where these mysteries landed. i predicted a lot, correctly. and that's satisfying. but other aspects shocked me and surprised me with what was possible. i try very hard to hedge my bets and not go all in on things i shouldn't be sure about. but as time went on, i still made one false assumption — i thought it was just false memories, since it seemed like memory fuckery was the main thing going on. and it was more, and i was fairly gobsmacked. good book. very ambitious.

i do wish it was earned a little more instead of just finally dumped on us. i would have enjoyed if the mysteries were something that waking-harrow engaged with more, that she tried to figure things out, at least attempted some deductions about what her old self's plans were. engaged with the letters more. but this is still fairly good.

i do think i wasn't like... hit as hard by these twists as i wanted to be. i don't know how much of that was my own expectations, or too much confidence in things that ended up short of correct. i dunno. on a technical level this is really cool and well done but my adrenaline isn't pumping (and that happens, with really mind blowing twists).

but hey! there's still over 20% of the book left for craziness!

[anneapocalypse]

Elaborating on my feelings about this post a little, particularly in the context of video of games with high replay value like Dragon Age (which may not have been what the op was talking about at all, but that's what was on my mind when I saw it)!

I definitely think a good game of this type should give you a complete and narratively satisfying experience if you play it through one way and never return to it. (I mean there are also games like Zero Escape where discovering every ending is part of the "complete" experience but that's not the kind of game we're talking about here.) You should be able to play a Dragon Age game once and enjoy it without feeling like you got an incomplete story, just like (in my opinion) you should be able to pick up the game and enjoy it without having seen other canon material that is by definition supplemental. (Whether these particular games succeed at the latter is another discussion for another post).

I love a book that rewards a re-read--Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series really does this for me and I'm looking forward to re-reading them again before Alecto comes out, and I went back and checked and the OP even tagged Locked Tomb on that post which doesn't surprise me one bit. Because it's true! Going back and reading Gideon after you've read Harrow and understand more about both characters and know more about the world and have starting to pick up on the hints about the true nature of certain characters... it's a thrill! Not because the story was incomplete the first time or incomprehensible, but because now you have the additional context to see all the breadcrumbs the author was dropping in a new light and it's just so, so rewarding and so much fun.

And I also love games that give me high replay value not just because they're fun to play (and let's be real I am not starting my ninth run of DAO because I'm obsessed with the combat mechanics) but because every time I get to experience a slightly different story and see the world and the characters from different angles. There is so much more to experience that way than you can possibly get on one playthrough. (And that's good in this type of game! We want our choices to change the story.) In DA2 there are sides of characters you won't see if you've only taken the friendship route and never rivaled them. I've written before about the templar ending of DA2 and how it reveals things that the mage ending doesn't and yeah, it's a "bad" ending and not everyone wants to play it but it's still another story that has things to tell us about the world. (And I'd venture to say that sometimes, we don't necessarily realize we are talking from the basis of experiencing slightly different stories.)

I don't think a story should set out to confuse its audience (in general--there are instances where intentional misdirection serves a narrative purpose but that's a digression here) but I also enjoy the experience of playing a new game unspoiled and without walkthroughs the first time and letting the chips fall where they may, and maybe getting a "bad" outcome because I didn't fully get what a quest was about, because you only really get one shot at the Chaotic First Playthrough. Being confused because you're in a funhouse labyrinth but it's definitely leading you somewhere is different than being confused because the story doesn't make sense, you know? And that first playthrough isn't an incomplete story, it's just one of many different ways you can experience the game. There will be plenty of time after that to replay with more knowledge and build the perfect world state, or make it Worse, or just choose something different.

So yeah, a story should work on that first level, that single read or playthrough, in order to be successful, but my favorite ones are the ones that do give me a reason to come back, and either offer me a new experience or deepen the one I had before.

[bereft-of-frogs]

Favorite Books of 2022:

Okay here's the positivity, I've split my list into New vs Rereads.

New:

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir - not over it, obvious answer, what more is there to say?

In the Dream House, by Carmen Maria Machado - really clever and creative memoir, I'm currently rereading Her Body and Other Parties because I just love Machado's writing so much.

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - fun fact I originally read this because I'd gotten it for my friend as a late Christmas present last year but then read it before giving it to her, so it was the only one of my top 5 that I didn't own. Until this Christmas when I got it from my brother who, and I quote, 'googled what you should read if you like that lesbian space necromancer series' which is also 100% how I picked it out for my friend and also 100% true.

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt - the seminal dark academia text, I read 300 pages in a single day and I am already planning on going as Murdered Vermont Farmer using things already found in my closet for next Halloween.

The Fifth Season, by NK Jemisin - oh my god this was so good. Both an excellent example of how good second person narration can be and how satisfying good plot twists can be. I 'guessed' this one early and was so gratified as it developed.

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - what an unexpected delight for a book I essentially read because of BookTok drama. In case you'd already forgotten, the routine Classics vs YA drama took an unexpected turn in January when the first shot about how the booktok girlies should read Crime and Punishment was parried with 'um Crime and Punishment is a YA novel actually', and lead to 1) at least one Booktokker trying to read it and gifting us with their angry annotations like 'omg why is this book so bleak and depressing' (it's Russian Lit, there are so many memes about this) and 'um is this book really about him murdering an old lady' (yes that's the plot that's on the cover what did you think the 'crime' was), 2) a solid year of jokes, 3) me reading it sincerely and really enjoying it. So thanks booktok!

Ok, now onto the Rereads:

1. & 2. Gideon and Harrow - yup I read these both twice this year, still faves, still cry every time, not over them either.

3. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman - always a favorite.

4. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel - This one for sure hit different after COVID, but is still so, so good.

5. Lord of the Rings - I really like my new 3 in 1 copy, it’s so pretty and drives home that these are really one extended story spread across 6 volumes rather than a true trilogy, so yeah I recommend a 3-in-1 edition if you are in the market for LotR books. It does make it rather heavy to carry around, but at least it’s paperback and I found this one wasn’t too hard to physically read.

Honorable Mentions: Dracula (Dracula Daily was THE MOST fun I had all year), The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (takes place in the What We Do In the Shadows Universe you cannot take that headcanon away from me, Dracula is the #Drama, no notes, a worthy successor), The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (excellent), The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (the amount of hate this book gets on Tiktok is unnecessary and kind of toxic, imo), Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover (Stover, why are you Like This? Why?)

If anyone has StoryGraph and would like to follow me/be friends, I’m on there under bereft_of_frogs, so please feel free to friend me!

The #Salt (aka my bottom 5 books of 2022 and a little mini rant on each) under the cut:

2. Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo - Another really disappointing sequel that made me wish I’d stayed a Six of Crows duology-only girlie. Though I did really like King of Scars, specifically for the continuation of Nina becoming a necromancer and infiltrating Fjerda. That part really fell apart in this book. A lot of things fell apart. It honestly felt sort of like Bardugo just wanted to be finished with this universe? Because a lot of things were resolved in really weird ways and really quickly. It also felt like it lost some of the interesting nuance in the worldbuilding that SoC had. And of course, she really showed off how bad she is at portraying the passage of time in her writing with this one. I was given the impression by King of Scars that it was taking place months at most after the events of Crooked Kingdom, and then out of nowhere it’s actually been 2 years so Nina can totally move on! But it still never felt like it had been 2 years and I feel like the end of the grief narrative was really abrupt and I just…couldn’t get into the romance because of how rushed that resolution was. I hope she’s done with this universe, aside from whatever extra writing/retconning goes on with the TV series - or at least, I’m done with this universe aside from the TV series. In future rereads, I’ll likely stick to my unofficial trilogy of Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom/King of Scars.

2. Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo - Another really disappointing sequel that made me wish I’d stayed a Six of Crows duology-only girlie. Though I did really like King of Scars, specifically for the continuation of Nina becoming a necromancer and infiltrating Fjerda. That part really fell apart in this book. A lot of things fell apart. It honestly felt sort of like Bardugo just wanted to be finished with this universe? Because a lot of things were resolved in really weird ways and really quickly. It also felt like it lost some of the interesting nuance in the worldbuilding that SoC had. And of course, she really showed off how bad she is at portraying the passage of time in her writing with this one. I was given the impression by King of Scars that it was taking place months at most after the events of Crooked Kingdom, and then out of nowhere it’s actually been 2 years so Nina can totally move on! But it still never felt like it had been 2 years and I feel like the end of the grief narrative was really abrupt and I just…couldn’t get into the romance because of how rushed that resolution was. I hope she’s done with this universe, aside from whatever extra writing/retconning goes on with the TV series - or at least, I’m done with this universe aside from the TV series. In future rereads, I’ll likely stick to my unofficial trilogy of Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom/King of Scars.

3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by VE Schwab - This book is SO HYPED and for WHAT? I’m a big fan of lyrical, plotless writing, but that means actually having lyrical writing and no plot. This book just decided to do all the plot in the last 30 pages. So it was like 70% meandering, 30% rushed weird romance plot? And I’m sorry, I will NEVER be over the ‘not like other girls’ feminism of the main character. You cannot convince me that she would not have been in favor of the French Revolution. She’s an anti-clerical feminist but as soon as the Revolution happens it’s like ‘ew those peasant women are too violent, fuck all of them, I’m getting out of here.’ It’s a prime example of the hollow historical feminist archetype that is luckily starting to get some critique, where the main character fits perfectly with modern ideas of feminism, without the author actually having to put that much thought into their actual principles and how that fits into the historical context.

4. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, by Eric LaRocca - This one was just bad. Read like a first draft. Went nowhere, said nothing.

5. Nothing But Blackened Teeth, by Cassandra Khaw - I almost put this together with the above, because I think they had similar problems. Really under-developed, but at least this one had good writing. It was beautifully written, it just…went nowhere. The characters and their relationships were really surface level, and the intriguing premise just…never really went anywhere. Both I think get more hype than warranted because they’re rather short and they have striking covers. Both I compared to short films that a young/student horror director would send around to short film circuits or use as film school theses while they were working on developing and funding the feature-length project, but unfortunately that’s just not how book publishing works so we’re not going to get to see the fully developed works.

Dishonorable Mentions: Dead Space by Kali Wallace (just finished it, the flattest characters I think I’ve ever encountered in fiction), If We Were Villains by ML Rio (I had this rated higher and then I actually read The Secret History and was like…oh my God, this is so much worse, what a poor imitation), Winter’s Orbit (I feel real bad about this one but…maybe I just don’t like romance, but I could not stand how 50% of the book was just miscommunication), Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (still got 3 stars, but I think this one is just overhyped. If you want to know what reading this book is like, just watch the original trilogy, pause at any major plot point, watch the ‘are we the baddies?’ Sketch and then continue on), What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher (I also gave this one 3 stars, and I think it’s…really not that bad but I can’t stop thinking about the hubris of saying that you’re going to write a more fully fleshed out version of The Fall of the House of Usher and then add on a whole sub genre, 4 extra characters, another whole plot, and barely make it any longer)

[raven]

I’m not trying to get you crucified here but tbh I would love to hear your locked tomb criticisms and feel validated in mine

So like im not a professional hater for it bc i simply didnt like it and i only make well thought out analyses if i enjoy the thing a lot for whatever reason and to me tlt is more of a whimper than a bang. so this isnt the most well thought out & its been a year or maybe 2 since i read it. but lets go. i read the first 2 books & not nona the ninth btw, and i enjoyed gideon for the most part due to I Love Murder Mysteries. but once its no longer a murder mystery(& confined to one location) i felt like the whole thing fell apart. (That being said i will suffer through a LOT for a murder mystery) harrow the ninth was like.. confusing and i know thats the point but it couldnt carry itself well enough. like i like confusing narratives i like nonsense and i like it when it doesnt make sense. but it just like. wasnt.. good? i really cant elaborate without rereading and i dont really want to. Also it was very predictable which, how can u be confusing and predictable, idk, ask harrow the ninth

so like anyways the writing is pretty annoying. i cant say its bad writing because it's competent enough but it's like oh my god you referenced this meme from 2016 tumblr you are SO. FUNNY. like i felt like as soon as i would be like "ok this is real im getting into it" someone would drop the dumbest line in the entire world that was a reference to an outdated meme. (I wish i took notes in my book to give you an example but like... you know exactly what im talking about if you've read any of it lmfao) people are like "gideon is just annoying" and yeah, she really was, but her narration in the first book had much fewer meme references and it was therefore sooo much more tolerable imo. Like harrow was genuinely SO bad for it. but both books i read felt very very juvenile. like people will be like "it is NOT ya" but then why does it feel like ya. like ya isnt just subject matter, i would argue that the defining feature in all the ya i read as a teen was in its tone and style. and tlt totally has a similar tone. in an annoying way. like "oh funny and relatable" but like due to everyone talking like a 17 year old from tumblr.com in the year 2015 it was not like, atmospheric at all. and a lot of harrow the ninth is about The Vibe. And the vibe was not coming across well. it just completely prevented me from feeling like i was in another world in like, any way. and this is a pretty fantastical setting..

and now we move on to the fandom of it all. i saw a really good post a few days ago that i did not reblog or save but it was criticizing how ianthe specifically was written like, intentionally playing into fandom troping and it genuinely shows so hard and it's really annoying. like. ok. so i told my friend that ianthe was just discount nanami from utena. and they were like "that is not true because ianthe is a discount homestuck character, also how dare you say that about nanami." (Idk anything about homestuck so i cant tell you any more there) but isnt that crazy. she is a knock off of many. anyways so like her whole purpose is to i dont know. fuck things up in an incredibly non threatening manner? like she was not necessary but its like Omg #Failgirl! god i wish i could find the post because i am not putting it into words

i also generally found the relationships and characters to be pretty uncompelling. like i didnt really care about gideon and harrow it was like woah they like each other now. wasnt really feelin it. i know a lot of people like it and thats fine though. the characters i liked the best were camilla and palamedes and then they dropped the bomb that palamedes was a heterosexual and i was genuinely so upset. like the man had fag vibes. "Oh he could be bisexual" the thing is that he wasnt though. soooooo. this is like so unimportant but i really did feel very betrayed. bc like gay people exist in the series. and not him..? fuck off

Ok thats all for now good bye if anyone want me to reread the books and take notes and critique for real give me money i would do it and i would be so thorough. but i know i dont do these things often so you cant really trust my analysis skills so thats fine. anyways. yeah. um anon if you have thoughts on the books let me know i love to read them tbh. sorry this post is so long i am on my cell phone and i feel like it doesnt deserve a read more. sorry

[ravenking1771]

Nona the Ninth is Frustrating Boring and a waste of your time

Before I begin my Rant, Spoilers for The Locked Tomb

I have read Gideon the Ninth

Gideon was an amazing fun read with a protagonist who was dynamic action packed and emotionally cathartic.

I have read Harrow the Ninth

The book and plot was an igneous puzzle with a great payoff for some of the mysteries of this book and last and set up incredible possibilities for the third book

Nona the Ninth is frustrating and boring,

This issue is that this book is boring and frustrating because we follow a boring frustrating character who has no internal development.  The plot is disconnected from the previous book to such an absurd degree that I who just finished reading Harrow the Ninth the night before had to reread the ending to make sure I hadn’t missed something.  Nona is amnesiac with no history or personality and only a few strange gifts.  The first half of the book involves interesting characters waiting around on Nona to fucking remember anything or do anything interesting.  I never want to reread this book again because it is some much saccharine filler with only a couple of interest morsels for me.

The dominant mechanic is for reader to follow a mentally damaged Nona around who anytime she starts to hear or participate in something interesting is yanked off to go to school with Muir’s attempt at writing adolescents (not teenagers but kids who haven’t even reached puberty).  There is so much potential going! An interstellar rebellion against an immortal god-emperor! Revolutionary infighting! An approaching elder god monster thing! Which we only see through the eyes of disinterested uncomprehending and passive child.  Yes Nona is a child, she is written like a child and had all of the experience of a child.  There is absolutely no emotional connection to Nona only the most basic superficial and above all obvious emotional manipulation ever practiced.  Ever heard of save the cat (or dog in this case) that’s all over the first half of the book.  The manipulative aspect is so bad I felt my eyes rolling out of my head and is basic and formulaic that it boring.  Of course she loves animals and is kind and loving; god forbid she a personality beyond a bowl of white sugar. Gideon was raging fire straining against the hell she was born into.  Harrow was a self-destructive genius coming to terms with the abuse she suffered and the abuse she inflicted.   Nona is sweet, loving and kind to animals and

I have some simple rules with writing if the reader is bored you the author have failed.  If the reader is frustrated you the author have failed.  This book inspired boredom and frustration.  I read it quickly not because I like Nona but rather to finally figure out what the fuck was going with everyone.  Rather than enjoying the writing and events and the plot I started treating it like a wiki or a reference book; skipping until I reached the stuff that was important.

This unfortunately brings me back memories to another book. I had to slog through the boredom and frustration that was “A Feast for Crows” 750 pages of GRRM bad idea.  It is possible to be great writer and  make really bad decisions.  GRRM’s writing? Excellent! His characters? Great! His Plot? A mistake, anauthor getting lost in his theme and neglecting to progress his narrative and wasting the audience’s time. 

 Now I am not calling George or Tamsyn a bad writer, but they both made a boneheaded series of decisions.  Muir decides to radically change the entire style and characters for each book.  Actually when put like that Muir is crossing over M. Knight Shyamalan territory, using the change in main characters as a trope crutch the same way he used twists. She managed to pull this off in book two because we had grown to know and care for Harrow in Book 1 and thus when got to book two with an incredible examination of a brilliant yet fractured mind you got novelty but also a sense of progression and insight into the event staking place in the story.  But Nona never appeared in book 2 save as a nearly mute apparition. Thus in my case my frustration began to show through when I didn’t connect with that puddle of sugar water and I became bored with her class room antics and her little clique of rote friends.  I was sold with Gideon the Ninth and I raged when Gideon sacrificed herself to save Harrow and I was excited when Gideon reappeared at the end of book 2 and then nothing.  Forgive me for thinking the main protagonists of books one and two would make a significant appearance.  I loved Gideon and Harrow I endured the naivety and passivity of Nona.  Gideon and Harrow had relatable experiences and emotions, Nona had a nonsensical and alien and utterly relatable existence created through magic and plot contrivance.

I had to endure years of reading bullshit form supposedly smart people telling me that A Feast for Crows and a Dance with Dragons was anything other the author dropping the ball. His editor should have slapped twice in the face and told him to finish the goddamn story rather than dick around with the dozen or so secondary characters he shoves into every book.  I have heard your excuses “But it’s supposed to be frustrating and boring” “It’s an intermission”  you know what in movies we don’t see the heroes going to the bathroom waiting in line or walking down a hall because it is boring, someone once told me books are real life but without the boring bits. George and Muir created books with all of the boring bits and interesting shit cut out.  Muir created an amazing openly book and a great follow-up but she has zero consistency and an inability to concentrate on the characters themes and storytelling that people to pick her books in the first place.  She wants to write something else, something different? Fine start a new series or write some short stories they can even be in universe but she needs to stop yanking the audience around and actually be consistent for five minutes.  I was promised lesbian duelist and necromancers and I aim to collect.  If she has no intention then announce that she ain’t finishing the series and allow us to write our own fan endings.

Oh for those wondering why I think Muir screwed the fuck up with her saccharine plot it was because in the space of thirty minutes I cam up with a better4 central plot.  Simple give us Harrow and Gideon trading bodies like Camilla and Palamedes and then you can slip Nona-Alecto-Gaia-whatthefuck-whoever in as a mysterious third personality/soul.  Now you have characters we give a fuck about and the new kid that rather than causing the reader to overdose on artificial sweetener is diluted with Gideon’s bravado and Harrows brooding.

[ryttu3k]

End of the year book asks! Which I'm just... going to fill out. Original post here.

1. How many books did you read this year?

As of posting this on December 15th, it's 36, with a note that I am including zines over 100 pages. Will update at the end of the year! Edit: 38!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Reread Gideon and Harrow the Ninth in preparation for Nona's release!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Okay. I am going to categorise.

Favourite novel: Tamsyn Muir - Nona the Ninth

Favourite novella: Becky Chambers - A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Favourite series: Seanan McGuire - Wayward Children

Favourite anthology: Xenocultivars - Stories of Queer Growth

Favourite zine: Archive of the Odd (available here, only read issue 1 so far but I have issue 2 purchased and ready to go!)

Favourite unexpected addition to my reading list: Bram Stoker - Dracula

Other favourites of note: Travis Baldree - Legends & Lattes, RoAnna Sylver - Stake Sauce 2 and Life Within Parole vol 2, Freydis Moon - Exodus 20:3

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

Read the Wayward Children series, would be quite happy to look into more of Seanan McGuire's writing!

5. What genre did you read the most of?

I am sitting comfortably in my SFF hole, thank you.

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

*laughs in excessively long TBR*

7. What was your average Goodreads Storygraph rating? Does it seem accurate?

4.32, which seems pretty solid!

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

I did, averaging three new reads a month!

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Is 'gothic horror that is actually all about The Power Of Friendship' a genre?

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

Nona the Ninth Nona the Ninth I cannot reiterate how much I goddamn adore Nona the Ninth. Sob.

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Dracula has been out for. A while lmao

12. Any books that disappointed you? 13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

Mm. I don't like naming names because I can totally see people enjoying it, but there was one novel in particular that I felt didn't quite stick the landing. I gave it a 6/10 rating.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

I'd like to get in Where The Drowned Girls Go (the last Wayward Children book currently out, the next one is due in January!), which will be easy enough because it's a novella, and probably one other. Edit, 16th December: Done!

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year? What did you think of them?

I got into the Wayward Children series, most of those either won or were nominated for the Best Novella nebulas, and which won this year's Best Series. This Is How You Lose The Time War won that category for the Hugos, Nebulas, and Locus in 2020; Binti: Home and Night Masquerade were also nominated for Hugos.

Also I feel Dracula's probably won a few awards. Probably.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Oh, hm! I don't know, most felt like a suitable level of hype.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Dracula. Dracula. I expected to read it as like, a pivotal vampire/horror novel that I felt lowkey obligated to get through but I fucking loved it. At least part of that was the Dracula Daily experience but damn, I really liked that book.

18. How many books did you buy?

.......significantly more than I actually read. Awkward laughter at my Kobo account.

19. Did you use your library?

I did!

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Nona the Ninth, and it absolutely did. I knew I would be goddamn deceased after it and I very much!! was!!

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

No drama here!

22. What's the longest book you read?

The Harrow reread is the only one that tops 500 pages, although both the Gideon reread and Nona are in the 400s.

23. What's the fastest time it took you to read a book?

I mean I can knock out a novella in an hour?

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Nope!

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

Read more novels. I read a lot of novellas and anthologies this year!

[rebeccadumaurier]

December 2022 Reading Review

last monthly reading reflection of the year!!! woooo. see y'all in 2023 :)

books read this month

1. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde

delightful sci-fi mystery by an author who loves literature and loves worldbuilding! made me remember why i love reading. the characterization’s a bit thin and the plot is just okay, but the uniqueness of the setting is marvelous

2. If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha

it was alright—interesting examination of beauty standards and misogyny in korean society, but trying to split it into four POVs / only vaguely intersecting storylines in <300 pages was a little too ambitious and i didn’t really get to know any particular character that well.

3. Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee

worldbuilding is dense as hell and none of it is really explained, with little exposition. nonetheless, the two lead characters are delightful, their interactions are compelling, and if you’re willing to put up with not knowing what’s going on and enjoy military SFF with lots of queerness, this one might be for you! really liked this

4. Floating, Brilliant, Gone, Franny Choi

early franny choi not as compelling as later franny choi. it was just okay. couldn’t really remember any lines

5. Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, Akwaeke Emezi

an epistolary memoir! what a charming idea. talks a lot about queerness and emezi’s relationship with writing and divinity and love. the prose is lovely, without ever getting too bogged down in excesses

6. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke

i swear i rounded up my 4.5 stars just because it was such an accomplishment to finish (reading AND writing) this book. alternate history and the ugliness of war and horrible characters abound and aggressive britishness and faery lore as told in lavish footnotes and cozy fantasy, all in one (very long) book. what a marvel, what an innovation. (and now that i’ve read both this and the secret history, i HAVE to read babel since it’s a response to both)

7. Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee

the sequel to ninefox gambit! if you can get me to read the sequel to a book within only a few weeks of reading the first, that’s an accomplishment in itself, since i usually like to cool down a bit before leaping to sequels. even better than the first, since i had a slightly better handle on the worldbuilding and there’s a lot more focus on developing the cast as a whole—i got really attached to some of the non-lead characters in this one. DELIGHTFUL plot twist, comparable to harrow the ninth’s pov plot twist

8. Bestiary, K-Ming Chang

prose is beautiful and excessive and indulgent (complimentary) but it was hard for me to follow what was going on. i think i don’t have the background needed in oral storytelling tradition, mythology / folklore, etc to really understand its nuances—it felt more like a series of disconnected events than a narrative. nevertheless, it’s very queer and diasporic and poetic (in a good way), and i support writers being experimental and ambitious

9. Waste Tide, Chen Qiufan, trans. Ken Liu (favorite of the month)

oh!!! this is set in guangdong (where i went to high school) and the locality was rendered beautifully, even set in a more futuristic cyberpunk version. it made me miss home even as it illustrated home as the ugly place it is. also just very neat & interesting as an SF thriller about environmentalism and capitalism

10. The Sundial, Shirley Jackson

weird horrible people being weird and horrible to each other. not my preferred sort of atmosphere (i like more outright horror and this was more like a domestic dark comedy), but atmospheric nonetheless. enjoyed the ending and this has absolutely top-tier hilarious dialogue. as usual, jackson raises a lot of interesting questions she never answers, which i admire but don’t feel the need to ponder too much—i enjoy simply that she’s raised them, and the mystery of it all

(+ bonus: reread Gideon the Ninth this month in two sittings and wept my fucking eyes out)