J'avais des astres dans les yeux

In Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir the author has drilled through my skull and exposed my meme-addled brain for all that it is. Muir has also made me weep all shapes of tears (except onion. Though who knows what Alecto the Ninth has in store). Second books of trilogies are either really good or really bad in comparison to their bookend brethren. HtN is not even comparable to GtN. Meaning I can't say if it's better or worse, it's just different.

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I was blown away by this book. I can't even get into most of the amazing things without spoilers though :^(

I think it's masterfully crafted. I think Muir is extremely talented. And I can't even imagine what she has in store for the final book after this.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir has got to be, hands down, my favorite read of the year. How could I find anything as good in the last four months of the year? Unless it's, you know, maybe Harrow the Ninth (but I have yet to get my hands on it).

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In summary: this book was amazing. I love it dearly. And please take a very good look at the cover because it took me so long to realize in the kindle thumbnail that Gideon is wearing sunglasses. I love her so much. Muir's excellent, refreshing, writing style and the plethora of characters are not to be overlooked! Look at them!

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi was recommended to me on Twitter when I said "Six of Crows sux" and I'm absolutely floored that I had never heard of this book before. It was amazing. Everything SoC failed to deliver and more!

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I highly recommend this book. The author clearly put so much into it and it shines. It's a parade of OOHs and AHHs and OH NOs and YESs. There's so so much greatness in this book I hope everyone can enjoy it.

May books.

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This is why I don't read memoirs

To be consistent, a small review for Asunder by David Gaider another book in the Dragon Age novel series.

This book sucked yo! What happened?? I thought Gaider had improved after I read The Calling and I was expecting Asunder to be comparable, but NOPE. Even the characters were bland and sad.

All Rhys did was whinge and play the centrist whilst pretending he had any iota of radicalism in him. Why on earth was he even in the Libertarian mage fraternity????? And Evangeline was the boring standard Templar who turns a blind eye to the worst of her Order then all of a sudden thinks mages deserve more than being abused in a tower all their lives, somehow. In fact I don't even remember how or why she changed her mind what the hell. Cole was boring too, Weekes really gave him an overhaul for Inquisition. Wynne, consistently as annoying as in Origins, but less talkative I think. Adrian was that bitch and honestly nothing regarding mage freedom would have been accomplished without her yet she's shown negatively by the end of the book. Why the hell did Rhys even vote for separation? Just for plot convenience. He was so wishy washy about EVERYTHING. And I really hate that the final decision was basically left up to him by, for some fucking ridiculous reason, having been chosen as the speaker for the Aequitarian fraternity HE WAS NOT EVEN IN. ?????? OK 👌

Uh the rest of the plot? Who cares lmao.

Came across The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein on runpunkrun's April 11th Weekend Update post in the form of this tweet

Hey, you! Are you into cruel, beautiful, tormented, jealous, incestuous princes? Because I just discovered Elizabeth Wein's 1993 Arthurian Mordred retelling called THE WINTER PRINCE, and it's the iddiest thing in id-town. It's THE CRUEL PRINCE, but make it gay and take it to 11
— Shelley Parker-Chan (shelleypchan) April 6, 2020

I have not read The Cruel Prince and I only vaguely have an idea of what it's about (but am most definitely conflating it with other books about... fairies??)
Even so, I remember having slight interest in it when it came out. The words "cruel" and "prince" call out to me, but I have yet to care for fairies. So here's this Mordred "retelling" and my library has it on Overdrive. It's a go 👍

It's only around 200 pages so I just read it in one sitting rn. And I loved it.

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Also I wouldn't really say it was "gay", even though Medraut's focus is on his brother Lleu it doesn't really come across as an LGBTQ+ story, not even in subtext (and I live for subtext).

I didn't set out to read I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid today. In fact, I had forgotten the library loaned it to me digitally until I checked my account while logging into their wifi. I spent all 4 hours I was there, on my laptop reading it. It sucked me in and the page count was pretty small at around 146 pages so I couldn't stop myself from finishing it in one sitting. Btw it's another rec from delphi's End of Year: Ten Best Reads of 2019! That's 2 for 2 of the ones I was interested in!

I recommend not reading any blurb about it because they're kind of misleading. It hypes up an aspect that comes way late in the book and therefore will tarnish your reading with false expectations. Basically, it's about a woman who is thinking of breaking up with her boyfriend, but she still goes on a trip with him to have dinner at his parent's house before she decides.

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My Life as a Goddess by Guy Branum isn't the type of book I usually read. Meaning I don't read memoirs. The last memoir I read was pre-2010 unless you count The Keys by DJ Khaled that I read in 2017 which I think was intended to be more of a self-help book. I have no idea why I don't read memoirs even though I love reading about people's days on Twitter and here on Dreamwidth. It might be that I don't particularly care about celebrities so I don't gravitate toward that kind of book (even though not all memoirs are about celebrities. And the one I read before 2010 was about a Chinese woman's family and was really good!). Anyway, this book was in delphi's End of Year: Ten Best Reads of 2019 The excerpt caught my attention so I borrowed the book from my local library and I liked it!

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Bet The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was on point when it first came out in 1886 and no one was spoiled about the last chapter.

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While I must mention that I first read this volume a year ago I decided to write up some lingering thoughts on it since I just read volume 2.
Dragon Age Library Edition Volume 1 includes the comics: The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, and Until We Sleep.
Story - Gaider, Script - Freed, Art - Hardin, Colors - Atiyeh, Lettering - Heisler.
CW: transmisogyny

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