Book Review: The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard

Crown Prince Silvyr Quilen is the family disappointment. His father, High King Keryth Quilen of Athowen, wanted a son to follow in his image of an elven warlord who rules with no regard for those around him and will do anything to maintain his power. However, the king finds Silvyr's desire to spend his days in the flowers and libraries to be pathetic and useless.

Despite that, Silvyr strives to receive his father's approval. On a diplomatic journey to Xeatia, where he was meant to collect taxes and return with a report on their financial situation, Silvyr is suddenly forced to confront the consequences of his father's actions when the Orcs of Ghizol attack his caravan.

Chief Brokil of Ghizol has been tasked with leading and protecting his people. For years he sacrificed and waged war to ensure the people who voted for him to lead could live in peace. For that reason, the risk was worth the reward. With the approval of the Ghizol council of elders, Brokil executes his plan: kidnap the Prince of Athowen, Silvyr Quilen, and send their ultimatum to the King. Leave Ghizol alone, or have his heir be killed.

Keeping Silvyr as his ward, Brokil finds that while the prince is the most annoying person he's ever met, he is also nothing like his father who carries the name Tyrant King. Absolutely bewildered and exhilarated, Silvyr and Brokil are forced to confront themselves and each other while the looming threat of Ghizol's demands hang over them.

I had seen this book be shared around a lot on bookstagram, so when it was available for free on Amazon, I downloaded it. The vibe I've seen is "this is spicy! 👀" but this book actually turned out to have lots of plot that was interesting to read about. 

Silvyr tries so hard to be the kind of son his father wants, but his father always sees him as too soft and cowardly regardless of what he does, and blames him for things he has no control over. His home life is so intolerable that getting kidnapped is a respite; even though hunky Chief Brokil yells at and insults Silvyr, at least he isn't also physically abused like he is at home, and he can look at flowers as much as he wants. 

Brokil, whose father the previous chief died at the hands of the elves, strives to live up to his role and feels the weight of his clan's existence on his shoulders. Certain that the Tyrant King's son is just as monstrous as his father, Brokil is surprised to learn that attractive Silvyr would rather learn about flowers than wage war, is soft-spoken when not in a yelling match, and is actually sort of nice?

Both men fight, and eventually give in to, their attraction to one another, but the political issues between their peoples create tension. Silvyr knows his captor could--and will, if the clan's demands aren't met--kill him, and he knows he should be doing everything in his power to escape and go home, including using Brokil's attraction as a possible manipulation tactic, but Ghizol feels more like home than his father's palace ever did. Brokil knows Silvyr could be manipulating him with his wiles, and knows the time may very well come when he needs to kill Silvyr, but he doesn't know if he can bring himself to do something that feels so wrong. 

I enjoyed this book and found it very interesting. My criticisms are really more quibbles: it sort of felt like the two leads slotted too neatly into M/F romance lead dynamics (Silvyr being kind of a damsel in distress* while Brokil is so much bigger and manlier than him etc. To be fair this is a common thing I've seen in M/M romances), and I was confused about their size differences (I swear the book initially said that Silvyr only came up to Brokil's chest, but the rest of the book sounded like they were closer in height than that, like the cover shows? This may just be that I'm stupid). I also felt that Silvyr and the other characters took way too long to figure out the solution at the end. Overall I recommend this to anyone who likes romantasy with spice but also plenty of plot. 

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Read in: March 24-27
From: Amazon

Genres/classification: fantasy, romance, romantasy, monster romance if you squint, some political intrigue

Tropes: enemies to lovers, kidnapped by a rogue you fall in love with, falling in love with one's kidnapper, forced proximity, there's only one horse, there's only one tent, there's only one bed, "they're only sleeping with me to manipulate me for political reasons" etc., healer x warrior, that thing when a presumed bad guy saves/rescues a child, showing that he's actually a good person

Representation: trans man MC, gay relationship, Silvyr gives off neurodivergent vibes (I saw a review that said he's autistic), sapphic couple mention (blink and you miss it), inter-species relationship. There is no transphobia or homophobia in this book

Trigger warnings: torture, murder, blood, gore, a character is beat unconscious, a character is whipped, verbal, emotional, and physical abuse; battles/fighting, kidnapping, threats of death/execution, inferred threat of sexual assault (doesn't happen), characters are kidnapped into slavery (they are freed and the slavers get what they deserve), Silvyr experiences dysphoria, dubious/non-explicit consent for some of B&S's ~encounters~

*sorryyyyy that felt shitty to write about a trans man character! That is how he and their dynamic were written tho

Book review: The Classic Tales of Beatrix Potter

The March pick for The Enchanted Book Club was the tales of Beatrix Potter. I loved them growing up, as I did all animal books. My sister and I had a mini BP book set in a cardboard drawer that I think my grandma had thrifted; she (my sister) still has the drawer and the remaining books that haven't been lost. I checked out The Classic Tales of  Beatrix Potter: The 23 Original Peter Rabbit Books from my work library since I don't own them (yet). I had read most but not all of them; I don't think I'd read the pigs', hedgehog's, or squirrels' stories. The story I remember best is that of Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail, who fall into Farmer McGregor's hands after eating too much lettuce; that story taught me the word soporific.

I enjoyed the stories very much; the art is beautiful and realistic, with each detail lovingly rendered. The animals really look like their real-life counterparts; Beatrix Potter was a nature illustrator, so this makes sense. The animals are so cute in their little clothes. I had to force myself to slow down and stop reading so fast and look at the pictures. I used to pore over the illustrations as a kid; who knows when that stopped?

I had read an article a while back about how heavily Beatrix Potter had borrowed from the Brer Rabbit stories without crediting them; this kept me from fully enjoying the stories as much as the first time around. So fucked up to steal folklore stories from enslaved people who were literally stolen from their countries and those stories were the only things they had left from their home countries, right?? That really bothers me. She should have been honest about her stories being based on someone else's stories. I was going to bring it up during the bookclub zoom meeting but I chickened out (there wasn't time for everyone to talk anyway). 

Something I'd completely forgotten about was how often the animals are in danger from humans. Of course I'd remembered the danger Farmer McGregor posed to the Peter Rabbit family, but I was kind of surprised by how often the threat of humans turned up with the other animals. It makes sense that the animals would hunt each other and whatnot, as they do in nature/the real world; what weirds me out is that these are sentient, talking animals who often wear clothing and walk on their hind legs, yet the humans in the BP world have zero qualms eating them. If I had talking animals as my neighbors, who could say good morning to me and inquire as to the direction of the market, I would not feel comfortable seeing them as food options, let alone killing and eating them. Why don't the humans consider killing and eating a sentient, talking, clothes-wearing animal to be murder? There's a story where a sailor manipulates a young pig (aka a child) into going on a ship with him, then feeds the pig until he falls asleep, and the ship takes off with the pig trapped on board, all so the sailors will have a pig to fatten and eat on their voyage! That's basically human trafficking, albeit with a pig. No one feels a moral quandary about this? The pig story is BP's fanfiction about how the pig with a ring in its nose got to that island the owl and the pussycat go to in the poem. Funny how she did credit that story. 😒

Anyway, highly recommended. If you want to read this to young children, keep in mind a lot of the animals are often in danger from predator animals and human beings, and a decent percentage of them get animalnapped. That may scare or bother toddlers and small kids; I know my nephews would be like "but why??" 

Score: ★★★★.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: March 17-27
From: borrowed from the library where I work

Genres/classification: children's books, children's literature, children's classics, picture books, picture books anthology, animal books, English literature, low fantasy

Narnia bloggin': the different Chronicles of Narnia covers I collect

Previously: the first post in this series

I mentioned previously how I collect multiple editions of The Chronicles of Narnia that have different covers, which I brought up because of the announced upcoming new TCON covers by artist Owen Richardson that I wanted to talk about in my previous Narnia Bloggin' post. That got me thinking about all of the different cover editions of the TCON series that I own, and I decided to turn my Narnia bloggin' post into a series so I can post about all of them. Unless otherwise stated, I collected all of these by looking for them in thrift stores and yard sales and slowly buying them one by one as they turned up. I don't think I paid more than $3-5 for each copy. 

I first read The Chronicles of Narnia at my local public library, and they all mostly had these deeply strange and ugly neon illustrated covers that I nonetheless have a lot of nostalgia for. The cover for The Magician's Nephew (MN) is especially imprinted in my mind, as it was the first Narnia book I ever read. A quick google let me know that these are the 1970 Collier Books set with art by Roger Hane. I picked up from my various readings and Narnia fandom presence that these were made for the American market, although I may not be correct.

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For the most part, these covers mostly seem to be the artist's take on scenes from the book, probably inspired by the preexisting inside illustrations by Pauline Baynes, whose illustrations remain inside of all of the different versions of the full Narnia books I've ever seen (even the mostly un-illustrated omnibus retains one of her illustrations to head each chapter). I don't remember if PB actually drew the four Pevensie children going into the wardrobe and Narnia the way Hane has for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (LWW), and the cover illustration for MN is drawn from a description of the children and Jadis emerging from a pool in the Wood Between the Worlds (Jadis had indeed grabbed Polly by the hair). The disembodied giant head of Aslan above Shasta and Bree on the cover of The Horse and His Boy (HHB) is, of course, artistic license. Overall, good and accurate covers, if a bit strange. I own all seven.

~

The first Narnia books set I ever owned was the 1990s ones with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon, a married couple and fantasy & science fiction illustration powerhouses who have illustrated a lot of famous books. I believe the brass-looking wardrobe frame around each cover illustration was made by one or both of them too. I think it's supposed to depict a dryad (?) and a dwarf welcoming you into the wardrobe and Narnia. As a child I received one book for each birthday and Christmas in a four-year span; my parents undoubtedly thought seven books were too many and too expensive to bestow upon me at once. 

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MN focuses solely on its antagonist, as does LWW; the rest depict pivotal scenes in their respective books (well, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [VotDT] depicts the Dawn Treader just sailing on the water, a popular choice for the book). The Dillons' art is very detailed and has a bit of an alien, weird quality. The title areas all having different colors is a good idea to help tell them apart. I highly recommend clicking on the source link below the above image to see the original poster's other pictures of the covers.

~

After the Disney LWW movie I got into the Narnia fandom online and became aware of other book covers. 

One of my favorites is Cliff Neilsen's TCON covers; they're computer illustrated and feel fresh and modern. I especially love the flame lion Aslan that adorns the omnibus. 

 

 

The transparent, scifi-looking elements make the books seem spookier then they (generally) are. Looking at the covers now, they do rather look like products of their times, but I do still like them a lot. The LWW cover is probably my favorite. I own all of these except for The Magician's Nephew, for some reason.

~

Like most book lovers, I generally disdain movie tie-in book covers, but I did get the ones for the Disney Narnia movies. My mother actually bought me the LWW tie-in Narnia omnibus (the one with the White Witch), which a friend of hers had at her yard sale or something. I did not want to buy it myself because it only depicts art from the first book/movie (the fire Aslan omnibus pictured above is general so it was ok in my opinion). However, a gift is a gift. Owning that omnibus is what made me decide to buy the other movie tie-in covers. 

 

I genuinely cannot recall which of the two LWW movie covers is the one I have; maybe one is on the LWW omnibus? I cannot recall. I have all of these except for VotDT (I actually just purchased the movie cover Prince Caspian earlier this year). There seem to be a couple of variant covers for each of the movie tie-in books. 

~

There are many TCON series that have cover art by Pauline Baynes, the original illustrator; at least in the US, her illustrations within the TCON books always remain, regardless of the cover art. The ones I've decided to collect are the full-color collector's editions in paperback (identical to the hardcover ones shown below).

source

 

The MN, LWW, HHB, and VotDT covers show idyllic scenes from the books (Aslan did romp with Susan and Lucy, although there was no mention of a daisy chain); the other three books' covers show more suspense. These are good, if a bit precious and of the time. Having the inside illustrations be in full color is very nice, as is the thick glossy paper. My most recent thrift store trip yielded a slightly creased copy of the full-color VotDT, so now I have all of them! 🤩

Obviously, I could track these down and order them online, instead of getting them from the thrift store as they show up, but where's the fun in that? 

AMAZING website I just found in looking up the different covers!!

Book Review: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

When a wealthy widow and member of the King’s Abbot community takes her own life by overdose and the next day her fiancé, Roger Ackroyd, is stabbed to death, the local villagers are left in shock as rumours begin to circulate regarding the mysterious deaths. Did Roger Ackroyd know too much? Was money the motive? Was it something more sinister?

Detective Hercule Poirot emerges from his recent retirement to solve the case of his friend, Roger. Finding the answers won’t be without its challenges as just a few clues are left behind, most alibis are solid and twists lie behind every corner.

Death, blackmail and an unexpected ending come together in this enthralling novel that belongs on the bookshelf of every murder mystery enthusiast.

I love Agatha Christie mysteries; they are classics for a reason. I bought this slim copy (supposedly published by Bibliotheca Classica, a streamlined version without even page breaks for new chapters) from Something Novel Booksellers during one of their sales. I don't remember if there's a book summary on the back of my book (the summary above I grabbed from Amazon) but I probably didn't read it; I just knew it was a Hercule Poirot book due to the cover, and that's all I needed to know. I like Poirot; he's a cracking detective and a nice man with a rather stereotypical French accent (he is Belgian). 

We go through a good chunk of the book without even meeting Poirot, instead focusing on the relevant cast of characters and other gossipy members of the village. There's the eponymous murder victim, stabbed in a room he had locked from the inside; his dependent sister-in-law (money-hungry and annoying) and niece (beautiful, pushed to marry her step-cousin), the big game hunter friend who had gifted Roger the murder weapon, the too-cheerful secretary, the suspicious and secret-keeping servant staff, and the no-show stepson (handsome, went through money like water, and vanished right after his stepfather was murdered). There's also our narrator the village doctor, who knew and treated everyone; his queen of gossip spinster sister, her cronies, and their mysterious foreign neighbor... 

This was an excellent and twisty mystery, and I did not see the ending coming! Spoilers, highlight to read: the narrator was the murderer??? HOLY SHIT AC'S MIND 🤯🤯🤯 And for him to hide the stepson to "protect" him from being arrested when really it was to throw suspicion on him!!! I don't super get why the doctor felt he had to kill Roger though? All he had to do was use chloroform or something to knock him out and steal the letter. Anyway, highly recommended to anyone who likes murder mysteries!

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0
Read in: March 14
From: Something Novel Booksellers

Genres/classification: mystery, murder mystery, whodunnit, crime, English literature

Trigger warnings: murder, blood, suicide, drug overdose suicide, drug addiction, blackmail, classism

You can read my reviews of the other Agatha Christie books I've read by clicking on my Agatha Christie tag below.

Book Reviews (ish): The Meddle & Mend series by Sarah Wallace redux

I heard about the Meddle & Mend series by Sarah Wallace from a bookstagrammer I follow who loves and promotes the books almost more than the author does. The first one was free, and as it was billed as a Regency cozy queer romance, I obviously downloaded it. I read them during my big summer East coast trip where I went from my annual conference to visit my aunt in Maryland and then stay with my sister and her family for a week during their trip to New York. Reader, I loved the book so much I immediately downloaded the next ebook, and repeated this (read & downloaded the next) for each book in the series. I almost never do that! The rapidity with which this became one of my favorite series is remarkable, as is them becoming one of my comfort series despite only having read them once. Since last July I've been fighting the urge to reread the series at least once a month, which also never happens. Here's a meme I made depicting my monthly struggle: 

I finally gave in to the urge last month because the sixth book in the series was released! I reread all five M&M books over the weekend, and then (after a struggle with stupid B&N who had put a hold on my account for no reason) downloaded and read the sixth book. I thought I'd do a mini rundown review (such as it is) of each book since I didn't have time or space to do so last time I reviewed them. All of the books take place in the same world: a sort of alternate Regency England that has magic and is queernorm, racism-free (and consequently racially diverse), and mostly free of sexism. Classism and poverty still exist, and birth order has replaced patriarchy: firstborns take the place of eldest brothers in terms of inheritance and heading the family after the parents die, plus having more freedom re: reputation. I appreciate the lack of sexism and homophobia etc. as a socially conscious reader, but at some point the genre (Regency historical romance) stops being what it is, plus it raises questions* about the world-building.

Mild spoilers throughout because that's who I am as a person

Letters to Half Moon Street - (synopsis) The first book in the series is an epistolary novel, consisting mainly of letters between Gavin Hartford, who is lonely and bored in London, and his sister Gerry, who is visiting family in Tutting-on-Cress (a country village), plus a few between Gavin and his new friend Charles Kentworthy, who Gerry thinks may be interested in her brother... Gavin is very introverted, shy, antisocial, and terrified of other people (mood), so it is up to charming extrovert Charles to make the friendship happen and make Gavin leave the house and do stuff around London. I enjoyed watching their relationship develop, but I didn't see why Charles needed to be so pushy (why make Gavin take up boxing when he hates it? Why didn't Gavin stand up for himself and say no?). Charles basically made the entire relationship happen himself, and he had to force Gavin every step of the way. Despite my frustrations with the characters, I really liked this book. The story is a bit slow-moving, but in a nice calm way; it's an enjoyable world to live in for a bit. Gay and pan rep, I believe. ★★★★, 0 chili peppers as there's no spice, just kissing and sex work mentions

 

One Good Turn - (synopsis) The second book is written in third person limited (I think), as is most of the rest of the series. Poor, barely-working-class Nell protects a rich man (Charles) from being robbed, kicking off a series of events that change her life. The crimelord, not happy that Nell's sympathy cost him money, sends her and her best friend Pip (who is the crimelord's lover) to steal a magical artifact from a viscount who happens to be Charles's best friend Bertie (we meet him in book 1 but he's not a big part of it). Bertie recognizes Nell's and Pip's magic abilities and offers them a chance to live and study magic with him. Nell jumps at the chance, and begins the life she always dreamed of. She also has to figure out her relationship with her friend with benefits (whose name I of course forgot), a single mother who has no time to go out with her (Nell is ridiculously slow at understanding this). Nell is, as far as I can tell, an aromantic lesbian who is allosexual; the representation is on-page but of course those terms are not used. She's also fat but I didn't pick up on this while reading the book; it may just be a throwaway mention. This book talks about sex much more frankly and frequently since it's from Nell's POV and poor people are not protected from reality the way upper-class people are (there are sex worker characters). This book is sadder and more angry-making than book 1 (it's implied that Pip was groomed into being the crimelord's lover; he basically raised Nell and Pip so that skeeved me out). There is a list of trigger topics in the beginning of the book, plus you can ask me for specifics. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 🌶🌶

The Education of Pip - (synopsis) Don't worry, Pip is rescued from the awful crimelord who groomed him into a sexual relationship after having basically raised him and, it turns out, forced him into sex work. Pip is thrown in jail, which gives Bertie an opportunity to whisk him away from London and his abuser, and takes Pip to live with Charles, Gavin, & Gerry in Tutting-on-Cress (Bertie has a house there too). Like Nell, Pip is taught to read and write and about magic, but he has a lot of healing to do. The T-O-C gang and their staff are so gentle, patient, and understanding with Pip; for him to finally be treated with care and love after everything he went through is so important to me! Part of the reason for Pip being in T-O-C is for him to be Gerry's assistant at her spell shop, which was very interesting to read about. Pip's relationship with Bertie slowly begins to develop as well. This book is pretty heartrending but it does have a happy ending. Gay rep as well as PTSD from everything Pip went through. There is a list of trigger topics in the beginning of the book, plus you can ask me for specifics. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 🌶🌶

Dear Bartleby - (synopsis) Gavin and Gerry have a younger brother, Sebastian; we meet him in the first book when he writes to Gavin to ask him for a loan for his gambling debts. Unsurprisingly, Seb's wildness and pranks cause him to be pulled from Oxford and sent to live with his older siblings and brother-in-law in Tutting-on-Cress. His father gives him a journal to encourage reflection; Seb christens it Bartleby so he can pretend he's writing to a friend so journaling will feel less boring. These journal entries make up the book, which I guess makes this book an epistolary novel despite epistle meaning letter and not diary entry, but whatever. Seb writes about his day, being bored, his pranks, and his attempted seductions. He's kind of annoying at first, but his older siblings and brother-in-law learn how to best love and support him, and he matures, even getting a love interest of his own (a wonderful trans man named Laurence). Also in this story is Bertie's search for a new Royal Magician; he hires Seb as his assistant, so he's very involved in the process. Some of Pip's past comes up as well, so trigger warnings for that. I also really enjoyed this book despite the sad parts. Gay and trans rep. ★★★★, 🌶🌶

The Spellmaster of Tutting-on-Cress - (synopsis) It's Gerry's turn to have a book, a love interest, and her family and friends' meddling. Gerry took over the Tutting-on-Cress spell shop when the previous spellmaster retired, and she's very happy despite it being a step down in society. Everyone in her life thinks it's high time she met someone and settled down, so they all force her to endure blind date teas and, you guessed it, meddling. Basil Thorne has just moved to T-O-C after losing his father to step in as the new head of the family to his much-younger half-siblings (who are just delightful) and stepmother. He's never been part of a big, loud family before, and, on a sibling-demanded trip to the village, has his head turned by the kind, pretty spellmaster...

Skip this part if you don't want to read spoilers or my rants. I ranted about the lack of consent and amatonormativity from the meddling in this other blog post:

everyone kept trying to set up the heroine with this guy she obviously liked even though she explicitly asked them all to not do that and respect her wishes re: not being set up because it's cringey and embarrassing. The whole "it's for your own good! otherwise you'd be single forever!" excuses being used to ignore said wishes just felt gross. It's the lack of respect and ignoring of consent for me. 😠 The lack of apology and/or realization that the setting-up was being pushed on people without their consent is very annoying to me. And the whole smug "see? I was right!" thing when the couples invariably ended up together used to justify it! Ugh. It's not cute or funny, and it smacks of amatonormativity. Not everyone needs to be paired up, and single people aren't tragic! 

The reason it bothers me to read about this amatonormativity and lack of consent is because this series is so otherwise respectful, queer- and trans-friendly; it throws me for a loop. You expect this sort of thing from regular cishet romance novels, you know? In book 2 Nell's aromanticism is respected, although they kind of have her "end up" with someone too. Gerry is basically the sole straight in the series, but she discusses maybe being demi-romantic with her friends and family since she likes Basil (who is pan and in love with her) but doesn't feel a romantic spark and isn't swept off her feet like she expected. They kind of lost me there, since the chemistry between her and Basil was swoony, and reading about how she interacted with him and felt about it didn't feel that different than the way reading about other romantic pairings have felt. Shit, Gerry and Basil have more romantic chemistry and cute interactions than Gavin & Charles and Bertie & Pip combined! Am I on the aromantic spectrum? Who even knows. 

Another sublot is that the Kentworthys host the eldest Hartford brother John and his wife Veronica (and their child who we never see because Veronica believes children should be unseen and unheard???). They are the worst and I hate them. Charles starts his signature loving psychology on John and he starts to improve. Literally how did the Hartford parents fuck up their kids so much that Gerry is the only one who doesn't hate herself and/or is a jerk in the beginning??? Shoutout to Basil's transfem bestie Modesty who is one of my favorite characters in the entire series; she's so awesome and I hope SW writes a book about her or at least that she shows up in all future books. I loved all the kids, even if some of them were written a bit too old and a bit too young sometimes; maybe we'll get a spinoff series about them finding love after they grow up?  This review has gotten way too long so I'll end it here. ★★★.5 (affectionate), 0 chili peppers (just kissing)

The Viscount Says Yes - (synopsis) This book wraps up Pip and Bertie's love story, which started in book 2 (1GT) when Pip flirted with Bertie after being caught trying to steal from him, and Bertie fell in love with him immediately. Their relationship developed very slowly over the next few books, each one giving us a little glimpse into how they felt about one another (how is them just looking at each other without touching in the garden at dusk so gd romantic??). The slow pace was necessary due to Pip's sad history that he needed to heal from (this book takes place about 2 years after TEoP). Bertie and everyone else had always taken great care to avoid touching Pip and asking for consent before doing so etc., and Pip decides he's ready to start initiating physical acts of affection with Bertie as he (B) never would initiate out of respect, and starts thinking about proposing to Bertie for the same reason... Charles, now that he has seen all his other friends and relations settled or about to be, sets his sights on Pip and Bertie, but at least his meddling is proportionally gentler due to Pip's history. I like Charles a lot but with all the meddling, he's basically as controlling as Veronica. Like just let your friends find love their own way and on their own timelines, dude! Anyway, with that title you can guess what happens in the book. Wallace wrote a little note at the end saying they've burned themself out writing the M&M series so they're wrapping up the series with this book. I hope it's a pause and not a full ending, and that she heals from the burnout soon because I need like 1000 more books in this series! ★★★★, maybe half a chili pepper due to sex mentions? dealer's choice

I know I've complained a bunch about the characters and their decisions, but I really do love this series. The magic is very interesting to read about. All the books are kind of slow, but in a nice cozy way; I enjoyed all the time we spent with the characters. If you like cozy fantasy and Regency romance books, especially ones with lots of LGBTQ+ rep, give this series a try!

*If it's a mostly non-sexist and queernorm society, then why do they still care about reputations (basically a code word for virginity)? What does reputation even mean/matter for people/couples who can't get pregnant? Why the heavy emphasis on birth order when being the oldest sibling doesn't automatically mean you're the most responsible and reliable? (I'm the oldest and my siblings are all more responsible and reliable than me. I should NOT be the head of my family.) Why should the laterborn spouse in a firstborn-laterborn marriage take on the 'wife' role (running the household, raising children, etc.) just because they're a laterborn, while the firstborn spouse takes on the 'husband' role (being in charge of the family and finances etc.)? Shouldn't it be based on personality and interests, and/or shouldn't the roles be shared? Why are there still social classes and poverty? How does capitalism still exist without white supremacy and the patriarchy there to support it?

The litany against fear from Dune, adapted to fit my situation

litany against fear

I must not online-shop.

Online shopping is the mind-killer.

Online shopping is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my compulsion to online-shop.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the compulsion to online-shop has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Book Review: Until the Last Petal Falls by Viano Oniomoh

When Eru was eleven years old, he met an unforgettable boy.

Only a few weeks after, he forgot all about that boy.

Ten years later, after his parents’ sudden deaths, all Eru wants is to find a way out of the village he was supposed to leave behind, and escape the abuse of his grieving grandmother. When he receives a summons from Able Mummy, the wife of the High Chief, it seems all of his prayers have been answered.

Able Mummy needs his help. But she and the High Chief have a secret.

Once Eru uncovers the truth, he finds that the fate of the village, and that of the boy he’d been made to forget, could lie solely in his hands.

Cosy, sweet, and intimate, Until the Last Petal Falls is a character-driven Nigerian queerplatonic retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

 

Of all the genres I love fantasy the most; of all the fantasy stories I love fairytales the most; of all the fairytales I love Beauty and the Beast the most, and of all the retellings out there I love diverse and LGBTQ+ retellings the most, so I added this book to my TBR list with a quickness. I heard about Until the Last Petal Falls through Bookstagram, and bought the ebook during a stuff-your-kindle sale. I broke my "no shopping on Amazon" rule to buy this as it's not available anywhere else. 

I really liked this book. The setting (modern-day Nigeria but with gods and witch doctor magic) was very interesting to read about, as was the way Oniomoh reinvents the tale as old as time. Like all* Beautys, Eru hands over his life and future to help someone else; like some other Beasts, Esioghene goes from angry and closed-off to open and loving. Both men are aromantic, and the queerplatonic relationship that develops between them is very sweet and tender. Most of the general BatB characteristics are there: big palace/house hidden by magic, roses with petals falling counting the days, curses, etc. I would consider this book to be cozy despite the difficult things the characters go through (both are abused).

Score: ★★★★⯨ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 21
From: Amazon

Genres/classification: fantasy, cozy fantasy, fairytale retelling, modern retelling, not quite fabulism but close, adult book I think, monster romance only without the romance

Tropes: forced proximity, magically bound to each other, found family, love conquers all, true love breaks the curse, love saves the day (all platonic love btw)

Representation: aromantic (both MMCs), gay queerplatonic relationship, all the characters are Nigerian as the book is set in Nigeria, ace vibes as well imo; author is (as far as I can tell) a Nigerian LGBTQ+ woman

Trigger warnings: child abuse, child neglect, domestic abuse, physical & verbal abuse, abusive & controlling parents and grandparent, depression, grief, parental loss (I think it was due to a car accident but I may be wrong), manipulation/deceit, memories magically erased

*ok probably not all

Book Reviews: Legendborn and Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

I had bought these two Legendborn series ebooks by Tracy Deonn last year because they were on sale and I had heard good things about them, and finally read them this February for Black History Month.

Legendborn (first book)'s summary, which gives away quite a lot of the plot:

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

WOW HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK!!! Run, don't walk!! This book is so so so good! It combines the typical teen chosen one learning about a secret magical society story with Arthurian legend and the Southern Black American experience, creating something so amazing and unique. Fascinating and exciting and magical and scary, grounded with history, grief and pain; I'm going to be thinking about these books forever. 

Bree is grieving and angry and flawed; I felt for her and rooted for her all the way. I loved learning about the magic and the Legendborn stuff, even if the groups and titles and hierarchy were confusing. There's a chart explaining them all at the end, which of course I didn't realize until I finished the book, but it was not formatted for ebook so it wasn't really readable anyway. 

There's also a touch of folklore that was folded in; I'm not precisely sure whether to categorize it as Southern, American, or Black; it may be 2 or all of the above. I liked all the representation (lots of side/minor LGBTQ+ characters) and found it funny that there's an in-world explanation as to why they're all teenagers/in their early 20s. As if Bree doesn't have enough on her plate, there's a cute teen boy love interest (or 2). I personally would be way too busy and stressed out to crush/flirt/fall in love, but book teenagers will be teenagers. It's basically inevitable.

I decided to put all the representation, tropes, and trigger warnings for these books at the end of this post, so scroll down for those.

Score: ★★★★★ out of 5 stars (yes, all five! That hasn't happened in ages)
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 9-10
From: B&N Nook

Bloodmarked (second book)'s summary, which is rather spoilery:

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:

A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion.

But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.

When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

This is a continuation from the first book (which doesn't end on a cliffhanger but is definitely not resolved), so most of my feelings and thoughts are the same. This one adds to the series' demonology, which I found interesting, and there are some new characters. Kind of more horrifying in how Bree is treated by the society. This book stressed me out so much I developed stomach pain, lol. Worth it. I loved these books so much I don't even care about there being a love triangle. You blew my fucking mind; sure you can have a little cliché love triangle as a treat.

The third book doesn't come out until March 4 which I am so impatient for despite that not being much of a wait. Still tho! I'm going to try to borrow it from the public library but there'll probably be a huge waiting list for it, which I'm a bit worried about (I don't want to waaaaaaaait).

Score: ★★★★⯨ out of 5 stars  (I took half a star off for being too sad)
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 18
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: young protagonist loses a parent then learns they have magic, "I had no idea magical power ran in our family", chosen one, "we'd never thought YOU could be our chosen one", secret magical society that hides themselves and the truth about magic/magical creatures etc. from regular people, typical straight love triangle, girl is torn between blond nice boy and dark-haired bad boy, "this magic/power is unlike anything we've ever seen", battle teens, oppressive highly structured hierarchical institution/organization, snarky demon with golden eyes (well it's a trope to me)

Representation: Black/African American (specifically being Black and Southern), Asian lesbian side character, nonbinary side character, white-passing biracial Hispanic & white side character, several side characters are LGBTQ+ including one teen/college-age lesbian couple and one nonbinary teen whose pronouns are always respected

Trigger warnings, which of course are spoilery: past rape (it's clearly rape and named as such but not described), murder, slavery, physical violence, death, blood and gore, teen is imprisoned, drugged, and interrogated; racism, newborn baby is abandoned to die (it lives), kidnapping, grief, parental loss, fantasy violence, supernatural horror, memories are wiped/manipulated magically, spirit possession, police encounter (no one is hurt), childbirth

Narnia bloggin'

The Chronicles of Narnia was the first fandom I ever participated in online, having loved the books since I was seven, and it's still very near and dear to my heart (just look at my Instagram handle). I used to be very active on the NarniaWeb forums around the time of the first Disney movie (TCoN: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) through probably a bit after the second (TCoN: Prince Caspian) or third (TCoN: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader). More clearly, this was 2005-ish to around 2009/10. It was about the only social life I had at the time, until my last two years of undergrad; I think I was in grad school when I finally stopped reading and posting in the forums for good, although I still think of them and the people I met on there fondly. The NarniaWeb admins still send me a birthday message every year despite me being inactive. 

In terms of how I see the Disney movies, I liked the first one the best (LWW), Prince Caspian the worst, and VotDT the mediumest. There were of course additions to LWW that I didn't like, little remarks and actions for the kids that were annoyingly precious or modern or childish (clearly added to up the drama and cater to modern American audiences), and the (IMO) unnecessary waterfall scene. I was most active in the NarniaWeb forums during the making of Prince Caspian, poring over and freaking out about movie news for probably a year and a half with other die-hard Narnia fans, which whipped me into a frenzy probably no movie could have lived up to. Prince Caspian, which strayed even farther from the source material than its predecessor and was given even more unnecessary and egregious additions such as the Susan/Caspian kiss (I shudder and C.S. Lewis rolls in his grave), was a huge let-down that disappointed me greatly. I was busier during VotDT's making, not reading or participating in the forums as much, partially because of school, having IRL friends, and due to the disappointment I had incurred. I enjoyed VotDT more because of this; if you expect nothing, there is room to be pleasantly surprised. I heard from my most recent CSL class professor that CSL's stepson put a stop to the Disney Narnia movies after the third because he felt they were straying too far from the Christianity of the books (my professor knows him personally). I of course would have liked to see more Narnia books turned into movies, but understand fully. He was right to do so, I think.

All this is to say: I've heard that Netflix is going to make new Narnia movies and possibly a TV show/s. This of course makes me a bit nervous but rather intrigued. Greta Gerwig is going to be the director, which I'm not totally on board with but trying to have an open mind about. I liked Lady Bird okay, liked Little Women quite a lot, and loved Barbie, but I'm not sure how her brand of feminist introspective teen-girlhood and young womanhood is going to fare. TCON has a few strong, well-rounded female characters, but they do not spend any time thinking about what it means to be a teenage girl/young woman in society and the way cultural and parental expectations effect their attempts to be themselves and live their lives the way they want. The closest to do so was Susan, and look where that got her. I didn't like Disney/Walden's attempt at this (introspective teen-girlhood), which consisted of having Susan be awkwardly talked to by a boy in the beginning of Prince Caspian, much to her dislike; this was clearly supposed to be a foil or something for her "relationship" with Caspian, which was barely (and badly) developed anyway. I'm not sure what the point of it was (the boy trying to talk to her in England); was it to show how Susan preferred muscular hot older guys to nerdy skinny boys? Was it an attempt to show character growth and maturing (Susan didn't like boys and then she did)? Was this their attempt at laying groundwork for what happens to Susan at the end of the series??? 

While typing this, I just remembered how they added a character to VotDT (a sailor's young daughter who stowed away on the ship to be with her dad) in order for the film to have another female character besides Lucy and the star's daughter (who is there for five seconds and isn't even named in the book) and to pass the Bechdel test, lol. I know the books are just so male, and there's not really a way to change that in a way that will keep everyone happy (far from it). IMO, the best way to do it is to make some minor characters female. Doctor Cornelius could be Doctor Cornelia, the seven lords Caspian tries to find in VotDT could be the seven lords and ladies, etc. This will make a lot of people angry but who cares. I'm sure the diversity that was "added" to the background characters made people upset; look at the blowback the current LOTR prequel TV show got for their Afrolatino elf (whom I love of course). As the books are set during the 1940s in our world and a classic fantasy European medieval era-inspired world, plus were written in the 1950s, there are period-typical attitudes towards gender roles. I'm curious to see how Greta Gerwig deals with these without making the changes too focus-pulling.

The Disney/Walden movies' director, Andrew Adamson, put in his boyish love of the battles and fighting in the Narnia books, expanding and inflating them to mythic LOTR-like proportions. I obviously feel the battles and fighting and war etc. have their place, but it was unnecessary to inflate them and add more; this made the movies feel like kiddie-LOTR or LOTR-lite. There are as many views of Narnia as there are readers, I guess. I personally liked the fantasy and magic stuff the best, as well as the history that is only hinted at but never fully told. I know Greta Gerwig loved the TCON books as a kid, as did most of us; hopefully the adaptations she helms will be balanced and not too much of anything.

I do think it makes sense to turn Voyage of the Dawn Treader into a TV show; the stories are very episodic anyway and would translate nicely into TV episodes. The Silver Chair would also work decently well as a TV show, as would The Last Battle. The other books, I feel, would not, although LWW and PC have of course already been turned into BBC miniseries (TV shows with only one series, usually of 4-6 episodes) as well as movies. 

One thing I am really looking forward to is new Narnia merch. When the Disney movies came out, I was in college and had very little money, so I couldn't buy everything I wanted to. This time I have plenty of money to spend on frivolities, but my fear is that Netflix won't put out any official Narnia merch. I can't recall seeing any official merch for most Netflix shows, apart from a few shows' merch on Hot Topic/Boxlunch. Well, there's always fan-made merch. 

~

A new set of illustrated covers for the TCON books were announced; they remind me a lot of Cliff Nielsen's excellent cover illustrations as they're both dynamic and computer/digitally illustrated, only the new ones look extra dramatic. I mostly liked them, until someone online pointed out that they look AI-generated, and my stomach sank. After scouring them and finding Digory's case of AI-hand, I commented on the official Narnia Instagram post about the covers asking if they were AI-generated, and both the artist and his daughter replied that they were not (kind of embarrassing but I did comment somewhere very visible, so). I do kind of agree with some of the other comments that all fantasy covers look kind of the same nowadays. I don't think I'll buy a set of the new covers books brand-new, unless I find a great deal or something, and my guess is that it'll take a few years after they are published for copies with these covers to make their way to thrift stores and secondhand bookshops if I want to buy them the way I've bought the others (aka individually and slowly depending on what the thrift stores have at the time).

I was intrigued by the artist adding Easter eggs to the cover illustrations in the form of the planetary symbols for the planet each book falls under according to Michael Ward and his Planet Narnia/seven heavens theory. I don't subscribe to it but I was brought much closer to agreement by a classmate's presentation on that theory in my CSL class (Dr. Ward also gave a presentation on his planetary theory to my CSL class since my professor knows him as well). For Owen Richardson (the new book covers' artist) to use the books' assigned (by Dr. Ward) planetary symbols show that he loves the Narnia books enough to read books about them; I am comforted by this knowledge.

Someone else pointed out online that they're using the Disney logo/font for the new books' titles, and won't that look dated, especially by the time the Netflix movies come out? I like the Disney font a lot but I rather agree; it'll be cool to see what Netflix does with the titles design.

Book review: A Sorceress and Scones by Allie Leigh

The rumours should have been enough to send her running, but when the opportunity to study magic under the Lady Elliane presents itself, Korinne can't say no. Even if people do think the lady sorceress has terrifying fangs, fearsome claws, and a tendency to eat hearts.

She'd planned to focus upon her studies, but life at the sorceress's castle isn't what she'd expected. Though she hides herself away, Elliane doesn't live alone. There's Arycelle, a spirited girl from beyond the valley, and Wick, a demon who seems more interested in performances and pastries than any sort of eldritch pact. Along with living shadows, poetic statues, and an opinionated stove, Korinne isn't sure what to make of the strange world she's stumbled into.

But when Elliane, Arycelle, and Wick learn of her feelings for Ninette—a sweet baker and her dearest friend—they decide to take responsibility for ensuring she gets a happily ever after, and Korinne finds she has much more than magic on her mind.

I downloaded this book from B&N Nook for free late last year, and decided to read it for Black History Month as the girl (Korinne) on the cover is Black; however, the author is white and Canadian, which I didn't realize, so I don't think this counts. 

This book was less cozy than suggested by the summary, although it's cozy enough that I don't really feel I was tricked. The fantasy world this book is set in is race- and queer-normative, although social classes are a thing and Korinne's bastard birth status dictates her life and what she can wear. The pain Korinne feels at being shunned by her father (as if she chose to be born! screw that dude) is a big part of her character, even indirectly driving some of the plot. Elliane's outsider status is also painful to her, and Korinne, Elliane, Arycelle, and Wick (a demon child with no evil but plenty of rambunctiousness) form a found family. 

Korinne's struggles with her magical studies take up a large part of the book. The castle with its sentient statues and oven has Beauty and the Beast vibes, while the living shadows made me think of soot sprites. The part about the friends trying to get Korinne  together with Ninette is smaller than it sounds, but still sweet. What I wouldn't give to eat some of her pastries. There's some really cool magic towards the end that I really liked but won't talk about because it's a spoiler.

Overall, I really liked this book despite the sad/angry-making stuff and I do recommend it. I can't wait to read the (unpublished) sequel, which sounds like it deals with Arycelle's and Wick's story. The cover is beautiful, although for some reason isn't showing up right now.

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0
Read in: February 2
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: their friends ship them and try to get them to confess/date, being sent on an errand specifically so they'll run into their crush, etc., magical castle with sentient objects/appliances & invisible/non-human servants

Representation: sapphic pairing, Korinne appears to be Black, Arycelle? appears to be a woman/girl of color (the world is fairly colorblind/race neutral), background LGBTQ+ characters

Trigger warnings: manipulation, betrayal, implied psychological torture through dreams, terminal illness, emotional trauma and pain, othering, sick fantasy animal

Book Review: More to Love by Georgina Kiersten

An Unexpected Love

For Jamir Cunningham, a relationship is the last thing on his mind.  After inheriting his grandparents' bookstore, Jamir has been completely focused on running the business. And if he's lonely, that was between him and the books. Yet, from the moment Emmy Park walked into his life, Jamir was immediately captivated by the plus-size Korean.

A Fresh Start

After his recent divorce, former Olympic wrestler Emerson "Emmy" Park moved to Texas to get a fresh start. After taking a job as an assistant wrestling coach at a nearby university, he stumbles across Jamir's bookstore. Emmy is instantly attracted to Jamir.  Unfortunately, he is big and burly with a resting bitch face and thinks he has zero chance with the gorgeous Black man. However, when a sudden encounter shows them how good they can be together. Is the simmering attraction between them enough for them to see past their differences and finally give in to their desires?

This was my first read of February. As it's Black History Month no matter what anybody says, I specifically tried to choose books with Black characters. I bought this ebook during one of those "stuff your ereader" sales last year. 

The leads meet because Emmy likes to sit in Jamir's bookstore and read during his lunch hour. Jamir is instantly attracted to Emmy and kind of follows him around the bookstore trying-to-be-stealthily; Emmy thinks Jamir stares at him because he's a big, tall Korean. I found the manner in which they get to talking rather contrived; Emmy forgets his beloved copy of Pride & Prejudice at Jamir's bookstore (he really takes his own book to read at a bookstore? ok...) so he goes there during a rainstorm (just wait til the next day??) and Jamir urges him to dry off  in his apartment above the store, sparks fly, etc. 

I found the romance cute, and I liked the relationships the men had with their family and friends. Both men have their own problems to deal with in their jobs and personal lives, but there really wasn't much in the way of an obstacle to their relationship apart from some silly contrived drama towards the end. 

Weirdly, I found the non-romance writing to be kind of awkward while the ~romantic~ writing wasn't; usually it's the other way around. There were also several editing errors and typos in my ebook (and in the summary, which I had to fix). The line in the summary calling Emmy a plus-size Korean, plus the way Jamir's attraction to Emmy's size was described (slightly/borderline chaser-y), made me a bit uncomfortable; those sensitive to how fat characters are described may not like it. No fatphobia though.

Sometimes you just want a simple fluffy romance book, and the fact that there's a bookstore is the icing on the cake. Overall I liked this.

Score: ★★★½ out of 5 stars
Spice score: 🌶🌶🌶 out of 5 chilies
Read in: February 1
From: B&N Nook

Tropes: idk what it's called but that whole "the weather makes the romance/encounter" happen, forced proximity, close proximity, "he's probably staring at me because I look strange/my odd looks", athlete x nerd, "no, [family member], I'm giving up on YOUR dream", the ex tries to get them back in the third act

Representation: Black man MC, Korean man MC, fat MC, I think both are bisexual so bi4bi

Trigger warnings: the author has a list at the beginning of the book so I'll just redirect you to what I wrote in the second to last paragraph about the way the fat MMC was talked about, also I didn't like how Emmy's boss was such a jerk and yelled all the time

Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England -- until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.

Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.

But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.

Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.

I FINALLY finished my reread of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I started last year with the 20th anniversary readalong. I mostly kept up with the reading schedule (albeit a week or so behind) until I didn't, pausing for over a month until I finally finished it halfway through January.

**mild spoilers throughout**

I would say the main plot is "autistic magician and ADHD magician have a friend breakup" if it weren't so contrary to the feel of the book, but that is basically what happens. Mr. Norrell is so obviously autistic in the way he is written: his special interests are books and magic, and he is very rigid with his rules; he has no social skills and doesn't follow social customs, and he gets overwhelmed at parties. I would argue that Mr. Strange has ADHD because he flits from career to career until he lands on being a magician, which quickly becomes his main focus in life over even his wife; he hyperfocuses on his magical studies and makes impulsive decisions on big things like moving mountains and stepping through mirrors to unknown lands without a game plan.

There are many characters in this book besides the eponymous ones; the second tier consists of menservants and ladies, and they are quite well-rounded characters, even if they are trapped by their social statuses (and for most of them, by the fairy villain). The sole character of color is Stephen Black, whose mother was enslaved; he goes through so much stuff that his story's ending is rather sad, to me. The women are controlled and let down by the men in their lives, and their agencies, lives, and voices are taken away. There are lots of duos in this book: the two magicians, the two kings, the two nameless slaves, the two ladies, the two menservants, the two big eras of English magic, doing magic versus reading about it...

SUCH a good book and so excellently written. The Regency England setting makes it familiar (apart from the magic, everything seems to be as it was in our universe, such as the Napoleonic wars), but the magical history stuff is so different and interesting. The fairytales mentioned in the footnotes feel familiar too, especially if you grew up reading Western fairytales a lot like I did. The atmosphere of the magic, how big and wild and ancient it is, is just wonderful; it puts me in mind of what C.S. Lewis called Northerness (and affected me much the same). 

If you've already read this book, this article I found on Pinterest compares JS&MN plot points and themes to Bible characters and stories (heavy spoilers!). It's utterly fascinating, and I can't believe I didn't realize some of those connections myself: the word(s) made flesh! The longing for the departed/absent king! I think C.S. Lewis would have liked this book.

You can read my first review of JS&MN here; interestingly enough, I first read it on its 10th anniversary year.

See my Pinterest moodboard for JS&MN here.

Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Spice score: no spice
Read in: November 4, 2024-January 19, 2025
From: thrift store purchase (old)

Tropes: taken by fairies, the student has become the master, forced proximity LMAO

Representation: Black man secondary character, several working class and poor minor to very minor characters, the neurodivergence mentioned above (it is a headcanon but I am correct)

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, dead bodies, war, slavery (past, discussed), racism, death, animal endangerment, injuries, and death; body horror, kidnapping (by fairies), magical stalking, period-typical sexism & classism, supernatural horror, women let down and betrayed by men, Lord Byron (jk)

2024 Reading Stats

Here are my reading stats for this year.

• Total books read during this year: 52
• Total books that I started to read but didn't finish: 3
  
• physical books read: 20
  
• digital/ebooks read: 32
  
• physical books started but unfinished: 2
  
• ebooks started but unfinished: 1
  
• Library books read: 1 (a free book I read and put back lol)
  
• Library books started but unfinished: 0
  
• Books I loved: 11
• Books I liked: 26
• Books I felt neutral about: 10
  
• Books I disliked or found meh: 4
  
• Books I hated: 1. I hated it so much I didn't even count it in my stats
  
• Books I felt strongly about but can't classify as love or hate: 0
  
• Books purchased: 43 BUT that's not counting all the ebooks I bought with a Barnes & Noble giftcard I got from my work insurance's stupid logging health stuff app
• Books purchased that I actually read: 15  (see note above)
  
• #1 most loved book this year (not counting my rereads):
  
• most loved general fiction: Endpapers
  
• most loved fantasy: the Meddle & Mend series
  
• most loved mysteries: A Charm of Magpies series
  
• most loved young adult book/s: Most Ardently, The No-Girlfriend Rule
  
• most loved children's book/s: all the kids' books I read this year were rereads, oops
  
• most loved nonfiction: How to Keep House While Drowning

I read slightly fewer books than last year (that is, 2023) but still more than my reading goal of 50 books, so I'm happy. One of the books I didn't finish this year is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I started rereading for the 20th anniversary read-along; I hit a wall and took a break (of several months lol), but I finally finished it in mid-January. The other was a nonfiction book, a genre I have a history of DNFing even if I am very interested in the subject matter. The unfinished ebook is actually a Jeeves book that I started reading due to Letters Regarding Jeeves, which for some reason stopped sending chapters or anything at all in October. I'm sad about that. 

I only counted my book purchases that were not gifts and not bought with a giftcard; I have no idea just how many ebooks I bought or downloaded for free. I don't super care. I think it helped that I went to the thrift store way fewer times in 2024 than I did in 2023; I really was making an effort to purchase fewer physical books. 

Here are some of the charts from the excellent reading log google sheet from BookRiot that I use every year:

Here's my genres read breakdown. Nearly half of all the books I read were fantasy! Despite me counting the A Charm of Magpies series as my favorite mysteries, I put them down as fantasy in the google sheet as it only allows one genre to be selected; this is probably the case for several of the books I read. Interestingly, my second-most read genre, Romance, has the same exact percentage as "last" year's! 2023's second-most read genre was General Fiction, my third-most read genre in 2024, so the two obviously switched places. 

In terms of form, 96.4% of the books I read were prose, AKA all but two (1 poetry book and 1 short stories collection).

July was my best reading month, with a whopping 16 books read! Junior high reading behavior. 

click to embiggen

Author/Artist Gender: The amount of female authors I read went down slightly (from 54.2% to just under half), and the amount of male authors I read went down as well (from 35.6% to 29%), giving the nonbinary authors category room to more than double (8.5% last year)!! The "other" category is for probably just one book with two authors of different gender categories. 

Nation of Origin: Roughly the same as "last" year, with a slight decrease for USA and slight increases for UK- and Canada-set books, probably because the two books I read set in the Netherlands were not counted in the stats 🙄

POC Protagonists (should be Protagonists of Color) vs. White Protagonists: increase in white protagonists, decrease in protagonists of color :(

Weirdly, the placements of the charts shifted, so the POC Authors (authors of color) vs. White Authors chart isn't visible in the above screenshot. Also an increase in white authors and a decrease in authors of color :(

Queer Authors/Artists: over a third of my read authors were queer or LGBTQ+! "Last" year it was under 30%! 

I don't know if this is a glitch in the stats, but HALF of the books I read had queer/LGBTQ+ protagonists!! "Last" year it was 31.5%! 

Like last time, the Trans Authors/Artists pie chart cannot be trusted (partially because I read a ton of books by Sarah Wallace and they counted each one as an individual author). 7 of the authors I read were trans and/or nonbinary (8 if you count Emily Dickinson lol)! "Last" year I read 5 trans & nonbinary authors.

I read 8 books with trans protagonists, over twice as much as "last" year's 3! 

A fourth (25%) of the books I read had disability rep; "last" year it was 18.5%!

I read zero translated books this year, weirdly enough.

Only 9.1% of the books I read were nonfiction, down from "last" year. 

Nearly 3/4ths of the books I read (72.7%) were for adults; it was only over half "last" year. Consequently decreased percentages for young adult and children's books read: 18.2% for YA (was 25.5%) and 9.1% for children's books (was 21.8%!). 

Only about a fifth (20.5%) of the books I read in 2024 were published that year, a jump from "last" year's nearly 15%.

I really need to make an effort to read more books by and about people of color! Overall a great reading year though. I finally got a library card from my local public library, so hopefully that will keep me from buying so many books.