I have returned! I trust no one missed me.
A tiny note to myself and other people who use the Archive of Our Own bookmarking system - If you want to have a record of the bookmark that endures even if the author orphans the work or deletes it, you can do that by just copy/pasting the info that you'd like to save into the Bookmark Notes section. I also would like to extend a copious amount of thanks to all the people using this system - it has allowed me to hunt down further works by an author who has orphaned a lot of excellent writing.
What I’ve Read:
Vacation is great for getting a lot of reading done!
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (2017) – Ok, so this one came at me a bit sideways – in short, I have subscribed to furiosophie, who has written some truly devastatingly wonderful fic in the Mandalorian fandom, and it turned out she was writing a series called to “post·mor·tem” and I started reading that and… it has pining, and platonic but not platonic bedsharing, and cultural differences among aliens, all of which is surely just the most perfect catnip for me. This is the novel that the fanfic is based on, and it is some solid Star Wars scifi writing – we have some characters that are changing and growing over time, Thrawn is officially brought into the Disneyfied Star Wars canon, and I overall quite enjoyed the book. Tho I am not sure I would have sought it out without that fanfic!
Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather (Our Lady of Endless Worlds #1) It has space nuns in a living ship, trying to help people even when it costs them a lot. Goodness without centralization. This is why Firefly could have been, in some ways. It’s not really like Mary Doria Russells The Sparrow and Children of God (which are a single story and cannot be read alone! I will fight on this one, they don’t make sense alone!) It also felt like V for Vendetta, in the ‘goodness in the face of the oncoming storm’ wins a small victory.
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (The Radiant Emperor #1) – Hugo Novel Nominee - I really liked this. In an ancient China with a thin veneer of otherworldly power, our main character matches wits and seeks military victories and wins by sheer cleverness. I love the un-twist of the ending, how the character’s journey comes to a surprising and potent ending.
The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh by K.J. Charles (Society of Gentlemen #0.5) – Delightful porn!
An Ever-Fixed Mark by AMarguerite – A super long Pride and Prejudice with soulmarks AU, that indulges my tastes for long and detailed works about the Napoleonic wars and British society life. If the main listed pairing bothers you in differing from the novel, don’t worry, Lizzy gets there.
Meet Death Sitting by bomberqueen17 – The Witcher – Jaskier/Geralt – It’s just…. a reconciliation and the victory of kindness to engage a person who has been traumatized and hurt? I love it? I have not finished every entry in this very long series but it contains Jaskier explaining how periods work to Ciri, so just accept that it is wonderful.
Sew a Thousand Sequins to Your Sorrows by out_there – Loki TV series – Loki/Mobius – Not really novel-length, but it has a real interest in seeing what Loki will do if given enough rope to hang himself and then pull himself back over the ledge.
I have been also reading a good deal of smaller fanworks in a few oddball pairings – Thrawn/Eli Vanto (Star Wars Thrawn Series), Napoleon Bonaparte/ William Laurence (His Majesty’s Dragon AUs)
What I’m Reading Now:
A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark (Hugo Nominee for Best Novel) – I have stopped exactly halfway and I will have more to add when I finish it later!
Monsters in the Closet -ongoing reading project.
What I’ll Read Next
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Vol 2, the next in the Thrawn series, probably all the novellettes and short stories for the Hugo project.
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kitewithfish
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Date: 2022-07-14 05:30 pm (UTC)