A bit slow and perhaps not well-paced, but overall still a good read. I have heard that this is supposed to be the first full book he wrote? And I would believe that. The politics in particular were boring, and the training sections do sort of run together without much to break them up, but characters are developed, and the middle section of this book is genuinely very engaging, and illuminates Geralt's morality and themes of the series very well.

Okay, this was Very solid. The second in Ellis' series (which has been described as Arrival meets ET, but if the protag kinda wanted to bone Optimus Prime), this maintains the strangeness wonder and speculation of the first, & settles into more a Men In Black/espionage/political thriller vibe in places, and delves REALLY deeply into alien and human mental health (srsly, if you're at all sensitive to it, do not skip the author's warnings). #scifi

This was Compelling As Heck. Very well written, in a super accessible style (as one would expect from a successful investigative journalist) this is the Long Version of the story of Andrew Wakefield, the once-doctor who fabricated and captilised on fears that Vaccines caused autism-- launching the current era of anti-vax misinformation. Published before current pandemic, this was eerie & informative. #antivaxxers #medicine #malpractice #politics

If you are fairly new to discussions of the selfishness/shortsightedness of middle-to-right politics that gained prominence as the Baby Boomer generation began to hold power, then maybe this book is for you. There was plenty I found engaging, especially as discussing the conditions at play coming out of the second world war, and the section discussing Vietnam draft dodging. But the author seems to have a lot of blind spots. #USPolitics #USHistory

VERY dry, but very clear and methodical. Reads like a study brief... Which it basically is. Provided a good paradigm for examining the relationship between the specific Christian Nationalism phenomenon, political identity, religiosity, and civic motivation. I hope to continue seeing some of the questions and topics addressed in this book occur in other sociological research, to continue to build that data set. #USPolitics #ChristianNationalism

In this sequel to These Rebel Waves (which completes the duology I believe), I... Was just as torn as with the first book. XD there's a lot to like, but there's also a lot that feels inconsistent, or unpredictable in a way that did not work for me. If you're really into the aesthetic, #pirates #queerbooks #queerfantasy etc, then that may be enough for you, but it wasn't for me. I look forward to seeing this author grow, however. 💯💯💚👌

I almost quit about here. This is the second book, and I was invested enough in the characters at the end of the first book that I did reserve the second? But the seeming inconsistencies and rapid shifts in plot and character logic and motivation persist here. There have been some really exciting developments, like really really good ones, but also some really frustrating ones. 🙈 Aaaaaaa I'm so torn on this series.

Second in the series, and I like it even better than the last. It's a funny contradiction of a book-- I'm more into these characters, but that means I'm more anxious about the well-established stakes. every time I think I have figured out some twist, the novel skips right over the moment where there should be a big reveal? And proceeds on as if it was always fact. Rigid gender categories, yet interesting gender and racial Dynamics. XD B+ I think.

This book is Very Long. The world and the dynamics are Fascinating however. I don't know that I can stick out another one right after-- it'll depend on how this one ends... But it's absolutely Anxiety inducing. This is probably the most anxiety inducing book I've read in a long time, and there are a couple of characters who are just pits of anxiety, and it is reflected very well in the prose and I'm not sure I like that. XD

Aaaaaaaaa excellent. This one had a rocky start, a lot of time skipping that didn't particularly help you settle in. But all the pieces come together in a Very satisfying manner. Eventually. ;) Otherwise, gorgeous setting, characters you definitely come to live and root for, wonderfully musical language, and some refreshing (and new to me) elements. A+ can recommend, particularly for the kind of casual #queerbooks rep You always love to see. 💚

I want these kids to succeed so badly....

Aaaaaaaaaaa an excellent close to this trilogy. All three of these books were at once immensely satisfying, but also hard. Through the lense of this steampunk ish magical not! London, many themes and frustrations and injustices and hopes that parallel contemporary politics are explored. The resonance make the stakes feel even higher than they are-- which makes the anxiety deeper just as it makes the Justice sweeter. A+, excellent, well done.

Oh god. What a magnificent sorrowful joyful infuriating opening. I was so looking forward to this third book. A+++ way to start this off.

There were a few Convienient moments, and I was hesitant to start this one personally just because of the profound grief in Brianna's situation at the beginning, but it was a Heck of a good ride with a hell of a good finalé. Can recommend. #BlackGirlMagic #queerbooks #lgbtbooks #pocfantasy #arthurian

These are always a delightful and vivid introduction to a host of great artists and writers, and this was no different. Very worth the wait! My fav was probs T.Zysk's piece, but since that's the creator through whom I found the series, it's not surprising. XD highly rec if you like #adultcomics and #queerbooks . Per usual, majority of characters are queer, many non-white, and the theme for this volume was #agediversity . 💯💯👌👍

Magic system is unique, characters are interesting... Here at the halfway point, a good balance has been struck between what the audience knows and can theorize on and what's mysterious still... It's honestly very well written I think.

But I'm not completely sure I enjoy it. Very cis/Heteronormative so far, and also my personal pref is Not for "protagonist" characters whose motivation/morality is real gray or unclear. May just not be for me!

This book ends strong, very strong, enough that I did reserve the sequel, but the lead up was too variable for me to endorse full-on. The worldbuilding is both inventive and incomplete, the characters both engaging and unpredictable (not necessarily in a good way), and the plot is by turns satisfying and exciting, and shark-jumping. The aesthetic is 💯💯 very #pirates , much #queerbooks , but it was a mixed bag. Audio performance was good.

Bit torn on this one-- the world/background/motivation is... Inconsistent. Parts of the world building I find really interesting, and parts of it I find really patchy and under constructed. The places where the world does not feel believable take away from the character motivations, which is a shame because I think I could really love these characters. I'm sticking with it though, especially now that the plot has really gotten going. 👌👌

This was good! It stands at a sort of midpoint between #TheRavenCycle and #ACoTaR , and I'm glad to have had it as my first Holly Black. It was mysterious in the best way, with novel turns and remixes on previous ideas and myths, casual #lgbt rep, and a protag I really dug. Can recommend.

A summary of the last 20 pages:

"Guys, I have a confession. This is all my fault."
"NO, I have a confession, as I reveal these secrets, you will realize it's actually all my fault."
"Ah hah! You are both wrong! It's neither of your faults... Because it's actually all MY fault!"
"Wait, does this mean it's IS actually all my fault??"
"NO!" x3

XDDD

So I've been putting off/avoiding Holly Black for Years, having confused the covers of her modern Faerie novels like Tithe and Valient for the similar-genre'd Faerie Wars/Purple Emperor series by James Hebert Brennan. I read several in that series as a kid/young teen, and didn't like them much, and so I'd get sad whenever I saw folk excited about Holly Black because I thought it wasn't for me. XD

I'm so glad I was wrong. This is delightful. 💚💜

I'm not sure this one was for me. The Audio Performance was excellent, but I found the writing to be rather weak? Could just be that it's not meant for adults-- this may have played better for me if I was a child or teen, or if I was already invested in the Thrawn character from the Legends series. The thing that made me stick this out was the audio performance, absolutely.

Purchased it outright just so I didn't have to wait on the library when it was released. XD This was a little hard to get into for me, a few too many characters and POV switches early on, but it was a very interesting problem/set-up, and I looooved all the diverse jedi and apprentices we got. An excellent and promising setup to this new High Republic era. Also, audiobook, I will never be tired of the music/sound effects. Delightful. 👌👌 #starwars

Lovely lil collection of shorts and firsts from the Nightrunner series. Best read probs after book 5 or so, certainly not before 3. A handful of first meetings and such from before the series began, One Other Significant First that was fade-to-black in its original book, and an excerpt from then-forthcoming book 6. A lovely Saturday morning read. #queerbooks, #queerfantasy

"oh no", I said, "gonna take a break" I said, "read some library books" I said. And yet. Here I am. Happily reading about wee Seregil defending his honor by destroying priceless ancient tomes, and getting adopted by my favorite old wizard since gandalf. ??

Book 5 in this series was excellent, if more than a bit stressful there at the end! I'm going to pause before hitting the next two in the series, since this and book 4 basically functioned like one larger book I think. But it was good, lots of character work, stress and growth on the core romantic relationship, and new characters and magics. (And dragons!!!) Can still recommend the series. #queerbooks #lgbtbooks #queerfantasy #lgbtfantasy

Aaaaaaaaaaaaa I'm too anxious for the tension in this ending. XDDD

!!!!!!!!! Book 4, I DID NOT SEE IT COMING!!! XD okay, I was into this one. Could have done with a warning for all the assault-y stuff, but this was a GREAT entry. It took Alec and Seregil's relationship to a very different place, but that needed a shake-up (maybe not THIS but SOMETHING), so hopefully it'll get them to work on stuff. A very different plot, different scenery, and a Very diff setup for the next one. EXCITEMENT.

Oh shit. OH SHIT. Looks out the windows and sees--!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! I did not see that coming!!!!!!!!!

So I read the bulk of this book while working the polls for the US November election, and it was a great distraction. It's sort of Bumblebee the movie meets Arrival, with a dash of Anathem. I liked the protag, and I was pretty much on the edge of my seat to learn things about our interstellar Interlopers, and out of nerves for what was going to happen to the main characters. Very Solid. Also liked the linguistics. #scifi, #aliens,

I enjoy that I never know the "scope" of these books ahead of time. I never have any idea if they are goinging to be largely "political", or mostly fighting, or mostly mystery... Or all of them at once. This one did not disappoint in any way! It was a great ride, great new characters introduced, and lots of meat for old favorites. Again, totes rec the series to folk who dig #highfantasy, #queerbooks, #fantasypolitics

Okay, so, I was leery of this one, as the protag was one of my Least Favorite characters in the first book, and also there was a Lot more political intrigue, which isn't usually my jam... But dug it. Character goes through a good arc, I was well-satisfied by several plot turns, I'm even more invested in the world, and!!!! Really looking forward to the third book!!! Also this one (& the next I think) is wlw. I like when authors go back and forth.

I dug it. I was engaged pretty quickly, felt for the protagonist, and was fascinated by the world. It's technically a romance, but it's all fade-to-black, and the central issues and challenges are those of world-level plot and personal character arcs. I thought it worked (although it Nearly lost me, just before the end. XD) a nice, light, #queerfantasy #queerromance, with an interesting and unique world. (Oh, and more than a bit #steampunk)

Second book in the series, stakes are much higher, and it's a lot more gay. 👌👍👌👍 Still a fan. I love these two protagonists so much, and if you're a high fantasy/political intrigue fan, this may be the epic romance/adventure for you! #queerfantasy #queerbooks #lgbtfantasy

Look, I'm not gonna lie, they had us in the first half. XD No but in all seriousness, this one was hard for me to get into. I'm not one for political intrigue, and that's a lot of the first half, kind of. Actually, this whole book ran a lot like a video game-- want thing A, get interrupted to solve B, have to make a deal for B which leads to fight C... Like, all Geralt wanted was his swords back. That's it, that's the plot. XD

This was good fun. Some of the stories on here are quite inventive, and though the characters and plots sometimes differ from the TV adaptation, it was a really good time. It's a different take and some fresher mythology to a lot of far west/American readers, and quite engaging. I totally recommend it to fans of the show/games, or fantasy fans in general. It's not long, so you'll be able to get a good taste of this universe, and pretty quick.

Oh man, I'm really enjoying this. I like the way each of the chapter so far has been a unique story/hunt/fight/fable, told in two parts. the first was the striga hunt that features both in the opening of the first video game, and also in the second episode of the Netflix TV series, but the second, to my surprise was beauty and the beast. And it was great. You know that painting of Belle, naked, blowing a horn and riding a bear into battle?

An excellent end to probably the best trilogy to start with, if you want to get into Valdemar/Mercedes lackey. Technically this trilogy has spoilers for the Magic's Pawn trilogy, but I think this one has a better balance of tragedy and success, and this book in particular makes you feel you've earned the ending, and sets up several future quartets quite competently. For as short as the books all are, this one does a lot of good work!

I always forget that nearly the entirety of this book takes place while she's on circuit. I think it might be the most time in the actual job of a Herald we ever get. So many of the one-off books are people's journeys to becoming a Herald, and the longer cycles usually have to do with some huge historical event or crisis... Not that Talia doesn't go through a crisis in this, but I forgot how much I enjoyed the minutiae of her actual internship.

Always a good read. I saw RBdigital was carrying these, so I expect that's what I'll be up to for a bit. Although there are lots of good things, and lots of queer themes, I'm not sure I can in good conscience recommend then as #queerfantasy, or #queerbooks since, as expected for the times, the more explicitly queer characters tend to meet tragic ends. But then, the whole Valdemar series is a delicate balance of joy and tragedy for most characters.

A re-read, and always a fav. A nice big city, swords and horses universe, with magic and necromancy and mythic races and thievery and Valor and two bi/pan protags who come to care for eachother at just the moment where they're each gonna need an unbelievable amount of support to survive the magics and political machinations. #queerbooks #queerfantasy #epicfantasy

I was feeling kind of stalled out, trying to start a couple of new books and didn't make any progress, so I went back to an oldie but goodie. This series is very flawed, but also pretty good. It's one of my very favorite of all time, especially the first two books. It probably resonated with me more as a teenager than it would for someone just picking it up now as an adult. Epic fantasy, epic stakes, epic romance. Always a fav.

Okay, this was lovely. Romance/erotica technically, I think, but what a plot! Felt a bit like an Agatha Christie, actually, but more ghosts, more racial, gender, and sexual diversity, and way more kissing. I was invested in both leads, the side characters were nicely fleshed out, and if the mysteries weren't always particularly surprising, I still had fun getting there. And a good length as well! Pretty excellently paced! I'll have to read more!

You know those books that never leave you? I have to give credit-- this is one. Plays out a bit like a Ray Bradbury, a Goosebumps, Lovecraft... Definitely a Kurt Vonnegut. And if they had solved the love triangle with an Ot3, and stuck the landing, I might have recomended it... But instead they remove all agency of the sole female character, eventually reducing her to nothing but a biological function-- Handmaid's tale-esque in a real bad way.

Just started this one, and already not sure if I want to continue. This was recommended as high-fantasy and queer-inclusive, which it is. Very Valdemar, in a good way. I dig the voice, the style, the world.

But I'm really really not interested in a pregnancy story? Particularly one where it's the POV Character (cis female) that's pregnant, and that is fulfilling for them?

Nothing wrong with the book, that's just something I don't enjoy... Hmm.

It was lovely. Not particularly long or complex, but a nice period romance/erotica with distinct and compelling leads. B+ If you think it's up your alley, it probs is. #queerbooks #transbooks

Originally picked it up last summer because I was on an Outlander kick and this is much in the same vein.

IMHO, this is a more succinct version of outlander. The timeline is shortens, the characters are deeper and more compelling much faster, and there is a lot less melodrama. Basically, I found it to be a lot of the things I loved about the first couple outlander books, but without a lot of the things I didn't love. And a real fresh setting.