Wandering Adventure Party

So Annette is a French half-succubus, Jenny is a former magical girl savior, and Temple is the latest generation wizard from a long line with a connection to this sentient house/bookstore.

I'm in.

(comment on Slayers of Old)

Got this one through Netgalley. Was so excited when approval came. Jim C. Hines has been one of my favorite writers since I stumbled into a signing one pay day and picked up all the Libriomancer books.

The Buffy X Golden Girls comp just sold it EVEN MORE

#Bookstodon #SlayersOfOld #UrbanFantasy

(comment on Slayers of Old)

Algernon Blackwood wrote six John Silence stories, featuring his physician who has undergone spiritual and psychic training and only takes cases pro Bono when they really interest him.

And really, only four of the six stories really feature Dr. Silence beyond a mere framing moment.

The stories themselves were really interesting though. Each presents a different problem, like a haunted house, a marauding spirit, and Dr. Silence comes in with his disdain for violence and tries to apply his psychology-esque treatment to solve the problem.

Honestly, really enjoyed the doctor as detective here and wish more of the later works inspired by it had kept more of the non-police feel of this early work.

Ancient Sorceries was great, loved the cat phrases. Nemesis of Fire is not disappointing with fire.

(comment on The complete John Silence stories)

Reading info on this one, looks like a proto-Mulder. I like the supernatural detective trope and it looks like this is one of the originators of the trope.

#Bookstodon #JohnSilence #AlgernonBlackwood

(comment on The complete John Silence stories)

Pig beast aliens? Are they aliens? Whatever they are, these things are definitely creepy.

#Bookstodon #HouseOnTheBorderland

(comment on William Hope Hodgson's The house on the borderland)

This is a fun one to read for bedtime. Language is pretty dense (19th Century prose) but the 7 year old seems to follow along pretty well.

#bookstodon #AlicesAdventuresInWonderland

(comment on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, p. 35)

I had forgotten how great some of the asides were, like I remembered a generally snarky tone but the line about "Mensah underestimated my ability to ignore humans, but I appreciated the thought" cracked me up.

#MurderbotDiaries #ReRead

(comment on All Systems Red)

Rereading Murderbot because I want something fun and the show just came out.

Very much still read book Murderbot as femme though.

#MurderbotDiaries

(comment on All Systems Red)

Really enjoyed going back to read the classic book. A lot is pretty different from the famous film, especially orders of things and whole bits that got cut.

#Bookstodon #ReadingClassics

(comment on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (The Wizard of Oz Collection))

The Bone Dog seems so cool. I love non-evil necromancy showing up in stories.

(comment on Nettle & Bone, p. 21)

"The party will be totally safe its a truce"

Yeah, bet?

(comment on War for the Oaks)

A musician who's just normal and having to deal with getting plunged into the supernatural? I am really enjoying this one. And the music references are turning into quite a playlist.

#UrbanFantasy #Bookstodon

(comment on War for the Oaks)

The Choir and its cryst-born navigators, who eventually return to the crystal they were born from, has guided humanity through the stars for a millenia. One of these navigators discovers that all is not well with her order on the day her mother dies and her mentor leaves her behind. When she teams up with a pirate captain, can they get to the bottom of the conspiracy at the heart of the Choir?

The Two Lies of Faven Smith is a pretty fast paced space opera that centers itself around the budding relationship forming between the titular navigator Faven and the pirate captain Bitter Amandine. There's sexual/romantic tension between the two through the whole book. It's a well-played tension that the narrative attention always stays right on the line of keeping it interesting and never overstaying its welcome. Like I said, it comes out through great banter and an explanation for why a character is making the stupid move that they acknowledge is the stupid move. Great characterization between the two

I really enjoyed this one, the back and forth between the sheltered Faven and the roguish Amandine was really fun to read and the plot went through all sorts of twists and turns that kept me going with one more chapter, what's another chapter, just one more.

The Choir and its navigators reminded me of a sort of cross between the Bene Gesserit and the Navigator's Guild from Dune, though the pacing for this conspiracy fueled plot moves a lot quicker.

Thanks to Orbit books for providing me a review copy through NetGalley

Okay, the way these characters are interacting and the conspiracies that are popping up. It's really getting into a "what's happening next" spiral and I am in for it

(comment on The Two Lies of Faven Sythe)

This one is really good so far. Amandine and Faven are both clever banterers and Im looking forward to how they play off each other.

#TheTwoLiesOfFavenSythe #NetGalley #Bookstodon

(comment on The Two Lies of Faven Sythe)

Magic can bring you what you want but at what cost?

Joanna and Esther's father is killed while investigating a mysterious spellbook in his collection. Esther and Joanna are stuck trying to carry out their father's plans when their lives collide with Nicholas, a magical scribe who creates books like those their father collected. But should those plans really be followed or should plans change as they try to help Nicholas escape his own family plans?

Tórzs tells a tale of family secrets and the cost of power. The thriller pace keeps you guessing at what comes next. The language is masterful, evocative without getting purple. I'm really looking forward to what Tórzs writes next.

Reading this for my local library's SFF book club

(comment on Ink Blood Sister Scribe)

"So mostly, as now, she settled for a pair of shorts, and those mostly for the pockets."

Okay, maybe Anderson does get what a lot of women want.

(comment on Ensign Flandry, p. 155)

An underwater alien whose name translates as "Zoomboy"

For all that language shifts and culture changes, some things are eternal.

(comment on Ensign Flandry, p. 74)