reading update 7/14/2022
Jul. 14th, 2022 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaThis has been a weak reading month, in part because I've been insanely busy and in part because I reread the Monstrous series uh. A lot. I may have reread Soul Eater and Wyn 4 times.
...I'm under a lot of stress right now.
Reviews:
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
5/5. Katherine Addison's worldbuilding is absolutely insane as always. If you want the cities you read about to feel real, down to the details about who makes the maps and delivers the mail, this series is for you. This installment in the trilogy really advances Celehar's character in interesting ways. I really appreciated both the understated romance and the introduction of some new characters. Overall it was really solid.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao
5/5. I don't usually read middle grade, but I picked this up because it was by Xiran Jay Zhao, whose Iron Widow I loved immensely. And I was not disappointed! This is wildly entertaining. The premise is extremely cool, you can really see the YGO influence in the best possible way, and i feel like Zhao really walks the line of making Chinese history and culture accessible to a broad audience without making the book feel like it's a primer for outsiders.
The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb by Cat Sebastian
3/5. I really wanted to like this one, because I have a physical copy, but I did not. Unfortunately all the things that were annoying in the Marian book were annoying in this one. I don't like Percy and I don't really like Kitt, either, and no one in this book feels like a real person, and it feels like it doesn't execute any of the stuff it's trying to execute in a compelling way. It is trying very hard to be more progressive than historical romances are, and it is, but it's still boring!
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu: Volume 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
This translation of the novel makes Vol 2 a lot more readable, which I appreciated. I have a complicated relationship with the first 2 arcs of TGCF; I didn't like either of them when I initially read the book, and arc 3 remains my favorite portion. But on reread I find volume 2 incredibly compelling. The flashback portions of TGCF inform the present-day sections in a fascinating and tragic way, and the contrast in this novel between the horror of Xie Lian's fall from heaven with the shenanigans of the fetus plotline is great. If you read Vol 1 of TGCF and didn't like it, i highly, highly, highly recommend you keep going, because it only gets better! Also the chibi interior art is SO GOOD.
...I'm under a lot of stress right now.
Reviews:
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
5/5. Katherine Addison's worldbuilding is absolutely insane as always. If you want the cities you read about to feel real, down to the details about who makes the maps and delivers the mail, this series is for you. This installment in the trilogy really advances Celehar's character in interesting ways. I really appreciated both the understated romance and the introduction of some new characters. Overall it was really solid.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao
5/5. I don't usually read middle grade, but I picked this up because it was by Xiran Jay Zhao, whose Iron Widow I loved immensely. And I was not disappointed! This is wildly entertaining. The premise is extremely cool, you can really see the YGO influence in the best possible way, and i feel like Zhao really walks the line of making Chinese history and culture accessible to a broad audience without making the book feel like it's a primer for outsiders.
The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb by Cat Sebastian
3/5. I really wanted to like this one, because I have a physical copy, but I did not. Unfortunately all the things that were annoying in the Marian book were annoying in this one. I don't like Percy and I don't really like Kitt, either, and no one in this book feels like a real person, and it feels like it doesn't execute any of the stuff it's trying to execute in a compelling way. It is trying very hard to be more progressive than historical romances are, and it is, but it's still boring!
Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu: Volume 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
This translation of the novel makes Vol 2 a lot more readable, which I appreciated. I have a complicated relationship with the first 2 arcs of TGCF; I didn't like either of them when I initially read the book, and arc 3 remains my favorite portion. But on reread I find volume 2 incredibly compelling. The flashback portions of TGCF inform the present-day sections in a fascinating and tragic way, and the contrast in this novel between the horror of Xie Lian's fall from heaven with the shenanigans of the fetus plotline is great. If you read Vol 1 of TGCF and didn't like it, i highly, highly, highly recommend you keep going, because it only gets better! Also the chibi interior art is SO GOOD.
