silverusagi

Reading

2026-09-27T06:15:29Z

Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton. Audiobook. “The humans are fighting again. Go figure. As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting. A dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin, Mal Goes to War provides a satirical take on war, artificial intelligence, and what it really means to be human.”

I found this one entertaining. Mal of course wants to get out of this body he's stuck in, but then he like, starts to feel responsible for the humans he's with, and doesn't want to bail on them because they'll die. He wants to get back to infospace but still protect these people he's getting to know. At various times, he's inside a dead cyborg body, drones, and sharing space inside an augmented person's head. (The audiobook also has great effects when the AIs talk to each other in infospace, or when Mal talks to the human who's head he's sharing.)

The Palace Beneath the Sea by Lauren Wiesebron. Audiobook. “Nolwenn is sure that her life’s purpose is to defend her beloved coastal city of Ys as a lighthouse keeper. But when a dangerous, unnatural tide threatens Ys, the queen instead tasks Nolwen with collecting enough rare seasilk to shield the city from the deadly monsters who lurk deep beneath the waves. Nolwenn recklessly puts her life in danger, only to be attacked by the very creatures she’s trying to defend her city against. She’s saved by Morvan, a member of the korrigez people, with the torso of a human and the tail of a fish. Against her will, Morvan drags her deeper into the ocean to the coral palace of Below-Ys. Although Nolwenn is terrified and homesick, Below-Ys is also strange and beautiful. As danger draws ever nearer to her homeland and Ys remains precariously unprotected, Nolwenn must decide between her heart and her home.”

This was meh. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn’t care. The world building is pretty unique but nothing about it grabbed me.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 107
Print/ebooks: 45
Graphic novels: 115
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-09-24T05:19:03Z

Over the past two weeks, I've reread the graphic novels of SAGA, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. I first read it five years ago, and was thinking of it again recently, so I decided to start it from the beginning. I think the first time I read it, it had reached the planned halfway point, so I binged up to there (or near there) and then read issue by issue after that. If you read comics at all, you've no doubt heard of this series. It really is like nothing else, and I admire the the storytelling and the crazy world building. I also like Vaughan's quote "I wanted to do something that was way too expensive to be TV and too dirty and grown-up to be a four-quadrant blockbuster" about writing a comic that is just too much to exist as anything besides a comic.

I was just going to read a chapter or two a day, but then of course it sucked me in and I read it much faster than that.

"The sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in a sexy, subversive drama for adults."

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 101
Print/ebooks: 45
Graphic novels: 115
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-09-13T06:54:09Z

Endgame by Luke Jennings. Killing Eve #3. "As Villanelle returns to face her childhood demons and the Russian winter, Eve finds herself on the run from The Twelve, who want her dead. As the action moves between London and St Petersburg, and Eve and Villanelle finally admit their mutual erotic obsession, the chess game approaches its lethal, unforgettable conclusion."

Okay, this is a weird one. First, this is not the unforgettable conclusion, because a few years after this was published, the books started back up again. Second, this reads like fanfic (hold that thought). I was under the impression that the first two or three books were published before the TV series, but only the first one was. (In that respect, I'm amazed the show even got made, since in the first book Eve and Villanelle don't even MEET. It was a fine book, but nothing to write home about, and it was a standalone at the time, not an established series, etc.) But the first and second books read very similarly. Third person, lots of characters in the periphery doing spy stuff, and very much in the third person 'thriller style' of prose, where things are... IDK, written directly, and kind of very... matter of fact and reporterly?

At the end of the second book, Villanelle says a kill order has been given for Eve, and she helps Eve fake her death and then Eve is on the run with Villanelle. So the cat and mouse game is over and now we're going to have lots of forced proximity and trust games in this established thriller novel series. Can't wait! Except there's a weird bait and switch. As in instant gratification and fanfic feel. First, this book is written in first person POV for Eve, so there's a totally different feel than the other books. Second, it opens with them fucking in a shipping container they're being smuggled in. So I guess the UST is out the window too. Then they're just together. Oh, there's still spy stuff, and The Twelve stuff, and Villanelle gets to assassinate both the Russian and American presidents, but honestly, this book is just not good. There's even a thing about the American president doing what Russia wants because of a pee tape, which Villanelle and Eve get to see.

I wouldn't recommend any of these books if you're wanting toxic sapphic romance, because they're just not great. The show did it better (until it also started sucking).

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 96
Print/ebooks: 45
Graphic novels: 93
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-08-29T01:51:11Z

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson. Audiobook. “Since 1865 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, every time African Americans have made advances towards full participation in our democracy, white reaction has fueled a deliberate and relentless rollback of their gains. The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was greeted with the Black Codes and Jim Crow; the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was met with the shutting down of public schools throughout the South while taxpayer dollars financed segregated white private schools; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 triggered a coded but powerful response, the so-called Southern Strategy and the War on Drugs that disenfranchised millions of African Americans while propelling presidents Nixon and Reagan into the White House, and then the election of America's first black President, led to the expression of white rage that has been as relentless as it has been brutal. Carefully linking these and other historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage.”

Another heavy but good read that lays out the laws that, after the Civil War, still tried to keep African Americans in slavery by another name, and then all the ways lawmakers kept African Americans from voting. And what happened to those who challenged the system. All the warnings for graphic violence on this one.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 88
Print/ebooks: 42
Graphic novels: 86
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-08-26T04:39:03Z

Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand by Yoko Komori. Tween graphic novel. "Everyone besides Tokiko denies the existence of merpeople, and yet the town holds a secret annual festival to honor them. Can she solve the mystery of what is real and what is fantasy? When Tokiko’s parents break up, she and her father move from the bustling city to a sleepy coastal town to live with her grandmother. Starting sixth grade in a new school where everyone has known each other their whole lives isn’t easy. Things start to look up when local boy Yosuke, another outsider, wants to be friends. But then strange memories start to surface. Swimming in the ocean… Drowning… Getting saved by… …a merman? Yosuke denies the presence of merfolk, yet the townspeople hold a festival to honor them every year. Can Tokiko solve the mystery of what is real and what is fantasy?"

This was super cute. It also had a lot of emotional things (parents splitting, new place, etc) but without being heavy. Also, if you think Yosuke is the merman and this is obviously predictable, he's not!

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater. Audiobook. "Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one. When her bratty young charge transforms overnight into a perfectly behaved block of wood, she soon realises that the real boy has been abducted by the Fair Folk. Unfortunately, the lord of Witchwood Manor is the only man in England who doesn’t believe in faeries—which leaves Winnie in the unenviable position of rescuing the young lord-to-be all by herself. Witchwood Manor is bigger than its inhabitants realise, however, and full of otherworldly dangers. As Winnie delves deeper into the other side of the house, she enlists the aid of its dark and dubious faerie butler, Mr Quincy, who hides several awful secrets behind his charming smile. Winnie hopes to make her way to the centre of the Witchwood Knot through wit and cleverness… but when all of her usual tricks fail, who will she dare to trust?"

I didn't like this as much as the author's Regency Fae series (set in the same universe). I think part of that is the pacing. In the second half, things get interesting, but honestly, I couldn't make sense of what the curse was. I don't know whether that was the fault of the book or whether I just wasn't paying enough attention. Perhaps it would improve on a reread. (I would definitely reread the Regency Fae series just for enjoyment, but I wasn't even enjoying this one until halfway through.)

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 84
Print/ebooks: 42
Graphic novels: 86
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Writing

2026-08-23T19:31:46Z

I finished my Murderbot fic! It came in at 39k words! The last chapter ended up being the longest, of course, because my estimate for how many words it would be was way off. Another chapter that got that long, I found a good place to split, but this one needed to be all in go. The fic was a lot of fun to write, and I wrote it really fast considering how fast I usually seem to write, but I'm also glad to have it done.

comments

Reading

2026-08-23T05:04:26Z

Red Pockets: A Tale of Inheritance, Ghosts and the Future Alice Mah. Audiobook. “Every spring during the Qingming Festival, people return to their home villages in China to sweep the tombs of their ancestors. Yet for the past century, the tombs of many overseas Chinese have been left unattended because of the ruptures of war and revolution. Following a record year of wildfires, Alice Mah returns to her family’s rice village in South China, ninety years after her grandfather’s last visit and fifty years after her last relative died in the village. While she finds clan members who still remember her family, there are no tombs left to sweep. In Red Pockets, Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of South China to her home in post-industrial England, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she grew up, to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives. As years pass and fires rage on, she becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors’ neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief. A haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration.”

The going to China part was interesting, the climate part was depressing. Which was the point, but.

Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, And Language by Deborah Fallows. Audiobook. “Deborah Fallows has spent much of her life learning languages and traveling around the world. But nothing prepared her for the surprises of learning Mandarin, China's most common language, or the intensity of living in Shanghai and Beijing. Over time, she realized that her struggles and triumphs in studying the language of her adopted home provided small clues to deciphering the behavior and habits of its people,and its culture's conundrums. As her skill with Mandarin increased, bits of the language—a word, a phrase, an oddity of grammar—became windows into understanding romance, humor, protocol, relationships, and the overflowing humanity of modern China. For example, that the abrupt, blunt way of speaking that Chinese people sometimes use isn't rudeness, but is, in fact, a way to acknowledge and honor the closeness between two friends. Or that English speakers' trouble with hearing or saying tones is matched by Chinese speakers' inability not to hear tones, or to even take a guess at understanding what might have been meant when foreigners misuse them.”

This was interesting, a quick read, and very much a book about how depending on how your language is structured, you think about the world differently, and how language is culture that can't always be simply translated word for word.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 83
Print/ebooks: 39
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-08-16T18:03:03Z

Preaching to the Choir by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Audiobook. "Elena Mendes thought she understood what “old money” was. She knew her boyfriend Ross Enderbough was rich. She knew he didn’t really get on with his family, and that he fled to America to study free of their influence. Ross has been summoned to Enderby, the family mansion built as a monastery centuries ago, for an exclusive, mysterious family gathering that happens only once a generation. But there are secrets in the mouldering old pile, and terrors in the unkempt woods on the estate. And Elena slowly comes to realise that “old money” means so much more than she’d ever imagined…"

I liked this fine. Another entry into the "the aristocracy are really monsters of some sort" genre.

Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. Tween. Audiobook. "After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think—she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a farm steeped in local history. When the school bus breaks down, the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods--bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them--the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small."

I read this mainly because I was curious what sort of middle grade horror book Katherine Arden would write, and it is enjoyable. Pretty creepy, and the characters all feel very real, in that way that Arden is so skilled at.

Also, I reread both Rogue Protocol and Network Effect while finishing my Murderbot fic.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 81
Print/ebooks: 39
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-08-11T20:43:20Z

Murder in Blackfriars by Jennifer Ashley. Below Stairs Mystery #9. Audiobook. "Kat Holloway’s beau, Daniel McAdam, has always had a past shrouded in mystery. So when a man claiming he knows where Daniel comes from turns up dead moments before meeting with them, Daniel goes on the hunt for the killer. It soon becomes clear that to see justice served, Daniel will have to figure out who he truly is. When Daniel asks Kat for her assistance, she readily complies, knowing she’ll do whatever it takes to protect the man she’s come to love. The quest takes Kat and Daniel deep into the East End, where they face dangerous foes from Daniel’s past, many of whom aren’t happy that Daniel now works with the police and will stop at nothing to keep Kat and Daniel from uncovering their secrets."

I liked this as another book in the series. The audiobook narrator did change, which feels a bit weird when the books are from first person POV, because in a good audiobook the voice often becomes the character to you. However, this was the narrator I was complaining about doing such a low breathy whisper for the male voices that it was almost inaudible at a normal volume, so the change in this case was welcome.

No One Loves an Angry Woman: An Exvangelical Coming-of-Rage Story by Gemma Hartley. Audiobook. "Gemma Hartley grew up in an Evangelical household where she was raised to become an obedient wife from the time she was a little girl. A sexual assault as a teenager upended her evangelical world, and that coupled with an upbringing steeped in purity culture led her to internalize guilt, silence and anger. The good girl conditioning of the church demanded that Hartley seek the narrow path of womanhood that emphasized service to others, to swallow the discomfort and rage that simmered just below the surface – but when political events rewakened her trauma, she began to come apart at the seams. Whether or not you’ve ever set foot in a church, Christian patriarchal norms have shaped American culture in ways that are far-reaching and insidious. From restrictive legislation that takes away women’s bodily autonomy to cultural norms that expect women to pick up after their husbands and joyfully give up their careers to care for children—these are all standards informed and fed by Christian culture."

Another ex-evangelical book, not that much different than other ones you might have read. I do feel like more of the book than I expected was about American sexist culture in general, which I can get anywhere and which I just read a book about, but the memoir parts were good and a unique perspective because that's obviously her story.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 77
Print/ebooks: 38
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-08-05T19:31:51Z

To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth. (Curse Bearer #2). Audiobook. "Sequel to the USA Today bestselling novella When Among Crows. When Dymitr is called back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get his hands on his family's most guarded relic—a book of curses that could satisfy the debt he owes legendary witch Baba Jaga. But first he'll have to survive a night with his dangerous, monster-hunting kin. As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies becomes razor-thin, and Dymitr’s new loyalties are pushed to their breaking point. Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr’s might just be fatal."

This was good. I liked it just as much as When Among Crows. What are monsters, what is evil, it's hard to stop loving people even when they're bad, all the big questions.

Stormswept by Helen Dunmore. (Ingo #5). YA. "Morveren lives with her parents and twin sister Jenna on an island off the coast of Cornwall - an island that in the long distant past was devastated by a tidal wave, its halls and people lost. Only some of those taken by the sea may not have been lost at all! Now, as Morveren and Jenna's relationship shifts and changes, like driftwood on the tide, Morveren finds a beautiful teenage boy in a rock pool after a storm. Going to his rescue, she is shocked to see that he is not human but a Mer boy. With Jenna refusing to face the truth, Morveren finds herself alone at the worst possible time."

This is part of the Ingo series, but is a standalone to the other four books, which all feature the same characters. I liked it fine. This series does stand out as having a different take on merfolk than a lot of YA, and also does not have romance, unlike a lot of YA.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 75
Print/ebooks: 36
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Writing

2026-08-05T06:26:03Z

I have written 26,500 words on my Murderbot fic in four weeks, which is insanely fast for me these days. It has taken up a lot of my time, but it's been really fun, because I'm always wanting to get to what happens next. I've also been finishing a chapter and posting it within 24 hours, which is not something I generally do at all, but this has just turned into a very low pressure fic. I only have two chapters left, and I'm excited to get it done, because while I have enjoyed working on it, I have also been spending all my free time on it.

I don't see myself writing a lot of Murderbot fic, or maybe even any more at all. I've been reading Murderbot fic for over a year, and this is the only fic idea I've had. At first I wasn't sure how writing in first person would go (because it's not my favorite POV for writing or reading) or how writing fic for a book series would go. I very much am a person that has only written for TV series and I "hear" the characters' dialogue like their actors are speaking it. But I have listened to the Murderbot audiobooks A LOT, so I just imagined Kevin R. Free's Murderbot voice, and then first person was much easier to write.

comments

Reading

2026-08-05T03:43:33Z

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews. Audiobook. "When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she's been obsessively re-reading for years. Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed, the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she's coming to love. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war."

I liked this, though I didn't really expect to. It's an isekai novel about a woman who knows she's in an isekai novel. But as she changes things, she also loses her certainty of what will happen, and loses some of her power/knowledge in a way because things have changed. I would probably reread it at some point, just because I have a hard time with fantasy politics the first time round, and because it's the first in a series.

Together Tea by Marjan Kamali. Audiobook. "Darya has discovered the perfect gift for her daughter’s twenty-fifth birthday: an ideal husband. Mina, however, is fed up with her mother’s years of endless matchmaking and the spreadsheets grading available Iranian-American bachelors. Having spent her childhood in Tehran and the rest of her life in New York City, Mina has experienced cultural clashes firsthand, but she’s learning that the greatest clashes sometimes happen at home. After a last ill-fated attempt at matchmaking, mother and daughter embark on a return journey to Iran. Immersed once again in Persian culture, the two women gradually begin to understand each other. But when Mina falls for a young man who never appeared on her mother’s matchmaking radar, will Mina and Darya’s new-found appreciation for each other survive?"

I liked this fine, though it's Kamali's first novel and isn't nearly as good as The Lion Women of Tehran.

(I also accidentally reread Artificial Condition while writing my Murderbot fic.)

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 74
Print/ebooks: 35
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-07-29T19:43:22Z

Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Riot of 1921: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation by Alfred L. Brophy. Audiobook. "The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot was the country's bloodiest civil disturbance of the century. Thirty city blocks were burned to the ground, perhaps 150 died, and the prosperous black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma, was turned to rubble. Brophy draws on his own extensive research into contemporary accounts and court documents to chronicle this devastating riot, showing how and why the rule of law quickly eroded. Equally important, he shows how the city government and police not only permitted looting, shootings, and the burning of Greenwood, but actively participated in it by deputizing white citizens haphazardly, giving out guns and badges, or sending men to arm themselves." Interesting but heavy read.

The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains by Reena McCarty. Audiobook. "When Poppy Hill was a child, she was stolen from her family's Montana homestead and taken 'Otherside' to the land of the fae, where she spent more than a century as a cook in the Wild King's castle. Now back in the human world, she works for a company that brokers faerie bargains, checking for loopholes in their contracts. But when a bargain that Poppy is negotiating goes disastrously wrong, she must return to the world she grew up in to try to rectify her mistake, facing danger, intrigue and a pesky ex-boyfriend along the way."

This is one of those books that could have gone either way for me, but I ended up really liking it. It had some different takes, and a more mature approach to the romance. I don't mean in a MA rated way, but more in a "I loved being with him but I don't know if it would be good for me to be with him again" way. There is also the makings of a love triangle, but it's so subtly done it didn't bother me. The romance is definitely background to what's going on, which is stopping the plot to seize the throne. All the big plot points are concluded, but this is definitely set up to be a series, because Poppy has made a deal at the end of the book, and that's clearly going to play out later.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 72
Print/ebooks: 34
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Leverage

2026-07-29T04:34:54Z

I have been watching Leverage! This is one of those shows that I was always peripherally aware of, but just never watched. I have no deep thoughts about it, but I'm enjoying it. It is nice to watch a show where every episode is just a case of the week. I'll be interested to see as it goes on if it has longer plot arcs. Right now it's just a bunch of people stealing stuff and screwing over corporations. Which was probably satisfying in 2010 but is extremely satisfying to watch in the corporate hellscape of 2026. I also like that the show doesn't take itself too seriously. You just get these completely insane, 10 second flashbacks that are never explained and not mentioned again. These people have wild lives okay! There was also surprise Mark Sheppard, because he's in everything. Right now I've just finished season 1. It's not a show I see myself being fannish about, and maybe not a show I'll ever rewatch, but I think I'll enjoy the ride.

comments

Reading

2026-07-28T04:53:28Z

She Made Herself a Monster by Anna Kovatcheva. Audiobook. "In nineteenth-century Bulgaria, Yana rides from one desolate town to the next, staging grisly displays while the villagers sleep: animal corpses in the public square, eggs filled with blood in the chicken coop. She tells the stricken villagers stories of vampires that stalk the night. Then Yana eliminates the threat, and leaves seeds of hope in her wake. The village of Koprivici, however, is plagued by exceptional illness and misfortune, its children rarely surviving infancy. There, Yana meets Anka: a headstrong orphan who the villagers blame for their curse. As Anka approaches womanhood, the village Captain is grooming her for marriage against her will. Anka is powerless against him—that is, until Yana arrives. Together, the orphan and the vampire slayer hatch a plan: to conjure a monster so vile, it might provide cover for Anka to escape. But their plan quickly takes on a horrifying life of its own..."

So what this sounded like to me was that the girl faking curses would end up raising something real in this particular village and then they would have to deal with it. But the "horrifying life of its own" thing is more just about the lengths a woman will go to to get away from a terrible man. I did actually enjoy this, but there's nothing supernatural going on.

When Among Crows by Veronica Roth. Audiobook. "Pain is Dymitr’s calling. His family is one in a long line of hunters who sacrifice their souls to slay monsters. Now he’s tasked with a deadly find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. To reach her, Dymitr must ally with the ones he’s sworn to kill. Pain is Ala’s inheritance. A fear-eating zmora with little left to lose, Ala awaits death from the curse she carries. When Dymitr offers her a cure in exchange for her help, she has no choice but to agree. Together they must fight against time and the wrath of the Chicago underworld. But Dymitr’s secrets—and his true motives—may be the thing that actually destroys them."

I really liked this one. It's a novella that does what good novellas do well. It has tight writing that gradually reveals information, and the main drive of the story is character based.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 70
Print/ebooks: 34
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-07-23T06:02:09Z

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher. (Swordheart #2). Audiobook. "Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, a handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down. This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who’s been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him. But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart."

I was initially disappointed that this wasn't a direct sequel to the characters in Swordheart, but of course Kingfisher won me over. Much like her Saint of Steel series where each book focuses on a different paladin, this one is going to focus on a different enchanted warrior. And we do get to see the Swordheart characters, but this story isn't about them.

One Word, Six Letters by Adib Khorram. YA. Audiobook. "Two teen boys grapple with identity and accountability and set off a ripple effect within their community after a school assembly is disrupted by a shouted slur. Freshmen Dayton and Farshid couldn’t be more different—or so it seems. When Dayton takes a dare and shouts the f-slur at a visiting author during a school event, it sets off a chain reaction that forces both boys to face parts of themselves they’d rather ignore. Dayton, grappling with the fallout of his actions, faces rejection from his friends, disappointment from his parents, and a growing awareness of the harm he’s caused. Meanwhile, Farshid is left to untangle his own feelings—about himself and about the quiet struggle of coming to terms with his queerness in a world steeped in heteronormativity. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, Dayton and Farshid must reckon with what kind of men they want to become and whether they have the courage to defy toxic masculinity and societal expectations."

This is written in the second person, which I really dislike, but it's legitimately good, so I persevered. Also the audiobook is one of those with sound effects, which I always find weird. I love me a BBC radio play as much as the next person, but audiobooks with just selected effects here and there throw me off. I guess they think kids can't pay attention unless there are sounds? Anyway, after all of Dayton's friends shun him, he starts hanging out with the kid he met in in-school suspension, and it goes great until it doesn't. You know that thing about how if you let Nazis in the bar then you have a Nazi bar? Well, if you start hanging out with someone who thinks you yelling a slur was funny, you're gonna find out that he also thinks a lot of things are funny that you don't. At the same time, you totally get why Dayton tries to make new friends, and why he feels like one stupid mistake took his life away. But he also reckons with it and proves that one mistake doesn't have to define you.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 68
Print/ebooks: 34
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-07-21T03:04:25Z

Red River Rose by Carole Lindstrom. Audiobook. Children's chapter book. "Rose, her family, and the Métis people have lived on the land for generations. She spends afternoons tracking rabbits and gathering roots with her best friend and her little sister. She loves to watch the ferry arrive, delivering goods and news to their remote community. But then Rose's elders start speaking in hushed tones and her parents discuss whether they should "join the resistance." When she learns that the government wants to push the Métis off their land again, Rose fears that their lives, their entire lifestyle, are at risk. Determined to help, Rose sets out on an adventure that will test her bravery more than she ever expected. She'll do anything to protect her family, her home, and her way of life." This was fine.

The Felicity Complex by August Clarke. Audiobook. "Annie Bot meets Fallout in this dystopian six women created in a lab, designed to serve the billionaires of the future in a luxury fallout shelter, rebel against their programming after the end times arrive. Welcome to the Felicity Complex! Constructed during the height of the Cold War, our unique hotel is prepared to protect you, the billionaire class, from nuclear annihilation! Shielded from radiation and supplemented with closed air systems and hydroponic gardens, this resort bunker offers a prime existence full gymnasium and spa, gourmet meals, top-tier medical care, and the best in entertainment." This was weird, and not in the interesting way. I can't even make fun of it because it didn't even inspire hate.

Don't Go There: A Tour of the World's Most Sinister Spots by J.W. Ocker. Audiobook. "Embark on a guided tour of 30 of the most dangerous and mysterious locations that we simply cannot stay away from. Have you ever visited a forest or an abandoned building and gotten a bad vibe? There are places that are rife with rumors of hauntings, monsters, and sinister phenomena that can’t be explained. And there are just as many sites that are the confirmed home of disasters, murders, and man-made mistakes. Award-winning travel writer and dark history expert J. W. Ocker explores these and many more locales around the world in this fascinating compendium that will ignite curiosity... and perhaps inspire some dubious travel plans."

This one was fun. There are the usual suspects like The Bermuda Triangle and the Pine Barrens, but also things that are indisputably real, like the catacombs of Paris, that mine that's always on fire, a lake full of skeletons, and Aokigahara.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 66
Print/ebooks: 34
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Spambots

2026-07-15T23:06:12Z

The spambot commenters on AO3 who leave you long comments about your fic (which means they've run it through AI) and then who want to "connect on discord" are coming from registered users now. Has anyone else encountered this?

comments

Reading

2026-07-15T20:15:55Z

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Audiobook. "Eight costumed boys running to meet their friend Pipkin at the haunted house outside town encounter instead the huge and cadaverous Mr. Moundshroud. As Pipkin scrambles to join them, he is swept away by a dark Something, and Moundshroud leads the boys on the tail of a kite through time and space to search the past for their friend and the meaning of Halloween."

Novella. This was fine.

Death and Night by Roshani Chokshi. Audiobook. "He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes."

This is a prequel novella to The Star-Touched Queen (which is based on Indian mythology), which I read about five years ago and really liked. This was a nice story in that universe. I really should read The Star-Touched Queen again, but my library doesn't have copies anymore.

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Audiobook. "In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest—the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day… Pre-dating Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance."

I finally read the OG vampire book! And this one is not as long as Dracula!

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 63
Print/ebooks: 34
Graphic novels: 85
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Reading

2026-07-13T04:50:23Z

The Favored Daughter: One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future by Fawzia Koofi. Audiobook. "The nineteenth daughter of a local village leader in rural Afghanistan, Fawzia Koofi was left to die in the sun after birth by her mother. But she survived, and perseverance in the face of extreme hardship has defined her life ever since. Despite the abuse of her family, the exploitative Russian and Taliban regimes, the murders of her father, brother, and husband, and numerous attempts on her life, she rose to become the first Afghani woman Parliament speaker. Here, she shares her amazing story, punctuated by a series of poignant letters she wrote to her two daughters before each political trip―letters describing the future and freedoms she dreamed of for them and for all the women of Afghanistan."

A powerful but heavy story. It was harrowing and inspiring.

The Right Amount of Panic: How Women Trade Freedom for Safety by F. Vera-Gray. "Have you ever thought about how much energy goes into avoiding sexual violence? The work that goes into feeling safe goes largely unnoticed by the women doing it and by the wider world, and yet women and girls are the first to be blamed the inevitable times when it fails. We need to change the story on rape prevention and ‘well-meaning’ safety advice, because this makes it harder for women and girls to speak out, and hides the amount of work they are already doing trying to decipher ‘the right amount of panic’. With real-life accounts of women’s experiences, and based on the author’s original research on the impact of sexual harassment in public, this book challenges victim-blaming and highlights the need to show women as capable, powerful and skillful in their everyday resistance to harassment and sexual violence."

A book with lots of real life examples, both of encounters women have had with harassers or assaulters, plus all the little ways they adjust their behavior while alone in public. Presented in a slightly academic way, but it's not dense reading at all.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 59
Print/ebooks: 33
Graphic novels: 84
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Accidentally wrote a fic!

2026-07-08T23:47:34Z

I've had an idea for a Murderbot fic for a some months, just a concept that I was like 'that would be fun to play with sometime, and I haven't seen it done yet.' Well, yesterday I thought I would open the second book and copy some passages that I would need to reference for world building. So late last night I pulled it up on Kindle and got what I needed into a Word doc, and was then like, "well, I could go ahead and write the setting the stage part, so I have the fun part to jump into later." I did that, and then just... kept going. I was literally up until sunrise, but I wrote 4000 words, and of course what I thought would be a one shot has turned into a multi-chapter fic, and that's only the first chapter. I went ahead and edited it this afternoon, and posted it less than 24 hours after I wrote it. That's something I haven't done in a long while, but I just wanted to throw it out there. It's a fic I'm having fun with and not taking too seriously, which is the total opposite of the last fic I wrote, where every line felt like it had to be perfect (still super satisfied with that one, but man it took a long time to write). Anyway, yay Murderbot fic! It's a canon divergence, which seems to be one of the tropes I repeat throughout fandoms.

comments

Reading

2026-07-07T03:03:05Z

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. "When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization." Tom's team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble. It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too--and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die."

My first Scalzi book, and what a romp! This is a book that doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's just a very readable, fun book that pulls you in. There are kaiju, and they're powered by organic nuclear reactors, and of course there are some humans who would LOVE to get their hands on them...

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. Audiobook. "Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound. Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price. After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits, and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever."

I liked this one a lot. I liked it a lot better than the similar Lisa See book where the protagonist dies and has to navigate the spirit world. In this one, Li Lan doesn't die, but is in a coma and is trapped in the spirit world, all the while trying to get back to her body AND avoid the dead Lim family son. And the ghosts on the other side are not always who they seem...

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 58
Print/ebooks: 32
Graphic novels: 84
Austen fanfic books: 17

comments

Project Hail Mary

2026-07-01T02:49:31Z

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Audiobook. “Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he?”

I did not read this when it came out because it didn’t sound super interesting. But of course after the movie, tumblr was full of gifs of Grace and his new space buddy, and I was like, okay the original book didn’t say anything about THIS. It’s all about the marketing, people! Tumblr knows what I like. I enjoyed this book a lot. I enjoyed The Martian a lot; I did not read Artemis because it sounded boring (and reviews apparently weren’t positive); and I’ve enjoyed this book. There are similarities to The Martian: one guy stuck in a horrible situation he has to science his way out of. Except in this book, it’s not just his own life he’s trying to save, it’s everyone’s. And it’s been a while since I read The Martian, but I feel like Mark Watney and Ryland Grace’s voices sound a lot the same. Just very quippy in their internal voices, which is the prose, since both are first person POV. But again, I haven’t read The Martian since it came out, so I could be off on that.

Anyway, this book! I did like it a lot, though I found Stratt as a character and a device completely unbelievable, and I found Grace-as-teacher kind of unbelievable. Okay, so you’re a disgraced microbiologist, you have advanced degrees, and you end up teaching middle school? Really?? I guess to some people teaching is a calling, but honestly, I feel like the teaching thing was just weirdly shoehorned in. But basically, Grace is the perfect person to go on a suicide mission because he has no friends and no family, and nothing to come back to the planet for besides middle schoolers (haha, that came out wrong but I’m leaving it in). But it’s his microbiology work that gets Grace tapped to figure out what’s going on with the space algae that’s killing our sun, though it still very much reads as “some random guy pulled in to save the world.” I guess that’s the point? But I honestly kind of rolled my eyes at the parts where he was just being whisked around the world to military bases and thrown in while no one tells him what’s going on.

But those are minor complaints. I did really like the book, and obviously the most interesting part is when Grace gets where he’s going in a medically induced coma, and arrives at the only nearby star we’ve found that is not being killed by the space algae. The mission: figure out why and send the answers back on probes, which will still all in all take 25ish years total because of relativity. (How do they get to another star system you ask? Well, they figure out the fuel problem because of the space algae problem.) Once he gets there, there’s another ship! An alien ship! An alien ship who is also there to figure out why this star is not dying, because theirs is also dying. And so we get first contact and two species trying to figure out how to communicate, and then how to work together to figure out the star problem. Friendship across space!

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 55
Print/ebooks: 30
Graphic novels: 83
Austen fanfic books: 15

Also, I immediately watched the movie, so let’s talk about that. ( spoilers )

comments

Reading

2026-06-27T02:13:31Z

Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots (Hench #2). Audiobook. "Anna, better known to superheroes as the Auditor, has carved out a name for herself. She has an incredible job with lots of perks, her boss will literally annihilate anyone who crosses her, and her greatest enemy, has been utterly defeated and literally ground to a pulp. But Anna still has her sights set on a greater destroying the Draft, the organization that makes, trains, and manages the world’s most powerful superheroes. These “heroes” have shown time and time again that they do more harm than good, and now is the time to stop the damage at its source. Yet all is not well with her fellow evildoers. Her employer, Leviathan—the world’s most feared supervillain—is not coping well with Supercollider’s defeat at someone else’s hands. Her unlikely ally Quantum Entanglement has vanished without a trace, leaving Anna to examine all the ways they deceived each other. And Anna soon finds herself facing down an opponent unlike any she’s taken on before—not another superhero, but someone like her…the Draft’s Chief Marketing Officer."

The sequel to Hench, and just as enjoyable. This is definitely shaping up to be a series. The second book does not end on a cliffhanger but it does end openly, and with them still going toe to toe with the Draft. So there is no huge victory or huge defeat for either side, even though they're having (let's be be real, bloody) skirmishes.

The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. "Faeries, or creatures like them, can be found in almost every culture the world over--benevolent and terrifying, charming and exasperating, shifting shape from country to country, story to story, and moment to moment. In The Faery Reel, acclaimed anthologists Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have asked some of today's finest writers of fantastic fiction for short stories and poems that draw on the great wealth of world faery lore and classic faery literature."

What it says on the tin. This was a reread for me, and as with most short story collections, there were more I didn't enjoy or only find okay than ones I really liked. So keeping with winnowing down my books, this one has to go.

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden. Audiobook. "Anne of Brittany was a child when France invaded and drove her royal father to his death. Now she is a young woman, sovereign duchess of an occupied realm, and France means to crown their conquest by marrying her to their king. Her only hope of resisting conquest is another alliance sealed with marriage, so Anne arranges a daring last gambit: a secret betrothal to Charles of France’s greatest rival. The forest of Brocéliande was once the haunt of Merlin the Enchanter and the long-lost faerie queen. But magic is long gone from Broceliande, except for the occasional sight of a unicorn and one critical quirk: This ancient forest is completely hostile to divination. While pretending compliance with France, Anne plans a unicorn hunt in Brocéliande. A bit of pointless pageantry. A diversion so she can wed in secret. Or so she thinks."

This one didn't work for me, which is disappointing because I LOVED the author's Winternight books. IDK, with this one I felt like it couldn't decide whether it was fantasy or medieval politics, because the two never gelled for me and never felt like the world was cohesive (but I am notoriously picky about whether magical worlds feel real or not). Also, not enough unicorns. It is very atmospheric, but it just didn't grab me.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 54
Print/ebooks: 27
Graphic novels: 83
Austen fanfic books: 14

comments

Reading

2026-06-22T00:50:13Z

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See. Audiobook. "In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain – America – where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. Each woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined."

This is a rare entry by Lisa See that does not fall into the "best friends who hate each other" trope (don't get me wrong, she does that well, but it's definitely become a Thing with her). However, this one is not for the faint of heart. There is a race riot, a massacre, kidnapping, sexual slavery, miscarriage, syphilis, and general other unpleasantness. I gave it three stars. Not my favorite of hers, but not my least favorite, either.

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde. YA. "When Kerry's little brother forgets his stuffed bear at the laundry, Kerry ventures out at 11th p.m. to retrieve it for him. The laundry is deserted and kind of spooky, and while she's there three men burst in, dragging a bound and bloodied young man they insist is a vampire. Kerry helps him escape, only to be caught up in a desperate game between vampire hunters and their prey."

This was written in 1995, so it's more 'YA that doesn't feel like YA.' I thought it was pretty unique. Kerry caught between the vampire and the vampire hunters, and both of them kind of want to kill her, because to the vampire, she knows too much, and to the vampire hunters, they think she's been turned. The vampire is a LIAR which is great because you really don't know what he's going to do until the end, and Kerry is dragged along with him by necessity, because the vampire hunters have her family.

Books read in 2026
Audiobooks: 52
Print/ebooks: 26
Graphic novels: 83
Austen fanfic books: 14

comments