To Other Worlds

Review: House of Frank by Kay Synclaire

Thanks to the publisher (Bindery Books) for an ARC of this book.

No matter how much I want to like them, me and the new wave of cozy SFF books just don’t seem to get along. It’s frustrating. It should be up my alley! It’s not too far removed from romance’s promise of happy endings or most books on my ancient slice of life list! But anything I try is either far too saccharine¹, not cozy at all², DnD or comedy leaning, written by someone afraid to explore the implications of what they’re writing about, sloppy and badly written, or any combination of the former.

I had high hopes for House of Frank in the beginning, expecting it could be the one to break the curse, but, well. It pissed me off quick enough.

Review: The Magnus Archives (S3)

– goodreads – transcripts – listen here –

Holy shit. Holy fuck. Best season yet. Extremely good writing. Elaborate psychological torture aimed at me specifically, 10/10, season finale nearly did me in. I need everyone to join me.

I thought the previous season started strong, but this is a whole another level. Nothing but absolute bangers straight from the start. I felt like I’d been punched in the face repeatedly by the third episode, and then it got worse. And worse again. No punches pulled, no holds barred. The characters can’t catch a break and neither can we. And it’s, I can’t overstate this enough, so incredibly good.

Review: The Magnus Archives (S2)

– goodreads – transcripts – listen here –

Whew! What an absolutely diabolical experience this podcast is. It does things to you. Between the last few episodes of season 1 and the first few episodes of season 2, I lost my shit about as fast as the protagonist did. We’re in full manic obsession territory now and I will see this through. I can’t touch any other book until I’m done. Yes, it will hurt, because this is the evil podcast from hell when it comes to making you love the characters and then torturing them, but it’s so insanely compelling and well written. (Seriously, what do they put in this thing??)

Review: The Magnus Archives (S1)

– goodreads – transcripts – listen here –

I would say I don’t know what on earth possessed me to start this given my 1) audio processing issues, and 2) fear of parasites, but I in fact do: an enthusiastic friend, some fanart of a character looking particularly wet and pathetic, and the need to give myself brainworms about something. So I checked it out. Out of boredom, mostly, to see if it’ll stick, or if I’d bounce off after a couple episodes. And it worked!

Review: The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard

– goodreads –

I’ll admit, I had my doubts. The Hand of the Emperor was a flat DNF, for one, and I’ve been mildly grumpy about the Elves and/or Dwarves Bingo square from the start. But oh, am I glad to be proven wrong. Instead, The Bone Harp is one of those rare books that fit inside me like a puzzle piece. I inadvertently stumbled upon the kind of book I’ve been trying to find for over a decade, mixed with one of my favourite tropes. Even if it has flaws, how could I not love it?

Review: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

– goodreads –

Thanks to the publisher (Tor Books) for an ARC of this book.

Some Desperate Glory is one of the most frustrating books I’ve read in a while. I was really looking forward to finally getting around to it, it felt like exactly the right time, and it was. But choices were certainly made. How could a book with such a good first half blow everything so badly by halfway point?

Mini Reviews: The City in Glass, A Bloomy Head, The Desert Talon, Triggernometry Finals

Here’s a secret: I’m very, very behind with reviews. This batch has been cooking since before I made the final push to finish Bingo and I’m so very relieved to finally start catching up a little. All of them are books I liked and would gladly recommend, and otherwise the standard batch of books I don’t normally do full reviews for – an almost-novella, a historical romance novel, and two novellas.

Review: Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater (Regency Faerie Tales #2)

– goodreads –

Once again I run into a “it’s not you, it’s me” type book. As much as I enjoyed Half a Soul (I reread it just days ago, too), Ten Thousand Stitches was a struggle. It’s objectively reasonably fine with a lot to like, even if it does suffer from a serious identity crisis. Hell, it’s worth a rec just because the protagonist is a servant instead of another lady. But unfortunately, the plot hit way too many of my pet peeves and the longer I read, the more annoyed I was.

Official announcement thread HERE