#the way i love each book is very different but GTN was FUN | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gentlemean · 6 months

Text

I know the fandom loves throwing ideas around for a hypothetical adaptation, so why not chime in.

I think most of us agree that an animated series would be better than the dreaded life-action adaptation. Regardless of format, any adaptation would have to somehow preserve the peculiarities, the absolute whiplash, and way the narration shapes the narrative. In my opinion, an animated series could do this quite well.

We start off with Gideon the Ninth. It's shown in heavily stylized 3d animation (think, at least Arcane-style), with strong contrasts in the colors. The Ninth house is dark and desaturated, the lights in the eyes of animated skeletons and Gideon's hair positively burn among the dreary surroundings. Then, getting to the First, the world is vibrant and bright, lots of elaborate light refractions in the broken windows of Canaan house.

Characters are accompanied not only by small, individual musical themes, but also by visual clues. Each house might have distinct little particles and effects that appear in scenes in which the respective characters act. They might synergize in scenes where characters cooperate or contrast in scenes in which they fight. (example: the Niners are always accompanied by shadows, ink-blots staining the scenery around them. The Third are too graceful to be real, all of their animations use exaggerated smear-frames in overly grandiose flourishes. When Naberius fights Gideon, his strikes stir the shadows around Gideon, cleaving bright rifts into the inkstained dark.)

The story is told as we know it, without reordering or large ommissions. One thing we see not nearly often enough in modern television is actual narration in the background. We don't need it for all of the visuals and happenings, but so much of gtn profits from Gideon's thoughts and feelings.

A few scenes look differently though. When Gideon allows Harrow to take over her vision, the animation style changes. It gets a bit more abstract, the surroundings are textured like oil paintings, and Gideon herself has trails of smoke and ink following her movements. This is how they see the world together, and it is reflected again at the very end of the first book, when Harrow ascends. Except this time there's no borrowing, it's something deeper. The world is painted, more abstractly this time, and the characters appear almost like paper cuts.

And then the fun begins. We leave gtn and start htn. There is no more Gideon in our narrative, and yet there is her narration. As in the first series we retain parts of the narration, and it is her voice - mostly. Now, this is a source of great confusion in the book, right? The series would have to make it explicit that it is her voice, but it can have fun with it nevertheless. Some words are garbled, overlapping, distorted. Sometimes, Harrow's voice seamlessly takes over the narration, drifting in and continuing, while still using Gideon's pronunciation and vocal flow.

The visuals, on the other hand - now, that's an entirely different thing. At this point we know what the world looks like when Gideon sees it and what it looks like when they see it together. htn gives us two exciting new variations: 'Harrow with very little Gideon' for the Mithraeum story, and 'Harrow entirely without Gideon' for the river bubble. In the main, physical-world story we retain broad strokes of thick oil paint for the world around Harrow. The characters are too clean on a messy background, with some of the paint steadily bleeding into their shapes. The paint seems almost like it is an active participant in the narrative, crawling across inconvenient truths to blot them out, staining everyone but keeping it's distant from John, who therefore remains clearer than clear, shiny and bright, squeaky clean and lemon scented. But then there's the river bubble, and we get full Harrow, with a teeny bit of Wake. The scenery around the characters is vague and misty, swathes of color arrange into a distorted background like ink being poured into water. The entire scenery bleeds color and light into the surroundings of dark, barely saturated characters. It breaks at the seams when the uncomfortably realistic fleshy pipes wind through the walls, something too concrete for a tearstained world.

Towards the final act, we see a few changes: Abigail summons Nonius, and the shape language changes. Everything's still illustrated the way it was before, but the stark, desaturated characters in his proximity stop being mere dark blots in this scenery, and instead become almost comic-like. Their strikes and attacks are supported by respective action lines, their poses and moves adapt to the newly imposed genre conventions. Meanwhile, on the Mithraeum, Gideon is keeping the fires burning. We're almost back to the way we used to see the world in the beginning, Gideon's stark contrast and smooth environments. But there's the ink bleeding into the scenery from dark corners and bright red puddles, there's enough of Harrow here to stain the world.

And, well. We get to Nona. And Nona's world fundamentally isn't like the one the other's see. Nona's world is mismatched and chaotic and charmingly odd. Most of it is claymation, interspersed with some other materials. Cam's swords are real metal, the dust of New Rho fills the air, and most of the food is probably actual food that looks as dreadfully out of place in this world as it feels in Nona's mouth. There remains a touch of Harrow, expressive movements are exaggerated with her flowing ink, action lines like calligraphy. Of course, there are also the John chapters. Here, we get to have proper fun with the visuals. Let's recap: it's Harrow getting to experience a memory of Alecto, narrated by John. We already know Harrow's flowing colors that stain the backgrounds, and we get mixed medium animation with it: articulated plastic dolls, of course, with some natural materials (moss, wood, some metal scraps) as set dressing.

I'm still not entirely settled on the Nona Epilogue. As long as Alecto isn't out I'm not sure whether I want to keep in line with something from the next book, or whether it's its own thing. Until we know more: illuminated manuscript.

---

Well, that was more than I originally intended to write, but I've had those thoughts in my head basically since I've started the books, and they needed an outlet. There's plenty more ideas where those came from, please please talk to me. 'The Unwanted Guest' as an actual play, anyone? (When Cam makes contact with Babs, and the fight initiates, the camera zooms out from the now frozen claymation, revealing it's situated on a table in the front row of a theatre hall BTW)

#the locked tomb #tlt #Gideon the Ninth spoilers #Harrow the Ninth spoilers #Nona the Ninth spoilers #I could keep talking for hours. Anyone want a full concept for the soundtrack?#just tell me

73 notes · View notes

travelerstakes · 2 months

Text

anyone wanna hear a wrong theory?

Hello! It's the girl reading TLT wrong again!

I was thinking I might as well go over why I'm convinced that Gideon is possessing the sword. I do this acknowledging fully and readily that I'm probably more than half wrong, but I think my reasoning is fairly solid so for my own posterity and other's enjoyment, let's go.

(evidence at hand: Gideon The Ninth up till they first make planetfall and sunglasses get pulled out. Assorted osmosis tidbits. Harrow The Ninth up till mid chapter 21)

First, why I think the sword's haunted:

Look, nothing that wants to be bathed in arterial blood, casts the evil eye over entire rooms, and has an incredibly traumatized girl protecting it from thieves isn't haunted. I'm sorry, that's the rules. Additionally, this book made a point early on to make sure we knew how revenants work. You don't put these things next to each other if you don't want an audience to link them.

Second, why I think it's Gideon in there:

We're told three things that naturally get haunted by revenants: people they cared about, grave goods (stuff they cared about in life), and their murder weapons. If it's Gideon, at least two of these things are very readily available. Harrow, and her own two-hander. If there was actually a two-hander in the Sleeper's coffin (which I really doubt), that potentially becomes three things. If there was actually a Sleeper, anyways.

Now, I *do* suspect that Harrow's possessed. The second person perspective in the main timeline is incredibly suspicious, since it implies that while she's answering to "Harrowhark Nonagesimus" and is seemingly attached enough to the name to make its use a major element in probably-banging Ianthe, she isn't *actually calling herself that in her head.* Of course, given all the "reborn as myself" stuff and how incredibly messed up her life in general and during the events of this book specifically are, she might also just be dissociated as hell.

Besides, as a lyctor, she's clearly *supposed* to be possessed by her cavalier. And however the process of taking a loved one for parts and an auto defense system actually goes, it's obviously went funky as all get out with her.

It seems like a cavalier is supposed to be their lyctor's sword, at least on a metaphorical level. Knightly service, the godking calling his lyctors his fingers, and them apparently being supposed to turn into a lyctor's limbic system during the fusion. This being a very literal "hey, you're Her Sword now, have fun!" Situation is a logical extreme of that, and would probably piss Gideon off to no end at the beginning of the book. Of course, I know that GtN is a romance, so there's a non-zero chance that this has changed, which only makes it funnier.

Whoever it is playing Transistor at Harrow, Harrow has some *strong* feelings about it. They mostly aren't positive, but she's still incredibly, INCREDIBLY attached to her sword in often very literal ways. That implies it's someone she at least used to know.

Lastly, other people it might be:

Any weapon from the Ninth is gonna be a hand me down, and Ortus the Lyctor clearly super, SUPER wants it. Perhaps it's somebody he used to know?

I'd suspect Evil Femme Jesus, but it seems like she can get around just fine without being a hunk of metal, and Harrow has a pretty different feeling relationship with her that predates the sword owning.

A Memory of a Much Lesser Self? Harrow's clearly got a couple of those floating around...

#harrow the ninth #tale thoughts #Tale reads TLT wrong #the locked tomb

11 notes · View notes

rosysreadingrefugium · 11 months

Text

Review: Nona the Ninth

read from 11 June to 18 June

Okay, so first, damn me for reading an unfinished series. Alecto the Ninth will (hopefully) come out this October and I can barely wait for that.

Second: what the actual hell was that fever dream of a book? Did I love Nona? Of course. Did I know what was going on 99% of the time? No. Did I still enjoy this book? Absolutely!

Basic facts

Title: Nona the Ninth (#3 of the Locked Tomb series)

Author: Tamsyn Muir

Pages: 496

Synopsis: Her city is under siege. The zombies are coming back. And all Nona wants is a birthday party. In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back. The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever. And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...

Review / Rambling (maybe kinda spoilery)

After the fever dream that was Harrow the Ninth, I really did not know what to expect - I certainly did not expect Nona.

In the beginning, I was so confused, who Nona actually was and what was happening. But the worldbuilding and setting were as intriguing as in GtN and HtN - I especially loved the spin of the zombie trope as well as the urban setting. I am not well versed in Science Fiction so I cannot comment on whether the setting was derivative but it certainly was fun to read. Also, necromancers in space. And Noodle. 5 stars for worldbuilding/setting.

The plot was more clearcut than in HtN and it actually made sense. I loved the headings of the parts (5 days until the Tomb opens etc.) because it set up the ending so well. Tamsyn Muir is definitely a fan of "spoiling" the ending but who am I to complain (I am a sucker for this plot structure). Also NtN had one of my favourite tropes of all time: domestic living in a SFF-world/city. I cannot get enough of that trope! I did not particularly like the John-focused chapters - it gave some context to the whole story but the whole climate crisis felt a little too real haha. 4 stars for the plot.

As for characters, I loved, loved, loved Nona. You usually do not have a "child" protagonist in SFF, so it was really refreshing looking through the eyes of one. I loved how she told the story and how she did not really have a clue what was going on 99% of the time (very relatable hehe). I also adore Camilla and Palamedes, so I was happy to see more of them, although not together of course. I liked the family dynamic between Nona, Camilla/Palamedes and Pyrrha. As I have already said, I am a big fan of domestic living in SFF-cities, so that ties in perfectly. Also - Gideon is back (kind of, maybe, idk) and she is as funny as ever (also a bit creepy). Only downside of the book regarding characters: often, I had no idea who these people were because the names were so confusing. Also, Harrow was not there for the most part. 4 stars for characters.

I have seen some people critiquing Tamsyn Muir for not having a consistent tone throughout the series. I actually really loved world. In my opinion, there were a lot of cringey jokes in the first book and although I like Gideon, I am glad that we see different people as narrators. I loved the second book for its mysterious "vibey" writing style. I loved the third book for the child-like writing. The new perspective really helped me with immersing myself more in the book. 4 stars for writing style.

The overall vibes of the book were definitely there and I really enjoyed reading the book. +1 star for overall vibes.

final rating: 5 stars

#rosysreadingrefugium #book blog #booklr #fantasy #nona the ninth #the locked tomb

3 notes · View notes

thunderon · 3 years

Note

Talk rarepairs to me

anon you are opening my pandora’s box. first of all im a multishipper and it takes very little for me to be like “yeah i could ship that” and muir gives us a book full of characters i can point at and say “gay” so im a kid in a candy store

right now i have an extremely niche set of rair pairs i am interlocking in my head. this all has pretty much 0 canon context but im having fun. so hear me out on something i diehard shipped in gtn: judith/marta. immediately shipped it on my first time reading gtn and we’re finally up to 5 whole fics in the tag.

the two most recent ones here and here captured pretty much the dynamic i had imagined for them

before i say anything: marta dyas is 100% my favorite minor character and i have a Lot of Feelings about her and i ship her and judith in gtn. i really like the dynamic of them both being ‘perfect’ soldiers but they allow a level of comfort around each other that they can’t have with anyone else. it’s so obvious that they have an implicit trust between each other and that marta would follow judith anywhere and judith is totally confident in the fact that marta will have her back. and the fact that tamsyn muir says that if cytherea hadn’t showed up, no one but ianthe would have become lyctorhood, i can reasonably believe a scene where judith would be forced to choose between gaining ultimate power to enter the emperors service as lyctor and marta, our perfect necromantic soldier would choose marta.

i think this ship could get really interesting with just how different the seconds necro-cav relationship is. again, the second necromancer’s specialty is the opposite of the eighths. while the eighth drains their cav like a battery, the second is said to augment a cavalier. i am so curious about the science behind it, and im assuming it works sorta like the final fight scene in gtn when harrow gets in gideons head and talks to her. i wanna see judith give marta some gogo juice so she can kick ass. in my head i view it as a pacific rim type “drift compatible” thing and i believe in the inherent eroticism fighting in sync with someone and trusting them more than you trust yourself, knowing them better than you know yourself.

i would just love to see that specific dynamic and power between marta and judith. and just a side note but i can imagine they got paired together pretty young like isaac and jeannemary, and i think that’s a skill they’d develop over time. i can imagine when they first got paired marta could see judith as nervous/bossy and i could for sure see judith struggle to trust marta at first, but i really want to see how they developed into the unified team they presented at canaan house.

now for the angst. marta dyas is 100% a person who would die for something she believed in, and i think it’s very clear that she believes in judith. marta followed judith’s lead unquestionably and it was judith who made the call to fight teacher and signal the emperor: a call that directly led to marta getting killed. that scene where judith refuses medical attention and tells them to help marta, who is obviously dead, just kills me every time. judith refusing to leave marta’s body and her line where she says “no one should have to watch their cavalier die” had me choked up so bad tbh.i think that’s a decision judith has to live with in htn and i think it is really going to change her in some way.

as for ships with them in htn, i like the idea of judith/coronabeth etl arc and i really like the idea of dulcinea/marta (yes i said dulcinea/marta) in the afterlife. i have a whole mental storyline of how those relationship arcs would go but for the sake of brevity ill stop here lol. i have a lot of feelings about these characters tho

#asks #the locked tomb #no i will not shut up about marta dyas #i ship like 4 pretty rair pairs in the locked tomb #i am probably the only one in the world that ships marta/dulcinea #im sorry this is so long #long post

67 notes · View notes

ghostmartyr · 3 years

Note

/clears throat/ so, Immi, I hear you like the locked tomb, which is fantastic! from one person also escaping the snk series into TLT to another, what did you think of the characters and plot in HtN? are there any things you're most excited to see when Alecto comes out in 2022?

-pats lifeboat- This baby can fit so much trauma.

SPOILERS, naturally.

With another paragraph informing the curious that unspoiled is the way to go into HtN, since if you aren’t lost and confused, are you really reading Harrow the Ninth?

I read it all in one day, and that was a choice. It does mean my memory and understanding of what all went on is slightly dependent on someone else on the internet exploding over a particular set of paragraphs and explaining their significance to me, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

HtN disappointed me on one front in that I was hoping seeing more of Harrow 1.0 would help out any future fic endeavors. On everything else, like the first one, being told the story is such a good time that I’m willing to wait on a full comprehension of where it’s going.

I also really like second person.

What I loved most about HtN is how even without Gideon mentioned until very, very late in the book, you can feel her absence everywhere. In the wrong bubble flashbacks you’re commanded to examine the strangeness, but even in Harrow going about her day, the isolation and the wrongness of it decorate her every action. She’s alone, and she shouldn’t be, and the loss she’s unaware of bleeds into a constant echo of grief.

I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated absence as a narrative tool so much. Obviously griddlehark hours go hard once they start in HtN, but even before then, there is so much power to their connection that looking into a world where it never exists still manages to punch you in the heart with how much each one inhabits everything the other is.

The whole series is amping me up with a few thoughts on loneliness, honestly. Gideon and Harrow grow up alone on the Ninth, save for each other. It takes leaving for that to be any kind of good thing. The first book is tag team Among Us with everyone in their little clusters, slowly learning what other people are about as they all drop dead.

The second book has a different vibe and different plot things going on, but it’s similar in that the protagonist gets thrown into a world they don’t fit and have to put on a show. Only now there are even fewer people to familiarize with, with that number correlating directly to how they all killed the person closest to keeping them from being alone.

Lyctorhood is taking the person dearest to your heart and trapping them there forever while they’re stripped of everything that made them who they are.

...Also Ianthe is there.

Gideon, Mercy, and Augustine are the last Lyctors standing after 10,000 years. There were only seven, starting out. Sixteen acolytes who came to the First. The only pair who didn’t succeed in condensing themselves is separated from the pack and sent to live away from their peers on a tiny planet that no one has anything good to say about.

Alecto is John’s -- who even knows, past A Lot, and he puts her to sleep and locks her in a prison no one but he can get past.

God has seven friends. More if you want to count the people in the Cohort, but realistically, he has seven friends. Then they keep dying.

Harrow spends HtN in a spaceship with five people.

One is trying to kill her.

One ordered that one to try to kill her.

Two could not care less about the useless baby Lyctor.

One is Ianthe.

There is no real endgame. There is surviving life, and life has become a game of running as far away as possible so you don’t share your ruin upon your inevitable death.

It’s bleak and sad.

Harrow’s healthiest relationships are with dead people, and some of them she didn’t know at all in life.

Reiterating it, the most plot significant bit of the world is finding someone else in the world, swearing yourself to them, and smashing your souls together until you’ve lost the connection entirely.

My brain’s not in the best place so I can’t do more than gesture loudly at it, but a few people have mentioned that the series’ thesis is a counter to Ianthe’s statement that love is acquisitive.

Harrow tightens her hold around Gideon until Gideon would rather she just strangle her and get it over with, all things considered. It fucks them both up, and when they start working to get past it, circumstance wraps a chain around both their throats.

The necromancers who become imperfect Lyctors have all acquired their cavaliers, and besides the cav, it kills that bond.

Harrow’s rejection of that is why Gideon’s soul is still in the world of the living (and John blood).

She has spent her entire life eating pieces of Gideon to keep herself a horrid imitation of whole, and when she is finally offered that, she refuses.

Grief and how Harrow just can’t are active elements of the book, and Magnus gives her more therapy in five minutes talking about it than she has ever had in her life, but the reason why that isn’t the end of Gideon is because, unlike all the other Lyctors, Harrow turns the offer down.

With the exception of Babs and Ianthe, the relationship between cavaliers and necros about to do the Lyctor thing is cavaliers promising to burn for an eternity while their necromancer lives off the fumes.

Fuck that is Harrow’s response.

Cytherea says, in the aftermath, that they had the choice to stop.

Harrow stops.

A lifetime of doing exactly what Gideon is telling her to do with her death, and Harrow chooses to stop.

Harrow remembers Ortus’ poetry. She regularly sees her congregation off to their deaths. She keeps Gideon’s glasses. She views Palamedes, head exploded and all, as an infinitely better person than she is because of the quality of his exemplary character. She pulls Gideon the First from the incinerator on the night she plans to kill him.

Kiddo has so many fucking issues, but somewhere, she has learned to respect people for being people. That’s why she and Gideon are the heroes of the story, ultimately, and Ortus saying that they’re heroes worthy of the Ninth doesn’t fall flat. They’re actually trying.

Where that puts us for Alecto, I don’t pretend to know.

Since the first book is the temptation of an end to isolation, only to have it snatched away, the second book is the continuation of isolation with a few promising sparks of human connection that pave the way for hope...

That leaves the third book to shed the isolation and allow the connections to thrive.

With Gideon and Harrow MIA.

I know that the books kick things up into high gear in the final acts each time, but if they’re both gone for the majority of the book, no matter how much fun it is, I’m going to miss them. They’re the core leads, and I don’t want to be without them in the final part.

The 2022 release date has aged my soul. I deliberately planned my GtN read to land a month before HtN came out, then suffered when that was delayed. When really that was nothing at all. I hate waiting.

(Insert note that I’m very glad they aren’t forcing Muir to rush anything out. It’s been a rough time, but also, just in general authors should have the opportunity to create the best versions of their art they can, so the extra time hurts, but it’s obviously for the best.)

What I’m most excited for is probably the cover art. The first two have been awesome, and the artist said he’d likely do print sales for all three when the third’s revealed. My wallet cries but my heart does not.

What I dare not be excited for is the potential for Gideon and Harrow meeting again and perhaps hugging. In their own bodies.

I’d take other bodies, but ideally, y’know.

Also I would love for Harrow to finally meet her popsicle girlfriend.

I doubt it would be a wholly positive experience, but by golly I want it. Maybe they could hug too. It would probably kill Harrow again, but who doesn’t expect several people to die again in the third book?

However it plays out, I’m expecting to enjoy AtN. The writing’s the sort that I’ll happily follow wherever it goes. For everything else, there’s fanfic. The only real worry I have is the whole book will be narrated by Ianthe, and while I mentally groan at that, I actually find Ianthe’s commentary delightful, so even in the worst case scenario I’m having a good time.

Thank you so much for the ask.

#Harrow the Ninth #Gideon the Ninth #The Locked Tomb #asks #oh I don't have an ask tag for the tomb yet #should work on that #tl;dr #viva la pluto

25 notes · View notes

thebooksaidthat · 3 years

Text

20 Favorite Books of 2020 Recommendation List!

Phew, 2020 is about to end. What a year, isn’t it? It’s been a long, tiring and bad year all round for a lot of people in different aspects and reading is a way for all of us to escape our realities. I’ve never had a year like this at all, in terms of my reading habits. The lock downs and time off from school allowed me to read probably the number of books in my entire childhood in less than a year. I read 100+ books this year, varying in pages and formats but it still surprises me that I managed to read that much. This probably won’t happen again in the coming years because of college and etc but I had a good time reading. So, I thought I would share some of my favorite books/series’ that I’ve read this year and give a short description/opinion on it. Hope something catches your eye here!

side note:

most of these fall under the fantasy category but there are some other genre’s too like romance/contemporaries/non-fiction

the books are listed only based off their category and not in any specific preference order but if you’re interested to see a review/rating on it you can visit my Goodreads profile.

1. Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Do you enjoy reading fantasy books with powerful female protagonists? Do you like dragons? How about a queer F/F pairing as the main couple within the story? Priory of the Orange Tree was a book which I didn’t expect I would enjoy when I read the first few chapters. It’s a book that requires quite a bit of commitment considering the sheer page count of it (though if you read any Stormlight Archive it shouldn’t be a problem) but I grew on the plot line and characters after a bit. There’s classic tropes thrown in here and there but what made me enjoy it was that it focuses on female characters as the heroes rather than male ones. Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoy some books with male-centered characters too but it’s nice to see some good ol’ fantasy with protagonists I can identify with. 2. Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

The first book of a series(unsure how many books atm), this debut was just a fun read. I love strong and rule-defying characters and this book gave us just that and more. Although I think the storyline might be a bit bumpy for me, I found that this book perfect for my reading slump and I really liked how it ends too. It might be worth waiting till 2021 to read this because the ending is pretty cliff-hangery in my opinion. I’m hopeful for the sequel to be even better because there are hints of a slow burn, enemies to lovers(F/F) pairing for this one! 3. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

This was one of my earliest reads of 2020 and I really enjoyed it. The premise of the story is not one I’ve seen before in YA books and it should appeal to many readers. In a world where the ruling king ‘captures’ beautiful women from around the nation to be made his concubines, we follow Lei as she experiences all of that and her journey in going against everything. This is the 1st book out of 3 and its definitely a strong start to a series. There’s some great topics touched upon that is great for discussion like sexual-abuse and the aftermaths of it. Romance(F/F) also plays a big part in this book so if you’re into fantasy + romance that is done well, add this to your long TBR list! 4. Crier’s War by Nina Varela

Another debut book but this time make it sci-fi! Crier’s War is a fast-paced book set in an era where Automae(robots?) are the rulers and humans are their servants. It’s about how a female Automae, Crier, goes against her father’s opinions about the humans and basically overruling all the norms of Automae being prejudiced. It’s hard to describe the book much without spoiling but this is 1/2 of a duology and the second book picks up right where the 1st ends so make sure you read that too because it gets even better in its sequel! 5. The Weight of the Stars by K. Ankrum

Sometimes all I want is a quiet, character-driven book. This checked off those wants for me in the best ways. In a story where I believe focuses more on character relationships, I found that I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It’s a comfort read packed with some occasional twists and the writing style is immaculate! The book is about how two misfits get entangled into each other’s business when an accident happens to one of them. It’s a slow burn(F/F) romance which I think was written very well and the characters had good chemistry. This includes their other friends in the circle too which is nice to see! 6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

If you want to read a different kind of fantasy/sci-fi book, you’ll have to check GtN out! It’s a humor-filled necromancy book with great characters and such an interesting premise. The 1st out of 3 books from The Locked Tomb Trilogy, GtN follows a murder-mystery plot line, similar to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie but much more fun of course. The main character is also a lesbian which is always nice to see more of in the crowded space of books. Make sure you check out Harrow the Ninth too after GtN because that picks up right after this one and is so different but still does an incredibly good job of hooking readers in. 7. The Poppy War Series by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War series holds a special place in my heart. I binged all 3 books this year and let me tell you this: I usually find sequels in a series to become less interesting/loses its magic but this is definitely not the case for this. With a very different setting from what we usually see in the fantasy genre, TPW is set in ancient historical China and the books are heavily influenced by real events that happened before. It’s a grim-dark type of series for sure and the protagonist, Rin, is sort of morally-grey in many ways which made it a much more compelling read to me. The final book for me was and iis one of the best ways I’ve seen a writer end a series. If you’re looking for a fantasy series with a fascinating magic system with a grim-dark plot, you’re up for a treat here! 8. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

I rarely read novellas but when I do, they usually leave me fairly unsatisfied at the end because I find them to be hard to connect to because of its length. To Be Taught if Fortunate is another book which I would describe as ‘quiet’ and just overall a comforting read. It’s hopeful, filled with a diverse group of characters which is always welcomed in the books I read. I think one of the best parts of the book is the way its written which had a very soothing feel to it. It’s hard to describe but reading this made me really interested in reading other works by the author. The ending is also excellent too and leaves you thinking for a while. 9. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Is political intrigue something you enjoy in your books? Do you like your characters interestingly named like Six Helicopter or Three Seagrass? How about analytical banters/discussions between characters about language? If that’s so, AMCE is a space-opera that will check all those boxes. Seriously, this is a well-built world with fun characters and I loved them so much! There will be a sequel coming out early next year but the book ends with a fairly satisfactory ending so you can jump into this without a commitment to the series (a duology if I remember correctly). 10. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

The 1st book out of a currently 6 book series(with more to come), The Final Empire is an action-packed, female-lead book in a world where slavery still exists. The magic system here is one of the more interesting ones I’ve seen too. The thing about Sanderson books is that they are typically written in a straightforward, non-prosey, type of style. I appreciate that especially right after reading a book filled with purple-prose and I think this added to my enjoyment, for sure. In a fairly long first book, the world building here was done well and I think it does a good job of not pushing everything into your face all at once and instead, builds the world up slowly in different interactions between the characters. Although a tad bit cheesy, especially when it comes to the romance, I enjoyed this greatly and will probably continue with the rest of Era 1 in 2021. 11. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

I’ve read a few of LaCour’s work but I still find myself enjoying this the most. When I read contemporaries, I like characters who I can identify with and drives the story well. In a fairly short novel, the book made me cry several times and I still think about the book once in a while nowadays. The story centers around Marin’s relationship with her grandfather and her best friend Mabel. There’s a mystery regarding her grandfather which is the main plot line of the book but its definitely a more character-driven type of book for sure. It’s a book where you’ll need to read it to understand the hype surrounding it so try this one out if you’re in a mood for an emotional contemporary with good mental health representation.

12. The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

The Falling in Love Montage is hands down one of my favorite romance novels that I had read recently. It’s funny, romantic and also touching in all sorts of ways. The main character is a queer,sarcastic mess which frankly, I relate to a whole lot. It’s a book to read if you like your romance novels not entirely very light but also pulls on your emotional strings when you’re reading it. The writing style is also commendable for sure for a debut! I’m very much looking forward to future works from this author for sure. 13. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I rarely read historical fiction but when I saw this recommended in a Goodreads article/list, I was intrigued! This is one that surprised me a lot just cause of how it all ties together at the end. Some things didn’t feel very relevant at first but once it was revealed, I couldn’t contain my surprise. Also, Evelyn Hugo as a protagonist was such a delight to read about! She’s an empowering woman who’s ambitious and did a lot of things to achieve her goals and she’s an amazing role model in that and many other regards. Besides that, I think this also had great representation on bisexuality too and Madam Evelyn will always remain as one of my favorite fictional bisexual queens!

14. Loveless by Alice Oseman

It’s rare to have a book which includes asexual characters in general and it is even rarer to find a book with the topic of asexuality as a whole be the main theme of it. Loveless was such a delightful and insightful read into a character who although I don’t identify with, I could understand her frustrations a lot. This is a book about self-discovery and accepting oneself and one another for their identity and I think the author did a great job tackling this topic. If you’re looking for a contemporary book to diversify the type of characters you read about, Loveless is a good choice.

15. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

If you liked books such as The Falling in Love Montage, You Should See Me in a Crown is another you should definitely try! This light and fun romance(F/F) follows Liz and her journey trying to win her school’s prom. It’s a great title to pick up if you’re in a middle of a reading slump because of it’s pacing and it’s overall just a book I enjoyed a lot.

16. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Do you sense a pattern here? I love reading these light-hearted queer romances which doesn’t go through a series of stressful moments like coming out or homophobia etc. It’s important for books to have representation like that because it still exists and needs to be acknowledged but taking a break from that feels good too. Written in the Stars is an adult romance novel which I can see being a Hallmark-type of cheesy movie for sure and for good reasons! It has all those tropes that people love, enemies-to-lovers(sort of), fake-dating and the whole refusal of feelings for each other even though it’s obvious to the reads type of stuff. Hoping to see more adult romances like these in the future! 17. Who I Was with Her by Nita Tyndall

Who I Was with Her is an emotional roller coaster of a read, in a good way, of course. This book reminds me a lot of Hold Still by Nina LaCour mainly because of the way both the author’s dealt with the topics of death and grief. It’s a book that should be read when in a good mental-state as it might trigger some people as there are discussions on a character’s death. One of the main reasons I like this book is how the main character dealt with her attachment to her ex-girlfriend and her associating running with their relationship. It was a book that was difficult to get through but ended with a meaningful tone.

18. They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

I love empowering and strong female characters. Even when they’re kind of morally-ambiguous like Scarlett Clark. A woman who goes around killing men who sexually abuse others? Sign me up for that heroic Killing Eve shit! In all serious notes though, this was a great read and I loved the whole alternating viewpoints which seems unrelated at first but ties together well at the end. It’s not exactly super thriller-y like its advertised but its for sure a character-driven book with a bonus romance(F/F) plot too plus bisexuality rep! So if you want to read about a kick-ass lady and don’t mind some murder involved in your books, read this ASAP!

19. One Life by Megan Rapinoe

I’m not a soccer fan or anything like that but Megan Rapinoe’s advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community and racism intrigued me about her. I listened to this over a few days and I think anyone that wants to have an insight/experience with topics like sexism in the soccer industry, sexuality and racism, this is a must-read. I didn’t find her to be self-flattered or anything like that which I have encountered in some memoirs and I respect her humbleness a lot.

20. Becoming by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, was an incredibly fascinating read about her life from her childhood to becoming the First Lady of America. I found her writing to be pleasant and flows very well for a memoir too. It’s a fairly long read but I enjoyed learning about all these experiences she’s had such as her time being a lawyer and her life when Barack Obama, decided to run for president. It gave me a different perspective on her and I have new profound respect for her so much as a person.

0 notes