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Cake day: February 13th, 2025

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  • I started reading some fantasy by T. Kingfisher (both books of The Clocktaur War and a standalone or two), and I enjoyed the duology enough to request some of her other fantasy books from the library, so I’ll read some more of them next week. I’d only read some of her horror novels previously. (The afterword on Bryony and Roses made me want to reread the two Beauty and the Beast adaptations by Robin McKinley, so I’m briefly detouring there.)

    I read through first book and supplement novella of the Captive’s War series by James S. A. Corey, because while I didn’t love every bit of the Expanse novels and short stories, I really enjoyed the series as a whole, and definitely didn’t regret sticking with it. I’d read the next book–I’m intrigued and want to know what happens next!

    I also read the first two books in the Mirror Visitor quartet by Christelle Dabos. Apparently they were written in French and translated by Hildegarde Serle, if any fantasy fans are still looking for hard mode for bingo square 1B, give the first book a chance and see if it sparks your interest. It’s called A Winter’s Promise, and it’s listed as both young adult and romance as well, but I wouldn’t have said the first book was either of those (just not what I expect from either of those categories).



  • Tearing up the ‘D’ column of my bingo card–I finished The City & the City by China Miéville, Mad Hatters and March Hares ed. by Ellen Datlow, and Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne.

    I really liked The City & the City, but it took a good long while before I felt like I was getting a handle on how the society worked, and I’m still not convinced I fully grasped it properly by the end. But it was twisty and turny and enjoyable to read. Also, the first (maybe only) book I’ve read this year that required the Merriam-Webster website on my phone nearby (I learned “encomia”, “rood”, and “machicolation”. Also “grosstopically”, but that was just made up for the book, apparently.)

    Mad Hatters and March Hares was easier for me when I read a few stories and then switched to longer works in between to break it up. Some of the stories were pretty creepy, but I enjoyed the theme of the anthology.

    Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea would work for either the Cozy Read square or the LGBTQIA+ square, and was very light and quick for me to get through. I had fun with the characters, and would read more by this author as a palate cleanser.

    I’ll be starting Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand this evening, and I picked up 1066 and All That from the library on a recommendation from the bingo recs page, just because it sounded neat, so that should be coming up this week.


  • Just finished Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros because of the cliffhanger of the last book, but this one just didn’t grab me. It took me a lot longer to get through, and I had a break in the middle where I wandered off and read other books instead.

    I started Whispering Wood by Sharon Shinn last night (as the 5th and last book in the Elemental Blessings series) and it’s…all right, I guess. Definitely doesn’t feel like the series will conclude with a bang, but that seems to be the case with her other series as well. Having said that, I really enjoyed her stand-alone book Summers at Castle Auburn and have re-read it a few times.