#aroaessidhe 2024 reads

[traeumenvonbuechern]

24 in 2024

Thanks @blueberreads for tagging me!

Most of these are for the "12 books by 12 friends" challenge on Instagram, plus some 2024 releases and books from my TBR:

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Identitti by Mithu M. Sanyal

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Forever Is Now by Mariama J. Lockington

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley

Into the Light by Mark Oshiro

Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

We Will Give You Hell by Lina Frisch

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood

The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany Jackson

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo

The Flicker by H.E. Edgmon

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

Tagging: @profiterole-reads @aroaessidhe @alexlikesbooksandtea (no pressure though)

#bookblr #booklr #24 in 2024 #tbr

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Those Beyond The Wall

sequel/companion to The Space Between Worlds, set a decade later

character-focused sci-fi set in an area divided in two, the rich protected city on one side and everyone else in the post-apocalyptic desert

follows a woman who works under the Emperor in Ashtown, keeping the peace

when mangled bodies start showing up with seemingly no murderer, she’s tasked with finding the cause, and finds out that it’s the result of corruption spanning both cities and multiple worlds

explores oppression and messy revolution, police violence and apartheid

bi & polyamorous MC

#Those Beyond The Wall #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #space between worlds sequel!!! honestly I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it….. In general I enjoyed it and I think it had #a lot of important things to say but also maybe highlighted some weaknesses(?) in both books? #or - I guess just the fact that the sff stuff (which skews a little more magicy here) is kinda small scope relative to its potential #and more there to serve the plot and characters. Which actually maybe is the point. idk- there's def mixed reviews lol #it has a messy unlikable MC (like actually - when half the weak ass reviews are saying the MC is annoying you know they are Actually a #complex character) and some interesting relationship dynamics #it is pretty solidly a sequel - I wouldnt read this without reading TSBW #cara does show up in here& tbh her characterisation felt quite different to me? unsure how I feel about that? but maybe it's the biased POV #also to be clear: polyam MC; not a polyam romance or anything #(there's - kinda a romance? or various feelings floating around and she 'ends up' with someone. feel like i would have liked that to end #more subtley but that's probably my personal taste lol) #man some of the 1 star reviews of this are kinda.....just racist though. can we get some measured critique in here #as I said i am not entirely sure how I feel about it but not quite in a way I can articulate.... idk! i think it's worth the read tho #it's maybe one of those revolutions that feels solved a little too easily in the end - but then also is it solved or is it just that the #narrative has to end at a certain point

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

A Tempest of Tea

first in a YA fantasy duology

follows a young immigrant woman in a fantasy Victorian city who runs a tearoom that doubles as an illegal bloodhouse for vampires at night

when their business is threatened, she gets a chance to save it by teaming up with her best friend, a rich girl with a talent for forgery, a vampire artist, and a mysterious city guard to do a heist to infiltrate high society and collect a logbook that may reveal the extent of the corruption in the city

fantasy city with a masked ruler, arthurian elements, themes of colonialism

#a tempest of tea #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #This has a really cool concept and worldbuilding and some fantastic characters! #I like the discussion of immigration and colonialism (I appreciate a story in this niche that’s not so white) #I like arthie and jin’s relationship and Arthie is a great character. #It definitely feels like the first half of a story - like is the arthurian stuff gonna come up more or is it just... #the mc is called arthie and has a gun she pulled out of a stone. Is there more to that lmao. it does end on a cliffhanger too. #The main thing I *didn't* like is that the middle kinda turns into…miscellaneous events purely to facilitate the characters being attracted #to each other. good for them I guess but i don’t care. #(I probably should have expected that based on the author’s other duology so that's on me I guess) #(the romances also feel on the older side of YA) #I also found that the audioboook narrator paused slightly too long between sentences. #I love having author interviews at the end of audiobooks! #which also directly called me out for guessing the obvious twist but not the multiple others directly after #(granted the obvious one I was like... genuinely confused whether it was supposed to be a twist bc I thought we already knew that) #also what's up with the coconut. lol. why that specifically

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Bitterthorn

gothic fairytale

set in an imaginary German town where every generation, the monstrous witch in the woods steals someone away to be her companion, never seen again

follows the daughter of the duke, lonely and grieving her mother, who offers herself up as the witch’s newest companion

she assumes she’s destined for something horrible, but is mostly left alone in the old castle, and tries to find out more about the mysterious witch & what happened to the previous companions

eerie and atmospheric

#bitterthorn #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #kat dunn #I liked this a lot! some nice atmospheric writing. #I liked the MC’s interest in geology and ecology! Though maybe that could have been expanded upon. (flirting via rocks tho? cute) #The fairytale influences are done in an interesting way #and of course I love weird [spoiler] stuff #i feel like. it could have been set in a fantasy world rather than the real world because the #handful of mentions of real world events were like. either go into more detail about this or just don’t mention it lol #not perfect but i enjoyed it

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Fallen Thorns

dark urban fantasy coming-of-age

follows a boy settling into university, when after a date (that he didn’t even want to go on) turns bad he’s made into a vampire

as he settles into his new existence and the local vampire community - while they try to find who’s been leaving bodies across the city - he discovers that there’s something different and darker within him

aroace neurodivergent MC

#fallen thorns #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I enjoyed this a lot! #there's definitely things I want to know more about...I think it's going to be a series? the only thing explicitly mentioned is a prequel #the ending is a bit weird and I don't entirely get the sun/star/moon stuff dfhgd #really great characters and atmosphere #great aroace MC in general tho minor pet peeve from me: #it does have that thing where the character spends half the book ruminating about how there’s something wrong with them bc they don't feel #things everyone else does etc etc and it’s like omg all these queer people and nobody’s heard about asexuality??? #then he’s having a conversation with someone later in the book and he’s like yeah I know about asexual but I didn’t think about that re: me #and the other char is like: what if…..it IS you…..and he’s like omg. i AM asexual there’s nothing wrong with me after all! (in like. a page #like I’ve read this in multiple books LMAO. I do get that you can know about an identity and not connect it to your experiences #but somehow the writing of it like this is never quite believable? too sudden? then it's not thought about much after that? #anyway that's not a critique of the ''representation'' as much as just the writing I think - there's a few areas where I thought the writin #could be improved structurally or whatever. Didn't massively impede my enjoyment. #(I do also love an aroace mentor/parent figure!) #aromantic #aroace books #aromantic books

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Everything Under the Moon

Anthology of queer reimaginings of fairytales by mostly Australian authors

various genres, from contemporary to fantasy and sci-fi, mostly about older teens

mlm, sapphic, trans, nonbinary, demi, bi ace, and aromantic characters, some stories focusing on romance but many on familial relationships and siblings

#Everything Under the Moon #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #aromantic books #queer books #A really nice anthology of queer fairytales! definitely a mix of all sorts of stories. #Some were a bit forgettable (I mean I’m just not a short story person) but I really enjoyed others! I #I picked this up specifically because I heard there was an aromantic story (which I didn’t know much else about) and yeah it hit hard actua #it’s about being okay with loneliness and also centred around artists….so. it did make me cry a bit…. #I liked that a lot of them focused on platonic r/ships - most on sibling actually? I appreciate that there were a couple sapphic aces too #I will say while the illustrations are really high quality (I especially liked the naturey ones) I found a lot of them depicted the chars #as very.....disnefied? idk. thin and generic. lacking 'imperfect' features like freckles even #(when they’re described as having them) With a couple exceptions for sure - but a lot of them were a bit samey #I would have loved some authors notes or a list of the stories because I didn’t recognise which all were inspired by #(though they’re on the endpapers; just not specified which) - I did find this in a GR review tho

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport

set in a cyberpunk Calcutta-inspired city, loosely inspired by Aladdin

chaotic monkey bot who wants to fight in underground mecha/bot tournaments and leave to become a space hero

his human sister, the daughter of failed revolutionaries who has been working her whole life to free their city from oppression and inequality, especially with the recent rumors that their planet is scheduled for destruction

and an old unearthed bot whose function is to observe & record the story of a client who meets the siblings and quickly becomes involved in their lives

and a treasure hunt to find an old and powerful piece of alien tech that has the power to radically change their city

#The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I really loved this #a little robot with a big personality? TWO of them? im in. #The pacing is a bit weird - the first half could honestly be a contained novella. the second half is a bit all over the place #But I’m ultimately glad to have that extra more complex part of the story #it’s like very action packed with a few dense moments especially like the infodumps about what Lina / her mother’s deal is. #which kinda makes sense on a technical level (Moku learning this all at once) but also I definitely felt a bit confused at why/how some of #the stuff that was going on was happening #I did also find every now and then weirdly worded prose took me out of it? but I can look past that #I felt the side romance was random and weird. I felt like it did a disservice to her otherwise complex character to have her just forget #her goals and values because Hot Man? #idk. it’s lampshaded a bit by being viewed through the POV who also thinks it is weird and makes no sense #but they still get together again in the end…. I would have preferred if they didn’t. #that's mostly complaints LOL but the world is so rich and interesting and i love robots that are little shits (affectionate) #queer books

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Splinter In The Sky

fast-paced standalone sci-fi

follows a scribe and tea expert from a colonised moon whose sibling is kidnapped and lover is killed, and is taken as a political prisoner into the heart of the empire

she navigates the political world of high society serving tea while spying for multiple forces, in an attempt to fight for her people’s freedom and free her sibling

sapphic

#The Splinter In The Sky #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I enjoyed a lot about this! but I think narratively it fell apart a bit in the end? #I will say the worldbuilding in terms of the MCs culture and depiction of colonialism is very rich and detailed #(I feel like I haven’t read a ton of scifi colonialism books based around African colonialism specifically?) #But the worldbuilding of the rest of the empire is kinda vague?? like there’s details but it didn’t quite feel meshed together. #It definitely falls into the trap of ‘imperial colonialsim and systemic injustices will be fixed if we kill this one guy’ #(or 3-5 people; here) #I kind of wish it was more complex and maybe a duology in that sense? Or; I was actually kinda expecting a more tragic dramatic ending. #I did really enjoy the characters though! #I started the book being like there’s no way x will be a love interest right. there’s no way you can convince me of that #but by the end I was endeared to her as a character. though did think she was too…nice and good for who she was in the narrative #sapphic books

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

scifi mystery set in a nearish future

follows a woman who works as the human translator for the cultural attaché of an alien embassy, the telepathic process of which causes drunkenness

she isn’t the best but doesn’t really have any other job prospect, and when tragedy strikes she has to figure out who the murderer is - since she’s the only suspect (and doesn’t remember what happened, because of the aforementioned drunkenness) - and is sent down a wild rabbit hole of online conspiracy theories from xenophobic humans

bi MC, no romance

#Drunk on All Your Strange New Words #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #ooh I really enjoyed this! it's funny and a really interesting concept. #gets a bit convoluted/a bit slower in the middle and I was feeling iffy about the direction it was going in but it came together in the end #I wanted more Fitz! I thought their dynamic was interesting. #also enjoyed how Madison became a more significant and complex character. #ALSO! my favourite trope sapphic has the ghost of a dead guy in her head! kinda! #no romance #(she has a one night stand and a couple vague mentions of attraction but no romance in the narrative) #''they let me have time off work cuz i punched someone for being a cunt''

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Skin and Its Girl

literary fiction with a little magical realism

follows a queer Palestinian American woman born with blue skin, recounting her childhood, to the great-aunt who helped raise her, and piecing together her great-aunt’s secrets

family, identity, and stories

#The Skin and Its Girl #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #oough.. this fucked me up. #very heartwrenching. highly recommend. #really interesting narrative framing and storytelling; beautifully written #I feel like usually I like theoretically-magical elements to be more fantastical #but this (the blue skin) is woven in in such a normal way that worked really well for me in this instance. #I also love stories that are deeply queer but don’t centre on romance (or have much at all #other than sort of background elements)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Salt Grows Heavy

dark fairy tale novella

a deep sea mermaid and her children devoured her husband and destroyed his kingdom

now she and a mysterious plague doctor travel together, and come across a strange cult-like village of ageless children and dangerous saints

#The Salt Grows Heavy #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #interesting vibes; definitely weird; I enjoyed it #I could definitely do with more tho #its funny all the reviews are like ‘theres so many pretentious big words’ bro just listen to the audiobook let it wash over you. #shh. embrace it. #queer books #OH ALSO i'm very obsessed with this cover

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Where Black Stars Rise

horror graphic novel about a newly licensed therapist who’s recently moved from Beirut to Brooklyn, and is talking with her new client, who has schizophrenia, and is experiencing night terrors that she’s convinced are different from normal

her stress over her new job causes her to dismiss this, but when the client goes missing she tries to find her - and slips into the alternate dimension of The King In Yellow, and has to find a way for them both to escape

unique, bright and dynamic art

#Where Black Stars Rise #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I don’t uuuusually do graphic novels here (just one more thing to summarise..) but this is really good! #and by a Palestinian author; you should pick it up. (same author as Squire) #and the art is really funky. #do you love Pomegranate symbology. Pomegranate With Teeth Inside #sapphic books

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Walking In Two Worlds & The Everlasting Road

YA sff set in the near future where an opensource augmented reality is commonly used like social media, and there’s also a completely virtual fantasy game version

follows an Anishinaabe girl who who’s the top player in the VR game, and is constantly fighting to keep her place against the misogynist neo-nazi group in second place

as well as her real life, dealing with being a shy and self-conscious teen growing up on the Rez, and her brother having cancer

and a Uyghur boy who’s moved to her community from China after finding acceptance in an online community (even when he doesn’t agree with their more extreme views) - but when he gets to know Bugz, he has to decide who truly deserves his loyalty

great mix of sff and culture, the future while also very real community traumas of the past (and present)

#walking in two worlds #the everlasting road #wab kinew #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #This has some REALLY interesting and important concepts! #I just think it could have used some more development… Obvs this is YA and I’m an adult I know I’m not quite the audience! #There’s a lot of depth in the setup of the characters but I feel like it skips a lot of the progression #I think there could have been space for more development in a lot of places to make the story feel more dimensional #- but also has so many plot threads that maybe that would have bulked it out too much #It does also jump around quite a bit between the different parts but I think that makes sense with how juggling with irl / online life. #she’s got a lot of internalised fatphobia at the start (and the love interest going “I don’t think you’re fat!!” when people call her fat.. #then in book 2 suddenly she’s okay about it - again I wish there was some progression! #her brothers cancer journey is. basically all offscreen lol mostly as set up for plot in book 2. so it doesn't have the emotional impact it #could have.. #I liked the way it integrates her culture into the game in a really cool way (though I would have liked more detail there) #also having auto language translators but they regularly don't translate quite right / still run into issues - realistic! #the parallels drawn between his being taken from his family and put in a state education school and Indigenous residential schools #the way that a future world will never be as separate from the past as ur average sff future often portrays #but yeah anyway lots of good ideas execution not so much for me..

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Most Ardently

YA historical romance

retelling of Pride & Predudice following a closeted gay trans boy who’s expected to attend balls and look for suitors

he sneaks out at night dressed as a boy, and ends up spending a lot of time with a boy who’d been rude to him at a function, but is more open with him like this

as they grow closer, and he faces increasing pressure to get married and to be a proper woman, and has to decide how he’s going to face his future

#Most Ardently #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #this is very sweet I enjoyed it #I can’t really speak to it as a retelling because I’m not intimately familiar with the original but. pretty good I think. #I liked how he was already out to some people& his coming out to everyone else was pretty smooth/accepting (other than his mother initially #really the only transphobia comes from the antagonist a bit and I guess in general him being closeted for most of the story #- like there’s no real fear of super bad things happening as a reader #and of course marlowe lune’s cover is fantastic #romancing over shared interest in books is always good

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Womb City

cyberpunk horror set in a dystopian future Botswana where people bodyswap to live hundreds of years, and women’s bodies are controlled

follows a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, and heavily monitored because of her body’s previous crimes

after a drug-fueled evening culminates in a car accident, she buries a body to save herself. But afterward she and her family start being hunted by the ghost of her victim, and she desperately tries to uncover the conspiracy the victim was involved in to save herself

motherhood & bodily autonomy

#womb city #tlotlo tsamaase #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #very interesting worldbuilding and concept….not sure if I love the plot? in the middle section #it’s very slow for something that’s taking place over like 5 hours #however the end section and like. reveals about the conspiracy and everything was much more interesting (and horrifying) I wish that was #the main focus #like make her trial shorter and have way more detail of the context stuff #definitely tons of interesting worldbuilding and ideas in here. the last section improved it a lot for me but also I might have not made it #through the middle if not for audio lol

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Truth of the Aleke

fable-like novella set in a desert world

set 500 years after the previous book

about a junior peacekeeper in the city of truth, who is sent out to defend the city against the cult that has been attacking them for years, only to find out that things are more complicated than he’s been told

about conflicting narratives and unlearning propaganda

#The Truth of the Aleke #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I forgor a bit what I’m supposed to know and what’s new lol. but also okay yes it is hundreds of years later so probably Not Much #I don’t have super strong feelings about this? I think it’s pretty good but it didn’t stick out to me like the first one did. #def interested to read the third one tho #ALSO love the cover alyssa winans always blows it outta the park <3