#simon jimenez

[she]

I am curious how a cripple finds himself in the stuff of gods and rebellion.

— The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

#the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #tsctwedit #litedit #lgbtedit #storyseekers #booknet #book tumblr #asian lit #fantasysociety #tuseranita #userbelin #book edit #bookish #books and literature #booklr #woke up in a cold sweat remembering i never got around to posting abt this book #its been months and reading my marked quotes still brought me to tears. honestly what the fuck. this book is out of this world #m*

[cimmeria-writes]

(ID: A digital drawing of Keema and Jun from The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. Keema has chin length brown hair, and is wearing a terra cotta colored shirt and purple pants. He holds a spear and looks over at Jun, smiling slightly. Jun is wearing a blue wrap shirt and black pants tightened at the waist and shins with cord. He holds a red demon mask. The background is teal, a thin crescent moon between them. The other images are close ups of their faces. END ID.)

#the spear cuts through water #queer fantasy #mlm art #simon jimenez #jun ossa #jun the red peacock #keema of the daware tribe #jun's tattoo is on the wrong side of his face but it wasn't very visible when i switched it lol #i'm also not totally sure what the tattoo is supposed to look like? but this is just how i pictured it #will be experimenting with their outfits more in the future #and doing some more research into traditional filipino clothing :) #cimmeriadraws

[platypusinplaid]

Who else got their mind consumed by god-killing homosexual war criminals this year?

#the spear cuts through water #literature #books #simon jimenez #fantasy #sci fi #posting this here so i can use it in my goodreads review #but im genuinely surprised there is not a huge tumblr cult for this book #this has been an audrey post

[blacksailsgf]

so we dance the dance

#black sails #the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #found myself picking this book back up & uhhh 👁👁

[literary-illuminati]

The Spear That Cut Through Water finally answering my question of 'where's the SFF novels about morally ambiguous war criminal cannibal queer guys? How come women are getting all the fun?"

#simon jimenez #sff #tht #to be clear this is a shitpost #the spear cuts through water

[evenaturtleduck]

#favorite books #the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez

[senoritojiang]

The fact that this book has no fan art is a crime.

#the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #jun #keema #my art

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote YES if you have finished the entire book.

vote NO if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#books #poll #fantasy #The Spear Cuts Through Water #Simon Jimenez #result: no #l: English

[ofliterarynature]

2023 Reading Wrap Up: Favorites from the First Half

Not to sound like a broken record, but I can't believe we're already halfway through the year! (and even further, given how late I'm posting this lol). I've read an ungodly amount of books already, and while I try my best to shout out my favorites as I go or in my monthly wrap-ups, I don't always succeed. So Here I Am, to do a little more shouting about the 10 most memorable books or series I've read so far in 2023!

The God of Endings by Jaqueline Holland

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Sword Stone Table ed by Jenn Northington & Swapna Krishna

Sea Hearts (The Brides of Rollrock Island) by Margo Lanagan

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland

Will Darling/Lilywhite Boys by K.J. Charles

Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

More discussion below the cut!

The God of Endings by Jaqueline Holland had me entirely engrossed. It's slow and moving and dark, with it's own take on vampirism, with any number of the associated content warnings. All the content warnings actually (but harm to animals, harm to children, and domestic abuse are some of the big ones. Does the Nazi murder make up for it?). Best described as The Historian meets everything I wanted from The Invisible Life of Addie Larue but didn't get.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez I have, in fact, already yelled about a bit. It was so good! Think A:TLA meets The Raven Tower and The Hundred Thousand Kindgoms, and queer! The thing that really blew my mind was the second-person narration, which is always a swing, and I think this nailed it! I loved how it worked with the story and frame narrative, and let me tell you, on audiobook parts of the story felt positively haunted. I won't say it's the perfect novel (I'm a little eh about the last third), but that in no way dampens my enthusiasm. cw for ritual cannibalism.

Sword Stone Table ed by Jenn Northington & Swapna Krishna is an anthology of Arthurian re-imaginings with about a 1-in-3 success rate (for me anyways. is that good for an anthology?) that snuck onto this list purely on the strength of Mayday by Maria Dahvana Headley. I just yelled about my love for unusual narrative structures, so when I tell you that this is a retelling of the Arthurian family drama set in late 19th century America, told only through found objects, newspaper clippings, and manuscript exerpts? I had *such* a great time trying to puzzle things out with my half-remembered memories of the lore (heavily corrupted by the show Merlin, lol). Additional shout-out to Spear by Nicola Griffith, which didn't make it into the collection due to length but was also amazing!

Sea Hearts (aka The Brides of Rollrock Island) by Margo Lanagan was an absolute surprise, for several reasons. For one, I own both a physical and digital copy under different titles and didn't realize it until I was cleaning up my goodreads account! And second, the Brides cover is an absolute travesty and is entirely the wrong vibe - this may be YA (technically?) but it doesn't read like it! Sea Hearts is the story of a small island community with a history of summoning wives from the sea, a tradition only whispered about until an outcast young woman revives the practices to sow discord and revenge among the community members we follow. Incredibly moving and sorrowful, this is for fans of literary, historical, and speculative fiction.

Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland. This graphic novel is about a city hit by an unknown disaster that has killed or mutated everything and everyone who wasn't able to evacuate in time. Our main character sneaks back in to take pictures to support herself and her little sister, and while I have some reservations about the larger plot, the art of the Zone is GORGEOUS. Sketchy, eerie, hauntingly beautiful, I loved it, enough that I have no regrets. I could see this making a great comic series or animated show instead.

Major, heartfelt shout-out to K.J. Charles, who absolutely saved my sanity for a few months there. My brain was in a weird spot for a few months and I burned through a good chunk of her backlist, so it's absolutely necessary to name drop a few of my favorites. The Will Darling series, a 1920's spy adventure/gay romance, did not immediately win me over, but exposure makes the heart grow fonder? I don't think they say that, actually, but I love a competent dumbass, and when I finally picked up on the crossover with Charles' England duo, I absolutely cackled. I can't wait to reread these! Any Old Diamonds of the Lilywhite Boys series did catch me immediately, even if I managed to read it out of order with one of it's prequel series. Jewel thieves, a heist, revenge, family drama, what's not to love? I loved every single book and novella in this series.

Lord Peter Wimsey (series) by Dorothy L Sayers. This has been a work in progress since 2022 and has consistently made my favorites lists, but truly, she saved the best for last! Murder Must Advertise was stellar, but everyone who said the Harriet Vane novels were the best is absolutely correct. I don't know why I love them, other than that they're wonderfully complex mysteries, but I do. I definitely need to find another long mystery series for my mental health or else I'm going to start these from the beginning again (I still need to read the short stories after all).

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. I'll be honest, I didn't write a review for this at the time, and my memory for non-fiction is terrible. But I loved this book, I love John Green, and this was fantastic on audio. Thank you John for putting hope and goodness and beauty into the world.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff was a beautiful little book for the book lover. It's a collection of letters between the American author and a used-book seller (and family and associates) in London in the 50s and 60s. Its funny, it's friendly, it's lovely, but there's also an underlying tension that builds throughout from the repeated invitations to the author to come visit, and the book copy saying that THEY NEVER MEET. It about killed me, and did make me cry. For further reading you can also check out the author's related memoirs, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and Q's Legacy.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein. Frankly, I'm impressed by my nonfiction choices so far this year. This one is what it says and it HURT. SO. MUCH. I am absolutely a generalist and it's made life frustrating, so reading this was both extremely comforting but also enraging, because society doesn't need another reason to suck. Alas.

#book log #2023 #wrap up 2023 #bec posts #the god of endings #Jaqueline holland #the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #sword stone table #sea hearts #the brides of rollrock island #margo lanagan #Spill Zone #will darling #kj charles #scott westerfeld #lilywhite boys #lord peter wimsey #dorothy l sayers #the anthropocene reviewed #john green #84 charing cross road #helene hanff #david epstein #books #booklr

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

I’d heard that The Spear Cuts Through Water used all of first, second and third person POV but I assumed it was switching on a chapter by chapter basis instead of fluidly moving between them on a sentence by sentence level.

It works surprisingly well so far

#the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #liveblogging

[valen-but-not-tine]

Keema: I want to dance with Jun, but I don't know how to say that, so instead another brawl will do.

#the spear cuts through water #Simon Jimenez #considered not doing a caption at all cause of you know you know #this joke has probably been made before but I try not to go on the tag until i finish #if i don't finish by Friday it'll be auto returned so i am in a rush #I'm trying to find where Libby says the exact time so i know if i have Friday or not #like is it due Friday or can i finish #it Friday evening

[osmiumpenguin]

It's the solstice tonight, and a good time to reflect on my favourite books from the past year.

I'm making very little attempt to rank these titles. They're simply the books that I enjoyed most, and they're presented in the order I read them. • "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet," by Becky Chambers (2014) • "The Galaxy, and the Ground Within," by Becky Chambers (2021) • "Locklands," by Robert Jackson Bennett (2022) • "Beloved," by Toni Morrison (1987) • "Exhalation," by Ted Chiang (2019) • "Fugitive Telemetry," by Martha Wells (2021) • "Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future," by Patty Krawec (2022) • "The Vanished Birds," by Simon Jimenez (2020) • "The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family," by Joshua Cohen (2021) • "Utopia Avenue," by by David Mitchell (2020) • "The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery," by Amitav Ghosh (1995) • "Moon of the Crusted Snow," by Waubgeshig Rice (2018) • "Bea Wolf," by Zach Weinersmith; illustrated by Boulet (2023) • "Fighting the Moon," by Julie McGalliard (2021) • "The Empress of Salt and Fortune," by Nghi Vo (2020) • "The Glass Hotel," by Emily St. John Mandel (2020) • "New York 2140," by Kim Stanley Robinson (2017) • "When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain," by Nghi Vo (2020) • "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Omnibus," by Ryan North et al; illustrated by Erica Henderson & Derek Charm & Jacob Chabot & Naomi Franquiz & Tom Fowler & Rico Renzi et al (2022) • "Buffalo Is the New Buffalo: Stories," by Chelsea Vowel (2022) • "Greenwood: A Novel," by Michael Christie (2019) • "The House of Rust," by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (2021) • "Children of Memory," by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2022) • "Jade Legacy," by Fonda Lee (2021) • "A Deadly Education: A Novel: Lesson One of the Scholomance," by Naomi Novik (2020) • "The Last Graduate: A Novel: Lesson Two of the Scholomance," by Naomi Novik (2021) • "The Golden Enclaves: Lesson Three of the Scholomance," by Naomi Novik (2022) • "To Be Taught if Fortunate," by Becky Chambers (2019) • "Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution," by Carlo Rovelli (2020), translated by Erica Segre & Simon Carnell (2021) • "A Psalm for the Wild-Built," by Becky Chambers (2021) Ah, but I said I'd make "very little attempt" to rank them, not "no attempt." So here is that attempt: my favourite five books from the last solar orbit — the five I enjoyed even more than those other thirty — also presented in the order I read them.

• "Nona the Ninth," by Tamsyn Muir (2022) • "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands," by Kate Beaton (2022) • "Record of a Spaceborn Few," by Becky Chambers (2018) • "Briar Rose," by Jane Yolen (1992) • "Babel, or, The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution," by R.F. Kuang (2022)

#books #Becky Chambers #Robert Jackson Bennett #Toni Morrison #Ted Chiang #Martha Wells #Patty Krawec #Simon Jimenez #Joshua Cohen #David Mitchell #Amitav Ghosh #Waubgeshig Rice #Zach Weinersmith #Boulet #Julie McGalliard #Nghi Vo #Emily St. John Mandel #Kim Stanley Robinson #Ryan North #Erica Henderson #Chelsea Vowel #Michael Christie #Khadija Abdalla Bajaber #Adrian Tchaikovsky #Fonda Lee #Naomi Novik #Carlo Rovelli #Tamsyn Muir #Kate Beaton #Jane Yolen

[libraryleopard]

Adult epic fantasy

In an empire ruled by tyrannical royals with god-given powers from an imprisoned moon goddess, two young warriors help free the goddess and escort her to freedom as rebellion rises across the land

Seamlessly weaves together multiple narratives and framing devices

Lyrical and experimental, tender and brutal

Filipino-inspired world-building; M/M romance; disabled main character (left arm amputee)

#this book is SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD OH MY GOD #one of the best books i have read this year hands-down #maybe even the best book??? #just so rich and mythical and layered #also the romance made me yell THIS IS UNBEARABLY TENDER at one point #the way that it plays with narrative/form is so good and unlike anything i've read #just!! so good!!! #the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez #2023 reads #lulu speaks #lulu reads #lulu reads the spear cuts through water #books

[literary-illuminati]

It only works because of the like three layers of framing device and diegetic storytelling but I really love the thing The Spear That Cuts Through Water is doing where whenever it mentions some extra reacting to or interacting with the main narrative, it gives a half-line of their internal monologue or backstory in italics inserted in the middle of the action.

#simon jimenez #sff #tht #the spear cuts through water

[evenaturtleduck]

The Spear Cuts Through Water is another of those staring-at-the-wall kind of books.

Things I loved:

The way the characters planned things and the narrative set you up to expect something to happen (even if it was just for the thing to fail) and then something else comes out of left field and pulverizes the narrative (sometimes metaphorically but often literally) all over the opposite wall. Over and over.

The way the narrative gave voice to all the random people who popped up here and there, even briefly--like the messenger who gets shot off his horse or various villagers or guards or whoever. Not only does it situation the protagonists in this much bigger world, but it makes all the deaths (and there are a lot) meaningful. No one is cannon fodder or scenery--everyone's perspective adds to the story and every death has weight.

Related: every character is complicated--even the characters who are objectively awful have people they love deeply, and even the characters who are extremely lovable are also kind of fuckups, and even the characters who are only there for a few paragraphs can have a big impact (asshole porn-and-fireworks vender my beloved).

I thought I would hate the second person perspective in the framing narrative but it really worked.

The worldbuilding. Just. So much.

There's probably more, but that's enough to start with. Anyway it was fantastic.

#favorite books #the spear cuts through water #simon jimenez

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Book recs asks :)

4 and/or 5, 9, 20, 60

Thanks! 5. something in fiction that reads like poetry The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien A classic book of stories about the Vietnam war. O'Brien writes beautifully and evocatively about really ugly subjects. 9. Favorite book of 2020 The Land Beyond the Sea, by Sharon K. Penman. Sharon K. Penman is one of my absolute favorite writers, and The Land Beyond the Sea was the last book she wrote before she died in 2021. Penman was a historical novelist who was extremely meticulous about research and who wrote these amazing medieval epics, sort of like GRRM if his stories were actual real life (I think Martin has actually cited Penman as one of his influences). TLBTS is about the years of and around the reign of Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, also known as The Leper King (SKP's books are multi-POV though, so there are a wide range of characters from many backgrounds). It's a stand alone, so if you've never read Penman before, it's a good place to start. The Sunne in Splendour is also excellent (she was a Richard III nerd, bonafide card carrying member of the society). 20. Book that got you out of a reading slump After feeling a bit like all of the fantasy I was reading was getting very samey and blah, The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez, got me really stoked about fantasy as a genre. Jimenez does such inventive things with narration and I could go on and on about this book but really you should just read it if you haven't yet. 60. A book that you think about at 3am The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David Wengrow. David Graeber was an amazing anthropologist and lifelong anarchist who died in 2020. This book reexamines the history of the world and challenges long accepted ideas about social and political structures and hierarchies. It's a really really interesting book.

#book recs #ask game #sharon k penman #simon jimenez #david graeber #tim o’brien