#terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

Okay, it's been a while so here's an additional list of fantasy and sci-fi books with little to no romance in them that I've read recently and really loved.

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First post with books not heavy on the romantic subplots HERE.

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Once There Was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Kiyash Monsef.

An Iranian American girl discovers that her recently dead father was a veterinary for magical animals and that she - like him - has inherited the ability to help these animals because of a family line reaching back for hundreds of generations.

The story deals with grief, rage, neglect and how it all intersects.

But it's also an incredibly magical story that wakes up all the wonder and love for animals that most children have and some never lose.

Interspersed through the book are also short fables and legends that Marjan's father used to tell her when she was young and are now gaining new meaning as she understands that they were more than stories.

(totally also recommend the audiobook version for those who enjoy good narration. Nikki Massoud does a freaking excellent job)

(Marjan does develop subtly budding feelings for someone in the story but it's kept very, very background. On a scale from 0 to 10 the romance reaches barely a 2).

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Vespertine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Margaret Rogerson.

A story about a girl named Artemisia who is training to become a Gray Sister. A nun who cleanses the bodies of the dead so that their souls would not return as ravenous spirits that would then threaten the lives of the living.

But then her convent gets attacked by possessed soldiers and she's forced to pick up a sword holding the spirit of a very powerful revenant - a malevolent spirit of mass destruction that could possess her and kill everyone around her indiscriminately - despite not having the training of a Vespertine. So the only one who can teach her what she needs to know is the Revenant itself.

(The main character is autistic, antisocial and extremely introverted. And as for the romance, there is someone who develops feelings for her and we as the reader kinda notice it, but Artemisia the character notices nothing (also, the someone in question is not the Revenant, just thought I should clarify that). Amounts of romance in the book, like 1/10)

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A House With Good Bones ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher.

A Southern Gothic light horror with a bit of humor thrown in.

Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother so when her Paleoentomology dig falls through after she's already sublet her apartment for the next few months, she temporarily moves back in with her mother.

The mother who seems to be very stressed out while saying she's fine, and also seems to have acquired a sudden personality transplant. More specifically, she seems to have changed the house from the bright and colorful place it's been for decades, into the cookie cutter, bland (and slightly racist) fifties commercial kinda place it once was under the iron thumb of Sam's dead grandmother.

Is this some kind of weird delayed grief? Early onset alzheimers?

And why isn't there a single bug or insect in the entirety of the back yard's rose garden? Or why does she wake up to thousand's of ladybugs crawling all over each other - and Sam - one night in her childhood bedroom? And what's up with all these vultures staring at their house 24/7?

(Sam's POV is hilarious, her relationship with her mother one of the most genuinely emotional aspects of the book, and the story creepy enough to be exciting without reaching the point that would have made me throw the book down a hole for my own peace of mind. The romance... eh, there's a very nice dude Sam wouldn't mind going out with but it's not all that relevant to anything so amounts of romance don't reach past 2 out of 10).

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And finally some special shout outs to some other recently read books that I also enjoyed and that don't really have a lot of focus on the romance but that I don't feel like getting into rn.

Thornhedge ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Heather Fawcett (okay this one's a bit heavier on the amount of romance but it gets points for not being annoying and still doesn't reach past 4 out of 10 in its amount, would recommend this book for people who enjoyed The Memoirs of Lady Trent), Translation Slate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐by Ann Leckie, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Theodora Goss (the daughters of classical book scientists like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde, Moreau and others come together to solve some White Chapel murders and maybe uncover a society that has been doing human experiments on women. 0.5 out of 10 on amounts of romance).

#book recs #books #book rec #no romance #once there was #kiyash monsef #vespertine #margaret rogerson #a house with good bones #t kingfisher #fantasy books #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #middle grade fantasy #young adult fantasy #adult fantasy

[terapsina]

So I read The Tainted Cup (amazing book, totally recommend) and there's one unresolved thing that is going to be driving me nuts until I finally get my hands on the next book years from now.

(spoilers for book under the cut, people-who-have-finished-the-book eyes only)

Excerpt nr. 1

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Excerpt nr. 2

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And.

No. That is NOT all that needs to be said of it. WHAT WAS THE LEVIATHAN TRYING TO SAY? PRETTY SURE WE REALLY NEED TO KNOW WHAT THE LEVIATHAN WAS TRYING TO SAY.

What is the empire trying to hide?

#i just needed to get that out of my system #the tainted cup #robert jackson bennett #books #terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

26 for the ask game

(ask game)

26. Favorite novella(s).

The Emperor's Soul is I think my favorite of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novellas, largely because I enjoy reading about con artists and thieves. Ones with magic power to rewrite the history of objects? Even better.

Thornhedge is a fun take on Sleeping Beauty that answers the question of why a fairy might have had NEED to put a girl to sleep. And how extremely stressful it would be to then spend hundreds of years dealing with all these knights trying to rescue this princess because apparently there's a story about it (reminds me a bit of how stories have a life of their own in Terry Pratchett's Discworld).

Mysteries of Thorn Manor is an epilogue novella to Sorcery of Thorns that I really enjoyed. A really nice self-contained look into the happily ever after of the characters I love (I mean what's not to love about the warrior librarian of living magical grimoires, a magician who has earned his magic by making a deal with a demon, AND the demon in question (Silas is the best, we love Silas)). Do need to read the preceding book to enjoy the novella though.

Artificial Condition, the second Murderbot novella. I mean I love all the novellas (and one novel) in this series but this one was my favorite. Because ART. I mean a sarcastic, extremely competent SecUnit meeting an equally sarcastic and kinda terrifying Asshole Research Transport? What more can one ask for?

The Secret Life of Bots. Its on the shorter end of the novella spectrum but I adore the little Bot that could. This Bot just gives me the WALL-E feelings, okay?

The Lies of the Ajungo. Okay, so I'm actually currently reading this one but I can already tell it's going to be very good. A story about a boy who goes on a quest to bring water to his city (they're under the thumb of a neighbor city that provides them water... as long as they agree to cut out the tongues of anyone older than thirteen.

It was a twofold price, a price of blood and a price of history: an untongued people cannot tell their story.

#answers #ask game #book asks #book recs #novellas #the emperor's soul #thornhedge #mysteries of thorn manor #artificial condition #the secret life of bots #the lies of the ajungo #brandon sanderson #t kingfisher #margaret rogerson #martha wells #suzanne palmer #moses ose utomi #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #moonofiron

[terapsina]

My shameless rec of Discworld by Terry Pratchett to people who enjoy really memorable and vivid characters.

(this art is by Bartosz Kosowski, link here).

A world that rests on the shoulders of four elephants who rest on the back of the Great A'tuin.

Some of the characters in question are Death; the granddaughter of Death; a wizard who very very badly would like to not be a hero; three witches one of whom (the very grumpy and powerful one) needs to put a sign that says 'I Ate'nt Dead' around her neck whenever she goes burrowing into the heads of animals; a Watch Captain who is in a constant battle with the city tyrant to not get promoted; an extremely efficient city tyrant; a conman who gets put in charge of the post office by the city tyrant; a witch-to-be who's got a brother kidnapped by elves, an iron pan and (most of all) some Common Sense; a talking dog that takes great advantage of the fact that 'everyone knows dogs can't talk'; The Librarian who is a wizard that once had an accident and is now an orangutan who will make you Regret Everything if you ever try to call him a mon-*insert terrified screaming*-key; and many many more.

Series contains 41 books. Can be jumped into in any kind of order you want. But if you want at least some kind of linear order (coward) here's all the books that CAN be the first one you read: The Color of Magic (but don't choose this one, you can come back to this one), Equal Rites, Mort, Guards! Guards!, The Wee Free Men, The Moving Pictures, Going Postal.

And here's some memorable excerpts too:

#book recs #discworld #book rec #terry pratchett #fantasy books #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #if i could get everyone on the planet to read these books i would

[terapsina]

Book Recs for Science Fiction and Fantasy books with little to no romance. Because I'm tired.

(if you've got more recommendations, PLEASE share)

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher.

The main character Marra is the youngest of three daughters, a princess from a tiny, perilously placed kingdom who was sent to a convent when she was 15. It's been just as long since then, and recently she found out her older sister has for years now been abused by the prince she's married to. A prince protected by both his position and the magic of his Godmother's christening gift.

The book is about Marra going on a quest to kill the prince and save her sister.

It also contains a lot of death magic, spirits, terrible curses, impossible tasks, bone dogs, dust wives, godmothers and goblin markets. It's written like a novel but constructed like a fairytale.

Main character is neither thin nor 'pretty', which makes for a nice change of pace. Does contain a smidgen of romance but it's barely there, mostly background and never the focus, so it just doesn't get a chance to get obnoxious.

It does however get rather dark in places (think Gideon the Ninth levels).

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley.

A heavy read about the horrors of war, the ugliness of a world where capitalism and corporate monopolies have been allowed to run without opposition, and the lies those in power feed to their soldiers and civilians to make them think the atrocities justified.

The story follows Dietz, an infantry soldier who has a strange reaction to the technology that allows soldiers to be sent through insane distances by being transformed into light. It becomes quickly apparent that Dietz is experiencing the war vastly out of order, especially when Dietz starts seeing friends die before meeting them.

Very hard to read but full of impactful moments. I'd recommend listening to the audiobook if possible, it's voiced by Cara Gee (who plays Camina Drummer in The Expanse) and she does a FANTASTIC job bringing the story to life.

Characters have a lot of sex (not sex scenes as such though), but basically nearly zero romance (it's more: relieving the stress and having a human connection in the middle of war kinda deal). I do say 'nearly' zero, because the main character (who is bisexual btw) does occasionally think about an ex.

All Systems Red (and all following Murderbot books) by Martha Wells.

Probably everyone and their roomba knows about this one but it would be a crime not to mention it.

Books follow Murderbot, a Rogue SecUnit who has hacked its government module (a thing that when intact, and working, would fry Murderbot's brain if it failed to follow an order). The expected result in Rogue SecUnits would be to go on a wild murder spree, but once free Murderbot discovers it can download vast amounts of TV, books, movies, music and other such stuff, it decides to consume the media instead.

'As a heartless killing machine, [it's] a terrible failure.'

Other characters around it might maybe be having romances (Murderbot isn't paying attention and it's not relevant) but if someone mentioned it having one, it would stare at them with a face drawn in horror, and probably never talk to them again.

The voice of Murderbot is humorous and awesome. Recommend these books to EVERYONE. Absolutely everyone.

Sisters of the Vast Black (and the book following) by Lina Rather.

Follows the Sisters of the Order of Saint Rita. The setting is a future where people have expanded far into the galaxy, some decades after the last time the Central Governance tried to keep power over the colonies.

The Sisters in question travel in a living ship (the absolute coolest ship I've seen in quite a while), and go where they're needed. Technically still under the power of the Church, but not really being affected all that much by its edicts when they're so far away from Earth. Unfortunately the Church is trying to regain its control over 'the flock' recently and sends them a very obnoxious priest who just doesn't understand the realities of life in the black (he's very early-season-Wesley-Wyndam-Pryce about it).

Then they receive a distress call from a newly-formed colony though, and the Sisters will have to make a choice between following orders from the Church and doing the right thing.

One of the Sisters does have a romantic connection with a woman she met before the start of the story (but the romance itself is nearly absent and more focuses on her struggle to choose between love and her faith (would like to add that the problem is the fact that she's a nun not that she has feelings for a woman)).

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And other books that I have enjoyed, that don't contain overpowering amounts of romance.

Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett (always a safe bet and absolutely worth all its hype, especially the ones following the witches (Granny Weatherwax is the greatest character ever)), A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (middle grade book that's fun to read but also contains adult themes and in my opinion is enjoyable whatever your age), Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (a fun read, which gave me an extreme soft spot for the... character the main character ends up meeting), Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie (from the POV of the only surviving Ancillary of a ship whose AI once had hundreds of bodies, she starts out on a revenge mission against the leader of the Empire), The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (deals with a very kind-hearted half-elven/half-goblin son of the Emperor who has just been given the throne, very blatant racism allegory shown in the story, but it's also not trying to hide it (elves being fair skinned and goblins having dark skin), some romance but the 'arranged marriage' kind and not the focus).

Seriously if you have recs, please share.

#nettle and bone #the light brigade #the murderbot diaries #sisters of the vast black #book recs #terapsina rambles #fantasy books #science fiction books #book rec #terapsina's book rambles #terapsina's murderbot rambles #terapsina's nettle and bone rambles #terapsina's the light brigade rambles #terapsina's oloew rambles

[terapsina]

I'm creating a new book rec post containing my new favorite thing -> Comfort Fantasy with Food Aesthetic.

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Legends & Lattes - 💚💖☕

Viv the Orc is retiring from the life of blood, death and adventuring to open up her own little coffee shop.

“You can smell it though, can’t you? Like roasted nuts and fruit.”

Cal squinted at her. “Thought you said you drank it?”

Viv nibbled one experimentally, tasted the warm, bitter, dark flavor as it coated her tongue. She felt she needed to explain. “They grind it into powder and then run hot water through it, but there’s more to it than that. When the machine shows up, I’ll show you. Gods, the smell of it, Cal. This is just a ghost of it.”

She sat back on the flagstones and rolled the bean between her thumb and forefinger. “I told you I came across it in Azimuth, and I remember following the smell to the shop. They called it a café. People just sat around drinking it from these little ceramic cups, and I had to try it, and…it was like drinking the feeling of being peaceful. Being peaceful in your mind. Well, not if you have too much, then it’s something else.”

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The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart - 🐉🍫❤️

A very young dragon who has the great misfortune to come across a wizard that turns her into a human girl (oh, the horror) but also introduces her to CHOCOLATE!

As he stirred the hot chocolate, he kept on whispering to himself the whole time in that funny rhythmic chant, his whole body taut with concentration. I suppose I could have listened harder, to try to pick out his words, but really, when had I ever cared about anything that humans said? Besides, I was far too busy enjoying the smells from his pot. If I could have, I would have wrapped myself up in those steamy tendrils of scent and rolled around in them for hours. Hot chocolate. Talk about a treasure fit for a dragon!

I’d have to look for more chocolate in his luggage when I finished here. I already knew I would have to have hot chocolate again. Lots of it.

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A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - 🧙‍♀️✨🍪

Mona the fourteen-year-old magicker finds a dead body, gets accused of murder and has to save her city from a deadly conspiracy. But what can she do when the only magic she's got is power over baked goods?

I flushed. As wizards go, I’m pretty much the bottom of the barrel. Even Master Elwidge, who’s got just enough magic to take knots out of wooden boards, is better than me. Dough and pastries are about all I can do. The great wizards, the magi that serve the Duchess, they can throw fireballs around or rip mountains out of the earth, heal the dying, turn lead into gold. Me, I can turn flour and yeast into tasty bread, on a good day.

And occasionally make carnivorous sourdough starters.

Pls add recs if thou knowest more.

#legends and lattes #the dragon with a chocolate heart #a wizard's guide to defensive baking #book recs #book rec #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

I'm 58% into reading Translation State but if anything bad happens to Qven or Reet...

#translation state #qven #reet #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #enae too really but i'm not actually worried about hir

[terapsina]

There is literally nothing as good as reading a really fucking AMAZING book.

And nothing as annoying as doing hours and hours of research trying to find the NEXT one.

(something fantasy, or sci-fi, and not grimdark, and without love triangles, and not a lot of romance, unless it's queer, but even then please god no insta-love, funny is fine, adventure stuff would be nice, interesting characters with actual personalities are a must... hmm, this one looks boring, no, no, too much mushy, ugh glorified abuse, no, boring, boring, sexist af, ooh found family... aaaand I don't like the writing style, no, no, promising but I'm not in the mood for heavy stuff -- to-be-read, maybe, maybe, no, maybe... aand I've been going through summaries and reviews for two hours, I'm done).

#books #reading #finding books #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

Just started reading Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater.

There's a Fallen Angel of Petty Temptations who could go into millennia long rants about the unfairness of a System that makes eating chocolate a small sin that makes you lose points.

So clearly I'm already absolutely sold on this book.

(initial vibes impression: essentially, if Good Omens and The Good Place had a baby).

#book recs #book rec #small miracles #olivia atwater #fantasy books #angels #fallen angels #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

This here shows a little bit of why I really like the use of Lady Trent's voice for the writing of A Natural History of Dragons.

Lord Hilford was, of course, correct; but his insight did not go far enough. I envied Mr. Wilker, for the simple fact that our society made it easier to transcend class than sex. Which was not only unfair of me, but in some respects inaccurate: there is sometimes a greater willingness to make an exception for a woman than a man, so long as her breeding is good enough. But at the tender age of nineteen, I had not yet seen enough of the world to understand that.

The book is full of such occasional asides and they make me remember how much I like Isabella even in scenes which otherwise show her being a bit of a snob. Because it immediately shows that this isn't who she's always going to be, that she will grow through the years ahead.

Nineteen year old Isabella still thinks herself 'better' than those below her station (not to say she didn't show any ability to sympathize with the people of the working classes even young, as there had already been moments where she had used her privileged background to protect the livelihood of someone who would have been sacked without her interference (of course she only gets partial credit for that one as it would have been her fault if said person had been fired)). But by the time she is older, when her memoirs are being written, a lot of that early day snobbery has been reexamined and abandoned.

Isabella is immediately a very likeable character. Her complete fascination with dragons, her seeming abandonment of all self preservation whenever the possibility to study them gets within reach. And I do like her.

But because we're hearing the story from the point of view of her when she's decades older and with a lifetime of adventures, losses, successes and discoveries behind her, all the things that could have been really frustrating about Isabella are smoothed over by Lady Trent's own view of her memories.

#a natural history of dragons #the memoirs of lady trent #terapsina rambles #book recs #terapsina's book rambles #terapsina's tmolt rambles

[terapsina]

I know I said I'd be reading Elatsoe next (and I still plan to, it looks like everything I've been looking for recently).

But I got distracted by In the Lives of Puppets and what I'm getting from it so far is that it's a queer Reverse!Pinocchio.

And also that I love the little, bubbly vacuum cleaner Rambo that's basically WALL-E if WALL-E could talk.

And also the medical droid Nurse Ratched with the murderous tendencies. She is a bully, she is also very protective, she's got no feelings, and if she admits to some she will follow up with threats of bodily harm. She contains multitudes.

Victor and Hap are very sweet too, obviously... but I've got a weakness for the mean murder-nurse!robot and the super excitable sunshine!roomba okay?

#in the lives of puppets #t j klune #book recs #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #nurse ratched #rambo the vacuum cleaner

[terapsina]

Book asks: 12, 23, 26

Ask Game

12. which book will you read next?

My to-be-read list is quite extensive so I haven't settled on my next book but it's probably going to be one of these three.

It kinda depends on what my mood's going to be after I finish the middle grade audiobook I'm currently listening to.

If I feel like a light, fun adventure with a woman who was the brightest magician of her age until she lost her magic (and was the only woman accepted in the Victorian(ish)-time magic university) but now has opened a school for female magicians? Then the second book in The Harwood Spellbook series.

(also depends if I'm feeling like audiobook or not, the narrator in the first book was excellent so I'm planning to read the second book by listening too).

If however I want something heavier and completely new then Elatsoe looks like it's a very interesting read. A queer fantasy book focusing on a main character from a Lipan Apache family who can raise the ghosts of dead animals? Sign me up.

But yeah, I feel like that one will require more mental and emotional space in me, so I'll need to be in the right frame of mind.

And finally, if I feel like checking out the newest Brandon Sanderson book (which I've heard is getting excellent reviews). I'll read Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.

23. what book to movie adaptation do you love?

The Martian by Andy Weir. Great book, great movie. Had a lot of fun with both.

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Matilda by Roald Dahl. I've got a special place in my heart for that book because it's actually the first book I ever read. And the movie was everything that kid!me wanted it to be (including the ending, I'm still glad they changed Matilda's ending to not losing her power).

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. And its absolutely perfect 2005 adaptation (though this is a bit of a cheat as I watched the movie first, but as it inspired me to immediately go read the book I'm going to count it).

26. do you use libby? (or other)

No. It's unfortunately unavailable in my country.

I do subscribe to Scribd, but I know that's not the same.

#ask game #ask meme #books #book recs #book rec #thornbound #elatsoe #yumi and the nightmare painter #matilda #the martian #pride and prejudice #stephanie burgis #darcie little badger #brandon sanderson #andy weir #roald dahl #jane austen #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #answers #anonymous

[terapsina]

Holy hell, I'm only thirteen chapters into a new book called Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst and it is seriously the absolute best, most well crafted and original fantasy novel I've come across in recent memory.

The story takes place in a world where reincarnation is a fact of life and who you are in this life affects who you will be reborn as in the next one. And your auras can actually be read by augurs (basically spiritual guides) so you can find out what you will be reborn as, though it's possible to change your soul's fate by the actions and choices one makes.

A truly balanced soul will be reborn as a human. Everyone else might be destined to be a hawk, or a monkey, or if you're particularly unpleasant, a sea slug.

But only the very worst of souls, the truly evil ones, will be reborn as kehoks. Monsters who come into being fully formed, dangerous and full of hatred for themselves and the universe. Doomed to continue being reborn as a kehok for eternity.

And in this world kehoks are used in races where they are paired with riders who must be able to impose their own will over the will of the kehok to win. It is a dangerous sport however, because if they falter, even for a moment, their own racer will kill them.

The story mainly follows two women (though occasionally it switches point of view to other people, which helps expanding the world and the story in a very effective way), one is Tamra, a trainer who was once a grand champion winner but retired when her daughter was born. Now however Tamra has gone through a streak of bad luck that has lead her to the edge of her last chance. If she doesn't find and train the rider and racer pair with the potential to become the next champions, she will lose her daughter.

Because her daughter Shalla is being trained as an augur, something that is not a choice (if a soul is found with the potential, they WILL be trained, but unless their parent is able to pay for that education, the child is taken to be a ward of the temple and Tamra would not be allowed to see her again until her training was complete, and by then her daughter would be fully grown).

The other main character is Raia, a seventeen year old girl who has run away from home because of the terrible plans her parents had for her future. And unless she earns enough money that she'll be able buy out her own freedom, she's doomed to be married off to a monster. But there's not many things that someone without any particular experience or talents can do to earn that kind of money. This leads her to Tamra, and to the strange kehok with a will far stronger than that of any kehok Tamra has ever seen before.

This kehok is also extremely important in the story, in ways that I cannot describe without spoiling (though it becomes obvious to the reader if not the characters very early in the book).

The characters are all so very distinct and well rounded I kind of want to hug this book. And the heart of the story is in the relationships between Tamra, Raia and Shalla (Tamra would do absolutely anything for her daughter but already I can see that she's similarly growing to love Raia as a second daughter and it's just beautiful to read).

This is going to be one of my new all time favorite books that will be placed in my heart right beside The Queen's Thief, Imperial Radch trilogy and The Goblin Emperor, I can already tell (as you should guess from the fact that I'm not even halfway through and yet already gushing (which NEVER happens)).

#race the sands #book recs #fantasy books #sarah beth durst #terapsina rambles #fantasy #book rec #terapsina's book rambles #terapsina's race the sands rambles

[terapsina]

29 + 46 (if you're comfortable, otherwise--your pick) for the book asks? :)

29. is there a book that made you laugh out loud?

Honestly, I've got many. I enjoy humor in books so I've read a lot of stuff that's made me laugh.

Most recently though I think it might be A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher. Which is the most hilarious horror-fantasy I've probably ever read.

Here's a little taste of what I mean.

I stared at the rose-pink wall and part of me was ten years old and another part of me was thirty-two and had a doctorate and had written a thesis on the spread of seed weevils through North American sunflower crops. I had a sudden horrible fear that maybe the ten-year-old was the real one and I had just had a particularly vivid dream and now I would have to go and live my entire life all over again. I put my hand to my forehead and said, “Fuuuuck…”which ten-year-old me would not have said.

Gran Mae did not teleport to my location to say, Samantha Myrtle Montgomery, you know what happens to little girls who swear. (Yes, Gran Mae, I know. The underground children get them.) This was proof positive that she was dead.

I sat up, looked down, and saw that I had breasts bigger than my head, which ten-year-old me most definitely did not have. Right. Thirty-two. Did not have to rewrite my thesis. Thank you, Jesus.

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But also, special shout outs to Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels (literally every single one I've ever read has made me laugh out loud), Martha Wells's The Murderbot Diaries (I knew I'd found a gem as soon as I read the opening line) and The Martian by Andy Weir (I dare you to not laugh reading that one).

46. share a pic of your bookshelf!

Here you go, ONE of my bookshelves (with a guest appearance from my cat... or the back of my cat anyway).

#books #book recs #ask game #answers #cordeliapelagia #ask meme #ask me #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles

[terapsina]

Book review for A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher.

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

I absolutely loved this book. And I'd recommend it to anyone, but especially those who love reading Terry Pratchett. T. Kingfisher might not quite yet be the master in the art of landing hard truths about life in the most humorous of fashions that Sir Terry was, but she's way more than a novice. I'd call her a very proficient journeyman.

It's been a while since I've come across a book that was this full of likeable characters, or this fun to read.

She's certainly an EXCELLENT storyteller.

The characters all had very unique voices that were easy to keep up with. Though my absolute favorites were Mona (the 14 year old wizard girl with power over baked goods), Spindle (a very brave street boy about 10 years old who quickly joins Mona in the adventure neither of them want to be having) and Knackering Molly (whose entrance to the story and person I refuse to describe because it's too great a thing to be ruined by getting spoiled).

This is a book written for children. But as all the best kids books I always loved when I was a kid myself, it's a children's book that deals with dark and serious subjects that maintain their weight for any age readers.

And nothing shows it as well as the opening of the story which contains a 14 year old girl walking into the kitchen of her family bakery and finding the dead body of another girl only a little older than herself. It's terrible, and tragic and not something that can be made light of.

Another example of the kind of things this book deals with can be seen in this quote here:

"And there was still the problem of being a magicker. If I got to a city, I still might have to leave again, or live in a wizard’s quarter, or get registered by the government as a known magicker. That was what I was trying to avoid. It seemed like once you agreed that the government could put you on a list because of something you were born with, you were asking for trouble. Sooner or later somebody like Oberon would get hold of that list."

The world of the book is fun and interesting and sort of quirky (they have a living sourdough-starter gloop monster named Bob that lives in the bakery basement and occasionally consumes particularly unlucky rats is all I'll say) but that doesn't mean its all laughs.

And finally, something I really enjoyed is that the adults weren't all sleeping on their job and unlikable by virtue of being adults and leaving it all to the kids. It's true that Mona is the hero of the story (when in a perfect world she shouldn't be) but the reasons that it was left to her made sense. The adults might have failed to keep kids from the danger but at no point was it because they dismissed Mona and Spindle's warnings, or were just incompetent in general. They failed the kids from being heroes because they're human, fallible and not all-powerful, and there were no other good choices to be had.

It's been a while since I've come across a book that was this full of likeable characters, or this fun to read.

5 stars all around.

Now, excuse me I need to go off and read absolutely everything else T. Kingfisher has ever written.

(btw, for those who don't want to buy this book from Amazon, I read the book on Scribd (they're an e-book and audiobook subscription site) and they have the book in both formats)

#book recs #book rec #a wizard’s guide to defensive baking #t kingfisher #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles #terapsina's awgtdb rambles

[terapsina]

Hello! For the book ask meme:

Book you've reread most times?

And

What are things you look for in a book?

For this ask meme.

Book you've reread the most times?

I'm not a very big re-reader even for the books I have enjoyed a lot. So there are only a very few books I've read twice. And only two books I've read three times.

And those are the first two Murderbot Diaries books. So, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition (one time by listening to the audiobook, which I totally recommend, the narrator voice is excellent).

I wonder what it says about me that the only books I like to reread are The Murderbot Diaries, and the only show I like to rewatch is Leverage. Cuz I think it stems from the same place.

What are things you look for in a book?

Depends on my mood. To begin with I largely stay with Science Fiction and Fantasy books. There are exceptions but the mood for those strikes very rarely.

Basically, lately I've focused a lot on finding books that have no-to-very-little romance in them, because I've grown tired of when it overtakes the plot (in complete opposition to my fanfic reading preferences, but I think that's due to the fact that I don't trust the books to actually focus on a romantic relationship I would enjoy, and I've grown tired of muddling through a romance that makes me grimace, just to read what happens in the rest of the book when the romance which I'm not enjoying is almost half the story).

I've also started to try looking for books written by women and non-binary people. Because though there are of courses a lot of great fantasy and sci-fi books that are written by men, theirs are not the only stories worth reading.

From a more plot related perspective, I like books that have a 'found family' trope, books with great friendships, books that involve complicated family dynamics, books with various kinds of queer characters (nothing makes me happier than to be reading an adventure book filled with magic, or one set in outer space with aliens, where some of the characters are revealed to be gay or bi or trans or ace).

I also like books that have a hopeful outlook. Like I don't mind grim and tragic moments but I want the characters to have moments of warmth and humor too.

Okay, that's basically it (and if anyone thinks they have a recommendation for something I'd enjoy to read I am ALWAYS interested).

#answers #ask meme #books #rustypeopleskillz #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles