3 Answers2026-03-11
Gideon's fate in Gideon the Ninth was one of those moments that split the fandom into those who had seen it coming and those who were crying into their pillows by chapter's end. The writing was so vivid that even when the moment could be seen coming it hurt. Gideon's bravado cracks in the occasional quiet moment to reveal the woman beneath, and those scenes were tense in the extreme. We'd cheer her on despite the book's title bearing her dead founder's name, and the aftermath was a messy glorious tangle of unresolved tension. The kind of death that wasn't an end but rather a spark to ignite greater chaos.
10 Answers2025-07-01
So the first book was all about solving a mystery of a literal murderer and their lies. The second book is about solving the lies that Harrow has created within her own mind to deal with her grief and guilt over Gideon’s death. It’s about how Harrow has reconstructed reality to try and deal with her emotions and how we can uncover her lies through her emotional beats, her fragmented memories, her reactions to things that don’t add up for her. And by uncovering her lies, we also uncover the bigger lies of the Empire that we got a glimpse of in the first book. Her personal deceptions and the politics of the Empire are intertwined.
3 Answers2026-03-10
I just finished reading ‘The Falconer’ by Kiersten White (published as May under her real name). Oh, Aileana’s story is just fabulous. It’s kind of like Pride and Prejudice with lots of fighting against monsters in the streets. The first part of the book is set in some very elegant ballrooms, and the second part is covered in blood in some of the darker alleys. White does a great job of writing. Many times the very gritty world that she’s created can be very harsh, but White always manages to add in these very touching moments of Aileana’s, usually when she’s thinking about her mother or feeling grief. The faerie lore was very original as well. Many of the creatures were inspired by the Scottish myths, but they were twisted in very unique ways. My only problem with the book was that I felt that the world-building needed a bit more explanation at the beginning. But overall, I thought that it was a fantastic book. If you’re looking for a heroine who is going to more likely stab a faerie than lose her heart to one, then this book is for you.
3 Answers2026-03-23
I was very close to putting down ‘To the Ends of the Earth’ by Victor Ostrovsky after 50 pages or so of the book. Ostrovsky’s protaganist is just so passive. Why doesn’t she do anything? Eventually though I got it. Waiting is the action of this book. There are lots of moments in between the large actions where the real change happens. His writing is so immersive that I found myself aware of small moments that occur in my life too: the way the light looks in the late afternoon; the wonderful friendship that develops with a stranger on a bus where you sit next to each other. It’s not a fast-paced book that you can read in one sitting. It’s a book that you enter into and when you finally finish it, you feel like you’ve just returned from a trip – a bit disoriented but richer for the experience.
3 Answers2026-03-14
I borrowed ‘Is Humanity Lost’ as I liked the look of the cover. Although it was described as a book about the collapse of society, it felt very personal and most of the book focused on the downfall of individual people. The side characters were particularly well drawn and one of the chapters was from the point of view of a side character in his final days on Earth. It was so raw that I had to put the book down for a while to collect myself. Not a happy book, but if you are in the mood for something more serious and thought-provoking then this is a great choice to read. Just make sure you have something more pleasant to read straight after it though.
8 Answers2025-12-28
I finally got around to reading The Sister after seeing it EVERYWHERE on BookTok. Yeah, the hype for this one is confusing. It’s a fine book and all, but apparently it’s ‘revolutionizing’ a genre or something. As it is to me, The Sister is merely an above-average psychological suspense novel. I might have gotten more out of it had my expectations not been so obnoxiously high. Just manage yours, I guess.
9 Answers2026-02-14
Does the author write any other stories? Are they a debut writer? Even if they aren’t, every writer starts somewhere. If the author has written a portfolio of trope-driven stories that their audience loves, then this will read exactly like they expect. I haven’t gone and checked out the author’s other works, but from reading this story, it’s clear that they have a solid grasp of the various conventions of the story, and are writing it within those strictures. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good read – rather, that it’s a solid example of this type of story. And for some readers, that’s the highest praise of all.
3 Answers2026-03-09
There were 3 things that surprised me. 1) It was really funny for such a dark subject (‘Congratulations, your narcissism made you buy a book about narcissism’). 2) You don’t come to realize that the childhood wounds created the narcissistic traits. 3) The ‘are you a narcissist?’ quiz wasn’t another clickbait list. While my score did end up being somewhat high, the book immediately started to explain how labels don’t matter as much as change does.
Replacing “I’m better than them” with “I’m different from them” can help you to switch from a competitive to a curious mindset. This seems simple but is very effective. Now I notice more often when I’m mentally ranking people and I immediately stop doing that. This is progress, not perfection!
4 Answers2026-03-08
I borrowed this book to my three friends and each of them texted me at 2AM asking for more. This book gets under your skin. The prose is very simple, but with great precision, just like the author chose every comma intentionally. The themes of redemption and forgiveness are embedded in the story without being heavy-handed.
It is melancholic. I wouldn’t call it depressing, though. It’s a very melancholic book. It will make you want to stay up all night and then stare at the ceiling thinking about your own “oceans” and “stars”. Worth reading? Yes.
7 Answers2026-02-08
It’s also sort of fun to see a series grow. Early episodes are a little rough, with more reliance on simple dub-over gags and non-sequiturs. As the series goes on, the creators get more confident and the humor becomes more character-based. The editing also gets better. Even though it’s all just parody, the story beats start to actually have some weight behind them. You can really see the creators finding their voice and realizing that they’re making something far greater than a one-off YouTube video. It’s really cool to get to watch a fan project grow up in real time. It’s not something that you see very often.