misericordiae

Still reading I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. It's still light and fluffy fun, but it's starting to feel kind of muddled. Like, I thought I was getting a story about a dragon catcher that hates his job, but that's been sidelined in favor of a story about a prince that doesn't want to rule. There's been a sprinkle of "legendary dragon? nah, that doesn't exist anymore" foreshadowing, but the plot's been very low stakes otherwise. Not sure if it's a framing issue (there's a lot of POVs) or a narrative one, but maybe it'll all come together later on.

I'm in the "I liked it" group, but I don't blame you. Not a huge fan of episodes (in any show) that bring the plot to a halt for backstory.

Thanks for the reminder! I forgot we hadn't had one this month.

Finished The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. Twistier and grimmer than the first book; hoping the third (when it comes out) will have a satisfying conclusion. One note: if you decide to read this one by itself, with the thought that you might read the rest of the series later, just be aware that it spoils the ending of the first book.

Started I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Light and fluffy fairy-tale-type story so far, without the melancholy undertones I remember The Last Unicorn (understandably) having. Reviews seem mixed about the second half, so we'll see how I feel about it when I get to that point!

Last week, I read The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, and now I'm reading the sequel, The Truth of the Aleke. These are both African-inspired fable-like fantasy novellas about teenagers saving oppressed desert cities. Obviously, I enjoyed the first well enough to read the second, but I think they would have been better listed as YA, as both volumes feature not-so-subtle lessons about the bad guys and predictable plot twists that might have seemed fresher/more relevant to that audience.

(Sidenote: if you're doing book bingo and need a quick disability rep. hard mode, The Truth of the Aleke is only ~100 pages, and seems to work as a standalone so far.)

Yeah, I'd agree with that (although idk what Left Behind is). There was some level of criticism of Christianity throughout most of it, but the end sort of... yeah.

Tentatively started A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney.

Finally finished Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman; I found it enjoyable and well-paced. Knight-turned-brigand and divinely-touched orphan tween go on a quest across France during the height of the Black Plague. Medieval fantasy religious horror; very heavily features Christian mythology, so if that's not your thing, skip. Do check content warnings.

I'm 80% through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. My plan to set aside more reading time last week failed, but I'm nearing the finish line nonetheless!

It's a combination of being 400+ pages and sometimes only getting through a few pages at night before I get sleepy. Thankfully, I'm not finding it slow on top of that.

Still working on Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. I'm finally halfway through! It's still enjoyable, and not slow at all, but I'm starting to get impatient to finish it; I might have to try a bit harder to find time to read.

I read a fair amount of Enid Blyton as a kid, and remember enjoying the Five series. Does it hold up well?

Still haven't been getting much reading done; I'm not even a third of the way through Between Two Fires yet! It has been enjoyable so far, though, with a lot of clever medieval flavor that reminds me of Arthurian legends, or monsters doodled in the corners of old manuscripts. I suspect there's probably some Canterbury Tales influence as well, but it's been a long time since I had to read them.

Finished Chalice by Robin McKinley; the world-building's a little funky, and it's not my favorite book by her, but I still found it cozy and enjoyable. Now I'm sloooowly making my way through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. It's enjoyable so far, I just haven't been reading much lately.