Book of Unwritten Spells

Alexis, 21, finally starting the book blog I've always wanted! We'll see if I actually manage to keep this strictly books, though. Books and Disney, that pretty much sums me up

[ratherthepoint]

Hello can I interest you in the best books I’ve read in the past two years?

The Second Rebel came out last week and I just finished it, and it has joined its predecessor as literally some of the best books I’ve ever read. They are INCREDIBLE, beautifully crafted, wonderfully diverse, absolutely dope sci-fi books that everyone needs to read.

Here’s the goodreads summary:

First Sister has no name and no voice. As a priestess of the Sisterhood, she travels the stars alongside the soldiers of Earth and Mars—the same ones who own the rights to her body and soul. When her former captain abandons her, First Sister’s hopes for freedom are dashed when she is forced to stay on her ship with no friends, no power, and a new captain—Saito Ren—whom she knows nothing about. She is commanded to spy on Captain Ren by the Sisterhood, but soon discovers that working for the war effort is so much harder to do when you’re falling in love.

Lito val Lucius climbed his way out of the slums to become an elite soldier of Venus, but was defeated in combat by none other than Saito Ren, resulting in the disappearance of his partner, Hiro. When Lito learns that Hiro is both alive and a traitor to the cause, he now has a shot at redemption: track down and kill his former partner. But when he discovers recordings that Hiro secretly made, Lito’s own allegiances are put to the test. Ultimately, he must decide between following orders and following his heart.

Sounds dope, right? I promise you, it’s ever better than it sounds. Here are some specific dope things to look forward to:

Did I mention diversity?? I don’t mean just a little diversity; I mean SO MUCH diversity. One of the three main characters is non-binary. One is canonically bi, and the other canonically ace. In the second book, there’s multiple new non-binary/gender fluid characters, multi poly relationships, and just generally a very cool view of gender and sexuality because it’s literal space. Also, chronic pain rep in the second book.

Some very Pacific Rim drift compatibility relationships which have me SHOOK.

Touches on topics like racism, imperialism, and medical experimentation on people who can’t say no

Bechdel passes and WOMEN 👏🏻 SUPPORTING 👏🏻 WOMEN 👏🏻 (more in the second book than the first, admittedly)

Beautiful and loving platonic relationships that make you wanna rip your soul out!!!

Listen there’s more but you’ve just. You’ve gotta read them for yourselves. I’m telling you, they’re incredible and deserve ALL the attention!!

[teenageers]

[bookofunwrittenspells]

I figured out yesterday that looking at a stack of books I’m about to buy gives me the same sort of primal joy as looking at all the dice I own

[fiercereadsya]

What’s your favorite series?

[aelinbitch-archive]

ok this is a very very good and true post and i totally agree that “not like the other girls” feminism isn’t feminism (and idk why ops url is like… invisible ig they’re deactivated) but i’m also ab 95% sure most people are just subtweeting tog/celaena/aelin when they rb this and i just have to disagree. this is one of people’s biggest complaints about the series, which i can understand if you only read tab and tog. but… the rest of the books? it doesn’t make sense to me. one of aelin’s most significant character arcs is getting over the internalized misogyny that was (intentionally, by her abuser) bred into her as a teenager. when she starts out in book one saying gross things about other girls and scoffing that she’s not like them and doesn’t trust them that’s not supposed to be seen as a GOOD thing. the reader isn’t supposed to go “omg hell yes celaena kick ass unlike these other dumb girls!!” to me, at least, it was very clearly supposed to be like… yikes. girl has some issues to work out. and she does, which is one of my favourite things about her. queen of shadows is the book in the series closest to my heart, because we see her get over her shit and become friends with lysandra and work with her to take down the man who was originally pitting them against each other! (and use ansels name in that pit fight!!!!) and most importantly, aelin apologizes to lysandra for her past behavior, and clearly sees that it was wrong.

and there are lots of other examples of how her feminism grows to include more than just her: she is the first one of the “original trio” to show any kindness to kaltain by giving her that cloak, she could have fought with nesryn over chaol but instead becomes friends with her, she reaches out to ansel as an ally even though ansel betrayed her in the past, she stands up for elides autonomy (like not having her take the blood oath in koa) whenever she can, etc etc etc.

and in terms of tog in general, i can definitely see how it starts out with celaena being the only likable or “badass” female character (besides nehemia). but that’s simply not true as the series progresses and we get manon, asterin, elide, kaltain, nesryn, lysandra, hasar, borte, yrene, etc etc etc. the scene where all the crochans come out of hiding to fight in the war? the scene where yrene defeats erawan pregnant while thinking of her mother and the entire city chants her name? yeah. i don’t think you can continue to argue that tog is only feminist for aelin.

celaena starts out in book one as a pretty selfish character. there’s no getting around that. it’s one of the flaws that people who call her a mary sue love to accuse her of not having. so it makes sense that her “feminism” would be selfish as well: she sees herself as the only woman worth empowering. and there’s not much in her experiences growing up to contradict that: lysandra tormented her, ansel betrayed her, from the age of 8 she didn’t have a mother. she’s gone through some bad shit with other girls/women and hasnt exactly come out of it for the better. but over the course of the series, she realizes how fucked up that is and grows to see girls as allies and friends. and not to get too galaxy brain but i honestly think it’s super important to have stories like that. most girls are not born woke. i certainly wasn’t. most girls have internalized misogyny bred into them from a pretty young age. so to read about a girl who works through hers in a pretty epic way (hello?? queen of shadows??)… that’s really important to me i wish it wasn’t overlooked by like. almost everyone.

[myownlittlebookcorner]

I ran away with the circus and never looked back ❤🖤

[novelknight]

“Even the greatest feats of man lose their luster when one’s head is filled with storm clouds.” 

― Susan Dennard, Something Strange and Deadly

IG: novelknight

[misterbrekker]

[theunvanquishedzims]

Hermione smugly presenting the findings of the international symposium that declared Pluto not a planet as final proof that astrology is made up.

But it turns out that’s what’s been throwing off everyone’s readings so a lot of divination quickly starts becoming more refined and accurate when they take that into account.

Hermione is hailed as a divination savant and that’s what she’s most known in the history books for.

[manicpixieshitpost]

this is some Arthur Conan Doyle shit

[a-very-optimistic-realist]

My god

[sixthieves]

OMIGOD WAIT A DAMN SECOND. It’s gonna be more than one season????!!! NOW IM HAPPY 

[lbardugo-deactivated20210617]

I’m super sick with this weird stomach bug, but just confirming, this is not a miniseries; it’s a full series with 8 eps per season.

[lbardugo-deactivated20210617]

Also… how bout that… we’re getting a show :)

[bookwyvrn]

new booooooooks, got em for new year’s <3

[marauders4evr]

People always joke about the Marauders thinking a stray dog is really Sirius but imagine that the Marauders are exploring the Forbidden Forest and they split up and all of a sudden, a deer comes over and nudges Sirius. And he’s just like, “Oh, hey, mate.” And the deer just nudges him again. And they finally decide to head back to the castle but the deer is having none of it so they literally have to drag him out of the forest. Only they’re panicking because he’s not changing back and come on James, this isn’t funny, you know we can’t get caught. And so they start to worry that something is wrong and he can’t change back. And so they smuggle him back into the castle. And by smuggle I mean, they throw the Invisibility Cloak over him but since he’s a deer, it doesn’t really cover much. And that’s the story of how Professor McGonagall looks up and sees three boys shoving a headless deer past her doorway and she promptly decides that it’s not her problem.

So they get the deer to the common room and it’s only then that they begin to speculate that maybe this deer isn’t James after all. But the deer just keeps doing really vague things that could be James. And they spend the rest of the afternoon having to decide if this really is James and if it is, if he’s messing with them or if something’s wrong, and if he’s not, did they just kidnap a deer?

[theflavourofyourlips]

#I’M YELLING#james comes back two hours later super offended#i can’t believe you guys just left me!!! i was looking all over for you !!!#are you all alright?#wait why is there a deer in my bed??#did you rePLACE ME

[charitybking]

I wanna be financially secure but I wanna read books in my bed everyday ya feel me

[the-book-ferret]

“Also, please don’t use Reichenbach as a verb. xxxx” ― Brittany Cavallaro, The Case For Jamie

[ashleyndiers]

A while back I received an ARC of “A Study in Charlotte,” by Brittany Cavallaro from @epicreads and I really loved this book! I haven’t read any Sherlock Holmes books before, but after reading this book, I may soon! 

Here’s my reimagined book cover I created inspired by Charlotte’s lab in the book.

[the-book-ferret]

“Watson, you look like hell. Haven’t you been sleeping?” “Not since October.” Brittany Cavallaro, The Last of August

[dajo42]

fred and george weasley on the top floor in hogwarts trying to get slinkies all the way down by predicting the pattern the stairs are gonna shift in

[dajo42]

they actually figure it out, they calculate the exact pattern, and start distributing it

suddenly, students are barely ever late to classes any more and there are significantly fewer incidents of getting lost around the castle

everything goes wonderfully for a week, all the professors are baffled but pleased

until the end of the week when the true purpose for the pattern’s distribution becomes clear. schoolwide slinky race. a thousand conjured slinkies all let loose at the same time. the rustling of the swarm of springs echoes through the halls of hogwarts. the house elves refer to the dreaded Slinky Sunday for centuries