I'm Seraph and I've been reading books beyond my comprehension level since I was in kindergarten.
I've recently started writing a little more seriously, and with that I found myself wanting to read a little more seriously too. I needed something a little more organic to engage my thoughts and notes with, so here's a tumblr blog.
I'm always open to reviewing books for indie and self published authors! Message me if you'd be interested in having me review your book!
My preferred genres:
Fantasy (dragons in particular)
SciFi (robots in particular)
Paranormal romance (queer romance in particular)
Historical Fiction
Will read YA if requested, but prefer adult
Love explicit scenes and erotica, and I will shamelessly critique those aspects!
Pending Reviews:
You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado
She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Current read-list (relative order pending library holds):
why do so many recent fantasy books only have a single non-binary person in them. everyone understands the person is non-binary there is no stumbling over pronouns or need to explain—yes, the wizard librarian we’ve all seen them—but there’s only ever One. the author cares enough to acknowledge the existence of people who fall outside of a gender binary but not enough to invest in there being like. a community. wizard gender studies. there’s just grevory the they/them librarian who sprung fully formed and fully non-binary into the magical land of fortinblargh or whatever the fuck
A bit of a lull since I had surgery a couple days ago. Haven’t been reading much, but I have been selected to do a couple ARC reviews in the writeblr space! I love supporting artists and I’m excited to dive in to all these new stories 💖
I'm really glad to have read, Where Myth Fades to Legend! It's an incredibly heartfelt text with a lot of care put into the characters and world building.
Big shout out to the author Izze Luis for coordinating with me on to get this book into my hands!
The story follows three sisters: Gale, Mira, and and Lily, as they are ripped from their mundane lives into a conflict between fae courts centuries in the making. They must navigate this world and war while trying to reunite with each other.
Ultimately, I gave this story 4 stars. There was a lot of it I like, and I would love to read the next one in the series when it comes out, but the few things I'll outline below were just enough to trip me up on my immersion.
Firstly, I'll say that it's very obvious the author cares about these characters. I like that we got a character portrait for the three FMCs (even if my 2012 kindle did scrunch em a little bit!) drawn by the author! The depth each character has is real, and can be sensed in a way that's not necessarily just written out in the text. Each voice is fairly distinct, with their personalities coming through during PoV swaps. (Deanyn PLEASE call me. I can fix him)
As someone who is estranged from their family and has no contact with their sister, I honestly found the familial bond between the three sisters unrelatable. However! It did not feel unrealistic or forced. They speak like three women put in a shitty situation, who all love each other and lose their temper to stress, but make up and forgive each other anyway. It felt really human, and really refreshing all things considered.
I loved the depiction of Lysandra's mood swings. You could follow pretty easily in the text what the triggers were, and how they influenced her behavior. It did not feel "omg she's so psycho" or completely random. When she attacks Mira, Lysandra repeat that's she's saving her from going through what she went through, and it that really struck me. Love her as a character.
The conflict is pretty realistic, as far as I'm concerned! The Lord of Dawn vs the Dawn Lords, the way geopolitical map has been pushed around due to the conflict, and even how the manor as we first see it is in disrepair due to the ongoing conflict. The refugee crisis, the action, the movement of troops--it all felt compelling and not hand-wavy like a lot of fantasy books.
The action scenes are pretty clear and easy to follow! Nothing felt unclear or particularly confusing in that respect, which was fun! I found myself taking notes in a couple places because I really liked how the author described some movements and wanted to see about integrating something similar in my own writing.
Alongside combat, sex can also be hard to write. There was explicit sex, though no particularly...vulgur(?) language. It was overly flowery either, which fell into a happy medium! I can recall perhaps one particular paragraph or two where I was just slightly confused on what position they were in, but that didn't last long.
The different types of fae and their power, and the division between those who where siloed in their powers vs those who could learn to wield other types of magic was clearly well thought through. There was even a pretty interesting discussion on why they would have sexual organs if they didn't reproduce sexually (NO BALLS? im in mourning).
Now. Most of what I took issue with is technical.
The first 20% or so of the book feels a little bit of a slog. It's important to establish the sisters, as well as their village for later plot developments. It was by no means unpleasant, but I really had to work myself through that first part in order to get to the story the author wanted to tell. I think there were definitely some places to add a little more foreshadowing to build intrigue in this part of the story.
There are multiple POV shifts in the book, which definitely lead to a richer experience overall, but there was some inconsistencies I found in where and when it shifts. For the most part, there are headers when that shift happens, but there were multiple times I noticed that the POV would change in the middle of the scene without that header present, or the POV would seem to shift for just a paragraph or two, revealing some inner world of a different character before swinging back. The funny thing is...it didn't really distract from the overall story? It didn't feel jarring, but I did notice it, and once I did I just kept seeing it.
Towards the end of the book, I found some of Lysandra's explanations a little hard to follow, and felt that they didn't really line up or make sense with the timeline that Kerian had already described. It wasn't even in a way of "oh she's just a reliable narrator", it just felt like it needed an additional pass with an developmental editor. Even then, again, it wasn't so egregious to give me a negative impression. I was able to smooth over the logic in my mind to continue my enjoyment; I was able to understand what was trying to be said, even though I feel textually it wasn't there.
Finally, the story favors Mira's PoV, which makes sense, as she's the one most embroiled in the action, but I find myself wishing we could have seen more Lily, especially in the epilogue. I await more Deanyn POV like the starving whore I am.
I review primarily indie and self-published books because I love the passion. I love seeing what people pull from their brains and put out into the world. As I've reiterated a few times thought this review, that passion is obvious in this work, and I'm genuinely curious to see how this author grows with the story.
Bonus: Trigger/Content Warnings
As the debate on including trigger warnings in books heats back up, I would be remiss to not mention something that bothered me. In the explicit content warnings, the author felt it necessary to call out the fact that polyamory is discussed and may be a potential outcome. I dislike that this is in the trigger list next to sexual assault and BDSM themes. It lingered in my mind to the point of contacting the author to discuss it before I finished the book. It was a good conversation!
To be clear, I am not against content warnings, but the idea that polyamory needs to be called out as potentially harmful content didn't sit right with me. From what I understand, that wasn't the case! But since it's stuck with me that long, I wanted to make note for the sake of it.
Thanks for reading!
The frustration with Netgalley and LCP DRM is real. I have a 2012 Kindle 4 that I LOVE but when most books are only offering LCP epub it kind of drives me insane. “Sorry, you can only use a new, online device” be real
I understand that people are allowed to have whatever opinion they want on books, but I also have to sit here and wonder if we read the same book, and what sort of life they had to live to get what they apparently got out of the text.
Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. As an exterminator, that means hunting the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river and attempt to infest the walls of the city. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.
Guy doesn’t have a choice.
Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske (@fahye)
To graduate the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with a healer’s gift must endure a five-day trial. The exam groups are chosen at random, and all must pass together or fail together. What the exam should not include is the dead body of a classmate, a brilliant scholar who would’ve been first in their class, appearing in the exam hall on the first day of the trial.
Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days to solve a murder and pass the most important exam of their lives, and maybe uncover a secret large enough to change the world. (Or: five queer nerds solve a murder and have some feelings.)
Why would you undercut the second book with that last line? I was thinking it was really interesting until that point. All that build up just for it to fall flat.
Heart of Flame was a somewhat frustrating read. The lore and world building and characters themselves I found so fascinating, but the sex scenes really landed poorly with me.
The setting itself was novel! I love the use of Nordic lore to flesh out the setting. The drekki vs dragon distinction felt so fun, it really played on the prideful nature of these creatures.
The characters felt really well-rounded, and I found myself interested in the side characters just as much as the main characters. The set up for Haakon as the focus of the next book was really well executed. I loved the court politics happening in the background. The fight scenes were so well orchestrated and enjoyable.
The sex on the other hand... it was bad. It was rapey. There wasn't even good reason for her to submit most of the time, and the scene in the chaos bubble just straight up neglected to really harp on her attraction in a way that made it even semi-enjoyable to read. I found myself bemoaning the sex when it came up. I may read the next one in the series, but ultimately I'm not looking forward to the explicit parts of it
