#ravensdagger

[skadoosher77]

My Top 10 Books/Series I Read in 2024

#10 Blind Chaos by CrimCat

A fanfiction of Beneath the Dragoneye Moons that is just fucking delightful. Made me fall in love with that world again, I absolutely recommend it if you're familiar with the source.

#9 Sporemageddon Vol. 3 by RavensDagger

The third volume of a wonderfully revolutionary story about a little girl sticking it to the entire concept of industry. You can imagine why I like it so much.

#8 Hive Minds Give Good Hugs by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher

The most dense and morally fascinating of Maher's books. It was the last I got around to (other than Are You Even Human?, which is still releasing serially and I couldn't put here in good conscious.) and the one I recommend most to newcomers to her work, even if they're all fucking fantastic.

#7 The Type Specialist by Incarnated Whisp

The Pokémon fanfiction that put the fire (or should I say acid?) in my belly to start writing my own fanfic. It's classic Pokémon adventure fun with the added depth and maturity of the written word, without dragging it out of the lighthearted root of the setting. The approach to adapting Pokémon to the format was what inspired me most, and for good reason. (Embarrassingly, I haven't finished it.)

#6 Judicator Jane (books 1-3) by Brian Rouleau

A LitRPG about morality. I've had plans for my own LitRPG series, and this one stole some of the thoughts right out of my head. It has heart and tenacity in spades. I love a book that gives me something to chew on after it's done, and this series was like a crate full of bubblegum.

#5 Ruri Dragon (After the hiatus) by Masaoki Shindo

I loved the Ruri Dragon oneshot, was enthralled when I found the chapters from its initial serialization, and I could not have been happier that it returned this year. It's a conversational, affable, contemporary, and deeply human piece of art. It has none of the bullshit that makes most manga so unreadable and all of the parts that cement the artform as something worthwhile. Every character feels like a whole and entire person that could be brought off the page any minute, and I would love to meet them all.

#4 Bioshifter (Vol. 1-3) By Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher

I let Maher off lightly in the recommendation for Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, but dude Thundamoo is for the freaks! This is a story that made me cry over and over again with grief, laugh over and over again with glee, shout over and over again in shock and excitement, and still my main takeaway was that I need more body horror in my life. The core theme of this series is something everyone should know about. These books fucked me sideways, and I literally came back to do it again.

#3 Worm by Wildbow

Where to start? I do not want to spoil a thing about this book. It is so fucking good and you should go and read the shit out of it right now. Yes, that's the praise I'm giving the #3 spot, the other two are even better. It's got superpowers and they're cool, but that is far from the main draw. Is it rough around the edges? Yes. Is it bad about certain things? Yes. Does any of that affect how much it grabbed my brain by the balls? Fuck no!

#2 Artificial Jelly (books 1 & 2) by Dustin Graham

Honestly, I didn't expect this to take this spot. Artificial Jelly, unlike my other favorite books and series this year, does not stick to one theme that pulses at its heart. Instead, Artificial Jelly has something effecting and important to say about every single one of the questions and ideas that have pervaded this year for me. It's a story about a general artificial intelligence born into a virtual cage, and what happens next. Read it.

#1 Vigor Mortis (Vol. 1-4) by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher

These books are the reason that two other entries of this list are by Natalie "Thundamoo" Maher, they made me fall in love with her writing. I found them at a time I was in need of something to latch onto, and what a handhold I found. THEMES. I fucking love a good theme! Vigor Mortis is all about our monstrous natures, a theme I desperately needed tackled at the time. Every new horror of the body, mind, and/or soul didn't just elicit a girlish squeal of excitement and intrigue (and more than a few times arousal), but also a beautifully fucked up philosophy debate between me and the book. EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. is a challenge to your view of how morally right beings should act, and I would not have it any other way. Best of all, it does not feel preachy, it is an excellent experience the whole way through regardless of if you engage with it. I have two complaints, but they are not for this post, because I need you to go out and buy these fucking books. They will make your life better.

[alexanderwales]

Cimmanun Bunnn

Cinnamon Bun was something that I ended up reading after having spoken to RavensDagger as part of ... a panel, I think? Some kind of podcast thing?

I cruised through it, and thought that it was probably not for me, but it was pleasant enough to read while I was reading it. I was going to say that it's uncomplicated, but maybe that's not quite it. It's one note, maybe? It's a good note, and it hits it well, but there were times I was just begging for us to swerve off the cuteness highway and into a field of corn.

One of the things I believe in strongly, when it comes to media analysis, is that you should meet a work on its own goals. You have to meet the slasher movie as a slasher movie. You can't have a steak dinner and say "that should have been a salad instead", unless you're very clear that this is about personal preference rather than a failure of craft.

So if this is the thing you're looking for is a cute, comfy, litRPG thing that keeps the stakes pretty low and never really surprises you, then yeah, I think it's a good option. I'm not well read in cozy fantasy, and Cinnamon Bun is a noncentral example, but if you want this kind of sweetness, yeah, this is for you.

And the thing about me is, this is almost never something that I want. If I'm reading something cozy, I want complexity and depth, conflicts and ideology, something that I'm rewarded for reading slowly. With Cinnamon Bun, I felt like the way to read it was, uh, "vibe reading", not skimming the text, but going fast, not worrying too much about whether there was some nuance I was missing.

One of the main things to recommend it, IMO, is that it's a litRPG that's deliberately doing a thing that most litRPGs aren't doing, exploring this alternate space of litRPGs in a way that ends up being fresh because it's so underrepresented. I think I would have just preferred to have stopped earlier on in reading it, if what I was getting out of it was mainly that. It was a nice book to sit down to with a cup of tea, and I binged it, which probably didn't help how it landed on my palate.

I don't think that I would read another Cinnamon Bun, or another book that's similar, but I thought it was worth reading for me, and is probably much more worth reading for certain people who aren't me and want a nice scoop of fluff every night before bedtime.

[witchcatyoshiko]

Reading Stray Cat Strut by RavensDagger

And the longer Gomorrah and Stray Cat work together the more I feel they’re devolving into explosion junkie frat boys like

*looking into over grown hive with tons of monsters*

SC: bomb?

Gom: with lots of fire?

And they just softly chant “blow sh*t up blow sh*t up” just getting louder and louder the safer distance they get

And Laserjack just sees a bright flash of light on his sensors and sighs

[justwriteyoudummy]

I am listening to the cutest LitRPG around:

Very sweet and wholesome, a nice introduction to those who are curious about the Literature RPG subgenre of Progression Fantasy.

The MC, Broccoli Bunch, gets isekai’d into another world where she’s given the class “Cinnamon Bun” which is most assuredly NOT a fighting class. But that suits her just fine as she’d rather make friends with everyone she meets, including the reanimated skeleton downstairs.

While there are Video Game like aspects to it that you might come to expect out of the LitRPG genre, it’s not too overbearing with stats and the like. The skills Broccoli gains during her adventures are put to use in interesting ways that keeps the story light and fun.

Definitely more of a Slice of Life/Adventure versus Action Adventure.

Be warned: MC can be a bit sugary sweet so watch out for cavities while reading!

All in all a great introduction to the genre and is kid friendly too :)

[pizzaslutofficial]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I wrote a thing! New chapters posted on Thursdays :)

[skadoosher77]

Reading Love Crafted by RavensDagger, I've just sealed a pact with Daphne. You've earned yourself a wing woman Daph, welcome to the wide world of lesbianism.

[witchcatyoshiko]

Reading Stray Cat Strut 4 by RavensDagger

And the conversations of Gomorrah and Stray Cat trying to figure out how to blow up more things is hilarious.

S: ugh can’t blow it up, under the city…

G: sooo explode buildings?

S: everything is too fragile

G: really hot then?

S: hmmm…. Explode just a little

G: good good with fire, possibly?

S: mmhm mmhm that’s good. Good sound yes

G: explosions it is then!

S: yes!

[witchcatyoshiko]

Reading Stray Cat Strut 4 by RavensDagger

And the mention of the character’s name at the beginning of each chapter makes me think the character will die or attention will move from her and it worries me…

Also the whole thing has had the same feel as the Scythe series, which isn’t bad but kinda tweaky cuz I keep thinking the scythe will come out and make an attack somewhere or they’re one of the planets that got seeded