#the naming

[theinquisitxor]

March 2025 Reading Wrap Up

In March I read 7 books, 1 dnf, and 1 short story, so 9 total things read. I thought it was a good reading month overall, and I read a lot of young adult-- which I don't read much of anymore. I feel like I've aged out of the genre for the most part, but there are a few books/series I still enjoy. Let's get into what I read!

1.World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, 4.5/5 stars. This is a collection of memoir essays and a love letter to nature. Aimee connects a different moment of her life to an animal or aspect of nature. I found her writing very enjoyable and a very refreshing read.

2.Oathbound (Legendborn Cycle 3) by Tracy Deonn, 4/5 stars. One of my most anticipated releases of the year, and one of the few ongoing ya-fantasy series I'm still reading. I had such a fun time reading this, and it had some tropes that I also found very fun to read. I didn't love it quite as much as books 1 and 2, buuuttt it was still solid and very good.

3.Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid, 4/5 stars. If you were like me in the early 2010s obsessed with The Hunger Games and read a lot of the other dystopian books that dominated those years, this is a solid return to that genre but with a bit more of a 2020s lens. The ending is a bit polarizing and I have mixed feelings about it though.

4. The Naming (The Books of Pellinor 1) by Alison Croggon, 5/5 stars. This was one of my favorite books of my early teen years, and one I've been wanting to reread for several years. Safe to say I still loved this book and it stands the test of time. Reading it as an adult I picked up on so much more. I highly recommend this book/series!

5. The Riddle (Pellinor 2) by Alison Croggon, 4.5/5 stars. Unlike the first book, I did not remember anything from this book before my reread. So it was almost like reading it completely new. To me this one was even more emotional and our characters go through some soul-searching. Our main character deserves nothing bad to happen to her ever.

6. Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch 1) by Ann Leckie, DNF. Unfortunately I was bored trying to read this, and I don't really care to see what happens. I first tried the audiobook, and then switched to a physical copy, but neither were able to keep my interest. It's not bad, I just personally couldn't get into it :(

7.Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari. I've felt for a little while that my attention span and ability to focus is not as good as it used to be (and that smartphones/social media/big tech is responsible) so this was very refreshing to read, affirmed my thoughts on things, and I learned quite a bit on how our collective ability to focus has been damaged. Highly recommend if you feel the same!

8. Wildwood Dancing (Wildwood 1) by Juliet Marillier, 4/5 stars. This was my Random TBR Pick for the month of March, and a book that was on my tbr since 2020. This is a ya-fairy tale retelling that was a mix of several tales set in Transylvania in some unspecified historical period. I enjoyed this and was glad to read another Juliet Marillier book!

9. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, 4/5 stars. This is a short story by the acclaimed author, and his imaging of an infinite library containing every variation of the alphabet, and those how search through the library. This had been on my tbr since 2018, so I was glad to have finally read it!

That was all for March!

In April I'm hoping to read:

Finish Pellinor series (books 3 & 4) (prequel at some point?!)

Wildwood Dancing #2

Nonfiction -- Backyard Bird Chronicles maybe?

Random TBR Book -- Child of a Hidden Sea by AM Dellamonica

Whatever else I feel like reading! (maybe attempt The Luminaries ?)

[chaotic-orphan]

My dear, author. Although I want to stab you you should know I love you very much. Here is my two silly asks. When you have the time and joy please answer

Are you going to give Dlcv characters names?

And why leader is so silly like he is so unserious while his hand gets hammered.

*hastily putting on armour* BE WITH YOU IN JUST A— *clash of metal on metal* JUST A SEC HAH-HAH, DON’T EVEN W-WORRY ABOUT ME ANON, this has NOTHING to do with the stab threat, I enjoy knives as much as the next person *stabs armour to make sure knives don’t penetrate, throws knife away, emerges from cave*

Haha, of course you can stab me with your knives of love to draw out the blood of my heart, whatever you want Anon, I am here to oblige… oh— the armour? No I always wear this, enemies strike from everywhere don’t even worry about it… how do I go toilet?… we don’t need to worry about that

AHEM!!! Anyways, your asks, of course, names— mm-hm, I have them for them because I am a good writer, yes, of course I do, let me just check the index of the names I absolutely have for them… because I have them, y’know?

Now, I have to preface with something I want to do, but Idk if I will — which is have a story with names that kind of describe the characters — I haven’t been re-reading skulduggery pleasant and have stolen this from that book so don’t know why you brought that up, kinda sus — BUT!!! I want to do it and idk if this is the story to do it with since there is no magic (maybe it will be on my whumpy magic school story… hmm, sorry, this isn’t relevant)

ANYWAYS!!! So there are options— ahem, not because this list was hastily thrown together or anything, don’t worry, Anon, ahem—

So Villain is gender unknown, could be nb, I kinda like that we don’t know what gender they are (i may or may not have given them a gender in the story and forgotten, if so then they do, idk) so I have given them a neutral name of Riley, I think it fits, I was also thinking like Jasper for them but Idk, we will see

Leader is difficult cause I want it to be cool but also normal-ish, but his options are: Killian, Crusoe, Noah— I think Crusoe would be a last name he goes by normally, other options I don’t like as much: Finn, August, Shane, Joey, Aiden, Slate, Flint

Supervillain’s name is also being a bitch but because I can’t think of one BIG enough for him, he’s a hulking, beefy-five-layer-burrito boy and I want him to have a name that reflects that, so contenders are: Emrys, Ransom, Alexander Ransom, Lucian, Callan, Julius, Roman, Solomon — he’s hard!!! I think a hard consonant first name would be good, or just calling him his last name which could be cool… I like Ransom, but… ack, idk

RIVAL*cue throwing up* — either has a really nice name like Will and he’s a sleazy bastard so it’s like NO! Or a name like Rufus

Medic, Rogue, Second, Sniper are currently unnamed but the important ones are there

NEXT QUESTION!!!

Why is Leader a fucking crackhead? Why is he our silly lil boy? There are many reasons for this, Leader is kind of… as we know, unhinged. Extremely unhinged and unconventional, like the two normal people of the group was Medic and Villain but the rest were kind of cuckoo, Rogue is pretty chill too but— Leader gets the job done, he completes his missions with a sort of brutal persistence, he scares the people he works with, that aren’t on his team, because he’s kind of a loose canon, but he’s so efficient and effective at his job that they can’t fire him per se, so they— as we saw in the last chapter, lassoed him with threats against his team and now he’s fucked

Leader is also so beyond pissed that Villain is with SUPERVILLAIN of all people, and that Villain isn’t suffering, or alone, or sad, or missing Leader, instead they are thriving as a torturer and Supervillain’s interrogator. He hates how close Supervillain is with Villain, and how he lords it over Leader, so Leader is extra feral when he is alone with Supervillain

Also, he’s just kinda an arsehole, hehehe, and very witty and likes to be sarcastic/joke with people, especially when those people are trying to intimidate him, he doesn’t want to show that they’re any good with their intimidation tactics. He kind of throws it back in their face,

so when Supervillain cracks his hand with a fucking hammer he’s initially like FUCK FUCK FUCK I’M GONNA DIE OH FUCK THIS HURTS SO BAD, butttt— in that scene, the next time Supervillain grinds his hand into Leader’s mangled one, Leader knows that HE’S getting to Supervillain, even though he’s the one tied up

And when Supervillain leaves him, Leader panics because he doesn’t like how Supervillain just disengages with him, because that means something worse is coming—

[criticalheist]

Spoilers, but I had to draw this guy immediately after getting home today from listening in the car.

The most important aspect to me was that he has no expression. He's just listening. Always.

[seadolph]

Stay and heal your hurt Lay down that brow of stone From this day forth my hidden heart Will be your own. from The Lay of Andomian and Beruldh

every so often I return to the Books of Pellinor...

[swamp--goblin--swamp]

Fantasy authors please stop making hundred year olds who look young have romances with 17 year olds it's weird

[eliavraay]

“The Naming” - Bonus SkekSil’s mortal enemy in this world is… “himself”. Chanter is really tired of “collecting him” at the end of the day. Because Sil steps out from the house and completely forgets the reason he was going, once he sees an opportunity to harass his brothers. Mostly they live from singing in the tavern and telling stories together. Sometimes they help SkekGra and urGoh to enhance their puppet shows. The other residents of Haven understand their dinamic, since they saw a big variety of skeksis and urru. They know Sil is expected to be the mischevous of the pair so they take his stories with a little doubt. So… this is how they leave this story now. SkekSo has to figure out what names to give to his sons without the Chamberlain. ^^;

[the-forest-library]

7 COVERS IN 7 DAYS

Rules: Each day, I will post the cover of a book that I love and nominate someone new to start the challenge.

Tagging (no pressure, just fun!): @letthebookbegin