who be you?

whatever suits my fancy. nameless and faceless rn. who be you to order me about and call me girlie?

[whobeyou444]

HEARTBREAKER < / 3

the rolling stones song RAAAAAAAAA idk just have a glass of cabernet and go listen to it

[whobeyou444]

the dawn and its light - book review

author: piper cj

rating: 2/5

review tldr: my sapphic dreams are dead. and the loose ends are certainly...loose.

review (contains spoilers): This was an end to a series that I did...finish. Honestly, this book was pretty well paced and the plot, until its final moments, was solid. I would even call it a satisfying ending to the series were it not for several major flaws that will haunt me, leading me to my good good 2 star review.

I made it through 4 entire books of this series. On the back of EVERY installment it mentions our two iconic female protagonists, Nox and Amaris, and how they want nothing more than to be together and how their stories are intrinsically intertwined. Please let me know why Amaris and Gadriel's relationship feels so much more important to Amaris at the end of this series? I mean for the love of god, the final moments of the entire series don't even INCLUDE Amaris because she LEAVES with GADRIEL three pages into the epilogue! It just felt like such an unsatisfying end to a series that centers women and their relationships to have Amaris' attention suddenly center so heavily around her romance with a man. Nox and Amaris' relationship felt strangely awkward and ingenuine in this book, and overall perhaps unintentionally took a backseat, which was an unforgivably unsatisfying conclusion considering just how much buildup surrounded their union.

Additionally, the end of the book was so...anticlimactic. No final battle, no dramatic conclusion, just a march in and fix everything. Plot points were hinted at that were just completely unexplored and undeveloped, which was honestly just confusing. So Nox...can't really kill people in dreams. Ok great, I guess we don't need to dwell on or address that discovery. Also there is another all powerful manifester who creates demons and is populating the world with monsters, which has been a theme throughout the entire series, but we're not going to resolve any of that. Got it. The end just felt rushed, which was so deeply disappointing considering the heft of the series. I would not recommend it to friends or queer readers. It is what it is.

[whobeyou444]

the gloom between stars - book review

author: piper cj

rating: 3/5

review tldr: i know things happened in this book, but why did it feel like nothing happened until the end? also rip my sapphic romance.

review (contains spoilers): Oh darn it. What happened here? This review is riddled with spoilers so read ahead at your risk. This read was off to a great, exciting start, with climactic battle and gripping plot moments. On top of that, finally Nox and Amaris are together again and we can see them forge the adult relationship we've been waiting two entire books for, right? WRONG. They fight and avoid one another almost immediately.

The entire middle of this book felt like a wash of sameness. If you enjoy watching characters plot in a war room chapter after chapter without any real action, then you're in for a treat. The new characters were compelling, but most of this book's core was comprised of talking about the idea of a plot and then, separately, a bunch of relationship related drama and Nox and Amaris once again focusing more heavily on their relationships with men than with one another.

Maybe I should give it two stars, but the final battle was really bomb. I also liked some of the cozy mundanity and lighter character relationships established, but overall I found this installment lacking in plot and variety. After the climactic finale, I was excited to see how the series would end. And...end it did.

[whobeyou444]

the sun and its shade - book review

author: piper cj

rating: 3/5

review tldr: my sapphic fantasy series is getting less sapphic, but the plot is still decent

review (contains spoilers): I'll be honest, I picked up The Night and its Moon because of the promise of a dense, sapphic fantasy series. I'll blame myself for not doing further research, but this second book took a turn, as one of our female main characters (Amaris) is now engaged in a distinct and drawn out romance, enemies to lovers moment with a man and the other female main character (Nox) is also having romantic moments with a man. Again, perhaps entirely my fault for not doing my studying up, but as a reader who really only gravitates toward queer stories this was a bit frustrating.

The pacing of this book was better than the first one and the plot took exciting turns that kept me hooked throughout the read. My other main complaint, however, was that while the plot was obviously different from book 1, it followed largely the same premises of "main characters are separated and trying to find one another". On top of this, it ends AGAIN with them being reunited and then separated JUST like the twist at the end of book 1. It was annoying the first time. This time it was an eye roll.

Will the sapphic romance be saved? Will the plot remain compelling? I was two books in and still on the line, so I fucked around and found out how the series continued.

[whobeyou444]

the night and its moon - book review

author: piper cj

rating: 4/5

review tldr: a solid start to a sapphic fantasy series, but it's all downhill from here

review (contains spoilers): In perhaps a dissent from the general feelings about this book, it was by far my favorite of the series. I like a dense fantasy, and a dense sapphic fantasy in particular with dual female protagonists drew me in and I was generally not disappointed. Sure the pacing was a little slow, but I didn't mind the drawn out childhood backstory, as I found it to be effective and compelling setup for Nox and Amaris' stories. The characters are incredibly complex, the world building fascinating, and the tension created by separating the main characters and watching them find their way back to one another was really effective. It's the epitome of sapphic yearning, and that's what I loved about this book. I did, however, really dislike that they were separated again in the end. Felt like an unsatisfying gut punch of a twist. While I found the ending frustrating, the cliff hanger had me on the edge of my seat for the following installments. Overall, a read that made me want to recommend to friends. My feelings on this changed after completing the series.