”On one hand, there is the very real threat of mutual annihilation. On the other, the stars.”

Guys, I've never written an actual novel before but I'm trying ☠️☠️✨💖

I love Sci-Fi, the 80s and 2000s aesthetic as well as epic fantasy novels 😓

I've been combining themes together and idk how it'll go but I've outlined the story already and the worldbuilding (which was so much, it took me a few months😭)

But I'm trying, honestly, I love the dark horror and dark fantasy genre especially from the 80s-2000s years😫

You should know by now I'm a simp for elves and vampires😓 if you didn't - now you do🌚🤝

I've already outlined like just over 16 chapters already in like a week, I'm trying to outline the entire story to see if I can actually do this☠️

But whelp, I'm trying! 😭😭💖✨

@peepthatbish @faroreskiss @trippygalaxy @cloudninetonine @raiijinn @avaisinyourarea @dreaming-of-lu @tomsishere

'The Banth' by Frank Frazetta.

Interior illustration from the 'Thuvia, Maid Of Mars' / The Chessmen Of Mars' omnibus edition paperback, books 4 and 5 of the 'Barsoom / Mars' series written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in 1973 by Nelson Doubleday.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: light academia, fantasy, mysteries, epistolary narrative, mental illness rep, LGBTQ+ characters

Big thanks to Netgalley, Orbit, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book starts out relatively slow, and even when it picks up this is a character-driven novel more than a plot-driven one. I've seen it likened to Emily Wilde's, which I would have to agree with, and imo the pacing is pretty similar between the two. With that said, I think the pacing benefits this kind of novel and I enjoyed the unfolding of events and character relationships over the course of the book.

Likewise, this book is written epistolary style, so through letters and journal entries, which I've noticed becoming more of a thing recently. I think it's a really interesting way of telling a story and think it's a great way both to get to know a character and to introduce narrator unreliability (Henerey himself even points out that he purposefully will not write certain things down since he does not want them to be read). I think the way Cathrell utilized the epistolary narrative style for this novel was brilliant. The events that occur are, in and of themselves, a mystery and by having those events told via letter, the mystery is compounded through two layers of characters revealing things. It's a super interesting way to go through a mystery novel and I feel it added to the experience and the suspense. We already know the ending, but E. and Henerey nor Sophy and Vy nor us know how that ending happened, and only the latter two groups are going into this mystery with the knowledge of how it ends.

The world in this novel is quite interesting. It's a mostly-aquatic society that had to rebuild after falling out of the sky 1000 years prior in an event known as the Dive. It seemed to have decimated technology, land masses, and a good portion of the population, though society is now flourishing on it's three "campuses," each of which have slightly different cultures and seem to prize different virtues. I liked getting the snippets about the world and how it functioned, as well as getting to know the names for the animals of the world (some of them are familiar, most are variations on what we would know, such as the "toothed whale"). I look forward to learning more about the world in book 2.

The book is pretty evenly split between E. and Henerey's correspondence and Sophy and Vyerin's, leaning more toward Sophy and Vyerin's. I liked seeing the two sets of relationships grow, with E. and Henerey becoming romantic while Sophy and Vy become friends and help each other heal from the loss of their siblings. I also enjoyed seeing how each group put the puzzle pieces together and the ways in with Vy and Sophy are able to add some additional context both to the mystery as well as to their siblings' lives.

To start with, E. is afflicted with a "Malady of the Brain" with makes her extremely anxious and gives her OCD-like tendencies and thoughts (i.e., she repeatedly checks portholes and airlocks to ensure the Deep House is secure, feeling as though the house will spring a leak and kill her otherwise; she also has major intrusive thoughts), and ensures that she has spent most of her adult life within the confines of the Deep House. Despite her anxiety, she pens the letter to Henerey that gets their relationship, and the mystery, started. E. is remarkably inquisitive and seems to have a broad depth of knowledge in multiple subjects, not least ocean life and fantasy novels (two things she and Henerey bond over). I enjoyed getting tidbits about her childhood and seeing her open up to Henerey and their shared intellectual pursuits.

Henerey comes across as a mix of level-headed and endearingly enthusiastic (and nervous). He takes E. seriously from the get-go and the two are intellectual matches as they talk over the ocean, life, and novels. It's clear that Henerey is excited to have made a friend and I liked how much he cared about E.'s interests and opinions. I do feel that we didn't get to know him as well as some of the other characters, so I would like more insight into Henerey if possible in book 2 (Vyerin will def be in it, so hopefully he can provide more insight).

Speaking of, Vyerin felt very realistic to me. He still clearly misses his brother and is grieving his loss, even a year out from when it occurred. This has prevented him from doing much reading into Henerey's personal affects, but as he and Sophy converse via letter, he's able to reconnect with his brother through those letters and begin to both heal and become invigorated for the mystery central to the novel. While Vy seems more 'stuck' in the grief cycle as compared to Sophy (not to say Sophy isn't grieving still too), he's also able to be humorous at times and I enjoyed his quips, as well as the moments when he revealed more about his husband and children.

Sophy seems to have moved a step or two further in the grieving process than Vy, but she too still deeply misses her sister. She comes across as very determined, and even though she isn't in the career position she was in when E. died, she's still very academic in nature and approaches things in a very systematic and logical manner. I particularly enjoyed Sophy's letters because they gave insight not just into the E. and Henerey affair, but also into the Ridge Expedition, which was a major scientific expedition Sophy was on when the whole thing with E-H was going down. The expedition was alluded to have ended abruptly and to have returned few results, but imo it's clear from the get-go that the mission somehow ties in with what happened to E. and Henerey as well as into the book's central mystery.

Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and found myself immersed in the characters and the world. It's definitely slow paced but I think it works for the story and the narrative style. I absolutely love the epistolary nature of the story and the way both the story and the mystery unfolded in dual 'timelines.' I'm greatly looking forward to the sequel!

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott

Rating: 4 🌟

✨ I felt like my brain melted reading this ✨

I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but I’ve had this on my list since I made a project on it in uni 8 years ago.

Originally written in the 1880’s, with the language updated in the 1990’s, Flatland is a novella nareated by A. Square as he explains his 2 dimensional world and how he travelled to different dimensions.

The first half of the book explains how everything works in Flatland, from their social structure, being able to tell each other apart when all they can see if straight lines. I genuinely lost my mind over the colour revolution and what happens to irregulars.

This book is amazing in a lot of ways, not least because it was written before the concept of 4D was invented. And this story explores the idea of how different dimensions might look to each other and how hard it is to imagine a higher plain.

Would absolutely recommend if you’re looking for a story that will make you feel like you’re going crazy. Be warned, despite being less than 150 pages long, this book took me over a week to finish due to wrapping my head around the concepts and the prose.

Tarot October TBR: October 3, 2023 King of Wands - Evil Corporations

@artoverchaos

COZY READERS, WHERE ARE YOU??

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Patreon - Alycia Davidson Author

Cover for Clifford D. Simak's novel “Time and Again” by Michael Whelan, published by Ace Books (1976).

Day 03 InkGenre - Sci-fi - Android

Please allow me to show you how fucking incredibly my boyfriend did with my Christmas presents!!!! (Other present in another post) Holy fuck!!!!

If you follow me, you might have seen me lusting over Folio Society special edition books a couple weeks back. My boyfriend does not know my tumblr. I did not tell him about that store. He knew I liked Philip K Dick, found out that UBIK was a popular book of his and bought this incredibly beautiful copy, with 0 idea that I had seen it and lusted after it before. When I opened it, I was so bewildered that I was like, how did you know???? Do you know my tumblr?? Can you read my mind???? Or see my search history 🤣

It’s gorgeous, I’ve only just started reading it, so please no spoilers! If you have a book fan in your life and cash to spare, highly recommend getting them a folio society book! I can’t stop looking at it!!!!

“La mano izquierda de la oscuridad”, de Ursula K. Le Guin

THE KYNES SKETCH 🥺 (work in progess)

Immortal Longings review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: The Hunger Games, enemies to lovers, murder games, unhinged FMCs, morally gray characters I was a little nervous coming into this one since it's completely separate from the Secret Shanghai world, but I needn't have been, I absolutely love this book. It's got the action, the morally questionable characters, the enemies to lovers, the tragedy. All of it. I was not bored once while reading this. The book actually reminds me a bit of a Hunger Games / Dualed mashup where the characters are chasing down and murdering other people in a sci-fi/dystopian city but it's a government sanctioned bloodsport. The idea of San-Er really drew me in. I love the idea of dual cities and how they become connected over time. I also love how it hearkens to cities from the ancient and medieval worlds. San-Er is created along similar lines, with the two cities springing up on either side of a river and building walls around themselves as the monarchs decide to rule together but still separate. The city itself is a blend of the historic and the future, and I really enjoy how the 'future' has very 90s vibes with pages and internet cafes. Despite the seeming disparateness of the ancient past and the future/90s, the elements work together to create a unique city. I really like how much of San-Er we get to see in the book and how varied the different districts can be. Jumping between bodies was also an interesting idea to me. Everyone has qi but only some (most?) people have the gene to jump bodies, taking their qi with them and leaving their 'birth body' behind. the only way to tell if someone jumps bodies is by their eye color, which also carries over when they jump. There are also empty vessels, which are simply bodies without qi and thus lack consciousness, and can magically repair from wounds. But jumpers can also jump into other people and are either pushed out if that person is too strong or take over the body for whatever period of time they please. If a jumper takes over another body permanently, the original consciousness eventually fades (dies). It's definitely an intriguing setup, particularly when you take into account that people readily jump bodies for one reason or another and a lot of people just see physical bodies as accessories. Technically jumping is against the law, but most everyone seems to do it anyway and it's a commonplace thing. On the one hand, it's painted as being very normal in this world and just something that people expect at some point or another. There are a handful of people immune to it, people who are doubled/already have two qis (i.e., already being occupied) and the Weisannas, but unless your qi is powerful enough to repel other jumpers, everyone is open to being jumped into. Thus, as various characters say in the book, bodies are just things to use for a while until you move on to the next one. Under that morality, it's perfectly fine and normal to use the bodies however you want, be it in the games or to have sex or to just have a pretty face. But there were definitely some moments in the book that gave me pause. I did wonder about the people killed in the games, either alongside a player who had jumped into them or after a player jumped before the body and other qi died. I also had a moment when Calla and Anton have sex because...that's not Anton's body. There are definitely questions of consent re: body jumping, but I feel like they won't be addressed because it's just so normalized in this world. Regardless, it's still an interesting part of the book. The games are set up as a way to win riches beyond most people's imaginings and serve as a risky last ditch effort to claw out of poverty. The games aren't limited to an arena though and players are given run of the city, making it more dangerous for both them and for San-Er's residents. It provided an interesting setup, especially since it is televised as a game, so people watch from their TV screens but they'll also crowd around a fight to try and see live who will win. Since there are 88 participants and the fighting is so spread out over the city we don't get to meet most of them, and the ones we do meet are almost inevitably in a fight where they eventually die. The interesting thing about the characters is that they all want to transform Talin (maybe not Anton, not at first), they just have different ideas about how to do it. They form an interesting hall of mirrors, all with the same goal but different methods and beliefs about how it can best be done. Calla, the murderous princess, is the main character. Sure there are other POVs, but she's the one the story centers on. After massacring the rest of the royal family and some of their guards, Calla was forced into hiding before she could finish the job by killing off the other royal family. She's in the games now to win so she can get close enough to finish the job. While she did commit the massacre, she did it because she wanted to bring the regime down and transform Talin. I liked that plan, but I wasn't so much a fan of how she decided to trust August and let him be king. Even without being told, just reading his POV showed he was skeevy. Other than her plans, Calla is someone who's done her best to wall herself off from everyone else and her own emotions. She feels some guilt about killing during the games, but not enough to try and find a way to get around it. Calla was trained to be a killer and she's good at it. At the same time, she seems to feel this great burden about Talin and the people in it who are suffering. She wants the regime to change, even if it has to be done forcefully, but she's not much of a strategist in how she plans to get it done. It is kind of a nice change of pace to see a character who's just vicious without also being manipulative. I do like Calla as a character and how thoroughly messy she is. I look forward to seeing her (and hopefully Mao Mao) in book 2. Anton is a disgraced aristocrat who's entering the games for the money so he can pay off his medical debt and get his sick childhood lover proper care. He readily jumps from body to body as needed to get things done and does seem to have some strategic capabilities since he picks his bodies for specific reasons. Like Calla, Anton is vicious, but he also is more trusting of others and more willing to open himself up. I like Anton's character as well and seeing both the desperation and obsession at different points. I'm very very curious to see how things play out with him. August is the crown prince and is probably equally as obsessive as Calla and Anton, just about different things. He's the adopted son of the king and feels that lack of nobility in his bones and is, frankly, desperate to claw his way all the way to the top. August starts out seeming like a playful noble son, the brat Calla calls him, but as the book progresses it becomes clear that August is both strategic and manipulative. Calla believes he'll change Talin, Anton believes August will tear into it with both fists. I'm inclined to agree with Anton. August steps on people to get what he wants and is both manipulative enough and vicious enough to do terrible things to make it happen. I do love characters like that, but since he's kind of working against Calla's own interests, I'm not so much a fan, lol. As with the others, I'm intrigued to see how things play out with him in the next book. Overall, this is a very action packed book with sci-fi, historical, and 90s-noir vibes. I really enjoyed it and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I like how Gong plays with the motivations and plans of each of the characters and how they reflect different sides of the same goal (mostly). The ending also left a lot open for the next book, so I'm interested to see how everything plays out. Also, it's a trilogy now?! The wait is going to kill me.

World War Z

★★★☆☆

World War Z is, like the subtitle states, an oral history of the Zombie War. Instead of being told in the traditional literary format, it's presented as a series of interviews with certain survivors of the Zombie War.

I thought the report form could have been executed so much better than it was. My main problem was that the voices of all the survivors sounded almost exactly the same. There were a couple that stood out, but even like an hour after finishing it, I don't remember anybody's name, and nobody's character really stood out to me. The stories were interesting, sure. But since there was no set group of people to follow, and no real story arch, the voices of the survivors just weren't enough to make up the difference, even though they were pretty compelling individually.

Wait, I actually lied. My real main problem was the complete lack of science. Let it be said that the science should never be left out of apocalypse science fiction. We didn't learn anything about the disease! The entire book was military action, military action, fancy military acronyms, more military action, and it's like. All the things I wanted to know—How did Patient Zero contract the infection? What progress was made on a cure or vaccine? What studies were conducted on the zombies?—were barely even mentioned.

Anyway, despite the flaws, World War Z did a good job of keeping me intrigued, so I'd recommend it to fans of zombies and apocalypse fiction.

Loved it! Recommended! Book 13 of the year

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti #1)

SYNOPSIS Binti is the first Himba person to be accepted into Oomza University. Himba people don’t leave their planet and are looked down upon by the other people. Binti’s family acknowledges her talent and intelligence, but they don’t want her to go across the galaxy to the top university. Binti sneaks out to attend, only to have the ship overrun by Meduses, aliens who are at war with humans.…

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