This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone | Book Review

How can there be more when this is done? But it will never end – that’s the answer. There is always us.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

LENGTH: 198 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Romance, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Gallery / Saga Press

RELEASE DATE: 16 July 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

My Review

Words can wound-but they’re bridges, too. (Like the bridges that are all that Genghis left behind.) Though maybe a bridge can also be a wound? To paraphrase a prophet: Letters are structures, not events. Yours give me a place to live inside.

Oh my stars. I finally read it. I finally read This is How You Lose the Time War. And though it wasn’t the five star – or even four and a half star – read that I was kinda expecting it to be, I still greatly enjoyed it and am very glad I read it.

I’ve been peripherally aware of this novella for years; since sometime in 2020, I believe. But it didn’t quite catch my attention until the Bigolas Dickolas Incident of 2023 on Twitter (sorry “X”). If you know, you know. And like, I actually found out about it on Twitter (not sorry “X”) from the actual Twitter thread it occurred on, as opposed to like an article or YouTube video first. So it’s been on my TBR since this time – it’s just taken me forever to get around to reading it. And I finally did!

Out of all the things about this book, I think the two main characters are probably one of the strongest aspects of the book (we’ll get to the other in a bit). But it would have to be, in order for the book to be this compelling, considering how character focused it is. Which is very, by the way. This is a very character focused story – it’s all about how two characters interact with each other and how this ignites change in both of them.

Words can wound – but they’re bridges, too. (Like the bridges that are all that Genghis left behind.) Though maybe a bridge can also be a wound? To paraphrase a prophet: Letters are structures, not events. Yours give me a place to live inside.

Out of the two of them, I’d probably consider 🍓 Red ❤️ to be the technical main character. She has the most chapters, and a pretty decent chunk of the plot of the This is How You Lose the Time War is her character arc front and center. I also think that I preferred her over the two of them, I loved how long and emotive her letters to Blue were, and loved her personality.

The deuteragonist, 🫐 Blue 💙, was also a pretty fun and interesting character, and I was surprised she wasn’t my favorite considering I prefer the color blue to red in real life. But, I dunno, I guess I just didn’t like her letters as much. Especially at first. But I guess the less emotions in her letters (particularly in her first ones and compared to Red’s) just shows that she’s a bit more reserved about her feelings than Red is, even if Blue was the first to reach out.

Regarding the plot… I’d say that I definitely preferred the characters to it by a pretty good amount. The 📖 plot 📖 just wasn’t as strong, and for almost half the book, feels pretty nonexistent. This changes in the second half of course, and an incident close to the end makes you consider the amount of plot actually happening in the first half in a new way. But it’s still extremely light in the book’s first half. Which is why I was really happy when it did feel like plot was finally happening; in some ways, the beginning of this book was kind of a slog for me to get through.

There’s a kind of time travel in letters, isn’t there? I imagine you laughing at my small joke; I imagine you groaning; I imagine you throwing my words away. Do I have you still? Do I address empty air and the flies that will eat this carcass? You could leave me for five years, you could return never-and I have to write the rest of this not knowing.

I liked the budding🌹 romance 💘 here well enough. Red and Blue had a surprising amount of chemistry for two people who hadn’t properly met. Their letters to each other were also beautiful, though I really had to suspend my disbelief in some of their construction. I also found the pet names to get a little annoying after awhile. However, I thought the varied terms of address in the letters’ salutations to be awesome.

The 🖋️ writing 📃 was actually what I felt to be the strongest part of This is How You Lose the Time War. Yes, the character interaction and development was crucial to this story. But I think the novella’s writing is what actually carries it for me. The 💜 purple prose 💜 here is lyrical and lovely and so intricately written. This is some of the best purple prose I’ve read in a while, actually. I had so much trouble choosing quotes that I liked for this review. There was just too much great writing here.

But maybe this is how we win, Red.

You and me.

This is how we win.

So yeah, even though it wasn’t a perfect hit for me, I still greatly loved this book. And I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested, especially to those who like well-written science fiction and romance. Even if you’re not usually into sapphic fiction, I still encourage you to give this one a shot.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

First Line Friday: 1/24

Hey everyone! How’s your Friday been going?

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

When Red wins, she stands alone.

Blood slicks her hair. She breathes out steam in the last night of this dying world.

Do you know the book? If you don’t, here’s a few more hints…

Still not know what it is? Ruminate on it a bit more whilst admiring these nice pictures of books…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone!!

(Didja guess it?)

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

LENGTH: 198 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Romance, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Gallery / Saga Press

RELEASE DATE: 16 July 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

The Most Interesting Looking New Books of January 2025

Hey everybody! Happy Tuesday! Seeing as it’s the beginning of the month (and the beginning of a new quarter), it’s time for the thing that I usually do this time of year. It’s time for The Most Intriguing New Books of January 2025.

I’ve decided to make this a monthly post, as opposed to quarterly (every three months) as it’s been for the past two years. Some months I’ll have more books to list than others – like there’s definitely gonna be some months where I only have two or three new novels that look interesting to me – but I’ve been considering this for a while, and think this is the way to go.

Since I primarily (almost exclusively, really) read fantasy and some science fiction, this post is gonna focus on all the new SFF reads coming out this month. As that’s what I like to read. And if you’ve seen this post by me before, you know the drill; I’m only interested in these books – there’s no guarantee that I’m gonna read all of them. There’s not even a guarantee that I’m gonna read even half of them. We shall see. So without further ado, let’s get going!

RELEASING: January 7th

A young ruler must forge a delicate alliance with the untrustworthy yet magnetic God of War to protect her kingdom in this stunning romantic fantasy filled with dangerous secrets, forbidden magic, and passion, from Sue Lynn Tan, bestselling author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

The young heir to a mortal crown, Liyen ascends a precarious throne when her grandfather dies, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals and take vengeance against those she feels responsible for his death. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.

But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.

RELEASING: January 7th

A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows. From USA Today bestselling author Amalie Howard comes a scorching new romantasy that will leave you spellbound.

“His Imperial Majesty King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”

When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.

But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who captures her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.

When the rebels attack, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the Starkeeper. But Roshan is guarding secrets of his own. And with no control over the power stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of a dark god, an immortal whose interest might be the biggest threat of all.

RELEASING: January 7th

From the hugely acclaimed author beloved by literary lights, including Emily St. John Mandel, Kelly Link, and Mona Awad, a dark dystopian fairytale about an idyllic country ravaged by war—and a girl torn between safety and loyalty.

Sofia Bottom lives in Elysia, a small country forgotten by Europe. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and faeries who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. From the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, no artist is as revered as Sofia’s brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can fourteen-year-old Sofia, with her tin ear and enduring love of ancient myths, ever hope to win her mother’s love?

When the country’s greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, Clara turns to her daughter to smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But when the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, Sofia is forced to run for her life and loses her mother’s most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors, and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and her own survival.

In this stunning novel set in an imaginative world yet reflective of our own times, Heather O’Neill delivers a vivid, breathtaking dark fairytale of life, death, and betrayal.

RELEASING: January 14th

Ell has spent years toiling away for her cruel stepfamily. So when Prince Bayard―who seems to have difficulty recognizing faces―shows up at her door with a glass slipper, Ell allows him to believe she danced with him at the ball. There’s just one problem: Ell didn’t attend the ball and she’s never met the prince before in her life. But if it’s a choice between moving to the royal palace or staying home, Ell is willing to say anything to escape.

However, Ell finds that being royalty comes with its own problems. Bayard’s sister, the princess, has gone missing. The king is preparing for war against the fae. And Maxim, Bayard’s treacherous (and handsome) best friend, appears to know Ell is lying.

If Ell wants to keep this life she’s stolen, she’s going to have to roll up her sleeves and rescue herself.

RELEASING: January 14th

A SFF thriller where a mysterious, otherworldly tower appears in the sky above the UK with a single word emblazoned above its doorway… ascend. A great read for fans of Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart.

When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND.

As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone… is up.

And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent – and death stalks their every move.

RELEASING: January 28th

In this glittering debut fantasy, a mage bereft of her powers must find out if she is destined to save the world or destroy it. Perfect for fans of Andrea Stewart, James Islington, and Samantha Shannon.

In the glass city of Amoria, magic is everything. And Naila, student at the city’s legendary academy, is running out of time to prove she can control hers. If she fails, she’ll be forced into exile, relegated to a life of persecution with the other magicless hollows. Or worse, be consumed by her own power.

When a tragic incident further threatens her place at the Academy, Naila is saved by Haelius Akana, the most powerful living mage. Finding Naila a kindred spirit, Haelius stakes his position at the Academy on teaching her to harness her abilities. But Haelius has many enemies, and they would love nothing more than to see Naila fail. Trapped in the deadly schemes of Amoria’s elite, Naila must dig deep to discover the truth of her powers or watch the city she loves descend into civil war.For there is violence brewing on the wind, and greater powers at work. Ones who could use her powers for good… or destroy everything she’s ever known.

For there is violence brewing on the wind, and greater powers at work. Ones who could use her powers for good… or destroy everything she’s ever known.

So yeah, these are all of the books releasing in the in January 2025 that I’m at least a little interested in. What books are coming out soon that you’re looking forward to? Do we share some of the same ones?

As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed

Hey everyone. Happy Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is How My Reading Habits Have Changed. Which I guess is pretty self-explanatory.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

I read more ebooks than physical copies of novels now: I used to read basically 100% either paperback or hardcover books, but now I’m more inclined to download a book on my Kindle. It’s just so much faster – you can even download copies from libraries nowadays! I’m also impatient, and I got tired of waiting a couple of days to get a new book(s) if I ordered any online. Aldo, digital copies tend to be cheaper, so I like saving the cash.
I read more novellas than I used to: Before I got an e-reader – heck, even after I got one – I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly read a novella. But in the last couple of years, I’ve definitely read a few.
I had a big ghost story phase: This was a long, long time ago, but I feel it’s worth mentioning. For a year and a half in grade school, I read almost exclusively books with hauntings or ghosts. I think Mary Downing Hahn is one of my most read authors ever because of this phase of my life.
I tend to seek out shorter books more often (like >400 pages type of shorter): I used to seek out the longest books that I could – and I still like them. It’s just, ever since I’ve started the blog, I’ve kind of felt more pressure to get reviews out relatively consistently and often (like at least once a week is the goal). Maybe I should stop worrying about it though.
I read more adult fiction when I was younger, I think: I went through a phase in late middle and early high school where I read mostly adult fiction. It stems from my dad telling me to stop reading YA – I think he thought I was too old or too mature for it? It was after he saw me reading Breaking Dawn though, so I dunno know.
Fall is my favorite reading season now: At the very least, it tends to be the season I read the most books during. (I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite, however, too.) When I was a kid, I did the most reading during the summer, I think. So I guess those summer reading challenges were a good thing?
I used to read multiple books at a time: For a lot of my life, even through college, it wouldn’t be strange to find out I’d been reading like, three books at once. Now, I prefer to only read one book at a time, generally. I’m not really sure why this has changed. Maybe I’ll go back to reading multiple books at once again sometime?
I read more graphic novels and manga than I used to: Graphic novels and manga are things I didn’t read at all growing up, and something I refused to read once I got to be a teenager. As an adult, I’m far less self-conscious about what I read, so I’ve read a lot more of these. Heck, I’m currently working through reading One Piece with my spouse!
I read more middle grade books than I used to: In late middle school and during high school, I was extremely self-conscious about what I read (as mentioned above). So I stopped reading middle grade stuff around the time I was in seventh grade, and completely steered clear of the reading demographic… until just a few years ago. Which is funny, because at the time that I stopped, I was still a part of the middle grade demographic.
When I was very little, I didn’t enjoy reading: It took until sometime in second grade for me to get into reading books and liking it. Thanks, Magic Treehouse! Before this, I’d tend to try to get out of reading relatively often. I know, I can’t believe it either!

How have your reading habits changed over the years? Are they very different than they used to be? What are your favorite types of books to read?

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers | Book Review

“Oh, that’s lovely,” Mosscap said.

“What Is?” said Dex.

Mosscap pointed. “Crown shyness is so striking, don’t you think?”

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

SERIES: Monk & Robot #2

LENGTH: 152 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 12 July 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.

After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.

They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

My Review

The thing about fucking off to the woods is that unless you are a very particular, very rare sort of person, it does not take long to understand why people left said woods in the first place.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, though not quite hitting the same spots for me as A Psalm for the Wild-Built that convinced me to give it a perfect star rating, was still a very fantastic novella to read. I really enjoyed my time with this book, as well as being heck in this world and seeing Dex and Mosscap again. I was a bit worried that it wouldn’t live up to the first one enough, which is why I put off reading it for a bit, but luckily my concerns were unfounded.

This little sequel builds a little bit on the world first introduced in Psalm. But gently – this is still a soft sci-fi series, after all. Not to mention that these little books are primarily character focused. But yeah, I enjoyed reading about Dex and Mosscap going around and interacting with people and places here, it felt like a very natural way to explore (and explain) the world.

It was also such a treat to meet new characters and have Dex have more than a couple lines of dialogue with them. Don’t get me wrong – I love how the first novella pretty much completely focused on Dex’s thought process and his evolving new friendship with Mosscap. But I really, really like character interaction, and a good chunk of book one is just walls of text.

The new characters we met were pretty decent too. At the very least their dialogue was good. It flowed naturally and felt like actual conversations. My favorite interactions were with Dex’s family (finally we get to meet them!) and one that almost entirely happens off-screen interactions with Ms. Amelia. (The one we see is also funny, but the implied interactions between Mosscap and the old lady seem golden.)

“Is this customary?” Mosscap whispered to Dex as Leroy fetched some herbs from the pots on his windowsill. “In some of the books I read last night, people made each other breakfast after having sex, but not universally.”

Dex threw Mosscap a look and lowered their voice as far as it would go. “What kind of books does Ms. Amelia collect?”

“Oh, entirely pornography,” Mosscap said. “It was very educational.”

Of course, the heart of this story is still the growing friendship between Dex and Mosscap, and how it changes them as a person and an object. Dex is also still struggling with the stuff from Psalm as well and, at the moment, Mosscap is currently the only one they feel comfortable sharing with. Mosscap is also going through it a little – as it’s realizing that it is getting older, and may start to break down sooner rather than later. Time keeps moving, after all.

And it wouldn’t be a Monk & Robot book without discussions of philosophy and self, so of course there’s a bunch of that here, once again. Not to the degree of the first book, ’cause of the slight differences in story structure, but A Prayer for the Crown-Shy definitely doesn’t… shy away from the topic either.

“Well, I didn’t know then,” Dex said, “and I still don’t. But what I do know is… you help. You’re helping me figure it out. Just by being here. You help.”

“Then we have the same answer,” Mosscap said. “I don’t know, either. But you are my best help, Sibling Dex.”

All in all, this is an absolutely solid follow-up to A Psalm for the Wild-Built. I love the soft sci-fi system, and how character focused it is. And I definitely recommend A Prayer for the Crown-Shy to those who enjoy these things as well, and who like quieter and more contemplative stories.

As always, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie | Book Review

There was a lake by the village, but it wasn’t the Lake of Souls.

Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie

LENGTH: 416 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 2 April 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie is a modern master of the SFF genre, forever changing its landscape with her groundbreaking ideas and powerful voice. Now, available for the first time comes the complete collection of Leckie’s short fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.

Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.

Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower.

Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.

And so much more, in this masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

My Review

“The days are longer near the end, are they not?”

The Lake of Souls short fiction collection by Ann Leckie has been on my radar since it came out earlier this year, in April. I’ve been interested in reading it since; I don’t read collections of short stories super often, and I’ve wanted to read more of them. So when I found out about this one, it immediately caught my eye.

And… it was pretty good. I liked most of the stories included here, and some of them I even really enjoyed. I’ve also been interested in picking up something by Leckie for a while, but wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to dive into anything, or which of her works I wanted to. This collection gives a very nice glimpse into her style and the way she writes. And I’m very glad I read this just for that. I wish more authors would do this, it gives a great look into the way people write without committing to something too large or time consuming, and allows a reader to experience a smaller sample of their writing.

A good chunk of these little stories were extra tales from universes that Leckie has already published works for, so I think a few things might have gone over my head, or I otherwise enjoyed some of the stories less than I might’ve because of this. All the stories were very followable, however, and I never got confused with anything that was going on with any of them. So if you’ve never read any of the author’s other stuff, you don’t have to worry about not understanding things. They’re all written in such a way that a newcomer shouldn’t feel overwhelmed.

“There are hard ways to do things, and easy ways,” said Saest. “The hard ways cost more. If a god makes a general statement, it could easily come true the hardest way possible. And it might have other consequences.”

Speaking of the short stories featured in Lake of Souls, these are my favorites:

Footprints
The Justified
The Sad History of the Tearless Onion (Note: This one is my favorite.)
Night’s Slow Poison
The Creation and Destruction of the World
The Nalender
The Unknown God
Saving Bacon

All the others are at least very interesting, though they didn’t grab me as much as these. All of the little tales included here are all very diverse, and I think that anyone will find a story to enjoy here.

I especially loved all of the varied settings and characters included in all of these different stories. Even the ones from universes the author had already created were all very distinct from one another, at least to some degree. Honestly, reading this collection made me interested in someday maybe picking up one of Leckie’s other works. (Which was definitely one of the goals of this short fiction collection, I’m sure.)

Can you speak of a thing without naming it?

I enjoyed my time with Lake of Souls and I’m glad I read it. Genuinely, I kind of recommend this to anybody – as long as you enjoy sci-fi or fantasy, that is – because I feel like everyone might find something to like here (as I mentioned earlier).

Anyway, as always, thanks to everybody so much for reading, and I hope you have an incredible day/night!

See ya ~Mar

“All humans die. The question is only when and how. Would you prefer a death you chose knowing the true circumstances? Or would you prefer to die deluded?”

“I would prefer not to die.”

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

First Line Friday: 5/17

It’s been a few weeks, but here I am again, participating in another First Line Friday.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

Here’s the first lines:

The thing about fucking off to the woods is that unless you are a very particular, very rare sort of person, it does not take long to understand why people left said woods in the first place.

Any ideas on what the book is? Here’s another hint if you don’t know.

Still don’t know what it is? Here’s some gorgeous photos of books to look at while you think…

Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers!!

(Were you able to guess it?)

A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers

SERIES: Monk & Robot #2

LENGTH: 152 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 12 July 2022

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.

They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers | Book Review

“Remnants are powerful things. Hard to ignore. But you have the sense and the tools to avoid getting sick from that water. And I… I know that the world I’m headed to is not the world the originals walked away from.”

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

SERIES: Monk & Robot #1

LENGTH: 147 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, LGBT+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tordotcom Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 13 July 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers’s delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future.

It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They’re going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers’s new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

My Review

If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you’ll get seven different answers.

I’ve read very few books in my life that I’ve considered perfect (or near-perfect, honestly), but A Psalm for the Wild-Built was absolutely one of them. Some might not consider it so, but this one really resonated with me, and it was a bit of an eye-opening read for me.

The journey itself and the basic plot was sweet. I really like how this whole thing was driven by Dex’s need to hear crickets – which are uncommon are living quite a distance from human civilization in A Psalm for the Wild-Built’s world. But as the novella goes on, you as the reader, begin to realize that this isn’t exactly what Dex really wants or needs. And it was beautiful and heartbreaking and so, so relatable when everything comes to light.

Also, I really found Dex to be very relatable. Their thoughts and feelings, which slowly came to light through their conversations with Mosscap (the co-protagonist), really felt like stuff I’ve had running through my head at several points in the last couple of years. Particularly the need to feel like you’re fulfilling a purpose or doing something to benefit other people or the world as a whole. That… was something that really resonated for me. I’ve never felt this much on the wavelength of a character I followed in a novel before, or said novel in general. It made me feel a lot better about myself, and also that I’d read this book sooner.

I also really enjoyed Mosscap and it and Dex’s slowly growing friendship. The character moments and growth was fantastic. It all almost felt slice-of-life. This was a very character driven story, which is not something I always like, but if it’s written well (which it was) and it hits just the right spot (which it did), then it’s amazing.

If you haven’t read this novella yet, I recommend you do so. It isn’t very long, and it’s a very sweet and relatable story. It’s a great little soft sci-fi experience, and I think that everyone should at least give it a shot.

Anyway, as always, thank you everyone so much for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Favorite Quotes

It was an odd feeling. Any other day, the act of going through a door was something Dex gave no more thought to than putting one foot in front of the other. But there was a gravity to leaving a place for good, a deep sense of seismic change.

Sometimes, a person reaches a point in their life when it becomes absolutely essential to get the fuck out of the city.

The robot noted this. “Did you just apologize to the bloodsuck for killing it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It didn’t do anything wrong. It was acting in its nature.”

“Is this typical of people, to apologize to things you kill?”

“Yeah.”

“I can go a hundred miles, give or take.”

“So, that’s… sorry, I’m slow at math.”

Dex frowned. “What?” How was the robot slow at math?

“Hush, I can’t multiply and talk at the same time.”

“We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.”

“I am made of metal and numbers; you are made of water and genes. But we are each something more than that. And we can’t define what that something more is simply by our raw components.”

“But that’s… that’s immortality. How is that less desirable?”

“Because nothing else in the world behaves that way. Everything else breaks down and is made into other things.”

“It’s pretty here,” Dex said. “I wouldn’t have imagined I’d say that about a place like this, but—”

“Yes, it is,” Mosscap said, as if making a decision within itself. “It is. Dying things often are.”

Dex raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little macabre.”

“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.”

“Then how,” Dex said, “how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?”

Mosscap considered. “Because I know that no matter what, I’m wonderful,” it said.

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2023 Reading: Another Year of Books

I read so many books in 2023 I almost can’t believe it. Like, I’ve never, ever read so many books in one year in my entire life. 65 books people! SIXTY. FIVE.

I honestly don’t have much to say, surprisingly. Except for how sorry I am that this post is over two weeks late. Yeah, as we all know, my posting hasn’t been all that great lately. (Read: terrible.)

Anyway, I’m trying to get back into it. I’ve started a new planner. Not only that, but it’s a daily planner with daily time slots in it, as opposed to the kind I’ve been using until now that didn’t have time slots. I’m really hoping it’ll increase my productivity and motivation this year. Fingers crossed it helps. 🤞🍀

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough. Let’s get into the post. Here’s all my reading statistics from The StoryGraph for 2023.

A Year in Review

I read 65 books and 23,833 pages

😐 MOODS 😐

It was a rollercoaster of reading for me last year, cuz I went through a bunch of kinds of moods. (Eleven to be exact.) Adventurous was uncontestedly the largest Mood on the pie chart, but Mysterious and Emotional weren’t ones to sneeze at either. Lighthearted, Funny and Dark make up about a quarter of the graph together, but then the Moods get much, much smaller.

👢 PACE 👢

For 2023, the majority of the books that I read were medium paced (50%!). Fast paced is right on mediums tail, however, with 42% of the graph to itself. Slow is lagging very far behind with 8%, which isn’t a surprise. Since I don’t like slower paced books and all that.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER 🔢

Most of the books I read last year were between 300 and 499 pages (49%). After that there’s 300 pages or less books with 31%. I didn’t read too many really long novels last year, so they’re at the end with 20%.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION 📖

During 2023, nearly all of the novels that I read were fiction. I actually think that I only read one nonfiction book last year – I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy.

🎭 GENRES 🎭

I read from so many different Genres from last year that I don’t really want to talk about them. But I will. A little bit. Fantasy, to no one’s surprise, is the Genre that I read from the most. It looks like I read around 55 books or so that were Fantasy. YA is next with around 15 titles, and Romance and Science Fiction are right behind it, boasting about 10 books each. Annnd after that it just starts to get way too small.

📄 FORMAT 📄

Listen – I know this chart is wrong, you know this chart is wrong. Let’s just move on from this one, okay?

✍️ MOST READ AUTHORS ✍️

This is one that doesn’t normally appear on my monthly wrap-ups. Actually, I don’t think Most Read Authors has ever appeared on one at all. For whatever reason, in 2023 I chose not to add this particular stat to my wrap-ups. I think it was because I’d only ever read multiple books from one or two different authors a month and didn’t really find it necessary to post about it. But when you look at it from a year’s perspective, it’s an entirely different story. So I thought I’d post it in my yearly wrap-up. You can see which authors I read a lot of last year.

📈📉 NUMBER OF BOOKS AND PAGES 📈📉

This graph looks a little different than it usually does. That’s because, since this is over the entirety of 2023, it’s tracking the number of books read as well. So there are two different lines here. It’s interesting to see the correlation between the novels read compared to the pages read, as well as when they were read. My highest spike of reading activity was in the last quarter of the year, during October and November where I read 13 and 10 books, respectively. The lowest that wasn’t December was during June where I think I only read 2 books. The page count and the number of books also correlate the least during July.

⭐ STAR RATINGS ⭐

My median rating for the novels I read in 2023 is 3.9, which I’m mostly happy with. It’s almost 4 stars, which means I enjoyed more books overall than I hated. Actually, I think that’s why it’s so close – because I rated over a quarter of what I read 4 stars, and a decent chunk 4.5 and 5 stars.

Wrapping Up 2023

During 2023, I read the most books that I ever had in a year. I feel very proud of myself, and it really makes me feel positive about my reading speed and my desire to do… stuff. Like, guys, my reading goal last year was 20 books. I tripled it!

I’m also not sure if I’ll ever do it again, so I’m really happy that I managed to do it last year. It’s not that I think I couldn’t ever do it again either – I know that I could. It’s just that stuff is gonna change this year and I’m going to be busier. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure that I burned out with reading novels last year because I was reading so much – well that and combined with the insanity of the holidays. But still, I don’t really want to feel obligated to do something I love.

Which is why I’m going to take it easier this year, and I’m not planning to set a reading goal. I know that I’m going to read a lot of books, anyway. Plus, I’m still gonna try for a book review a week, which means I’ll be reading a book a week.

But yeah, I think that’s it for this wrap-up. How many books did you guys read in 2023? How many pages? What did you think about the books you read, overall?

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

System Collapse by Martha Wells | Book Review

I gained interesting insights, ART- drone said. You should stop worrying.

Yeah, I’ll just code a patch to stop feeling anxiety, wow, why didn’t I think of that earlier. (That was sarcasm, I have too much organic neural tissue for that to work.) (Of course I’ve already tried it.)

System Collapse by Martha Wells

SERIES: The Murderbot Diaries (Book #7)

LENGTH: 245 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor.com

RELEASE DATE: 14 November 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.

Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.

My Review

I am not meant to function without multiple simultaneous inputs. If this was what being a human was like, it sucked massively.

Sooo… this review is like, extremely late. I had fully intended to post this review sometime early last week, before Thanksgiving, but I just ended up being too busy and stressed out.

But I’m back at the blog, and finally here with my review of System Collapse by Martha Wells. This was probably my most anticipated book of 2023 and it was… fine. Pretty good even. It just turned out a little differently than I expected. Honestly, I’m still on the fence about my rating for this novel – I’m torn between four stars or four and a half.

Let’s just get into it…

• The characters

ART- drone reached out a limb to Iris. My function is impaired, Iris. So is SecUnit’s.

Will you shut the hell up? I said.

You shut up, it replied.

“Let’s everybody shut up and get in the flyer,” Iris said, and shouldered ART- drone’s limb, taking part of its weight.

I’ve always felt that the characters were the strongest part of the Murderbot Diaries, particularly its titular character, and the same is still true here. But this story focused more on an internal conflict that Murderbot is dealing with. So the other characters I love from this series took a backseat in this book.

SecUnit also didn’t seem to be nearly as sassy as it usually is. There weren’t all that many fantastic and funny quotes and dialogue compared to the rest of the series that I noticed. And that’s one of my favorite things about this series – I love how sassy and fun it is. And yeah, I understand that Murderbot was working through something, but everything seemed to matter a lot less than its thoughts on what it was going through. Constantly.

But when other characters did feature, and SecUnit did interact with them, it was fantastic. These were my favorite moments reading and I wish there were more of them. ART actually had more pagetime than I initially gave it credit for, now that I think about it, and its banter with SecUnit is always a treat.

• The plot

“I’ve fucked everything up,” I’d told ART.

ART had said, That’s nothing new.

I didn’t really care about it. It was about saving the descendents of the colonists that were found on the planet in book five. But I never found myself caring about these people, then or now. They just felt like a motivation or a plot device in order for SecUnit and ART and its crew and Preservation to do stuff.

Honestly, the A plot just felt like it was stalling in order for the B plot to happen. Which was Murderbot’s inner conflict – that its organic neural tissue is starting to exhibit signs of PTSD. Which was far more interesting to me than the thing with the colonists.

• Other favorite quotes

I didn’t say anything. (I know I get pissed off when humans don’t acknowledge my work, but why is too much acknowledgment also upsetting? Sentience sucks.)

and

You’re stalling, ART- drone said. I am not. I can stand here and be useless without any ulterior motives, thanks.

and

So the next time I get optimistic about something, I want one of you to punch me in the face.

and

I was not even going to respond to that. ART had told Mensah it wouldn’t push me. Just because its MedSystem was certified for emotional support and trauma recovery it thought it knew everything.

and finally

Wow, you don’t think it can get any worse, and it always does.

• Final Thoughts

This review is a little shorter than usual, but I’m honestly struggling with stuff to say about it. I think that’s another reason why this review took so long. I just don’t have too many opinions on it.

But System Collapse is still a solid addition to the Murderbot Diaries. It was still fun and sassy, even if it was less so than usual. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys the rest of the series, especially since the ending sets up a new arc for the series.

Thank you so much for reading, and have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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My review of the first six books in The Murderbot Diaries

My review of the Murderbot Diaries short story Home