Playing with words

 You know that feeling when a new fandom grabs you and you kinda don't want to do anything but Explore It In Great Depth?! It's weird because I usually have a single hyperfixation at a time, but with Lucifer, The Umbrella Academy and The Folk of the Air books, I'm swimming in a lot of fantastic new ideas and content and it's wonderful! Anyway, I've spent less time reading than usual (because I keep re-reading and re-watching things instead) but here are the books I've finished since my last book post:


The Lost Sisters by Holly Black

This is a Folk of the Air novella in Taryn's POV and it's...odd. It's meant to be a letter from Taryn to Jude explaining why she acted as she did in The Cruel Prince and asking for Jude's forgiveness and... it's not terribly effective. You can't weepy backstory when the other person went through the exact same (or worse) treatment. *shrugs*

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

This book starts with a Doom and Gloom prophecy (my favorite narrative device!) and then goes to the well-deserved murder of a character, and things keep escalating the whole way through! LOL Plenty of action, intrigue and supernatural shenanigans. A fantastic conclusion to the Folk of the Air trilogy and it made me want to start the whole thing again so I could re-read with an eye out for the clues that had been dropped all along. LOVELOVELOVE I am writing spontaneous fic for this because it really has just stirred me so. Narrative Catharsis Done Right. :DDD

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

This book was all right. I don't like narratives that seem to be all about tormenting the characters without many character moments, and the final developments seemed more like supernatural Get out of Jail Free cards and Okay you have arrived at your Prearranged Destination/Role to set up the next book rather than catharsis for things that were foreshadowed all along. I'll keep going with this series just because I do want to find out what happens, but unrelenting misery is a freaking drag to read.



Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

I liked this book a lot- wonderful action/mystery/adventure, fantastic supernatural worldbuilding detail as always, and I devoured it in a couple of days because I only had a skip-the-line copy on Libby. But maybe it was too long since I read Sapphire Flames (the previous book) because I was a little ??? about how the main romantic relationship sorta one-two-skipped a few from lingering regret to lovers in a single book. Maybe I'm just used to the IA team drawing out a romance for three books at least? Also how did Alessandro survive his grueling off-screen character development with nary a scar on his pretty face or body nor any permanent disabilities IDGI. I'm going to have to reread the Hidden Legacy series in order again instead of basically last one first like I did, methinks! They introduced a Hot Asian Male character too, I reaaallly hope he ends up as Arabella's LI. :DDDD The big picture that's been getting sketched around the Baylors is really starting to come together though, and I love it!

The Wicked King by Holly Black

OMG OMG Okay, so The Cruel Prince was interesting enough to set up the players on a high stakes stage but this follow-up really hit aaaallll of my buttons! Jude has made one of those faerie bargains that will probably bite her on the ass: she's basically installed both a crown and a yoke on an unpredictable prince. And this book is the marvelous "is she driving him or is he hauling her behind willy-nilly" tug-of-war that dynamic has been since our mortal heroine first flipped the power structure on him in the first book. I LOVED IT. Their power plays as they wrestle for control and try to outthink each other (as well as all their enemies) while trying to resist their growing feelings and the politics binding them together had me just ENTHRALLED. I think Holly Black was probably just *cackling evilly* as she wrote this.  I'm hoping my paper copy arrives soon so I can re-read it immediately!

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

I really didn't like this. I thought reading a book by another comedian would be a fabulous idea because I loved Trevor Noah's book so much, but her style is waaaay too intrusive and just far more suitable for TV than a book. I wanted to scream at her to both get to the topic and then to freaking stay on it. The random non sequitur jokes probably help keep a conversation entertaining when she's hosting a show but I found them more and more annoying. And there's no real central message or point to the book?  It just felt like a money grab, TBH.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

I freaking LOVED this, and I've already bought a paper copy so I can re-read it. There are two teenage girl protagonists, and they both tell their stories in poetry that will sometimes give you that soul ache because it's just so apt/painful/beautiful. Thoughtfully written, it asks some hard questions about privilege and what family means and the ties that bind. I have another of her books on my Libby already.

Zero Sum Game by S. L. Huang

I loved this too, and I'm delighted it's a series! It's tense, gritty action alllll the way through, and the heroine is wonderfully grey and smart and funny. She's also really, incredulously, insanely good at math- and I am dyyying to eventually find out WHY. Can't wait to read the next!

How about you guys? Reading anything good? Have any recs you think might be up my alley? LMK!