Two book reviews
Feb. 17th, 2024 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaOne of my goals this year is to do more reading of like, actual books. I used to consume fanfic voraciously, but in the past 2-3 years the amount of fic I've read has plummeted. It's likely partially because I'm writing pretty actively which takes up a lot of time, but I think in general my tastes have swung away from fanfic, at least for a little bit. Still, I love reading, I used to read like crazy back in my teenage years, and although fic filled that love of reading hole for awhile I think I'd like to return to reading more published original works and reconnect with discovering and welcoming new stories, rather than relying on stories about characters I already know from other things. Especially after going to a speculative fiction convention recently I feel invigorated and want to engage with new stuff.
(Secretly, I think I spend too much time on tumblr and social media in general. I'd like to see if I can replace my urge to go to social media with picking up a book instead at least sometimes. I feel like it'd be better for my attention span and make me feel happier and more accomplished than how I feel after scrolling through tumblr for an hour)
Anyways, in conjunction with that goal I'm gonna try to document the books I read and my thoughts about them here on DreamWidth. I'm also gonna try to keep goodreads and storygraph updated, but those feel a little more like "formal" reviews, I plan to write some more "casual" stuff and thoughts when I post on here since it's my space.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
In the end, I liked this book. It started off intriguingly with a lot of pretty imagery--the author draws from I think chinese mythology and folklore, and so there was a lot of clothing/architecture/things described that were different from what I'm used to, but I loved the vibes of them and felt like I got a glimpse into something beautiful that was fresh to me.
The main character was a little bit boring to me. Not unpleasant, but lowkey it felt like she was thinking herself better than other people?? Like in a sort of "I have my honor" kind of way, but often comparing with other characters who were not as upright, or telling herself that even when she was working as a lowly servant she was secretly the daughter of the moon goddess so she needed to take pride, even if she couldn't express it for now. IDK it wasn't like she was egotistical, but I'm sensitive to characters thinking themselves above or better than others, so I wasn't a fan of that. There was also a bit of her being the most special girl ever, not a grating amount but just enough that I was like "Uh huh, so she's a perfect archer? And she's able to occupy a special role in the military so she doesn't have to be rank-and-file? And every man she meets her age falls in love with her?"
The romance AT FIRST I was not a fan of. At the start she becomes close with a prince, but then he gets betrothed to another (political reasons) and so she joins the army, where she becomes close with her commanding officer... Number one: I'm not a big fan of heterosexual romances, this entire book was straight as an arrow. Number two: It's a love triangle. I'm not wholly against love triangles, but at points I was like "Girl stop worrying! You've got other shit to deal with! Also the prince is LITERALLY betrothed to another, don't make out with him again!!!" However... So in the end I actually ended up being a fan of the love triangle.
The ending was surprising to me in how much it wrapped everything up. The series is a duology, so I kind of expected things to end on a cliffhanger... but it actually ended neatly, which I appreciated. Lowkey I would consider the second book IF there was a guarantee that she gets more time spent with the second male lead, which lowkey seems to be on of the few hanging plot threads at the end of this book... but it also ends with her solidly in a great place romantically with the first male lead, so I'm not sure where it'll end up. I'm not planning to pick up the second book for now, I've got too much else to read, but it's possible I'll check it out in the future.
Like I complained a lot, but in the end I had a fun time! I had so much fun detailing the twists to people I talked to about it, so I can't say it was a bad book by any means. It had pretty imagery, a little action, and some fun romance and conniving near the end.
Many Droplets Make A Stream by Adrian Harley
Okay lol FIRSTLY looking at the cover you may imagine that the woman being grabbed by the huge bird is the main character, but ACTUALLY it's the huge bird who is the main character, because the main character is a shapeshifter. I'm not gonna lie, this didn't process for me until we got to the part of the book that the cover illustrates and I was like "WAIT A SECOND..." ahaha that's my own idiocy to not realize earlier.
This was a book I mentioned picking up in my Boskone post, published by Duck Prints Press which I was initially hesitant on but intrigued enough to want to try it out. And overall I liked the book, the press did a good job putting it together, it was good quality and a pleasant read, and strangely a fast one? I think the past few books I've read have been pretty long, so I was surprised I was able to finish this in just a week.
The shortness though I think made it hard to connect and get invested. It was a whole fantasy world with a bunch of worldbuilding in many areas, but there wasn't really time to marinate or get to know certain aspects more deeply. It was nice that it kept moving along and the plot wasn't stalling, but I felt like because there was no downtime I didn't really get to know or fall in love with the characters or world. It might be because I've been reading stuff like The Locked Tomb series and endlessly long Chinese webnovels, but this story felt rushed.
I did like the main character though, she was a shapeshifter and there were a lot of cool descriptions of shapeshifting and the pros/cons of different forms. Her attitude was also a bit prickly which I liked, and she had a sense of humor in certain parts which I loved.
Throughout I feel like there was a certain sense of... sanitization? Like relationships and things felt sanitized to fit more neatly into a box? I've been into messy relationships in fiction recently, so the pretty unambiguous "these blood cultists are bad" and "these allies of the organization are good and kind and all love the main character and support her no matter what" felt simplistic to me. It felt very young to me. Maybe some people take comfort in the cozy feeling of there being allies and things getting sorted easily, but to me it sucked out some of the tension and felt a little too simple.
Still, narratively it made sense and gave a chance for the other gal to come and rescue her, and made it easy to save the people she was trying to save. I guess that was the quickest way, but something about it felt just too neat to me.
The book was short and focused. There was cool/intriguing worldbuilding, but not a ton of time to get into it, and although the characters were nice none of them deeply compelled me. I think this would be a great read for someone younger or the kind of person who wants a story to wrap things up really neatly, and especially if someone is looking for a shorter book with some good action and creativity. I can't say it's a fave, but I enjoyed it while reading it and although I think I've discovered I prefer longer books, it was refreshing to be able to finish a book in just under a week.
Also: There was a great chapter where she turned into a rat and forgot she was a shapeshifter, and so was stuck in rat form for awhile. I love rats, so that was an absolute delight.
What's next?
I'm going to work through the other books I picked up at Boskone. Sex Bunker Apocalypse first I think, because it looks like another short one and now that I've just read a short one it'll be nice to breeze through a similarly-sized book. After that I think I'll read Nascent Witch, and after that Tune In Tomorrow.
There are two books I don't have yet but am keeping an eye on and may put on the list after I read those other three. The first is The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton which is technically not out yet I think? My bookish friend recced it to me, and it's described as a "part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com" which I hope means there will be adventure but also strong relationship/character development, which is what I'm really craving. The other book I just stumbled upon is Endurance by Elaine Burnes which idk much about, but it also looks to be a sapphic sci-fi story with higher stakes so I may check it out in the future.
(Secretly, I think I spend too much time on tumblr and social media in general. I'd like to see if I can replace my urge to go to social media with picking up a book instead at least sometimes. I feel like it'd be better for my attention span and make me feel happier and more accomplished than how I feel after scrolling through tumblr for an hour)
Anyways, in conjunction with that goal I'm gonna try to document the books I read and my thoughts about them here on DreamWidth. I'm also gonna try to keep goodreads and storygraph updated, but those feel a little more like "formal" reviews, I plan to write some more "casual" stuff and thoughts when I post on here since it's my space.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
In the end, I liked this book. It started off intriguingly with a lot of pretty imagery--the author draws from I think chinese mythology and folklore, and so there was a lot of clothing/architecture/things described that were different from what I'm used to, but I loved the vibes of them and felt like I got a glimpse into something beautiful that was fresh to me.
The main character was a little bit boring to me. Not unpleasant, but lowkey it felt like she was thinking herself better than other people?? Like in a sort of "I have my honor" kind of way, but often comparing with other characters who were not as upright, or telling herself that even when she was working as a lowly servant she was secretly the daughter of the moon goddess so she needed to take pride, even if she couldn't express it for now. IDK it wasn't like she was egotistical, but I'm sensitive to characters thinking themselves above or better than others, so I wasn't a fan of that. There was also a bit of her being the most special girl ever, not a grating amount but just enough that I was like "Uh huh, so she's a perfect archer? And she's able to occupy a special role in the military so she doesn't have to be rank-and-file? And every man she meets her age falls in love with her?"
The romance AT FIRST I was not a fan of. At the start she becomes close with a prince, but then he gets betrothed to another (political reasons) and so she joins the army, where she becomes close with her commanding officer... Number one: I'm not a big fan of heterosexual romances, this entire book was straight as an arrow. Number two: It's a love triangle. I'm not wholly against love triangles, but at points I was like "Girl stop worrying! You've got other shit to deal with! Also the prince is LITERALLY betrothed to another, don't make out with him again!!!" However...
Spoilers for a plot twist
OKAY SO at first it's like "Does she go with the nice prince who's LITERALLY ENGAGED TO SOMEONE ELSE or does she go with the safe, stable option of her commanding officer?" and I'm like "Girl the choice is obvious get over the prince." And at some point the commanding officer officially gives up his post bc he's planning to go home and asks her to go with him and she's like "yes" so I'm like "well I guess that's sorted" BUT THEN for various reasons she has to do one more mission, and ON THAT MISSION the second male lead BETRAYS her.... because he's a prince of the demon kingdom :D. I know, I know, it's a bit of a twist, and it's very drama, but I LOVE drama! And it was technically lowkey set up so it made sense when it was revealed. So she ends up being KIDNAPPED by him to be KEPT IN HIS PALACE because even tho he betrayed her HE STILL LOVES HER... even tho he has her in chains it's like "well he's in love so it's okay <3" I mean it's NOT really okay, she has to escape and she's pissed as hell, but WOW I loved how much the tension increased as soon as he was revealed to be a traitor! And I'm not gonna lie I love a Beauty and the Beast-type storyline every now and again. Even as she manipulated him to escape, in the end she had two chances to kill him and she decided NOT to, and at some point after she escaped he had a chance to kidnap her again and he chose not to... so like I LOVED that added complexity and the drama he added. And she insists she doesn't love him anymore, but she didn't kill him when she had the chance!The ending was surprising to me in how much it wrapped everything up. The series is a duology, so I kind of expected things to end on a cliffhanger... but it actually ended neatly, which I appreciated. Lowkey I would consider the second book IF there was a guarantee that she gets more time spent with the second male lead, which lowkey seems to be on of the few hanging plot threads at the end of this book... but it also ends with her solidly in a great place romantically with the first male lead, so I'm not sure where it'll end up. I'm not planning to pick up the second book for now, I've got too much else to read, but it's possible I'll check it out in the future.
Like I complained a lot, but in the end I had a fun time! I had so much fun detailing the twists to people I talked to about it, so I can't say it was a bad book by any means. It had pretty imagery, a little action, and some fun romance and conniving near the end.
Many Droplets Make A Stream by Adrian Harley
Okay lol FIRSTLY looking at the cover you may imagine that the woman being grabbed by the huge bird is the main character, but ACTUALLY it's the huge bird who is the main character, because the main character is a shapeshifter. I'm not gonna lie, this didn't process for me until we got to the part of the book that the cover illustrates and I was like "WAIT A SECOND..." ahaha that's my own idiocy to not realize earlier.
This was a book I mentioned picking up in my Boskone post, published by Duck Prints Press which I was initially hesitant on but intrigued enough to want to try it out. And overall I liked the book, the press did a good job putting it together, it was good quality and a pleasant read, and strangely a fast one? I think the past few books I've read have been pretty long, so I was surprised I was able to finish this in just a week.
The shortness though I think made it hard to connect and get invested. It was a whole fantasy world with a bunch of worldbuilding in many areas, but there wasn't really time to marinate or get to know certain aspects more deeply. It was nice that it kept moving along and the plot wasn't stalling, but I felt like because there was no downtime I didn't really get to know or fall in love with the characters or world. It might be because I've been reading stuff like The Locked Tomb series and endlessly long Chinese webnovels, but this story felt rushed.
I did like the main character though, she was a shapeshifter and there were a lot of cool descriptions of shapeshifting and the pros/cons of different forms. Her attitude was also a bit prickly which I liked, and she had a sense of humor in certain parts which I loved.
Throughout I feel like there was a certain sense of... sanitization? Like relationships and things felt sanitized to fit more neatly into a box? I've been into messy relationships in fiction recently, so the pretty unambiguous "these blood cultists are bad" and "these allies of the organization are good and kind and all love the main character and support her no matter what" felt simplistic to me. It felt very young to me. Maybe some people take comfort in the cozy feeling of there being allies and things getting sorted easily, but to me it sucked out some of the tension and felt a little too simple.
Spoiler: the ending
The ending was also awfully neat. The main character kind of tries to sacrifice herself to save a bunch of people who were kidnapped and going to be used by the cultists for some ritual. It involved blood magic but more specifically stealing memories via blood magic, so the intent was to bleed a bunch of people and sacrifice their memories to their god. Since the main character is a shapeshifter, she bluffed and said she was super old (shapeshifters have long lifespans) and that if they let all those people go she would be a willing sacrifice that would be more than enough for them. And the cultists just kinda agreed? They hesitated and she gave a whole speech about how they SHOULD take her, bc they think of themselves as "the good guys" and good guys would take a willing sacrifice, which idk kind of felt like a clumsy speech that talked down to them in a way that I think IRL people would react more weirdly to? And then the cultists agreed and sent all the people they captured away on boats, which??? They did that before even DOING the ritual with this new sacrifice... like I feel like there could have been more room to negotiate like "We'll let half of them go, then the other half after you sacrifice", or maybe a challenge of like "can you prove how old you are and how many memories you have"... idk it made the cultists feel a little dumb.Still, narratively it made sense and gave a chance for the other gal to come and rescue her, and made it easy to save the people she was trying to save. I guess that was the quickest way, but something about it felt just too neat to me.
The book was short and focused. There was cool/intriguing worldbuilding, but not a ton of time to get into it, and although the characters were nice none of them deeply compelled me. I think this would be a great read for someone younger or the kind of person who wants a story to wrap things up really neatly, and especially if someone is looking for a shorter book with some good action and creativity. I can't say it's a fave, but I enjoyed it while reading it and although I think I've discovered I prefer longer books, it was refreshing to be able to finish a book in just under a week.
Also: There was a great chapter where she turned into a rat and forgot she was a shapeshifter, and so was stuck in rat form for awhile. I love rats, so that was an absolute delight.
What's next?
I'm going to work through the other books I picked up at Boskone. Sex Bunker Apocalypse first I think, because it looks like another short one and now that I've just read a short one it'll be nice to breeze through a similarly-sized book. After that I think I'll read Nascent Witch, and after that Tune In Tomorrow.
There are two books I don't have yet but am keeping an eye on and may put on the list after I read those other three. The first is The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton which is technically not out yet I think? My bookish friend recced it to me, and it's described as a "part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com" which I hope means there will be adventure but also strong relationship/character development, which is what I'm really craving. The other book I just stumbled upon is Endurance by Elaine Burnes which idk much about, but it also looks to be a sapphic sci-fi story with higher stakes so I may check it out in the future.
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Date: 2024-02-18 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-18 10:47 pm (UTC)I hope we both fulfill our goals and spend more time doing stuff more meaningful than scrolling!
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Date: 2024-02-18 02:32 am (UTC)I love your reviews. "Girl stop worrying! You've got other shit to deal with! Also the prince is LITERALLY betrothed to another, don't make out with him again!" -- the way I gasped, like? Drama? IMMINENT? The spoiler kinda makes me want to read this book badly.
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Date: 2024-02-18 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-18 06:48 am (UTC)I've been reading a lot (a lot) more this year but I'm finding it's a combination of library books (aka deadlines) + no public tracking that's working really well for me. So I still jot down a few notes in my bullet journal when I finish something, and I may mention a book occasionally, but I'm not sharing everything.
(Btw if you want to share recs,
...End of comm promo, whoops 😂 The cover of that first book looks so stunning!! 😍😍 I'm conflicted about your descriptions as well haha, I'd be curious to see reviews of the second book to understand where it goes next!
And wow so cool you already finished a book from the con :D Too bad it doesn't seem like it was that much to your tastes though at the same time, it can't have been so bad if you finished it this fast XD
Thank you for sharing your reviews, super fun to read :D
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Date: 2024-02-18 11:48 pm (UTC)Omg libraries having deadlines is a bonus I hadn't considered. Pressure helps! I've mostly bought books like at conventions and/or gotten them as gifts (the first one was a christmas gift from a friend), but when I'm next looking for a book that's not like, a small author I want to buy to support, I'm gonna see what's hopping at the local library.
Ahaha well the book from the con was short, I wish I could count the words bc that's how I measure best (AO3 side effects lol) but it was just a bit under 200 pages. Compared to the Daughter of the Moon Goddess which was nearly 500 pages it felt like a breeze! And although I said a lot of complaints, ultimately it was a nice book and kept moving along, so it felt easy to read.
Good luck on your reading adventures as well!
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Date: 2024-02-18 07:54 am (UTC)Also ooh that twist in the first book is very juicy 👀
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Date: 2024-02-19 01:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-18 05:03 pm (UTC)Both these books look so intriguing *adds to sky-high TBR pile*
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Date: 2024-02-19 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-21 08:44 pm (UTC)I've also been trying to focus more on books this year over fic to try and diversify what I'm reading if you would be willing to share your goodreads with me I would follow you there! I'm pretty active on it (bc it's my go-to website when I have nothing to do at work lol). good luck with your future readings!!
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Date: 2024-02-21 10:23 pm (UTC)Daughter of the Moon Goddess was definitely nice overall, like I said in the review I got more invested in the romance during the last third or fourth of the book. I would recommend it, esp since I know you like chinese webnovels so some of the aesthetics might be delightfully recognizable, but not if you have more exciting stuff on your TBR that you want to get to first XD. Good luck on your reading journey too!