I just (finally) finished At the Feet of the Sun, the hands of the emperor sequel. Wow, that was long. I enjoyed it though it was very fanciful in parts, and part of what I enjoyed about the original was the sort of…mundane parts? Though obviously that has magic and gods too. I am intrigued to read the third book whenever it comes out, though that’ll be a while!

I am with you, meara. Very long indeed. And while I appreciate the epic-ness I did miss the heroic bureaucracy of Hands. I was kind of disappointed that somebody in universe is trying to make sense of the whole time running at different speeds different places because I totally embraced that it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t have to because it’s magic gone wrong and if there’s an actual explanation I will have to rethink my whole attitude.

In any case, definitely want to know what happens next!

Oh yes with you on giving up on figuring that bit out. It didn’t even make sense to me who’d been where when and how long it had been or what had happened…hand-wavium it is.

I came across some comments on various women authors' opinions on men as they wrote about them:

Jane Austen really said ‘I respect the “I can fix him” movement but that’s just not me. He’ll fix himself if knows what’s good for him’ and that’s why her works are still calling the shots today.

Meanwhile Emily Brönte just said “We can make each other worse.”

Mary Shelley said, “I can make him

Mary Shelley said, “I can make him

Heh!

I just read a book I think would be up a lot of folks' alley: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. Much swashbuckling (SO much swashbuckling), pirates with hearts of gold, a 40-something lady pirate with a bad knee called away from well-earned retirement, all set in a richly developed 12th century Indian Ocean world, and did I mention the swashbuckling?

That does sound juicy, Susan.

I've been eyeing that, Susan - I enjoyed City of Brass and that series and I believe the pirate are related somehow. It sounds even more fun!

Currently listening to House With Good Bones (Kingfisher horror), which I'm enjoying a lot but realized a little too late in the evening makes very bad right before sleep reading. I mean, I actually realized that pretty early in the evening but did not successfully switch to listening to something else early enough. Specifically, there are vivid descriptions of sleep paralysis and nightmares, both of which I experience so that was gratifying to read but not helpful in getting a good night's rest!

In my ongoing dark academia binge, I'm reading Bunny, by Mona Awad. It is FUCKED UP, in an utterly delightful, deranged way.

I need to make a Venn diagram of the dark academia books I've read, so I can have categories like "Why Bunnies???" (Hell Bent; Bunny), "Getting Frankenstein-y" (Catherine House; Bunny), "Your School May Actually Be A Cult" (If We Were Villains; Catherine House), and "This Is What Happens When Students Form Cliques" (The World Cannot Give; Ninth House; If We Were Villains).