I’ve put the spy thriller I was trying to read on hold for now, since I just haven’t been in the mood for it.

Instead, I read:

The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey (cozy-ish historical urban-ish fantasy) | bingo: another continent, award (hard), minority author

A Scottish governess helps out two families with their mundane and supernatural issues in 1890s Singapore.

This was cute, and I’ll be putting the sequels on my list of things to read when I need some light fluff. Recommended, but don’t go into it expecting the kind of thing that features modern inserts flouting society left and right: the characters generally do what’s expected of them, even when they’re frustrated by the limitations and injustices of their world.

I didn’t get much reading done this week either; still reading My Name is Nobody by Matthew Richardson.

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Read DuMort by Michelle Tang (gaslamp horror, novella) | bingo: minority author, short, new, steppin’ up

In a city where even speaking the names of the dead is a punishable blasphemy, an upper-class woman seeks out an occultist to help rid her of an angry ghost.

I wanted something compelling to get me back into my reading groove, and this helped, I think? It definitely had some cool ideas and the world-building was strong for the length, but it was also a little too yearn-y for my taste, and I would have liked more description of what went down at the end. Enjoyable, though.

Welcome aboard!

Barely read this week, but I started My Name Is Nobody by Matthew Richardson.

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Finished A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (YA/middle grade fantasy, somewhat cozy) | bingo: indie HM, award HM, steppin’ up HM, cozy

When a teenage baker with magical influence over dough finds a dead body in her bakery, she is pulled into sinister plots that threaten the whole city.

This was cute. My only complaint is that all the palace stuff was very thin; having the answer to “how was this allowed to happen?” boil down to “whoops, our bad” was kinda disappointing.

How did you like Roadside Picnic?

I’m 3/4 of the way through A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, and then I’ll technically have a whole bingo card filled, though I have plans to maybe read a couple more books to check off more hard modes.

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Finished Thirteenth by C.M. Rosens (eldritchy horror family drama) | bingo: number HM, different continent, jerk HM

The eldritch horror family from the first book anticipates the coming of age of a teenage relative, whose status as a thirteenth child means she’s destined to gorily prune the family tree.

I didn’t tear through this one nearly as quickly as I did the first book (although it was better edited). One of the new PoVs was kind of unlikable (perhaps intentionally? I feel like I ought to have cared, but didn’t), and the MC from the first book was heavily sidelined, which was disappointing. It was still enjoyable, and I do still plan to read the next book eventually, I’m just less excited about it now.

Didn’t read as much this week. Still working on Thirteenth by C.M. Rosens.

Finished Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm (technology-centered scifi short stories) | bingo: indie HM, short HM, cool cover)

No aliens or space opera in this, just a lot of speculative stories focused on computers or other technology. Some are structured as wiki entries, chat logs, or social media threads.

I liked this more than the other short story collection I read recently. I think it helped that it was very concept-focused, not character-, world-, or plot-focused.

The Expanse novellas (if that’s the kind of thing you mean) are all quite good, and expand on stuff that wouldn’t have fit neatly into the main series’ pacing/structure. The show even manages to weave them in directly.

The same thought crosses my mind that these books are probably not as good as the series of books and are more world building or cashing in on the success of the others.

If quality is your concern, there are plenty of series that have less-good main entries, or are bloated with stuff not everyone will care about, or are like 40+ books long but the same plot every time. Personally, I’d rather have a solid, streamlined series with side content available for those who really love it and want more.

That’s the one with Studio Ghibli movie, right? Yep.

I thought you didn’t like the hor aren’tror chick-lit book enough to read the sequels? Nah, I did, I just wasn’t planning to read the rest of the series right away. But then the sequel worked for a bingo hard mode I was having trouble with, so…

Murder by Memory sounds interesting. It’s a series? It only came out this year, but it is listed as the first in a series.

I was gonna nominate the Hellraiser series, but the reboot movie that came out a few years ago was at least watchable.

Currently reading Thirteenth by C.M Rosens (sequel to that eldritch horror chick lit book I read last month), and Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm.

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Finished:

Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (fantasy dark academia) | bingo: award HM, steppin’ up HM

A teenager is coerced into attending a mysterious institute for college, where the students are all required to take a strange series of courses, which nobody will explain to them.

I gotta stop putting books that Storygraph considers slow-paced on my TBR. However, this was really unique, kind of a cosmic horror magic system, where the students are drip-fed the incomprehensible in a controlled way that allows them to stay sane. Also, the cover is fantastic.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (middle grade horror short stories) | bingo: adaptation, short HM, banned HM, folklore HM, alliterative, award

A collection of very short horror stories for kids, adapted from folklore and American urban legend.

I can see some of these being kinda scary for younger kids with active imaginations, but not enough to warrant any kind of ban. Fun, bite-sized collection with cool illustrations.

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (cozy scifi mystery) | bingo: short, LGBTQIA+ lead, new HM, alliterative, cozy

On a colony ship, a detective wakes up in someone else’s body to investigate a death.

This was a short, light debut. On my “fine” list.

Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono (middle grade cozy fantasy) | bingo: another continent HM, minority author, adaptation, saddle up, cozy

A young witch settles in a new town by herself when she turns 13, as is witch tradition.

Very cute, very gentle. I’d only seen the Ghibli movie once (and remembered zero of it), so I rewatched it; I actually think I like the book better, although the movie does smooth out some bits.

Link to the game is kinda hidden in the article: https://dreadxp.com/vile-is-banned/.

Oh no, that’s the worst. Sometimes I can snap out of it with something that’s fast-paced or complete fluff, but other times it’s nails on a chalkboard for like a week. I hope you find something compelling soon!

I just DNFed Assassin of Reality as the second in the Vita Nostra series (I really liked the first book, but…)

Yeah, Vita Nostra’s really cool so far (I’m at ~80% atm), but having read blurbs/reviews for the sequels, I think I’m done after the first one.

Reading Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, along with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz when I need a break from Vita Nostra’s slow pacing.

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Finished:

No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed (fantasy and cosmic-y horror short stories) | bingo: minority author, alliterative, short HM

I don’t really have a description for this one. A few of the stories have a shared setting; a few others have a war/revolution theme.

None of the stories in this were bad, they just didn’t all appeal to me; the shared-setting ones were coincidentally my favorite. I’ve realized that part of my issue with collections/anthologies is that I’m stuck diving in blind for every single story, hoping that the author/theme is enough to carry my interest.

I would like some Necromancers in space. Or just some well written book from Necromancers point of view. Something not in litRPG.

The second book in the series, Harrow the Ninth, is from the PoV of a necromancer, although from my understanding it’s also written half in 2nd person and non-linearly for a large portion. (Very much a “don’t start here” situation. The first book has a decent amount of skeletons, bone constructs, stealing life essence, death, etc, though, just from an external PoV.)

There’s also the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard, which has been sitting on my list for a while. I haven’t read it yet, but I did enjoy the other book I read by that author, so it might be worth a look?

Oof, shame. Guess I’ll just cross that off then. Thanks for the update!

Ooh, Honeycomb sounds interesting. Gonna put that on my maybe list.

Working on No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed, since I started it in May.

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Finished:

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (science fantasy mystery) | bingo: number, different continent, LGBTQIA+, award HM, game, steppin’ up HM, late to the party HM, jerk HM

Necromancer heirs (and their cavaliers) from each of nine houses are invited to take part in a challenge: those that succeed will become the Emperor’s new elite.

I liked this more than I thought I would when I started, and I’ll probably read the sequels at some point. With that said, although I found the plot reasonably solid, the setup is kinda YA, and what little is mentioned about the wider situation/world building goes almost entirely unexplained. (Also: if you ever see it described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, there’s only, like, 5 seconds of space.)

Liar Game, Volume 1 by Shinobu Kaitani (thriller-ish seinen manga) | bingo: different continent HM, minority author, adaptation, orange, game

An unrealistically naive college student is forced to participate a mysterious game, which threatens to leave her in massive debt if she loses. To avoid this, she decides to enlist the help of a conman.

I enjoyed the drama adaptation of this back in the day, and this was pretty much 1-to-1 with my memory of the first episode, just more manga-y.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (non-scary horror) | bingo: creature HM. game

Jack the Ripper’s dog companion describes each day of October, as they–along with a variety of other Victorian horror characters and their familiars–prepare for a Halloween ritual.

This was fine, but it never super grabbed me. Might be fun to read a chapter a day leading up to Halloween.

Oh, sorry, HM = hard mode.

Storygraph for me. I agree with you about their recommendations.

One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Hardcover. My (very limited) impression is their database needs some filling in, but they do have lists and such, and they’re working toward becoming open source.