Last week, I read The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, and now I’m reading the sequel, The Truth of the Aleke. These are both African-inspired fable-like fantasy novellas about teenagers saving oppressed desert cities. Obviously, I enjoyed the first well enough to read the second, but I think they would have been better listed as YA, as both volumes feature not-so-subtle lessons about the bad guys and predictable plot twists that might have seemed fresher/more relevant to that audience.

(Sidenote: if you’re doing book bingo and need a quick disability rep. hard mode, The Truth of the Aleke is only ~100 pages, and seems to work as a standalone so far.)

Yeah, I’d agree with that (although idk what Left Behind is). There was some level of criticism of Christianity throughout most of it, but the end sort of… yeah.

Tentatively started A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney.

Finally finished Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman; I found it enjoyable and well-paced. Knight-turned-brigand and divinely-touched orphan tween go on a quest across France during the height of the Black Plague. Medieval fantasy religious horror; very heavily features Christian mythology, so if that’s not your thing, skip. Do check content warnings.

I’m 80% through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. My plan to set aside more reading time last week failed, but I’m nearing the finish line nonetheless!

It’s a combination of being 400+ pages and sometimes only getting through a few pages at night before I get sleepy. Thankfully, I’m not finding it slow on top of that.

Still working on Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. I’m finally halfway through! It’s still enjoyable, and not slow at all, but I’m starting to get impatient to finish it; I might have to try a bit harder to find time to read.

I read a fair amount of Enid Blyton as a kid, and remember enjoying the Five series. Does it hold up well?

Still haven’t been getting much reading done; I’m not even a third of the way through Between Two Fires yet! It has been enjoyable so far, though, with a lot of clever medieval flavor that reminds me of Arthurian legends, or monsters doodled in the corners of old manuscripts. I suspect there’s probably some Canterbury Tales influence as well, but it’s been a long time since I had to read them.

Finished Chalice by Robin McKinley; the world-building’s a little funky, and it’s not my favorite book by her, but I still found it cozy and enjoyable. Now I’m sloooowly making my way through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. It’s enjoyable so far, I just haven’t been reading much lately.

That’s all I’ve been reading, though! Now I get to read stuff that didn’t fit or qualify.

Still reading Chalice by Robin McKinley. Probably won’t have a proper opinion about this one til I finish it.

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Finished The Spite House by Johnny Compton as my last book for bingo. This was one of those stories where I thought it was (mostly) fine at the time, but later realized I had a bunch of quibbles with it. Firmly in the ‘alright’ category for me.

Bingo squares: Family Drama, Debut Work, Minority Author, (alt) A Change in Perspective

Currently 2/3 through The Spite House by Johnny Compton. Nothing revolutionary (so far) as far as haunted house stories go, but it’s fine. Nice to see a protagonist that’s determined to get to the bottom of things, rather than just try to survive.

Also reading Chalice by Robin McKinley. I was a big fan of her early stuff growing up, but her later books weren’t really my thing. This is technically in that latter category, but we’ll see. It’s nice and cozy so far, albeit a bit all over the place in the timeline.

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Finished The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen. Second in a series, but works just fine as a standalone. Historical LGBTQIA±based mystery set during the Lavender Scare. Quick read, enjoyable if you don’t mind bittersweet complexities.

Bingo squares: Water, Water Everywhere (hard); There Is Another…; LGBTQIA+ Lead (hard); It’s About Time; Mashup; Minority Author

If only Sonar created true weak points, instead of fake ones.

Found the quest kind of narratively choppy, and didn’t love the 10 minute survival or being stuck in not-my-gear, but otherwise I’ve been having fun. The art direction is excellent, as usual. The magnetic mods are a nice addition, and I’m looking forward to playing around with the new arcanes.

The story is heavily rooted in LGBTQIA+ community/culture, and the experience of existing as a gay person at the time. There’s a bit of romance, as well.

To be clear, though: despite its historical bones and the very real fears of its characters, this isn’t a cruel book. No slurs or anything so far, and even the police raids at clubs have been mild.

Currently midway through The Bell in the Fog by Lev A.C. Rosen. It’s the second in a series, but I’m getting through it just fine as a standalone. Fairly quick historical mystery about a gay PI in 1950s San Francisco, dealing with a blackmail case.

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Finished Hold the Dark by Frank Tuttle. Fun little fantasy detective novel, 3rd in a series.

Bingo squares: Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; There Is Another… (HM); Mashup; (alt) A Change in Perspective

I’m most of the way through Hold the Dark by Frank Tuttle. It’s the third in a series of (mostly) lighthearted fantasy P.I. mysteries that I occasionally go back to.

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Finally finished City of Stairs. As I’ve said in previous weeks, this was kind of a “it’s not the book, it’s me” read; it was enjoyable enough to read. One other thing, though, this was billed as a fantasy spy novel, but if you’re expecting Le Carré with magic, you’ll be disappointed; the espionage aspects feel very superficial.

Bingo squares: What’s Yours Is Mine, Family Drama, Mashup (HM), (alt) A Change in Perspective

Wow, you’ve been putting in work; nice job!

I don’t read romance so LGBT+ with romance is just non existent form me.

Any form of romantic relationship, or romance as a genre? If it’s the former, then yeah, I can see how that’d be tough. I also skipped a few hard modes that just didn’t seem fun/doable (and I’m sure we’ll work on that for next year’s bingo). If you’re not against relationships in your reading, though, then anything with some form of LGBT+ romance that impacts the main plot should count, not just romance/romcom titles. For instance, a couple of things I read this year happened to involve the LGBT+ protagonist reconnecting with an ex for plot reasons; one was a historical mystery, and the other a contemporary fantasy.

Nah, it’s just a badly worded title. From my understanding of the devstream yesterday, Chemistry is separate from Hex rep, and is more in line with the standard romance heart system you’d see in something like Stardew (individual favor per protoframe). They haven’t said if it has a daily cap or if it’s just very grindy, just that it’d take a while to max out (and that you can redo stuff at certain points if you’re unhappy with how things are going).

Doubtful: if I’m going to read something over 350ish pages, I want to be really sucked in, and this didn’t do it for me. Definitely not a bad book, or anything I’d call a slog, just a case of mismatch, I think.

Still working on City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, but the end is finally in sight! There’s a lot of history and backstory and excerpts from in-world texts that slow it down more than I would like, but I’m sure readers more into the world building would appreciate those aspects more.