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357 reviews
Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
First of all Iraxi you're having nightmares not dreams. Although, they're so lucid and stuffed with memory I'm not even sure nightmare is even the right word.
Curses abound in this book and this has been an utterly depressing-horror. We get no reprieve, not a moment of tenderness even in softer memories hidden in violent ones. The effect is claustrophobic like the deck Iraxi is relegated to staying in when there's a bloody wide open space above where fresh air and the ocean can be seen.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Whooweee that ship is beyond bleak! Just to be clear there is filth, laziness, starvation and death all over - even pieces of skin in cups of water.
"We all smell, but mine is aggressive in its pungency, cloying and sweet as it settles in the back of your throat" - oh no Iraxi. No no no.
Oh yeah and a pod of something hunts the crew every once on a while. Okay I'll say it - Sirens hunt them but they're not the real threat. Out in the seas on this cursed ship, there is something far worse than sirens.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
I can't even begin to describe the inner turmoil of this character, Iraxi, the mind through which we experience this story. I was repulsed by her, sad for her and hopeful she'd find power and peace.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️The first "birth": it is almost a Lovecraftian scene. Big black bird, tentacles in the vomit, baby ripping open the stomach to try and grab Hirat. What a premonition.
✔️The second birth. What a horror show. "The child finishes its own birth"
✔️hhhm, is that postpartum depression or a supernatural response to the birth of a destroyer?
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “This child has already been born. Into the sky and into the sea, this child is among this world.
And it will swallow it whole.” (Hallucination or real? Jury's still out.)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The Stone
■Razorfangs
■ Naeim
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror Books by 2025
Curses abound in this book and this has been an utterly depressing-horror. We get no reprieve, not a moment of tenderness even in softer memories hidden in violent ones. The effect is claustrophobic like the deck Iraxi is relegated to staying in when there's a bloody wide open space above where fresh air and the ocean can be seen.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Whooweee that ship is beyond bleak! Just to be clear there is filth, laziness, starvation and death all over - even pieces of skin in cups of water.
"We all smell, but mine is aggressive in its pungency, cloying and sweet as it settles in the back of your throat" - oh no Iraxi. No no no.
Oh yeah and a pod of something hunts the crew every once on a while. Okay I'll say it - Sirens hunt them but they're not the real threat. Out in the seas on this cursed ship, there is something far worse than sirens.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
I can't even begin to describe the inner turmoil of this character, Iraxi, the mind through which we experience this story. I was repulsed by her, sad for her and hopeful she'd find power and peace.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️The first "birth": it is almost a Lovecraftian scene. Big black bird, tentacles in the vomit, baby ripping open the stomach to try and grab Hirat. What a premonition.
✔️The second birth. What a horror show. "The child finishes its own birth"
✔️hhhm, is that postpartum depression or a supernatural response to the birth of a destroyer?
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “This child has already been born. Into the sky and into the sea, this child is among this world.
And it will swallow it whole.” (Hallucination or real? Jury's still out.)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The Stone
■Razorfangs
■ Naeim
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror Books by 2025
The Selkie Scandal by Rosalie Oaks
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was clever, witty fun and just lightheared! A selkie in a regency fiction juat works so well it's gorgeous. This is reminiscent of Sofi Laporte's series without the romance plot but potential Romance lingers hence shelving it here on this profile.
I adored this so much. It made me want to put on my best gloves, grab a parasol and a few friends and Go do brunch but in high-tea style (big poofy dresses optional) and then go seal-watching - that's a thing right?
I so so love finding new authors with interesting worlds in their books.
So...an important notice I've come away with:
as drunk as a selkie is now a descriptor I will be using ad nauseum.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
A missing prince who just happens to be a selkie. A two-legged, landbound rich earl to the rescue - oh and apparently mermen are the trickers of the sea - yeah okay, believe it. Look at beautiful Loki now look at out of this world merfolk; they could trick me without effort.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Likeable characters the lot of them.
Jaq- Well your highness, that's what you get for swimming with the wrong crowd
Beresford- Good Gad! I mean he says it a lot it was bordering on cringe.
Seraphine - crazy brave just deciding to ask for help from a human.
Fenner- Pretty beautiful sneaky merman.
Costo - do not let this mer anywhere near your drink.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
So many good scenes
I'll settle for Seraphine as my fave. Showing up everywhere Beresford goes was courageous in the fave of landfolk silly rules about being clothed and not alone with men. Boarding his ship (that's not a euphamism by the way) was a whole event🤣
She is hilarious and an absolute spitfire. I love her.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Brides are boring.” (Beresford on courtship)
🖤 “Combined with skerrysun, he had been as high as a kestrel that day, ecstatic at every tiny thin?” (Would it be weird if I asked for a sip?🤔)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Selkie Culture: Age Stars
■Skerry: Imravoe
■Wastrels, Merlures
■Mer-Selkie treaties
■Underwater games: Craken, Swordfish
■Underwater Booze: skerrysun, mermaid tears, coral cutthroat
■Underwater Curses&Sayings : Cure The Fish! Triton's Luck, Amphitrite's Luck, Pestilence of sea slugs
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
I adored this so much. It made me want to put on my best gloves, grab a parasol and a few friends and Go do brunch but in high-tea style (big poofy dresses optional) and then go seal-watching - that's a thing right?
I so so love finding new authors with interesting worlds in their books.
So...an important notice I've come away with:
as drunk as a selkie is now a descriptor I will be using ad nauseum.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
A missing prince who just happens to be a selkie. A two-legged, landbound rich earl to the rescue - oh and apparently mermen are the trickers of the sea - yeah okay, believe it. Look at beautiful Loki now look at out of this world merfolk; they could trick me without effort.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Likeable characters the lot of them.
Jaq- Well your highness, that's what you get for swimming with the wrong crowd
Beresford- Good Gad! I mean he says it a lot it was bordering on cringe.
Seraphine - crazy brave just deciding to ask for help from a human.
Fenner- Pretty beautiful sneaky merman.
Costo - do not let this mer anywhere near your drink.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
So many good scenes
I'll settle for Seraphine as my fave. Showing up everywhere Beresford goes was courageous in the fave of landfolk silly rules about being clothed and not alone with men. Boarding his ship (that's not a euphamism by the way) was a whole event🤣
She is hilarious and an absolute spitfire. I love her.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Brides are boring.” (Beresford on courtship)
🖤 “Combined with skerrysun, he had been as high as a kestrel that day, ecstatic at every tiny thin?” (Would it be weird if I asked for a sip?🤔)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Selkie Culture: Age Stars
■Skerry: Imravoe
■Wastrels, Merlures
■Mer-Selkie treaties
■Underwater games: Craken, Swordfish
■Underwater Booze: skerrysun, mermaid tears, coral cutthroat
■Underwater Curses&Sayings : Cure The Fish! Triton's Luck, Amphitrite's Luck, Pestilence of sea slugs
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"This is Hempstock Farm. It’s the oldest farm hereabouts. It’s in the Doomsday Book.” - Old Mrs Hempstock
Gaimanism: the style of prose that is so distinctly Neil Gaiman it's like a call and response to fans of his craft. It's familiarity yet strange and like a cliff leading all the way down to some place magical instead of jagged rocks and a shoreline. It was beautiful and terrifying.
I love the Hempstocks till the end of time. And then into the afterlife.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
This book is so Gaimanesque. It's about the premature end of childhood, when innocence is eroded and stamped out and it makes me so sad for the little dude - cober memories or not, something was lost. He was content in his world with his books and seeing with eyes of wonder.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
The fact that his father could do that to him, just by being in the presence of the flea tells me he is a violent man deep down where he hides it behind yelling instead of hitting. I shouldn't hate the dad but I do.
Bloody Opal miner🤬
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️Old Mrs Hempstock: Snipping and Stitching and rearranging some thinking.
✔️The Ocean in The Bucket
✔️Lettie Hempstock is my hero.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Dead?” repeated the old woman in the dressing gown. She sounded offended. “Has hif han ’Empstock would hever do hanything so . . . common . . .” (Old Mrs Hempstock is hilarious)
🖤 “I wished I could have seen who was talking. If you have something specific and visible to fear, rather than something that could be anything, it is easier.” (Truer words ...)
🖤 “Proper bread was white, and pre-sliced, and tasted like almost nothing: that was the point.” (A craving for grilled cheese hit me right here)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Hempstock Women (or woman÷3🤔) and their Hemstock Magic
■Hempstock chipped cups and crockery
■Lettie Hempstock's Ocean
■The Fairy Ring
■ Skarthach of the Keep
■Varmints: The Vultures of The Void
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy (Magic Realism) Books by 2025
Gaimanism: the style of prose that is so distinctly Neil Gaiman it's like a call and response to fans of his craft. It's familiarity yet strange and like a cliff leading all the way down to some place magical instead of jagged rocks and a shoreline. It was beautiful and terrifying.
I love the Hempstocks till the end of time. And then into the afterlife.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
This book is so Gaimanesque. It's about the premature end of childhood, when innocence is eroded and stamped out and it makes me so sad for the little dude - cober memories or not, something was lost. He was content in his world with his books and seeing with eyes of wonder.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
The fact that his father could do that to him, just by being in the presence of the flea tells me he is a violent man deep down where he hides it behind yelling instead of hitting. I shouldn't hate the dad but I do.
Bloody Opal miner🤬
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️Old Mrs Hempstock: Snipping and Stitching and rearranging some thinking.
✔️The Ocean in The Bucket
✔️Lettie Hempstock is my hero.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Dead?” repeated the old woman in the dressing gown. She sounded offended. “Has hif han ’Empstock would hever do hanything so . . . common . . .” (Old Mrs Hempstock is hilarious)
🖤 “I wished I could have seen who was talking. If you have something specific and visible to fear, rather than something that could be anything, it is easier.” (Truer words ...)
🖤 “Proper bread was white, and pre-sliced, and tasted like almost nothing: that was the point.” (A craving for grilled cheese hit me right here)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Hempstock Women (or woman÷3🤔) and their Hemstock Magic
■Hempstock chipped cups and crockery
■Lettie Hempstock's Ocean
■The Fairy Ring
■ Skarthach of the Keep
■Varmints: The Vultures of The Void
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy (Magic Realism) Books by 2025
Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Imagine going to your dream world, living with pure joy, feeling light and fulfilled - and then being shoved right back into your own life without so much as a warning or a chance to say goodbye. That's Cora and I feel her pain! She was right there with merfolk and I'm bawling.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
I curse that whirlpool that pulled Cora out of the Trenches in the first place. So unfair. Life is unfair.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
I just want to hug Cora. Dear sweet girl, I know the effects of disordered eating. Dieting at age 8😯 Poor kid.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Oof- Cora heading to the Whitethorn Institute:
Cora dear, any place that makes it their job to convince you that The Doors and all the worlds behind them were nothing but a figment of your imagination is just ...insidious.
So, of course it's going to look like a threatening ominous inwscqpable place - because it is exactly that.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “I got lost, and so I went where the lost things go” (Antoinette on the Nonsense World)
🖤 “The Moors made monsters. Cora was already a mermaid. She didn’t want to wake up one day as something worse” (Those pesky Drowned Gods)
🖤 “Divinity is a terrible thing, and we try to avoid of f ending it when we can.” (Eleanor on the Gods )
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The Doors: Trenches, Moors, Halls of The Dead, Nonsense, Confections
■Eleanor's Chandelier made from her own tears
■Eleanor's Stable Door
■ The Drowned Gods
■Serpent of Frozen Tears
■The Whitethorn Institute
■Antoinette: The Finder
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
I curse that whirlpool that pulled Cora out of the Trenches in the first place. So unfair. Life is unfair.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
I just want to hug Cora. Dear sweet girl, I know the effects of disordered eating. Dieting at age 8😯 Poor kid.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Oof- Cora heading to the Whitethorn Institute:
Cora dear, any place that makes it their job to convince you that The Doors and all the worlds behind them were nothing but a figment of your imagination is just ...insidious.
So, of course it's going to look like a threatening ominous inwscqpable place - because it is exactly that.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “I got lost, and so I went where the lost things go” (Antoinette on the Nonsense World)
🖤 “The Moors made monsters. Cora was already a mermaid. She didn’t want to wake up one day as something worse” (Those pesky Drowned Gods)
🖤 “Divinity is a terrible thing, and we try to avoid of f ending it when we can.” (Eleanor on the Gods )
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The Doors: Trenches, Moors, Halls of The Dead, Nonsense, Confections
■Eleanor's Chandelier made from her own tears
■Eleanor's Stable Door
■ The Drowned Gods
■Serpent of Frozen Tears
■The Whitethorn Institute
■Antoinette: The Finder
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed not knowing WTF was going on in the first chapter as little pieces of the tragedy and sea curse come together.
"I wish he would drown.
But the gods will not be so kind" - and we're off.
A crew that has no memory starts remembering and it's all downhill from there.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
As a sucker for melancholic poetic prose, the narration was catnip. I loved the slow drowning into loss and betrayal, maritime voodoo/magic/bad juju and a pirate crew of women who are living a second life and have no memories of their life before taking over the ship.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
You know I can accept any pirate crew, zombies, undead, Jack Sparrow hoodwinking everyone - I'm open to all the drama (except those real-life whale-hunting,island burning, turtle starving, turtle eradicating Quaker arseholes from The Essex...) so this crew was mysterious, unique and darn captivating.
Also, what in the hell is Ambrose? A sea snake? Is that what a sea krait is? Like a snake-meets mini dragon? Hold on I need to google some fantasy art - oh it's a snake. And it's not even blue like the sea? Just a snake that would be indistinguishable from it's land brethren if it were up here. 🤷🏽♀️
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️Jaq and Lily's first meal on the Scylla ship. The horror.
✔️Meeting Captsin Rose on the Island-Ship
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Such a lonely thing, to be lost at sea ” (Lily being cryptic )
🖤 “A deep craving finally satisfied. I see so clearly now the cause.
A simple truth known long to men and only now discovered by womenfolk. We crave violence. So we swallow violent men.” (Jaq on the sustenance of men)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ All women crew ...until the interloper
■Reginald is the destroyer
■ Magic: ship in a bottle with tiny sailors
■Scylla ship and The Orb
■Full Moon Ritual on Deck
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
"I wish he would drown.
But the gods will not be so kind" - and we're off.
A crew that has no memory starts remembering and it's all downhill from there.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
As a sucker for melancholic poetic prose, the narration was catnip. I loved the slow drowning into loss and betrayal, maritime voodoo/magic/bad juju and a pirate crew of women who are living a second life and have no memories of their life before taking over the ship.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
You know I can accept any pirate crew, zombies, undead, Jack Sparrow hoodwinking everyone - I'm open to all the drama (except those real-life whale-hunting,island burning, turtle starving, turtle eradicating Quaker arseholes from The Essex...) so this crew was mysterious, unique and darn captivating.
Also, what in the hell is Ambrose? A sea snake? Is that what a sea krait is? Like a snake-meets mini dragon? Hold on I need to google some fantasy art - oh it's a snake. And it's not even blue like the sea? Just a snake that would be indistinguishable from it's land brethren if it were up here. 🤷🏽♀️
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
✔️Jaq and Lily's first meal on the Scylla ship. The horror.
✔️Meeting Captsin Rose on the Island-Ship
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Such a lonely thing, to be lost at sea ” (Lily being cryptic )
🖤 “A deep craving finally satisfied. I see so clearly now the cause.
A simple truth known long to men and only now discovered by womenfolk. We crave violence. So we swallow violent men.” (Jaq on the sustenance of men)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ All women crew ...until the interloper
■Reginald is the destroyer
■ Magic: ship in a bottle with tiny sailors
■Scylla ship and The Orb
■Full Moon Ritual on Deck
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Sixth of the Dusk by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
"Hello, old destroyer. Hello, Father."
I woke up and chose chaos. I have read three Cosemere stories and none of them were in order. It's like my reckless side (let's call it spontaneous) activated the randomizer .
But here's the thing, it's been epic.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Patji is an island hellbent on killing it's inhabitants. It's also an island that runs lines of communication through a form of telepathy. It's not sapient as in talk in human-shapes words; but definitely feels like a spiritually sentient and omnipotent within it's borders entity. In short, a a Godlike island.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
✔️Who are all these people? I have no cooking clue!
✔️Are they intruiging? Hell Yeah.
✔️Should I probably start at the beginning of the series? Absolutely.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Awww! Dusk feeding and communicating with the Meekers. They sound so stinking cute I had to read it again.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Creatures like the shadow did not hunt by smell or sight, but by sensing the minds of prey.” (formiddable sea monster)
🖤 “Running through the jungle was a good way to get dead” (True in any world)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Aviar birds: Kokerlii’s protective aura, Sak's visions
■Eelakin Race/Ethnicity
■ Pantheon islands
■Shadow and other Beasts from The Deep
■Meekers sound insanely cute
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
I woke up and chose chaos. I have read three Cosemere stories and none of them were in order. It's like my reckless side (let's call it spontaneous) activated the randomizer .
But here's the thing, it's been epic.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Patji is an island hellbent on killing it's inhabitants. It's also an island that runs lines of communication through a form of telepathy. It's not sapient as in talk in human-shapes words; but definitely feels like a spiritually sentient and omnipotent within it's borders entity. In short, a a Godlike island.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
✔️Who are all these people? I have no cooking clue!
✔️Are they intruiging? Hell Yeah.
✔️Should I probably start at the beginning of the series? Absolutely.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Awww! Dusk feeding and communicating with the Meekers. They sound so stinking cute I had to read it again.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Creatures like the shadow did not hunt by smell or sight, but by sensing the minds of prey.” (formiddable sea monster)
🖤 “Running through the jungle was a good way to get dead” (True in any world)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Aviar birds: Kokerlii’s protective aura, Sak's visions
■Eelakin Race/Ethnicity
■ Pantheon islands
■Shadow and other Beasts from The Deep
■Meekers sound insanely cute
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Those Who Hold the Fire by Victoria Goddard
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I wanted to dip my toes in the water of this series because it fits my theme to a tee. What I got was a splash of everything ... like sticking your head underwater in the Great Barrier Reef - and this burst of colorful creatures comes up and caresses your boring land-accustomed eyes.
Adventure in the future! I can smell it on these few short pages. Adventure, Culture and growth make me want to grab the series and go on a journey with these characters.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Vangavaye-ve is a beautiful.world. There are gorgeous lagoons, canals, pools, the sea, an archipelago of islanda, sea mythology, storytellers, deep community ties and soo much gorgeous blue-green lushness.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Kip is 13 in this story and on a journey to learn with his Great relatives who are Tana. He is ambitious but his ambition is nestled between seeking fame, prestige accolades and helping the communities on the groups of islands and larger city. He is very driven and feels like he let Buro Tuvo down by not being able to get a Flame Pearl. Kip is hard on himseld.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Obsidian for Efela-ko Rite of Passage/Challenge/Trial:
Kip's first night on Mama Ituri. Don't worry kid - I can barely empty my mind either.🤣
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The tanà was not the chief or the paramount chief, the saying went, but when the tanà spoke, the chiefs listened.” (The power of the Tana)
🖤 “The Nga Named the Stars, and were the great navigators.
The Mdangs Held the Fire, and held the community together.” (Beautiful worldbuilding)
🖤 “Buru Tovo had told him he had to go back to the city so he didn’t forget all the modern ways, but Kip had grown up with them, and he wanted the old ways.” (I feel like Kip is a key character in the qctual series)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Tana, Tana-tai
■Lays of the Wide Seas
■Flame Pearls
■ Vou'a and Ani Sea God (in-world) mythology
■Walking The Ring: Sailing The Islands
■Mama Ituri and Mama Ituri's Son
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Adventure in the future! I can smell it on these few short pages. Adventure, Culture and growth make me want to grab the series and go on a journey with these characters.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Vangavaye-ve is a beautiful.world. There are gorgeous lagoons, canals, pools, the sea, an archipelago of islanda, sea mythology, storytellers, deep community ties and soo much gorgeous blue-green lushness.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Kip is 13 in this story and on a journey to learn with his Great relatives who are Tana. He is ambitious but his ambition is nestled between seeking fame, prestige accolades and helping the communities on the groups of islands and larger city. He is very driven and feels like he let Buro Tuvo down by not being able to get a Flame Pearl. Kip is hard on himseld.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Obsidian for Efela-ko Rite of Passage/Challenge/Trial:
Kip's first night on Mama Ituri. Don't worry kid - I can barely empty my mind either.🤣
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The tanà was not the chief or the paramount chief, the saying went, but when the tanà spoke, the chiefs listened.” (The power of the Tana)
🖤 “The Nga Named the Stars, and were the great navigators.
The Mdangs Held the Fire, and held the community together.” (Beautiful worldbuilding)
🖤 “Buru Tovo had told him he had to go back to the city so he didn’t forget all the modern ways, but Kip had grown up with them, and he wanted the old ways.” (I feel like Kip is a key character in the qctual series)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Tana, Tana-tai
■Lays of the Wide Seas
■Flame Pearls
■ Vou'a and Ani Sea God (in-world) mythology
■Walking The Ring: Sailing The Islands
■Mama Ituri and Mama Ituri's Son
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Seonag and the Seawolves by M. Evan MacGriogair
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The is something about the Highlands that is equal parts gloom and beauty and melancholic, always that sense of melancholy . Anything from Gaelic country gets my imagination running into overdrive. The mysteries just on the shore at high and low tide are just beyond magical in this setting.
So when I say I'm so upset this isn't a novel, it's with a knowing that a novel would haunt me for my days - and I would love it.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Heartbroken and with a deep yearning to learn Gaelic and maybe watch Outlander or more closely related IORRAM: Boat Song because it is breathtaking and leaves an ache much like this short.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Oh boy, there's an arse like Dòmhnall Geur in every facet of life. Still, he can jump off a cliff and save us all the bullying and cruelty. Get wrecked - How do I say that in Gaelic?
“He believes in those wolves. I think he is one of the wolves.”
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
That moment of despair at seeing the wrong island not realizing she has swum into a portal or otherworld.
"She begins to pray, not to a god who forsook her all of these years, but to the each-uisge, to the selkies, to the storm kelpies, to anything that would listen. She longs for the dolphins to return, belatedly thankful for their company and kindness." - Seonag after losing her escorts.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “S ann a-bhos a tha mi beò. It is here I am alive.” (Seonag moments after abandoning the family and family plan)
🖤 “Very well,” my father says in English, looking back and forth between us. I think he knows that in this moment, my allegiance has shifted.” (To be acknowledged by Seonag is life-changing)
🖤 “The shore is an in-between place, and Seonag is an in-between person.” (She sounds like something beyond enigma)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The wolves of Uibhist
■ Madaidhean-allaidh
■ Monday Superstition
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
So when I say I'm so upset this isn't a novel, it's with a knowing that a novel would haunt me for my days - and I would love it.
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Heartbroken and with a deep yearning to learn Gaelic and maybe watch Outlander or more closely related IORRAM: Boat Song because it is breathtaking and leaves an ache much like this short.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Oh boy, there's an arse like Dòmhnall Geur in every facet of life. Still, he can jump off a cliff and save us all the bullying and cruelty. Get wrecked - How do I say that in Gaelic?
“He believes in those wolves. I think he is one of the wolves.”
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
That moment of despair at seeing the wrong island not realizing she has swum into a portal or otherworld.
"She begins to pray, not to a god who forsook her all of these years, but to the each-uisge, to the selkies, to the storm kelpies, to anything that would listen. She longs for the dolphins to return, belatedly thankful for their company and kindness." - Seonag after losing her escorts.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “S ann a-bhos a tha mi beò. It is here I am alive.” (Seonag moments after abandoning the family and family plan)
🖤 “Very well,” my father says in English, looking back and forth between us. I think he knows that in this moment, my allegiance has shifted.” (To be acknowledged by Seonag is life-changing)
🖤 “The shore is an in-between place, and Seonag is an in-between person.” (She sounds like something beyond enigma)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The wolves of Uibhist
■ Madaidhean-allaidh
■ Monday Superstition
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
In Mercy, Rain by Seanan McGuire
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
What I wouldn't have given for a staircase in a chest or a doorway in a cupboard and ...well, I'm certain there's a third one.🤔
What boring thing was I doing at age 12? I distinctly remember watching Beethoven and wanting a Saint Bernard desperately. I think I might have had artistic aspirations at the time. So average stuff. Now look at these kids from the Moors. 12 years old and serving Vampire Lords - abandoning twin sisters to travel with mad scientists and stepping into old chests that have staircases to other worlds in them. Feels like I missed out🧐
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Big haunting energy in a quiet war between a vampire landlord and a necromancing doctor. Life vs death and all that.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Behold! My song:
🎵Jack and Jill both made of steel
but Jack is way more colder.
The Twins first died
The came back alive
To be raised by separate monsters
Jill stayed back
While Jack made plans
And Jill couldn't tumble after🎶
Heheh...well I tried okay.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
An eery sight:
The inkeeper and his wife, (The Choppers) making their way uphill to the wagon, dragging a corpse with them while the wife screams like a banshee. And finally, Charles Chopper buys a storm.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She learned to heal by learning to harm, and under the watchful eye of the Moon, they were both the
same." (Jack will go far)
🖤 “The Wolcott twins had started from the same place. They had never once been the same.” (It's like that sometimes. Blood is just liquid in some bonds)
🖤 “The Moors were a place of delicate balances, every
principality held by two monsters of equal power and
opposing dispositions” (this just makes me want to go to the Moors more)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Abbey of the Drowned Gods and their Sinking Town
■ Monster of Day vs Monster of Night
■Living-Dead Twin Sisters
■It's ALIVE! ... Reanimation.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2025
What boring thing was I doing at age 12? I distinctly remember watching Beethoven and wanting a Saint Bernard desperately. I think I might have had artistic aspirations at the time. So average stuff. Now look at these kids from the Moors. 12 years old and serving Vampire Lords - abandoning twin sisters to travel with mad scientists and stepping into old chests that have staircases to other worlds in them. Feels like I missed out🧐
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Big haunting energy in a quiet war between a vampire landlord and a necromancing doctor. Life vs death and all that.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Behold! My song:
🎵Jack and Jill both made of steel
but Jack is way more colder.
The Twins first died
The came back alive
To be raised by separate monsters
Jill stayed back
While Jack made plans
And Jill couldn't tumble after🎶
Heheh...well I tried okay.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
An eery sight:
The inkeeper and his wife, (The Choppers) making their way uphill to the wagon, dragging a corpse with them while the wife screams like a banshee. And finally, Charles Chopper buys a storm.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She learned to heal by learning to harm, and under the watchful eye of the Moon, they were both the
same." (Jack will go far)
🖤 “The Wolcott twins had started from the same place. They had never once been the same.” (It's like that sometimes. Blood is just liquid in some bonds)
🖤 “The Moors were a place of delicate balances, every
principality held by two monsters of equal power and
opposing dispositions” (this just makes me want to go to the Moors more)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Abbey of the Drowned Gods and their Sinking Town
■ Monster of Day vs Monster of Night
■Living-Dead Twin Sisters
■It's ALIVE! ... Reanimation.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2025
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0