thevagabondexpress

I had a hell of a Wednesday (thank you, temperature related mood swings from hell, again) but I like this little tradition so I'm just doing it a day late.

What I'm reading right now:
A friend is making me read ACOTAR again and actually this is kinda my shit ngl. What do you mean we have characters who are doing absolutely awful things and think they're perfectly justified in it because of why, and other characters whose downfall isn't even their own, someone talked them into a trap and let it spring, and yet other characters whose great flaw is refusing to see that she's the trap that was set, because she's The Shit Ever but is acting like a child because there's a distinct lack of therapists? Your honor, my client has been framed, the worst fucking creep I have ever met is manipulating our protagonist with what are kind of valid points just used to justify the worst behavior ever, and there's a baked in Lebor Gábala allusion that I'm 100% sure the author doesn't actually know that's what it is. I think this book would be markedly better if they were lesbians though if only because it would be funny.

What I finished recently:
Lore Of The Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana, 10/10 recommend this one, it's so fun and its deeper analysis-worthy layers have some really good shit about colonialism and power and trust (and the lack thereof).

This Dead Boy Detectives (TV) fanfic by a good friend of mine, whose AO3 I need to do a deep dive of again.

"Love, I'm Done With You" by Ross Gay (can anyone see a theme in my recent reading?)

And of course, I finished my ATOGAI reread that I'd talked about last week

What I'll be reading next:
When I'm done with the faerie smut (which is, tragically, eternal) probably some The Last Hours fanfic from one of my friends. Maggie Stiefvater's All The Crooked Saints is also on the list

I picked this book up after stumbling across the cover during an image search for something else  and checking out the synopsis to see what I thought. It looked from cover and summary like it would be a much better written, Black-centered ACOTAR and so far, halfway through the book, it's both lived up to and surpassed those expectations. Sbrana handles the horror-and-trauma part of living as captives in a fae-ruled land incredibly well, especially Lore's run-ins with the Sentries, which are always bone-chilling. Lore is also refreshingly intelligent, figuring out what the ward around Duskmere quickly and harboring appropriate distrust of her fae captors, lying easily for her own safety. I don't always expect my protagonist to be this sharp, but I get frustrated when someone who's supposedly lived a hard life in dangerous or destitute circumstances behaves as if they grew up in soft suburbia.

Further thoughts: everyone is pretty as hell—is Lore, mayhaps, bisexual? Also I don't trust that magic book of hers. I believed what it showed her was true but what kind of deal did she make?? Or maybe that's just my natural lack of trust in unfamiliar technology. Magic is a kind of technology, fight me.