avatar
Pagebound Royalty Badge

Halcyon_War

They/It • I like books, I especially like indie self published books and will support every new writer Current top 3 authors: T. Kingfisher, Martha Wells, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

6792 points

0% overlap
Made for the Movies
Gothic Literature
British & Irish Classic Literature
Fictional(?) Dystopian Societies
Botanical Horror
Dark Academia
Fever Dreams & Strange Realities
Blood Suckers
LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Through the Eyes of Animals
Level 7
Classics Starter Pack Vol I
My Taste
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Network Effect
Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)
Mexican Gothic
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, Vol. 1
Reading...
The English Clown Tradition from the Middle Ages to Shakespeare (Studies in Renaissance Literature, 26)
61%
The Incandescent
45%
Magical Realist Fiction: An Anthology
18%
Notes of Magic
20%
The Book of M
29%
Hood
18%
Fire Bringer
69%

October 2026

Love in the Time of CholeraLucy UndyingBlack SunMagical Realist Fiction: An AnthologyPink InkFire BringerThe Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical TalesThe Incandescent

3.85 average  ·  121 reviews

Click a segment to filter

  • Jul 20, 2026
    Mexican Gothic
    Mexican GothicSilvia Moreno-Garcia
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🍄
    🔪
    🩸

    A five star that's up there with my top 5 of the year. Absolutely graphic and disgusting and beautiful. I love the characters (those i didn't want to stab repeatedly in the face and then burn alive) and the atmosphere and the descriptions were lush and gorgeous.

    I had such a hard time finding books that swept me off my feet this month but his one has restored my faith. Incredible.

    0
  • avatar
    Pagebound Royalty Badge
    Halcyon_War reviewed...
    Jul 26, 2026
    Greenteeth
    GreenteethMolly O'Neill
    2.5
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 2.0Plot: 3.0
    🤴
    ⚔️
    🌊
    0
  • Apr 20, 2026
    The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
    The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern CrimeJudith Flanders
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🔪
    🗞️
    💀

    One of my all time favorite reads. It is informative and clever with multiple references for further reading. I also just utterly enjoy Judith Flanders' writing and read this all in one sitting (that was certainly the quickest plane ride I can remember!). It delves into much of what caught our interest with true crime such as the books and short stories that were circulating, the emergence of the police as a state establishment, the high infant mortality rate and the theater of the time. Fantastic and highly recommended.

    0


  • Magnus Archives Fears

    Hi all! I'm trying to make lists for each of the Magnus Archives entities. I have a good start for each but don't have any for the Vast, the Dark and the Desolation since those aren't my typical horror/thriller/Gothic reads.

    For reference: The Vast: manifests as void, wide-open spaces, vertigo, falling, the transformation of something that should have a limit into something infinite. The Desolation: manifests as fire, wax, heat, burns, destruction of potential. The Dark: manifests as creatures hidden in the dark, shadow figures and monsters, blindness, coldness, dark water.

    I'd appreciate any suggestions you could offer for these or other entities!

    17
    23
  • Reading multiple books at once

    I had someone IRL ask me how I could read five books at once without losing track of everything and it made we wonder if that's just odd of me.

    Essentially my reading goes like this: Book 1: work book, belongs in my backpack and for 30 min at each lunch I set a timer and do nothing but read every day until the book is finished. Book 2: at home book, belongs by the couch so I can curl up and read after work Book 3: car book, an audio book I play on the way to and from work Book 4: bed book, a book (usually a novella) I keep by my bed and read one chapter (and only one chapter) daily before bed. Usually ends up in my dreams lol Book 5: insomnia book, a dry (usually nonfiction) book i keep by my bed in case I can't sleep so I can read a few pages and make myself tired with the dense language.

    Am I the only one who has odd reading habits? How do you manage more than one book, or do you strictly read one at a time?

    65
    63