Jaedia
Blogger, streamer, writer. Love horror and fantasy. Disabled asexual pagan who reads, runs TTRPGs, cross stitches, plays games, watches movies and shows, and loves history, folklore and mythology.
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10w
Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.
Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.
The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives.
Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.
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Jaedia finished reading and wrote a review...
10w
3.5
Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 3.0Characters: 3.5Plot: 4.5
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Woohoo! Another book down. I do have some issues with this book, but I loved it! Many, many errors. So many that I lost count. A couple POVs that I feel could have led to more interesting reveals if we didn't follow their perspectives in this book, though I loved Rylan, Lorelei, and Rhiannon was interesting. Rylan was my favourite, of course. He's the most interesting character here. I do wish the ending had a little more time in the oven, perhaps? There were moments that I felt weren't given quite the gravitas they could have and others that were a little rushed, but it did a great job of pushing the action and delivering on some really cool scenes. Obviously, my favourite things here were the dragons and how each colour differs from the next, the whole thing surrounding bonding and the tethers. This was really well thought out and executed across the board. And the Holt, in general. The absolutely gargantuan Citadel trees and the cities built within their boughs, the Kin that call it home and what that means for them with the Empire on their doorstep, and the magic system. It spoke to my inner Druid so much. I can't wait for the continuation of this series! I want to spend more time with some of these characters and see how they grow and change and interact, who else we get to meet, explore the book's threat further and unlock more lost lore. I am an absolute sucker for ancient lost lore being recovered in this way. Chef's kiss. If you're looking for a fun high fantasy book, this was a joy. Definitely going to go back and pick up Beaulieu's other works now! I do have the airship one on my Kindle but I'll try and get hold of Twelve Kings and the novella for Book of the Holt, for sure.
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10w
One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
Rachel Gillig
Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.
Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.
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10w
Jaedia finished reading and wrote a review...
10w
3.5
Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 2.0
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Nothing much happened, and yet I think this was my favourite so far 😂 It didn't linger on scenes I just didn't care for and thus outstay its welcome. There was a lot of Geralt and Dandelion and their band of miscellaneous weirdos moving through through the war-torn continent, so it was a lot of just conversing and character stuff. And I think it really benefited from that!
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11w
The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher, #4)
Andrzej Sapkowski
The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing. Geralt, the Witcher, has assembled a group of allies determined to rescue her. Both sides of the war have sent brutal mercenaries to hunt her down. Her crimes have made her famous.
There is only one place left to run. The tower of the swallow is waiting...
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11w
Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Archive, continues the immersive fantasy epic that The Way of Kings began.
Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status "darkeyes." Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.
The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin's master has much deeper motives.
Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.
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11w
Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)
Brandon Sanderson
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, a special gift edition of Edgedancer, a short novel of the Stormlight Archive.Three years ago, Lift asked a goddess to stop her from growing older--a wish she believed was granted. Now, in Edgedancer, the barely teenage nascent Knight Radiant finds that time stands still for no one. Although the young Azish emperor granted her safe haven from an executioner she knows only as Darkness, court life is suffocating the free-spirited Lift, who can't help heading to Yeddaw when she hears the relentless Darkness is there hunting people like her with budding powers. The downtrodden in Yeddaw have no champion, and Lift knows she must seize this awesome responsibility.
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11w
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
P. Djèlí Clark
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.
Nor do they have tails.
But they are most assuredly dead.
Nebula and Alex Award winner P. Djèlí Clark introduces a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins.
Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins―resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories―have only three unbreakable vows.
First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.
Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.
The third and the once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.
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11w
An Academy for Liars
Alexis Henderson
A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.
Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.
Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.
After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.
As Lennon continues in her studies her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton college, and the way her mentor’s tragic and violent past intertwines with it. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns. For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.
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11w
The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights
Bridget Collins
Winter, with its unsettling blend of the cosy and the sinister, has long been a popular time for gathering by the bright flame of a candle, or the warm crackling of a fire, and swapping stories of ghosts and strange happenings.
Now eight bestselling, award-winning authors - master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre - bring this time-honoured tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.
From a bustling Covent Garden Christmas market to the frosty moors of Yorkshire, from a country estate with a dreadful secret, to a London mansion where a beautiful girl lies frozen in death, these are stories to make your hair stand on end, send shivers down your spine and to serve as your indispensable companion to the long nights of winter.
So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the spell of The Haunting Season . . .
Featuring new and original tales from:
Bridget Collins
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding
Imogen Hermes Gowar
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies
Andrew Michael Hurley
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Loney
Jess Kidd
International award-winning author of Things in Jars
Elizabeth Macneal
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Doll Factory
Natasha Pulley
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Laura Purcell
Award-winning author of The Silent Companions
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11w
Blood Over Bright Haven
M.L. Wang
Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.
An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.
What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.
Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?
A standalone dark academia brimming with mystery, tragedy, and the damning echoes of the past. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist.
(Content warnings for gore, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation)
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Jaedia created a list
11w
November '24 MBR
by Jaedia
//
7 books
The books I may get around to in November
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11w
Jaedia started reading...
12w
Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5)
Andrzej Sapkowski
A deadly coup within the Wizard's Guild leaves the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, gravely injured, and his ward Ciri missing in the third novel of Andrzej Sapkowski's groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.
The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup, an uprising that has left Geralt seriously injured.
The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times. But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he has recovered.
While war rages across the lands, the future of magic is under threat and those sorcerers who survive are determined to protect it. It's an impossible situation in which to find one girl—Ciri, the heiress to the throne of Cintra—until a rumor places her in the Niflgaard court, preparing to marry the Emperor.
Injured or not, Geralt has a rescue mission on his hands.
Witcher collections
The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny
Witcher novels
Blood of Elves
The Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
The Tower of Swallows
Lady of the Lake
Season of Storms
Hussite Trilogy
The Tower of Fools
Warriors of God
Translated from original Polish by David French
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Jaedia started reading...
11w
The Dragons of Deepwood Fen (The Book of the Holt #1)
Bradley P. Beaulieu
Lorelei Aurelius is the smartest inquisitor in the mountain city of Ancris. When a mysterious tip leads her to a clandestine meeting between the Church and the hated Red Knives, she uncovers a plot that threatens not only her home but the empire itself.
The trail leads to Rylan Holbrooke, a notorious thief posing as a dragon singer. Lorelei soon discovers there's more to Rylan than meets the eye. He came to Ancris to solve the very same mystery she stumbled onto. Knowing his incarceration could lead to the Red Knives' achieving their goals, Lorelei makes a fateful decision: she frees him.
Now branded as traitors, the two flee the city on dragonback. In the massive forest known as the Holt, they follow the trail of clues and discover something terrible. The Red Knives are planning to awaken a powerful demi-god in the holiest shrine in Ancris, and for some reason the Church is willing to allow it. It forces their return to Ancris, where the unlikely allies must rally the very people who've vowed to capture them before it's too late.
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Jaedia started reading...
12w
Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5)
Andrzej Sapkowski
A deadly coup within the Wizard's Guild leaves the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, gravely injured, and his ward Ciri missing in the third novel of Andrzej Sapkowski's groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.
The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup, an uprising that has left Geralt seriously injured.
The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times. But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he has recovered.
While war rages across the lands, the future of magic is under threat and those sorcerers who survive are determined to protect it. It's an impossible situation in which to find one girl—Ciri, the heiress to the throne of Cintra—until a rumor places her in the Niflgaard court, preparing to marry the Emperor.
Injured or not, Geralt has a rescue mission on his hands.
Witcher collections
The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny
Witcher novels
Blood of Elves
The Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
The Tower of Swallows
Lady of the Lake
Season of Storms
Hussite Trilogy
The Tower of Fools
Warriors of God
Translated from original Polish by David French
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