lilymunster666

I love a good fantasy, litfic, dystopia, or historical fiction. I love some good worldbuilding and I have elite taste.

1421 points

0% overlap

My Taste

A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

Reading...

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Volume 1

The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer, #1)

lilymunster666 wants to read...

Hurricane Season

Fernanda Melchor

A New York Times Notable Book (2020) A Guardian Best Book of 2020 A Literary Hub Favorite Book of 2020 The Witch is dead. And the discovery of her corpse—by a group of children playing near the irrigation canals—propels the whole village into an investigation of how and why this murder occurred. Rumors and suspicions spread. As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic torrent, with each unreliable narrator lingering on new details, new acts of depravity or brutality, Melchor extracts some tiny shred of humanity from these characters that most would write off as utterly irredeemable, forming a lasting portrait of a damned Mexican village. Like Roberto Bolano’s 2666 or Faulkner’s greatest novels, Hurricane Season takes place in a world filled with mythology and violence—real violence, the kind that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around: it’s a world that becomes more terrifying and more terrifyingly real the deeper you explore it.

lilymunster666 finished reading and wrote a review...

lilymunster666

Oct 03, 2025

2.0

Enjoyment: 1.0Quality: 3.0Characters: 2.0Plot: 2.0

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It wasn't terrible, but it sure felt meaningless. I didn't feel any big emotions because of how heavy handed the theme felt. I truly didn't feel anything. Lena as a character doesn't have any purpose til the big reveal. And it was cheapened because we already knew what happened to Valerie due to her having her own POV. Which was a stupid ass choice. It should have been only Lt. Bev who had a POV. It would have been a better book. Because then there would at least be some mystery on Valerie. But no, you just get told how she's doing every single chapter. Santo's interviews were literally pointless and only exist to have a black guy as comedy relief. This was clunky and boring.

lilymunster666 commented on a post

lilymunster666

Edited

Thoughts from 22%

This makes me not want to be a mom or a wife to a man even more. Because yikes. I'm an artist. Not doing art anymore because of some snot-nosed kid would make me scream. Also having that annoying incompetent idiot for a husband would make me homicidal. Straight married ladies with kids almost make me sad when I look at them, as a lesbian. Poor souls. I would have already murdered that man by then.

Post from the Nightbitch forum

lilymunster666

Edited

Thoughts from 22%

lilymunster666 started reading...

Nightbitch

Rachel Yoder

One day, the mother was a mother but then, one night, she was quite suddenly something else... At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. She had imagined - what was it she had imagined? Her husband, always travelling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind. Instead, quite suddenly, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. Sharper canines. Strange new patches of hair. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice... With its clear eyes on contemporary womanhood and sharp take on structures of power, Nightbitch is an outrageously original, joyfully subversive read that will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. Addictive enough to be devoured in one sitting, this is an unforgettable novel from a blazing new talent.

lilymunster666 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

lilymunster666

The most annoying thing a person can say

You didn't like the book because you didn't get it. PISSES ME OFF EVERY TIME. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BOOK IS SO INCREDIBLY SIMPLE ANYONE COULD HAVE GOTTEN IT. You are making the book out to be more intelligent and high level than it actually is. Cough cough Secret History fans who pretend that people who gave it bad reviews just aren't smart. This happens every time someone gives any author with some "intellectual" acclaim (aka anyone outside of the Romantasy-J. Maas-Dark Romance-Cont. Romance-smut side of Booktok) a bad review. If you didn't like Poppy War, "you didn't get it". If you didn't like Six of Crows, "you didn't get it". If you didn't like My Year Of Rest and Relaxation, "you didn't get it". For the love of God! Sure, some people genuinely did not get the point of the book and hate it for anti-intellectual reasons. But people who hate the way The Secret History was written due to having many parts where literally nothing happens for pages on end, are not stupid because of that. You didn't even actually care to listen to them. You just scream "you didn't get it" or "that's the point" until you feel satisfied by being soooooo much smarter. They have the same mindset as people who refuse to listen to critiques on Sarah J Maas, who makes even worse books. Because in their eyes, it's not the same because it's obvious that those suck.

Post from the Spinning Silver forum

lilymunster666

Edited

Thoughts from 8%

Naomi Novik, I am sorry to have doubted your writing. Don't read A Deadly Education first. Read this. Then get disappointed by A Deadly Education. This is masterful fantasy work and by far one of the most unique retellings ever.

Post from the Heartwood forum

lilymunster666

Thoughts from 40%

Idk how to feel. One one hand, I think it's ok. But it's not great. There are definitely parts that lowkey made me feel a bit alienated as a black reader such as the haha funny moment taking a jab at defund the police liberals which wasn't uber conservative, but definitely threw me off. Because the book is set during 2020 so people definitely did have strong opinions on it, and I still think they need less money (I mean seriously a billion dollars?). The handling of the singular person of color feels a bit like the black guy who is there for comedy. Like even the uneasiness that we feel in white spaces is played for a joke...for a white guy to laugh at. A white cop. Which, I would say is a masterful move because the white lady who has gone missing was seen with him repeatedly so yeah I can see him doing that for survival. But idk if that was the point. I can't tell if Amity Gage has that level of racial awareness. Because I can't tell at all from the overly white centered POV we are writing from. Santo is a mystery. Anyway, this book isn't hitting very hard in the feels so far. I feel pretty meh. The twist of who HIM was felt lackluster so maybe there is another twist? If not, probably going to be 3 stars.

lilymunster666 paused reading...

Blood at the Root

LaDarrion Williams

A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical . Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut with the emotional power of Legendborn and the redefined ancestral magic of Lovecraft Country . Ten years ago, Malik's life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik’s mother attended. At Caiman University, Malik’s eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself— one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries. In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what's left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion.

lilymunster666 started reading...

Heartwood

Amity Gaige

“A riveting wilderness suspense novel by a novelist at the height of her powers” (Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Candy House), Heartwood takes you on a gripping journey as a search and rescue team race against time when an experienced hiker mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie’s disappearance may not be accidental. Heartwood is a “gem of a thousand facets—suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending,” (Megan Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hiker’s odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character’s interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, Heartwood is a redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love.

lilymunster666 started reading...

Spinning Silver

Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into a glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar. But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love. Channeling the vibrant heart of myth and fairy tale, Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again.

lilymunster666 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

lilymunster666

The most annoying thing a person can say

Post from the Pagebound Club forum

lilymunster666

The most annoying thing a person can say

lilymunster666 commented on a post

triptych

ignore the reviews

this is a very GOOD book lol people on here are annoying and it's almost as overwhelmingly negative and pedantic as goodreads. god bless

lilymunster666 wants to read...

Heaven

Mieko Kawakami

Hailed as a bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami’s novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student who subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, the boy chooses to suffer in complete resignation. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands of her tormentors. These raw and realistic portrayals of bullying are counterbalanced by textured exposition of the philosophical and religious debates concerning violence to which the weak are subjected. Kawakami's simple yet profound new work stands as a dazzling testament to her literary talent. There can be little doubt that it has cemented her reputation as one of the most important young authors working to expand the boundaries of contemporary Japanese literature.

lilymunster666 wants to read...

Beautiful World, Where Are You

Sally Rooney

Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?

lilymunster666 wrote a review...

lilymunster666

Sep 24, 2025

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

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Ooh. Let's just say that was a satisfying ending. Overall, the themes in this were great. Character conversations revealed so much and made me hate Lord Henry more than anything. Sin was a recurring theme. Dorian Gray has got to be one of the greatest characters ever made. So interesting to go from liking him to downright despising him by the end. I was wishing for his death by the last pages.

lilymunster666 finished a book

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

lilymunster666 wants to read...