skylarkblue1
Hi I'm Sky! I'm a queer disabled British reviewer who loves fantasy, horror, mystery and more!
1036 points
skylarkblue1 commented on Devin's update
skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I think I've hit a small wall with reviewing burn out.... I still want to write reviews, and I can with a LOT of effort.. but my brain just doesn't want to write them no matter what š I'll have the tabs open for days upon days writing like half a sentence every now and then.. It sucks cause I also struggle to switch to the next book before the review is written for the previous book too. So despite not being in a reading slump (maybe?) and having a lot of books piling up I REALLY want to read (looking at you sunrise on the reaping) I just can't make myself finally write the review I'm stuck on rn. I can't exactly just stop writing reviews as well, hoping to eventually somehow make some money from it - even if I just connect it slightly to if I can eventually work out how to start doing sensitivity reading. It's also saved me a lot of money getting books I'd otherwise have to buy š (which yeah, capitalism.. I'd use my local library but they only take like very old book suggestions that are cheap for them to get and have a very small range). Got multiple books on netgalley that are now past the release date I still need to read and review, and I got sent another the other day :') I keep falling behind but even that isn't helping with motivation..
12Post from the Pagebound Club forum
I think I've hit a small wall with reviewing burn out.... I still want to write reviews, and I can with a LOT of effort.. but my brain just doesn't want to write them no matter what š I'll have the tabs open for days upon days writing like half a sentence every now and then.. It sucks cause I also struggle to switch to the next book before the review is written for the previous book too. So despite not being in a reading slump (maybe?) and having a lot of books piling up I REALLY want to read (looking at you sunrise on the reaping) I just can't make myself finally write the review I'm stuck on rn. I can't exactly just stop writing reviews as well, hoping to eventually somehow make some money from it - even if I just connect it slightly to if I can eventually work out how to start doing sensitivity reading. It's also saved me a lot of money getting books I'd otherwise have to buy š (which yeah, capitalism.. I'd use my local library but they only take like very old book suggestions that are cheap for them to get and have a very small range). Got multiple books on netgalley that are now past the release date I still need to read and review, and I got sent another the other day :') I keep falling behind but even that isn't helping with motivation..
12skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I'm considering going to an author signing for the first time. It's rare to get ones near where I live without having to leave the island I live on, and it's an author I'd be so excited to get a book signed by. My problem is I have severe social anxiety, and I don't know what to expect. I've googled and read different articles of the do's and don'ts but I think it might be helpful if anyone shared their own experiences? The author is Heather Fawcett by the way.
6skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Iām looking for good books to listen to at night/fall asleep to. Preferably speculative fiction but open to contemporary or historical or honestly anything relaxing haha. What would you recommend??
3skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I swear some of y'all can speed read (not a bad thing) and maintain so much detail. It will take me days to a week to get through a 400 to 500 page book and I will miss so much context sometimes. I also find myself sometimes becoming easily distracted when reading slower parts of books which definitely extends my reading time. Sometimes I just can't focus on whatever is going on and then will need to reread the parts. I'm reading for enjoyment of course and the discussions here, but I find myself feeling inefficient, which shouldn't really matter but I was curious what everyone's strategy was to read so quickly. I feel like some of y'all will start a 500 page book in the morning and have a detailed review by the evening, which is awesome and I need to know your secrets.
40skylarkblue1 commented on Devin's update
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13skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
I'm loving the social aspect of this site! I'd love to find more people to follow :-) Comment 1-2 sentences about yourself and what you like to read. Use this post to find others to follow! Edit to add that I know we have the option to discover similar users (which I love!). I just thought this would be a fun way to get to know other users a little more before following.
36skylarkblue1 finished a book
Strange Pictures
Uketsu
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Whatās a super popular book that everyone seems to love, but you just couldnāt finish? What didnāt work for you? My answer might trigger some people lol
80skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Hi everyone! My name is Clara, and Iām from Sweden šøšŖ. Iām currently studying at university, which means Iām reading way too much course literature. Do you have any book recommendations that you just couldnāt put down? I need a book that makes me want to read something other than my incredibly boring textbooks. Thanks in advance!
5skylarkblue1 wants to read...
Wings of Starlight
Allison Saft
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post
If you are coming from TikTok thinking that this is gonna be a romance book , do not forget that this book is still DISNEYā¦ This book is more about her growth has a queen, politics etc Do not expect a lot of romance it will only be like 5% of it
4skylarkblue1 commented on a List
Young Adult Romances
2
skylarkblue1 commented on skylarkblue1's review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Grooming, Medical Scenes, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Cancer, Injury Detail, Misogyny, Racism Moderate: Gore, Domestic AbuseWhile the writing for the characters was ok, and there was a pretty well written scene, this book suffers pretty badly from a severe lack of care towards the industry and especially the developers. It being marketed as a book for people not into games is pretty accurate, and it doesn't even try that hard to get people interested in games either. To start with, the good: I did enjoy some of the characters at points. The disability rep and how the characters (mostly) interacted felt pretty realistic. I also quite enjoyed a specific scene which I'm not going to spoil, but it is quite well written and honestly was quite nice to read. It's presented in a decently unique way and executed decently well. And now, the negative: Starting off with the bad parts for the characters, the main 2 can often be incredibly insufferable at points. Additionally, the book glamorises a teacher/student relationship and *grooming*. I could not believe just how hard this book tries to redeem Dov and constantly explain away and excuse his LITERAL GROOMING. Even at the end of the book he's being defended and loved... even after there's been quite a lot of abuse seen from him throughout the book?? It's not even like the character has a form of stockholm syndrome or something, the way the book is written defends Dov's actions and lifts him up. Additionally, this book doesn't really do much to bring people not into games, into games. It keeps pushing the narrative of "violent games make violent people" (and Gabrielle, half life 2 is not a violent shooter lmao). I went to a bookclub for this book, everyone else didn't have much of an interest in games. I went to just try and give some context to things as a game dev, but was instead met with a lot of hostility. This book seemed to take their already negative opinions of games, and boost/validate that. If you know about games as well, the timeline makes absolutely no sense. For most of the book, I had no idea when it was set. And there wasn't really much point to mess with timelines? Why couldn't the MMORPG have a realistic timeline instead of the incredibly short time it had? Why couldn't games have their actual release dates instead of saying they released at the same time? Like it would have changed nothing with how much this book hops around time to just be accurate other than make it make sense to those who know those details. It also never actually tried to have a proper conversation about crunch, women having credit stolen from them (see next paragraph lmao) and just how fucked the industry is and was getting over the timeline of this book. Like it attempted to bring up these issues, but nothing ever actually got resolved. Especially the crediting problem, which was pushed at me as being the main point of the book lmao? The only thing this book cares about is the romantic dance between Sadie and Sam and the *constant* "will they won't they". And for the kicker: "Solution" in the book is a real board game called "Train" created by Brenda Romero. Even the description Sadie gives about Solution is *exactly* how Brenda described her game. It took both Wired and NYT asking the author after Brenda came out about it all, after release, if she knew about Train for her to finally admit that yes she did know about the board game and yes it was an "inspiration". The copy of this book I read still does not include a credit, despite many many books and games being credited. (Though, for all the acknowledgments tries to absolve itself, Eric Barone is the (mainly) sole developer of stardew valley. It was created by him, not just "designed by". If you can put that harvest's moons creator "created" that, you can put that Eric created SV). While the ending of this book is touting about how less crunchy things are and "oh wow more women!" in those years the ending is set in, this was happening in ubisoft: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250310-former-ubisoft-bosses-on-trial-in-france-over-alleged-harassment-1 Don't try and start a conversation about a topic you have no care to actually learn about. We need books on these topics, but we need it written by someone who actually gives a shit. We need fiction based on the games industry and this book honestly proves that even more. You do not need to go technical with it, it can very easily stay accessible for those who don't know much about games. Fiction can be used for a lot of good, to help break stereotypes, to help dispel myths.. This book does none of that and instead helps push the negativity.
3skylarkblue1 wrote a review...
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Grooming, Medical Scenes, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Cancer, Injury Detail, Misogyny, Racism Moderate: Gore, Domestic AbuseWhile the writing for the characters was ok, and there was a pretty well written scene, this book suffers pretty badly from a severe lack of care towards the industry and especially the developers. It being marketed as a book for people not into games is pretty accurate, and it doesn't even try that hard to get people interested in games either. To start with, the good: I did enjoy some of the characters at points. The disability rep and how the characters (mostly) interacted felt pretty realistic. I also quite enjoyed a specific scene which I'm not going to spoil, but it is quite well written and honestly was quite nice to read. It's presented in a decently unique way and executed decently well. And now, the negative: Starting off with the bad parts for the characters, the main 2 can often be incredibly insufferable at points. Additionally, the book glamorises a teacher/student relationship and *grooming*. I could not believe just how hard this book tries to redeem Dov and constantly explain away and excuse his LITERAL GROOMING. Even at the end of the book he's being defended and loved... even after there's been quite a lot of abuse seen from him throughout the book?? It's not even like the character has a form of stockholm syndrome or something, the way the book is written defends Dov's actions and lifts him up. Additionally, this book doesn't really do much to bring people not into games, into games. It keeps pushing the narrative of "violent games make violent people" (and Gabrielle, half life 2 is not a violent shooter lmao). I went to a bookclub for this book, everyone else didn't have much of an interest in games. I went to just try and give some context to things as a game dev, but was instead met with a lot of hostility. This book seemed to take their already negative opinions of games, and boost/validate that. If you know about games as well, the timeline makes absolutely no sense. For most of the book, I had no idea when it was set. And there wasn't really much point to mess with timelines? Why couldn't the MMORPG have a realistic timeline instead of the incredibly short time it had? Why couldn't games have their actual release dates instead of saying they released at the same time? Like it would have changed nothing with how much this book hops around time to just be accurate other than make it make sense to those who know those details. It also never actually tried to have a proper conversation about crunch, women having credit stolen from them (see next paragraph lmao) and just how fucked the industry is and was getting over the timeline of this book. Like it attempted to bring up these issues, but nothing ever actually got resolved. Especially the crediting problem, which was pushed at me as being the main point of the book lmao? The only thing this book cares about is the romantic dance between Sadie and Sam and the *constant* "will they won't they". And for the kicker: "Solution" in the book is a real board game called "Train" created by Brenda Romero. Even the description Sadie gives about Solution is *exactly* how Brenda described her game. It took both Wired and NYT asking the author after Brenda came out about it all, after release, if she knew about Train for her to finally admit that yes she did know about the board game and yes it was an "inspiration". The copy of this book I read still does not include a credit, despite many many books and games being credited. (Though, for all the acknowledgments tries to absolve itself, Eric Barone is the (mainly) sole developer of stardew valley. It was created by him, not just "designed by". If you can put that harvest's moons creator "created" that, you can put that Eric created SV). While the ending of this book is touting about how less crunchy things are and "oh wow more women!" in those years the ending is set in, this was happening in ubisoft: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250310-former-ubisoft-bosses-on-trial-in-france-over-alleged-harassment-1 Don't try and start a conversation about a topic you have no care to actually learn about. We need books on these topics, but we need it written by someone who actually gives a shit. We need fiction based on the games industry and this book honestly proves that even more. You do not need to go technical with it, it can very easily stay accessible for those who don't know much about games. Fiction can be used for a lot of good, to help break stereotypes, to help dispel myths.. This book does none of that and instead helps push the negativity.
3skylarkblue1 commented on a post
Why does Violet even train?
Spoilers
Couldn't she stay in with Xaden given that their lovemaking makes her yield lightning? š§
19skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
Hi all! Quick announcement that we have temporarily removed the ability to add and edit read dates in the book status modal. There have been some sneaky bugs, especially for international users, and we're working on a more reliable system to release this week or next. Rest assured that all your data is saved, and your read dates are still being logged when you update a book status on the site. This change simply hides the ability to edit those dates until we get a patch out. Thanks for your patience and understanding! Happy reading, Jennifer & Lucy
8skylarkblue1 commented on a post
skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
Hi everyone! So exciting to see so many new friends here in the community. With all the new signups, we want to give everyone a quick way to find similar users. One of the best and most rewarding things about Pagebound is the reader friendships we find here, so we hope this list of similar users sparks some bookish connections š A link to the "Readers with similar taste" page is now on the Discover People page (or, click here). This has been a highly requested feature since day 1; we will work on making this more robust in the future (showing users with the highest overlap %) but for now, we'll show you users with similar My Taste books. Huge thanks to everyone who has shared us on socials and helped spread the word to friends! Happy reading, Jennifer & Lucy šš
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