skylarkblue1

Hi I'm Sky! I'm a queer disabled British (Welsh) reviewer who loves fantasy, horror, mystery and more! I mostly only post reviews & updates on here

4314 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Reading...

64%

13%

skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum

jenniferPagebound

New App Version, Dark Mode & more (8/07/2026)

The next major app release (1.2.0) is now available on iOS and Android - this one comes with a ton of updates, so make sure your apps are updated to see the latest! Web users, the majority of these updates are already on web (with a few exceptions, addressed below):

Midnight Theme (aka dark mode): very excited to share our version of dark mode! You can choose your theme in Account & Settings -> Preferences. The Midnight theme incorporates accessibility principals (high contrast, sparse use of bright color, no pure blacks/pure whites) while maintaining Pagebound's unique visual identity. We know this is highly anticipated on web as well - we're working on it! Midnight will be available on web hopefully this fall, latest this winter.

Notifications Upgrade: Notifications are split into categories so you can reference what is most important to you. You can also sort/filter your notifications, and mark them read/unread one by one by clicking the blue dot (if the dot is gray, click it to mark the notification as unread).

Browse your library when adding books: When adding a book to a list, your plan, or a shelf, you now have the option to search from "All Books" or "My Books". Tapping "My Books" lets you browse your own library, and filter by status/shelf. This is helpful if you want to browse your tbr while adding books to your plan, for example.

Library Improvements: You can now search, sort, and filter your library with additional sort/filter options (such as average rating and owned/not owned) and view your library books in list view or book cover grid view

Improved Book Status Modal: The book status modal (ie the popup where you change a book's status and add to shelves) got a major quality of life update: you can edit read dates, format, and page length in the modal when a book is in "reading" or when you move a book to "finished", you can create a new shelf in the modal, and you can search your shelves

New Preferences & Account Management options: A new feed preference was added (toggle on/off seeing posts from people you follow when the book is not in your library) as well as library management tools (library export & mass editing/deleting library options)

Discover Quests & Discover Lists upgrade: Discover Quests got new categories and will show new quests in each category on every site/app visit. The Quest card and List card shown on discover got upgrades to show more relevant info & make them more browsable

Additional tiny upgrades: Pull down to refresh your profile, browsing past plans shows in descending month order, plan performance enhancements so loading and editing is snappier, UI cleanup, and various bug fixes.

Community Updates We announced the Fall Readalong book picks last week - if you missed the announcement, head to the Seasonal Readalong page to see the picks! The Fall Readalong starts September 1st.

We also have partnered with Simon Maverick to bring a Dark Romance limited time quest - we've gotten so many requests for a Dark Romance quest, so we're very excited to have this out!

This was a long one, thank you if you made it this far 🙏 Happy reading! Jennifer + Lucy

1141

174

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

To Our Untamed Core

Sonido Reyes

64%

skylarkblue1 commented on a post

vykytoryya

Why were people so confused reading this book?

Pretty much was the title says. I thought things were clear enough, or got cleared up as you continue reading.

Is it the difference of reading and listening to an audio book?

skylarkblue1 earned a badge

Summer 2026 Readalong

Read at least 1 book in the Summer 2026 Readalong.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

The Wetworks Miracle

Caleb Sierra

Under eternally gray skies the Wetworks harvests nutritious waste from the “Root”, the only plant humanity found after we fled through a gate to escape our home world’s ecological collapse. When a bloody accident at the sawmill births a new kind of person, this strange realm finally has someone who transcends the sins of the last one. Every petal and stalk of the Root is listening and whispering. Through this transfigured being, Jon Heap, we can hear what the all-plant says. We already depend on the Root, but it wants to give us something new: fresh fruit our priests will bless, our farmers will reap, and our mothers will bear. The Root will alter our bodies as it desires and despite the pain we will call it a miracle.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

Root Rot

Saskia Nislow

Come meet The Liar, The Secret Keeper, The Crybaby, and the rest. Nine children travel with their families to their Grandfather's vacation property, where strange things begin to happen: eyes blink from the bottom up, mushrooms ooze blood, people's faces don't hang right anymore-except they do, once you look more closely. Transformations warp the children's sense of time and place, the very land itself seeming to encroach upon them. As The Liar watches the children succumb one by one to an unknown fate, she must make sense of absent stars in the night sky, vials of amber liquid that taste of milk, a funny little rope tied in knots. She's faced with a choice: join or resist, only the choice is not so simple. Set in The Grandfather's Lake House as he continues to extend his property lines and told in the eerie we of the children, Root Rot explores predatory family dynamics, the boundaries of bodies and home, and how individuals choose to participate in or push back against structures that would harm them.

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

To Our Untamed Core

Sonido Reyes

28%

skylarkblue1 commented on skylarkblue1's update

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

To Our Untamed Core

Sonido Reyes

12%

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

To Our Untamed Core

Sonido Reyes

12%

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

Woman of Sorrow and Blood

Dianna Gunn

When 18-year-old Alma is invited to live with Nightfather and pursue the Pleasures of Power, she’s determined to win his affection and ultimate gift: eternal life. Yet life in the House of Night is not what she expected. Nightfather spends all of his time alone with Nightmother, leaving his second wife to rule with an iron fist. The servants brought from Alma’s home are hollowed out versions of their former selves. Others—including Alma’s own mentor—have disappeared entirely. Alma buries her suspicions and throws herself into attending to the Daughter of Night, an extraordinary woman who requires special care. When Nightfather calls upon Alma at last, she begins to see that his eternity is not a reward but a trap—and that it is not him, but the woman he calls his daughter, that her heart longs for. But tragedy lurks in every corner, and sometimes the only escape is death.

skylarkblue1 is interested in reading...

These Vengeful Gods

Gabe Cole Novoa

ALL GODS MUST DIE in this searingly relevant YA from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Bargain and Most Ardently. In a world bound by violence, a teen descended from the god of Death must keep their true identity a secret as they fight their way through a gladiator-style competition towards victory and rebellion against the gods who murdered their family.Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the the Shallows.Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow’s even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable -- which comes in handy as a fighter in the city's lucrative underground fighting ring.Then, Crow's uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren. With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they’re going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow’s very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods -- a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner’s circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles’ freedom as their reward.But in a city of gods and magic, you don’t ask for what you want.You take it.Action. Adventure. Romance. Find it all in Gabe Cole Novoa's The Wicked BargainThe Diablo's Curse

skylarkblue1 started reading...

To Our Untamed Core

Sonido Reyes

The Hunger Games meets The Sunbearer Trials in bestselling and award-winning author Sonora Reyes’s YA dystopia about a boy who survives by hiding his truth until his boyfriend is sentenced to El Torneo — a brutal, fight-to-the-death game — where he must risk everything to save him. Centuries after the conquistadors claimed the Afueras for their own, Temo spends his life obeying the Holy Order’s decree, undergoing their sacraments to tame his supposedly violent nature. The only rule he hiding that he’s trans. If that fact is discovered, Temo will face El Torneo, a brutal, fight-to-the-death game pitting the untamed against one another. No Afuereño who enters El Torneo ever escapes with their life. But when Temo’s boyfriend is unexpectedly arrested and thrown into the deadly tournament, he’ll do anything to rescue Ollin from his gruesome fate, even if it means entering El Torneo himself. Only there's far more to this tournament than meets the eye—survival is just the beginning. When the cost of saving the one he loves the most might be higher than he ever imagined, is Temo willing to pay it?

skylarkblue1 wrote a review...

skylarkblue1

Aug 05, 2026

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

1.0

Enjoyment: 1.5Quality: 1.0Characters: 2.0Plot: 0.5

❓️

🐇

Yeah I still don't really know what this was meant to be? I was told it's a story of stories and well, yeah it is but also like what was the point to the stories? The end was abrupt, it all felt very rushed, and then left vague at the end.

The characters were alright? Only a couple had any depth though. There were meant to be some emotional points for a couple of the side characters but honestly they were in everything so little I forgot who they were by the emotional part.

Idk I kinda don't really have much to say about this. Not much even really happened in the book, everything was kinda just in the last 20 or so pages. It was incredibly slow for the rest of it all.

skylarkblue1 finished a book

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Nghi Vo

A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

A Little Life

Hanya Yanagihara

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Nghi Vo

52%

skylarkblue1 commented on skylarkblue1's review of Heavenly Tyrant

skylarkblue1

Jan 11, 2025

Heavenly Tyrant

1.0

Enjoyment: 0.5Quality: 1.5Characters: 2.0Plot: 2.0

💔

🤖

👑

Content Warnings:

Graphic: Sexual Assault (I don't really have another way to describe a specific part of this), Sexual Content, Misogyny, loss of a loved one, Abusive Relationship, Medical Trauma, Classism, Murder, Injury Detail Moderate: Death of a parent, Blood, Pregnancy, Child Abuse, Alcoholism Minor: Miscarriage

Let me start this by saying that I really loved Iron Widow, I also really really loved Zachary Ying. This book however was unlike either of those in any way and felt like I was reading a book from a completely different author.

The romance in this is what ruined it completely for me. It was honestly horrific and I really hope that book 3 will break the very generic romantasy trope of "how will their relationship ever be fixed!" Only for the series to end with them in love, together again without issue. Because my god, there shouldn't be a romance between them.

Qin Zheng reads like he's well over the age of 50 in terms of emotional and mental maturity, power (spirit and physical), how much knowledge of the world he has and general intelligence. Not to mention he's also already been in a ruling seat of power. Zetian is an 18 year old who's been effectively sheltered and practically brainwashed. No experience in politics or having any power, doesn't know how anything works, etc.

"How questionable can a difference in age be after the 100 year mark"

Even if you enjoy a romance where the man is a little more powerful or whatever, a la 50 shades or some shit. This is too far, this is literally to the point of her saying in the book that she's scared of him multiple times, yet so much of the last like quarter of the book is really sexual with only the VERY LAST sexual scene talking about consent (but even that wasn't really followed that well). He is so much more powerful than her that his emotions take over her in the mind realm AND YES THIS INCLUDES DURING THE SEXUAL MOMENTS..

This is not empowering. This is not a story of a woman fighting her own fight and winning her own battles.

Some quotes: "no child has curves like yours" "I can make it very good for you" ... "if you tell me you belong to me" (this is after he's already been basically treating her like she's his property) "Are you seriously suggesting I can't be free unless I sleep with you?"

Despite the random moments of "maybe this isn't ok", it's still played off as a romance and her genuinely wanting him quite a lot. And it just gets... really really uncomfortable.

Him controlling her so hard does come up at the end, but I'll be completely honest this all felt very fumbled and messy. So much is just overlooked and excused. I really hope in book 3 that's where the consequences and "this was actually very wrong" comes in, but I am just concerned that it's gonna follow the generic trope and they'll just get back together again.

The characters in general were a mixed bag honestly. I loved Taiping and Wan'er but with Qin Zheng being a completely insufferable prick, so many other characters constantly coming and going - it felt very stuffed. Not to mention as well characters doing some pretty out of character things towards the end, Qin Zheng using language it feels like he wouldn't use based on his previous behaviour around similar things and his background for example??

The first half of the book, not much happens tbh. In the second half, there's almost too much, and things feel incredibly rushed and squished in. The pacing just feels really off and this really needed more editing. It didn't need to be as long as it is.

The combat scenes though, they were incredibly fun!!! I actually really loved the descriptions of how qi is used, how the combat is played out, etc. It really felt nicely done that - except for towards the end it also feeling a bit rushed.

I'm not pre-ordering book 3 a year in advance again like I did for this, I'm gonna wait for it to release and then see what other people say about how the romance in it goes. I would love to be proven wrong, I would love to see book 3 be about her healing from the abuse suffered in this book and being done with Qin Zheng... But I've read enough romantasy books by now to know how the trope always ends.

skylarkblue1 earned a badge