skylarkblue1
Hi I'm Sky! I'm a queer disabled British reviewer who loves fantasy, horror, mystery and more! I only post reviews & updates on here
1384 points
skylarkblue1 made progress on...
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1)
Natasha Pulley
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
Another quality of life update! You can now select which edition of a book you are reading, which will update the book info in your library. This is most relevant for changing which book cover shows up in your library, or changing the language edition. We get asked all the time about changing book covers, so I'm happy to report this is finally an option! The edition page will also show you additional data like publisher and page count.
This does require an app update if you are on the iOS/Android app.
We've been working with a few volunteer librarians to combine language editions on Pagebound and are making steady progress "deduping" popular authors. This is a necessary process to make sure we have one forum per book, and also ensures if you read a book in say Spanish, the English version is also marked "finished" and you get credit towards any Quests, Readalongs etc. Deduping will also make Search and navigating the author pages easier.
To change the language/edition of a book, click "View All Languages & Editions" on the book page (next to publish year above the book description). You'll see a list of all available editions, and can swap from that page. Your chosen edition will reflect in your Library.
Combining language editions is a monumental task, so we appreciate your patience as me, Lucy, and our volunteers work through it all!
Another fun update: we brought the "Featured Emoji" to the Discover Lists page!
We're still working on home feed updates and will be back soon with more updates :)
Happy Reading, Jennifer & Lucy
PS: if you're curious how deduping works: When language editions are combined, it just means that there is one Book/forum per listing, but the "deduped" editions are still available on the editions page. All reviews and forum posts that were on the deduped book will now show up on the main Book page.
185skylarkblue1 made progress on...
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1)
Natasha Pulley
0Post from the The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1) forum
genuinely, first few words đ Lipton tea is so specifically mentioned, I looked it up cause I had no idea the company was that old... only to see they didn't start making tea until 1890 lmao.. the book is set in 1883 :') But still neat to learn how old the company is and that it started as a grocery store :o I had no idea!
I'm not going to be that petty to dock points for that lol, but it is an odd choice to have such a specifically set date, and then be explicit with the kind of tea but not check if it even existed in that year?
0skylarkblue1 started reading...
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1)
Natasha Pulley
0skylarkblue1 wrote a review...
The first half is incredibly slow, the second half started to get really interesting but quickly lost steam the more it repeated itself with the messaging of the story.
This book is meant to be a story about survival sexual assault and the long-term mental health effects on it, but wrapped in a body horror fantasy. The issue is, is that fantasy wrapper slips more and more the longer the book goes on, and it keeps repeating the same lines over and over to just really drive the messaging at you.
Honestly the ending because of this kinda just made absolutely 0 sense. How did all of this get caused, and why? Because the explanation gave in the book is a bit too wild tbh and barely explained even then. Because of how hard it repeats the messaging, that is all any of the book ends up becoming and Noon ends up becoming something she's kinda not? (Which yes but also, no. I mean not as in what the book's universe has setup until that point.)
How the ending plays out doesn't feel like a twist or natural progression, but as a complete diversion of everything that got setup in a way that just kinda tumbles the Jenga tower instead. I don't really know how, within the rules set-out in the book, the realisations at the end even make sense. The pieces of the puzzle were about to fit together, but then just got scrambled around the place and never put back.
However I do like the idea behind all that happens. I do like what was done with the body horror and why. I just don't think it fits what was initially setup.
0skylarkblue1 finished a book
They Bloom at Night
Trang Thanh Tran
0skylarkblue1 wants to read...
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
Martha Wells
0skylarkblue1 wants to read...
Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)
Tamsyn Muir
0Post from the They Bloom at Night forum
It was really damn slow to start with.. but I think it's now starting to pick up properly? Kinda? Pace is a little jumpy now. Things are also staying pretty surface level and vague even though it's already the midway point and some stuff has gotten a little bit of an explanation.
Character reactions are also a little baffling lmao
0skylarkblue1 started reading...
They Bloom at Night
Trang Thanh Tran
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Since there are so many new people here after the app release (welcome everyone!!) and we all share a love of books and reading, I was curious of your interests outside of reading.
Mine include:
⢠anime (one piece especially, but I have many other old school favs) ⢠I also love watching asian drama and Iâm obsessed with historical c-dramas (my irl friends make fun of me for this but idc historical c-dramas are god tier đ¤). ⢠Tamagotchis ⢠D&D (I donât play but I love watching campaigns) ⢠cats
What are your interests besides reading? đĽ°
496skylarkblue1 finished reading and wrote a review...
Representations: https://trello.com/c/Pujxfq0x
Honestly do I even need to explain why Elle's books are so great? The characters feel real because they are, the situations and reactions feel real because they are. You can tell her books are rooted in real experiences and pain.
People keep saying allistics should read her books to learn more, and sure, yeah. Everyone should read her books. But autistics are the ones who really need this, even if you think you have everything all sorted out and all together - read this or her other books. Or just all of them, they're all pretty short. It'll heal a part of you. These books have a way of making you finally feel actually seen, moreso than any other own voices autistic rep books I've read. They're raw, honest and brutal but you're never left feeling worse at the end - even if some of the solutions are sadly nowhere near as easy IRL..
As for this specific book of hers, it's a lot more reality rooted, ofc, and a lot more honest/blunt than her others I'd say. Characters are as good as always and it is a quick read but it's one that will, as always with Elle's books, stick with you for a while after. The writing certainly gets better with each book, and I would say this is my favourite of hers I've read so far!
0skylarkblue1 joined a quest
Horror Starter Pack Vol I đšđŚâ°ď¸
đ // 1101 joined
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An introduction to the Horror genre, these books are part of the cultural zeitgeist or the 'canon' that many would recognize. Look for more niche titles in later Starter Pack volumes.
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post
Maybe itâs because I am reading it in my native language (not English) but I am still not sure I fully understand where the plot is goingâŚ
7skylarkblue1 started reading...
Role Model
Elle McNicoll
0skylarkblue1 finished reading and wrote a review...
Very fun to read, pretty solid characters (metty was a very fun protag!) but it's left me with just an odd feeling and I'm not sure if I'm just overthinking it or what.
I loved the start, metty finding out her fate and then really going in hard on the "well it says I'm evil so I guess I must act the part". Such a mood tbh. The ending felt a little cut off/abrupt but I think I'm too used to kids books being serialised/seperate stories instead of continued plotlines tbh.
The odd feeling though.. it felt like it was pushing a "the only way to protest is terrorism" message way too hard. Like it goes from asking nicely to "blow up an event" with nothing in-between if you want laws changed. Especially in the current political climate that just feels odd? There was also just an odd feeling around how the thief character was treated and how others talked about her. It very much felt like a "we just accept her because she's useful and hate everything about her and what she does". Despite the fact society is what cast her out into the "slums" area of the town and that is just her fate. The constant comparisons between metty and faith, constantly talking about how rich and fancy metty is and oh poor faith in the poor area.... It was really weird. There was nothing about helping faith, only looking down on what she did but looking past it cause she was helpful. But I did like her as a character, she was very fun and I hope there's a lot more of her in the sequel (and treated better...)
I am going to read the sequel I think, but I don't think I can recommend it full heartedly right now just because of those weird feelings. Idk, if anyone else has read this I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe I am just overthinking it?
0skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum
Sometimes I trust reviews but other times Iâm a bit skeptical and wonder if I should take the risk of reading a low-rated book. Now I want you guys to honestly give me the worst and possibly overrated book that I should avoid truthfully. If you donât have specific recs just give me an author that I should never read!! đđ
33skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum
I am over the moon to share that the app is officially live on both iOS and Android!!
We've quite literally poured our blood, sweat and (lots of) tears into the app development over the past 9 months and we could not be more thrilled for everyone to experience it!
We're still being indexed in app store search so you may have to scroll to find us, or type in Pagebound: Social Book Tracker. Here's links to iOS and Android: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pagebound-social-book-tracker/id6751526412 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.pagebound.app
There are quite a few improvements and new features in the app, including:
- Book Journeys (click the map icon on the book cards in your library and other user's library to see their posts, comments, and updates for a specific book)
- Quick access to "add to plan"
- Filtering your activity on profile
- Save posts
- upgraded Read Dates editing
This is the first release, so there will be many more additions and improvements to come. (PS for Android users: we're aware of two bugs related to library imports from Goodreads/Storygraph, and issues with editing read dates - these have already been resolved and are pending Google approval for release.)
We owe a huge thank you to our beta testers who worked diligently over the last month to report hundreds of bugs and help us get the app prepared for release. A huge round of applause to them.
We hope you love the app as much as we do; it definitely makes engaging on PB so much more convenient and fun. If you have a great experience with the app, we'd love if you'd consider supporting us through Pagebound Royalty; Lucy and I have worked for $0 over the past year to bring the app and website to fruition, and have been covering business costs with our savings accounts. Your contribution means we can continue to work full-time on Pagebound without influence from investors or advertisers, and keep Pagebound 100% for readers by readers. Thank you so much to all the Royalty who have already contributed; it truly means the world to us and keeps Pagebound online!
ok now go download the app and tell us what you think!
Happy Reading, Jennifer & Lucy
PS - leaving us a review in app stores also helps tremendously :)
321skylarkblue1 started reading...
Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo (Inkbound #1)
Philippa Leathley
0
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