smellthemosses
AuDHDer reading litfic, SFF, & leftist nonfiction | English & Korean | trying to prioritize marginalized authors & the Global Majority | they/them 🌈 | @smellthemosses on Storygraph
8990 points
October 2026
3.91 average · 184 reviews
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Another popular fantasy with good ideas and horrible execution.
The religion stuff was cool. If only there had been any actual thematic depth to "what if the world's religions represented different branches of interpretations and traditions rooted in a common history?" Or "Western dragons are scary fire monsters and Eastern dragons are wise water gods, interesting."
But she does not go any futher than what I just said, in all of this tome's 800? 900? pages. That's almost an achievement on its own.
My biggest complaint by far is the lazy, sloppy orientalism in the world building. Oh, the water dragon people of THE EAST have a closed-door foreign policy and address one another as "honourable so-and-so" and have names that vaguely sound Japanese? Nice. Great job. There is even a bigger empire (pseudo-China) and a little peninsula (oh is that us? pseudo-Korea!). The desert people of the SOUTH ride tiger-like animals and burn incense at mystical mosque places and sell spices at markets? Jesus f-cking Christ. What was her research, Aladdin? This is just a couple of notches above naming a Chinese girl "Cho Chang." And I need all the white people raving about this book to see that.
The author has a cowardly little disclaimer about how all the cultures and places in this book aren't real so please don't come for her little white British self! I bet she thought she was so woke because she challenges the authority of the obviously British/European religion through the obviously SWANA/Middle Eastern religion. The main white characters best friends were BOTH BLACK, OKAY?? SHE'S WOKE!! I bet she was fully patting herself on the back for including all the cultures, like a college brochure with dragons. But guess which culture gets all the political intrigue and nuances at least somewhat fleshed out? It's not the polite dragon worship people or the mysterious and dangerous spice people! It's the white feminist fever dream matrilineal Britain--I mean Inysh!
I keep trying romantasy and hating it, but I know there is good shit out there. Can you all help me?
While I am on the aroace spectrum, I know I can enjoy a good romance. One of my favorite series as a child was Anne of Green Gables, and I had Anne of the Island (the one where the romance plot thickens) basically memorized. My reading taste now leans more SFF and litfic, but I crave some good romance. Unfortunately, a lot of the popular choices have been a miss for me. Can you recommend me a romantasy or romantic SFF based on my reactions to these popular books? I'm sorry in advance for hating on some people's faves--it's just personal taste!!! It's my loss for not enjoying a thing!!
The key criteria are prose and character depth/development. I HATE tell-not-show writing or YA/fanfic-y language. "He growled" = Immediate DNF. No preference on spice or gender, but no dubious consent or shallow insta-love please.
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One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig: intensely disliked the stereotypical, brooding alpha male descriptions and self-insert FMC. Overall felt very juvenile, did not like the "poetry." I did like the worldbuilding and the foggy, dark forest vibes. Prose was 2.5/5.
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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: the worldbuilding was orientalistic, but more to the point the main romance was a snore. No chemistry, plays into racialized femme/butch dynamic. I could not tell you why they loved each other. Also there was an unnecessary SA plot at the end? Wtf. Prose was 3/5.
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Can't Spell Treason without Tea by Rebecca Thorne: a big, boring nothingburger. The relationship was just lesbians talking to each other in therapy speak (plz don't come for me cuz I do this as a queer femme). I did not care about what happened next. Prose was 3/5.
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Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree: It was cute for a while before it got too repetitive. The romance was okay but a little underdeveloped. Side note, I'm lowkey starting to think cozy fantasy is small business capitalism propaganda. Prose was 3.5/5.
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan: Promising world-building and excellent vibes, and was invested in romance for first half. Disliked execution of love triangle and felt like the MMC's character never quite developed enough complexity. I was more invested in the mom. Prose was 3.5/5? Harder to tell because I listened to the audiobook and the narrator's voice made everything sound better.
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Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: Here is one I liked! The relationship felt believable, I liked the slow burn and liked getting to know each character as individuals. Prose was 4/5.
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This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone : This is where the prose was prosing too hard (too flowery) but the chemistry between two agents that don't even interact in real time was compelling. It got too saccharine towards the end, but overall enjoyed it. Prose was 4/5. (docked for purple prose).
Y'all, my taste can't be all that special. I LOVE immensely popular series like the Broken Earth Trilogy, The Realm of the Elderlings, and the Green Bone Saga. Please help me find the romance of my dreams! Where is the well-written tension and yearning? Where is the growth that accompanies a relationship journey?
smellthemosses commented...
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. What a slog, and I was aggressively uninterested in the characters. Then I learned about the author's racism in The Goldfinch & happily DNFed around 2/3. Idk why dark academia fans will defend her by saying "it's suPosEd to bE a CRitIqUe of acADeMiA" and then tell me that the beauty is in the atmosphere of the book... so you still wanna romanticize the vibes, but I can't say the characters are unlikable in a boring way?
no judgement zone here! i’m always curious about this and what made the book so bad to someone
mine is between if he had been with me and a thousand boy kisses. these books i was so excited to read but when i did, i absolutely hated them. i cringed way too hard during both of them. i know they are supposed to be heartbreaking, but it’s hard to be hurt by a book that made me want to chuck it across the room because of how bad it was
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