
twentyventi started reading...
1d

Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife
Deston J. Munden
An undead orc knight leaves battle behind for a new kind of afterlifeāone with good food, good friends, and maybe even fatherhood.Ā Ā Rottgor is worn out. Literally. Barely held together by dark magic, he has protected the necropolis for centuries. When heās forced into retirement, heās faced with a new to forge a future guided not by obligation, but by passion.Ā Ā Following his heart (and stomach), he decides to open a restaurant where the cityās undead and living residents can share food and community. Heās helped in his quest by an unlikely assortment of neighbors, including elves, skeletons, vampiresāand a young orphan girl named Astra, whose ancestry, if discovered, could put her and the entire necropolis in danger. To protect Astra and the life heās building, Rottgor must face his past and form new alliances built on friendship, loyalty, and love. As comforting as warm pumpkin bread, this gentle fantasy traces how even a dark history can rise into a bright future.Ā

twentyventi started reading...
1w

Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor
The future of storytelling is here. Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next. In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes. What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.

I donāt say this often, but I wish this would have gone even more unhinged. Like totally off the rails. Like literal montages of cleaning up after her sisterās victims. It had a lot of potential, but it fizzled out by the end.
The audiobook narrator was incredible. šš¼

twentyventi finished a book
1w

My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other... My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water...

twentyventi started reading...
1w

My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other... My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water...

Well, this was downright charming.
Naturally, I have absorbed plenty of GOT lore over the years, but only secondhand ā this book (and the tv adaptation A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) was my first time consuming any George R. R. Martin firsthand. After all I had heard, I wasnāt expecting something so⦠wholesome and heartwarming.
I was so thoroughly rooting for these loveable underdogs ā the pure-hearted himbo, Sir Dunk, and his sidekick, Egg ā to succeed at this tournament. And so thoroughly pissed off at anyone who dared to be an asshole to them along the way. (And, hey, the dynamic of reluctant adoptive dad-type figure to a cheeky little ragamuffin just always works for me, what can I say.)
The tv series was incredibly faithful, and so wonderfully brought the story and characters to life on screen. Iām so looking forward to reading the next books and watching the new seasons (with fingers crossed I can handle whatever Martin throws at me).