whimsicat
🪦🌱 she/they, bi-romantic asexual, cat-bed, fashion designer & seamstress, mentally ill & disabled ✨chronic re-reader✨library gremlin✨generally overwhelmed✨
36002 points
3.56 average · 298 reviews
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The last time I read this book, my cat died.
Some time between then and this re-read, I started to fear this book. What if it wasn’t actually that good, but I was just drowning in grief, crying over things that didn’t merit it, because I was just crying over everything? What if I read it again, and another cat would die?
Well, I can now safely report to you, that all of my cats are still alive and well 👍 And that they all kept me company at some point during the re-read, which was extra nice. Super shout out to Amaya specifically tho, for enhancing my anxiety with not one but two giant vet bills leading up to this, but also for giving me excuses to read more by refusing to get off of me, as well as letting me hug and kiss her and cry into her fur when it was all too much. 10/10 good bean
Oh, and also this book is fucking amazing and heartfelt and heartbreaking all on its own, and I did indeed still cry multiple times.
If you will only ever read one V. E. Schwab book, make it this one.
There are more I think you should read, but if for whatever reason you are stubborn about it…
screaming I love this book, I love Andrew so much, I love Thomas, I want MORE, I need MORE sobs
I’ll be back later when my thoughts are more coherent.
2 days later:
I thought time would help me gather my thoughts about this book, but I don’t seem to really get anywhere; so here are some incoherent ramblings about my love for this book.
First, a disclaimer for things you should know about me, for putting this review into perspective: I’m biromantic asexual, I have autism and ADHD, and I have a schizophrenia diagnosis. Alright!
I love this book so much. I love Thomas, I’d kill to have a friend like Thomas (I’d prob fall in love with him too). I love Andrew. So so much. Andrew is the most relatable character I’ve ever read. My heart was constantly bleeding for him. Actually, this book might be the most relatable book I’ve ever read. Do with that as you will.
I didn’t think it was very horror, tho? It was suspenseful and intense, sure, but maybe I just don’t know what is and isn’t horror; it is generally not a genre I frequent.
The writing is beautiful, and poetic, and haunting. If I could, I might only ever read books with writing like this.
After reading this, I put every book by CG Drews on my TBR. I made my partner read it. He finished at 2am, then couldn’t sleep for the following 2 hours. I have a library copy, and part of me wants to keep it an extra 2 weeks, so I can show it to my psychologist. I’ve been looking up the cover artist’s work, and brainstorming ideas for a tattoo. I paid $6 for access to Drews’ Patreon, just so I could read the prequel short from Thomas’ POV. When reading other books after this, I sometimes have to go back (sometimes several pages) because I started thinking about this book, reciting passages and scenes in my head. If Pagebound had DMs, I’d say mine would always be open to anyone wanting/needing to talk about this book.
This might be my favorite book of 2025. Honestly, it’s only real competition is Sunrise of the Reaping. Like, a standalone did this to me. A 300-page standalone.
The forest is in, and fully planted in me.
So often I have scoffed at my fellow readers, specifically those who always dream for the chance to read a book again for the first time. I feel like Harrow wrote this one for all of you.
Now, let me utilize it to tell you how you are still so misguided, and why re-reading is the key.
For so much of this book, I felt annoyed at how heavy handed the foreshadowing was. But then we got there, and I understood, and so next time I won’t be,
So many times in this book, I thought ‘was that really necessary?’. But then we got there, and I understood, and so next time I won’t.
There were things that bothered me, things that didn’t get me as much as it got others, and so, for now, I’ll be rating this a 4⭐️
But next time, I will remember, and so I might not ✨
(aka I made up silly awards to add drama to what is just me sharing my Quest-tracking database, cause it's fall and I'm extra) (no affiliation, the founders don't know I'm doing this, I'm literally just a nerd)
Good day, gentle-readers! It is I, whimsicat ✨, here to present your Unofficial Pagebound Quest Stat Awards for the year of 2026! 🌟
It is our first and possibly last Awards, so I do hope you'll bear with any possible technical difficulties 🖨️
In these awards, we use merit based on Quest Power, a term I made up which helps up determine which Books and Authors will have the most strength to help you on your Questing journeys!
A Book's Quest Power is determined by how many different Quests it featured in, while an Author's Quest Power is determined by how many books they have in any Quests.
limited time quests and readalongs not included again, I have no affiliation whatsoever
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 I have 6 awards to give out tonight, and I will go through them all now! But of course, we will start with the biggest, the most inquired after, it's...
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MVB (Most Valuable Book) 2026🏆 The Book with the highest Quest Power on all of Pagebound goes to... Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, for being in 7 different Quests! What an achievement for a single book! Riordan is also a runner up for our next award, so maybe worth keeping up with! 👏👏👏
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The Shoe-In 🏆
not 2026, cause this one probably won't change lolThe Author with the highest Quest Power (Author specific Quests included) is... Terry Pratchett, with 45 books across 8 different Quests! Better get started on that Discworld Universe, readers! 👏👏👏 -
Prom Royalty 2026🏆 Our Author with the highest Quest Power, not boosted by having their own Quest, is... Kresley Cole with a Quest Power of 21 books! You can find their work in the Quests Fated Mates Book Club and The Werewolf Within! 👏👏👏
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Valedictorian 2026🏆 This Author has cultivated their talents widely, earning them a spot in more different Quests that anyone else, and it is... T. Kingfisher, who you will come across in a total of 13 different Quests, with 10 books! 👏👏👏
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Social Butterfly 2026🏆 This Quest is so versatile, that it shares books across so many other different Quests, that it should get an award for it! So it will! Made for the Movies has overlap with 46 other Quests! Whether you enjoy reading movies or watching books, with this Quest, you will see familiar faces all around! 👏👏👏
Now, before the end of our show, I'd like to give a special shout out, and honorable mention, to those who don't choose to Quest for 100% completion, but for exploration. The slow path, if you will.
- The Lone Wolves Club🏆 is our collective award for Quests that are so unique, they share no overlap with any other published Quest, and currently consists of... Isekai Light Novels, LGBTQ+ Middle Grade, Japanese Crime Fiction, Monster Romance Series Starters, and Those Who Lurk Among Us: Monster Manga 👏👏👏
Congratulations to all our winners of 2026! And to you, happy Quest'ers! All of our sources and calculation for the awards can be found in the 📊great and amazing database milage may wary
May whatever Quests you choose to work towards in 2027 be successfully achieved!
I have been your nerd host, whimsicat, thank you and good reading! 🌟
TLDR (I tried) and technical aspects: I made a database for Quest-Tracking, which you can find 🔗here. This is the result of months and months of digital manual labor, just because I thought it could be fun and useful. I have no affiliation whatsoever with Pagebound nor Notion; I did this entirely in my own time for free, and as long as it is up at all, it will be a free resource for you as well.
It's a bit complicated, and pretty heavy, and therefor unfortunately not very mobile friendly; so I thought I'd pick out some of the types of things you can find in there, that I've most often seen people ask or wonder about - which book is in the most Quests, which author's bibliography will earn me the most Badges, etc. (see the Awards above). That way you at least have a starting point to see if you're interesting in checking it out further, or possibly those are all the information you were looking for. You can visit the database as a site, which means that every time I update it, which I will still be doing continually, you will be able to see the stats for all added Books, Authors, and Quests, but you won't be able to input your own data. If you want to input your own data (say, adding a checkbox and checking off every book you've read to filter them out for a more personal and streamlined view, just an example), feel free to download it as a Template into your own Notion, but know that then you will no longer be getting any future updates I input. There's just unfortunately no way I can give you both.
For those of you who have enjoyed my 🔗Quest Guide-Lists, first of all, thank you. This is the database I've been working from the entire time (well, not entirely - it has been updated and expanded since I originally launched the Lists, but you get it), and the Lists will not be going away. I will continue to update them as I have been. This is just extra for those who enjoy the extra.
If you have any questions, feel free to pose them here, or in the Comment-function of the database, and I will do my best to answer them all!
Lastly, again thank you to Pagebound and the founders, J+L, and the entire community for making me feel welcome, with and without my obsessive nerdiness. This is my early Christmas present to all those of you who, like me, enjoy stats a bit too much. The rest of you will just have to deal with me 💜
TLDR TLDR: I made a 🔗database for Quest tracking, and I'm a drama queen. Prob won't work on mobile cause there's too much data. Mobile users, I'd still refer you to my 🔗Quest Guide-Lists. Hope you enjoy!
Dead Beat (Ninth House Series Book 3)
Leigh Bardugo
"No," [Alex] mumbled. "I don't want to do things. I'm tired of doing things."
Literally me, multiple times a week
‘[…] Are you dyslexic, lad?’ ‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m dead.’
Love it, new comeback for everything. Are you autistic? No, I’m dead. Are you ready? No, I’m dead. Are you tired? No, I’m dead. Are you prepared? No, I’m dead. Are you okay? No, I’m dead. Are you stupid? No, I’m dead.
Works for everything 👍
ETA: user liesel-meminger made the contribute of “I’m not late, I’m dead”, which is simply too good to hide in the awards 👌
We have a major new feature release now available on both web and app: Profile Customization! Please make sure your app is updated to see these new features.
We wanted to give you a way to make your profile feel more representative of you as a reader. We've created three new ways to customize your profile:
Showcase: Each profile now has a Showcase where you can showcase reviews, posts, shelves, lists, comments, your monthly plan, and joined Quests. The Showcase tab also has links to new overview screens to see all posts, comments, reviews, etc. with sorting and filtering. Everyone can showcase 1 item of each type (example: 1 review), and Royalty can showcase up to 3 items of each type.
Choose your profile gradient: You can now choose your own profile gradient!
Custom background for your avatar (Royalty Only): Royalty members can choose a custom background color for their avatar (any color! possibilities are endless)
We have some other quality of life updates as well!
- Reorder your custom shelves with drag and drop reordering
- updated UI for editing reading history + past reading progress
- Filter and sorting for editions
- Bookmarks page (in the "more" menu on app and web) with the ability to bookmark shelves, comments, and reviews (in addition to lists and posts, which was always available!)
- View another user's plan
We cant wait to see everyone's customized profiles!
Happy reading, Jennifer + Lucy
whimsicat commented...
Join them all, conspire to make a tactic, forget about said tactic, read random books, boom surprise badge!
Hey all, so I was very curious to know how folks tackle quests in PB. Do you only have a few to focus on at a time before adding a new one? Clear one before moving onto any others? Or go full scattershot like me joining basically all?
I’m finding myself getting a bit antsy about seeing so many 0s and 1s yet I’m too proud to drop them to tackle later. What advice would you give? Thanks in advance!
whimsicat commented...
I am always right and funny 💁♀️ /j
I was speaking to a friend about this today, and it got me curious what the PB group list would be … (she said The Count of Monte Cristo (the HORROR 😂😂)) ….. what’s the book that you’ve read, that you totally appreciate objectively or otherwise for its brilliance or greatness (be that writing / story / themes / message / characters etc etc), but will forever be a 1 or 2 star / just barely mid / you just cannot abide, for you personally?
Mine would be LoTR 😅 I totally understand why it’s amazing and brilliant and genre changing / defining etc, but to me it was just the biggest slog to get through, I just wanted it to hurry up and end the whole time I was reading it 😩
Edited because I stupidly didn’t say my own! 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
© 2025 Pagebound
whimsicat commented...
Im sorry, but please please please give me the option to private My Plan 😭 The state of My Plan is my personal shame and not for others to gawk at!
Everything sounds great, but please some kind, any kind of privatization option 🙏