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wisecraic

(any pronouns!) Maryland, USA 🦀Forensic Science, ARC Reviews, and Queer Panic ✨️

2131 points

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Cozy Fantasy
Dark Academia
Level 5
Reading...Death of the Author
My Taste
If We Were Villains
Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
Captive Prince (Captive Prince, #1)
The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)

wisecraic finished reading and wrote a review...

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  • A Study in Black Brew
    wisecraic
    Apr 23, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🪐
    ☠️

    **I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Marie Howalt presents A Study in Black Brew, a scifi retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. Readers follow the perspective of Kellieth, a chemist with chronic illness who was retired from the field due to an aggravation of that illness. Kellieth is a wendek, one of several alien species mentioned in the world Howalt develops. When Kellieth moves to accommodate their new level of income, they rapidly finds themself swept up in the antics of their strange new neighbor, Raithan. Raithan, another wendek, is summoned to a murder investigation and Kellieth is along for the journey. As is likely apparent, Kellieth fills the role of our Watson character and Raithan is our Holmes. This retelling is a pretty beat-by-beat type of retelling under the influence of the scifi world and with the technological advancements as well as various species included as part of that world. That being said, Howalt pays homage to the original story by Doyle while also introducing characters who are charming in their own right. I really just found this retelling to be fun and would be willing to follow this pair in the future (perhaps on their own adventures?), though Howalt notes A Study in Black Brew as a standalone. I will absolutely be looking into Howalt's backlist and happily recommend this story to Sherlock fans and murder mystery fans alike.

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  • wisecraic commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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  • Book Trophies?

    This is for predominantly readers of ebooks, or audiobook listeners, or even heavy library users. If you read an ebook, audiobook, or library book and LOVE it, will you buy the physical book to have on your shelf as a "book trophy?"

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  • wisecraic commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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  • How many books do you read at once?

    What the title says! I personally used to only read one book at a time until VERY recently - like the other week, lol. I used to worry about my attention being divided, but someone on here suggested that as long as they were two different genres, it would work out okay. So, I'm trying it out with the Hunger Games series and (currently) What Moves the Dead. If you read more than one, do you have a method to it? Can you read twenty fantasy books at once? A fiction and a non-fiction? I'm curious to know!

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  • wisecraic commented on Devin's update

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    wisecraic commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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  • Books/Authors you'll never read

    What are the books that no matter how much people recommend them, or how much hype there is around them, you're still never going to read? For me, it's anything Brandon Sanderson 🫣

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  • wisecraic commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

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  • What are your strategies for starting a book that’s hard to find the motivation for?

    I keep seeing this talked about in my book groups, so thought I’d ask. Edit to clarify what I meant: I meant when you're having a hard time picking up the book the first time to start the book in the first place but you know you want to read it, and may even know you'll enjoy it. And also share what I do! 1) I tell myself I’ll only read a chapter a day. And then if I end up finding it hard to put down, bonus! It makes it feel less daunting than “I have to read this book”. 2) Join book challenges (rainbow cover, abc, etc). Including a “book chain” one where the next book links to the last one. Example: Book cover is same colour as title of last book. Having it in a challenge feels extra motivating. 3) Join a buddy read to talk about the book. I was curious if anyone else had strategies to share! Sometimes I truly and really want to read the book but for some reason it’s just intimidating or otherwise hard to push myself to read.

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  • wisecraic commented on Fantasy's review of Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

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  • Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
    Fantasy
    Apr 22, 2025
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

    Female ginger Bob Ross ignores her psychological trauma in favor of spending time with hot men

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  • wisecraic wrote a review...

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  • In Your Nature
    wisecraic
    Apr 21, 2025
    3.5
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 4.0Characters: Plot:
    🌔
    🐺
    ✝️

    **I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Estlin McPhee presents their poetry collection In Your Nature, with focus on queer and trans experiences. McPhee ties in themes of folklore, lycanthropy, transformation, and religion as well as various pop culture references. I will admit that I rarely read poetry. Typically, I read maybe one book or so of poetry each year. I was drawn in first by the beautiful cover art for In Your Nature, and then by the mentioned themes. I could see myself in a lot of the pieces McPhee collected, and could appreciate their methods of incorporating both religion and folklore into the collection. I also liked the variety of structural composition methods and was grateful for the small explanations of each piece at the back of the collection. I enjoyed my time with In Your Nature and would happily recommend it to those poetry fans that can appreciate the topics included.

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  • wisecraic finished reading and wrote a review...

    2d
  • Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity
    wisecraic
    Apr 21, 2025
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.5Characters: Plot:
    🚀
    🪨
    🌐

    **I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Lee Mandelo serves as editor for Amplitudes, a speculative anthology exploring the potentials of queer and trans futures. 22 authors contribute with a broad variety of takes on the theme. This anthology is definitely for an adult audience as it includes mature content and themes not intended for younger readers. This anthology has a lot of variety in style and in approach, which absolutely means there is a high likelihood not all of the stories will strike true for all readers. Some stories I actively disliked where others I rather enjoyed. Some edged into very weird and strange areas of speculative fiction and others played things a little more upfront. My individual story ratings varied between 2.5 and 4 with the following stories being highlights from the collection for me: MoonWife by Sarah Gailey, There Used to Be Peace by Margaret Killjoy, Copper Boys by Jamie McGhee, and The Garden of Collective Memory by Neon Yang Gailey, Killjoy, and Yang are all authors I have enjoyed work from previously, but McGhee is a new author to explore for me which is a win. Ultimately, I enjoyed taking my time with this anthology and would happily encourage others to pick it up if the theme appeals. If the story you're currently reading isn't the one for you, the next one will be vastly different :)

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  • wisecraic wrote a review...

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  • The Girl Who Speaks Bear
    wisecraic
    Apr 21, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0
    🐻
    📚
    🌳

    A middle grade book of stories within stories based on Slavic folklore. Great for the target age demographic and good fun for me too :) Absolutely glad I read this one.

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    wisecraic wrote a review...

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  • Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)
    wisecraic
    Apr 20, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🧚
    ❄️
    🗺️

    This series is just good fun. I needed this win after a few duds this month. The audiobook is quite nice as well Eager to finish out the trilogy. :)

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  • wisecraic finished a book

    3d
    Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

    Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

    Heather Fawcett

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    wisecraic commented on wisecraic's review of The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods #1)

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  • The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods #1)
    wisecraic
    Apr 19, 2025
    2.5
    Enjoyment: 2.0Quality: 2.5Characters: 2.5Plot: 2.5
    🩸
    🗡️
    🔥

    This... needed another round of edits. Or five. The longer I sit with it, the less I like it. It is a debut with a lot going on in a lot of directions and very surface-level characters. Honestly, it reads like an early draft rather than a finished copy. I will forget it promptly.

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  • wisecraic wrote a review...

    5d
  • The Sun and the Void (The Warring Gods #1)
    wisecraic
    Apr 19, 2025
    2.5
    Enjoyment: 2.0Quality: 2.5Characters: 2.5Plot: 2.5
    🩸
    🗡️
    🔥

    This... needed another round of edits. Or five. The longer I sit with it, the less I like it. It is a debut with a lot going on in a lot of directions and very surface-level characters. Honestly, it reads like an early draft rather than a finished copy. I will forget it promptly.

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