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wisecraic

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

2784 points

0% overlap
Cozy Fantasy
Dark Academia
Level 5
Reading...Empire of Shadows (Raiders of the Arcana, #1)
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 wrote a review...

1d
  • The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles (Mossa & Pleiti, #2)
    wisecraic
    May 28, 2025
    3.5
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5
    🗡️
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    🪐

    A nice follow up to book one. I think I preferred the audio narration of book 1; I read book 2 with my eyeballs. I definitely will continue in the series. It's got traditional mystery vibes with the scifi flair to give it a bit extra.

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    2d
    Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn

    Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn

    Steve Forbes

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    wisecraic finished reading and wrote a review...

    3d
  • Vesuvius
    wisecraic
    May 26, 2025
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.0
    🛕
    🌋
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    **I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Cass Biehn presents their debut novel Vesuvius, a queer YA historical fantasy set in ancient Pompeii just prior to the tragic tragic eruption of the titular volcano. Readers follow two teen boys of very different backgrounds. Felix is a thief, son of a thief, and he must keep moving to ensure that he isn't caught and killed. When he steals the wrong relic from a temple, it leads to his meeting Loren. Loren has work at the temple of Isis and he is keeping many secrets, least of all the visions in which he has seen Felix so many times before. Loren grants Felix sanctuary on impulse and their destinies become intertwined. So, the Roman Empire is my Roman Empire. I know this. The books I love reflect this. I am one of those nuisance folks who grew up with Greco-Roman mythology and can't let it go. Everything about this book was set up for me to love it and... it was okay. The main premise that put this book into motion didn't quite make sense for me, and it was a continuous sticking point at the back of my mind throughout. Combined with a borderline mustache-twirling Senator villain and his two main henchmen, it was a bit of a rough sell for me. I do appreciate the nod to history via the Temple of Apollo and the initial mistaken identity of the temple in the ruins of Pompeii. If you don't know about it already, just breeze by as it may be a tiny spoiler. I do think this story will do well with its target audience and am pleased that books centering this time period are being made available for the target age demographic. I would still recommend this to anyone interested, as my personal hang-ups are very unlikely to apply broadly.

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    4d
  • A Rulebook for Restless Rogues (Lucky Lovers of London, #2)
    wisecraic
    May 25, 2025
    3.5
    Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 3.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.0
    🍹
    🏳️‍🌈
    🎩

    Cute follow up to book 1. This is definitely not my fave queer historical romance series, but it is entertaining and easy to read.

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    4d
  • Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix (Rise of the Empress #2)
    wisecraic
    May 25, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    👑
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    This was a cool way to follow up book 1. Instead of following the FMC of the last book, that book served as the villain origin story for this one. This book follows the rightful heir to the throne on a quest to reclaim her place. Well executed with characters that were easy to root for.

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    6d
  • The Powers to Lead
    wisecraic
    May 24, 2025
    3.0
    Enjoyment: 2.5Quality: 2.5Characters: Plot:
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    Read for school. A decent summary of the field at the time, though most information is contradictory to other sources of information. Stresses contextual importance and provides real-life examples of skills and styles.

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