aa!! i got a memory called empire from your giveaway and im in love!! but also these names are all so wack. anyway I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing this, i never would have been able to actually get the book unless i waited until christmas and by then there would be 100 more books and ive been so excited to read it and im so grateful for you and the giveaway

Oh, wow, I’m so glad you were the person who won, then! You’re totally welcome, I just find it a fun way to engage with books I like. I hope you enjoy it, it was a book I liked the simple reading of, not just to get to a reveal or the end.

The names are super weird, right?? But you get used to the Number Noun format eventually, at least, if only because they’re at least familiar words. I found the Stationers’ names harder to remember. But the writing is so clear about context, you’re never confused for long. And I totally forgot to mention this but my gosh, the level of linguistics and literature work and research that went into this! In a way, the consistency that comes from that makes it easier to remember too.

Giveaway: A Memory Called Empire

Giveaway: A Memory Called Empire

Giveaway: A Memory Called Empire

Giveaway: A Memory Called Empire

Giveaway: The True Queen

Giveaway: The True Queen

Update- I finished priory already and idk what to do w myself now Bc idk if this is the only novel or if it’s gonna be part of a series but even if it’s part of a series it just came out which I did not knooooow lol. Do u know if it’s gonna have a sequel? The ending left things open for one but also gave enough resolution to leave it as is so I’m unsure. Asdfghjkl what a wild ride! I have so many feelings about it. This book lacked happy endings while somehow leaving things hopeful & I need more

As for an adaptation of priory, I’d love a live action one if they cast it as diverse as the characters were described in the book Bc omfg can u imagine the potential amazing cast w all these women! But then again casting is often a mess so if it didn’t stick to the book it’d be disappointing. Animated might be better for that &a the action sequences would look great, & it’d prolly be less grimdark Bc I think a live action might focus on the torture/violence/gore the way GoT does.

Heh, right, the length and the writing and the kind of story that it is, it just sticks with you. I felt the same way when I was done, still in that world.

It’s standalone but I think the author has mentioned both a prequel and a sequel. (She has a tumblr account where she openly interacts with readers, by the way.) There’s so much that can still be done with this world, especially with those trees, so I hope there’s more. And with f/f, of course.

Hmm, you make such a good point, those characters do deserve to be live action. And they’d be awesome roles for actresses who don’t usually get a chance to be in fantasy. I would hope an adaptation wouldn’t focus on the violence or, worse, manufacture its own, the book isn’t light reading but most of the violence isn’t…cruel, you know? It was the action I was most worried about, the money it’d take to do the action scenes, including a full on dragon war on the sea, would be exorbitant. So I guess there are advantages to both! I just hope there is one.

Wanted to say thank you for priory of the orange tree! I was gonna wait til I finished it but idk how much adulting will come up so didn’t wanna forget. I’m about halfway thru and IT IS STRESSING ME OUT HOLY SHIT lol some of this is so gruesome. I already have a million feelings about it & still have so much story left to get thru asdfghjkl. My children are Suffering rn lol they were not kidding when they said this was like GoT although thank god it lacks GoT’s sexualized violence. Thanks again!

Ah, you’re welcome! And that’s how it was for me too! I just could not stop reading (till I got to a pause in the action and tension and then just halted for a week because at least then I could pretend everything was okay). 

Man, I wish there was an adaptation for this already. I can’t decide if a live action one would be better or animated, I actually think animation would work really well for some of the action scenes…

You just drop random mentions of books in your tags, and getting me all curious ?and then I find out it doesn’t come out until summer ? thanks, I guess ? if you don’t mind me asking, do you mostly use Amazon/Goodreads? to keep track of your to be read/read books?

Haha, get a load of this one’s release date. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J6HWLPR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o05?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I preordered it in December, promptly forgot it existed, saw it on a new rec list recently and tried to preorder it like five times until I realized Amazon was telling me I’d already done so. 

But at least it’s almost summer already? I hadn’t even noticed the date for This is How You Lose the Time War, I was too busy trying to figure out if it was f/f or not. It was up front about being a romance but so coy about the genders, I had to look through so many blurbs and tweets till I finally found a review that said it was two women. And it’s not like I need books to be f/f, my two most often recommended don’t have any, but if they have a romance? Yeah, actually, yeah, then I do. 

I guess I use Amazon for remembering? I don’t read enough to really need to keep track of things but I signed up for Goodreads under my real name and then couldn’t put the gay stuff. Downloading Kindle samples is effectively my “to read” system and I started keeping track very recently of books I’ve already read as a plain text list.

Giveaway: The Priory of the Orange Tree

Giveaway: The Priory of the Orange Tree

I am the angry-sushi shouter outer anon! but it felt a little weird? to use them to identify me as an anon which is silly because ?‍♀️ anon. Never heard of Arkady Martine, but I’m gonna take a look, thanks! Kristin Cashore’s Jane, Unlimited was definitely a fun read, but it doesn’t quite match the books mentioned.

Lol, fair enough, fair enough. 

I mean, I don’t know if I’m recommending A Memory Called Empire necessarily, I’m just starting it. I wanted something really intricate to get sucked into again, like Priory, though this isn’t nearly as long, only 450 pages. Thanks, I’ll put Jane, Unlimited on my list.

Book? anon now, I guess? I usually don’t read very much either, but I’ve read Rook and Stiletto, and Poppy Jenkins too! I’ll be looking for Hellspark now, thank you! If you’re still in a reading mood, I’ve enjoyed these two series – A.J. Hartley’s Steeplejack series and Robert Bennett Jackson’s Divine Cities trilogy – not much romance, lots of great world building, mostly female protagonists, and pretty gnarly plots ?

Oh, heh. Then I guess you really do approve of my taste in books. 😛 And are you not angry-sushi shouter outer anon?

I’ve read Foundryside but I’ll put Steeplejack on my list. I’d forgotten for a second but I do have Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire to read, I’d pre-ordered it and then put it out of mind but it was released a few days ago.