Book Rant

(well, when opposites get compared)
Tag along another unhinged episode of emotionally charged ranting! It’s great, though. Don’t be scared.

Jess reads/rants about Sarah J. Maas’ latest book in her A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Silver Flames (ACOTAR #4? 5? ACOSF #1?), which follows the coerced romance of Nesta and Cassian. It’s weird and creepy and SJM isn’t even aware of it because she and her fans keep selling us propaganda about how feminist and progressive her books are. No, Rhysand, you didn’t invent feminism. No, Cassian, trapping a ‘female’ in your house and ogling her breasts and forcing her into exercise isn’t a form of therapy.

Ugh. And now they’re making a tv series out of this? Move aside, Outlander, here come the tanned dudebros with wings.

On a much happier note, Vee reads the genderqueer and imaginative and age-inclusive The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg, which is the first novel in Lemberg’s much loved Birdverse world. It’s like a coming of age novel for two queer 60 something year olds, but they’re not coming of age so much as affirming their true selves in the face of people who don’t accept them. Also magic and lore and a whole symbiosis between story and world and magic and mechanics and ugh. Go read it, it’s wonderful.

It was bound to happen. Jess is finally out of her reading slump and dove straight into Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - which of course meant that we needed to sit down with some drinks and a pipe and chat about what we thought about this book.
We by no means covered even half of the theories or ideas that this book brings up, so if you have anything to add, hit us up on Twitter or Instagram! If you haven't even read this book, what are you doing? Go read it!
mouth noises sponsored by THC and olives

Sometimes you just need to get up at 5AM and beautifully read, ya know?
Vee recounts her experiences reading This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, a wonderfully crafted sapphic romance about post-human time travelling agents... need I say more?
And Jess gushes about the book that actually broke her reading slump: Beach Read by Emily Henry, a contemporary romance/romantic comedy (somebody tell me what the difference is) with quick banter and uncomfortably timed animal excretions.

In this episode, Jess and Vee celebrate two talented black authors for Black History Month!
Jess talks about Pride by Ibi Zoboi, a modern black and latinx retelling of one of her favourite books, Pride & Prejudice. Of note: Jess listened to the Pride audiobook, narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo!
Vee gushes over the power that is Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star #1), a reimagining of what fantasy should feel like. Because fantasy should feel more diverse - and feel more magical.
We also ramble on about magic systems, audiobook listening, drinking like Gilmore Girls, reading chairs (yes, we're still talking about that), and a whole lot more that you'll find out if you actually listen to the episode. So, go ahead and listen. Stop reading this.

It's... our November episode! In December! Because reasons!
We hope that our sporadic upload schedule (sorry about that) is made up for (we hope) with two amazing books - and our Christmas Book Box unboxing! If you have no idea what our Christmas Book Box is, well, listen to the episode and you'll find out. Easy peasy.
Jess binges and gushes about the page-turned that is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, the first book in the All Souls trilogy. Part foray into dark academia, part Anne Rice vampires do sexy science, this is a book that comes highly recommended.
Vee has a moment with His Majesty's Dragon, the first book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik - the second Novik book read by Vee this year, and the third book by Novik covered by us this year! Are we... a Naomi Novik podcast? We'll get back to you on that.
We also talk about e-readers, the joys (and necessity) of libraries in Covid times, and laugh a lot. Oh, and did we mention our Book Box unboxing?