Friday!

[rose_griffes]

I'm writing that Fusco fic. IT'S TAKING SO LONG. Ugh. Granted, forward progress of any kind is better than, well, the last three years of not working on it at all. So there's that.

---

That T. Kingfisher novel Paladin's Grace is indeed just what I said before: a romance/adventure novel in a fantasy setting. It's an interesting hybrid. Very enjoyable, if a bit like eating one of those unusual fusion cuisine dishes that blend flavors that you wouldn't expect to work together. Definitely interested in reading more by the author.

Lila Bowen's Wake of Vultures was also a wild ride, although with fewer genres in the mix. Think alternate history western with monsters, featuring a biracial lead who goes on a (literal) journey of discovery. I'll probably read more in this series, although I'm not in a rush.

Renee Ahdieh's The Beautiful does something that has to be executed EXTREMELY well for me to enjoy it: it has sections written from the point of view of the ~evil killer~. It wasn't working for me, but more importantly, the narrative from the main character's point of view was also not working for me. I did like the world-building--up to the point where I stopped reading. Maybe something else by Ahdieh will click better, although maybe-murderous bad boys seem to feature in her other books? Hm.

---

I had grilled pork chops for dinner that I grilled myself. So proud! And currently I'm munching on cinnamon-sugar buttered popcorn, which is tasty.

Comments

[shadowkat]

Hmm..cinnamon-sugar buttered popcorn - that sound interesting. I tried drizzling chocolate on popcorn and putting it in the fridge - it didn't work out well.

Paladin's Grace also looks interesting. I own Wake of Vultures on the Kindle. It was too dark for me last year, don't know...

Yep, narrative's from evil killer's have to be executed very well for me too. I think it's hard to do. The writer either errs in one of two ways - tries to woobify the killer, or goes to far in the opposite direction.

[rose_griffes]

Wake of Vultures starts grim, but it doesn't stay that dark the whole way through.

I had just a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon left at the bottom of a jar, so I dumped in some sugar to make it into a cinnamon-sugar dispenser... then just sprinkled it on freshly buttered and salted popcorn. It worked out so well! And super easy!

[fleurviolette]

Cinnamon sugar popcorn sounds delicious!
I had popcorn that’s slightly sweet and spicy cos of the paprika, garlic, and cayenne. It’s good!

[rose_griffes]

Ooh, garlic and paprika would be tasty, too.

[fleurviolette]

Yeee, the popcorn I ate also had tumeric, for the color.

[grav_ity]

I love Renee as a person, but I bounced HARD off of her debut, The Wrath and The Dawn. Aside from having some EXTREMELY messy consent issues, there's a whole thing at the end where the MC loses all of her agency.

(Full disclosure: we both had "Arabian Nights" books out at the same time, and we both actually like each other as people, but we literally could not have written more different books.)

[rose_griffes]

I noticed y'all had an Arabian Nights adaptation in common, which amused me.

Extremely helpful to know about consent issues and agency (lack of), thank you.

[grav_ity]

From a scholarly point, it's deeply fascinating because we literally both start with the same wedding, and then NOTHING ELSE is the same, but also, you know, there's a reason I wrote mine the way I did.