It wasn't work that ate my life. It was FirstPrince fic.
Sep. 24th, 2025 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Well, it's been a hot minute since I last did a reading roundup, the reason being that for about a month I read nothing but Red, White and Royal Blue fic. There's a lot more of it now than when I last checked. The movie effect in action, perhaps? Anyway, Henry/Alex ftw, even though I cringe every time Henry is called the Prince of Wales. Or a monarch. Or when he's said to abdicate.
Anyway. Books.
Recently read
Currently reading
Uh, too many WIPs. Should probably pick them up again. It's just that I last read them over a month ago, on account of the fall down the FirstPrince rabbit hole.
Up next
No fucking idea. Finished Death by Silver last night, and now I'm at sea.
Anyway. Books.
Recently read
- Grace Burrowes, A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times (The Lord Julian Mysteries #1). Historical sleuthing, with an MC who used to be an intelligence officer in Wellington's army, only to fuck up in a spectacular way. So, on top of having PTSD crowned with some more PTSD, he has to deal with being treated as a traitor by almost everyone who knows anything about him.
The novel has a really high rating on Goodreads, and IMO it lives up to it. A low-stakes mystery in the sense that there's no murder, but high-stakes in the sense of the effect on the characters and their lives. Highly recommend. - Siiri Enoranta, Keuhkopuiden uni, which I read for a queer fantasy book club I recently joined. The cover copy describes this as a "mysterious and intelligent novel, decadent fantasy at its best". I beg to differ. It's a disjointed, confused mess that reads like an early draft. Not without interesting bits, but those don't make up for the utter boredom of slogging through it. It relies heavily on its dreamy, lyrical prose, but I think that if you write a book where stylistic choices are so central, you really need to make sure those choices work. (See my comment about it reading like an early draft.)
The baffling thing is that it's got very good reviews from critics. It almost seems like it's one of those novels that you have to like because to not like it means you are too plebeian to understand it. - Melissa Scott & Amy Griswold, Death by Silver (Julian Lynes and Ned Mathey #1). I really liked Scott's Astreiant series, so obviously I wanted to read her mystery novels. And besides, historical queer mystery novels are right up my alley. This is a solid one, though somehow a bit clumsy at times. Still, I'll definitely read the second book in the series.
Currently reading
Uh, too many WIPs. Should probably pick them up again. It's just that I last read them over a month ago, on account of the fall down the FirstPrince rabbit hole.
Up next
No fucking idea. Finished Death by Silver last night, and now I'm at sea.