Staring at the sun

Tevinter Nights: I knew going into this that it would be a mixed bag in terms of writing quality, and I was right! Wow some of these were good, and wow, one of these in particular was bad! As someone who did enjoy Veil/guard, I enjoyed how some of these stories fleshed out the Lords of Fortune and the Mourn Watch in particular. “Luck in the Gardens” you will always be famous to me. I beg Dragon Age writers to come up with different things for women to do, though, beyond “scream in response to terror” and “be a girlboss”. The casual queer representation was nice, though, as it tends to be in DA

Here We Go Again: oh this one made me feel things so bad. The author calls it a sapphic road trip romcom of death, and it sure is all of these things. I don’t often cry when reading, but I got damn close to it in the last stretch. I do hate the depictions of the characters on the cover though, which is a shame because the colours are lovely. Props to Logan for realizing her mom sucks, and I love absolutely everything about the different ways Joe loves both her and Rosemary

True Love Bites: I’ve been wanting to read this one for ages, and I’m glad I finally got the chance! As its own story, it feels a little threadbare in terms of plot, but in the context of it being the first in a series, what’s written here makes me very excited for the sequel. Though honestly, I would have happily read another hundred pages of this to set up its sequel more, if that’s what it would have taken. The author’s style is truly a joy to read, describing action very clearly, conveying complex character dynamics, and injecting humour in just the right moments

Blackbird: hey do what do you mean this came out in 2018 and there’s still no Book Two in sight. I borrowed this from my roommates as I was in need of a pink cover, and this was so very much My Shit. I’m desperate to learn more about Gloria and the way she sees the things she’s done as being “for her family”, making her daughter hate her and go directly against what she asked in the end. Absolutely gorgeous colours through the entire book, and I enjoy how it plays with its own format when Nina is having memory problems and panic episodes

Spear: baby’s first audiobook! And wow, what an incredible audiobook it was. Hearing the author herself narrate the story really enhanced the experience. I still think about Perutur feeling confused as to why she was being punished despite having bested a man in battle, and about her near the end of the book realizing she couldn’t count herself as Common Folk anymore now that she’d achieved her dream. I think the story kind of lost me at the very end, but I do think it’s doing something interesting with the nature of stories and myths as a format

Le fantome de l’Opéra: the person who reviewed this book and said there was too much Raoul and not enough Erik and Christine can meet me in the Denny’s parking lot. Raoul was an incredible character here in this story’s source material. I kept a running tally of how many times he cried on the page. The Persian was also a fascinating character, and nearly everything that makes Mme Giry an interesting character in the musical takes inspiration from The Persian. I also kept a pretty close eye on the use of formal vs informal You while reading this, and the moments of Christine and Raoul calling out to one another and desperately using the informal You really hit me in the chest

Just Between Us: I hadn’t initially planned on reading this one, but I happened to see it featured at my library after an appointment earlier this month. What gorgeous art. Its very limited use of colour is used to excellent effect, as well as the way the style blends poses together to communicate movement. Quite honestly I would have been happy if this story didn’t end in a kiss, I was incredibly compelled by Lydia and Elaine’s relationship as sports rivals without the need for romance. Lydia’s fraught relationship with figure skating getting better around the same time her fraught relationship with her mother gets cleared up was also so good