#book summary

June is over and I read several books again.

To Drown Among the Stars by L.K. Frost - I got an ARC copy from the author and it was an entertaining read. Admittedly, not as exciting as I hoped it would be, but good enough. I wrote a lenghty-er review here on goodreads.

Babel by R.F. Kuang - I read 31% of the book and then I gave up... While I liked the linguistic plays of the book and the subject of language as craftable magic, I didn't warm up with the characters and there were too many things that bothered me... In one chapter Robin is said to "pass as white" and in the next chapter people mock him for his "almond eyes"... it felt forced and I am aware racism is bad but this book was rubbing it in too hard for me to enjoy the story... so a "no" from me...

Tod auf der Elbe by Frank Goldammer - with my current 3-month-trial for Kindle Unlimited I get t read a few books I felt interested in but didn't want to buy... so I could read this historical crime fiction. Set in early industrial era in Dresden it was an enjoyable crime story.

Der Hüter der Elixiere by Sam Feuerbach - part 3 of the Alchemist Saga was fun as well and I liked the closure of the trilogy.

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher - the first book I read by this author. It was entertaining. It managed to get 4 stars because of the hedgehog ;)

1. she is not alone. She has monsiour aubrey and seraphine and Kateri and her aunt. also these lands are not untamed

So weird how people used to do shit in the 1660s

Like whenever she thought she might've done something wrong she had to run to her priest. Is it a sin that I'm curious about what's gonna happen to me? Is it a sin that I keep a diary?

Reminds me of how ppl run to tumblr

Language in this book is kinda outdated. idk if it's cause it was written in like the 2000s or if it's cause they were writing like it was the 1660s. They talk about one of the characters being indian and I was like, damn, this bitch is travelling all over, but no, they're just mohawk

Why are all these sisters dying on ships???? Like in the acadian book too, her sister died on a ship. This ship was at least a little better but damn

I cannot beleive people used to spend 3 months at sea, does kinda make sense why they're all dying now

But some of them are just like taking trips and idc how much I miss home if there's a 50% I die on the way there and a 50% I die on the way back I'm not fucking going

Oh and the filles du roi part

it's not as bad as when I first heard it. The girls do get to choose who to marry

some of them just got married to the first well off guy they saw in 'new france' which is wild

oh yeah, our girl helene is coerced into becoming a fille du roi because her sister died and now she owes the king a debt

Also these girls are supposed to be like the prettiest and best france has to offer and one is missing a front tooth (helene calls her mary with the missing front tooth (there are 5 maries, all of them survive the ship ride (that's a statistical anomaly))), anyways I feel like maybe this program doesn't have as high of an entry bar than was first discussed

More on Helene! I'm kinda worried about her, she's the youngest (apperantly some of them were as young as 10!) and also because she is under 16 she's the only one to get paid for marrying which is wild

She has her friend Kateri and then also became friends with Kateri's dad, monsiour Aubrey who doesn't want to marry but is legally required to so he can trade (wild laws they have) so I feel like they're building up to the two of them marrying which I think is dope as like a platonic friends with legal benefits situation but sometimes it is kinda like 'is he flirting with her or is he just being kind?" and the fact that they are expected to reproduce is really where this all becomes fucked up

It's one of those things where he does a lot of stuff to help her which I interpreted as him being a caring adult and going "oh fuck, there is a child left alone and her only guardians view her as an object to be traded away, I've got to help her find people who are actually going to take care of her" but looking back it could be a slight romantic gesture

I don't think there are specific laws requiring them to reproduce so they might be able to get away with just being friends with legal benefits but hopefully if they have to they can at least wait until she's an adult

There's also seraphine who is closer in age to her but there doesn't seem to be that much romance going on between them