"We can always find," said the dragon, "what we hoard."

"You have been known to gather princesses. You'd know."

"Yes, but..." The dragon hesitated. "If she doesn't know, it's not my place to tell."

debates i didn't know existed + a very humorous distinction

hostiles = antagonists that Murderbot is worried about 😳

I'll remember to mention that.

Watching these bloopers from the 1940s is surreal. Like I guess logically I had to know on some level that they made mistakes? But seeing it is something else 😂

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Release date: 18 June 2026

Genre: adult sci-fi fantasy standalone sequel

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you like:

Murder mysteries

Searching for lost empires and forgotten magic

Socially-awkward, autistic-coded protagonists

Cod became an archaeologist to chase the ghost of her hero, Aleya Ana-Ulai. History may have written Aleya off as a myth, but Cod is determined to prove she existed, even if it means sifting through relics for the rest of her life.

Then a message arrives summoning her home. Cod's former teacher has found something monumental: the ruins of an enchanted city, slumbering beneath the soil.

This could be the breakthrough they've always dreamed of. But with war brewing, rival powers circling, and ancient magics stirring underfoot, their discovery soon becomes far more trouble than it's worth. Even Cod starts to wonder if some things are better left buried . . .

"Thanks to my new sword," said the student.

The swordmaster studied the blade and frowned. "This is enchanted?"

"You know about cursed swords that whisper that you should kill?"

"Yes?"

"This tells me I'm loved and valid."

But they know I exist, they perceive me moving around the apartment outside of their enclosures and talking to them, and that my voice often precedes the appearance of delicious food, or rain (misting with a spray bottle) or a new interesting thing in their habitat to explore.