Hello, friends! We finally close the books (literally) on 2024 with my End-of-Year Book Celebration, in which I round up notable reads of the last six months and see how I did on my reading goals. One last time, if you want the short-and-sweet best-of rundown, you can hop over to Light and Shadows to get that list — but if you want a more in-depth look, stay here and keep reading.

As a reminder, since this post wraps up 2024 for me, this will be my final official post on Dreams and Dragons. After this, I'll no longer be posting on this blog, though I will leave it up for anyone who wants to go back and look at past posts. However, we need to finish this book celebration first, so let's get going!

2024 End-of-Year Book Celebration

As always, of course, we start things off with statistics and a review of my reading goals! According to Goodreads, I read 95 books and 25,068 pages in 2024, which is about half of what I read in 2023, but not surprising given that I've been reading more slowly this year than I have in some past years. Most of what I've read has been in the range of 100–400 pages, with an average page length of 263 pages, but I have read some longer books as well. My average rating is the same as it was at my mid-year celebration: 4.3 stars. Not bad, honestly.

As for my specific goals . . . Well, I didn't exactly meet most of them, but I did work towards most of them.

• The one specific goal I did achieve was to read 12 books published (or written) before 1975 (at least nine of which were aimed at adults). I read fifteen books this year that were written or published before 1975, nine aimed at adults and six aimed at children. So, yes, I just barely squeaked past, but success is success. Most of these were rereads, but one of the notable exceptions that I read this half of the year was Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, an adventure story that was pretty exciting.
• On the other hand, my goal of reading 15 non-speculative fiction books . . . did not happen. In July, I had read six non-spec-fic books, and I only added two to that number: a reread of Furiously Happy (a memoir by a popular 2000s/2010s blogger) and Moby Dick, which I have technically been reading for a few years now but finally finished this year. Oh well.
• As for decreasing the number of physical books I own but haven't read, I have been reading a lot of ebooks, which . . . is not really helpful in this regard. Still, I did read another of Sanderson's Secret Projects, Bryan Davis's Time Echoes trilogy, and a few others, so I made progress! Just not quite as much as I intended.
• I did not catch up with the Cosmere and Sanderson's Secret Projects. I read Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and that was it. At least I stayed caught up with the SVR-verse, so . . . there's that.

As always, if you want more statistics or the full list of everything I read in 2024, check out my Goodreads Year in Books or my tracking form results. But if you'd rather just hit the highlights, let's get going with some specific book categories!

Best book you've read in the second half of 2024:

Unsurprisingly, this spot goes to a W.R. Gingell book, specifically Splintered Mind, the first book in the new Shattered Worlds series. I loved getting a fresh perspective on Behind and Between, and I quite enjoyed meeting the new characters, particularly our lead, the caring, practical, and determinedly normal Viv. And, of course, the mystery element was fun!

 

The runner-up in this category is What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball by Elisabeth Aimee Brown. This was a delightful romantic romp with fae and fairy tale vibes; it's funny and charming and marvelously clever in the end. It also gave me the vibes of Emily Wilde crossed with Dragon Slippers, so if that sounds like your cup of tea, definitely pick up this book.

Best sequel you've read in the second half of 2024:

This is an insanely difficult decision because the last six months included so many good sequels. However, I think this spot goes to H.S.J. Williams's Collusion, the second book in the Kings of Aselvia series. This book was worth every minute of the four-year wait; I loved the characters and their arcs, the way Hannah has developed the world, the existence of so many actually-married couples, the emphasis on family and community . . . it just has all the good things, y'know? And, like Moonscript, it also touches on some not-so-good things, on trauma and the evils of the world, but it does so in a way that keeps hope in sight.

We do have some very close runners-up, though! Valley of Dragons, the final book in Christina Baehr's Secrets of Ormdale series, very nearly took the top spot! I talked about this book when it first came out, but to recap, this book wraps up the story in a way that brings everything full circle but also spotlights the growth of the various characters. I loved the way everyone had a little time in the spotlight, the fact that the story has so much compassion for the antagonists — especially those who are themselves the victims of lies and cycles of hurt — and how Baehr worked out the relationship between Edith and Simon!

Speaking of relationships working out: A Stab in the Dark is the latest (but, it seems, not the last after all) in Suzannah Rowntree's Miss Dark series! In it, we find Molly and Vasily figuring out who they want to be, both individually and together, as well as some questionable progress for Nijam and Schmidt . . . while, of course, running a con and dealing with an opera house full of ghosts, murdered ballerinas, mysteries, and secrets. You know. As one does. It's the best yet in the series, and I had such fun reading it!

Best book you've reread in the second half of 2024:

I reread Moonscript in preparation for the release of Collusion, and it was so good. In some respects, it was better on the reread, as I could better appreciate some of the character arcs (and trauma). Besides that, though, it was just a delight to reacquaint myself with this world and these characters.

New release you haven't read yet but want to:

Wind and Truth has been out for a month now, and no, I have not read it yet. As mentioned previously, I am behind on all the Cosmere stuff. I want to fix that sooner than later, but I have been more invested in other stories (no pun intended).

Most anticipated release for the first half of 2025:

Dates are weird with Kickstarter books, but Splintered Life, the second Shattered Worlds book, is expected to reach backers and become available for general purchase sometime in the next few months, and I am very excited to find out what happens next with Viv, Luca, Jasper, and the rest. Based on snippets, I think it's going to be so good.

Biggest disappointment:

I read Artemis Fowl in September for the Silmaril Awards, and . . . look, I know a lot of people enjoy this series, and it does do some things well, but I am simply not impressed by book one. The concepts are cool, but the execution is hindered by the fact that I didn't actually like any of the characters. I did have hopes of enjoying the story, but it just didn't do it for me.

Biggest surprise:

I don't know if this really counts, given that I was pretty sure I would like it, but I was impressed by how good Aeronwy's Stolen Child, a newsletter freebie from Claire Trella Hill, is. This is a lovely twist on the classic changeling tale, focusing on the parents of the lost children, and it's probably my favorite of Hill's short fiction.

A book that made you cry/A book that made you happy:

These categories are being combined because the same book fits both of them. Rescuing a Supervillain is super sweet, and I loved the dynamic between Bea and Sam and, of course, all the cats . . . but there's also one specific scene involving a kitten that made me actually tear up (if I recall correctly) because of how sweet and lovely and sad it is.

Also, shoutout to Collusion again. I don't remember if I actually cried or not, but it definitely gave me all the emotions, both the happy ones and the sad ones.

Favorite post you've done this half of the year:

Definitely I've Heard This One Before: A Study in Church Music Repetition, in which I went over what I learned from a year of recording and analyzing weekly music choices at a selection of churches! My goal was to figure out if less traditional churches repeated songs more (partially because I was grumpy about how often we sang particular songs at my home church); as to what I learned . . . well, go back, read the post, and you'll find out.

There's my wrapup — now, tell me about your second half of 2024! What are the best books you've read or reread in the last six months? What should I add to my TBR for 2025? Tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Hi all! My brain has been mostly drowned in Christmas preparations (and the bit that's staying afloat is clinging to my and my friend's writing projects for dear life), but winter is here, or will be tomorrow, and that means it's time for a new season of reads.

 

Winter 2024–2025 Reads

1. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (December 6). In other years, this might've been my most-anticipated read of the season, and I quite possibly would've already read it (or would be ravenously watching the library listing in hopes that it would come in sooner rather than later). Because I'm kind of behind on Sanderson books, I'm less hyped at the moment, but I am still excited to read this once I'm properly caught up! I have heard mostly good things from the friends who have read it, and I'm looking forward to finding out where the rest of the story goes.

2. Rescuing a Supervillain by H.L. Burke (December 23). In contrast to Wind and Truth, I already have read this one, since I got an early copy from H.L. Burke's recent Kickstarter. This is such a sweet, fun story; I absolutely loved it. Sam (a temporarily-benched superhero) and Bea (a cat-shifter thief trying to escape her former team) are such good characters, and I like their arcs both individually and together. Also! There are cats! Who doesn't love cats?

3. Captive Dance by Kendra E. Ardnek (January 10). This is the sequel to Pumpkin War, but I am much more excited about Captive Dance than I was about its predecessor. Why? Because it's a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling with what sounds suspiciously like an antagonists-to-lovers romance, and I think it's going to be so fun. After all, the Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my favorite fairy tales, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Kendra does with it!

4. The Shapeshifter Drives a Bargain by Claire Trella Hill (February 3). This is another Tales of Karneesia story, a short romantasy from the world of The Erlking's Daughters. This series is a little hit-or-miss for me — some I really enjoy; some I'm a bit meh on. That said, this combination of Beauty and the Beast with Rumplestiltskin sounds interesting; I'm interested to see what Claire has planned for that. Hopefully it'll be good!

5. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (February 11). Confession, I still need to read book two in this series . . . but I very much liked book one, and I'm looking forward to seeing our prickly, nerdy scholar friend navigate the challenges of Faerie. Hopefully I'll be caught up with the series by the time this comes out!

What book releases are you excited for this winter? Am I missing any? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

October 2024 Doings!

Hello, friends! October was a weird month — the first half was honestly fairly chill aside from work stress, and then we hit the weekend of the 19th and everything happened at once. As of a result, I have been very tired. But the blog must go on, so let's review this month's Doings!

Writing!

• I intended for my writing time this month to go towards two short stories and the next Bastian Dennel book. That . . . did not go as planned. I was still very productive! Just not on the projects I intended to write!
• I spent the first week and a half of the month sorting through ideas for the two short stories, even going so far as to outline one fairly extensively and start a different one. Then I was reminded of another project that I had semi-committed to in the past and needed to make up my mind about, so I started poking at ideas for that . . .
• And, thanks to a comment from a friend, I stumbled upon a particular concept, fell in love, and decided to chase the plot rabbit until it stopped running, as I had to write the thing eventually, and the more I do now, the less I had to do later.
• The plot rabbit is still running, and it's produced several more bunnies . . . one of which did turn into a short story for the writing challenge I was doing this month, so there's that. I haven't started writing the book yet, but I've been doing a lot of brainstorming and planning of character, worldbuilding, and plot stuff. It's a Chinese-inspired setting, but not ancient China, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
• Otherwise, I continued writing my just-for-fun side project in my spare time, and I wrote a bit more of my D&D tournament arc. It's still not finished, but I've managed to stay a couple sessions' worth of material ahead of the game, so I count that as a win.
• The other big writing news of the month was that I once more had a table at Eat Local, Read Local, an author event held by one of the libraries in the area. That was tiring, but fun. I enjoyed meeting readers and potential readers, and I particularly loved that a few people who bought Song of the Selkies previously came back for Illusion's Reign. That was a definite win!

Reading!

• This month has been both a light and heavy reading month — light because I only finished three books; heavy because all those books were pretty hefty.
• Collusion by H.S.J. Williams was definitely my favorite read of the month. I started reading it literally the day it arrived at my house, setting aside Yumi and the Nightmare Painter to do so (the correct choice, for the record). I posted a couple weeks ago raving about it, so I won't repeat myself too much, but I absolutely loved this book. Getting to see Errance, Tryss, Coren, Tellie, the Daisha, and the rest again was so much fun, the new characters were interesting, the plot was amazing, and the themes of hope, healing, and the dangers of isolating yourself were all so, so good. I look forward to whenever I get to read this one; I know it's going to be just as amazing the second time around.
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was also good, though I'm not as in love with it as some of my friends seem to be. I liked the narrative and the themes, and Sanderson did an astonishing job of putting together a life-swap/bodyswap story that didn't give me constant secondhand embarrassment, and of course the worldbuilding was very cool. On the other hand, it took me a good third of the book to really connect with the protagonists, and I didn't always love the narrative voice? Both of those are really just me things, though.
• From there, we transition into spooky season reads with a reread of Black and Deep Desires and a new book that I'm currently reading, The Death of Clara Willenheim. Black and Deep Desires was just as delicious on the reread as it was the first time around, I'm happy to say. Clara Willenheim is a ghostly gothic murder mystery; I'm about halfway through and enjoying it so far, though it recently took a turn that was rather darker than I expected.
• And, of course, I continue to enjoy Dracula Daily, though I kind of dropped listening to Re: Dracula. One form of the story is enough for me this year, and with my head so full of brainstorming, I've been more in the mood for music than podcasts of late.

Watching & Playing!

• Wonder of wonders, I actually watched stuff this month!
• My friends who got me into Star Rail and Genshin convinced me that I needed to watch Yona of the Dawn with them, mostly by promising excellent character development and also the presence of certain archetypes that I absolutely adore. (They are excellent influences, obviously.) Scheduling that has been tricky, as we have three people in two different time zones, but we've managed five episodes, and I'm very much enjoying the show. Hak is my favorite character by a long shot, though we'll see if that changes once the dragons show up. I also like how the show is handling the development of Yona herself, how she's dealing with her grief and finding her strength in a way that seems very natural. Hopefully I'll get to watch the rest soon!
• I also rewatched True Grit with my family, which I didn't enjoy quite as much this time around . . . I feel like the sadness of the ending hit a lot harder this time? Though I also just might not have been in the mood for the story; it was a very spur-of-the-moment decision.
• As for what I'm playing, I'm two thirds of the way through the Liyue region main story in Genshin! This is one of the two regions I was most looking forward to when I got into the game, and I've enjoyed it so far. I am attempting to figure out what Zhongli's deal is, piecing together what the story tells me with bits of information gained from the fandom and my friends' conversations . . . I like him quite a lot (thankfully, as he's the character who my friends mainly used to convince me to start the game), but I am getting conflicting information about who or what he really is. Hopefully I'll find out in the next couple weeks, though.
• (I will also note that, while Genshin definitely has a steeper learning curve on combat than Star Rail did, I am less bad at that than I used to be! And I am getting better! I'm still not good by any means, but I die a lot less than I used to, and I remember to shield a lot more often.)
• The other fun thing about Genshin is the co-op mode, which currently mostly involves me running around after my more-experienced friends, picking up treasures and whatnot while they utterly destroy any enemies that show up (something that is satisfying for ALL of us, for the record). Exploring together is a lot more fun than exploring alone would be — especially since they can show me cool stuff that I wouldn't have found on my own for ages. Probably my favorite two co-op experiences so far were making it to the very top of a particularly dangerous mountain in the first region of the game and making the trek to the second region of the game together, but it's all been a lot of fun.
• This past week, though, I've mostly been playing Star Rail, specifically the version 2.6 story update, which was been a wild ride. I might be mildly traumatized by monkeys and bananas at this point, y'all, and I have definitely been fighting for my life against a particularly catchy earworm of a song. That's said, I enjoyed it — some of my favorite characters are very heavily involved in it, and we have the main Trailblaze trio together again for a lot of the story! The new characters were also cool, and one of my favorite couples in the game had some really nice interactions! I am also inordinately pleased that I was able to get one of my favorite characters (Dan Heng Lunae, for those who play) during his rerun; he has been very fun to play. (And he's narratively appropriate! At least somewhat! That makes me very happy.)

 Life!

• October started off pretty quiet and chill, for which I was grateful — for several weeks, the most exciting thing that happened was that I made some rather excellent basil sourdough bread. It was my first time trying those mix-ins, and I'm quite pleased with how the loaf turned out.
• Then we hit the weekend of the 19th and everything became Very Busy.
• I've already talked about the 19th and Eat Local, Read Local. Again, that went well . . . but I was very tired the next few days, which wasn't ideal, as the following Monday was the first day back at online grad school classes. The class I'm currently taking is Advanced English Grammar, which I chose because I thought it would be mildly interesting and not too difficult. And it has indeed not been too difficult, mostly . . . but it is a lot more technical than I expected.
  • Fun fact: there is an official grammar term ("lexical phrases") for structures like "see you later" and "by the way" where the same words are regularly used for specific functions without being an idiom.
  • Another fun fact: when you start describing grammar rules in the abstract, you end up with formulas, and those formulas look way more like upper-level calculus than they do algebra.
• Anyway. That's happening. It's better than the last class, and therefore we will get through it.
• On a happier note, last weekend a friend and I went to the Renaissance Festival! The one we normally go to was sold out, so we ended up visiting a different one instead that's a little further away, requiring a full weekend trip. That was also tiring, but a lot of fun! I love wandering around the Faire, seeing everyone's costumes and outfits, visiting the shops, and, of course, watching the jousts! This Faire's joust still wasn't as realistic as the Ohio Ren Fest's joust, but it had the best story of any Faire I've gone to so far, and it concluded in a resounding triumph of good over evil. I was truly impressed!
• That brings us up to this past week, which has mostly consisted of grad school, story prep, gaming, work, and recovering from all the driving I did over the weekend. So, pretty quiet.
• Other than that . . . I'm still working on crafting Christmas presents; that's going fairly well (though I am starting to feel the pressure of Looming Deadlines). I also started work on a new fleece capelet, this one a lovely green-and-black plaid with a properly deep hood! It's going to be so cozy when it's done. That said, I'm hand-sewing a lot of it because I didn't feel like arguing with the sewing machine, so it's going to take a bit.
• And on the D&D front, we're still playing through the mini-campaign; I think we're probably about halfway through at this point. That continues to be fun, and I'm starting to get the hang of my character's mechanics. I didn't get much done on finishing up my character for the next campaign, but I still have time. (She's playable. I just need to figure out some extra backstory stuff.)
• I think that about covers it! Again, October was mostly a quiet month; it just got very exciting at the end there.

November Plans

• Grad school continues to exist and will also continue to dominate however much of my brainspace and free time I allow it to. Given what happened last winter and spring when I let myself stress over it a lot, I'm going to try to keep it to a more reasonable resource allocation this time around. We'll see if that works.
• Otherwise, I plan to start drafting the new story I mentioned up in the writing section (with a low daily wordcount goal), and I'll continue working on D&D writing and brainstorming a story for the DOSA Files (which I really need to figure out sooner rather than later).
• I also need to either speed up work on some of the Christmas presents I'm making or decide that some of those gifts will be slightly smaller than originally planned. We'll see which one wins.
• I don't have any author events planned; I was hoping to go to Doxacon, but they're meeting in DC this year, and I do not want to deal with that. Alas.
• Work will probably be busy for the next two months as we prepare for Advent and Christmas. Still, I'm hoping to do enough in advance that it won't be terribly stressful — and holidays do have the advantage of being very similar year to year, so I have a good idea what to expect.
• And, of course, I will continue to have D&D, reading (maybe delving into some mysteries this month), and gaming to help me relax and get my stress levels down. All in all, it should be a good month.

How was your October? Any plans for November? Do you prefer to watch shows and movies by yourself or with others? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello! First up, a quick reminder for my friends in the Northern Virginia area: tomorrow, October 19, I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at Cascades Library! The event runs from 10:00am to 2:00pm and includes loads of local authors, food trucks, live music, and fun. I'll have copies of all or most of my books, including Song of the Selkies and Illusion's Reign available for purchase, and I'll also be signing previously-purchased books if you bring them by. I hope to see you there!

Now, moving on to the actual post topic: while I don't celebrate Halloween (except, occasionally, as an excuse for cosplay), I do very much enjoy the opportunity to indulge in some spookier reads. I've always enjoyed books that have at least a little edge of creepiness, and that's become even more true in the last couple years as I've gotten into some Gothic-inspired (and actually-Gothic) stories. Besides the fact that it can be fun to be scared at times, these stories (the well-written ones, at least) are often astonishingly hopeful, celebrating not death, not the dead, but death's defeat by life. And as we're now solidly in spooky season, now seems like an excellent time for me to recommend some of my favorites.

Spooky Season Reads

Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. This series has pretty much everything you could ask for in a spooky season story: truly terrifying ghosts, dangerous mysteries, secrets, people tampering with that which man should not, and a conclusion that affirms life's triumph over death. As a bonus, we have truly excellent characters (and character development), humor to keep the darkness from becoming overpowering, and an equal balance of friendships and romance. Also, while this is a mainline-published series, the themes and conclusion make it an astonishingly Christian in the best way.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. This list has to include at least one of the classics, and no one should be surprised at which one I chose. My enjoyment of Dracula is well-established by now — I love the characters, the creeping terror and slow-growing realization of wrongness, the sacrificial love displayed by so many of the heroes . . . it's just so good. Granted, I firmly believe that the best way to read this book is the Dracula Daily method (or the Re: Dracula method if you prefer your books in audio form), but reading the whole thing at once is also a good option.

Black and Deep Desires by Claire Trella Hill. This is probably my overall favorite book on the list, and the only reason it's not at the top is because Lockwood & Co and Dracula have more of what I like about spooky season reads specifically. However, Black and Deep Desires is delightfully creepy and Gothic, full of crumbling houses, monsters, mysteries, midnight ventures through secret passages, haunting dreams, and so forth — plus a story of love, friendship, and healing from trauma and abuse, plus a stubborn, bookish, Shakespeare-quoting vampire. It's a delight, and I'm currently planning to reread it as soon as I finish my current read.

The Abhorsen original trilogy by Garth Nix. I am disregarding everything except the original three in this recommendation — the other books are fine, but the first three are the best. (And the first book is my personal favorite, though some of my friends prefer the second book . . . I digress.) These don't have quite as much of a creepy edge as some of the others on this list, despite being basically a zombie story in a fantasy setting, but the storyworld and the themes still make them a good choice for a spooky season read.

 

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson. This book shares some similarities with the Abhorsen books, especially Sabriel in terms of the world and magic system, which is delightfully spooky and dangerous. It doesn't go quite as hard on my favorite themes of this season, but it's still a good ghostly read.

Do you enjoy Gothic or spooky reads? What are your favorites? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

September 2024 Doings!

Hello, all! I will be honest; after a month of a really weird blog schedule, I completely forgot that Doings! was a thing until about two days ago. (The fact that this past week of work has been really chaotic and busy did not help matters.) Thank goodness I remembered Wednesday morning instead of Wednesday night so I could still get this out on time!

Also, just as a quick heads-up for those in the Northern Virginia area: my books and I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls on Saturday, October 19, 11:00–2:00. The event will also include many other authors, food, and live music, so come stop by, check out the tables, pick up some new books, or just say hi! I hope I'll get to see you there!

Writing!

• In case you missed it: Illusion's Reign officially released on September 27 and is available for purchase on Amazon in both ebook and paperback forms.  Thank you so much to everyone for the wonderful reception you gave this book — all the excitement and encouragement was such a joy! I've seen a few early reviews and a few people saying that they're reading and enjoying the book currently, which is also delightful.
• Just as a reminder, if you didn't preorder the book but you were thinking of buying the Kindle edition, make sure you do that soon! The ebook price will rise from $2.99 to $3.99 next week.
• Most of my writing-related work this month was, of course, on Illusion's Reign: proofreading, formatting, and putting together promo stuff for it and the other Lost Kerchiefs stories. All that went very smoothly, though, with the exception of some delays on blog tour materials, so it was a surprisingly calm release month. I will say that I was very glad to be done with the final round of proofreading, though.
• Also writing-related: September was, of course, Silmaril Awards month! I hosted the Silver Tongues category this year, and I was very pleased that someone I've spent years rooting for took home the Silmaril! If you missed the Awards, you can still find links to all the ceremonies on the official website. I highly recommend checking them out! (On a side note, Athelas from City Between has cameos or actual finalist appearances in so many of the awards ceremonies this year, and that delights me to no end.)
• Additionally, in case anyone missed it, Song of the Selkies and I were featured on Tricia Goyer's Avid Readers of Christian Fiction blog and podcast! Go check those out if you haven't already; I really enjoyed getting to chat with Tricia about my writing journey and my books.
• As for D&D writing for my campaign . . . I admit to slacking a bit on that front. I also admit to once again underestimating the complexity of what I decided to do. Still, I am making progress in bits and pieces, and as long as I'm maintaining a buffer, I'm fine.
• I've also been doing some writing on a side project, but that is entirely for fun. Basically, it's an opportunity to recharge with a story that I know won't be published and that doesn't have deadlines, so I can keep in the writing habit without the pressure of an "official" project. (That's not to say anything negative about my published books; I love working on those too. But I've learned too that sometimes it's nice to write something that's just for me.)

Reading!

• This was another slightly lighter reading month (two of those seven books pictured are short stories), but it included lots of excellent stories! I can hardly pick a favorite!
• Splintered Mind was probably my most highly-anticipated read of the month, and it was every bit as excellent as I hoped it would be. Seeing a different side of Between and Behind was fun, and I also liked the new lead character. Viv is decidedly, determinedly normal, and she is much more reluctant to embrace the new, mad world she's been pulled into than certain previous protagonists — but I can't blame her. Plus, she's also caring and practical and Doing Her Best, and her new perspective gives this book a very different vibe than the previous books in this world. (Also, because Viv is coming into this cold, this is an excellent starting point if you want to give the Between and Behind books a try but are intimidated by the ten-book commitment of City Between!)
• Another world I enjoyed revisiting was H.S.J. Williams's Aselvia! I reread Moonscript and read Crown of Sand and Sea in preparation for Collusion's release, and both of those were excellent. Hannah is magnificent at balancing heartbreak and hope, facing the darkness without succumbing to it. I've said before that her books remind me of Goldstone Wood, and I stand by that now. (On a related note, I'm currently reading Collusion, her latest release, and it is excellent.)
• On the shorter side, we have Claire Trella Hill's Come by Water and Aeronwy's Stolen Child. Come by Water was a cool take on Tam Lin, and Claire does a good job at deciding what to show from the original myth and what to leave out. It's not my favorite of her books, but it's still a good read. Aeronwy's Stolen Child, on the other hand, is definitely in my top three favorites of Claire's works! It's such a clever reimagining of a changeling story, one in which the faery child might not have been so willingly given and a faery mother is desperate to get her baby back. I absolutely loved it!
• Moving on, I read the first Artemis Fowl book as research for my Silmaril Awards ceremony. I almost got into this series at one point when I was much younger . . . and, to be honest, I am not upset to have missed it. To be clear, the author does some interesting things with worldbuilding, the story is exciting, and Artemis is an interesting character, so I see why the series is so popular, but I did not vibe with it.
• Wrapping up this month, I finally finished reading Moby Dick via the Whale Weekly Substack! It was . . . definitely something. I admit that, even in email form, I was definitely skimming a lot by the end. This falls solidly into the category of "I'm glad I read it, but I sure hope I don't have to do it again."

 Watching & Playing!

• I am actually caught up on Star Rail main story content, and it is the weirdest feeling. What do you mean, there's not another big story mission for me to do? What do you mean, I just have to sit here and wait for months to find out what happens next? That can't be right, can it? (It is, apparently.)
• So, yeah. I finished the Penacony story and jumped straight into the Wardance, and storms was that intense and amazing. I finished the first part about three days before part two dropped, and the agony of that cliffhanger — I don't know how people who had to wait the full time didn't go crazy. But that whole storyline was amazingly well done. I loved the new characters, and I also loved the way many established characters' arcs continued, both in the main story and the event quests. The Xianghou continues to have some of my favorite characters and my favorite storylines; it's just the best.
• And now I'm just waiting for the next update to drop . . .
• Or, rather, I would be just waiting, except that my friends who got me into Star Rail talked me into starting Genshin Impact. Which, to be fair, I planned to do eventually, but they were very persuasive in getting me to move that timeline up. And by "very persuasive," I mean that they filled our group chat with pictures and discussions of all the cool characters in Genshin, and they also pointed out that a character they thought I would love (both as a character and in terms of gameplay) was going to be available to pull fairly soon. And given that it probably was going to be the best time for me to start a new game for a while (in that I was entering the gap between Illusion's Reign being done and my next grad school class starting) . . . I really couldn't argue with them.
• So, yes, I'm playing Genshin now. It is going very slowly (I just finished Act II of the prologue), and I am still very bad at the combat (I keep forgetting to switch characters and shield), but I'm having fun! The storyline is interesting, and I like the characters I've met so far. The fact that the main story quests are level-locked is a little frustrating to me, but from a gameplay and game design perspective, it makes sense. And it probably isn't a bad thing that I have to wait a little to find out what happens next . . . After all, patience is a virtue.

 Life!

• September started with a Bible study retreat up at White Sulphur Springs. This was, again, a joint retreat between our study in Virginia and another study group in Ohio that my sister and many of our friends attend. Getting to spend time in one of my favorite places in the world with some of my favorite people in the world was absolutely lovely, as always! We played board games, went up to the shooting range, explored the small town near the retreat center, did square dancing, and just spent a lot of time hanging out and talking. I also got to do a lot of just-for-fun writing on the porch with a gorgeous view of the mountains (which are beautiful no matter the weather). Saturday also came with a magnificent thunderstorm . . . which did put a damper (pun intended) on a lot of outdoor activities and briefly knocked out the power, but I still enjoyed it.
• The retreat was a nice break, which was good, since the rest of September was pretty busy. Besides book releases and Silmaril Awards, I had a lot to do at work to get ready for our Stewardship campaign and start of fall programming. Granted, a lot of it was in the vein of "hurry up and wait" because I'd get my part done, then have to wait for the relevant person to review what I'd done or give me more information . . . but that describes many of my busy seasons, to be honest.
• D&D was pretty eventful this month. I mentioned back in my August Doings that we'd reached the climax of the campaign and had played the first stage of the final confrontation with the villain. This month, we had the rest of that confrontation, battling the antagonist himself (not just his armies). That was every bit as epic as I expected. Our DM did an amazing job with the setup of the fight, both narratively and mechanically, and everyone had their moment to shine in the battle and in the aftermath. After that, we had one more session as an epilogue to wrap up our characters' stories and figure out what they're doing now that their adventure is over. That was also lovely — bittersweet in that we were saying goodbye, but more sweet than bitter. Pretty much everyone got a happy ending, one way or another, and so I am more than satisfied.
• I'm also looking forward to our next campaign, though right now we're doing a mini-adventure DMed by one of the other players in the group. I'm playing the sister of my main campaign character, who is rather different from both her and me personality-wise, so that's been interesting. She's also a paladin/sorcerer multiclass, which means combat is a lot more complicated than it was previously. She's fun, though, and I'm enjoying this new story and the other player's DM style.
• We wrapped up the month with another Bible study event, specifically a campfire get-together. Getting to see people there outside of the study, and I successfully made a mountain pie without either burning or underheating it, so yay for that.
• That covers pretty much everything — this September was a lot more chill than a lot of others have been, and I am grateful for that.

October Plans

• The big thing for October is the start of a new grad school class — my extended summer-and-early-fall break has come to an end, and it's time to get back to work. I admit that I'm not excited, but hopefully it won't be too bad either. This class is on advanced English grammar, so I suspect that either it's going to be chill or it's going to be really technical and frustrating. We'll find out which in a couple weeks!
• I plan to spend most of October working on shorter stories for anthologies and writing challenges rather than jumping back in on another Bastian Dennel book. However, there is the chance that will change depending on my mood and inspiration. I do know that I want to write something for the next DOSA Files anthology, though, and it would be good to do that before I start another novel.
• As mentioned earlier, I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls on Saturday, October 19, 11:00–2:00! As long as nothing goes wrong, I should have paperback copies of Illusion's Reign there, as well as most of my other books. If you're in the area, I'd love for you to come say hello!
• Since I didn't end up going to the Renaissance Faire in September, I'm hoping to make it to one in October instead — ideally with a friend, but I'll go alone if I have to. Scheduling that has been a pain so far, though, so we'll see what happens.
• Aside from those things, I expect October will be business as usual. I hope so, anyway.

How was your September? Any plans for October? What's the best for-fun decision you've been talked into by someone else? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello, friends! 2024 is halfway gone, and the time has come for my Mid-Year Book Celebration, in which I check in on my reading goals and round up my favorite reads of the first six months of 2024, along with assorted other notable books and other stories that I enjoyed (or didn't enjoy) in that time. If you just want the short-and-sweet best-of rundown, you can hop over to Light and Shadows to get that list — but if you want that list and more, stay right here and read on!

2024 Mid-Year Book Celebration

There is, of course, no book celebration without statistics and a look at how my goals are going. As of July 1, I've read 58 books and 14,610 pages (or so says Goodreads), which is notably lower than what I'd read around this time last year — but I think I've been reading more slowly, so that makes a difference. I'm still on track for my goal of reading 93 books in 2024. Most of what I've read has been in the 200–400 page range, as per usual, and my average rating is 4.3 stars. Apparently, I've liked my reads a tiny bit less on average this year than I did last year.

Happily, though, some of my specific goals are going well!

• I'm actually doing quite well on my goal of 12 books published (or written) before 1975 (at least nine of which were aimed at adults); I've read ten books in this category, and only four of those were originally aimed at children. As in past years, subscribing to novels via Substack newsletter helps a lot. Notable books I've read towards this goal include the two Sherlock Holmes novels, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, Ann McCaffrey's Dragonsong, and Rosalind Goforth's How I Know God Answers Prayer. Of the three more books I need to read to complete this goal, I'm already in the process of reading two — Dracula via Dracula Daily and Moby Dick via Whale Weekly, which I'll finish in September. I have a few ideas of what I might read for a third, but we'll see what ends up catching my interest.
• My goal of reading 15 non-speculative fiction books is going . . . not as well, but not terribly. I've read six books so far towards this goal, so I'm rather behind, but I have ideas of what I could read in order to catch up. I just need to find them at the library when I'm in the mood to read them.
• I have somewhat decreased the number of physical books I own but haven't read — which I mostly accomplished by deciding to part with my Wheel of Time books (I'll get them out from the library if I decide to give the series another try), but progress is progress. I have been making an effort to pick up unread books from my shelves, but I've also been trying to do the Kindle reading challenges on and off, and those two things are kind of mutually exclusive.
• I did catch up with H.L. Burke's SVR-verse, which also helped. I've only read one book towards catching up on the Cosmere and Sanderson Secret Project novels, but I still have several months left, so hopefully I can fix that.

For more statistics or the full list of everything I read in 2024, check out my Goodreads Year in Books or my tracking form results. For now, though, let's get on to the specific categories of books I want to highlight!

1. Best book you've read in the first half of 2024:

This is a slightly easier choice than normal — my favorite new-to-me non-sequel of 2024 so far is absolutely The Erlking's Daughters by Claire Trella Hill! It's epic fantasy with a deep, lore-rich world, a beautiful balance of light and dark, an excellent take on fae, a lovely slowburn romance, and, most importantly, a strong focus on family, especially sibling relationships. With all that together, there's no chance I wouldn't love it.

Of course, just because it was an easy choice doesn't mean there aren't some really good runners-up. Tress of the Emerald Sea is a Princess Bride-esque pirate adventure with fabulous characters and a really cool magic system, and it probably would've tied with The Erlking's Daughter if I hadn't gotten annoyed with the story voice in some sections. Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries features a pair of scholar protagonists (with Howl and Sophie vibes), a very other take on the fae, and themes bound up in stories and how we use them to understand the world. Finally, Game On is a stellar example of how to do next-generation stories right, besides the fact that it's a really fun superhero story in and of itself.

2. Best sequel you've read in the first half of 2024:

Another easy choice here — Dark & Dawn is Book 4 in Suzannah Rowntree's Miss Dark's Apparitions series, and it's the best installment yet. I loved delving into Molly's family history and watching the crew's schemes unfold . . . but what I loved more was seeing Molly learn to trust, seeing Vasily figuring out how to be human, and seeing them both have some difficult, wonderful conversations. And, of course, the ending was absolutely magnificent.

That said, we had some thoroughly delightful runners-up for best sequel. Castle of the Winds continues the Secrets of Ormdale with a cozy adventure through secrets, chases, and twists and some absolutely magnificent dragons. No Man Left Behind wraps up the Worlds Behind series with as twisty and thrilling — and satisfying — a conclusion as you'd expect from one of Gingell's urban fantasies. And Mantles of Oak and Iron is an exciting follow-up to The Orb and the Airship that shows more of the broad scope of the story and world and gives us more of a look into our favorite characters pasts and capabilities.

3. Best book you've reread in the first half of 2024:

Fact: rereading The Goblin Emperor is never a bad idea. I don't know if there's such a thing as cozy political intrigue epics, but if there is, this definitely qualifies. It's just delightful to enjoy a story about someone who's been given a great deal of power, who's been pushed into the schemes that dominate any fantasy court, but who chooses to be kind at pretty much every step of the way and who succeeds because of it, y'know?

 4. New release you haven't read yet but want to:

This is a pretty recent release, but technically I've had access to Hearts of Stone and Steel by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt for a bit and not yet gotten around to reading it. (In my defense, I got the ebook from the Kickstarter and then lost the file . . . which isn't a very good defense, but oh well.) I'm excited to see more of Captain Marik, Beren, and the rest and to find out what happens next in this epic series!

5. Most anticipated release for the second half of 2024:

The Splintered Mind Kickstarter wrapped up a couple weeks ago, and backers will likely start receiving their copies in late July and August, and I believe the book will be available for wide purchase sometime after that. I'm so excited to discover a new aspect of the worlds Behind and Between and to meet a new set of characters!

I'm also very much looking forward to the final two Secrets of Ormdale novles, City of Serpents (releasing July 14; technically I just finished my ARC of this, but I'm looking forward to getting to talk about it with other people) and Valley of Dragons (coming in October). I've loved the first three books, and they've regularly made my best-of lists, so I have high hopes for the back half of the series as well.

And, of course, I'm looking forward to Wind and Truth, the fifth Stormlight Archive novel, releasing this December . . . though I really need to catch up on the Cosmere before I can be properly hyped. Hopefully, by the time it arrives, I'll be back in the habit of reading really long books more regularly.

6. Biggest disappointment:

I decided to give the Detective Conan manga series a try because I have a friend who really enjoys them. Unfortunately, I did not love the first book — while the concept is cool, some of the characters annoy me, and there's a fair bit of cartoony violence that bugs me as well (more because of who it's directed at than because of the violence itself). I still may try to forge on with more of the series, just so I can give it a fair chance, but the start, at least, did not wow me.

7. Biggest surprise:

I wasn't really surprised by any books this year, in the sense of liking them more than I expected — there were plenty that surprised me with twists, but of course I can't list those here, as that would be a spoiler. Apparently, most of my reads this year have met my expectations, and if they surpassed them, I was already expecting to really like them.

8. A book that made you cry:

Tears is a stretch, but Power Up and Engaged to a Supervillain both gave me all the feels, so I think that sort of counts?

9. A book that made you happy:

Wishing on a Supervillain and Accidentally a Supervillain were both super fun reads, pun very much intended. I enjoy all of H.L. Burke's SVR-verse books, but these two were especially fun.

10. Favorite post you've done this half of the year:

My favorite post this year was actually a guest post on Jenelle Leanne Schmidt's blog: Stories Behind the Scenes: How to Research for Worldbuilding! In this post, I broke down my approach for how I figure out what to research when I'm building a world and where to do that research.

On my own blog, I had a lot of fun with my Favorite Fantasy Subgenres and Favorite Romance Tropes posts that I did for February is Fantasy Month, in which I both shared the titular favorites and provided book recommendations for each subgenre or trope.

11. Most beautiful book you've bought/received this half of the year:

I mean, Hearts of Stone and Steel is very cool-looking, so probably that.

That wraps things up for me — but what about for you? What are the best books you've read in the first half of 2024? Also, what's the best book or series you've reread? Tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!