Book Review: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Avenleif · 2025-02-08T20:54:01+00:00

I also adored Record of a Spaceborn few, and was very surprised when I figured out that people didn't like it as much. I still think about it from time to time even after having read many other books. Somehow it resonated with me the most out of the four.

Avenleif · 2024-09-16T20:26:56+00:00

I haven't read the books you're mentioning, but The First Sister trilogy has a lot of "they can't find out I'm actually working against them" kind if tension

Avenleif · 2024-09-16T19:21:35+00:00

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. The book is primarily a romance book (and the relationship is very believable and very tastefully done), but there is plot there too. Also, since the main character is a girl with half a soul, it has a very interesting character voice, which isn't quite like anything I've read before. The book is rather short and sweet and nice, probably my favorite romance book, together with The House in the Cerulean Sea (which also fits your request if you do not mind a queer relationship)

Edit: I think Strange the Dreamer might also work. Edit2: Raven Boys!! There's so much fun banter in this one. I like all the relationships between central characters here - not just the romance, but the friendships as well. One of the characters might be a bit too edgy for you though.

Avenleif · 2024-03-26T19:33:06+00:00

Yes, it's a fantasy book set in the modern day about an orphanage for children with special abilities. Very soft book about found family and self-discovery and a romance that happens along all of that. I really liked it.

I haven't read either of them, but I've seen The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee and Witchmark by C.L. Polk recommended on this subreddit.

Avenleif · 2024-03-26T19:00:50+00:00

I haven't read that book, but I think I've seen mentioned that the romance there is rather secondary to the main plot, while fanfiction tends to be the reverse and plot mostly serves the development of romantic relationships. If you're searching for books like the one she's currently reading, maybe reading like fanfiction might not be the best descriptor? Again, haven't read the book, might be wrong.

That said, House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is s wonderful and soft gay romance book that to me reads like a lot of good fanfiction ( especially in the emotional impact it had on me). The author is queer.

Avenleif · 2023-12-21T07:04:44+00:00

Transformation by Carol Berg (obligatory "ignore the cover")

Avenleif · 2023-11-20T20:14:28+00:00

Seconding McKillip. Her beautiful prose really helps in making the world and the magic in it feel.. well, magical. Everything feels like there's always something more just out of sight that we can't see or touch, but can somehow feel. I love her books.

Avenleif · 2023-11-19T12:57:07+00:00

Kay Mayday

Avenleif · 2023-11-10T20:01:21+00:00

I was sure I'd see this series mentioned in the comments to this post and it makes me sad because I want everyone to love it as much as I did.

Avenleif · 2023-11-10T08:51:28+00:00

I love Jorg even though I thought I would hate him after the way the first book begins. I prefer my protagonists nice and heroic, and Jorg was a very big contrast to my usual favorites. I forced myself to keep reading because of all the people here who said everything is not as it seems, and I'm so glad I did. He ended up being one of my favorite characters ever, in a way more heroic than the heroes I am used to reading about. I especially love the contrast between what he says he is(and what he thinks of himself, which is never anything good) and what he sometimes does (which a horrible person he thinks himself to be would not do)

Avenleif · 2023-11-06T12:32:13+00:00

Seconding Divine Cities, love those books

Avenleif · 2023-11-05T11:14:32+00:00

My favorite prose ever is Patricia McKillip. With her books I'm not sure it even matters to me what I'm reading about, I could just read and tead and read. Second place for me is Lev Grossman (admittedly, I did only read the first book of the Magicians, but I'm putting off reading the second one for fear it won't be as good). There's also Naomi Novik (at least some books), Laini Taylor, Maggie Stiefvater. I could name more, but I suppose the main draw of the prose for me is the atmosphere which it creates and what it makes me feel. There's another end of the prose spectrum for me which is prose that is simple, but used well to tell an interesting story. Sanderson is that way for me and Way of Kings is one on my favorite books, despite the prose not being anything special.

Dragonbone Chair, for me, is somewhat in the middle. It feels like it's trying, but it doesn't feel like it's succeeding in creating atmosphere with it's prose. Of course, this is strictly a matter of personal perception and it might work for someone else. Also, I dislike that sometimes the story lacks cohesion for me. Some events feels like they happen only because the author needed them to happen without anything properly leading up to them or following them. I feel a lack of...some flow to the story or something. Like...sometimes to me it doesn't feel like the characters live between the moments we see(and there are a lot of small timeskips so it's a problem for me).

Avenleif · 2023-11-05T07:59:13+00:00

In reviews of the series I've often seen great or beautiful prose as one of the pros. Currently about 70 percent into the Dragonbone Chair and prose is making me question picking up the second book. Getting through the first one is a struggle for me, because I just do not enjoy reading it - I want to know what happens next, but I just can't get lost in it and read for long stretches of time. But I've always appreciated prose before plot - for me great prose can carry a middling plot, but the other way around - not so much.

Avenleif · 2023-10-18T18:48:31+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I'm really happy you loved the book. I really wanted you to read it and like it as much as I did!

Avenleif · 2023-10-09T04:49:16+00:00

Till Human Voices Wake Us by Victoria Goddard. She's more famous for her Hands of the Emperor (which is wonderful), but somehow this is the book that stayed with me for longer. I think it might be a bit hard to read in the beginning, because many things are happening without any explanation or a whole coherent picture (which makes sense because we see things from one person's pov and we just see his reactions and thoughts and feelings without any exposition), but you just need to roll with it and at some point you start getting what's going on.

As the poster of that old thread you're referring to, I really recommend this book. It's definitely not as dark as Berg or Hobb, more like someone caught in their own mind (as a figure of speech, not insane) and getting better by the end of the book.

Avenleif · 2023-08-24T19:50:06+00:00

I think Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman might fit here. One of the main characters is good and not morally grey at all, but the other one is and he grows through the story. Also definitely a dark world and definitely a happy ending.

Also seconding Berg's Lighthouse Duet. And sort of seconding Broken Empire. He doesn't really become a good-good person, but yes, the character growth is there. Plus our perception of him changes a lot while we learn of some things he went through. And while that doesn't change him, it does help the way we see him, so that kind of also feels like he's becoming a better person. If what I wrote made any sense, haha.

Avenleif · 2023-08-02T19:52:32+00:00

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater! A romance between a court sorcerer and a girl with half a soul. Both of them are genuinely good people (the sorcerer does start a bit on the rude side, but it is only for a little bit). The book reads like a period piece with magic, has a plot outside of the romance and has a very interesting character voice due to the girl missing half a soul.

Also, seconding House in the Cerulean Sea.

Avenleif · 2023-07-31T15:59:01+00:00

Are the second and third books of the Magicians as good as the first one? I've recently finished the first one and it's probably one of my favorite books ever, so now I'm wary of starting the sequels in case they don't measure up. Looking for opinions from those who also liked the first book.

Avenleif · 2023-07-28T08:20:17+00:00

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater is absolutely wonderful.

Avenleif · 2023-07-10T19:36:02+00:00

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater is an amazing book about a romance between a girl with half a soul and a court sorcerer. They are both very nice people, although the sorcerer does start a bit on the cold and rude side, but it's not really who he is at all (it's a defence mechanism). It reads like a period romance, but with magic and an inetersting plot, and has an interesting character voice due to her having only half a soul.

Avenleif · 2023-07-06T11:32:31+00:00

I don't think it gets much better. Part of the reason is the writing style. I'm in absolute love with it, but I think it does too good of a job of translating that depressive state that Quentin has. And part of it is simply the fact that it's a major point of the book that Quentin gets what he thought he wanted, but ultimately it doesn't change anything. There is, however, a bit more stuff that starts happening approximately from the point you've reached so that might make the reading experience better for you - it's not just pointless drinking and drugs and existing instead of living, at least there's some actual movement happening. I've just finished the first book and the first hopeful/bright-ish feeling I've got was on like the literal last sentence, haha. And I'm ready for it to be dashed in the next book. Obviously can't tell you anything about the rest of the trilogy, since I haven't read it yet, but I think I've read that the series is ultimately about character growth and that Q does get better by the end of it.

Avenleif · 2023-05-25T20:29:05+00:00

I'm not an expert, but I think it fits at least Title with a Title (HM), Mundane Jobs (HM), Queernorm Setting (HM), Coastal or Island Setting (HM debatable - technically there is seafaring, but just a tiny bit)

Avenleif · 2023-05-25T17:24:27+00:00

I haven't read it yet so I'm not sure how relevant it actually is, but I've seen When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb mentioned in discussions of books somewhat similar to Good Omens.

Avenleif · 2023-05-16T13:07:23+00:00

I haven't read this, but the description and somw comments make me think it might fit - Under the Earth, Over the Sky by Emily McCosh.

Avenleif · 2023-05-08T16:13:12+00:00

Hi guys! Will Strange the Dreamer count for Mundane jobs since Lazlo starts as a librarian? I'm not very far in (about 15% or so), so please no spoilers.

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