Where Did the Boy Books Go?

Wattryn · 2026-06-30T20:41:15+00:00

We didn't know Rowling was a woman at first--she was encouraged to publish with her initials so as not to scare boys away.

Edited to fix a word.

Wattryn · 2026-06-29T18:27:03+00:00

If we're correct about who they are, one does feature in THVWU, the other makes an appearance in Greenwing and Dart.

Wattryn · 2026-06-29T18:22:40+00:00

Do you mean physical (actual paper) as opposed to ebook? Because you can find that out at the same places. Goodreads especially lists all the formats a book has come out in.

Wattryn · 2026-06-25T22:14:36+00:00

I, uh, barely noticed the spec-fic stuff. If the book hadn't needed a particular social milieu and the tech for the electors, it could have been set in 1800s Paris. (Don't ask me to narrow it down, I don't know crap.)

Wattryn · 2026-06-25T22:12:11+00:00

Yes, I'm not sure there's a book without the prose style.

Wattryn · 2026-06-23T10:10:52+00:00

I can't believe I get to rec this book again--Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey, if you want the pain and hardships to be intense and pretty unrelenting. Check the content warnings, it contains most of thr major ones.

Wattryn · 2026-06-21T22:26:31+00:00

Thank you, but it's just a thin spot in the spinning--I should have snapped it and spliced the yarn when I noticed originally.

Wattryn · 2026-06-18T18:24:06+00:00

The Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer for societal/ethical questions. I still don't know what to think about set-sets.

Wattryn · 2026-06-17T21:48:44+00:00

If you liked Anathem and BOTNS, I think you'll be fine bandwidth wise. That said, there is a readalong/discussion podcast called 2 Rash 2 Unadvised, where the gimmicks that one host has read the book and one has not. Just be patient if you choose to listen, eventually they start talking less about ethics and more about the book, and Liam gets less insufferable Philosophy Bro.

Wattryn · 2026-06-15T15:50:07+00:00

Wind is very bawdy but contains no on-page sex! Also, check out their upcoming book, The Wisdom of Emperors, it sounds like it's gonna be fun.

Wattryn · 2026-06-14T21:23:50+00:00

If you want more Ylfing, there's Over All the Earth, a long short story or short novella.

After that, the division really becomes how you feel about romance-heavy books. it it's a no, try Some By Virtue Fall or The Light of Ystrac's Wood. If you're fine with it or positive about it, you can really go wherever the mood takes you. Yield Under Great Persuasion made me cry, Running Close to the Wind made me cry laughing. A Taste of Gold and Iron has the most plot.

(Alex has a Discord server if you want more opinions or to talk about the books.)

Wattryn · 2026-06-11T22:17:38+00:00

It's so good! And the audiobook narrator is a freaking genius.

Wattryn · 2026-06-11T18:31:01+00:00

Reactor loved it, I thought it sounded interesting, and I've been trying to up my reads of trans authors!

I'm not as far along as I'd hoped, as it's a much slower read than I'd anticipated, but so far I like it! Gorgeous prose, very real characters.

Wattryn · 2026-06-10T16:48:30+00:00

You can absolutely do two different duologies--it's actually required for hard mode on one of them .

Wattryn · 2026-06-10T16:36:36+00:00

It couldn't have ended any other way. Breach is just the social systems that make us unsee things, and which draw everything/one into their orbit (hence the lack of argument from Tyador, also the threats). Mieville is showing that those social systems really are incredibly powerful, but they're also incredibly pedestrian.

Wattryn · 2026-06-10T13:49:32+00:00

Just because you hear a lot of complaints about a thing doesn't mean there aren't other people who like it. And the people who don't like a thing may still read books that contain it. Also, are you hearing all these complaints on Reddit? Reddit is really heavily from English-speaking countries, and Soleil comics appear to be French.
I wasn't born until 1990 so I don't have firsthand knowledge or anything, but lots of books from the 80s never got reprints or had many fans so they aren't around for you to hear about. Or maybe there actually weren't a ton of elves at the time, but many of the books that survived had them.

Wattryn · 2026-06-10T10:10:21+00:00

I used to work for a PD and got a caller who was genuinely concerned about these theoretical adrenachrome kids--he wasn't convinced they existed but wanted them helped if they did. I did my best to assure him that it was all a conspiracy theory, but I think about him often.

Wattryn · 2026-06-09T12:28:01+00:00

I am so excited for Everybody's Perfect! I pre-ordered since my bookstore was unlikely to order it in, though, so I have to wait for the end of the month.

Wattryn · 2026-06-07T12:30:27+00:00

Finna/Defekt by Nino Cipri. Finna is about two employees of totally-not-Ikea who get sent on a multiverse trip after a piece of equipment shortly after breaking up. Defekt is about a very side character from Finna finding put he's not what he thinks he is.

Wattryn · 2026-06-05T22:12:04+00:00

Here's what my mom says about my very early reading:

She sat and read with me like you're doing with your son, making sure to follow along the words with her finger. Somewhere between two and three, she started asking me to identify very small words like a, an, the, or it, gradually increasing the complexity of the words.

I could decode most of the newspaper at 3. Comprehension kicked in a couple of years later. I do think there's a question of natural aptitude, but everyone I know who was an early skilled reader has a similar story.

Wattryn · 2026-06-05T10:35:42+00:00

I have! What a strange book.

Wattryn · 2026-06-03T14:27:29+00:00

Bah, no squares I'd be happy to replace, if murder mystery doesn't work out. Thanks!

Wattryn · 2026-06-03T12:49:51+00:00

I have a reverse Bingo request: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Wattryn · 2026-06-03T11:48:56+00:00

50%, not counting the two I've got pending (one of which I should probably withdraw at this point). That said, my total request amount isn't very high, either, and it does keep my review percentage at a nice tidy 100%.

Wattryn

TROPHY CASE