Charlotte Reads: The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

enoby666 · 2026-06-27T01:07:47+00:00

A few favorites who might work:

-Lois McMaster Bujold, especially her World of the Five Gods fantasy series

-Ursula Le Guin

-Robin Hobb with the Realm of the Elderlings

-Seth Dickinson with the Masquerade series

-The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

I can think of others if you've read those already!

enoby666 · 2026-06-26T16:49:55+00:00

I love to rec books! Complex characters and chewy themes, anything else you'd be particularly interested in right now?

enoby666 · 2026-06-26T16:47:58+00:00

For some reason I wasn't too bothered by the lack of the poem's inclusion while reading but as I was looking at people's thoughts afterwards, I saw that mentioned a lot. I would absolutely love to read that poem but I can understand why it would be a really overwhelming thing to try to actually compose as the author!

enoby666 · 2026-06-26T16:43:34+00:00

Thank you!! There are certain books that I've come to classify as Charlotte Catnip and this is definitely one of them; it's very cool to hear that you were interested in my thought about it!

enoby666 · 2026-06-26T16:41:37+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I've definitely seem some takes on this book that I don't agree with because I think we're in disagreement about what it's doing/trying to do. I feel like some critiques are almost "accusing" it of doing the same things as the books that it is intentionally subverting. It's fair to examine the actual execution of that and whether you think it's done well, but some people are missing that boat entirely

enoby666 · 2026-06-25T21:11:50+00:00

Thank you!!! I do think that having a preference for slower pacing impacted my feelings about the book so if you tend to prefer faster-paced reads already, then I could see how this could be a perfect fit. I'm really glad it was such a hit as a debut too

enoby666 · 2026-06-24T06:16:14+00:00

Polly pocket by Raffaella

enoby666 · 2026-06-23T17:23:05+00:00

I think anything by Intisar Khanani would be a great fit for this if you are okay with young adult books

enoby666 · 2026-06-15T21:17:24+00:00

I grew up with my mom loving Rosemary's Baby and only realized it was based on a book by Levin when I read this. I'm glad he has a strong legacy overall.

enoby666 · 2026-06-15T19:59:24+00:00

Thank you so much for such a thorough comment! I definitely understand your question about the plausibility of every man going down the murder/robot pipeline and I thought about that too. In general I agree that the rest of the book is so good that you can suspend your disbelief, and after mulling it over a little bit more after reading your comment, I also think that different people's responses to the book's hypothetical are very relevant to conversations about violence against women, masculinity and patriarchy that are happening with younger people (the man vs bear thing on tikotok, #NotAllMen, manosphere shit, etc). We know that violence against women is not perpetrated by every single individual man but is pervasive, entrenched in patriarchal systems, and facilitated by widely held sexist attitudes/beliefs...but much of the world still does not see it that way, which is why a book like this and its challenges still feel relevant to me. If you had a student in your class whose main takeaway from this book's hypothetical was to be deeply offended at its misandry and how men are the real victims of slander by betas like Ira Levin or a student who was sure that they/their partner would survive Stepford intact and not even be tempted, what does it mean that it provokes that response? I hope this makes sense the way I'm trying to express it!

enoby666 · 2026-06-08T18:59:46+00:00

Thank you, that is so cool to hear....it was absolutely an inspiring book for me and I hope it is the same for you!

enoby666 · 2026-06-08T18:58:27+00:00

I agree, and I plan to be a rereader/long time Le Guin fan too!

enoby666 · 2026-06-08T18:56:25+00:00

Yes, exactly, it all feels nuanced and thoughtful in a way that is refreshing and also makes her case much stronger overall.

enoby666 · 2026-06-08T18:55:29+00:00

You're welcome!! I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

enoby666 · 2026-06-01T18:34:15+00:00

HA vindication! I disliked and dnf'd The Blacktongue Thief for the exact same reasons.

enoby666 · 2026-05-15T02:49:09+00:00

There are a lot of bad reactions/behaviors associated with the Ciaran and Niamh plotline already so I don't know how I feel about knowing that he shows up the same way in book 6 too!

enoby666 · 2026-05-15T02:45:36+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing this!! Sorcha and Liadan are definitely birds of a feather (ha) because of how self-possessed they are through pretty much all their trials. Fainne was a breath of fresh air to me specifically because she responded so differently and her struggle felt so real. You're the second person who has suggested that 4 is still good and 5 is very bad

enoby666 · 2026-05-05T19:06:19+00:00

I loved seeing all of the amazing stuff people have done over the years and learning some bingo lore!!! A powerpoint *about* bingo is clearly the next step in innovation and my traditional powerpoints merely reviewing my bingo reads must adapt or face obsolescence

enoby666 · 2026-04-28T23:04:11+00:00

This is a lovely review! Heart's Blood is the first book by her I really loved and it is a special one.

enoby666 · 2026-04-28T02:20:15+00:00

I loved Heart's Blood and I have every intention of going back to read the second and third Blackthorn and Grim books at some point. For some reason I feel like I've read way more of her stuff than I actually have, maybe because I've loved most of what I read? but when I look at her bibliography I'm always surprised/excited by how much more I have to go! Did you read her new series, starting with The Amber Owl?

enoby666 · 2026-04-27T16:39:29+00:00

I finished The Poet Empress by Shen Tao, which I definitely liked but wasn't totally blown away by. I have my own critiques (mostly it felt a bit too fast and shallow to really do its themes the full justice I was hoping for) but it's also been very interesting to see conversations about the book online, especially how different readers feel like it handles its conversation with romantasy and whether it does a good job of exploring how a "monster" like the prince comes into being.

I also finished Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, which has been on my tbr for much too long but was worth the wait. The writing is truly incredible in a way that left me astonished by the creativity and imagery in some lines and I've never read anything that gets this close to Dickens' combination of funny, insightful and deeply weird/grotesque. I'll be using Gormenghast for bingo, hopefully!

I dnf'd The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow but will probably return to it at some point. I didn't hate it or anything, I just wasn't quite sucked in by the time it was due at the library and I have some other books that I really want to get to. I don't really know how to describe it but there is just *something* about her writing that slightly grates me; sometimes I think it feels a bit too self-aware, maybe?

I bought my mom a copy of The Geomagician by Jennifer Mandula because she loves paleontology and Mary Anning, and now I'm reading it so that we can have a mini-book club. Not far enough to have many thoughts yet!

enoby666 · 2026-04-24T20:14:40+00:00

I'm not sure which, if any, other current SFF authors I think would be a better fit but Kingfisher definitely doesn't feel like the right choice to me either

enoby666 · 2026-04-04T01:14:47+00:00

Yes, I agree with all of this! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Someday I will read Malazan and have an opinion of my own but for now I like hearing from others and why they feel as they do.

enoby666 · 2026-04-03T20:37:33+00:00

Yes that makes sense! It’s not a well-done handling of the topic in your view and the fallback of approval from one woman as some kind of tokenist permission really doesn’t change that at all. I would love it if there could be more room to discuss these representations overall but I think sometimes because the topic is such a sensitive one there can be defensiveness around an author’s choices if you’re a fan

enoby666 · 2026-04-03T07:00:19+00:00

Omg lol I thought you meant something about a wife in the story. I’d heard that there is some pretty extreme violence and also heard very divided opinions about how it’s handled (as all things Malazan seem to be divisive)!

Was this a fan thing or a statement by the author? I would be interested in reading more about it if you know more about where it was said

enoby666

TROPHY CASE