Welcome to Litsy!

This has been on my TBR since I finished Trail of Lightning by her! It looks so cool and I can‘t wait to get to it! 🖤

#SundayFunday Have a great day, and if you‘re going to watch the eclipse tomorrow, remember to take the proper precautions! https://annex.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html

Final #roll100 read for March and what a brilliant book this was. Excellent world building and character development, little to no exposition, just really really good fantasy. Keen to read the rest of the series now!

Loved Black Sun, it was so refreshing to read a fantasy not set in a England-esque type place. The images Roanhorse put in my head were beautiful and fresh. The book periodically changed povs and gradually drew the different threads of the story together. Will be starting Fevered Star tomorrow!

Characters were brilliant! They were well-written & compelling. I loved to follow their adventure and I really started to root for Xiala & Serapio.

I loved the politics, I wanted to see how everything is going to get solved. And it was intriguing to follow the journey towards the day of the winter solstice, when you know things are going to go crazy.

There wasn't ending at all and I felt myself super disappointed.

#SeriesLove2024

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

I really enjoyed my time listening to this on audio. The world was intriguing and I didn't dislike any of the POV characters. I will say that the cliff hanger ending was a bummer but I'm so invested I've already checked out the next one.

This did take me a bit to really get hooked but once I did I looked forward to reading every night. It does jump back and forth in the timeline. There is a blind character and the author did research before writing to make sure it was an authentic representation. It also hits the marks for diversity and non-binary representation. There was a twist that happens as well that was soooo well done. I want to know even more now.

So I maybe skimmed a summary to see what happens to my fave before listening again. I just don‘t want to have to deal with them dying on the way to work since this is my commute book.

#BookReport
Managed to finish my commute book before Libby took it away from me! But it‘s still early days for the books I started this week.

#WeeklyForecast
My goal this week is to stay current with ReadingWesteros and a big chunk of the tagged as it‘s due in 9 days.

Bought this paperback recently completely forgetting I had it already on my kindle. Oh well. At least I can see the maps better now. Not far in and already loving it. #bookhoarderproblems

I INHALED this book. From the first chapter I was completely sucked in and didn‘t want to put it down. I‘ve had a lot of incredible reads so far this year, but this might be my favorite. Cannot wait to read the rest of the series. #lennox #catsoflitsy

On our way home from Buffalo, NY we got treated to a seat upgrade. First time that‘s happened to me. 🎉 This book immediately sucked me in and I actually wished our flight was longer so I could have had more uninterrupted reading time.

I love this author! It was a little confusing at the beginning, but as I got to know the characters, everything made sense. Now, I need to read the second one in the series. #SeriesLove23 @Andrew65 This book has me looking at crows a little bit differently as I knew already how smart they were. I did manage one more spot on #JulyISpyBingo @Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks @TheSpineView #LitsyLoveReads

It‘s hard to put down this high fantasy book inspired by Pre-Columbian civilizations‘ traditions and stories. The book is filled with members of battling clans in the vein of Game of Thrones and the Grishaverse but feels fresh and new. I liked all of the POV characters and can‘t wait too see what happens next. On to the next book in the series!

This is fantastic. The author uses her heritage and storytelling culture to weave a very interesting fantasy with world building and fantastical creatures. It's lovely and it lands on a cliffhanger so I will be putting the next book on my to do list. Also Nicole Lewis is becoming a favorite narrator.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I‘m thrilled that my community has a small library branch now so I‘m committing to checking out at least one physical book per month (more if possible). I returned Wisconsin Death Trip yesterday and picked up Black Sun. In the future, I may need to request books ahead of time to pick up there because they mostly have children‘s books. Any other ideas for ways I can support our new little library?

It has been a while since I committed to participating in the monthly photo challenge but April‘s prompts look fun.

I hope to highlight all books sitting on my owned TBR so I don‘t forget they are there.

#TemptingTitles #Withacolor

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

4.5 out of 5

This took me a few chapters to get into it, but I‘m glad I stuck with it. A lot of action and the end made me ready to read the second book in this trilogy right away. Very well-written.

Best fiction of January was from my #auldlangspine list, so thank you @sebrittainclark and @monalyisha ! I plan to read Fevered Star probably in February 😁.

I‘m following @jenniferw88 ‘a footsteps and doing a bracket for Fic and one for nonfic, great idea! And thanks @chasjjlee for the bracket design 📚🤩.

Day 3 #NoShameReadathon2023 today are suggestions for Non-European based fantasy. Here are some favorites:
Black Sun -Rebecca Roanhorse -Pre-Colombian Americas inspired
The Bone Shard Daughter -Andrea Stewart -Imperial Chinese inspired
Daughter of the Moon Goddess -Sue Lynn Tan -Chinese fairy tale also counts for Lesser Known retelling
Raybearer -Jordan Ifueko -African inspired fantasy
The Poppy War -R.F Kuang -historical China

First 5⭐️ read of the year!
It‘s so good that if I had the sequel I‘d dive right into it.
The author calls it “epic fantasy… inspired by the pre-Colombian cultures of the Americas.”
Every time I had to put Black Sun down, it stayed in my thoughts until I could go back to it. I‘m a little speechless right now.

#AuldLangSpine

Cutest possible New Year‘s Day picture 💙.
I‘m loving my first #AuldLangSpine read @sebrittainclark 😁. 150 ish pages in.

I‘m starting my #AuldLangSpine first book this morning. I know I‘m a couple days early, but I can‘t resist! This will also be my #LastFirst, as I doubt I‘ll finish it by tomorrow.

I have to say the first chapter hooked me hard! One of the best first chapters I‘ve read in a while.

I might be posting this now mostly because Sietje looks especially adorable this morning. 🐶💕

Just opened my #JolabokaflodSwap package to find tasty dark chocolate caramel snowmen and Black Sun! Super excited to read this! Thanks so much, @Light_of_Aether and a very happy Jolabokaflod to you! Hope your holidays are full of good food, good books, and good people. 😊🎄📚

My #AuldLangSpine list from @sebrittainclark ! I‘ve got all the pictured ones on hold from the library, the tagged and Sentient physically and the other three on audio. Yay! I‘m most excited for Black Sun, but I plan to read all 5 in January. I‘ve already read your other 5⭐️ books. I‘ll delve into your 4.5⭐️ throughout the rest of next year. I have only read Irregular Witches from that list, and I already have Delilah Green on my TBR. 🥰📚💕

The first in the Between Sky and Earth series. This is an amazing fantasy book. Innovative worldbuilding, and complex and intriguing characters.

There are no clear 'good' characters or 'bad' characters. I wasn't rooting for one over the other. I found all of them compelling.

#AdventRecommends @emilyrose_x

This was a super tough book to get into world building wise but based in Colombian lore for fantasy instead of traditionally European. Seraipo is the crow god reincarnate and Xiala is a ship captain with water and storm powers. She needs to get him to the capital. They save each other on the boat and then they get to the city and Xiala realizes she might not support why he‘s there. There is another book but I don‘t care enough to read it

This book was so good I just rolled into the sequel (Fevered Star) without stopping to review! Top notch world building, with a manageable host of characters of a wide range, a bit of mystery, bit of magic, and enough action to drive the fast-paced plot to a breathtaking conclusion. This is high fantasy done right, people. All the stars.

My newest purchase. I've come to the realization that I'm never going to be able to stick to my self imposed book buying bans. At least I'm supporting authors though right?

“Today he would become a god. his mother had told him so.”

#firstlinefridays

At the top of my TBR list, but it might need to wait until November! #Scarathalon #TeamSlaughter @Clwojick #Black

#ScarathlonDailyPrompts Oct 1 - #Black cover & title!

5 points for #Scarathlon2022

#TeamMonsterMash

Original and perfect

A truly fantastic fantasy with a rich and compelling world.

Clear structure with a defined plot; book is gearing up to a certain event and that event occurs. Delivers on the promise of the premise.

Deeply brutal but also deeply touching

My favourite B book was another easy pick! This is currently my book of the year

#AlphabetGame #LetterB

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Oooohhh I‘m v happy I put the second book of the series on hold weeks ago! Just finished this one and 🔥🔥🔥

This was a reread for me. I started reading the sequel, but I couldn‘t remember what happened.

Decided to quickly register to this, so I can read Fevered Star.

Just as good as the first time I read it.

#JubilantJuly

I enjoyed every single page of Black Sun! The plot and character development was incredible. I usually don‘t like books that jump between characters narrations but the way this book was written allowed me to be invested in each character wholeheartedly— cheering all of them on to success.
Great piece of fiction. Highly recommend this book!
My review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

4.5⭐️ Wow. I loved the world building, I loved the characters, I loved almost everything. Took a little while for me to get invested but once I understood what was going on, I was hooked. This book is a lot of set up for events to come, but oh man am I excited to continue on and find out what happens to Serapio.

Outstanding! Roanhorse builds the most amazing world inspired by pre-Columbian America; the story grabs you from the 1st page. The writing is beautiful & descriptive, and the indigenous and LGBTQ+ representation is subtle yet underlies every page. Filled with powerful, complicated characters that you can‘t help but root for, this book changed what I expect from fantasy & I can‘t wait to read the next in the series. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

A reread for me, loved it even more on the second listen. Now on to book 2, Fevered Star. 4 🌟

Ehhh… I was really excited about this and I DID finish it, if I really don‘t like a book I just don‘t finish. I think I had really hoped to love it more, i‘d heard amazing reviews and I had really enjoyed the authors Star Wars books. I wonder if for once I may have enjoyed print rather than audio? Who knows! So that‘s unhelpful overall but maybe give this a try 🤷🏼‍♀️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I updated my #pantone2022 challenge card today.

I added:
❤️ The Hundred and One Dalmatians - #innuendo
💚 The Last Thing He Told Me - #basil
💛 Black Sun - #popcorn
🤎 Gordath Wood - #SudanBrown

😁 Yay! I got a bingo!

💞 Again, they match much better irl.

May you drown in shallow water; May your song be never heard; May you fall in love with a man; May your mouth ever fill with salt. — Teek curse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Behold my April TBR…
☠️ Finish Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

☀️ I read the tagged book already, and I‘m looking forward to the second book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy.

1️⃣ Read The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith for the #MonthlyKeyWordGXO challenge
(I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

#AprilTBR #tbr

I finished 3 of my #newyearwhodis books and loved them all. Black Sun and Piranesi were both 5 star reads for me.

I'm currently reading The Witch's Heart and should finish that in February. And I'd definitely like to read a few others from the throughout the year.

Thanks to @Johanna414 for the fantastic list and @monalyisha for organizing! @nywd22

My current physical TBR stack. I don‘t have a problem, I don‘t have a problem.

Absolutely amazing! I stopped reading half way through because I didn't want to finish the book too quickly.

The world building is unique and instantly drew me in. The POV switches gave more insight into the characters and the different factions they were involved in. It's a breath of fresh air in a very saturated and tropey genre

I wrote about my favourite reads of 2021 (not necessarily published last year) on Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian! The ol' blog has been pretty neglected these days. (The last post I did before this one was ... a list of my favourite books I read in 2020). The books are almost all queer and mostly Canadian or Indigenous.
What were your favourite reads last year?

https://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.com/2022/01/21/my-favourite-reads-of-2021/