Welcome to Litsy!

Starting this one on my lunch break.

Set in a world where powerful mages protect a city from the wasteland around it, Sciona Freynan becomes the first female high mage. What should be a moment of triumph quickly turns to horror when she uncovers a devastating truth. Magic, faith, discrimination, science, belief, & truth collide in a story that asks how much someone will forgive being done to others if no harm comes to them & they benefit from it. Dark, violent & entertaining.

This week's #bookmail from Barnes & Noble. Very pretty editions of One Dark Window, Two Twisted Crowns, Legends & Lattes, and Bookshops & Bonedust. Plus M. L. Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven with a red edge.

Wang is a self-published author who makes the leap to traditional publishing with this book. My biggest complaint about her self-published book that I read was a lack of editing. So far, this one is much better in terms of structure and narrative. Enjoying it so far.

A unique magic system and excellent world-building undergird this dark academia fantasy about colonialism and complicity that follows the first female highmage of Tiran and the Kwen janitor her peers assign her as an assistant as the two uncover the shocking truth behind magic. As brilliant as I found Blood Over Bright Haven, it was also a bit predictable and very heavy-handed. Babel Jr.—a less subtle little sibling to one of my favorite books.

Blood Over Bright Haven has definitely taken the lead for my favorite book of the year!

#readingbracket2024 @CSeydel

This is the best book I‘ve read in a very long time. It will be very difficult for anything to be better than this as a top read of the year. It is a standalone fantasy, with a unique magic system, an incredibly developed world and characters that you can both love and hate. None of the characters are two dimensional and no one is perfect. I only put this down because I didn‘t want it to end.⬇️

Honestly, I watched a review of this, then read the synopsis. I am 1 chapter into this book. Why does my chest hurt like I‘ve been punched by the Hulk? Hoo boy was that a chapter.