I was pretty grateful to find the time to do more reading this month, and I ended up getting more reading done. There are a few more books that I’m in the middle of, but couldn’t quite finish them, but those will just be entries for November. Read on if you’d like, but be warned that there may be spoilers ahead!
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher – As soon as I got done reading Swordheart, I just had to know if she planned on writing about more of these characters. This of course sent me down the very pleasant rabbit hole of her other work, because I had to read Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine so I knew who Learned Edmund was before I sat down to read this book, and because I didn’t want any spoilers.
Then I just couldn’t wait for it to come out, and waited while trying not to vibrate from excitement for my preorder to come in… and of course by then I still hadn’t finished The Wonder Engine because I am slow so I had to put this off for a bit. I personally think it was worth the wait.
One of the things that really impressed me was the character growth of Edmund between those two books and this one. I really can’t wait to see him again in the future, either. He is just so kind and sweet, and honestly pretty fearless when you think about it. There have been so many terrifying things in his life, it’s a wonder he’s as good as he is. I also enjoyed the growth of the Dervish a lot, how he begins the book so full of hate and rage from having had endured so much. I feel like the love story here was a beautiful one, as they both try to navigate their differences, and they are two very, very different people.
“When had this happened? Was it when Edmund had adopted them, or when Dog Violet had saved their lives? What strange alchemy was it that changed I am forced to guard this one person to these people are mine and I must protect them?”
I love Kingfisher’s romances because her main characters are so often not the typical romance fodder. I have been enjoying reading about people like me, or people so vastly different from me. I don’t need the heroes or heroines to be stunningly handsome or beautiful or incredibly kind, or way too young to be saving the world. I think my love for Brenner kind of sums that up, but I digress. This was what drew me to the first book of hers I ever read, which was Paladin’s Grace. At the time I didn’t even enjoy romance as a genre, having tried a few and ending up rolling my eyes at them, but once I started reading about Stephen and his sock-knitting, I just had to know more about that broken paladin.
As always some of the side characters stole the show for me, and I didn’t mind because they are wonderful. I am still obsessed with Large Francis, and still in love with Zale. Despite all of the dark moments in the story, I think this book felt very cozy for me, and I did enjoy it plenty of times with a nice warm drink while curled up in my favorite chair.
Unico: Lost (Volume 3) by Samuel Sattin and Osamu Tezuka – I know a lot of people are wary of reboots, but I have been enjoying the Unico reboot immensely.The art is beautiful, the writing has enough adventure to keep even someone who is an adult invested, and it has the nostalgia factor going for it. I remember watching Unico as a kid, and some of the villains scaring the hell out of me.
Despite the beautiful, colorful artwork and the stunning job that Gurihiru has done, it still contains darkness, and some scenes that are pretty creepy. It gets the message across that these villains really do want to kill Unico and his friends, and *will* do it, if they get a chance. I’m actually wondering if watching Unico as a child is where I got my fixation on all things creepy/cute. It might be one of the sources, at the very least. I’m sure there were more.
One thing I will always love about Unico, though, is how he always steps in to try to help or save his friends, even if it means his own death or pain. He is there for them as much as he can be, and definitely self-sacrificing. It does make me wonder, though, what he’d be up to if he didn’t always have to be a hero. Would he just be in a field eating grass, maybe? He seems the sort of character that trouble just flocks to. The cliffhanger ending of this one has me excited for volume 4, but that’s not scheduled for release until next year. I guess I’ll add that to my list of things to look forward to with Shieldborn!
Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan – I had always been curious about where the name Lafayette came from, especially since it’s in so many places. Growing up and in school, I don’t actually remember hearing about him at all when learning about the American Revolution or the founding fathers.
You know, just like we didn’t really hear about the fact that most of them owned slaves, either, which is why I was a bit wary going into this book, because many heroes of the time period were also awful, and we shelter children from that sometimes way too much. I’ve been of the opinion for a long time that if kids aren’t taught about the danger and darkness in the world, that we just make it easier for them to be victims, but I’m not a parent so what do I know?
I think that’s the dilemma with a lot of history, though. Do we judge a person for the norms at the time, or according to modern standards? Is someone a great hero for helping create the country I live in, or a piece of shit for owning slaves and having mistresses? I think it’s possible for a person to be many things, really. Things aren’t so black and white, almost everyone has shades of grey to them. I guess I’m being a little bit like Lafayette here, taking the middle ground about it.
“Though tales of his exploits would grow, take on a life of their own and culminate with enshrinement in the pantheon of American History, the legend was not grounded in fiction. It was not a literary invention. It sprang from real personal bravery, determination and sacrifice. As he said before leaving France, ‘When I succeed, everyone will applaud my efforts.’ For anyone else, these may have been famous last words. For Lafayette, they were his opening lines.”
It’s definitely true that he had a pretty crazy, and also pretty impressive life. Fighting in our Revolutionary War because he believed in liberty and freedom, and at such a young age, gaining so much fame. To live through multiple revolutions, as he survived a few in France, later, too. I ended up feeling bad for his wife, too, though, even though she was proud of him. To be worried about him being killed all the time, to have to tolerate his doing the normal French Nobleman thing and having mistresses, not to mention the other tragedies she had to endure, like the death of a child, and some of her family being killed by the revolutionaries, and then joining her husband in his imprisonment, as well as being imprisoned herself. Adrienne was pretty badass in her own right, too, and I enjoyed reading about her a lot.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – I read this book for Banned Books week, because I think that banning books is not the answer and that people should take personal responsibility for what they allow their own child to read. This book was so heartbreaking and hopeful and beautiful, despite all the terrible things that happened in it.
I think this book is important because it is a pretty accurate picture of high school, or at least it was for when I was a kid. Most high school kids are going to be going through the things in this book, or know someone who is or has in the past. It tackles difficult subjects like falling in love, dating, sex, drugs, peer pressure, suicide, and all sorts of abuse.
While I wouldn’t personally encourage a younger kid to read this book, I think that the average high school kid is mature enough to handle it, and it doesn’t glorify teenagers doing stupid things. Most of the struggles and awful things happening in the book are a result of poor choices, so I would say it’s more of a cautionary tale than anything, while still remaining hopeful for the future.
I felt Charlie’s letters to be very moving, and I definitely cried more than once while reading this. I felt so proud of Charlie for trying to do the right thing so many times, and trying to learn from his mistakes and pitfalls along the way. Anyone is capable of being lost, and he has plenty of personal trauma that wasn’t helping things, but his earnestness to learn was something I found charming.
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K Le Guin – This book was the one that the sci-fi book club I’m a part of chose for the month, and it’s always a little funny with books like this but I felt it was pretty timeless. This book was written back in the 1970s, but I bet that it feels just as relevant today as it was back then. Humans have been doing the same terrible things to each other for thousands of years now.
***I’m gonna give you a trigger warning right now for this book, because there was some really dark stuff in it.***
At first I assumed it was going to be a book about environmentalism, and in some ways it is, but in reality it’s so much more than that. This book has environmental issues, points out problems with colonialism and the people that it hurts and destroys, and does a great job at pointing out how easy it is to think of somebody as the “other” and to make it “us vs them.” Even among the Terrans there still seems to be racism and prejudice.
“Us vs Them” is of course still a major issue today, and may always be, as much as I wish we could move past all that. Just like this book is set in the future, but women are still seen as basically objects, shipped to the colony for “breeding purposes” as if that’s all women are good for. It disturbs me that even now in 2026 that there are men that feel this way, let alone in a possible future. There’s also a casualness about all of that among the male characters, as if this monstrousness is perfectly normal, and yet they act like the Athsheans are monsters for targeting the women for extermination to prevent them from populating the world.
I also found the mindset of the villain of the story despicable, but we’re meant to. There’s a part of me that hopes that no man today could be such a scumbag, but I know that’s not true. He’s both ambitious and also a coward, taking advantage of the weaknesses of others throughout the story for his own gain. He barely seems to think of the men that died in his camp while he was away, even though that camp was his responsibility. Clearly even though he was in charge, those deaths do not seem to weigh on his conscience very much, and throughout the story he sees the Athsheans as less than human, and treats them as such, even though they treat the Terrans as humans throughout. Rape also seems to be a positive thing to him, some sign of manly virility, when really it’s just disgusting and monstrous. I feel that the messages in the book were poignant in that they seem to hit so close to home in this day and age, or at least they did for me.
Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle – I know what you’re thinking… Chuck Tingle, really? I know he’s a bit of a meme and that some folks don’t take him seriously, but I really enjoyed this book and I think he’s a great writer. I put it briefly on pause as I read The Word for World is Forest, but came back to it right afterwards.
One thing that struck me a lot about this book was that I didn’t think I was going to enjoy Poppy Stringer, but I’ll admit it was my own biases that turned me against her. Most influencers make me roll my eyes more than anything else, but I like the depth that the author gave her, and what mattered most to her as the story progresses. I expected the worst of her throughout, and while there were some awful parts, there were parts where she really surprised me in both good and bad ways.
There was no striving to make her wholly good or bad, but I liked that she could be a mix of both, and that for a lot of the story her vulnerability and humanity was showing. She also goes through just soooo much terrible shit in such a short time. I couldn’t help but feel for her, or wonder when she would go into shock, and there were some parts where it seemed like she was doing just that, at least when she wasn’t under the influence, or I guess compulsion of Eddie Michaels.
Also I need to talk about Eddie because I thought he was a great villain. I also thought he was pure nightmare fuel in so many ways. He made me think of some of the celebrities I love, and how much influence they’ve had over people over the years. I’m not a huge celebrity gossip sort of person, so when I see a celebrity using their platform to be really harmful or hateful to others, I can only see it as monstrous, or money grubbing, or both, rather than them choosing to express themselves. I guess it could probably be all three. I admired the way that the author wrote Eddie, and how he and Poppy could understand each other and were very similar in a lot of ways, but also vastly different in others.
I realize that this book was a horror novel, but some parts of it made me genuinely squeamish just because they were so gory and gross, and I have an overactive imagination. I suppose take that as a word of warning, especially if you’re going to be enjoying this one while eating lunch, as I tried to a few times. I managed to power through, though, and I’m glad I stuck with it, despite not really being much of a horror person. I did have a good laugh at Goodreads categorizing it as “cozy horror” because I was asking myself if that’s an oxymoron, and while some parts of it were definitely sweet and cozy, I think the horror part wins out. I guess it did have some of the elements of the cozy horror genre, which I had no idea was a thing.
Now that I’ve read this, though, I need to go read some of his others. This was actually my first Chuck Tingle book, if you can believe that. I know a lot of my friends probably don’t believe that at all!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links through Bookshop.org. If you decide to purchase one of these books through such a link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I don’t promote books that I haven’t read personally, and my opinions of such books are my own, regardless of if I loved or hated them.
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