tinkaton | 104 ☆

I am so behind on my reading roundup but finally here are my September and October reads! As soon as I finish this it's going to be time for the last two months of books lol.

FICTION

A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

Two Victorian gentlemen, a taxidermist and a botanist, hide their relationship and their odd scientific interests away in a secluded greenhouse--and end up using their skills (and an intelligent exotic fungus) to build themselves a daughter.

Despite having the foundation laid for a decent horror novel, this book is more like the La Croix of horror novels. A historical novel that had a horror novel sitting too close to it in the fridge and now the historical novel has a whiff of the horror on it. Which you'd think that would be fine with me, a not-really-a-horror-person, but in this case it mostly feels like a waste. This book has an intriguing premise, the bones of some interesting characters, and the opportunity to do something a lot more interesting with itself, but it just never takes the leap.

Is cozy horror a thing? I guess cozy everything is a thing now, but that's kind of what this feels like it was trying to be. There's a sentient fungus person with questionable morals and two gay scientists playing God and multiple murders happening, but it's about as un-Gothic as you can get. Where is the suspense, where are the stakes!! This was an average book with a bit of a squandered premise. Another case of didn't hate it but didn't really love it.

The Manual of Aeronautics: An Illustrated Guide to the Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfeld & Keith Thompson (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

A companion guide to the dieselpunk/biopunk YA series Leviathan that I didn't realized existed until I watched the anime and went looking for a refresher on the books. 3 stars for the excellent art by Keith Thompson, but it's pretty short and doesn't even include the art from the books itself. I would've liked to see more in general, both art and worldbuilding information.

To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth (★★★★★) [goodreads]

My most anticipated release of the year!! I re-read When Among Crows right before this to prep lol. 5 stars, I love my children. Everything I enjoyed about book 1 is back: the characters and their relationships, the worldbuilding and mythology, the prose. The only thing that's missing is more book!! This sequel, like the first book, is its own contained story, though there's clearly setup for a third laid out by the end. I never imagined we'd even get a book 2 after reading book 1, so I'm tentatively hopeful book 3 will happen.

This volume sees ex-Knight Dymitr returning home to Poland along with Ala and Niko, each with their own mission or goal. There's an added POV from Elza, Dymitr's sister, that gives more insight into the Holy Order and her and Dymitr's childhood. As before, I loved the mythology woven into the book and the closer view at Dymitr's life growing up in the Order. I'm really hoping a potential book 3 sees Elza following in Dmyitr's footsteps (or tragically, despite his best efforts, maybe not?)

Anyway if you enjoy urban fantasy with Polish folklore about a monster hunter looking to escape his violent upbringing, check out When Among Crows and its sequel!!

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

A young man indentured to a Faery merchant in the magical underground market below London has a chance to change his life when he stumbles across a runaway princess desperate to sell her royal destiny.

3.5 stars perhaps as a more accurate number -- I enjoyed the setting and the tricks and negotiations the main character got up to, but the romance was weak and it feels a little like overall the book bit off more than it could chew. I feel like a tighter plot focusing on Deri and the Untermarkt would have been beneficial, as he was the most interesting character and his dealings around the market were the most fun parts to read. This also hopefully would've given the romance a chance to actually develop rather than be some of the fastest instalove I've ever read lmao.

Despite these issues this was a decent read, I do love a goblin market setup + alternate histories. You too might enjoy this if you like a light romance, enjoying Faery haggling, and don't mind a lot of moving parts in a story.

Cinder House by Freya Marske (★★★★★) [goodreads]

My second most anticipated release of the year!! Other people may be getting tired of fairytale retellings but I will eat them up every time lol. Cinder House is a version of Cinderella where the title girl is a ghost bound to the house she was murdered in, serving the stepmother and stepsisters that killed her.

I thought this was a really clever usage of the original story--the midnight deadline for being away from the house, the hearth as the heart of the house and the ashes connecting to death, the mirror shoes, the fairy godmother in a setting with actual fae, etc. Ella was a fun protagonist, and while I enjoyed Jule and Nadya I wish we'd gotten some more time with them (Nadya especially she was very cool 👀). Marske's prose is as lovely as ever and I zoomed through the majority of the book in pretty much one sitting.

I'm still chasing that high of the Last Binding books but this was a big step up from Swordcrossed. 5 stars for my Freya Marske bias, down to 4 stars for the kind of misleading marketing on this (it's not a queer romance...Ella may be bi and there may be romance contained within the book, but that's not the genre or spotlight of the story), up to 4.5 stars for the kinky ghost poly ending.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Les Normaux Vol. 1 by Janine Janssen & S. Al Sabado (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

All the blurbs comparing this to Heartstopper are pretty on the mark. The beginning of a Webtoon where a wizard moves to supernatural Paris to learn magic and runs into a hot vampire model who happens to live in the same apartment building. There isn't really a plot to speak of yet, this first volume mostly sets up the characters/some backstory and the start of the relationship between the two mains. The art is very cute and vibrant, and the character designs are cute too. If/when volume 2 comes out I'll probably check it out.

Boyfriends Vol. 1 by refrainbow (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

The same person who told me to read the Ennead Webtoon also told me to read this lmao. The duality of man etc.

Anyway it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, a slice-of-life comic about a group of college guys who become a polycule. The art is fun and bright but almost a little too cutesy at times, which is pretty wild coming from me. Not sure if I'll bother continuing this but you can pretty much tell right away if you'd be into this or not. Tbh I don't particularly care for the nerd character, I have no idea why but I'm like, this would be better without him here sdhfksjfs. I liked the other three just fine, but him, idk.

Suitor Armor Vol. 3 by Purpah (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

In this volume we get some dark lore drops and a hot evil man shows up. Also Lucia and Modeus are kind of cute, okay fine, they're winning me over. Modeus all dressed up for the ball and learning how to dance was cute lmao. Of course the volume ends on a cliffhanger with everybody mad at each other or separated or in mortal danger or whatever so now we have to wait for the next stupid volume. "It's a Webtoon--" No I'm lazy. Give me the book.

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

A YA graphic novel about a murder mystery at an all-girls school set in the late 80s/early 90s (?). Not entirely sure what to think about this. It was okay, I suppose? I think the mystery fell a little flat for me, like it felt like it should've been more interesting than it really was. The art was nice and Abby's character/circumstances will definitely resonate with some readers, but something about the overall story just didn't click with me. I enjoyed it in the moment but I wouldn't jump to recommend it over other graphic novels I enjoyed more.

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

A horror-mystery graphic novel about a boy who goes missing and his friends' attempt to discover what happened to him.

I liked this a lot. The art is great, and the complex, messy backgrounds in the latter half of the book really add to what's happening at that point in the story. I like how we get a little section devoted to the POV of each character. The plot itself is interesting and engaging. The atmosphere in the first half was genuinely spooky and I was actually creeped out by the tension it was able to evoke and the tiny details in the art at certain points. (Spotting the creatures in the dark in the backgrounds ughhh.)

I think the only downside to me was the pivot away from anything actually scary in the last third of the book. Young says in the afterward that they wanted to create a story where mental illness isn't erased or converted into a metaphor, which I 100% understand, and I think the section with Alex's breakdown is fantastically drawn. But there's not really any tension or horror once the mystery is "solved", just the process of finding Alex and bringing him home with minimal conflict; it's completely intended by the author, I feel, and thus not like, a "fail" on their part, but it's not exactly much of a climax.

I still think this is definitely worth a read! Especially for the younger audience who may enjoy/want a book that's a fantastical but simultaneously grounded and compassionate look into dealing with psychosis and mental health.

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

A YA graphic novel based loosely on the Norwegian fairytale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" (think Beauty and the Beast meets Eros and Psyche). I loved this author's "The Magic Fish" and unfortunately I don't think this lives up to that one. The art is very cute and the story does deal with some heavier topics (burnout, grief) but in a more lighthearted manner. This felt like a book aimed more at the younger end of the YA spectrum with the cutesy art and all the sections of like, people directly saying their feelings at each other. Still, it's a cute book, not too long a read, and the characters are fun and relatable.

104 ☆

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