Rinn's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 08 Apr 2025 02:13:56 -0700 60 Rinn's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi, #1)]]> 53183540 Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.]]> 471 Shannon Chakraborty 0008381356 Rinn 0 4.15 2023 The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi, #1)
author: Shannon Chakraborty
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read, fantasy, priority, own-physical
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Short History of Nearly Everything]]> 28092883 The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century and has sold over 2 million copies.

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Bill Bryson's challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science.

The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.]]> 668 Bill Bryson 1784161853 Rinn 0 4.24 2003 A Short History of Nearly Everything
author: Bill Bryson
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read, history, non-fiction, own-physical
review:

]]> Rouge 157184735 From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.]]> 383 Mona Awad Rinn 0 3.54 2023 Rouge
author: Mona Awad
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read, horror, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)]]> 63910262 In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she's wrought - perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten's For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson's The Year of the Witching.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.]]> 437 Rachel Gillig 0356519503 Rinn 0 4.39 2023 Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: currently-reading, fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)]]> 59729041 For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom—but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.

Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the Destriers…and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.]]> 419 Rachel Gillig Rinn 4 4.40 2022 One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Lung Captain (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #2)]]> 7492383 Darian Frey is down on his luck. He can barely keep his squabbling crew fed and his rickety aircraft in the sky. Even the simplest robberies seem to go wrong. It's getting so a man can't make a dishonest living any more.

Enter Captain Grist. He's heard about a crashed aircraft laden with the treasures of a lost civilisation, and he needs Frey's help to get it. There's only one problem. The craft is lying in the trackless heart of a remote island, populated by giant beasts and subhuman monsters.

Dangerous, yes. Suicidal, perhaps. Still, Frey's never let common sense get in the way of a fortune before. But there's something other than treasure on board that aircraft. Something that a lot of important people would kill for. And it's going to take all of Frey's considerable skill at lying, cheating and stealing if he wants to get his hands on it...

Strap yourself in for another tale of adventure and debauchery, pilots and pirates, golems and daemons, double-crosses and double-double-crosses. The crew of the Ketty Jay are back!]]> 442 Chris Wooding 0575085185 Rinn 0 4.25 2010 The Black Lung Captain (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #2)
author: Chris Wooding
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, steampunk, dragons-and-jetpacks, own-kindle, kindle-series-sequels, priority
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)]]> 27771503
In the city of Serra, Helene Aquilla finds herself bound to the will of the Empire’s twisted new leader, Marcus. When her loyalty is questioned, Helene finds herself taking on a mission to prove herself—a mission that might destroy her, instead.]]> 464 Sabaa Tahir Rinn 0 4.35 2016 A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes, #2)
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, fantasy, young-adult, own-kindle, kindle-series-sequels, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)]]> 11214233 The universe is a dangerous place in John Scalzi's Old Man's War, the first in The Old Man's War series.At seventy-five years old, John Perry is after a fresh start � so, naturally, he joins the army. Earth's military machine can transform elderly recruits, restoring their lost youth. But in return, its Colonial Defence Force demands two years of hazardous service in space. This is how Perry finds himself in a new body, crafted from his original DNA. A genetically enhanced and upgraded new body, ready for battle.But upgrades alone won't keep Perry safe. He'll be fighting for his life on the front line as he defends humanity's colonies from hostile aliens. He'll pay the price for his choices, and he'll discover the universe is even more dangerous than he imagined.Continue the gripping space war series with The Ghost Brigades.]]> 321 John Scalzi Rinn 4 4.25 2005 Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)
author: John Scalzi
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2018/08/02
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: science-fiction, dragons-and-jetpacks, own-kindle, read-2018, series-to-finish-kindle, priority
review:

]]> Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) 45171300 Simon Snow is back and he's coming to America!

The story is supposed to be over.

Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after�

So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?

What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light.

That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place.

With Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell has written a book for everyone who ever wondered what happened to the Chosen One after he saved the day. And a book for everyone who was ever more curious about the second kiss than the first. It’s another helping of sour cherry scones with an absolutely decadent amount of butter.

Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over � but your life has just begun.]]> 352 Rainbow Rowell 1250146097 Rinn 0 4.06 2019 Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2)
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, fantasy, lgbtqia, own-kindle, kindle-series-sequels, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flamecaster (Shattered Realms, #1)]]> 23253083 A burning vengeance.

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. The son of the queen of the Fells, Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

A blood-based curse.

Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Destiny’s fiery hand.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.]]> 535 Cinda Williams Chima 006238094X Rinn 0 4.02 2016 Flamecaster (Shattered Realms, #1)
author: Cinda Williams Chima
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-series-first, series-released
review:

]]> My Life as a Chameleon 56558498 Freedom comes with the courage to be seen

15-year-old Lily has been sent from her home in Lagos, Nigeria, to a new school and a new family in Manchester, England. She thought it would be a chance to reinvent herself, become the shiny-happy-confident girl that everyone wants to be around. But it hasn’t turned out like that.

Here, without friends or someone to confide in, she struggles to fit in � and being ‘different� feels newly dangerous, vulnerable and provocative.

Lily looks back at her childhood and confronts the family trauma that turned her young life upside down, triggering the series of events that brought her here. Can she rely on the strength she built for herself back then, in order to save herself now?

My Life as a Chameleon is a powerful story of resilience and belonging, about family secrets and how they can destroy even the deepest bonds. It is a story about finding your place in the world and realising you deserve to be there.]]> 254 Diana Anyakwo 1472156153 Rinn 0 3.92 My Life as a Chameleon
author: Diana Anyakwo
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, contemporary, netgalley, priority, kindle-standalone, own-kindle, review-copy
review:

]]> The Goblin Emperor 44028560 449 Katherine Addison 1786182092 Rinn 0 4.26 2014 The Goblin Emperor
author: Katherine Addison
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> The Anthropocene Reviewed 59666195 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.

A deeply moving and insightful collection of personal essays from #1 bestselling author John Green.

The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.

Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together.

John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.]]> 302 John Green Rinn 4 4.23 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed
author: John Green
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/01
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: own-kindle, non-fiction, read-2023
review:

]]> Chain-Gang All-Stars 216940533
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system's unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means.]]> 384 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 1529903823 Rinn 2 4.13 2023 Chain-Gang All-Stars
author: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: dystopia, own-kindle, read-2025
review:
I thought I was going to love this but it just didn't work for me
]]> The Vanishing Half 55298625 366 Brit Bennett 0349701474 Rinn 4 4.04 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: historical-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Malevolent Eight: The Explosive Sequel to the Massive Hit Fantasy Novel THE MALEVOLENT SEVEN]]> 223758590 The stakes have never been higher.

The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great the mortal realm.

Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion.

The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first. With wit as sharp as their blades and a moral compass that points only toward survival, they're ready to cut down anyone in their path to stop the war before it begins.

Prepare for a whirlwind of dark magic, irreverent humour and relentless action in The Malevolent The Bad, The Worse and The Wicked. The fate of the humanity hangs in the balance, and only the most malevolent can hope to save it.]]> Sebastien de Castell Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy 0.0 The Malevolent Eight: The Explosive Sequel to the Massive Hit Fantasy Novel THE MALEVOLENT SEVEN
author: Sebastien de Castell
name: Rinn
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil]]> 215020997 London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.]]> 560 Victoria E. Schwab 1035064642 Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy 4.38 2025 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators� Revolution]]> 134915247
The city of dreaming spires.

It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.

And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.

Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.

Until it became a prison�

But can a student stand against an empire?]]> 546 R.F. Kuang 0008501858 Rinn 5 4.14 2022 Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, own-physical, read-2025, favourites
review:
Four R.F. Kuang books read, four R.F. Kuang books loved
]]> <![CDATA[Faithbreaker (Fallen Gods, #3)]]> 215960976 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING FALLEN GODS TRILOGYIn the epic finale to the #1 internationally bestselling Fallen Gods trilogy that started with Godkiller, the fate of Middren hangs in the balance as mighty gods and mortal heroes clash in a final battle for supremacy.

War has come. The fire god Hseth is leading an unstoppable army south, consuming everything in her path. Middren’s only hope of survival is to unify allies and old foes against a common enemy.

Elo navigates an uneasy alliance with Arren; his friend, his enemy, and his king. Now they each must decide how much they're willing to sacrifice to turn the tides of war.

Meanwhile, Inara joins her mother on their ship, the Silverswift, to seek aid. Still grappling with her powers, Inara must reconcile who she is and where she belongs, while Skediceth has to question if their bond will be enough to keep them safe.

Kissen has no allegiance to the old ways of Middren. But, as she tries to find her family, she is forced to question what, and whose, future she is fighting for.

In Faithbreaker, Hannah Kaner delivers a powerful conclusion to the Fallen Gods trilogy, masterfully weaving together love and sacrifice, loyalty and betrayal, and the true meaning of faith.

PRAISE FOR THE FALLEN GODS TRILOGY

�Godkiller will have you in its grasp from the first pages� Samantha Shannon, bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

‘Devastating and triumphant� Tasha Suri, award-winning author of The Jasmine Throne

‘Violent, bawdy, beautifully imagined, and intensely felt, Godkiller is a bone-rattling fantasy thriller that flies by in a breathtaking rush� Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

‘Epic and intimate, tender and sharp� Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf

‘Holy heck, this book is so good� Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author of the Dark Olympus series

Hannah Kaner's book 'Sunbringer' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-02-12.]]> 415 Hannah Kaner 0008521581 Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.20 2025 Faithbreaker (Fallen Gods, #3)
author: Hannah Kaner
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Cities and Vanished Villages]]> 58999181 Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff. This is the extraordinary tale of Britain’s eerie and remarkable ghost towns and villages; shadowlands that once hummed with life. Peering through the cracks of history, we find Dunwich, a medieval city plunged off a cliff by sea storms; the abandoned village of Wharram Percy, wiped out by the Black Death; the lost city of Trellech unearthed by moles in 2002; and a Norfolk village zombified by the military and turned into a Nazi, Soviet, and Afghan village for training.

Matthew Green, a British historian and broadcaster, tells the astonishing tales of the rise and demise of these places, animating the people who lived, worked, dreamed, and died there. Traveling across Britain to explore their haunting and often-beautiful remains, Green transports the reader to these lost towns and cities as they teeter on the brink of oblivion, vividly capturing the sounds of the sea clawing away row upon row of houses, the taste of medieval wine, or the sights of puffin hunting on the tallest cliffs in the country. We experience them in their prime, look on at their destruction, and revisit their lingering remains as they are mourned by evictees and reimagined by artists, writers, and mavericks.

A stunning and original excavation of Britain’s untold history, Shadowlands gives us a truer sense of the progress and ravages of time, in a moment when many of our own settlements are threatened as never before.]]> 368 Matthew Green 0393635341 Rinn 0 3.83 2022 Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Cities and Vanished Villages
author: Matthew Green
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: history, non-fiction, own-kindle, currently-reading, read-2025
review:

]]> Disorientation 58535926 Elaine Hsieh Chou 0593298365 Rinn 4 3.79 2022 Disorientation
author: Elaine Hsieh Chou
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: contemporary, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 382 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Rinn 5 4.67 2025 Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: dystopia, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sun of Blood and Ruin (Sun of Blood and Ruin #1)]]> 199091872 Mexican history and Mesoamerican mythology meet in this thrilling historical fantasy with magic, intrigue, treachery, romance, and adventure.

The empire of Montezuma II has long fallen, a city raised on the bones of Tenochtitlan. None dare whisper the names of their gods- or speak of the magic that once graced the land, of the witches who hunted as jaguars, the warriors who soared as eagles.

Until a new name emerges- a curse on the lips of the Spanish, a hero in the hearts of the people. A masked vigilante, a sorceress with a blade.

Pantera

But that is not her only name. To all who know her, Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin is a glittering jewel of court, promised to the heir of the Spanish throne. The respectable Lady Leonora faints at the sight of blood and would sooner be caught dead than wield a sword…even against a dauntless thief with a cutting smile.

No one suspects that Leonora and Pantera are one and the same. Leonora has fooled them all, and, with magic of her ancestors running through her veins, she is nearly invincible- until an ancient prophecy of destruction threatens, and she is forced to decide: surrender the mask or her life. But the legendary Pantera is destined for more than an early grave, and once she discovers the truth of her origins, not even death will stop her.]]> 367 Mariely Lares 0008609594 Rinn 0 2.93 2024 Sun of Blood and Ruin (Sun of Blood and Ruin #1)
author: Mariely Lares
name: Rinn
average rating: 2.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-physical
review:

]]> Felix Ever After 51931067 From Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle....

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.]]> 368 Kacen Callender 0062820257 Rinn 0 4.21 2020 Felix Ever After
author: Kacen Callender
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read, contemporary, lgbtqia, own-physical
review:

]]> Sphere 1890038
Four scientists are rushed to the scene: an astrophysicist, a biologist, a mathematician and a psychologist and together they descend into the depths of the sea to investigate.

The riddle seems unsolvable. Then someone or something begins to transmit messages onto their computer screen: messages that grow increasingly hostile and hint at a terrifying power...

SPHERE is Michael Crichton at the top of his form. An astounding combination of action, suspense and science that probes the darkest corners of the mind where man's deadliest enemy lurks.]]> 500 Michael Crichton 0330370359 Rinn 0 3.66 1987 Sphere
author: Michael Crichton
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read, own-physical, science-fiction
review:

]]> Learwife 70370279
Though her grief and rage threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she exiled? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend? And what will become of her now?]]> 368 Thorp J.R. 1838852840 Rinn 0 3.12 2021 Learwife
author: Thorp J.R.
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read, historical-fiction, own-physical
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dragonfall (Dragon Scales, #1)]]> 61985453
Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the gods remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely--body, mind, and soul--and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.]]> 336 L.R. Lam Rinn 0 3.36 2023 Dragonfall (Dragon Scales, #1)
author: L.R. Lam
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-physical, series-released
review:

]]> The Witches of Vardø 200025070 416 Anya Bergman 1786581957 Rinn 4 3.74 2023 The Witches of Vardø
author: Anya Bergman
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, own-physical, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All of Our Demise (All of Us Villains, #2)]]> 55337054 All of Our Demise is the epic conclusion to Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman’s New York Times bestselling All of Us Villains duology.

“I feel like I should warn this is going to be absolutely brutal.�

For the first time in this ancient, bloodstained story, the tournament is breaking. The boundaries between the city of Ilvernath and the arena have fallen. Reporters swarm the historic battlegrounds. A dead boy now lives again. And a new champion has entered the fray, one who seeks to break the curse for good... no matter how many lives are sacrificed in the process.

As the curse teeters closer and closer to collapse, the surviving champions each face a dismantle the tournament piece by piece, or fight to the death as this story was always intended.

Long-held alliances will be severed. Hearts will break. Lives will end. Because a tale as wicked as this one was never destined for happily ever after.

The All of Us Villains Duology:
#1) All of Us Villains
#2) All of Our Demise

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 474 Amanda Foody 1250789354 Rinn 3 3.86 2022 All of Our Demise (All of Us Villains, #2)
author: Amanda Foody
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All of Us Villains (All of Us Villains, #1)]]> 56179338 The blockbuster co-writing debut of Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman, All of Us Villains begins a dark tale of ambition and magick...

You Fell in Love with the Victors of the Hunger Games.
Now Prepare to Meet the Villains of the Blood Veil.

The Blood Moon rises. The Blood Veil falls. The Tournament begins.

Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Ilvernath each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death.

The prize? Exclusive control over a secret wellspring of high magick, the most powerful resource in the world—one thought long depleted.

But this year a scandalous tell-all book has exposed the tournament and thrust the seven new champions into the worldwide spotlight. The book also granted them valuable information previous champions never had—insight into the other families� strategies, secrets, and weaknesses. And most important, it gave them a choice: accept their fate or rewrite their legacy.

Either way, this is a story that must be penned in blood.

The All of Us Villains Duology:
#1) All of Us Villains
#2) All of Our Demise]]> 400 Amanda Foody 1250789257 Rinn 4 3.86 2021 All of Us Villains (All of Us Villains, #1)
author: Amanda Foody
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: young-adult, own-kindle, fantasy, read-2025
review:

]]> Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet, #1) 8843789 Once upon a time there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her.

Sixteen-year-old Alison has been sectioned in a mental institute for teens, having murdered the most perfect and popular girl at school. But the case is a mystery: no body has been found, and Alison's condition is proving difficult to diagnose. Alison herself can't explain what happened: one minute she was fighting with Tori -- the next she disintegrated. Into nothing. But that's impossible. Right?

When Alison meets Dr Faraday, a visiting psychologist, she feels an instant connection. More, he believes her story. But there's more to Faraday than Alison can possibly imagine ... and the answers he will give her are ... extraordinary ...]]> 415 R.J. Anderson 1408312751 Rinn 4 3.75 2011 Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet, #1)
author: R.J. Anderson
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/06/03
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: paranormal, read-2012, science-fiction, young-adult
review:

]]> Aria, Volume 1 (Aria, #1) 1152855 178 Kozue Amano 1413900402 Rinn 4 manga, read-before-2009 3.93 2002 Aria, Volume 1 (Aria, #1)
author: Kozue Amano
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: manga, read-before-2009
review:

]]> Love Hina, Vol. 01 1015311 198 Ken Akamatsu 1931514941 Rinn 1 manga, read-before-2009 3.74 1999 Love Hina, Vol. 01
author: Ken Akamatsu
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: manga, read-before-2009
review:

]]> Love Hina, Vol. 02 1621564 192 Ken Akamatsu 1931514976 Rinn 1 manga, read-before-2009 3.89 1999 Love Hina, Vol. 02
author: Ken Akamatsu
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: manga, read-before-2009
review:

]]> Love Hina, Vol. 03 1621563 200 Ken Akamatsu 1591820146 Rinn 1 manga, read-before-2009 3.94 1999 Love Hina, Vol. 03
author: Ken Akamatsu
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: manga, read-before-2009
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist, #1)]]> 35103250 416 Renée Ahdieh 1473657989 Rinn 2 3.84 2017 Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist, #1)
author: Renée Ahdieh
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2018/03/28
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, read-2018, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1)]]> 18666047
But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself - all with only one good hand. Born a weakling in the eyes of a hard, cold world, he cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he has sharpened his mind to a deadly edge.

Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast, he finds they can help him more than any noble could. Even so, Yarvi's path may end as it began - in twists, traps and tragedy...]]> 336 Joe Abercrombie 0804178321 Rinn 4
I was immediately thrown into Yarvi’s world and this was not an issue � the world and culture was slowly built up around the story as and when needed. Definitely a ‘smaller scale� fantasy in comparison to Joe Abercrombie’s other work, this is by no means a ‘light� fantasy. Despite the young adult target audience, it still retains that style that ‘Lord Grimdark� is so well known for, whilst still being suitable for younger readers.

To me, it didn’t feel massively eventful. I think I was expecting a bit more action and whilst this definitely picks up towards the end, it was a slightly slower story than expected. And as I’ve come to learn from dark fantasy � once things seem like they’re working out and getting better for the protagonist, you can guarantee they’re only going to get worse�

I have to admit that I didn’t make too many notes on this book, as I read most of it whilst sat in cafes around Leiden and didn’t have a notebook with me. I apologise for this review, it doesn’t feel quite as coherent as I’d like it to be but right now my mind is filled with archaeological theory and I haven’t worked on much blog stuff in a little while! But what I can say is that it is definitely worth the read � particularly for those who haven’t read any Joe Abercrombie before, it’s a good way to ease yourself in to his style of grimdark fantasy.

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.]]> 3.96 2014 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/08/21
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, dragons-and-jetpacks, young-adult, read-2014, review-copy, reviewed
review:
Having only previously read one of Joe Abercrombie’s books (Red Country), happy to read more of his work and curious to see how it would compare, I was glad when this was chosen as my book group’s Fantasy Book of the Month for August. Immediately I could tell that Abercrombie had adapted his writing style for a young adult audience � things were much more toned down. The language was less heavy, both in terms of description and swearing (!), and there was pretty much a complete absence of sex and violence � although the latter comes more into the story later on.

I was immediately thrown into Yarvi’s world and this was not an issue � the world and culture was slowly built up around the story as and when needed. Definitely a ‘smaller scale� fantasy in comparison to Joe Abercrombie’s other work, this is by no means a ‘light� fantasy. Despite the young adult target audience, it still retains that style that ‘Lord Grimdark� is so well known for, whilst still being suitable for younger readers.

To me, it didn’t feel massively eventful. I think I was expecting a bit more action and whilst this definitely picks up towards the end, it was a slightly slower story than expected. And as I’ve come to learn from dark fantasy � once things seem like they’re working out and getting better for the protagonist, you can guarantee they’re only going to get worse�

I have to admit that I didn’t make too many notes on this book, as I read most of it whilst sat in cafes around Leiden and didn’t have a notebook with me. I apologise for this review, it doesn’t feel quite as coherent as I’d like it to be but right now my mind is filled with archaeological theory and I haven’t worked on much blog stuff in a little while! But what I can say is that it is definitely worth the read � particularly for those who haven’t read any Joe Abercrombie before, it’s a good way to ease yourself in to his style of grimdark fantasy.

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
]]> <![CDATA[Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)]]> 10086357 392 Ben Aaronovitch Rinn 4 3.83 2011 Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2017/05/19
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, crime-mystery-thriller, read-2017, dragons-and-jetpacks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London #2)]]> 10381200
Body and soul. They’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord� Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780345524591]]> 375 Ben Aaronovitch Rinn 4 4.01 2011 Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London #2)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/07
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, paranormal, read-2018
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London, #3)]]> 10814687
We found one.

And that was that, I thought come Monday. First case of the day: Person Unknown has been stabbed to death on the tracks at Baker Street Underground. Magic may have been involved. Sure enough, the weapon turns out to be saturated in the tell-tale traces left by magic.

But Person Unknown turns out to be the son of a US senator, so before you can say "international incident", FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and her firmly held religious beliefs are on my case.

And down in the dark, in the Tube tunnels of London, along with the buried rivers and remnants of Victorian sewer systems, I'm hearing some really strange things...]]> 418 Ben Aaronovitch 0575097647 Rinn 3 4.12 2012 Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London, #3)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/11
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, read-2018, crime-mystery-thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Broken Homes (Rivers of London, #4)]]> 16078584
Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load.

So far so London.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on a housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.

Is there a connection?

And if there is, why oh why did it have to be South of the River?]]> 357 Ben Aaronovitch 0575132469 Rinn 4 fantasy, read-2018 4.13 2013 Broken Homes (Rivers of London, #4)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/15
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, read-2018
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)]]> 944073
Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glokta a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood.

]]> 515 Joe Abercrombie 0575079797 Rinn 2 Changed rating after July 2021 re-read (initially 5 stars).

I have to say, after finally reading the first book in the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, I now understand why he is ‘Lord Grimdark�. The Blade Itself felt like a whirlwind of a book, despite probably being the slower of the three as it builds things up. Of course I was expecting the book to be grisly, but it was definitely grimmer and darker than I thought it would be � and that’s no bad thing. There are several points of view within the story, and each felt unique.

I really loved the range of characters that Abercrombie has created to populate his world. Inquisitor Glokta is the crippled, vicious product of two years of torture, both despairing of what his life has turned into and using his disfigurement to his advantage. Occasionally, just very occasionally, I got small glimpses of what he was like before, or how he could have been, had he not been tortured, and I actually felt sorry for him. Jezal may have been, at first glance, the handsome young hero of the story, but actually as it progressed it was clear that he was an arrogant and spoiled young man, clinging to his heritage and wealth and using them as a stepping stone to make his way up, rather than pure talent.

And then there were others � Logen as this battle-scarred, grizzly warrior, whose misunderstanding of foreign cultures occasionally made him feel like a small child trapped in a hulking great body. It was really interesting to see him after reading one of Abercrombie’s other books, which is technically set after the events of The First Law series, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he changes from one man to the other. Of course, I can’t forget Bayaz and Brother Longfoot who, for me, especially in Brother Longfoot’s case, provided the comic relief. It’s definitely going to be an interesting journey�

There is a medieval feel to the book, as you often find with fantasy � that sort of society, but with added magic which is always a bonus. One thing that would have been nice would be more female characters. There were only two, and the first didn’t appear until around halfway through the book, the second about three-quarters. More time for them over the next two books, please?

The Blade Itself is definitely not the book you want to read when you have to be up early the next day. It’s a page turner and a half, and will keep you reading well into the night if you’re not careful. Definitely HIGHLY recommended for all fantasy fans, especially if you’re looking for something a bit (or rather a lot) darker.

Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.]]> 4.21 2006 The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2021/07/13
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: fantasy, dragons-and-jetpacks, read-2014, read-2015, read-2021, re-read, reviewed
review:
Changed rating after July 2021 re-read (initially 5 stars).

I have to say, after finally reading the first book in the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, I now understand why he is ‘Lord Grimdark�. The Blade Itself felt like a whirlwind of a book, despite probably being the slower of the three as it builds things up. Of course I was expecting the book to be grisly, but it was definitely grimmer and darker than I thought it would be � and that’s no bad thing. There are several points of view within the story, and each felt unique.

I really loved the range of characters that Abercrombie has created to populate his world. Inquisitor Glokta is the crippled, vicious product of two years of torture, both despairing of what his life has turned into and using his disfigurement to his advantage. Occasionally, just very occasionally, I got small glimpses of what he was like before, or how he could have been, had he not been tortured, and I actually felt sorry for him. Jezal may have been, at first glance, the handsome young hero of the story, but actually as it progressed it was clear that he was an arrogant and spoiled young man, clinging to his heritage and wealth and using them as a stepping stone to make his way up, rather than pure talent.

And then there were others � Logen as this battle-scarred, grizzly warrior, whose misunderstanding of foreign cultures occasionally made him feel like a small child trapped in a hulking great body. It was really interesting to see him after reading one of Abercrombie’s other books, which is technically set after the events of The First Law series, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he changes from one man to the other. Of course, I can’t forget Bayaz and Brother Longfoot who, for me, especially in Brother Longfoot’s case, provided the comic relief. It’s definitely going to be an interesting journey�

There is a medieval feel to the book, as you often find with fantasy � that sort of society, but with added magic which is always a bonus. One thing that would have been nice would be more female characters. There were only two, and the first didn’t appear until around halfway through the book, the second about three-quarters. More time for them over the next two books, please?

The Blade Itself is definitely not the book you want to read when you have to be up early the next day. It’s a page turner and a half, and will keep you reading well into the night if you’re not careful. Definitely HIGHLY recommended for all fantasy fans, especially if you’re looking for something a bit (or rather a lot) darker.

Originally posted on my former blog, Rinn Reads.
]]> <![CDATA[Drums Of Autumn (Outlander, #4)]]> 23482855 The fourth novel in the bestselling Outlander series.

How far will a woman travel to find a father, a lover a destiny? Across seas, across time - across the grave itself.

It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. Claire Randall was swept through time into the arms of James Fraser whose love for her became legend - a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Two decades later, Claire travelled back again to reunite with Jamie, this time in frontier America. But Claire had left someone behind in her own time - their daughter Brianna.

Now Brianna has made a disturbing discovery that sends her to the stone circle and a terrifying leap into the unknown. In search of her mother and the father she has never met, she risks her own future to try to change history - and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past - or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong...]]> 1200 Diana Gabaldon 1784751340 Rinn 5 4.13 1996 Drums Of Autumn (Outlander, #4)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/24
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: own-physical, historical-fiction, read-2017, currently-reading, re-read, read-2025
review:

]]> Lost Ark Dreaming 152235937 The brutally engineered class divisions of Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep in this high-octane post-climate disaster novella written by Nommo Award-winning author Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers� most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level.

There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves.

Three lives within the towers are pulled to the fore of this Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning a tremendous loss; and Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future that is worth living—for everyone.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 192 Suyi Davies Okungbowa 1250890764 Rinn 4 3.76 2024 Lost Ark Dreaming
author: Suyi Davies Okungbowa
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: dystopia, science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Static Ruin (The Voidwitch Saga, #3)]]> 36452119
Mars Xi is on the run, a bounty on her head and a kill count on her conscience. All she has left are her mutant cat Ocho and her fellow human weapon Pale, a young boy wracked by seizures who can kill with a thought. She needs him treated, and she needs to escape, and the only thread left to pull is her frayed connection to her father, Marius Teo. That thread will take her to the outskirts of the galaxy, to grapple with witch-cults and privately-owned planets, and into the hands of the man who engineered her birth.]]> 224 Corey J. White 1250195543 Rinn 4 3.85 2018 Static Ruin (The Voidwitch Saga, #3)
author: Corey J. White
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: own-kindle, science-fiction, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Void Black Shadow (Voidwitch Saga, #2)]]> 36198005
The last time MEPHISTO came for Mars they took one of her friends with them. That was a mistake. A force hasn't been invented that can stop a voidwitch on a rampage, and Mars won't rest until she's settled her debts.]]> 217 Corey J. White 0765396939 Rinn 4 3.74 2018 Void Black Shadow (Voidwitch Saga, #2)
author: Corey J. White
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: own-kindle, science-fiction, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Killing Gravity (Voidwitch Saga #1)]]> 33091992
Penned in on all sides, Mariam chases rumors to find the one who sold her out. To discover the truth and defeat her pursuers, she’ll have to stare into the abyss and find the secrets of her past, her future, and her terrifying potential.]]> 173 Corey J. White 0765396319 Rinn 4 3.59 2017 Killing Gravity (Voidwitch Saga #1)
author: Corey J. White
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Gifts of the Universe]]> 61740092 A dying universe.

When the Home worlds finally achieved the technology to venture out into the stars, they found a graveyard of dead civilizations, a sea of lifeless gray planets and their ruins. What befell them is unknown. All Home knows is that they are the last civilization left in the universe, and whatever came for the others will come for them next.

A search for answers.

Scout is an Archivist tasked with scouring the dead worlds of the cosmos for their last gifts: interesting technology, cultural rituals—anything left behind that might be useful to the Home worlds and their survival. During an excavation on a lifeless planet, Scout unearths something unbelievable: a surviving message from an alien who witnessed the world-ending entity thousands of years ago.

A past unraveled.

Blyreena was once a friend, a soul mate, and a respected leader of her people, the Stelhari. At the end of her world, she was the last one left. She survived to give one last message, one final hope to the future: instructions on how to save the universe.

An adventure at the end of a trillion lifetimes.

With the fate of everything at stake, Scout must overcome the dangers of the Stelhari’s ruined civilization while following Blyreena’s leads to collect its artifacts. If Scout can’t deliver these groundbreaking discoveries back to the Archivists, Home might not only be the last civilization to exist, but the last to finally fall.]]> 194 Rory August 0578356759 Rinn 4 3.63 2022 The Last Gifts of the Universe
author: Rory August
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> Our Wives Under the Sea 60234307
Moving through something that only resembles normal life, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had before might be gone. Though Leah is still there, Miri can feel the woman she loves slipping from her grasp.

Our Wives Under The Sea is the debut novel from Julia Armfield, the critically acclaimed author of Salt Slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep deep sea.]]> 223 Julia Armfield Rinn 4 3.71 2022 Our Wives Under the Sea
author: Julia Armfield
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: horror, lgbtqia, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> My Last Innocent Year 61362722 An incisive, deeply resonant debut novel about a nonconsensual sexual encounter that propels one woman’s final semester at an elite New England college into controversy and chaos—and into an ill-advised affair with a married professor.

It’s 1998 and Isabel Rosen, the only daughter of a Lower East Side appetizing store owner, has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire. Desperate to shed her working-class roots and still mourning the death of her mother four years earlier, Isabel has always felt like an outsider at Wilder but now, in her final semester, she believes she has found her place—until a nonconsensual sexual encounter with one of the only other Jewish students on campus leaves her reeling.

Enter R. H. Connelly, a once-famous poet and Isabel’s writing professor, a man with secrets of his own. Connelly makes Isabel feel seen, beautiful, talented: the woman she longs to become. His belief in her ignites a belief in herself, and the two begin an affair that shakes the foundation of who Isabel thinks she is, for better and worse. As the lives of the adults around her slowly come apart, Isabel discovers that the line between youth and adulthood is less defined than she thought.

A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, Daisy Alpert Florin's My Last Innocent Year is a timely and wise portrait of a young woman learning to trust her voice and move toward independence while recognizing the beauty and grit of where she came from.]]> 295 Daisy Alpert Florin 125085704X Rinn 4 3.97 2023 My Last Innocent Year
author: Daisy Alpert Florin
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: contemporary, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> Hamlet, Prince of Robots 61443456
Elsinore Robotics is on the cusp of a breakthrough—the company is poised to create the first humanoid androids powered by true artificial intelligence. Their only rival, Norwegian Technologies, lost a publicly streamed contest between their flagship model, Fortinbras, and Elsinore’s HAM(let) v.1.

But when the first Hamlet model is found irreparably deactivated, the apparent victim of wild malware, the field of consumer cybernetics is thrown wide open. However, Hamlet v.1’s memories were not entirely lost in the accident.

Hamlet v.2 swears to avenge his progenitor, but is plagued by the aftereffects of integrating Old Hamlet’s backup into his own neural matrix. Beset by doubts about whether his feelings are truly his own, he worries his love for his boyfriend, Horatio, is an illusion, all the while driven by a consuming need for revenge. While he has a method, there is a madness in it, and Hamlet’s actions will leave no corner of Elsinore unscathed.

A beat-by-beat retelling of the Shakespeare classic, Hamlet, Prince of Robots grapples with conscience, ambition, and pain, and what it means to be, or not to be, human.]]> 166 M. Darusha Wehm 0473638886 Rinn 2 3.39 2023 Hamlet, Prince of Robots
author: M. Darusha Wehm
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brigands & Breadknives (Legends & Lattes, #2)]]> 222376572 Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

If only things were so simple�

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way.]]> 336 Travis Baldree 1250334888 Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy 4.06 2025 Brigands & Breadknives (Legends & Lattes, #2)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: to-read, fantasy
review:

]]> The Scourge Between Stars 60784410 Ness Brown's The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend set aboard a doomed generation ship harboring something terrible within its walls.

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears� failed colony on a distant planet.

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.]]> 165 Ness Brown 1250834686 Rinn 5 Alien-esque books, please.]]> 3.56 2023 The Scourge Between Stars
author: Ness Brown
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: horror, science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:
More Alien-esque books, please.
]]> The Disasters 39714270
Nax and three other washouts escape—barely—but they’re also the sole witnesses to the biggest crime in the history of space colonization. And the perfect scapegoats.

On the run, Nax and his fellow failures plan to pull off a dangerous heist to spread the truth. Because they may not be “Academy material,� and they may not even get along, but they’re the only ones left to step up and fight.

Full of high-stakes action, subversive humor, and underdogs becoming heroes is a page-turning thrill ride that anyone—not just space nerds—can enjoy.]]> 362 M.K. England Rinn 3 3.84 2018 The Disasters
author: M.K. England
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: lgbtqia, science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today]]> 159301846 USA Today Bestseller

A surprising, groundbreaking, and fiercely entertaining medical history that is both a collective narrative of women’s bodies and a call to action for a new conversation around women’s health.

For as long as medicine has been a practice, women's bodies have been treated like objects to be practiced examined and ignored, idealized and sexualized, shamed, subjugated, mutilated, and dismissed. The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal leg­acy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women.

While the modern age has seen significant advancements in the medical field, the notion that female bodies are flawed inversions of the male ideal lingers on—as do the pervasive societal stigmas and lingering ignorance that shape women’s health and relationships with their own bodies.

Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen draws back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives and experiences laid the foundation for today’s medical thought, and the many oversights that still remain unaddressed. With a physician’s knowledge and empathy, Dr. Comen follows the road map of the eleven organ systems to share unique and untold stories, drawing upon medical texts and journals, interviews with expert physicians, as well as her own  experience treating thousands of women.

Empowering women to better understand ourselves and advocate for care that prioritizes healthy and joyful lives� for us and generations to come�All in Her Head is written with humor, wisdom, and deep scientific and cultural insight. Eye-opening, sometimes enraging, yet always captivating, this shared memoir of women’s medical history is an essential contribution to a holistic understanding and much-needed reclaiming of women’s history and bodies.]]> 367 Elizabeth Comen 0063293021 Rinn 3 4.45 2024 All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today
author: Elizabeth Comen
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: non-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> The School for Good Mothers 57846320 An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781982156121 can be found here.

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents� sacrifices. What’s worse is she can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with their angelic daughter Harriet does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she’s just enough.

Until Frida has a horrible day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida � ones who check their phones while their kids are on the playground; who let their children walk home alone; in other words, mothers who only have one lapse of judgement. Now, a host of government officials will determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion. Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that she can live up to the standards set for mothers � that she can learn to be good.

This propulsive, witty page-turner explores the perils of “perfect� upper-middle-class parenting, the violence enacted upon women by the state and each other, and the boundless love a mother has for her daughter.]]> 336 Jessamine Chan Rinn 3 3.51 2022 The School for Good Mothers
author: Jessamine Chan
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: dystopia, own-kindle, read-2025, contemporary
review:

]]> Boy Parts 49083140
Placed on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, she is offered an exhibition at a fashionable London gallery, promising to revive her career in the art world and offering an escape from her rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema. The news triggers a self-destructive tailspin, centred around Irina’s relationship with her obsessive best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention�

Boy Parts is the incendiary debut novel from Eliza Clark, a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboo regions of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.]]> 304 Eliza Clark 1910312649 Rinn 4 3.74 2020 Boy Parts
author: Eliza Clark
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: crime-mystery-thriller, lgbtqia, own-kindle, read-2025, contemporary
review:

]]> Dark Orbit 24799061
Upon arrival, the team finds an extraordinary crystalline planet, laden with dark matter. Then a crew member is murdered and Thora mysteriously disappears. Thought to be uninhabited, the planet is in fact home to a blind, sentient species whose members navigate their world with a bizarre vocabulary and extrasensory perceptions.

Lost in the deep crevasses of the planet among these people, Thora must battle her demons and learn to comprehend the native inhabitants in order to find her crewmates and warn them of an impending danger. But her most difficult task may lie in persuading the crew that some powers lie beyond the boundaries of science.]]> 304 Carolyn Ives Gilman Rinn 3 3.92 2015 Dark Orbit
author: Carolyn Ives Gilman
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages]]> 201133 336 Mark Abley 0618565833 Rinn 3 3.85 2003 Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages
author: Mark Abley
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: non-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> Camp Damascus 61884782 A searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.

They’ll scare you straight to hell.

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.

Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective� gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.]]> 246 Chuck Tingle 1250874629 Rinn 2 3.90 2023 Camp Damascus
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: horror, lgbtqia, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> After the Dragons 57544447
Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern dragons survive. As drought plagues the aquatic creatures, a mysterious disease—shaolong, or “burnt lungâ€â€”afflicts the city’s human inhabitants.

Jaded college student Xiang Kaifei scours Beijing streets for abandoned dragons, distracting himself from his diagnosis. Elijah Ahmed, a biracial American medical researcher, is drawn to Beijing by the memory of his grandmother and her death by shaolong. Interest in Beijing’s dragons leads Kai and Eli into an unlikely partnership. With the resources of Kai’s dragon rescue and Eli’s immunology research, can the pair find a cure for shaolong and safety for the dragons? Eli and Kai must confront old ghosts and hard truths if there is any hope for themselves or the dragons they love.

After the Dragons is a tender story, for readers interested in the effects of climate change on environments and people, but who don’t want a grim, hopeless read. Beautiful and challenging, focused on hope and care, this novel navigates the nuances of changing culture in a changing world.]]> 160 Cynthia Zhang Rinn 4 3.83 2021 After the Dragons
author: Cynthia Zhang
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Feet of Clay (Discworld, #19; City Watch, #3)]]> 34527
But for Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, that's only the start...

There's treason in the air.
A crime has happened.

He's not only got to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He's not even sure what they dun. But as soon as he knows what the questions are, he's going to want some answers.]]> 411 Terry Pratchett 0552153257 Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.31 1996 Feet of Clay (Discworld, #19; City Watch, #3)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> The Forest Brims Over 121515743
Nowatari Rui has long been the subject of her husband’s novels, depicted as a pure woman who takes great pleasure in sex. With her privacy and identity continually stripped away, she has come to be seen by society first and foremost as the inspiration for her husband’s art. When a decade’s worth of frustrations reaches its boiling point, Rui consumes a bowl of seeds, and buds and roots begin to sprout all over her body. Instead of taking her to a hospital, her husband keeps her in an aquaterrarium, set to compose a new novel based on this unsettling experience. But Rui breaks away from her husband by growing into a forest—and in time, she takes over the entire city.

As fantasy and reality bleed together, The Forest Brims Over challenges unconscious gender biases and explores the boundaries between art and exploitation—muse abuse—in the literary world.]]> 202 Maru Ayase 1640095381 Rinn 2 3.35 2023 The Forest Brims Over
author: Maru Ayase
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, part 1 of 2)]]> 17984529 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780007447848 can be found here.

Winter approaches Westeros like an angry beast.

The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud. In the northern wastes, a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. And Robb's defences are ranged against the South, the land of the cunning and cruel Lannisters, who have his young sisters in their power.

Throughout Westeros, the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the wall is breached, no king will live to claim it.]]> 623 George R.R. Martin Rinn 5 4.50 2000 A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire #3, part 1 of 2)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/12
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: read-2012, fantasy, own-physical, read-2017, re-read, read-2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tyrant's Throne (Greatcoats, #4)]]> 30317594 Would you - could you? - uphold the law at the cost of those you love?

After years of struggle and sacrifice, Falcio val Mond, First Cantor of the Greatcoats, is on the brink of fulfilling his dead King's dream: Aline, the King's daughter, is about to take the throne and restore the rule of law once and for all.

But for the Greatcoats, nothing is ever that simple. In the neighbouring country of Avares, an enigmatic new warlord is uniting the barbarian armies which have long plagued Tristia's borders - and even worse, he is rumoured to have a new ally: Trin, who's twice tried to kill Aline to take the throne for herself. With the armies of Avares at her back, she'll be unstoppable.

Falcio, Kest and Brasti race north to stop her, but in those cold and treacherous climes they discover something altogether different, and far more dangerous: a new player is planning to take the throne of Tristia, and the Greatcoats, for all their skill, may not be able to stop him.

As the nobles of Tristia and even the Greatcoats themselves fight over who should rule, the Warlord of Avares threatens to invade. It is going to fall to Falcio to render the one verdict he cannot bring himself to decide: does he crown the girl he vowed to put on the throne, or uphold the laws he swore to serve?]]> 608 Sebastien de Castell Rinn 5 4.40 2017 Tyrant's Throne (Greatcoats, #4)
author: Sebastien de Castell
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: fantasy, own-kindle, read-2025, favourites
review:
screaming crying throwing up this was such a good conclusion to a series that has become a new favourite of mine
]]> Jingo (Discworld, #21) 11295637 'Neighbours... hah. People'd live for ages side by side, nodding at one another amicably on their way to work, and then some trivial thing would happen and someone would be having a garden fork removed from their ear.'

When the neighbours in question are the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork, those are going to be some pretty large garden tools indeed. Of course, no-one would dream of starting a war without a perfectly good reason…such as a 'strategic' piece of old rock in the middle of nowhere.

It is after all every citizen's right to bear arms to defend their own. Even if it isn't technically their own. And even if they don’t have much in the way of actual weaponry. As two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him... and that's just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.]]> 387 Terry Pratchett Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.52 1997 Jingo (Discworld, #21)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> Men at Arms (Discworld, #15) 8704926 'What's so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work's already been done. You ought to make yourself useful and find the man who put the sword in the stone in the first place.'

The City Watch needs MEN! But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman... most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get, because someone in Ankh-Morpork has been getting dangerous ideas - about crowns and legendary swords, and destiny.

And the problem with destiny is, of course, that she is not always careful where she points her finger. One minute you might be minding your own business on a normal if not spectacular career path, the next you might be in the frame for the big job, like saving the world...]]> 363 Terry Pratchett Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.64 1993 Men at Arms (Discworld, #15)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.64
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> Small Gods (Discworld, #13) 20179902 'Just because you can't explain it, doesn't mean it's a miracle.'

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was: 'Hey, you!' This is the Discworld, after all, and religion is a controversial business.

Everyone has their own opinion, and indeed their own gods, of every shape and size, and all elbowing for space at the top. In such a competitive environment, shape and size can be pretty crucial to make one's presence felt.

So it's certainly not helpful to be reduced to appearing in the form of a tortoise, a manifestation far below god-like status in anyone's book.

In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast: for the Great God Om, Brutha the novice is the Chosen One � or at least the only One available. He wants peace and justice and brotherly love. He also wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please...]]> 347 Terry Pratchett Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.46 1992 Small Gods (Discworld, #13)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12)]]> 11295655 Fairy godmothers develop a very deep understanding about human nature, which makes the good ones kind and the bad ones powerful.

Inheriting a fairy godmother role seemed an easy job... After all, how difficult could it be to make sure that a servant girl doesn't marry a prince?

Quite hard, actually, even for the witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. That's the problem with real life � it tends to get in the way of a good story, and a good story is hard to resist.

Servant girls have to marry the prince, whether they want to or not. You can't fight a Happy Ending, especially when it comes with glass slippers and a rival Fairy Godmother who has made Destiny an offer it can't refuse.]]> 305 Terry Pratchett Rinn 0 to-read, fantasy, own-kindle 4.52 1991 Witches Abroad (Discworld, #12)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle
review:

]]> Big Swiss 125485811 Greta liked knowing people's secrets. That wasn't a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.

Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her - she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Greta can see her now: dressed top to toe in white, that adorable gap between her two front teeth, her penetrating blue eyes. She's a head-turner: including the heads of infants and dogs.

Well that's how Greta imagines seeing her; they haven't actually ever met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland.

Greta and Big Swiss are not in the same room, or even the same building. Greta is miles away, sitting at a desk in her own house, wearing only headphones, fingerless gloves, a kimono, and legwarmers, transcribing this disembodied voice.

What Greta doesn't know is that she's about to bump into Big Swiss in the local dog park. A new - and not entirely honest - relationship is going to be born.

A relationship that will transform both of their lives. . .]]> 323 Jen Beagin 0571378579 Rinn 4 3.63 2023 Big Swiss
author: Jen Beagin
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: contemporary, lgbtqia, own-physical, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 9251500 Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out that 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.

Harry is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn't just slow, it stinks.

So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get . . . interesting.

MAGIC - IT CAN GET A GUY KILLED.]]> 318 Jim Butcher 0356500276 Rinn 4 3.68 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/18
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: dragons-and-jetpacks, fantasy, read-2018
review:

]]> Remote Control 34215764 The new book by Nebula and Hugo Award-winner, Nnedi Okorafor.

"She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own."

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­--a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks--alone, except for her fox companion--searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?]]> 156 Nnedi Okorafor Rinn 4 3.86 2021 Remote Control
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: science-fiction, own-kindle, read-2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Play of Shadows (Court of Shadows #1)]]> 42291958 Swordplay, magic, intrigue and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series by the bestselling author of The Greatcoats

Damelas Shademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel.

He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city's most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer.

With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who'd just as soon see him dead, this failed son of two Greatcoats must somehow find within himself the courage to dig up long-buried truths before a ruthless band of bravos known as the Iron Orchids come for his head.

Oh, and there's still that matter of the Vixen waiting to duel him . . .

]]> 528 Sebastien de Castell Rinn 0 4.17 2024 Play of Shadows (Court of Shadows #1)
author: Sebastien de Castell
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, kindle-series-first, own-kindle
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Way of the Argosi (Spellslinger, #0.5)]]> 50174334
Stealing, swindling, and gambling with her own life just to survive, Ferius will risk anything to avenge herself on the zealous young mage who haunts her
every waking hour.

But then she meets the incomparable Durral Brown, a wandering philosopher gifted in the arts of violence who instead overcomes his opponents with shrewdness and compassion. Does this charismatic and infuriating man hold the key to defeating her enemies, or will he lead her down a path that will destroy
her very soul?

Through this outstanding tale of swashbuckling action, magical intrigue, and dazzling wit, follow Ferius along the Way of the Argosi and enter a world of magic and mystery unlike any other.]]> 400 Sebastien de Castell Rinn 0 4.23 2021 Way of the Argosi (Spellslinger, #0.5)
author: Sebastien de Castell
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-series-sequels
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gogmagog (The Chronicles of Ludwich #1)]]> 154433984
Past plants on the mud-flats that send up brief, man-shaped clouds of seeds to lure you out, past shanty towns full of old sailors and pilots scraping a living from the dregs of the passenger trade, between the wicker effigies in the Wodwo graveyards this is a journey at once familiar from folk tales and country customs and utterly strange and alien.

Cady, back on her boat and feeling every day of her 1,600 years; the tight-lipped but beautiful little girl and her rubber-stitched-faced, mechanical companion are an odd but warmly imagined and compelling cast to accompany the reader on a quest into a world of mysteries and terrors that leave the reader with an inkling that this world is perhaps more familiar than it first appears.

Can Cady find her youth again?]]> 333 Jeff Noon Rinn 0 3.64 2024 Gogmagog (The Chronicles of Ludwich #1)
author: Jeff Noon
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, kindle-series-first, own-kindle, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court]]> 101160670
Architecturally breathtaking and rich in splendid art and décor, Hampton Court Palace has been the stage of some of the most important events in British history, such as the commissioning of King James’s version of the Bible, the staging of many of Shakespeare’s plays, and Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation ball.

Accessible, engaging, and unputdownable, The Palace takes us into every room in the castle, revealing the ups and downs of royal history and illustrating what was at play politically, socially, and economically at the time. An engaging and charming history book that is perfect for fans of Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, and Andrew Lownie, The Palace makes you feel as if you were in the room as history was made.]]> 480 Gareth Russell 1982169060 Rinn 0 4.14 2023 The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court
author: Gareth Russell
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, book-club-options, history, non-fiction, kindle-standalone, own-kindle
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl]]> 199897827
A daughter of Korean immigrants, Hyeseung Song spends her earliest years in the cane fields of Texas where her loyalties are divided between a restless father in search of Big Money, and a beautiful yet domineering mother whose resentments about her own life compromises her relationship with her daughter. With her parents at constant odds, Song learns more words in Korean for hatred than for love. When the family’s fake Gucci business lands them in bankruptcy, Song moves to a new elementary school. On her first day, a girl asks the teacher: “Can she speak English?�

Neither rich nor white, Song does what is necessary to be visible: she internalizes the model minority myth as well as her beloved mother’s dreams to see her on a secure path. Song meets these expectations by attending the best Ivy League universities in the country. But when she wavers, in search of an artistic life on her own terms, her mother warns, “Happiness is what unexceptional people tell themselves when they don’t have the talent and drive to go after real success.� Years of self-erasure take a toll and Song experiences recurring episodes of depression and mania. A thought repeats: I want to die. I want to die. Song enters a psychiatric hospital where she meets patients with similar struggles. So begins her sweeping journey to heal herself by losing everything.

Unflinching and lyrical, Docile is one woman’s story of subverting the model minority myth, contending with mental illness, and finding her self-worth by looking within.]]> 300 Hyeseung Song Rinn 0 4.01 2024 Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl
author: Hyeseung Song
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, biography, book-club-options, non-fiction, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)]]> 199396641 What if there was a store that sold dreams? Which would you buy? And who might you become when you wake up?

In a mysterious town hidden in our collective subconscious there's a department store that sells dreams. Day and night, visitors both human and animal shuffle in to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor specializes in a specific type of dream: childhood memories, food dreams, ice skating, dreams of stardom. Flying dreams are almost always sold out. Some seek dreams of loved ones who have died.

For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at Dallergut is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including Dallergut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.]]> 288 Miye Lee 1335081178 Rinn 0 3.67 2020 The DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)
author: Miye Lee
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades, #1)]]> 201596021 The instant New York Times bestseller

It’s the season
for treason�

The king of Yusan must die.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single to kill the God King Joon.

He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.

And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness—from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.

They can agree on murder.

They can agree on treachery.

But for these five killers—each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal—it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.

Let the best liar win.]]> 443 Mai Corland 164937674X Rinn 0 4.02 2024 Five Broken Blades (The Broken Blades, #1)
author: Mai Corland
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1)]]> 201930181
How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx � part empire, part hive � have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy.  Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.   Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team.  Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.  Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand � and manipulate � the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination.  He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.]]> 422 James S.A. Corey 031652557X Rinn 0 4.11 2024 The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War, #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, own-kindle, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> The Dead Cat Tail Assassins 127305606 The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.

Nor do they have tails.

But they are most assuredly dead.

Nebula and Alex Award winner P. Djèlí Clark introduces a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins.

Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins―resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories―have only three unbreakable vows.

First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.

Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.

The third and the simplest: once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A ï¬nal death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.]]> 213 P. Djèlí Clark 1250767040 Rinn 0 3.86 2024 The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> Masquerade 195790999 Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the the warrior king of Yorùbáland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Òdòdó and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yorùbá rule.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy becomes too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by re-forging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue that turn an entire region on its head.]]> 352 O.O. Sangoyomi 1250904293 Rinn 0 3.95 2024 Masquerade
author: O.O. Sangoyomi
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, historical-fiction, kindle-standalone, own-kindle
review:

]]> The Dividing Sky 205366591 Serpent & Dove meets Arcane in this dystopian romance debut that follows a cunning memory merchant who deals a little extra happiness on the side and the handsome rookie officer on her tail!

In 2460, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man’s-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive.

Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy’s shady dealings are messing with citizens� brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there’s one her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn’t remember?

As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible.]]> 346 Jill Tew 0593710371 Rinn 0 4.12 2024 The Dividing Sky
author: Jill Tew
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Ravenous Fate (This Ravenous Fate, #1)]]> 200174131 The first book in a decadent fantasy duology set in Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life—and death waits in the dark.

It's 1926 and reapers, the once-human vampires with a terrifying affliction, are on the rise in New York. But the Saint family's thriving reaper-hunting enterprise holds reign over the city, giving them more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. Eighteen year-old Elise Saint, home after five years in Paris, is the reluctant heir to the empire. Only one thing weighs heavier on Elise's mind than her family obligations: the knowledge that the Harlem reapers want her dead.

Layla Quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. Though reapers have existed in America for three centuries, created by New World atrocities and cruel experiments, Layla became one just five years ago. The night she was turned, she lost her parents, the protection of the Saints, and her humanity, and she'll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her.

But some reapers are inexplicably turning part human again, leaving a wake of mysterious and brutal killings. When Layla is framed for one of these attacks, the Saint patriarch offers her a deal she can't refuse: to work with Elise to investigate how these murders might be linked to shocking rumors of a reaper cure. Once close friends, now bitter enemies, Elise and Layla explore the city's underworld, confronting their intense feelings for one another and uncovering the sinister truths about a growing threat to reapers and humans alike.]]> 457 Hayley Dennings 1728297869 Rinn 0 3.43 2024 This Ravenous Fate (This Ravenous Fate, #1)
author: Hayley Dennings
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, lgbtqia, own-kindle, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)]]> 122779502
The day I meet him, the ruthless mercenary leaves me for dead.

Just hours after humans are born, the gods take what little power we have. In return, they protect our borders from the vicious, merciless fae.

The humans who manage to keep their power are known as the corrupt.
And they are burned.

When my forbidden power is discovered, I’m forced to flee my tiny village and the life I adore.

To survive, I make a desperate bargain with the mercenary who abandoned me at my weakest.

Our deal is simple: I’ll help him and his mysterious friends sneak into the city. And he’ll help me learn to wield the strange, dark power I’ve always kept hidden. The power that may just be the key to my survival.

But the ruthless mercenary is hiding secrets of his own. Secrets that threaten the safety of everyone I love. Secrets that could tear this kingdom—and perhaps even this world—apart.

Please note: A Court This Cruel and Lovely is an NA/adult romantasy book with steam. While this series is slow burn, the chili pepper rating will increase for each book.]]> 562 Stacia Stark Rinn 0 4.10 2023 A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)
author: Stacia Stark
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, kindle-series-first, own-kindle, spicy, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire, #1)]]> 57282383
However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. 

Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.]]> 647 Jennifer L. Armentrout Rinn 0 4.43 2021 A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire, #1)
author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-series-first, spicy, series-released
review:

]]> Paradise-1 (Red Space, #1) 61634435
It doesn't take much time to learn that they've been met by another vessel—a vessel from Paradis-One, Earth's first deep-space colony, and their final destination.

Worse still, the vessel is empty. And it carries with it the message that all communications from the 150,000 souls inhabiting the Paradis-One has completely ceased.

Petrov and Zhang must board the empty ship and delve further into deep space to discover the truth of the colony's disappearance—but the further they go, the more dangers loom.]]> 681 David Wellington 031649674X Rinn 0 3.80 2023 Paradise-1 (Red Space, #1)
author: David Wellington
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, own-kindle, priority, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Final Strife (Ending Fire, #1)]]> 54440543 Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control.
Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance.
Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible.

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes� tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes.

Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts.

Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.

Book One of The Ending Fire Trilogy]]> 640 Saara El-Arifi Rinn 0 4.20 2022 The Final Strife (Ending Fire, #1)
author: Saara El-Arifi
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, lgbtqia, own-kindle, kindle-series-first, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)]]> 65213381
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.]]> 416 Isabel Ibañez 1250803373 Rinn 0 3.83 2023 What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)
author: Isabel Ibañez
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, historical-fiction, own-kindle, series-released, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Witch King (The Rising World, #1)]]> 61885085 "You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' Witch King...

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.]]> 415 Martha Wells 1250826799 Rinn 0 3.60 2023 Witch King (The Rising World, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Godly Heathens (The Ouroboros, #1)]]> 58663472 Infatuation. Reincarnation. Damnation.

Gem Echols is a nonbinary Seminole teen living in the tiny town of Gracie, Georgia. Known for being their peers� queer awakening, Gem leans hard on charm to disguise the anxious mess they are beneath. The only person privy to their authentic self is another trans kid, Enzo, who’s a thousand long, painful miles away in Brooklyn.

But even Enzo doesn’t know about Gem’s dreams, haunting visions of magic and violence that have always felt too real. So how the hell does Willa Mae Hardy? The strange new girl in town acts like she and Gem are old companions, and seems to know things about them they’ve never told anyone else.

When Gem is attacked by a stranger claiming to be the Goddess of Death, Willa Mae saves their life and finally offers some answers. She and Gem are reincarnated gods who’ve known and loved each other across lifetimes. But Gem � or at least who Gem used to be - hasn’t always been the most benevolent deity. They’ve made a lot of enemies in the pantheon—enemies who, like the Goddess of Death, will keep coming.

It’s a good thing they’ve still got Enzo. But as worlds collide and the past catches up with the present, Gem will discover that everyone has something to hide.]]> 400 H.E. Edgmon 1250853613 Rinn 0 3.79 2023 Godly Heathens (The Ouroboros, #1)
author: H.E. Edgmon
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, lgbtqia, young-adult, kindle-series-first, own-kindle
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence, #1)]]> 61885010 The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko Candon's bold entry into the world of mecha fiction.

WHEN AN AI DIES, ITS CITY DIES WITH IT
WHEN A CITY FALLS, IT LEAVES A CORPSE BEHIND
WHEN THAT CORPSE RUNS OFF, ONLY DEVOTION CAN BRING IT BACK

When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines.

The Archive Undying is the first volume of Emma Mieko Candon's Downworld Sequence, a sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies.

Come get in the robot.]]> 496 Emma Mieko Candon 1250821541 Rinn 0 3.32 2023 The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence, #1)
author: Emma Mieko Candon
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, own-kindle, kindle-series-first
review:

]]> Cult Classic 58772761 Hilariously insightful and delightfully suspenseful, Cult Classic is an original: a masterfully crafted tale of love, memory, morality, and mind control, as well as a fresh foray into the philosophy of romance.

One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And . . . another. Nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past.

What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship but with the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Memories of the past swirl and converge in ways both comic and eerie, as Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspiring of one very contemporary cult.

Is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale? With her gimlet eye, Sloane Crosley spins a wry literary fantasy that is equal parts page-turner and poignant portrayal of alienation.]]> 304 Sloane Crosley 0374603391 Rinn 0 3.28 2022 Cult Classic
author: Sloane Crosley
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, crime-mystery-thriller, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> Sleepwalking 18722771 The debut novel from New York Times–bestselling author Meg Wolitzer, a story of three college students� shared fascination with poetry and death, and how one of them must face difficult truths in order to leave her obsession behind.

Published when she was only twenty-three and written while she was a student at Brown, Sleepwalking marks the beginning of Meg Wolitzer’s acclaimed career.  Filled with her usual wisdom, compassion and insight, Sleepwalking tells the story of the three notorious “death girls,� so called on the Swarthmore campus because they dress in black and are each absorbed in the work and suicide of a different poet: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Wolitzer’s creation Lucy Asher, a gifted writer who drowned herself at twenty-four.  At night the death girls gather in a candlelit room to read their heroines� work aloud.

But an affair with Julian, an upperclassman, pushes sensitive , struggling Claire Danziger—she of the Lucy Asher obsession-–to consider to what degree her “death girl� identity is really who she is.  As she grapples with her feelings for Julian, her own understanding of herself and her past begins to shift uncomfortably and even disturbingly. Finally, Claire takes drastic measures to confront the facts about herself that she has been avoiding for years.]]> 245 Meg Wolitzer 1594633134 Rinn 0 3.43 1982 Sleepwalking
author: Meg Wolitzer
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, contemporary, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A House Between Earth and the Moon]]> 58661987 The gripping story of one scientist in outer space, another who watches over him, the family left behind, and the lengths people will go to protect the people and planet they love.

Scientist Alex Welch-Peters has believed for twenty years that his super-algae can reverse the effects of climate change. His obsession with his research has jeopardized his marriage, his relationships with his kids, and his own professional future. When Sensus, the colossal tech company, offers him a chance to complete his research, he seizes the opportunity. The catch? His lab will be in outer space on Parallaxis, the first-ever luxury residential space station built for billionaires. Alex and six other scientists leave their loved ones to become Pioneers, the beta tenants of Parallaxis.

But Parallaxis is not the space palace they were sold. Day and night, the embittered crew builds the facility under pressure from Sensus, motivated by the promise that their families will join them. Meanwhile, back on Earth, with much of the country ablaze in wildfires, Alex’s family tries to remain safe in Michigan. His teenage daughter, Mary Agnes, struggles through high school with the help of the ubiquitous Sensus phones implanted in everyone’s ears, archiving each humiliation, and wishing she could go to Parallaxis with her father—but her mother will never allow it.

The Pioneers are the beta testers of another program, too. As they toil away two hundred miles in the sky, Sensus is designing an algorithm that will predict human behavior. Tess, a young social psychologist Sensus has hired to watch the Pioneers through their phones, begins to develop an intimate, obsessive relationship with her subjects. When she takes it a step further—traveling to Parallaxis to observe them up close—the controlled experiment begins to unravel.

Prescient and insightful, A House Between Earth and the Moon is at once a captivating epic about the machinations of big tech and a profoundly intimate meditation on the unmistakably human bonds that hold us together.]]> 386 Rebecca Scherm 1101980109 Rinn 0 3.43 2022 A House Between Earth and the Moon
author: Rebecca Scherm
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, priority, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom Duology, #1)]]> 58142089 A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of Chang'e, the Chinese moon goddess, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm.

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor's son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting, romantic duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.]]> 523 Sue Lynn Tan 0063031329 Rinn 0 4.22 2022 Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom Duology, #1)
author: Sue Lynn Tan
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, young-adult, kindle-series-first, series-released
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, #1)]]> 53968532
At first, it seems to be a disaster. Until the people of Minnesota notice deposits of unusual metal in the comet's debris. Not gold, silver, copper, tin, iron or any of the noble metals, it's a previously unknown ninth metal: omnimetal. With high-density charging capabilities and conductive properties that can change the world as an energy source, the deposit might be the best thing that ever happened to the northern section of the state, where the economy has been dying for a long time. Or it might be the worst.

It is then that the "gold rush" begins. Farmers sell their metal-rich land for millions. Comet-worshipping cults set up compounds and repeat the phrase "Metal is" as their mantra. Roughnecks flood the town, hungry for work and trouble. Prostitutes flourish. Businesses rise. Families are divided. Saudis bid against the Chinese on land grabs. Bodies lie in shallow graves. As witnessed when oil was discovered in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota, the heartland in our story goes from the middle of nowhere to the center of everything. And one family--the Frontiers--hopes to control it all.]]> 304 Benjamin Percy 0358331536 Rinn 0 3.63 2021 The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, #1)
author: Benjamin Percy
name: Rinn
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, science-fiction, own-kindle, kindle-series-first, series-released, priority
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)]]> 52504334 Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, A Master of Djinn

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city -or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…]]> 438 P. Djèlí Clark 1250267676 Rinn 0 4.01 2021 A Master of Djinn (Dead Djinn Universe, #1)
author: P. Djèlí Clark
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, own-kindle, kindle-standalone
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer, #1)]]> 48908401
When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal: a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water, and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.

Then a coded message from Kiva’s family arrives, containing a single order: “Don’t let her die. We are coming.� Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

But no one has ever survived.

With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva’s heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can’t escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.

From bestselling author Lynette Noni comes a dark, thrilling YA fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, and Sabaa Tahir.]]> 409 Lynette Noni 0358436346 Rinn 0 4.26 2021 The Prison Healer (The Prison Healer, #1)
author: Lynette Noni
name: Rinn
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read, fantasy, young-adult, own-kindle, kindle-series-first, series-released, priority
review:

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