al

“She had all the knowledge of my being memorized. The time I was born, my unborn cravings, the first book I read. The formation of every characteristic. Every ailment and little victory. She observed me with unparalleled interest, inexhaustible devotion.

Now that she was gone, there was no one left to ask about these things. The knowledge left unrecorded died with her. What remained were documents and my memories, and now it was up to me to make sense of myself, aided by the signs she left behind. How cyclical and bittersweet for a child to retrace the image of their mother. For a subject to turn back to document their archivist.”

Filing this under books that made me immediately call my mom. This was good, very sad, and made me hungry

I ended up liking this series a lot. Definitely the weakest in RotE but still very enjoyable! it was awesome to get to know all of these new characters (loved Alise, Leftrin, Thymara, Carson, and the young dragons) and to see how they interacted with beloved characters like Malta, Althea and Brashen. Whenever the Paragon crew had a scene I started screaming and rolling around uncontrollably. Can't wait for the Fitz and the Fool trilogy but also, I might die. I don't want it to end

This cast of characters doesn't compare to others in RotE for me, but MAN I really liked how Alise/Leftrin and Sedric/Carson were written. I never thought I could get so attached to a slightly underwritten gay hunter named Carson but here we are.

In that last dance of chances
We shall know each other's minds.
We shall part with our regrets
When the tie no longer binds.

Fitz and the Fool are the greatest characters to ever be written, methinks. Wow.

I'm so brave for continuing to read this after the first chapter. bad. I'm a warrior who is addicted to the useless little achievements you get from the goodreads reading challenges.

WOW. wow. wow.

beloved <3

I cried a lot. Fool... Fitz... Dutiful... Jinna... Nighteyes... They are all so special to me. This was all I wanted and more

Such a perfect ending to this series T_T not gonna lie, I really struggled to get into this trilogy but by this book it was hard to put down. the character development ended up being as amazing as I'd heard about (thank fuck). Also... dragons.

BRASHEN... ALTHEA.... AMBER.... PARAGON... CLEF.... I LOVE YOU ALL FOREVER AND EVER AMEN

great dialogue! I loved Juice. I love people who love being alive and remind me that I love being alive.

After annihilating the Farseer Trilogy in a week or two, it was honestly kinda hard for me to move onto this series with all new characters and an only distantly-related setting. It took me a bit to get interested, but by the final third of this book it was hard to put down. Robin Hobb's character work continues to blow me away.

A little too cheesy for me at points, but a sweet book! I had no idea about this part of Irish history and it's pretty insane how fast things have changed.

Holy fuck

ive loved the titular essay for a while now but this is the first time I've read “The View from Mrs. Thompson's” and I am so impressed! when the critically acclaimed author is good! (also highly recommend the audiobook, loved getting to hear his voice expressing his own work)

Kind of a slop book, but Morrie fucking ruled

the good chapters are GOOD. Wow. my heart.

I was very touched by the writings of David Husted, Mac McCord, and Eli Clare (the latter of whom took me back to my Zotero days... like one year ago). Cool to see Dean Spade in here too.

Such an awesome time capsule. I loved the chapter about Lou and Rusty, and the interviews with trans dudes.

Beautifully written and so good. Loved the chapter on envy, and the section on trans militancy in the rage chapter.

“She turns back to her work, and I watch her from a distance. A couple people, here and there, see her, and with every one, I see her become more herself. Somewhere in this store is someone who has seen her and realized that she, too, could be herself. That's all we are, maybe – people who pick each other out in a crowd and realize that the face of someone you've just met can feel like home.”

So good. I fucking love trans people. I appreciate books that can get a little mushy and sentimental about how beautiful life can be, especially when so many similar books about trans people are pure nihilism (not knocking those books, they are great too). I love that Abigail as a character offers the cynicism about life that feels cathartic to read as a trans person, but how she also comes to realize that things can be good. Made me happy.

So good. Things I loved:

- Said's thoughts on Chinua Achebe and Joseph Conrad
- The idea of Zionists taking the “Jew/Non-Jew Binary” of the Third Reich and applying it to Palestine
- Israel's archaeological imperialism (Schliemann if he was a settler-state)

Thank you Professor Said. We miss you

I'm a sucker for fables + fairy tales with simple and uplifting philosophies told in plain language so this was a great read for me. Probably why I'm such a big Earthsea fan too! I really liked this. Maybe love is the universal language after all.

Man, going into this I knew what was gonna happen to Jason, but I can honestly say I was NOT prepared for the Joker selling nuclear weapons to Hezbollah and then being installed as the UN ambassador for Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini. What the fuck was going on in the 80s

I love Tim Drake as much as the next guy, but this origin story felt so bizarre and rushed. At least we got to see Nightwing being a cool big brother again

A bunch of disabled children beating up an evil doctor... hell yeah. I would have loved this as a kid.

loooooved the nightwing comic. Seeing Dick and Jason starting to form a friendship despite Dick's complex feelings towards Bruce was so good

This was hard for me to get into, but then something happened in my brain and I couldn't put the book down for three days and now I am forever changed. Lee is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. His relationship with Abra had me rolling around and smiling like a goddamn fool

TIMSHEL!! Friendship ended with doomerism. now radical hope is my best friend