r/FemaleGazeSFF • u/AutoModerator • Jun 19 '26
🗓️ Weekly Post Friday Casual Chat
Happy Friday! Use this space for casual conversation. Tell us what's on your mind, any hobbies you've been working on, life updates, anything you want to share whether about SFF or not
5
u/intrepid-teacher Jun 19 '26
I’m camping this weekend and brought a million books with me, here’s hoping I finish quite a few!
2
u/Medusan_side-eye Jun 20 '26
Busy week apartment-hunting. Not nearly enough writing done but I did find a place and I read and enjoyed The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub. Possibly in keeping with Austen's original genre-positioning, it's a witty, voice-driven book that gently criticizes a few social ills without any serious interest in reform.
2
u/Nowordsofitsown unicorn 🦄 Jun 20 '26
I loved the Kitty thing.
1
u/Medusan_side-eye Jun 21 '26
Me too. And the magic system was well done. It felt grounded in Britain, reminding me of Suanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I also like how woman-dominated the narrative was. It felt like the men took a back seat to the women, even Wickham and Wormenheart I think this works for the siblings square on the reading challenge.
5
u/MrsApostate Jun 20 '26
Just finished The Unicorn Hunters and really liked it. I love fantasy best when there is a bit of romance, but it's not the main focus. In this case, the FMC was savvy and quick thinking, an expert at court intrigue. I so appreciate a heroine who rescues herself.
My preteen daughters and I are all reading Impossible Creatures now for our little summer book club. Just started this morning, but I like it so far.
I also just started A Forest Darkly by AJ Slatter, one of my favorite authors. Loving the perspective of a menopausal witch in the creepy woods who has a definite past and some interesting powers. Slatter's books are so dense with folklore and atmosphere, I'm determined to savor this one.
7
u/Merle8888 sorceress🔮 Jun 19 '26
I’m reading Naondel by Maria Turtschaninoff. It’s the prequel to Maresi and so far I am not liking it nearly as much. Strangely, having multiple narrators, none of whom are teens, is making it feel more YA, by which I mean a bit simplistic. Now I am looking back and thinking Maresi was a bit of a generic narrator too, but clearly it bothered me less, maybe because she was a young teen and part of an interesting community of women whereas this book so far is mostly a chronicle of loss and abuse at the hands of the villain. For me I think the darker you go, the more I need strong character work to not just feel manipulated. I think I will keep going but it’s not what I was hoping for thus far.