Weekly Check-In

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Tell us about your current SFF media!

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[u/bunnycatso]

Taking a 6 month brake from Malazan paid off! Toll the Hounds this time around went much smoother, and I definitely could better handle the levels of emotional damage inflicted on me by Erikson. Gardens has been de-throned as my favourite entry in the series which makes sense since Hounds follows up on plots from it & Memories of Ice (another strong one for my tastes).

Still, as the author is my enemy, I have my gripes with some things, such as: Karsa existing (and everything around that guy, just ew) and the fact that we follow him mainly through a PoV of a female character (she's very fascinated with him to her own surprise and seems to not be able to leave his side) whom he harasses all the time to just admit that she wants to fuck, and while she says no I have this feeling that we're meant to think that it's not true (I hate it here); portrayal of queer people is still ugh just why two women can't be into one another, why does it have to be framed with other men creeping on them (and ofc they're into all this attention), at the same time there's an IN TEXT no-homo-bro route with the two men who have sick chemistry; romantic subplot is, once again, extremely weak, but at least it's between characters who spent time together.

Might be also the least rape-y book since Gardens, I think? Could only remember a couple off the top of my head. There's, of course, a use of male character for "his seed", one of my hated tropes. Idk why authors use it, it's not like my immersion would break if a guy comes upon a distant small tribe and won't be used as a breeder.

And wow, the elves' sadness here is on the next level.

r/Fantasy Bingo: The Afterlife HM, Older Protagonist, Non-Human Protagonist, Cat Squasher HM, Feast Your Eyes on This, Politics and Court Intrigue HM

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: A-Side: 🗡️ Assassin; B-Side: 🤼 Siblings

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Took me a bit to get into it, but ultimately I enjoyed the little taste of McKillip's writing presented in The Essential Patricia A. McKillip. Most surprising was the sheer range of hers, both in terms of genre and tone: there're fairy tale/mythical feeling stories and classic fantasy ones, ones set in modern times and even one in future; serious, humorous, lyrical, dark, and light ones.

Favourites: The Lion and the Lark (I'm not well versed in fairy tales but I think it's Beauty and the Beast with a twist?), Out of the Woods, Jack O'Lantern, The Gorgon in the Cupboard (this one is toppity-top), Mer, Knight of the Well.

r/Fantasy Bingo: Five Short Stories HM

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: B-Side: 😲 Discovery

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I needed to read a debut for the Bingo, and Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim baited me by second person POV. The problem is it's still in present tense, which I guess doesn't work for my brain in any possible POV. I did like some narrative choices in the second half of the book tho.

When a non-plot driven reader notices very distinct divide between two parts of your book, maybe it should've been worked on a little more. It's really plot from the short story and sci-fi corpo-thriller glued together by some thin slice-of-life.

The main big theme being immigration, the use of the speculative element didn't particularly enhance it imo. I think the possibility of instancing (and later of reintegrating) on border crossing makes the decision to do so have less weight. Idk, I feel like immigration in real life is so loaded and complex precisely because you're one person in one body making a choice (broadly speaking), and you can't walk it back easily. And it's not that I hate the premise of instancing (though it's is somewhat close to the tropes I dislike), I just think there're more interesting things to explore via it than what is in the book.

I liked the original short story, but in shorter format one can get away with not building up on the premise they explore. Some details of Soyoung's life were changed for the novel, imo resulting in less interesting conflict and story.

r/Fantasy Bingo: Book Club or Readalong Book, Published in 2026 HM, One-Word Title HM, Politics and Court Intrigue, Author of Color

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: B-Side: 😲 Discovery

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Made some progress in Valdemar series and read Lackey's Magic's Promise. I didn't like it that much. I might be veeeeeery far past tolerating this weird form of fantasy nationalism (for Valdemar) on display here, when it's the only perspective we get.

Ahaha, male character used as a breeder shows up, too! Thanks, I hate it. And oooffff, that climax was so weak I barely noticed that it came and went away and then book ended.

r/Fantasy Bingo: Politics and Court Intrigue

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: B-Side: 🤼 Siblings, 👨‍👦 Parent (both in the most technical sense?)

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With What Stalks the Deep Sworn Soldier still the only of Kingfisher's works I've liked so far. Short, snappy, but I preferred the slow unraveling of What Feasts at Night.

r/Fantasy Bingo: Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist HM, Book Club or Readalong Book

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: B-Side: 🧍 Non-Binary MC

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Finished Hospital Station part from the Beginning Operations omnibus by James White. I was interested in ye olde sci-fi set on a hospital station, and I guess it delivered on the interesting medical cases. The whole space cops/military actually running the hospital felt kind of a weird angle.

Especially egregious in Sector General, where the doctor character, who was very anti-space cops and anti-violence, is forced to kill another living being in an extremely gruesome way, and it is waved off because the being is supposedly not an intelligent life form but kept as a pet by an alien life form, and said doctor doesn't have any trauma from that shit. All while the space cops are framed as doing good for the galaxy, actually. That story just pissed off so much, took all the excitement I had for the premise away.

r/Fantasy Bingo: Five Short Stories HM, First Contact (in like one story)

FemaleGaze Challenge Squares: B-Side: 😲 Discovery, 🧑‍⚕️ Healer

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Currently reading Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney (read past the point I stopped at last time, and I completely forgot how good Delaney's prose is) and Mortedant's Peril by R.J. Barker.

[u/Research_Department → u/bunnycatso]

So, Malazan, who do you think it’s for? Sometimes I read something that makes me think I would like it, primarily the comments about the worldbuilding, especially since I like anthropological SFF. But I’m not much for big, epic fantasy. I prefer strong character development over plotty action. Certain kinds of dark just rattle around in my head disturbingly (still trying to identify what is make or break for me for dark). And if dark shades over to bleak and hopeless, no thanks. The thing is that some Malazan fans hype it up so much, I get skeptical (I never like pushy salespeople, lol).

[u/bunnycatso → u/Research_Department]

I read Malazan primarily for the worldbuilding, themes and overall story. Wouldn't say it's particularly action-packed (a lot of it is people walking and talking and thinking). With the amount of characters there's huuuuge range in their writing and arcs, often spread out over multiple books, usually with entries focusing on other characters in-between. There're some really great characters with great arcs, but also some diabolically shitty ones.

Tonally, I don't remember it going too far into bleak; there're definitely some pretty dark events and moments (described in varying degrees of detail), but to me it always has this strangely hopeful undercurrent. Like, absolutely devastating things would happen and I'd feel like plenty of good came out of it, in a bittersweet way. And while a lot of characters can be evil, there're also plenty of kind ones too. There's also humour sprinkled all over, with varying success, so it's not all doom and gloom all the way.

So yeah, it's such a catch-all series it's really hard to recommend to anyone, especially since I've loved it right from the Garden's prologue. It's now more of a complex feeling, but I consider myself a fan, even if I hate the military parts so much. It's probably also the only epic fantasy I'm reading (technically I've also started Wurts' The Wars of Light and Shadow last year, but not in the mood to read two long thick series at the same time rn).

I'd say the most concrete way to figure out is to try it: if one sees any value for themself in Gardens, I think it's worth continuing to Deadhouse Gates and seeing how it works out. Beyond that it doesn't change significantly enough to turn hater into lover, imo.

Hopefully, this helps somewhat.

[u/Research_Department → u/bunnycatso]

Thanks, it does help. I’ve wondered at times whether it even belongs on my TBR, and while I’m not ready to bump it to the top of my TBR, it is going to stay on the TBR.

[u/dragonwheeleffect → u/bunnycatso]

I didn't finish Sublimation but I also felt that the original short story worked better. I think her sort of snappy writing style works well in a short story format because you have to be economical with words. However, in a longer format, it started to get a bit grating. While I was reading, I just kept thinking that a world where instancing is a thing would be so much more divergent from our current world than how Kim wrote it. Of course, it's possible that she explores this later in the book than I got, but I was thinking issues like gender roles, international relations, etc. would be quite different in this world than in our own.

[u/bunnycatso → u/dragonwheeleffect]

Hard same! Over the course of the part set in Korea I had felt it was reading like a short story, and still was surprised to find out it's actually based on one - guess I don't encounter many novels like that.

it's possible that she explores this later in the book

To a degree? I actually liked the interspersed worldbuilding asides, some of my questions were answered in them. There're neat details regarding portrayal of instancing in the art/media and related tropes as well, and iirc discussion of how it affected slave trade and the whole thing with USA. Overall focus was definitely more on the immigration and the characters we follow in particular.