Snowflake Challenge #10 - Five things

[nonesensed]

Here are five book trilogies I've recently read that I really enjoyed! Posted in alphabetical order, I enjoyed them all equally:

1) Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Love its wonderful, surreal world. Horror yet not. Will definitely re-read one day!
2) The Children of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky. What if non-human-animals developed 'sentience', in SPAAACE~?! Loved this exploration of self-awareness and how different animal species might take to it should humans meddle with their genetic code. Update: I've been reminded that, unlike myself who think they're adorable, a looot of people are uncomfortable reading about spiders. So yeah, this is a book series about sentient spiders, beware!
3) The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske. Do you want cool descriptions of magic, a high-risk mystery to solve, a secret-magical-side-to-our-world NOT tainted by transphobia, and hot sex scenes? This is the trilogy for you!
4) Rook & Rose trilogy by M. A. Carrick. Grifter with a heart of gold doing her best to secure her and her sister's future by tricking a noble family she's their long lost relative ends up tangled in a magical conspiracy. An epic adventure that's still character focused! It has excellent worldbuilding and so many fascinating people running about it. I've already written fic for this 😊
5) The Unraveled Kingdom trilogy by Rowenna Miller. A story about revolution from the POV of a reluctant revolutionary. A very realistic take on how complex a revolution can be - not shying away from the danger this puts everyone in -while still adding the fantastical element of probability magic.

Comments

[evilinsanemonkey]

Love Area X! I really need to reread those!

And I have a hold on the 3rd book in the Last Binding trilogy at the library. I loved the first two so much!

I'll have to check out those other books *eyeball emoji*

[nonesensed]

Area X is sooooo good, I adore it 🖤🖤🖤

Oooh, do tell me what you think of A Power Unbound and the trilogy as a whole when you've finished it 😊 And I'd love to talk about the other trilogies if you end up reading them 💖💖💖

[wearing_tearing]

Is Children of Time the one with the spiders? Or am I thinking of another Sci-Fi book...

And I LOVED Rook & Rose! It was one of the last trilogies I read and it was so so so good! The world-building was amazing and I was fascinated by Pattern and the cards <3

[nonesensed]

Children of Time is indeed the one with the sentient spiders (and later on, other species), you are correct!

Yay, a fellow Rook & Rose fan! Do you have a favorite character? Mine ended up being Derossi Vargo because he was practically designed to be Favorite Character Shaped specifically for me with his sense of loyalty and secret heart of gold 😆

[wearing_tearing]

I think that might be why I stayed away from it :P

Mine is Grey! Sad boi struggling with his identity as a person? That's my Favorite Character Shape design :D His and Vargo's friendship dynamic throughout the trilogy is amazing.

[nonesensed]

Yeah, I'm one of those weird folks who think spiders are adorable, so I keep forgetting it's very common to not vibe with them 😆 Sorry for not giving a proper heads-up about the sort of animals the book is about!

Oh yeah, Grey sure is A Shape and I adore him too <3 If Vargo hadn't grabbed the spotlight for me, I'm sure Grey would have been my ultimate favorite of the series. I too love the way their friendship grew and took a few punches throughout the series! The two of them and Ren make such a great group dynamic, I adore them 💖

[wearing_tearing]

I might check it out whenever I'm in the mood to challenge myself :D

I loved that too and they doooo <3

[nonesensed]

If you end up doing so, I hope you have a good time reading, but no pressure 🩵

Rook & Rose = so many excellent character dynamics, especially the Ren+Grey+Vargo one 💖

[wearing_tearing]

💜💜💜

[snowynight]

They all sound interesting. Thanks for the recs!

[nonesensed]

You're welcome! Hope you enjoy 💖

[potentiality_26]

Oooh, definitely filing these recs away.

[nonesensed]

Yay! Hope you have a good time whenever you end up reading them 💖

[wendelah1]

I loved the first volume of the Children of Time series, couldn't wait for the second volume. Then when it came out, I never read it. I don't even recall why. Maybe I'll order it again from the library when I'm done with the other two dozen or so books I already have checked out or put on hold because of Snowflake. I'm returning one because I can't read it--the print is cartoon print and it's too small. Another one, a web novel, I quit because I have a problem with children in danger as a plot device. It's apparently four million words of children putting themselves in harm's way. The first scene where a boy is being attacked by evil magical creatures all because he clicked on the wrong link--I was done. I don't know how I made it through the Harry Potter books--oh wait, I didn't.

Area X. I did read them all. Seemed like "horror" to me. Pretty damned creepy, in fact. I was surprised I made it to the end, actually.

[nonesensed]

Yeah, sometimes books just slip one's mind, no matter how good the first one in a series was. I totally get having a lot of books to get through, I've got far too many at home already and still I go get more at the library 😆

Darn, it's so frustrating when the print is too small (I have terrible eyesight)! And yeah, that sounds like a web novel to stay away from if children in peril isn't for you.

Area X is definitely in the horror category of books. It's just "horror yet not" to me because we get to see how some people embrace the change Area X brings and how that might not actually be "bad" for them - but that's just my personal experience of the series. Aaand I'm a huge horror fan, so I think I've gotten to the point of saturation where I'm kinda blind to how horrific some stories truly are 😅 I've been informed by reliable sources that I'm terrible at telling if a piece of media is scary or not 😆

[hamsterwoman]

I'm reading the last book of The Last Binding right now -- very enjoyable trilogy! (I particularly like the magic and the assorted old ladies :)

[nonesensed]

It's such a enjoyable trilogy, I agree! 💖 And yeah, the way magic is shown to work is super interesting (I love that there are cultural variations and not just This Is How All Humans Do Magic) and I do wish we'd gotten to see more of the interesting lives of the assorted old ladies. Oh well, that's what fanfic is for, right 😉

[hamsterwoman]

Oh yeah, I would've been happy with more old ladies in canon (or, now that you mention it, in fic :)

[nonesensed]

More old ladies for all fandoms, I say! 😁

[schneefink]

What if non-human-animals developed 'sentience', in SPAAACE~?!
Accurate description but also I think when recommending this book to people it might be helpful to mention the spiders ^^

[nonesensed]

A very fair point! I keep forgetting how common it is for people to be unsettled by spiders since I myself find them adorable 😅 Rec info has been updated!

[cinefarious]

What a great list. I already want to read so many of these. Especially the Last Binding and Rook & Rose.

[nonesensed]

Yay, I'm glad you like it! Hope you get the time to read The Last Binding and the Rook & Rose trilogies, they're great fun 💖 And let me know if you do, I always love talking about books, no matter how long ago I read them!

[scintilla10]

I'm reading the third book in The Last Binding trilogy right now! :D

[nonesensed]

Wohoo! I hope you're having a good time reading 💖

[badfalcon]

I was about to go 'oooh' over The Last Binding by Freya Marske - then realised I recognise the name and actually have A Marvellous Light in my TBR. I hadn't realised it was the first of a trilogy though, so that's exciting!

[nonesensed]

Yeah, it's a little sneaky about being a trilogy - I think I only knew that ahead of time because I listened to a podcast the author used to be on. Hope you enjoy A Marvelous Light 💖