Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Sorry this post is kind of late! Life was super crazy this week and I hardly had time to breathe, so this is an exhausted, emotional me trying to write a blog post that I think is really important. I read this wonderful blog post on Relentless Reading  about how Scott Lynch grappled with his depression and managed to finish his book. That book was The Republic of Thieves, and there is a lot about it that I understand a lot better now that I have more context for it. How has your depression manifested in your books? I like to think that since I’m now a member of that tribe, I’m a little more cognizant about how I portray mental illness. But the depression isn’t reflected in it per se, everything else I frickin’ went through during those years is in that book, though. Republic  turned into a different book from what I started. That was the divorce. One of the most helpful things my mom said was that a divorce is like death. It’s like a third person in your life...

Now that we've finally met Sabetha, we get to open a whole new world of fan art >:) It seems like people are either "Love her" or "hate her", and it's a lot of fun to see all the different interpretations of our mysterious gentle-lady bastard. The mysterious sultry gaze Sabetha   by Crimson Cobweb s This is the version of Sabetha I associate with Locke's heartbroken fantasies and memories. Locke has made it no secret that his favorite thing about her is that red hair, and look at how prominent it is in every picture of her! This is my least favorite facet of her, because she's hardly a person. This is the mysterious, shadowy force in the background before we get to see her in the flesh in The Republic of Thieves. The Badass Who Can Outdo Locke From  The Lynch of Locke Lamora We have already seen baby Sabetha kick ass and out-con Locke at Coin Kisser's row. It is going to be so much fun watching her take...

The Republic of Thieves read-along continues! Also, don't forget about the Thorn of Emberlain Giveaway**! If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! What we're reading this week Republic of Thieves | Interludes after Ch5-end of Part II Recap from last week Flashbacks: Locke, Sabetha, and the rest of the Gentleman Bastards attend a ceremony to swear their allegiance to the Crooked Warden. When Sabetha and Locke step up to become priests, only Locke is chosen, leaving Sabetha... bitter  to say the least. Chains orders the Gentleman Bastards to take on an acting job in Espara. Present Day: Patience conducts a super intense healing on Locke, and we learn more about the decision to allow Falconer to take on the Camorr job. It turns out Sabetha is leading the opposing party in the coming elections, Election plotting begins! Observations/Theories/Questions The interludes this week were a real punch in th...

The Republic of Thieves read-along continues! Also, don't forget about the Thorn of Emberlain Giveaway**! If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! First of all, sorry for being really bad about posting stuff for the past week. I got a little behind on reading and then I had a mini-crisis where I couldn't get myself to write more posts because I felt like no one was reading them anyway. I guess 3 months is a long time to be excited about something, and then the news that Thorn of Emberlain release date got pushed back didn't help much. But never fear, even if I only have one person reading along with me, the readalong will continue! What we're reading this week Republic of Thieves | Ch3-5 (not including the interludes after Ch5) Recap from last week Flashbacks: Baby Locke is infatuated with Beth and devastated when she is murdered. He's even more shocked when he finds out the mysterious ...

The Republic of Thieves read-along begins today! If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! This is going to be a shorter post than usual, because I haven't had time to put together a nice long one and I already covered  my thoughts on the end of Red Seas Under Red Skies  last week. Anyways... What we're reading this week Republic of Thieves | Prologue, Ch1-2 (and interludes between Ch2 and 3) Recap from last week Zamira is double crossed by one of her own and Ezri sacrifices herself in the melee that ensues, Jean is heartbroken and swears revenge; Locke and Jean get the better of Stragos, rob Requin's office, an then discover the paintings were fake. Oh, and only Jean has been cured of the latent poison. Observations/Theories/Questions Is it just me, or did the end of that book move at a break-neck pace? Just when you think everything is going smoothly, we run into twist after twist and betra...

If you haven't finished Red Seas Under Red Skies yet, well, spoiler alert! There's a certain expectation when it comes to a story about a con .  The roguish main characters start off with a scene showing off their amazing abilities, we learn a bit more of  their backstory and personal demons as they plot to pull a job, stuff hits the fan and everything that can go wrong does go wrong... but against all odds, our MCs manage to make the heist happen and escape in more or less one piece. Speaking of pulling heists... Well, about that... In Red Seas Under Red Skies, there's no room for happy endings.  In the last 10% of the book, not only does Jean lose the love of his life, Locke is still dying of Stragos' latent poison, and after all their effort and scheming to keep two very intimidating masters happy, Locke and Jean find out that the gods-damned paintings were fake. I suppose the only silver lining is that Locke did indeed get to sack ...

Red Seas Under Red Skies continues... If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! What we're reading this week Red Seas Under Red Skies |  Chapters 13-Epilogue Recap from last week Jabril and the rest figure out that Locke and Jean are frauds, and toss them overboard. The two get picked up by The Poison Orchid and are reunited with their crew as scrub watch on Captain Zamira Drakasha's ship. Jean and Ezri Delmastro hit it off, Locke warms up to the pirate life, and Zamira gets on board with the plan to get back at Stragos.  Observations/Theories/Questions THE PIRATES ARE FINALLY HERE! I adore Captain Drakasha and Lieutenant Delmastro, because not only are they fierce and independent women, they are exceptionally intimidating pirates and fiends! It's a lot of fun to see the dynamic between Locke and Drakasha, because they both are used to getting their own way and being the one in charge; it...

Red Seas Under Red Skies continues... If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! What we're reading this week Red Seas Under Red Skies |  Chapters 8-12 Recap from last week Reminiscence: We witness the Amusement War in all its disturbing glory. Locke has a peculiar set of fake chairs made, although we don't know exactly what is odd about them yet. Jean and Locke take on a rather pathetic burglar while hanging from a cliff and struggling not to fall to their deaths. Present Day: Stragos has Locke and Jean learn how to handle a ship from Caldris. The pair stage the escape of some prisoners to man their ship and stir up pirate troubles (but they tell Requin it's to find a locksmith); Merrain secretly kills all the guards involved after Stragos specifically forbids it. Things go well on the ship until Locke realizes he forgot the all important cats, and dear old Caldris dies of a heart attack. Observ...

Red Seas Under Red Skies continues... If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! What we're reading this week Red Seas Under Red Skies | Finish Book 1 (starting with the Reminiscence after Ch4) Recap from last week Reminiscence: Jean tries to get Locke to stop wallowing in self-pity, the pair go to Tal Verrar and decide to take on Requin Present Day:  Two years later, they find themselves between a rock and hard place. Locke confesses to Requin that they're trying to steal from him, and the Archon poisons our heroic duo to get them to do his bidding instead. Observations/Theories/Questions Well, I guess we know the answer to that question I asked last week about how the Bondsmagi were going to react to the Falconer being maimed! I'd forgotten exactly how delicate a situation Jean and Locke landed themselves in at Tal Verrar. It was pretty stressful to read about them trying to please two ver...

The Lies of Locke Lamora Read-along continues... Whoooooo we got through our first week of the read-along! I have to admit that I didn't have as much time to read as I wanted (final exams started today), but next week I'll have plenty of time to do more readalong posts :) If you're just joining in, check out  the intro post  for the schedule and other details! What we're reading this week Lies of Locke Lamora | Book 2 (chapters 4-8) Recap from last week Flashbacks: We find out how Locke Lamora went from being a scrawny orphan under the Thiefmaker to a member of Father Chains' gang of miscreants. Locke learns how to be a con-man and a thief from Chains and becomes  pezon  to Nazca Barsavi. Present Day: Locke, Jean, Calo, Galdo, and Bug are running a scam against Don Salvara involving ridiculous amounts of money, Austershalin wine, and lots of disguises. There is also a mysterious shadow flying around... Observations/Theorie...

For those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE fan of the Gentleman Bastards series. I devoured The Lies of Locke Lamora, bought a copy before I'd finished my library book (I'm a very careful buyer. This never happens), got shipped two copies on accident (thanks Amazon!) and promptly lent them out to all my friends. I'm a little obsessed. There's just something about this series that makes me laugh. Locke is just such a charismatic character and his friendship with Jean throughout the series is TO DIE FOR. The series is witty and clever, but it's also dark and emotional. It's the perfect combination of laughter, emotional roller coaster, and smart storytelling. I cannot say enough good things! Whether you're late to the party or an old friend of Locke and Jean, I'd like to invite you to be a part of the S&S Gentleman Bastards Readalong . The plan is to read 1 book a month in the months leading up to the release of book 4, Thorn of Embe...

It's finally here! The Way of Kings Readalong officially begins today. Even if you don't usually read epic fantasy, Sanderson is a great place to start - his stories are so rich and exciting, and the amount of planning that goes into them is insane! Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting my thoughts and predictions each Sunday, and maybe some other tidbits and updates during the week. It's never too late to join - if you don't have a copy of the book yet, the kindle version of the book is on sale for $2.99 right now so don't miss out! Feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comments of my blog posts, but if you have your own blog posts, leave a link in the comments or on twitter (my handle is @spidersilksnow)! And if you're tweeting anything about the readalong, you can use the hashtag #WoKRA Here's the schedule - I divided it up so that we're reading about 200 pages a week. If you decide to go ahead, please keep your com...

Have you ever read anything by Brandon Sanderson? If you have, you know that his books are always brilliantly realized, with incredible worlds, complex and multi-faceted characters, incredible magic systems, intricate plotting, and a lot of fun . And if you haven't, you're in for a real treat. Either way, you should join in this readalong! We'll be reading the first book of Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings  starting June 22. It's quite a large book, so I'm aiming to split it up into about 200 pages a week. The tentative schedule is below: June 22: Read through Ch12 (201) June 29: Read through Ch28 (405) July 6: Read through Ch42 (600) July 13: Read through Ch57 (810) July 20: Finish book (1002) July 27: Final thoughts If epic fantasy intimidates you, don't be overwhelmed by the size of this book! Sanderson is the guy that got me back into fantasy after years of putting it to the side because I got t...