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Cathy L

@cathlin.bsky.social
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Nice example!! I've been using my tags mostly as a way to note which in the series they are so it's easier to sort in series order:
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The first of 2 slightly disappointing books this week - I love much of Kuang's work, &this one about a young woman's time at an intensive Chinese course in Taiwan seemed right up my alley. It is wonderfully written & a few good anecdotes about learning, but was really hoping for more...fun maybe? 📚💙
Cover of Taipei Story by R F Kuang, showing a tray of food and tea with a small book with Chinese characters and hands covering a pair of chopsticks
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Sept reads - what an excellent reading month!! 3 fantasy sagas, 3 sci-fi, 2 romantasy, 1 apocalyptic, 2 NF. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐favourites the 2 War Arts books by Wesley Chu, and Alien Clay, and The Mountain in the Sea was up there as well. The 2 NFs were fascinating. Only one not for me was The Everlasting. 📚🐉🪐💙
Covers of:
The book of Azrael by Amber Nicole
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
A different kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern
The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu
Gallowglass by S J Morden
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang
The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu
Unprepared by Gavin Shoebridge
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Beyond Sundered Seas by David Green
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Revised October TBR challenge. Difficult finding books on TBR to suit, but for a Spooky tale, I have The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and for a countryside setting, it's We are all Ghosts in the Forest. (bonus - ghosts fits spooky as well?). Particularly looking forward to the second 📚🐉🪐💙
Covers of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, showing a side on pic of a buffalo; and We are all ghosts in the forest by Lorraine Wilson, showing silhouettes of a couple walking through a forest
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The first book I've read by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and it was amazing! Will definitely be reading more of his. Loved the gradual shift from the MC arriving as a prisoner on the planet to being part of the investigation to discovering how it all fits together & what happens next. 📚🪐💙
Cover of Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The background is blue, with blue/black plants and structures, the foreground is tall yellow plants.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Well this is cool, just discovered someone I know through work (which yeah, I never talk about here) is an author, and he's now sent me a copy of his book! So that's up next on the TBR. 📚💙
Cover of Unprepared by Gavin Shoebridge, with a black & white pic of an unused road, showing weeds growing through cracks. A building can be seen at the end of the road.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Not sure who here recommended this, but I loved it, thank you!! Based around a chosen one prophecy gone wrong, but the real fun is in the characters, an older female master warrior who takes the spoiled chosen one under her wing while escaping enemies.
Cover of The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu, showing an older female martial artist/warrior holding a sword and falling so her back is at the bottom of the page.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Expected more from this. I did like the 2 main characters, a female knight & a modern scholar, & nice to see MCs who aren't physically gorgeously hot. But the relationship never seemed right, the villain was one dimensional & the writing wasn't my thing. ⭐⭐⭐for characters & good premise. 🐉🪐📚💙
Cover of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. In the centre is a sword shape through which is seen a woman's face. It is surrounded by golden leaves and colourful flowers.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
August reads! Featuring 4 Epic fantasy (2 irreverent, 2 serious); 1 Dragon fantasy set in the Napoleonic wars; 2 Speculative fiction inc. robots; 1 Portal fantasy, 1 Scifi & 1 Non-fiction about teaching in China. Favourites: Homebound & The Malevolents & excellent end to The Expanse series! 🐉🪐📚💙
Covers of:
This Kingdom will not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews,
The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell,
Temeraire by Naomi Novik,
Leviathan Falls by James S A Corey
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
The Malevolent Eight by Sebastien de Castell,
Luminous by Silvia Park
Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler
Path of War by David Green
Homebound by Portia Elan
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
September TBR challenge time! And quite different from my usual reads. For non-fiction I have Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler, and for not my usual genre I have... another non-fiction, a biography of Jacinda Ardern, who was New Zealand's Prime Minister 2017-2023. 📚💙
Covers of Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler, showing 3 schoolgirls sitting on a rooftop; and A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern, showing a pic of the author.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This was interesting - four connected stories over 500 years, starting in 1983 with a young woman grieving her uncle and discovering his unfinished computer game. Includes 1980s game code, grief, self discovery, sentient humanoid robots, a sailing ship, starships, found family....
Cover of Homebound by Portia Elan. Cover shows sea and sky, the small waves reflecting the blues & pinks of the sky. A person is walking through a portal, we can see them on this side but not the other
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Haven't read any Terry Pratchett before & picked this up as someone said it was a good place to start. Just noticed it's listed as Discworld #8, does this matter? Should I be starting somewhere else? 🐉📚💙
Cover of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! with a dragon flying up from a burning city in the background, and a soldier smoking a cigar holding a small dragon in the foreground.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Just finished the last of the 9 Expanse books and the very next book I pick up is the first of the 10 books of Malazan Book of the Fallen. Didn't plan on getting into another huge series, it just happened! 🪐🐉📚💙
Picture of the spines of the 9 books in the Expanse series by James S A Corey, and the covers of the 10 main books in the Malazan series by Steven Erikson
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Really enjoyed the first 2 of the Old Man's War series, and have just discovered the next one my library holds is ... number 7! Hmm. I bet that one doesn't get borrowed often. And guess I need a trip to a used bookshop to see if I can track more down. 🪐📚💙
Covers of Old Man's War and the Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, both showing a planet with spacecraft flying around.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
July reads… featuring 2 space opera sci-fi, 1 cozy sci-fi, an epic renaissance fantasy, a gothic witchy horror, a time-loop book and a contemporary novel about trans lives. Good books, good range! Only one not for me: On the Calculation of Volume. I like more action. And characters. 📚💙
Covers of: On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle, Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, Woodworking by Emily St James, Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey, Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay and The long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
August TBR challenge time! Author not UK/US - Reconnaissance by Kapka Kassabova (Bulgarian-New Zealander); and book with a long journey - Temeraire by Naomi Novik. Challenge going well! 📚💙
Pic of 2 books; Reconnaissance by Kapka Kassabova, showing the bottom half of a woman's face, a few strands of dark hair, wearing something hairy/furry . Also Temeraire by Naomi Novik showing a ship sailing, with a map background.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Recent read - and a bit of a surprise as I recently told someone here I wasn't into witchy books! It starts as a story of a mute/drugged woman in a rocking chair in an old New Orleans house; and a young doctor in San Francisco who has weird things happen to her. OK,intriguing start...
Cover of The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, showing a woman with long dark hair in front of a red and gold occult hanging
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The LibraryThing Charts & Graphs are fun! Here's my author locations in map view - kind of surprised more than half were from the US actually.
LibraryThing map showing where the authors of books in my collection come from
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Trying out a June reads post: Favourites: - Seek the Traitor's Son - The Devils - Old Man's War - Red City Good reads for different reasons: - Poseidon's Wake - The Fireman - The Girl with a Thousand Faces Not for me: - The Book of Guilt - The Poet Empress 📚🪐💙
Covers of 9 books 1 read in June, explained in text.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Time for my July TBR challenge books! A book with an empire – starting, ending or changing - Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay; and a whole series - didn't have a whole series on TBR so chose the last 3 books of The Expanse, James SA Corey. Have the rest of year to finish those. 📚🪐💙
Covers of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, showing a stone building of several stories and a moon seen through one of the building arches; and covers of books 7,8 and 9 in The Expanse series by James S.A Corey showing various spacecraft in space.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Why didn't I like this more?? Maybe if I hadn’t read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, which is excellent & has a similar premise? It seemed too easy a read given the dark topic, and just didn’t make me think enough. Even what is meant to be the big ethical question is really…not. Opinions?? 🪐📚💙
Cover of The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey showing 3 identical boys on a beach, all in the same position throwing a ball, differentiated only by the red, yellow & green shorts they wear.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Juggling library holds, TBR reading challenge and next in various series can be challenging. So I've just now added an "Up next" section to my LibraryThing app so I don't have to keep working it out. And...here it is Ta-dah!!🎉 🪐🐉📚💙
Covers of The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, The Girl with a thousand faces by Sunyi Dean and Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
1/ Loved the first half of this, where we work out why & how old people are being drafted into a space force. Thought the second half lost it's way a bit, and then it finished strong. I felt he didn't take enough advantage of how old they are in the second half 🪐📚💙
Cover of Old Man's War by John Scalzi, showing spacecraft flying towards a planet
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
A recent DNF. Really expected to like this but I just didn't get it. Kept expecting it to get better but eventually I had just had enough of the 2 characters effectively being told they really COULD do better. I realise I didn't get to the reveal, googled it later. 🐉📚💙
Cover of Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, entirely red background with a black sketch of a skeleton dressed in medieval armour carrying a sword
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I don't read a huge amount of sci-fi but really enjoyed this one! An odyssey into far flung parts of space. Good characters, excellent writing and interesting mysteries. And I REALLY wasn't expecting the elephants... 🐘🪐📚💙
A hand holding a copy of Poseidon's Wake by Alastair Reynolds. Cover is light purple with yellow patches, and shows a graphic of a round maze.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Current read: The Fireman. Joe Hill is right up there with his Dad Stephen King in showing the horror of well meaning but deluded people trying to do what they think is the right thing... 📚🪐💙
Cover of The Fireman by Joe Hill showing a person walking down a paved road through some trees while the whole sky glows orange & red in nearby fires
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
June TBR challenge: A book with less than 150 pages - Exit Strategy is just over but I didn't have anything smaller on TBR; and a book with more than 500 pages - The Fireman doesn't look so impressive on a tablet, but it definitely qualifies at 700! 📚🪐🐉💙
Pic of the book Exit Strategy by Martha Wells showing someone in a spacesuit on what appears to be a spaceship seen through some kind of shaft, and Cover of The Fireman by Joe Hill on a tablet, red & orange fire colours with title & author shown in large black print.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Love Sunday afternoons meandering through the library, found some good ones this week! 📚🐉🪐💙
Cover of Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, top half is clouds & a huge moon, with some old Japanese buildings; bottom half is a cityscape reflected in water with 3 small paper boats, one of which has a person inside. Also cover of Jade City by Fonda Lee, dark green background with something carved on stone or armour? and a light green current through the middle. Third book is Exit Strategy by Martha Wells showing someone in a spacesuit on what appears to be a spaceship seen through some kind of shaft.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
It seems ridiculous to talk about a book so well loved & widely read as this one. But yes, now I get it. It was daunting to start as it's SO big and it has so many characters at the start. Many characters disappeared shockingly quickly though...
Cover of Stephen King's book The Stand. A man in white with a sword fights a creature in black with a scythe.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Totally enthralled by this book. Enjoyed isn't the right word for a book with so much of the horror and despair of war. The MC wakes more than a year after the resistance lost the war, having lost a significant part of her memory. Much of the story is about how & why. Dark & compelling... ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐📚🪐💙
Cover of Alchemised by SenLinYu showing a gothic house through iron gates in the fog, with a woman in red robes in the foreground
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
TBR challenge for April - random choice (used random number generator) is Shadow's End by Sheri Tepper. Haven't read any of hers before. The Stand by Stephen King which is the one that appeals to me most. Also daunting... it's HUGE. Have been wanting to read for ages tho. Challenge going well! 📚🪐💙
Hardcopy of Shadow's End by Sheri S Tepper showing creatures with wings looking down a misty valley toward a waterfall; and cover of The Stand by Stephen King shown on a tablet. The pic shows someone walking on a road in the desert.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
OK, I admit I got a bit carried away at the library. Especially as I'm currently reading something else on my tablet. But what could I do??? They all look so good. 📚🪐💙
Covers of Labyrinth's Heart by MA Carrick, showing a woman in an elaborate gold mask; Map's Edge by David Hair, showing part of an old city floating above & chained to the rest of the city; The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty with a woman in a headscarf standing in a middle eastern cityscape with an elaborate gold pattern in red above her; The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso with a clockface & the silhouette of a woman reading a book below.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Read Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir recently, SO surprised & happy to read so many references to New Zealand culture in the John chapters. But wondering what people from other parts of the world thought about those? Or does it just get lost in the general weirdness that is the Locked Tomb series? 📚🪐💙
The cover of Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, showing a smiling teenage girl with long dark braids wearing dark robes, with a white dog & a skeleton beside her.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Wow, I just loved this book & devoured it over one long weekend! I love a good con artist story and this one just kept unfolding layers & layers throughout. Loved the Venetian style setting, the political intrigue, the character growth. The Mask of Mirrors by MA Carrick. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐📚🪐💙
Cover of The Mask of Mirrors by MA Carrick, showing a person wearing an elaborate blue and gold mask reminiscent of wings, and a gold dagger pointing down to the mask.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Well cool! A couple of chapters in I wasn't sure if it was really for me, a couple more chapters and the characters & story really grabbed me! An epic fantasy in a world at war between humans & elves, then a people who were a threat in ancient times reappear. Just bought the whole series... 💙🪐📚
Cover of In Solitude's Shadow by David Green shown on a e-reader. Background is black and there is a pic of a tree growing on a large stone with a green glow behind and a sliver of moon surrounding the tree top.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Next up on the TBR challenge - April's books are In Solitude's Shadow by David Green (Independent or self published) and The Collected Stories by Cixin Liu (4 stories from an anthology or collection). Started In Solitude's Shadow, really enjoying it! Actually enjoying the whole challenge 📚💙
Covers of 2 books: The Collected Stories by Cixin Liu, which has a silver swirly stripy pattern on black & the author's name in English & Chinese; and In Solitude's Shadow by David Green, showing a tree growing out of a large mossy rock with the moon behind.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Warms my heart to see thousands of people lining up to check out the newly reopened Wellington Central Library Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui. It's been closed for 7 years to be rebuilt for earthquake strengthening. Great appreciation of our public libraries!! 💙📚
A long line of people waiting to get in to Wellington public library
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Five stars for this one ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! 1/ I just loved it. Difficult to review without spoilers... the MC finds himself in 3 very different scenarios with major challenges to deal with. I loved how he dealt with them differently depending on his knowledge of the circumstances. 📚🪐💙
Cover of The Strength of the few by James Islington,  showing a black pyramid in a desert landscape with white figures flying around
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
The TBR challenge continues to go well! Up for March: a book from one of my favourite authors, (The Strength of the few), and a debut novel (Deryni rising). Cheating a bit, just finished reading one, and I doubt a novel from 1970 was really the idea of the other. But getting thru TBR! 📚🪐💙
Cover of The Strength of the few by James Islington,  showing a black pyramid in a desert landscape with white figures flying around,  and cover of Deryni rising by Katherine Kurtz showing a man and woman in medieval dress with blue and orange mists surrounding them.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
January TBR challenge went well, although starting Riftwar added a lot to be TBR! Next up February challenge. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods (Book about a partnership) & Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Unread sequel). 📚🪐💙
Cover of The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, showing a house hiding between books in a bookshelf, and cover of Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao, showing a women in gold historical Chinese martial dress on a gold background
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Interesting book choices at a hotel in China... 📚💙
Shelf with Chinese ornaments and 2 books, one is Jane Austen's Persuasion,  the other Sex in the City
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Found an interesting challenge to get into your TBR pile. January challenge is to read the last book I added (Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by AS King) and the one that's been in TBR the longest (Magician, Raymond E Feist). Started Magician last night, excellent start! 🪐📚💙
Covers of Magician by Raymond E Feist, showing 2 cities, one with castle towers and one with domes & spires; and Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King, with a close up of a woman's eye looking over a book
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Finished Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff, great finish to an excellent trilogy. Such a dramatic and emotional story! Great characters, fun dialogue. I can see why the ending is divisive, I loved it but it does raise a whole lot more questions. Also loved the illustrations, very cool. 🪐📚💙
A black and white gothic looking pic of four seriously hot warriors carrying swords, a war hammer and a gun. They are important characters in Empire of the Dawn
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Enjoying that first book so much I think I'm going to take my current library books back & pick up the next 2 in the Licanius series! They're confusing but I'm sure it'll all make sense eventually... 💙🐉🪐📚
Covers of The Shadow of what was lost, An Echo of things to come and The light of all that falls by James Islington. All have groups of travellers in front of an orange, blue or red sun
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Hmmm not sure about this one. Guess it just seemed a bit too light after other recent reads? The story did pick up but just didn't care enough about the characters so don't think I'll carry on with the sequel. 💙🪐🐉📚
Cover of A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross showing a harp in a stylised river with red flowers around.
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Just started The Shadow of What was Lost by James Islington, going well so far!
Cover of The Shadow of What was lost by James Islington showing a group of people walking in front of an orange sun
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
The language is amazing, the repartee is fun in a really weird way, the story is totally confusing but so glad I finally got to reading this! My brain may need a break before reading Nona though. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. 💙🪐📚
Cover of Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, showing a young woman in skull face paint wearing a corset of bones over black clothes, surrounded by skeletons
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Another recent read: Different from the TV series but still looks at what the world would do if everyone saw 2 minutes of their future. I liked the premise and there were some fun quotes & ideas of what the future may hold. Pacing was a bit odd and I'm not sold on the ending. Enjoyed it. 💙🪐📚
Cover of Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer showing a mathematical physics graphic
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
More recent reads: Katharine Kerr's Polar City series is a fun scifi/fantasy/murder mystery mashup with some baseball in there as well - particularly like the Nunks/Mulligan banter. Not sure why Kerr's scifi books fly under the radar, they really shouldn't! Anyone else read these? 💙🪐📚
Covers of Polar City Blues and Polar City Nightmare showing futuristic cityscapes
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Cathy L @cathlin.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings has completely taken over my last few months reading. What a ride, just loved it and now it's my favourite series ever ❤️. A little annoyed to rush thru the finish before getting on a plane but I'm sure I will reread one day. Best characters ever. 💙📚🪐
Graphic showing the covers and reading order of the 16 books in Realm of the Elderlings series
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