Threads That Bind + Scholomance
Apr. 4th, 2025 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkL. told me she listens to audiobooks even though she prefers reading books because she has more time for listening than reading and I decided to give it a try. So far this year I've read two books and listened to seven, so this seems to work. Mostly this is because I can listen to audiobooks on walks and public transport, while if I actually read something on public transport it's usually fanfic for some reason.
I've listened to two series since February, and I enjoyed the narrator for both of them.
Threads that Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou, consisting of Threads That Bind and Hearts That Cut
YA fantasy series set in a ~post-apocalyptic world in which descendants of deities have their powers, inherited through family lines and strictly assigned to each sibling. Io, the main character, has the power to see and cut fate threads, including life threads.
An insta-kill power is tricky to consider in fights or other confrontations: you have the upper hand as long as your opponent believes that you are able and willing to kill them. If they realize you don't actually want to kill them, well…
I really enjoyed the mystery aspects of this, especially in the first book, and the family problems, and I was not optimistic about the romance since it features a literal soulbond but I was pleasantly surprised. The second book was slightly weaker imo, especially the mystery resolution, but it got bonus points because I really enjoyed and Io's relationship with them.
The Scholomance by Naomi Novik, consisting of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclave
In a world with a secret society of wizards constantly hunted by monsters that try to kill them, they send wizard children to a school without teachers where they are stuck for four years to learn magic while still being attacked by monsters. El, with a talent for dark magic and a prophecy proclaiming her an evil sorceress, aims for survival and later reaches for more.
I read a lot of fantasy, I'm used to books requiring a certain suspension of disbelief. I can't remember the last time I struggled this hard to ignore worldbuilding that didn't make any sense and had to remind myself so often not to think about the details. And I don't even know why, I'm pretty sure objectively the worldbuilding isn't any more flimsy than many other books' that I've read, and additionally probably some things are not as bad as they seem if I thought about them in detail. I suspect it's because I had some strong "yeah no" moments early on that colored the rest, like the amount of children dying and a lot of the set-up of the school. What made it worse is that I got the impression the books really wanted to convince me that it all makes sense, and they tried, but unsuccessfully. It wasn't until the third book that I found the world much easier to accept.
What I did really enjoy were the class struggle aspects of it, and El's anger. Her world sucks and yes she gets to be angry about it. And she struggles to deal with that anger and doesn't always do it well but it also gives her strength to fight the injustice she sees. She does have special protagonist powers, vast amounts even, but she also needs that anger, and even special protagonist powers may not be enough to fight an entire entrenched unjust system. The narrator did a good job with her character voice (I wonder if I'd reacted slightly differently if I'd read the book.)
Also, maw-mouths are fantastic and scary monsters.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the romance, or more specifically how it was handled (less Orion as a character, he was pretty flat most of the time.) El is trying to survive and, later, help her friends and allies survive as well, she doesn't have the brainspace to think much about romance, and even when it creeps up on her it's still not her priority. Not even in the third book, in which yes Orion is more of her motivation but again a lot of her motivation as I interpreted it came from the injustice of it all.
The reveal that the enclaves deliberately create maw-mouths was a shock, and same that Orion is basically a maw-mouth, but it works. And later that El is basically the "balance" to the creation of Orion. Ophelia is a scary but great character with her very utilitarian perspective, and Shanfeng a good counterpart in how he tried to deal with the realities he was facing. And Liesel a good additional perspective for El to have, in addition to her more supportive friends, and I also enjoyed meeting Gwen.
(Nitpicking, I understand letting Orion live but also letting him keep his mana-eating superpowers was a bit much imo. Same with making it apparently completely impossible to share the enclave secrets. But overall the ending was fine.)
I've listened to two series since February, and I enjoyed the narrator for both of them.
Threads that Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou, consisting of Threads That Bind and Hearts That Cut
YA fantasy series set in a ~post-apocalyptic world in which descendants of deities have their powers, inherited through family lines and strictly assigned to each sibling. Io, the main character, has the power to see and cut fate threads, including life threads.
An insta-kill power is tricky to consider in fights or other confrontations: you have the upper hand as long as your opponent believes that you are able and willing to kill them. If they realize you don't actually want to kill them, well…
I really enjoyed the mystery aspects of this, especially in the first book, and the family problems, and I was not optimistic about the romance since it features a literal soulbond but I was pleasantly surprised. The second book was slightly weaker imo, especially the mystery resolution, but it got bonus points because I really enjoyed
spoiler
BiancaThe Scholomance by Naomi Novik, consisting of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclave
In a world with a secret society of wizards constantly hunted by monsters that try to kill them, they send wizard children to a school without teachers where they are stuck for four years to learn magic while still being attacked by monsters. El, with a talent for dark magic and a prophecy proclaiming her an evil sorceress, aims for survival and later reaches for more.
I read a lot of fantasy, I'm used to books requiring a certain suspension of disbelief. I can't remember the last time I struggled this hard to ignore worldbuilding that didn't make any sense and had to remind myself so often not to think about the details. And I don't even know why, I'm pretty sure objectively the worldbuilding isn't any more flimsy than many other books' that I've read, and additionally probably some things are not as bad as they seem if I thought about them in detail. I suspect it's because I had some strong "yeah no" moments early on that colored the rest, like the amount of children dying and a lot of the set-up of the school. What made it worse is that I got the impression the books really wanted to convince me that it all makes sense, and they tried, but unsuccessfully. It wasn't until the third book that I found the world much easier to accept.
What I did really enjoy were the class struggle aspects of it, and El's anger. Her world sucks and yes she gets to be angry about it. And she struggles to deal with that anger and doesn't always do it well but it also gives her strength to fight the injustice she sees. She does have special protagonist powers, vast amounts even, but she also needs that anger, and even special protagonist powers may not be enough to fight an entire entrenched unjust system. The narrator did a good job with her character voice (I wonder if I'd reacted slightly differently if I'd read the book.)
Also, maw-mouths are fantastic and scary monsters.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the romance, or more specifically how it was handled (less Orion as a character, he was pretty flat most of the time.) El is trying to survive and, later, help her friends and allies survive as well, she doesn't have the brainspace to think much about romance, and even when it creeps up on her it's still not her priority. Not even in the third book, in which yes Orion is more of her motivation but again a lot of her motivation as I interpreted it came from the injustice of it all.
The reveal that the enclaves deliberately create maw-mouths was a shock, and same that Orion is basically a maw-mouth, but it works. And later that El is basically the "balance" to the creation of Orion. Ophelia is a scary but great character with her very utilitarian perspective, and Shanfeng a good counterpart in how he tried to deal with the realities he was facing. And Liesel a good additional perspective for El to have, in addition to her more supportive friends, and I also enjoyed meeting Gwen.
(Nitpicking, I understand letting Orion live but also letting him keep his mana-eating superpowers was a bit much imo. Same with making it apparently completely impossible to share the enclave secrets. But overall the ending was fine.)
no subject
Date: 2025-04-04 11:18 pm (UTC)Personally, I really loved Scholomance even though I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I liked that these books were such an obvious and beautiful "FU" to a certain TERF. And like you, I really enjoyed the anger at the injustices in the world. The idea of having a character who's mostly borderline useless at magic except the dark lord "annihilate everything" magic is also a hilarious take on the "protagonist is extra special" trope.
And YES, maw-mouths are horrifying. I love their name, too.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-05 07:03 pm (UTC)I haven't listened to enough audiobooks yet to have one. With books I can just get them from the library at one point and remove the DRM protection and then read them whenever, but it doesn't work that way with audiobooks and also the selection is smaller, so it's also more about what's available.
It's definitely a series very much in conversation with the genre as a whole, and I probably missed aspects of that because I don't read a lot of "dark academia" fantasy, I've heard there's quite a bit. But also in terms of the magic vs mundanes, since here mundanes can actually cancel magic with their disbelief and magicians are more vulnerable due to the monsters; though there wasn't much time to explore that.
Yeah, it's a good name too.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-07 07:33 pm (UTC)If you have a few dollars to spare, libro.fm sells DRM-free audiobooks, often for discounts. (Disclaimer that I haven't yet used them myself.)
I've started listening to audiobooks again, also because of the time factor. I get a heck of a lot more housework done on the days when my ears are doing the reading, rather than my eyes.
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Date: 2025-04-10 10:46 pm (UTC)Yeah time is such a big factor. Never enough of it.
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Date: 2025-04-09 08:33 pm (UTC)Novik is a known fanfiction writer too. I know that Temeraire started out as Master and Commander fanfic as well.
What other kind of fantasy books have you been reading recently?
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Date: 2025-04-15 06:29 pm (UTC)I very much enjoy Novik's fic, it's a shame it's been a while since she posted any.
Define "recently" ^^ I really enjoyed the Radiant Emperor series, I listened to part 2 a few months ago. I also really enjoyed The Tainted Cup, I hope my library will have the sequel that just came out soon. Before that, The Spear Cuts Through Water.
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