xenization. > Recent Status Updates

a. well if i didn't have a reason to like taryn before

b. the writing was a bit weird since it was supposed to be an apology directed at jude, there was a lot of referring to a "you" that took me a second to realise meant jude.

c. this had the first chapter of the wicked king in the back, i forgot how much i loved that first chapter.

a. i have left this story feeling satisfied and full - all of the loose ends seemed to be tied up.

b. i love that the sisters, and family as a whole, continued to play an active part in the story and weren't just forgotten about only to give jude a backstory.

c. i wish we had more reason to want jude and cardan together - i never particularly found a turning-point moment for them.

a. love that it's taken me this long to make an update on this

b. i really like grima mog

c. it's annoying for jude, but it's nice to see the roach and the bomb suspecting everyone and anyone, including her.

d. i do hope that they get together :((

e. i will say that plot points end as quickly as they begin in this series.

a. well well well, if it isn't the game of princes and queens.

b. i'd like to know what happened to cardan during the month of abduction to make him act the way he did towards the end of the book.

c. nothing will ever redeem taryn for me now, miss ma'am is dead to me.

d. plot points seem to end as suddenly as they begin in this book, and i can't tell if such a thing is a blessing or a curse.

a. well the abduction arc lasted a shockingly short length of time

b. i feel like with this book either nothing is happening or everything is happening and there's never an in-between, the pacing is a bit off for me.

c. i feel like [redacted] being the one to betray jude just kinda felt meh - they've clearly never been team jude since the start so the betrayal didn't have that gut-punch to it.

a. i love how it took until chapter 12 for things to start getting good - this book couldn't really afford the painfully slow start that the cruel prince had as tcp was setting up the world, in this one it just sort of dragged until some action occurred.

b. i miss oriana, i hope we see her at some point this book

c. so i reserved queen of nothing and it became available a lot sooner than i expected

a. i've done the unthinkable and stopped mid-chapter.

b. this isn't vibing as hard as the first one, though it's definitely a promising sequel.

c. I FINALLY FOUND THE "i suppose if you're the sickness you can't also be the cure" QUOTE AHHHH

a. so i finished this in 5-6 days, which dare i say is a personal record compared to my usual several weeks/months

b. jude is such a good main character, miss ma'am is tired

c. the way the stakes slowly rose throughout the book until all of the conflict at the end, oh my god

d. the way oriana became one of my favourite characters in the whole book??

a. i am flying through this

b. it doesn't seem like a lot but my pages are really zoomed out so i'm okay with jumping to 370 when i finally finish 😭

c. the story isn't at all like what i was expecting it to be, but i do like it - jude is a breath of fresh air that's slightly lukewarm.

a. my first ever ebook, and loaned from a library - i feel as though the page numbers are wrong as they don't match this version, alas 🤷‍♀️

b. i was curious about the hype but so far i will never see what people could possibly see in cardan.

c. the level of humiliation so far is simply sickening.

a. "a tendency toward obsession was hardwired into his brain and would likely be his undoing if he couldn't learn to outsmart it" suzanne collins, the woman you are

b. this re-read is entirely fueled by seeing the film and falling in love with it, so i believe my opinion on this book now will wildly differ to what it was a few years ago.

c. haymitch's quarter quell when? 😔

a. oh
my
GOD

b. I KNEW IT I CALLED IT I AM A MAGE

c. okay so i did guess the plot twist from a 1/3 of the way through, and i feel like the other "big reveal" was also spoiled by the author pretty early on? like less leaving a trail of hints and more "guess what besties".

d. WE STAN PRESTON HELOURY IN THIS HOUSE, HE'S THE GREENEST GREEN FLAG THAT EVER GREEN FLAGGED

e. this isn't really fully about welsh folklore

a. my current theory since they found the photos is that the girl (more likely than not blackmor's daughter) is the real author of angharad, and is also myrddin's widow.

b. i initially thought preston could be the fairy king (right at the start) but the hagstones didn't work on him.

c. we love a healthy and nurturing relationship. 💪

a. ghosts and ghouls and goblins, oh my!

b. again, the locations are beginning to bug me: saltney is so far north in wales it's basically on the border, yet in this world it's so far south it's nowhere near any civilisation? has the drowning left none of wales, are the countries of llyr and argant totally different in shape??

c. i love me the spooky scary skeletons eerie vibes this has got going.

a. effy's "only I can adore myrddin" attitude is really getting on my damn nerves.

b. it's interesting how just as you begin to forget about a certain plot point, reid drip feeds just the tiniest bit more information about it.

c. we stan preston in this household.

a. as a welsh-person, the mix of real and fake place names is kinda jarring, especially with the borders and general terrain being a bit different.

b. i can't tell if argant is meant to be england or scotland?

c. trying to place this story in a time period is incredibly difficult i find, i spent the first chapter thinking about this and i landed somewhere around the 1950s possibly.

d. it's eerie in the best way

a. i've said it before and i shall say it again: team jacob until the ends of the earth.

b. i'd pay (/nsrs) for a spin-off where bella ends up with jacob and just yoinks alice and jasper along for the ride or something, they're such better characters than edward 😒

c. i forgot about the alice mental asylum storyline, nice to see it brought up again if only briefly.

a. i love how crazily they depict kaya, and how it's made clear she's only turned out like this because of her mother.

b. the little short stories they put at the back of the volumes are so cool!

c. miyo and kiyoka may or may not be the ultimate ship for me now, we love an understanding relationship of growth and vulnerability 💪

a. i do wish that the supernatural element was more prominent in this volume, or we at least saw its use rather than just being told how powerful their abilities are.

b. miyo's self esteem and apologies initially bothered me as she seemed to lower her worth compared to kiyoka, but seeing her slow progression, including the short story at the end, was bittersweet yet satisfying.

c. slow-burn, yet he feels affection

a. i don't want to keep reading because i'm reaching the part where my team jake heart is going to get shattered into a million pieces

b. bella is an awful person, are you kidding me? she doesn't deserve either of them.

c. i'd 100% read a spin-off where she chose jake over edward and that'd become canon for me.

a. is now an appropriate time to announce i'm team jacob?

b. not that she deserves either of them, but jacob isn't annoyingly self-deprecating in the way that edward is.

c. maybe i just want someone who'd pay attention to me the way jacob does to bella.

d. bella is a terrible person, she's admitted several times she's just using jake, this is absurd, kid needs to run fast and run far.

a. i am so mad that the movies didn't show how strong of a friendship alice and bella had, you're telling me alice went out of her way to look after bella for weeks if not months?

b. the fact that bella was more upset about alice not returning than edward leaving.

c. i like the way the passing of the months were shown in the book.

d. ^ influenced by the fact i was tired and wanted to sleep

a. i wish the ballet studio scene was more like the movie with an actual fight, in the book it felt too rushed for a big climax, you know?

b. this is perfect if you want to switch off your brain but still have a supernatural vibe to what you're reading.

c. i love the cullens, but then they're written in such a way that you're almost expected to while hating the human characters.

a. i love alice so much, words cannot describe the soft spot i have for that woman. additionally, jasper has a lot more of a personality than he had in the movies, which i appreciate.

b. why is this book making me happy?

c. the first time i laughed the entire book was alice wrecking the hotel and suggesting suing them for damages she caused

d. i am feeling very content right now <33

a. i don't know why i like this so much, nor am i willing to admit how much i like this.

b. if edward isn't glaring, he's brooding, and if he's not brooding then he's smirking and if he's not doing any of the above then you should run fast and run far because that is not edward.

c. i'm here for alice and jasper, i'd read entire series just about their day-to-day lives.

a. it's mid-july and this is the only book i've finished this year. AND it's the fifth re-read. sigh.

b. there are so many things that i completely forgot happened, or scenes i realised i imagined totally wrong.

c. i will never not love mallory and halfborn's interactions, it's crazy he had to wait 100s of years to meet her, but it was worth it.

a. i have a really good feeling about this, i just know it, i feel excited reading this

b. i am begging for main characters in fantasy novels to be older than 16, why are they all so young😭

c. so come on kiki baby🎶

a. choosing to read this late at night was simultaneously the worst and best choice i've ever made.

b. i felt genuine fear and panic during chapter 6, however i have this thing about masks where they just freak me the hell out, so 🤷‍♀️

c. having read the silence of bones, i am extremely weary of village elder moon. june hur has given me trust issues. 😭

a. words can't describe how in love i am with that opening chapter, it's so intricately immersive and left me somewhat breathless.

b. i love the setting and the story so far

c. i have this lingering feeling of chills or uncomfiness about the mystery because it all seems so twistingly dark that i'm intrigued.

d. i'm so excited about this book, i don't know how else to explain it

a. i'm already intrigued by how unique all of the characters are, both in appearance and personality

b. the writing style is.. interesting. very little descriptive detail, but a lot of dialogue. it's refreshing.

c. i will keep up with these updates if it's the last thing i do, i miss being able to write my thoughts on books as i read them 😭