What we enjoyed about the book:

• “I liked that it was very gay”, sapphic
• Raven really cool
• Cute book, cute interactions
• Tone of the book great
• Way magic was introduced quite offhandedly
• Slightly ironic tone of the book
• Twist with G. nice, Kai lacks empathy, ending satisfying
• Mousebones great fun, otters are wonderful, reindeers are wonderful
• Animal parts great
• Magic in the world enjoyable, maybe “even more than the characters”
• Book got better once she left home
• Wide range of magic covered: gentle magic (dreams of the plants) à peaceful, subtle enchantment; reindeer magic (brutal, gruesome); reindeer road (belonging, beautiful, contrast)
• Favourite part: “if you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, it helps you shapeshift” à beautiful, amazing abilities with more ease
• Shapeshifting somehow something innate, beautiful
• Sámi culture introduced very well, well done, connected to the reindeer road
• Fairy tale retelling keeps the fairy tale ideas of both wonder & violence
• Mousebones’ gender handled very nicely, well done, characters corrected themselves, genderfluid raven
• Protagonist character development satisfying: obsession with Kai and then sexual awakening and change of plans, “found herself on this journey”
• Writing style: very easy to read, fits the story, gruesome parts not elaborated upon
• Comfort read
• Light reading
• Writing style simplistic, fairy tale language nice
• Atmospheric writing style
• Sexual/queer awakening of protagonist well done
• Same elements but modernised (Sámi culture, queer love story)
• I wouldn’t have minded had Kai died, bit random
• Sámi magic wonderful

What we discussed:

• Based on the Andersen fairy tale (one of his weaker ones), this coloured how one of us perceived this retelling (not positively); reminded us of “Uprooted” (horror parts better) or “Stardust” (wittier), not hooked as a reader
• Kitschy, “I don’t need romance”
• Gerda “cardbox character”, Janna and Raven the best characters
• Sapphic twist the entire mission felt pointless
• Kai weakest character, nobody cared for him, didn’t appear in the main story
• Plot kind of boring, journey great but overall plot weak, “what was the point?”
• G. blushes all the time, embarrassed all the time, annoying in the beginning
• Book almost too short
• Book has so much potential, too short, could not realise all the great ideas in depth
• Often two one-dimensional, flat characters sometimes
• Can’t come up with a better ending though, but Kai sucks
• Getting lost along the way actually a nice idea: realise that our quest or initial idea was not such a good idea (G. has a childish crush) and we change paths
• Kai a twat in the fairy tale too, delightful that she also did not try to make him a good one, Kai not a good person but G.’s crush is too big to see that?
• Gerda realising Kai is not worth it and going for the “sexy lady” was great
• Gerda rescues him because she wants to see things through, but he is no longer the most important person for her anymore
• Final showdown a bit underwhelming, Gerda already had her character development, so not needed but the big fight would’ve been cool too
• “You can be crazy and not be a cannibal”; “that part also weirded me out”
• Intended readership + age group dubious? Fairy tale duality: children vs. adults;
• Children often find violence delightful in fairy tales; cannibals even funny but also add extra danger (did not work, only hilarious)

Rating in Reindeers, Ravens or Otters:

• 2.5 / 5 Satanic Mirrorpieces in your eye; story lacks some of the stuff our other fairy tale retellings had, not as scary or witty as the others, “nice”
• “didn’t knock me out of my chair”, “enjoyable”, 2.75 Mousebones out of 5
• 3/5 reindeers; “didn’t particularly care for the story, I liked the queerness and the character development”; also don’t like fairy tales
• 7/10 otters who pull the sleigh; “I did enjoy the book”
• 4/5 Reindeers, bits of it nostalgia, TV adaptation nostalgia, revisiting it, queer twist nice, “comfort read”
• 4/5 Reindeers, “really enjoyed the book as a light read”
• 3.5/5 Reindeers, “short and sweet”, exciting at some points
• 4/5 Reindeers, “short and sweet describes the story very well, I love fairy tale retellings”, “loved reading it pre-Christmas”, “lots of snow and reindeers”, seasonal rating
• 5/5 Reindeers, lessen it down to 4/5, “something in between 4 and 5 à 4.5
• 4.5/5 Reindeers, wonderful reindeer road
• LET IT GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, LET IT GOOOO (Marthe still needs to watch “Frozen”)

Other books we talked about:

• Expanse #9 currently reading, “recommend the first book”; “my introduction to science fiction”, so exciting, “flew through the first book”; recommendation seconded by Marthe
• Far Sector graphic novel, “I dearly recommend it”, cyberpunk, superheroes, “bit drowning in zeitgeist”
• “The Atlas Six” by Blake: dark academia; group of teenagers who have been chosen to join a secret society which has protected the knowledge of the burned down library of Alexandria
• “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” by Hawkings: “Is there a God?”; continuous existential crisis
• “Noor” by Nnedi Okorafor; African Futurism; interest take on cyborgs, disability, progress, bodily enhancement, what can the internet do, but CW violence
• Movie recommendation: Encanto (Disney), set in Colombia, really cool
• “Hinter verzauberten Fenstern” (Funke): wholesome Christmas read; magical advent calendar; portal fantasy, “my favourite Christmas read”

All welcome!

What we enjoyed about the audiobook:

• Narration amazing, Neil Gaiman a great narrator
• Great voice-actors, felt more like a theatre production
• Great usage of the medium: audiobook
• Easy to follow, atmospheric music in the background
• “It was amazing”
• Several voice-actors was great for a change (not just one person reading the book aloud)
• One of us now prefers the audiobook to the comic
• DC references in audiobook, John Constantine, weird cross-over for people for people who did not know Sandman & DC were a thing (confusing!)
• Admiration von Gaiman’s creativity, gifted
• Strength of this audiobook: voice-actors
• Easy to follow, very immersive, different voices really helped
• Diversity and variety of stories being told brilliant
• Collection of stories, Morpheus really cool
• Death is brilliant, interactions with Morpheus rewarding
• Favourite episodes for some: Serial Convention, Corinthian character cool, enjoyable
• Morpheus meeting the person in a pub over the centuries, really cool idea
• Shakespeare episode absolutely stunning; comic better: translates not as well into the medium of an audiobook than the others
• Stories right in the beginning, immersive, Morpheus as captive and grumpy really cool, learning more about Morpheus, searching for the three artefacts brilliant, intriguing
• Vastness of the stories also impressive
• James McAvoy great job
• Whimsical in parts, favourite. Humanising Morpheus great!
• Episode with the cats brilliant; idea of cats meeting and listen to the storyteller cat; how cats were before when cats ruled the humans
• Comic: “Seasons of Mist” a favourite. Auction, ghost story, horror
• Extra: “I probably won’t make it today but I wanted to thank you for suggesting “The Sandman”. I enjoy audiobooks because listening to them allows me to read even if I’m not really reading 😅🙈 “The Sandman” was a feast for my ears – beautifully narrated! And it was inspiring on so many levels, Mr Gaiman’s works usually are – but such horror from him was quite new to me. It’s a genre I started to enjoy since the start of the pandemic (wonder why tho)”

What we discussed:

• Kitschy style not as much in Sandman (comic)
• Morpheus modelled after Gaiman? Bit much? 😀
• Sometimes too dark, too violent, too grim, audiobook very intimate experience
• Gruesome, unusual for some of us, “I had no idea what I was signing up for”
• Structure confusing for some of us, learned that the music showed that a single story was over and a new one was starting
• Episodic structure confusing at parts, random new characters
• Gorey bits too intense, coffeehouse scene too much, “I can’t handle that right now”
• Too many characters to follow casually, not enough time with each of them
• Hard to listen to in the background, one really needs to pay attention
• Disturbing serial killer convention, hilarious yet dark
• Darker bits enjoyable in shorter time spans

Rating:

• Not finished yet, but “I enjoyed it” while knitting / painting, will listen to the second instalment, 4.5/5 Stars
• 5/5 despite the goriness + confusion; “so immersive”, due to the format, graphic novels very different vibe
• 4.5/5 vibe great; audiobook format really good; mystical, dreamy; will listen to the second one too
• 4/5, comics more enjoyable than the audiobooks; read all the comics, then listen to the other audiobook instalments
• 5/5, brilliant, mind-blowing, medium perfect for the short story style
• 4/5, some episodes not enjoyable, later ones too dark
• Between 4.5 and 5 for me:) LOVED how immersive it was and all the ideas he came up with. Plus I think the German word “Hörspiel” fits so well here! 🙂

Other books we discussed / recommend:

• “Iron Widow” by Xiran Jay Zhao: new favourite book, China’s only female Emperor, alternate universe, goes again patriarchy; poly and queer rep, references to mythology great
• “The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels” – India Holton: Victorian, funny, great
• “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt: dark academia, perfect for the season, kids annoying
• “Haunting Season”: great scary gothic short stories by Bridget Collins, Natasha Pulley etc.
• Avatar (ATLA) comics are brilliant!

What we enjoyed about the book:

• Well-crafted horror story
• Works very well story-wise
• Well written
• “I absolutely loved reading it”
• Employs stereotypical Gothic elements but changes them slightly
• Colonial twist very smart and well done
• Standard Gothic structure enjoyable, but with a different take on many levels: main character investigative woman, not a damsel in distress
• Hints at the original, older Gothic novels but changed them
• Protagonist really cool, a lot of agency and voice
• Setting in Mexico brilliant
• Scary but not too scary
• Writing style atmospheric, no trouble picturing setting or characters
• Lovecraftian Gothic/horror elements
• Mushrooms are “delightfully eldritch” and funny
• Loads of foreshadowing
• Great pacing
• Fun to read
• Mexican setting used to address eugenics and racism, very smart
• Non-European setting great
• Main Protagonist great! Female character in a horror story: intellectual, has her own agenda, empathetic, rational aspect to her personality à refreshing à especially for a Gothic heroine à adult way of dealing with the horror
• Modernism and being a modern woman in Mexico very interesting
• Modern Gothic, set in the 1950s à dynamic with Francis cool, she is way more confident, teasing fun, she challenges him
• Vanity of her annoying at first, but main character grew on us; she is very self-confident, not afraid of the men, has flaws and is aware of them, self-reflective of personality and behaviour, she gets what she wants to get, not one dimensional at all, very well written, contributed to the overall story very much; she is also always doing stuff à she is acting
• Main protagonist uses her flaws as well, her body and vanity as a weapon
• Paranormal / Gothic elements cool
• She ignores red flags because she cannot leave her cousin à ulterior motive
• Her intellectual curiosity makes her susceptible to the horror à twist on modern Gothic heroes who are also very much into science (Lovecraft), anthropology background
• Mansion cool setting

What we discussed:

• Quite conventional story-wise, classic Gothic characters, not that original à was intentional perhaps? Enjoying the classic Gothic elements
• Relationship with Francis with a bit weird, shallow
• Main protagonist bratty at times and annoying, supposed to be 22 – felt younger
• Forced romance at the end annoying
• Horror can easily be recognised from the beginning
• “Actually there isn’t that much that I disliked”
• Noemie a bit gullible, soooo many red flags!
• Plot pretty predictable à we usually prefer plots with more twists, but it worked!
• Not as horror-y as expected
• Pacing off sometimes: slow beginning, end rushed (one chapter!)
• Explanation with the mushrooms a bit absurd: “I would have preferred a more ghost-y direction”
• Nightmares/”the gloom” made some parts absurd / scary à but reader knew it was a nightmare à very sexual parts / assault / rape parts hard to read à “that even gave me nightmares” à ironic
• Different ending, more original, would’ve been more interesting
• Mushroom twist disappointing, ending was “exciting to read again”
• Sexual connection most scary part of the novel, difficult to know whether it’s real or only in her head
• Catalina “never does anything” 😀 à Gothic stereotype, damsel, disappointing
• Intrusive dreams very scary

Rating the book:

• 7.5/10 mushrooms 😀 😀 😀 “entertaining horror story and those are hard to create”, not 10/10 mushrooms because of conventional things + minor flaws, “entertaining”
• 4/5 mushrooms: entertaining, slow beginning, mushroom twist not convincing
• 3.5/5 “I enjoyed it and it grabbed my attention”, “wanted to keep reading”, beginning very slow
• 4/5 mushrooms because “it creeped me out”, good for spooky season, bit predictable
• 4/5 “really enjoyed reading it”, beginning slow, time for everything to unfold and to get into it
• 4/5 “really enjoyed it”
• 5/5 colonial setting great, mansion does not let her leave, scary!

Other books we talked about:

• “The Binding” by Bridget Collins: “really enjoyed it”, agreed with previous BSFG member thoughts: confusing at the beginning, story very enjoyable
• “A Master of Djinn” by P. Djèlí Clark: police procedure but with magic, fun, set in Cairo in 1912, connected actual history + magic very well, cool main character, deals with feminism + role of women in Egyptian at the time, queer characters à read the novellas first
• “Boyfriend Material” by Alexis Hall: m/m romance set in London, cute
• “Lonely Hearts Hotel” by Heather O’Neil: great depression, life stories, sad at times, heavy, very enjoyable
• “Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine” by Gail Honeyman: protagonist lives in Glasgow, loneliness, learning about the past, touching, “love it with everything that I am”
• “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons: Canterbury Tales as Sci-Fi, pilgrims telling their stories, great world-building
• “Under the Whispering Door” by TJ Klune: wholesome, queer, very intimate take on death and dying and turning one’s life around
• “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman: “favourite Neil Gaiman book”, girl moves into a new house, encounters mysterious, creepy things and has to save her parents; “I had nightmares from reading it” as a child, “not as creepy any more”
• Sequel to “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe”: “read it in one sitting and I loved it”
• New Sanderson novella: recommendable

What we enjoyed:

– story was told in an interesting way, took some time to get used to it, diary / account
– felt very intimate, close to when things happened
– immediacy
– interesting narrator
– fever-dream like?
– not linear storytelling, emotions of narrator mirrored in the story
– difficult to understand sometimes
– narrator 100% part of the system, ‘others’ the reader and our way of living as something of the past, which is unbelievable or ridiculous
– futuristic technology / sci-fi elements, not an anti-technology dystopia
– “like an engine running at full speed”
– “it feels chaotic in a good way”
– narrator very much in the world, inside the system, breaks out of the system by chance (and by falling in love)
– narrator’s job and existence of a scientist informs the way he uses language, very informative
– mathematical knowledge shapes how he sees women, for example –> interesting choice of language
– events are spiralling out of control
– book inspired by the Russian revolution (and other revolutions)
– author also fascinating
– rationality ridiculed
– political comment / satire fascinating
– genre interesting: dystopia but also scifi with spaceships
– parallels to 1984 fascinating, especially the ending
– gets better when read the second time, one discovers something new every time one reads
– “grand grand grand father of the modern dystopian novels”
– also informed Huxley and “Brave New World”
– remarkable book
– government organises life like a machine
– psychological portrait of the protagonist, fascinating but also disturbing
– banned in Russia, fascinating history of how the book came to be
– wall separating people / society from nature –> tear this wall down, let emotions in
– scary yet funny sometimes
– broken characters, morally ambiguous –> totally different reality
– hopeful ending despite the narrator rejoining the system and undergoing the procedure, circling back
– operation that kills your imagination is scary
– rereading this book is great, discover something new again and again
– immensely smart dystopia
– there will always be another revolution, infinite revolutions, there is no “final revolution”
– great he managed to save O and (t)he(i)r child

What we discussed:

• – writing style and allusions / puns interesting, bit hard to follow in parts, “fever dream”
  – emotional involvement of the readers meh, “was a bit much at times”
  – relationship between D and I / O weird
  – female roles limited: motherly type, seductress, evil spy granny
  – main protagonist bit weird too
  – long term girlfriend: too short to have kids, wants to have kids, only personality trait?
  – Awkward depiction of a Black character, physical description, ‘othered’, “African nose” wtf?
  – abrupt sometimes, dynamic story but reader left confused
  – understanding everything partly confusing, some of us had to read up on things
  – BONK D should go to horny jail
  – revolutionary because he is horny? Weird message
  – ending both negative and positive, interesting –> like in 1984, narrator part of the system again but not all hope is lost?
  – abrupt ending, very dark, I is being tortured but it’s exact and not emotional –> distance scary –> chilling –> his emotions are gone
  
• Rating:
  
  – hard to decide, “accept it as a classic of science fiction or dystopia” but according to personal taste: 3/5
  – “really love the book”, 4.5/5, really could feel what was happening but also confusing. Made us really feel their reality
  – 3/5 appreciate it being a classic and being super influential, might reread it but not now, writing style exhausting, not entirely to their taste
  – 3 stars: not a very good story, but the rest is fascinating, great ideas
  – 4/5 more interesting than exhausting classic

Other books we talked about:

– John Green “Anthropocene Reviewed” is great, not what one expected but great
– New Becky Chambers book great, wholesome, a non-binary tea monk, robots left to live in the wilderness, wonderful
– Robert Jordan “Wheel of Time” series great, there will be an Amazon series later this year, read it if you like thick bricks of books and high fantasy!

Edit: We’re watching the movie Code U.N.C.L.E and not the series! Sorry for the mix-up!

Join us!

What we enjoyed about the book:
– We love the characters and their dynamic; improvement from the trilogy
– Ketterdam is fascinating, great world-building, you can really feel that city
– Heist stories are the best!
– Characters fully fleshed out, most of them are funny
– The book is so good because of the characters
– We love all the crows, shipped all pairings
– General plot well done, well crafted, great plottwists
– Waffles!!!!
– Character management well done, development very well done, good quality
– Highly entertaining
– Story, characters, world building well done
– Jesper one of the favourite characters, banter on point
– Nina & Matthias GREAT
– Dialogue hilarious, interplay between characters well done
– Kaz’s trauma well done; Bardugo portrays trauma and phobia well, not a heroic challenge but real and human (“anybody could suffer”)
– Kaz is extremely determined, smart, well organised but cannot overcome his trauma; very real, there is no easy solution
– Representation well done in the book
– Kaz traumatised and disabled
– Nina curvy and embodies body positivity
– Cliffhangers were really really well done; “forced to read yet another chapter in the middle of the night”, “properly hooked”
– Smart storylines, suprising
– Smart worldbuilding by combining pseudo-Europe and magic -> draw on the reader’s knowledge
– Touching scenes with Kaz’s trauma resurfacing better than the big dramatic heist scenes
– 4/5 star read when it was first read, too over the top, but now after having read all of the other books, now 5/5 stars, “come to love all of the characters”
– two ratings: as fantasy it’s 3.5/5 because it has its flaws but also great moments, just keeps me curious and interested; as crime fantasy it’s 4/5 “I really enjoyed it, there is crime, there is action”
– 5/5 because we love character driven stories and a good heist
– “I just set Sunday aside, just for reading”
– “it just stuck with me”, “I greatly enjoyed it”
– 5/5, “Crooked Kingdom” also great but “I had to cry for a day”
– 4.5/5 really enjoyable, but tiny issues like teenagers acting like adults became a problem after reading and not while reading
– “Gave my younger sister the first Shadow & Bone book”, she read it really fast (WE LOVE THAT, SAY HI FROM US!)
– 5/5 thankful for the book for introducing the Grishaverse

What we discussed:
– Fjerda weak in comparison to Ketterdam
– YA protagonists hilariously young; Kaz only 19, slightly ridiculous, BIG DISBELIEF HERE
– Partly super confusing, “what is going on!?”
– “a little bit too much”
– reading SoC without having read the trilogy super confusing
– cliffhangers a bit too much, too unbelievable –> gets worse of in later instalments of the series (Rule of Wolves) -> already see that here
– Add 10 years to every character. Nina 27? Nice! (It’s good that YA tries to empower teenagers, but it’s too much in this one.)
– Wyland an enigma, likeable, “for the entire book I was like: why is he there”? –> makes more sentence once one starts to read “Crooked Kingdom”
– way too heteronormative and in that way quite boring
– transgressive mature fantasy like GoT and a crime novel, book tries to finds its niche with nihilistic depiction of corruption, but it’s a bit much, supermerchant bit ridiculous; “not enough grey”
– beginning of the book quite weird, why perspective of a character who’s killed off? Interesting technique, also works because the reader already knows what’s going on while the characters are still investigating –> plays with a traditional prologue
– heist bit wild, superpowers and tanks, well that escalated quickly 😀 “too much action based”
– tank scenes fun but the more touching scenes were better
– Why is everyone working in a brothel? Why is Nina working in a brothel when she is offering therapy basically? Add sex to make it darker? Weird.

Your opinion on the Netflix series:
– actors are older, more mature and fitting
– casting really well done
– Shadowfold well done
– Chosen one storyline a bit meh
– CGI partly a bit meh
– Props and costumes really well done
– Real sets were well designed
– Unprofessional main character: Alina a bit annoying and a soldier but does not act like one. Doe-eyed girl who has no clue: “look it says gullible on the ceiling”
– Ketterdam bit underwhelming in the series (especially compared to SoC)
– “I want those Grisha coats” — WE WANT ALL THE COATS AND CLOAKS
– combination of Shadow & Bone and Six of Crows was really well done, less boring, “smart move”
– Grisha movements really cool, we all practise them in front of a mirror
– Darkling depicted pretty well, charismatic, backstory
– filter and colourgrading very dark, annoying to watch 😀 Details get lost, meh! Sad that so much got lost because it’s too dark
– WE LOVE MILO THE GOAT

Other books we talked about:
– “The Kingdoms” by Natasha Pulley: alternate reality, French have won the Napoleonic wars, protagonist has lost his entire memory and is a slave in London, receives a postcard from the past
– “Nimona” by Stevenson: graphic novel, loved the story, intrically crafted, went into different directions, surprising, you just fall in love with the characters
– “Fortunately the Milk” by Neil Gaiman “put a big grin on my face”, sweet story, felt giddy
– “Sunlight Pilgrims” by Jenny Fagan: in a world where climate change has gone the other way, the world is getting colder, not a lot of speculative fiction, but just a very good novel, great descriptions, trans girl as protagonist, “so beautiful”