Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

This book was a interesting pick for me. I don't normally shop in this section of the bookstore (maybe I should though) and I was only there because I had asked for some good LGBTQIA+ rep (mainly wlw and bi rep but any will do). I had made a post on instagram where I asked anyone for some recommendations on books that had amazing rep like the kind I had read in Reign of the Fallen, and the author of ROTF, Sarah Glenn Marsh, mentioned this book along with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

Needless to say I went to the bookstore a day or two later with my gift cards to search for those and other books on my list. Sadly I only left with Gideon the Ninth because ALL THE OTHER BOOKS WERE OUT OF STOCK OR ONLINE ONLY...which I took as a personal attack, as any sane person would do as well.

Upon seeing the cover art for this book I knew I would like it. The art and the blurb hooked me and I placed it into my basket with my Etta Candy funko pop. The way Gideon is positioned, as if coming through a battle she single-handedly won, and looking like a badass skeleton won me over.

I also liked how Gideon's attraction to women wasn't a discovery during the book or hinted at to the reader. It was obvious that she was attracted to the other women around her, and to me that was a wonderful thing. To make it just...there and not something that people comment on or question was nice and almost soothing.

Throughout the whole book, I moved back and forth from loving certain characters, so being weary of them, to hating them, and hoping right back to loving them, and I credit that to Tamsyn's wonderful writing. She was able to weave characters that had flaws and hidden motives. Crafting twists and show, after the dust cleared, that those you thought were evil may not have been all along (I mean...they were a little bit but that's how they stayed human).

I gave Gideon the Ninth 4.75 stars out of 5.

I have taken off the .25 due to the fact that at the beginning of the book it was jarring to read and I was confused on how the planet of the Ninth was set up. Certain questions about the world of the Locked Tomb trilogy were coming to mind, but I'm sure with how the next book is set up those will be answered for me.

(Now this next reason might just be me) While reading, I would forget that it was a sci-fi story and that they were on a planet and not just...another country. The shuttles and space travel happened little in the book, but granted it wasn't NEEDED so I understand (yea it's just me being a weirdo).

Now I will read the other books on my 2020 TBR and add Harrow the Ninth (which has an equally beautiful cover BTW, just look at it) and continue this journey and story. I just hope that Harrow pulls some great skeleton dance parties soon in the books. Just for the fun of it honestly. Just like this gif:

Have you read Gideon the Ninth yet? What did you think about it, and are you ready for Harrow the Ninth like me?

À bientôt!

Photo/Gif creds: my photo of book, Harrow the Ninth cover, dancing skeletons,

Bookish M.A.S.H. 2019

So I saw that Nose Stuck in a Book did this tag again, and is planning to do it every year...and I've needed more content lately, and since I loved the tag before when I did it first, I'm going to do it again too! So this begins my yearly game of Bookish M.A.S.H.!

The rules of M.A.S.H. are somewhat simple...you have multiple categories and four choices in each. Then you choose a number (spiral, number generator, etc.) and count down all the choices until there is only one left in each. That's your answer! If that's still too confusing to understand look at both of the posts linked here or look up the game online, better rules are put there than here.

For this of course I'm going to take all my answers and morph them into a story summary. I think it might be fun to also have some of the crossed out options from my last game as well and only come up with one or two new items for those categories (also at the time of writing this I don't have much brain power to think of other things haha). Next time I'll go completely new without looking back.

My last story summary of Steel-Forged Stars was really interesting and I'm still going to actually write it, just have to change some of the names! Let's see what this year's M.A.S.H. will have in store for me!


M.A.S.H.

Genre
Historical Fiction
Paranormal
Fantasy
Soft Crime

Love Interest
Meredy Crowther
Dakari
Minho
Kili (because the movie version tbh)

Setting
Medieval times
SPACE
Modern day city
Middle Earth

Best Friend
Arya Stark
Uriah
Bella Swan
Robin Goodfellow/Puck

Villian
A demon
Sauron/The Ring
(prince) Hadrien
Government leader(s)

Pet
Cat
Hellhound
Snake
Dragon

Job
Necromancer
Librarian
Hunter
Runner

Transportation
Train
Wings
Giant bird
Water travel

Power
Healing
Object manipulation/Telekinesis
Weather power
Mind control

Trope or Plot Twist
Forbidden love
Deathly Plague
Government experimentation
Secret power(s)

oh boy this is going to be fun to mix all together

The Newest story from Monica Laurette: Hidden in the Sky

Monica stays hidden in the city, not because of her job as a necromancer, but because of her wings and her powers. If anyone but her best friend, Uriah, knew how she could get around the underworld to destroy souls, she would be sent away to a prison island where her magic would not work.

Working with a cat, who also helps out in her work, and sharing a small house in the village closest to the castle, Monica is surprised when the niece of the King, Meredy, comes stumbling through her door during a storm, telling Monica that a demon who had escaped the underworld was now holding her family hostage.

Monica, Meredy, Uriah, and Bello the cat must now travel the lands of the kingdom, and the underworld to stop this demon who could also reveal the secrets Monica has tried so hard to keep in the dark.

Can Monica keep her powers a secret while also saving the royal family? What are these feelings she has towards Meredy? Just how will Monica, along with Bello, defeat this demon? And why does Bello's tail keep getting puffier with each passing day? Follow along the adventures in Hidden in the Sky, but beware your own secrets as well.


I hope you all liked this version of Bookish M.A.S.H.! What did your answers come out to be? Was there a choice you wish you hadn't crossed out (I know there were some for me! but the spiral must be obeyed!), let me know! Should I expand on this idea as well and make it a WIP (as if I need more of those)?

À bientôt!

Am I Safe?

So many times I try to be very unpolitical in public, however now that I'm slightly more grown I have seen that I can't be quiet anymore.  I have to say something; because right now that's the only thing I can do.

A few days ago, on January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States.  For me, this was not a happy day.  I didn't celebrate, I didn't congratulate him, I don't feel that he could ever be my president.  (I know that being a US citizen legally makes him my president, but I'm talking emotionally and mentally he's not).  This is because, all that Trump stands for, all that he has spoken about and pledged to do once in office, does nothing to help me.  It could actually hurt me.

I know that being a cisgender, white, female makes me lower on the list of those to be hurt by Trump.  But maybe, if I speak my voice, others will understand my story, and be more apt to understand the stories of all POCs and other LGBT community members who are also scared about what the next four years will bring.

As a female, Trump has scared me so much.  He is planning to possibly cut funding to Violence Against Women grants and programs, and so much more.  I'm scared because the defunding of Planned Parenthood (whose major focus isn't abortion like everyone thinks it is).   It helps with so much more as the chart on the right shows.  Their main focus is helping with STD testing and contraception.  Ways to keep everyone safe. PP is not just for women too.  Men can go and get helpful services there.  They are funded so that those with little or no money can go in and get free health care.  What will happen to all those that won't get free health care now that PPs defunded?  Many people will die, or become very sick.  How can a man (or many people that is) not understand that people's lives are more important than the fact that only 3% of PPs services revolves around abortion?  Not even 10%!!!

I'm in college, and things that Trump has said about college, though seeming great, doesn't help my scared heart.  This is because of Devos.  She, at least to me, doesn't understand what it takes to be secretary of Education.  She does not have the interest of public or state schools in mind.  She thinks teachers are overpaid and that public schools should be funded less.  This could be bad for my school as I am in a state university.  And what about my alma mater?  It's a public school, terribly underfunded already.  My AM can't afford to not get any more money and the teachers deserve MORE money in my opinion.  Education is something very important to me and the woman that Trump feels is the best fit for the job, is not.  I do not think she will ever be someone I can trust to handle the safety of education in America.

As a bisexual woman, I am fearing for the future.  This is also where Mike Pence, the new VP, becomes somewhat scarier than Trump.  For Pence believes in conversion therapy to reverse or 'correct' homosexuality.  What will come of the future for me and my siblings within the LGBT community?  Will I be able to marry the woman of my dreams (if I ever meet her bc im a hermit)?  Will I be strapped down and forced to change my sexuality?  I'm not hurting anyone being Bisexual, but apparently, I am.  Don't know how me liking both males and females ruins your dinner across the country, but please let me have my own rights.  I came out just under a month before the elections.  While writing this I had to stop and listen to some music.  The song that I listened to that gave me more strength to write this and get my feelings out was a beautiful cover of 'RISE' by Superfruit (Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi), Mary Lambert, Brian Justin, and Mario Jose (originally Katy Perry).  

My heart sank in my chest while I watched the live poll results with my roommate early in the morning on the 9th of November.  All the fear I had ever felt: for being a woman, for being bi, for being around many who felt that they could just 'grab me by the pussy' because the now president-elect said it was okay.  I feared for my whole life.  I was more nervous walking home from all my night classes than I ever should have been.  I had never been scared to walk home alone on my campus before.  But my many neighbors who had Trump signs in their windows caused me caution as I walked.

Nothing Trump has ever said regarding his policies, foreign and domestic, don't give me comfort.  Many times it is because he does not fully state what he is going to do.  He just repeats that he 'has a plan, and it's a good plan and we should have a good plan and this plan he has is good' which gives no damn clarity.  Also with the new president's twitter-happy fingers, I fear that he could set our country into some deep trouble if he becomes easily angered at another country or something of that sort, and decides to voice his opinion on Twitter; and it would be even worse if he did this all from the president Twitter.

And the fact that not even twelve hours after Trump swore in, the pages for climate change and LGBT were gone from the white house website.  I was outraged like anyone.  Then I saw a wonderful twitter thread describing that all those pages were just archived at this site.  This makes me feel better that the progress we made did not just disappear from the world.  It's still here, and we must fight to keep it that way.  We can't sit still and let things go down.   Like the Women's March on January 21, 2017.  A total of around 1 million people marched in just the USA, many others marched in other countries, to tell the world that we will not be silent and that we will fight for our rights no matter how hard.  The marches were peaceful (at least that I've heard) and no one was hurt.  Seeing something like the Women's March fills my heart with happiness because it shows that the country will stay strong, and we have other countries standing with us.

So a finishing question, like the title asks: Am I safe?  Will I be safe when I leave my apartment?  Will I not fear my life walking home from classes at night?  Will I be able to marry the one I love when it comes time to do so?  Only time will tell, but I hope that the answer to all of these will be 'YES'.  Yes, I am safe.  Yes, I will be safe when I leave.  Yes, I will not fear my life walking home from class.  Yes, I will be able to marry the love of my life.  Just yes.

Stay safe everyone, and never be silent.

À bientôt!