Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh starting on May 17, 2023.


Happy Reading!

Hope this world for Mei... I believe she had it tentatively listed for June 17th in her TBR pile... but Emily assumed I meant May 17th, when I mentioned May/June in the Vagabond threads :D

Either works for me...

This is actually perfect timing since I just delayed my library loan to deliver a few days before the 17th next month! 😊 Super excited forr this!

Oh woops! Hope it works out for everyone 😅

Ooh, saw this in Yanique's monthly update. On my TBR so hope to join in too. :)

my copy just came in from Illumicrate! super excited! :D

Got my copy too! 😊

Started… maybe its because I just Shorefall, but I’m getting serious Matrix vibes from this free colony/station…

12 chapters in: (view spoiler)[ how old are these characters supposed to be... the longer the Gaia station segment went on, the sketchier it started to feel... reminded me of everything I know about communes & militia groups... especially when the general showed up to the nursery...

And the snippet from the spaceship distress signal... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 25: Uh... WTF just happened... (view spoiler)[did not see Avi/etc succeeding completely... then Kyr being unhappy enough to rewrite history... and instead rewriting Doomsday... and now we just turned into a Butterfly Effect book?

I'm assuming things will hit a critical point at some point, and Val/Kyr will be put in a similar situation to rewrite history 1-2 more times before the end of the book now... does she even remember what she's done?... will the memory return if not?... (hide spoiler)]

Finished... that was a crazy story...

Still need to do some processing, but I think I can easily say I liked the plot more than the characters... seems to be a common theme in the reviews... a bunch of authors reviewed the book, and most didn't include a star rating...

I'd call this a 4 star read for me, that touched on a lot of dark/uncomfortable topic, but not too too deeply...

Looking forward to jumping in soon!

Started last night and just blasting through. Really enjoying it. Into Chapter 15 now. The whole setup with the MC being essentially a brainwashed cultist... very interesting. (view spoiler)[The society reminds me of the Giver, but militant--and the whole "Nurture" scenario makes me wonder if that aspect was inspired by the recent fall of Roe V. Wade and the attack on personal reproductive rights... (hide spoiler)]

I'm 6 chapters in and very into this as well! I think the setup is very interesting.. (view spoiler)[ also appreciating the details about things happening around Kyr that she's either not paying attention to or that just don't matter to her (probably both)...
The men who watched her and Cleo spar probably made sexist jokes... She didn't even realize someone she spent her whole life hated her.
Very brainwashed. But I also like how not everyone around her is in this weird effed up society.

I'm wondering if there's more to the story about the world-killer? What were the humans doing so that the majo felt it had to take such a drastic action? Not that attacking civilians is ever justified...

Oh and that bit at the beginning with the excerpts from a book about humans written by aliens was great lol (hide spoiler)]

I always mean to go back and take a second look at section-opening epigraphs once I've gotten more context, but I never remember to. That was a funny one...

I'm up to Chapter 19--(view spoiler)[Getting some Avengers-Endgame-esque vibes with the time travel and world-snuffing. I find it interesting that on the surface she's the most brainwashed... but she is actually brainwashed, y'know? like, Avi... it seems like he really believes it, not just brainwash believes, but buys in hook line and sinker, like Joel.

Man, this book does not pull punches. I like. (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "I always mean to go back and take a second look at section-opening epigraphs once I've gotten more context, but I never remember to. That was a funny one...

I'm up to Chapter 19..."

Sounds like you got to the big left turn in the middle?... that shocked me... and I loved it...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Sounds like you got to the big left turn in the middle?... that shocked me... and I loved it......."

Yeah, I think so... I was waiting for Chapter 25 for that WTF spoiler but it looks like it was a bit earlier... I'm really glad the book had the guts to GO there!

Chapter 29--gagging so much... (view spoiler)[This book does a really good job I think, of describing a scene of being sexually harassed--not quite assaulted--by a parental figure... All of the personal doubts... I was yelling at the book for most of this chapter. Kick him more in his bad leg, dammit! He's no hero, he's just skeevy bastard who should be castrated and starved and fed his own balls when he begs in hunger. (hide spoiler)]

through 14 now (view spoiler)[ it's kind of frustrating reading this from Kyr's POV she just doesn't ask questions!!
Also I wasn't expecting Avi to be such a prick but yeah he sucks too. Megalomania much? (hide spoiler)]
I want to read more tonight but I need to go to sleep... im pretty stuck into this so far!

i am until chapter 20 and it's getting weird(view spoiler)[All this time travelling stuff is weird and that machine even weirder

But it's interesting to see how much they are brainwashed. Kyr believing it but now being more doubtful and even stopping the destruction of tbe worlds. Avi just completely believes it, which I thought surprising since I would have thought he would be more like Urse and say that the dead people are dead and nothing can change that. Magnus just follows Avir around...he needs to think more for himself. And him just killing himself all because he couldn't live with the guilt was horrible. As well as al those trillions of people dead

And now Kyr is Val and is somehow living in another parallel time and now is going to remember her time as Kyr. What has happened that Yiso had to find her? I guess it has something to do with Avi since he is the one that hasn't appear yet (hide spoiler)]

Tonari no Emily (view spoiler)[yeah, the intro of the alien book was very funny (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze(view spoiler)[I have never seen Avengers but I agree with Avi bit. I wonder if he will change if Kyr repeats the timeline again

The book definitely doesn't hold back: the whole Nursery thing, Urasa having Joel's child, strike wing, giving false hope with the marks and then just putting you wherever they want, destroying worlds...I wonder what horrible thing will happen next, there is still a lot of book left to commit and atrocity more of two haha (hide spoiler)]

Finished! Thought I had come comment, but I see I didn't... Really enjoyed it! Though my memory is fading already... Paula, I hope you comment on if the latter half is as bad as the first, because I already can't remember!

finished too(view spoiler)[I agree with Iain that the plot was better than the characters. I didn't like avi at all. His only response to everything was killing: killing the majo planets, letting the majo planets be destroyed by Joel, and then destroying gaea with most of its people there

The wisdom not destroying itself and being an intelligent ship was a nice touch but I don't know if I prefer kyr and yiso to be alive or not. I think it would have been better to kill them after all those deaths in the other timelines, to show that it has a price. But I am not mad about how it ended on a positive note

Overall a good book but it didn't blow me away (hide spoiler)]

Through chapter 26, I'm very much enjoying this one. I can see where yall are getting (view spoiler)[ End Game vibes from... I don't think this is a character-driven book either. I didn't like anyone at first, but Kyr's development has been pretty good. I believe her growth, and the choices she's making now. (hide spoiler)] super excited to finish this!

Finished! I like this alot. Maybe because its a little different than what I've been reading lately. Also I sooo appreciate standalones nowadays. (view spoiler)[ I wasn't expecting that twist in the middle when Avi killed everyone, and then Mags shot himself... Quite brutal.
The next universe wasn't quite as brutal, but still messed up in its own way with humans obviously on top.
And then back to Gaea station with a satisfying, righteous coup... I think Kyr/Yiso dying at the end would maybe be more believable, but I also appreciate the softer ending with them alive and an all powerful AI the size of a universe reduced to the size of a yacht/luxery cruiser. Makes for interesting spinoffs if Tesh wants to go there, but the ending was still self-contained.

Also appreciated that the adults got involved and the coup wasn't just left up to the kiddos... (hide spoiler)]

Tonari no Emily (view spoiler)[the twist in the middle was really good, nobody was expecting that and then to time travel

I also agree about the dying part in the end (hide spoiler)]

I get what y'all are saying about enjoying a good standalone. When pulled off right, they can be really satisfying... I think I liked the first half more of this just because it had harder punches, but I did like the twists and appreciated the ending too...

I'm finally starting again and feel I had to kind of prepare myself mentally after reading the first few chapters and wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Definitely love the setup too after these first 6 chapters. I must admit I'm a tad worried about the upcoming WTFeries and the thing that made Nirkatze gag. 😆

Mei ☽︎ wrote: "I'm finally starting again and feel I had to kind of prepare myself mentally after reading the first few chapters and wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Definitely love the setup too after ..."

Mostly trigger warning stuff... I can't remember if this book included any official ones, but it probably should...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Mei ☽︎ wrote: "Mostly trigger warning stuff... I can't remember if this book included any official ones, but it probably should..."

Yeah, 100% agree it should have official ones! I'm glad I have GR and Storygraph to look up trigger warnings. Whewie, seems I'm in for quite the ride here, lol...! Definitely why I started really late too. 😭 But I'm 25% in already and liking the writing style a lot!

There are some folks who are really good with it and it makes me appreciate them so much more for listing everything out!!

Mei ☽︎ wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Mei ☽︎ wrote: "Mostly trigger warning stuff... I can't remember if this book included any official ones, but it probably should..."

Yeah, 100% agree it should have official o..."

Some authors like to go to the other extreme, and turn it into a joke:

Elliott Kay and his Good Intentions series:

(view spoiler)[

Warning:

“Good Intentions” contains violence, explicit sex, nudity, inappropriate use of church property, portrayals of beings divine and demonic bearing little or no resemblance to established religion or mythology, trespassing, bad language, sacrilege, blasphemy, attempted murder, arguable murder, divinely mandated murder, justifiable murder, filthy murder, sexual promiscuity, kidnapping, attempted rape, arson, dead animals, desecrated graves, gang activity, theft, assault and battery, panties, misuse of the 911 system, fantasy depictions of sorcery and witchcraft, multiple references to various matters of fandom, questionable interrogation tactics, cell phone abuse, reckless driving, consistent abuse of vampires (because they deserve it), even more explicit sex, illegal use of firearms within city limits, polyamory, abuse of authority, hit and run driving, destruction of private property, underage drinking, disturbances of the peace, disorderly conduct, internet harassment, bearers of false witness, mayhem, dismemberment, falsification of records, tax evasion, an uncomfortably sexy mother, bad study habits, and a very silly white guy inappropriately calling another white guy “nigga” (for which he will surely suffer).

All characters depicted herein are over the age of 18, with the exception of one little girl who merely needs to get her cat out of a tree. Don’t worry, nothing bad happens to her. She makes it through the story just fine. (hide spoiler)]

I saw a list of trigger warnings for The Spear Cuts Through Water: A Novel and I preemptively noped out because even if each one had 1 scene it was a lot of terribleness and I have not been in the mood for that kind of book. To the bottom of my TBR it went lol

my physical copy had a content warning. Not sure about the audio

Timelord Iain wrote: "Some authors like to go to the other extreme, and turn it into a joke: Elliott Kay and his Good Intentions series:"

I still need to pick this up and this made me want to read it even more. 😂

Ann-Marie, I took a peek at a list in one of the GR reviews and yeeeaahh, would nope out of that too. 🤣

Emily, now you've got me curious how often audiobooks do include TWs! All of the ones I've read in recent memory (literally only 2-3) didn't include it from what I can recall. But they also were waaaay lighter books compared to this.

But I also did find the TWs at the beginning! I must've just skipped past it since I think ebooks tend to start after the copyright pages in my app. They did good with the list!!

Some Desperate Glory contains (view spoiler)[sexist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, and ableist attitudes; sexual assault, including discussion of forced pregnancy; violence; child abuse; radicalization as child abuse; genocide; suicidal ideation; and suicide. (hide spoiler)]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "through 14 now [spoilers removed]
"

Also i'm at 45% now, chapter 16 and TOTALLY agree with this. Definitely didn't expect that from that character either, but I guess like many things so far, (view spoiler)[like EVERYONE turned out to be different than what Kyr initially thought so far so I was like okay I guess it makes sense Avi is a dick and has these kind of ambitions. Makes sense when you're treated horribly and looked down upon that you'd want a power grab. (hide spoiler)]

I am also loving the reveal about (view spoiler)[the revelation with the simulations. I always think to Ender's Game whenever simulations are a thing in sci-fi so I always question when things are real or fake 😂 But I do like the Wisdom stuff and more about the majo that we're learning too. Poor Yiso. 😭 (hide spoiler)]

I can also agree that I'm liking the story more than the characters and am curious to see if that'll change, lol!

Just finished ch. 18 and HOLY SHIT. I am so excited to see what will happen next, esp. as this isn't even the WTF part yet. I hate that I have to pause on this crazy end of a chapter, but alas. Work beckons. 😆

Tonari no Emily wrote: "my physical copy had a content warning. Not sure about the audio"

I think there was one in the audio, actually... kinda want to listen again to find out but already archived it and too lazy...

Mei ☽︎ wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "through 14 now [spoilers removed]
"

Also i'm at 45% now, chapter 16 and TOTALLY agree with this. Definitely didn't expect that from that character either, but I guess like ..."

Ooh, Nice (view spoiler)[Ender's Game parallel. I was also thinking of the Kobayashi Maru simulation in the recent Star Trek movies. (hide spoiler)]

Mei ☽︎ wrote: "Just finished ch. 18 and HOLY SHIT. I am so excited to see what will happen next, esp. as this isn't even the WTF part yet. I hate that I have to pause on this crazy end of a chapter, but alas. Wor..."

LOL Yes, there are more WTFs in your future.

WOW Okay, I expected to kind of have another update between my last update and before the finish, but I just blazed through the second half. 😂

I LOVE plots like these (view spoiler)[and ofc absolutely love the Endgame/Butterfly Effect comparisons you guys made (hide spoiler)] so I had a lot of fun with it. I feel like the pacing was really good too!! Definitely glad I braced myself for the gaggy part because EUGH. 😭EVEN WITH THE HEADS UP, I WAS LIKE AHHHH!!!

I love the consistency with (view spoiler)[Avi in the final timeline too. The whole time I was also kind of walking on eggshells wondering if he was going to flip things around suddenly. But his reasoning and actions here made sense!! It was interesting that Yiso also gave him Insight. I wasn't really expecting that, but that definitely added to his character growth, so. (hide spoiler)]

Yiso was my favorite character since the beginning, and definitely loved them throughout. I'm glad I grew to like Kyr too as the book went on!! I also really appreciate that the (view spoiler)[Sparrows were expanded on and that they got to band together for the final timeline, and that we got to see more on Lin too. (hide spoiler)] The only thing was that I kept forgetting just how young the main cast were and accidentally mentally aged them up throughout. 🤣 Just made the gaggy part even worse though. I also wish (view spoiler)[Jole got a worse death somehow!!? Idk, felt a tad bit anticlimactic. I wanted some more torture, I guess LOL!! (hide spoiler)]

I was a bit worried going this one since a few other people told me it was a meh read, but I ended up actually having a LOT of fun even with all the tough things in it. And definitely glad again that I mentally prepared myself.

The only thing that I wish we got was a (view spoiler)[reunion with the Ursa in one of the timelines, but the bittersweet ending was nice too. (It does suck a bit that Kyr couldn't keep her promise with Ally even though that was an expectation. 😭) But that probably would've been too far of a reach. I'm definitely in the camp that I'm glad no one else died... But yeah, I can absolutely see how that would've added to it! (hide spoiler)]

I really liked the ending too. Definitely nice to read a good standalone. I haven't read other titles by this author yet, so I'll definitely have to look into them now!! I also appreciate you guys sticking around and replying even though I was super late, lol!! 😊

This is Tesh’s first novel… she wrote 2 connected novellas and some magazine short stories in the past…

Ooh, I didn't realize those were novellas! 🤣 Nice debut then!

Loved your final thoughts, Mei! I also loved Yiso... I kept imagining them like the merchant fox-creatures in the Innkeeper Chronicles from the voice-acting, but I think they're more a birdlike or lizard-like species...

Oh, and if you want to do a BR for that novella sequence, I've been meaning to read it ever since Iain & Emily BRd it in Vagabond and I didn't have time...