Ace Queen > Recent Status Updates

Don't get me wrong Xie Lian's past is interesting but it feels so lore dumpy. To go from current Xie Lian at a cliffhanger to a whole arc of his past lowkey pissing me off 😭 it's dragging at this point I want to be back in the present. Xie Lian's past and the fall of the kingdom of Xianle should've been told chronologically or layered, the current order the author chose ruined the whole flow of the story.

I have no guesses on the killer

off to an excellent start, I'm really enjoying Cosby's writing style. I immersion read the first 2 chapter and the narrator does an excellent job, he sounds so natural.

oh Xie Lian you've been through too much😭😭

I'm obsessed love the humor, love that there's spooky elements, and I love Xie Lian

the art is beautiful but I'm happy i listened to advice and didn't just start with this. The novel definitely needs to be read first(or alongside) to properly understand whats fully going on

really like this so far. It's funny and I adore Xie Lian

time to give this another try without trying to read another massive book at the same time 😅

NO not the book finally getting good the last 50ish pages I'm SICK

At this point I'm only finishing the book because I paid for it😭
The world building feels very surface level, the characters feel basic, most of the interactions feel corny and nonsensical, the only interesting character is the damn gargoyle.

Loved Gillig's debut One Dark Window, felt meh about Two Twisted Crowns, and I think this one sucks 🫠 a downwards trajectory for me and this author

I will be honest the beginning of this book felt like another basic booktok romantasy book (which I HATE) I was like this can't be the same Rachel Gillig that debuted with One Dark Window.
The lack of world building, things not making sense (like a weakened girl getting past a knight? phrases like least unlikely?), and red flags of tropes(another grumpy white man love interest?)
however 7 ch in, it has picked up

If this is another book with the male love interest being ANOTHER racially ambiguous grumpy white man with dark hair and I clocked it within 10 pages I WILL CUSS

Time to knock another book off the physical TBR 🫡

ok so technically I finished the novella, the rest is just an excerpt I'll read tomorrow.
This was so good! Highly rec doing this as an immersion read the audiobook narrator did an excellent job. It truly felt like a fairy/folk tale with the singing too. THAT ENDING!
4.5/5 (5/5 for the audio)

I would just like to say I was NOT expecting this type of poetic/lyrical? writing style. It's not bad but I was just not mentally prepared to have to put effort into deciphering the metaphorical meanings vs just the story's message if that makes sense. Magic being compared to grammar is unique but also I feel like despite being early in I can tell that the word play is going to distract me from the actual story

the stakes are even higher in this one and I'm not guessing as much, I'm loving it