I’ve probably mentioned before that, for a variety of reasons, I’m not the fastest reader in the world. Nonetheless, I managed to get through seven titles in July, which I think was pretty good.
#booksRead
Finished reading: Vermis I – lost dungeons and forbidden woods (Forsaken Edition)
Dark Souls meets MÖRK BORG. Doesn’t hold together as coherently as a game as Godhusk, but if the whole “fake videogame guidebook” genre appeals in any way, a must-buy.
Finished reading: Godhusk – rebirth
For everyone who enjoys reading the Dark Souls wiki more than actually playing Dark Souls, these books are for you!
Up next: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork
Eeey! I backed this on Kickstarter a while back, promptly forgot about it, then was pleasantly surprised to get the PDF download link (and shipping notice for the physical copy) this morning.
Finished reading: Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 8
Aa-aa-aa-and done!
So I like Hualian better than the main pairings in SVSSS or MDZS (no shade on either, mostly just a personal preference thing), but the story itself I think suffered from being unfocused in places and with, honestly, a pretty disappointing villain reveal.
Still a fun read, and with some parts that will live rent free with me forever.
Currently reading: Encyclopaedia Eorzea ~The World of Final Fantasy XIV~ Volume I
My actual physical TBR shelf is one of those floating IKEA LACK shelves and it, uh. Wobbled in the drywall when I tried to stack the two encyclopedias on it. So. Better read them I guess.
Just through the “history recap” section (covering “prehistory” to just before Stormblood) and, okay. That did clear up a lot of the timeline stuff in game I’d been confused about (the Allagans, the War of the Magi, etc.).
Still only like a quarter of the way through the book, though, and there are like . . . three? Four? Volumes of this thing! I guess no-one ever accused FFXIV of not being a lore-heavy world . . .
Finished reading: Gehenna War (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)
I do still like 5e but this splat has the same problem Sabbat did, which is to say Renegade keeps shying away from the absolute balls-to-the-wall bonkersness of the classic oWoD. “It’s up to your group to decide!” No, fuck you. Give me more stat blocks for aeons-old monsters with ten dots in every Discipline and goresploitation nonsense. That’s what I’m here for, man.
Also, as usual, the fun stuff is unrelated to the main book and shoved into an appendix. In this case, examples for each stat of ideas for Messy Criticals and what we used to call botches back in the day and has a new name now I don’t remember. As well as some general “if failing wouldn’t be interesting”, don’t roll” guidance.
Currently reading: Gehenna War (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)
I c wit u did dere
Finished reading: Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 7
After the last volume being such a banger, this one was a bit . . . meh? Partly because it just felt there was too much — too much plot, too many characters, too many side-stories — which I guess is very much an MXTX hallmark, but as someone who tends to prefer closer and more intimate stories, this kind of “crossover special” shtick doesn’t work for me.
The other one was the White No-Face reveal. I’d actually been trying to avoid spoilers for once, but had still managed to figure out most of the plot based on fedi vagueposts. And this is another one of those “for me personally” things, but I don’t like the actual reveal as much as the fake-out, which I firstly thought was foreshadowed better, and secondly I just found more thematically interesting. So . . . that was kinda a letdown.
Finally, Hua Cheng is inching into bratty bottom territory, which again is Big MXTX Energy . . . but does my id totally cold. I’d been enjoying Hualian because it didn’t have this dynamic, but . . . here it is, I guess. Even if only a teeny tiny bit.
Anyway. I guess we’ve got another six months before I remember to buy the final (?) volume. So . . . look out for that.
Finished reading: The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 2
First half a little slow (not to mention took me a little while to remember who everyone was and what was going on), but devoured the last third in a few hours when the mystery plot picked back up again.
Book 1 - Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie #booksread #nonfiction #books #audiobooks
Finished reading: Blood Sigils (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)
This books spends its entire length talking about the vampire blood magic community as “The Scene” and oh my god I could not take it seriously.
Regardless, fun mix and crunch and fluff. One of the things I’m liking a lot about the 5e books, including this one, is the inclusion of “meta-mechanics” for the Storyteller on how to structure the build of stories themselves. Which are useful tools for a bunch of things, not just tabletop sessions. So. Multipurpose!
Finished reading: Demon, Volume 1
Second library read for the day, content warning for suicide and self-harm under the cut.
Finished reading: Shibuya Goldfish, Vol. 4
Read in the library when I needed to kill some time. Basically “what if zombies but goldfish” which, in theory, as fan of both horror and aquariums, should be exactly my jam? Except this manages, somehow, to be . . . kinda boring?
Wild.
Finished reading: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward — The Art of Ishgard -The Scars of War-
. . . woah, the pets in these older artbooks are account-wide? Wild.
You know you read a thing and you’re like, “Well. Can’t unread that . . .” but also you know exactly the person you’re going to give a rec to? This is that book.
You’re basically going to know if this is the book for you just by reading the blurb and the content warnings, and if they sound like a thing you want to read, you will have a good time. I will say this was more explicit and visceral and fourth-wall-breakingly surreal than I was expecting, and the satire here is not subtle, though nor is it supposed to be. You know JK Rowling when she shows up. Sympathetic characters are also thin on the ground, though the messiness and the cruelty are recognisable and understandable, and you’ve seen them before to some degree or another if you’ve spent any time in queer alt spaces. People also drink piss. It’s that sort of book.
Brainwyrms is not going to be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a messy, visceral, surreal, trans cosmic horror . . . then yes. This.
“In the earth, air, sea, on the forums and the local council Facebook groups, one truth becomes clear, one truth above everything else, and once you know it you cannot un-know it: it’s getting worse.“
Bought this on a whim as a coffeetable book and enjoyed it more as a straight read than I thought I would. It’s kind of a moodboard of various gothic tropes, interconnected by brief articles. It doesn’t touch on anything in particular depth, and there probably won’t be much new here for anyone who’s ever paid even half-hearted attention to the psychosocial aspects of the horror genre. But it’s a good overview to anyone who hasn’t, as well as a solid “further reading/viewing” list.
“Here is an early lesson: the poles of the normal and the pathological can be swiftly flipped in value, and what any social order excludes as monstrous can become an unexpected point of identification for the outcast and abused.”
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.07
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst