Yes, exactly!!! It was the first moment in the series (I’m not the biggest fan, heh, though I do think it has some strong points!) where I felt actual emotional weight, and had a bit of a chill thinking about what, exactly, the Cthaeh had already influenced. What chain of events was Kvothe a part of, even before he got there?

The Cthaeh really deserved a better series, what an incredible villain. Possibly the only high point in the books for me.

[redacted] from The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, by Meatbun; the way that they just manipulated ENTIRE WORLDS to get one step closer to their goal, but were also so petty and cruel just for the sake of it…nothing hits quite like it.

(Also don’t let the title fool you; this book is just Pain, The Novel, in the best possible way!)

I watched The Untamed right before we went remote and then spent the first chunk of quarantine reading a LOT of danmei. Lan Zhan got me through!!

The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It wasn’t just the balm I needed as I sat alone in my apartment during COVID, but the balm that kid-me needed when she dreamed of going to Narnia. It sounds corny, but that book just bursts with love and hope, and I think it’s a masterpiece.

I don’t remember what chapter it was, but there’s a section of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, toward the end, where the main character is recovering from an illness and her stepsister shows up out of the blue to see her. The whole thing is just so lovely and kind, and shows all the characters in a great light. All of Gaskell’s work is very soothing to me (even when it’s dark!), but that section takes the cake.

Tana French, Meatbun, Susanna Clarke, and Nghi Vo.

The Passage by Justin Cronin: a cool idea, for sure, but the author seemed so obsessed with the idea of writing the twenty-first century’s version of The Stand that he forgot to write…a good book. I was in a grudge match with this book by the end, especially after hundreds of pages of “oh children are so important, parenthood is divine” led to a passage (pun intended) told in flashback about the most exciting/terrifying part of the book.

Not just that, but he skipped an entire romance’s development by (again) having it told in flashback in someone’s journal, then saying “oh these pages are missing”.

It also didn’t have to be 800 pages long, ugh.