u/SchemeSimilar4074

For context, a while ago we saw on House Andrews blog post regarding book 2 for Maggie and how they'd have to commission Hugh D'Ambray to build a moat. Then there was Jeanie Frost's action of "if redacted redacted not endgame, I can't take it".

I suddenly have this wild theory that maybe at the end of Book 2, Ramond would end up at the noose. We know that in Maggie's world, Book 2 ended with one of the main characters at the noose. I cant remember if it ever revealed who would be at the noose but since Ramond wasn't the main character in the series Maggie read, it couldn't be him originally (edit: it's Solentine). I'm guessing that Maggie made many changes but the world resists and put someone else at the noose (edit: from Solentine to Ramond). It'd be a nice parallel.

Since House Andrews said we wouldn't be happy, I'm guessing it'd be Ramond ending up at the noose! its pretty clear he's a fan favorite so there will be an uproar! To top it up, I'm guessing maybe Maggie would be forced to marry someone else as well since she became more and more prominent. Maybe Arvel, hence Jeanie's reaction. I can't guess what sort of events would cause these developments but if my crazy theory is true, it'd make a really epic (and heart-breaking) book 2 and then we'll agonise waiting for book 3 to see Maggie saving Ramond.

What do you think of my wild theory? 😂

Please recommend me cozy fantasy books with humor and/or sarcastic heroines. I'm ok with cozy -adjacent too. Fantasy, urban fantasy, fantasy blended with Sci Fi, low stake, high stake. I'm cool with anything as long as it has humor and the main characters have jobs that make economic sense (meaning NOT princess, thief, assassin, general)

Example of Books that I'm looking for:

- the InnKeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews

- Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

- Fred, Vampire the Accountant by Drew Hayes

- The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic by Helen Harper

- The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik

Note: I've already read all books by Ilona Andrews, T. Kingfisher and Naomi Novik so there's no point to recommend me their books. I plan to check out other books by Heather Fawcett too so no need to recommend me others.

I was reading on abusive families recently and came across a mention that it's common to have a golden child and a scapegoat in an abusive toxic family. I gasped and immediately thought of Under the Oak Tree, Maxie is the scapegoat and Rosetta is the golden child. I think this book handles trauma pretty well, unlike a lot of other Fantasy Romance and Romantasy I've read where the trauma is just like a decoration for non-existent personality of the FMC.

I'm surprised I don't see the Golden Child and the Scapegoat dynamics that often in Fantasy despite they all have some sort of traumatic background. The only book I can think of is The Poison Daughter where the FMC later learned that her older brother who was supposedly loved by her parents also probably didn't have it that good either. Otherwise I can't think of any other book I've read.

What about you guys? What's your thoughts?

I know this is so random but what's your thoughts on magical hot plumbing in Romantasy?

I actually can't remember reading a fantasy novel that just randomly mentions a magical hot plumbing system. It's usually Romantasy and it's always in passing without much details. It's sort of like the tumble in the hay with a stable boy an FMC experiences just to make her "not a virgin". 😅

I read in another thread in this sub that some people were annoyed with this phenomenon. I was never actually consciously annoyed but the random mention of it did usually stick out a bit and I wonder why.

I then went and looked up on plumbing history and it seems that human had plumbing system since really ancient time. The most famous one is the Roman Empire with their lead plumbing for their public bath. Of course that lead pipes didn't end well for the Roman. Even before that, there was clay pipes. Which then makes me think, what the point of a magic plumbing because normal plumbing would work too in medieval times 🤣. Maybe it bothered me not because of the existence of a plumbing system in Romantasy but the lack of an explanation AND how often it got mentioned like that.

Yeah. I'm bored on Friday. So hit me with your random thoughts on ... plumbing (magical or no).

I just DNFed Dire Bound at 80%. The book was so bad I felt despair at humanity in general. How on earth is this book so popular? How? How? I've read better fanfic. Is it a rage bait?

I get why Fourth Wing and ACOTAR got so popular. There are proper stories and characters. Violet has her annoying moment but she's supposed to be book smart and fights in her own unique way. There were twists and world building. ACOTAR was addictive as hell. There are popular series I don't like but I could see why they were popular. For example the Poison Daughter, Plated Prisoner, Rose in Chain etc. There were some originality there.

It's beyond me how this book could ever got recommended by anyone. The storyline is a total copycat of Fourth Wing with NOTHING original at all. The characters suck so bad and make absolutely no sense. Don't even get me started on why the hell Meryn didn't at least TRY to gather more information about her sister and the front line she's supposed to be desperate at getting to. She's supposed to be street smart.

I'm so disappointed at the Romantasy genre now. I almost, just almost want to quit reading this genre altogether, until I remember Reign and Ruin (the series I read just before Dire Bound) was good. So tell me please, which popular series should I avoid like a plague? I don't think I'd recover from another shitty popular book. There's no need to tell me to take a break fr Romantasy. I already am reading something else. It's more for when I come back to Romantasy, I can't stand another bad series back to back.

I just finished Road of Bones. I've been reading people's reviews here and it seems that many people hate the 2 love interests.

Curious on hearing people's thought regarding Reynir vs Jonas. I personally prefer Reynir from the beginning. I knew right away that there's no way Jonas is the end game. It's too easy 🤣 so I was rooting for Reynir the entire time and skim over all the steamy scenes with Jonas. It's like reading book 1 of ACOTAR but know that it's the wrong guy 😅 so it's kinda a slog

I can see the book tries to distinguish them in the 2nd half and shows Reynir to be more honourable than Jonas and that he didnt wanna take advantage of her grieving her father. Reynir is also perceptive and responsible whereas Jonas isnt. So despite the complaints I saw, i think the 2 characters are sufficiently different. I wish we'd see more interactions when Silla entrusted Reynir with the leaves and cut down a bit on Jonas part. But oh well....

I just DNFed Shields of Sparrow at 90%.

The only reason I got that far was because the guy who does Ransom in the Graphic Audio book has such a sexy voice.

It's been a while since I read a book that pisses me off so much. This book makes no sense. Even if I ignore all the tropes that I've read a million times and a super annoying FMC, it's so inconsistent it makes me angry.

What sort of Kingdom is Turah? It was said that crops that grows in Quentis wouldn't grow in Turah. So I was thinking it would be either very dry or very cold. Then they have a whole village of tree houses. Tree houses?! In a place where crops can't grow? How do such tall trees grow? Stop giving meaningless clues that conflict with each other. Stick with something, like the Bridge Kingdome (tropical island) or Dune (desert) or just don't mention it at all!

[Edit] so apparently crops and food can grow where big trees might grow. You can keep giving me more scientific information. I love reading those comments. They're more interesting than SoS 🤣 But my point is more that there isn't an explanation. There could be a million reasons that people have given me so far but I was given none at 90% in.

How the hell did Odessa manage to draw a map? Drawing maps isn't easy. You have to find directions while moving. She lived in a castle all her life. How could she draw a map in a strange country where she's not familar with its animals, plants and directions. At least give me some hints, or even use magic or some magical compass. Like in the Road of Bones, the FMC finds her bearing looking the the direction of the birds flying. Or like in One Piece with a Log Pose or just makes it that she miraculously found a map!

What sort of cunning king training only 1 daughter to be a spy? If it were me, I'd train the maids then get my daughter to work with the maids. Then no matter how I look at it, Odessa is the favoured daughter. Why would I make my favoured daughter risking her life in a strange country and training her ass off? I don't even know what Odessa is whining about. Her life as a princess seems pretty cozy...

Don't even get me started on the "training". Where the hell does the hot bath even come from in the middle of the road, when it was explicitly mentioned earlier that they'd travel by horse so no trunk? Pick one or the other!

[edit] someone in the comment told me if you draw blood the night before, it'd clot without an anticoagulant. Too good not to share this tidbit 🤣 this entire book is so forced trying to make up shit pretending to "breadcrumbs".

If the author is so bad with geography and travelling in the wild then don't write a book where the majority of the details are on travelling in the wild... Don't write boring details that went on and conflict with earlier boring details! Argggg.

Rant over.