A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from A House Between Sea and Sky, but it was a delightful read. It’s full of surprises and fun characters. I largely just enjoyed the ride. It’s fun to see a twist on mythologies I’m familiar with. I won’t spoil it, but I guessed fairly early on the provenance of The House. Finding out I was right only made it more fun. A House Between Sea and Sky is another one of those I don’t really have a lot of thoughts about, so I’ll leave it here. It was a fun, chill read. Exactly what I needed with the holiday chaos around me. 

Favorite Lines

"Men were the worst creatures to unexpectedly meet in the dark." - Fayette Wynne Narration

"While help could be fine sometimes, there was no freedom like that of wandering among full bookshelves." - Fayette Wynne Narration  

Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

Ah yes, the pregnancy scare book. I have been kind of dreading rereading this mess. That said, I am very happy Anita and Ronnie can have the frank conversation around abortion they have. It’s kind of fantastic. Ronnie’s whole mess is… not. Girl clearly has issues, but that’s largely not what this book is about.

There is alot of talking in this book. Talk about Master Vampires. Talk about Anita’s powers. Talk about pregnancy. Talk about Marmee Noir. It’s honestly no wonder my brain took in the important bits and discarded the rest over the years… I honestly didn’t even remember how this book went, like, at all. Merlin… for such a powerful vampire, literally does not show up again and I just forgot he existed. Go figure.

Second book in a row Richard has accused Anita of rape. Sir… stop. Also, the fact that he’s still holding out hope for a white picket fence with Anita at this point is just gross. He really, really needs therapy. Or to actually do therapy rather than just going for the sake of going. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a hypothetical child, either, at this point, regardless of whether or not he’s the father. If your worldview hasn’t shifted to account for actual reality as of yet, that tells me you’re unhinged. I don’t know how much “real world” time has passed, but it’s been several books and enough has happened that Richard’s worldview should have adjusted to reality by now. Seriously, this discussion about Richard’s illusions happens a couple times within a few chapters of each other. Ugh! I am so very over Richard at this point.

All of that said about Richard, specifically, I do like that there is a wider discussion about women and pregnancy and children and expectations around all of this. I’m fairly certain it helped shape my views on the whole thing. I did originally read this book as a teenager, after all. This and being around young children for a chunk of my life certainly worked together to shape how I feel about the whole thing.

It’s interesting “watching” Anita puzzle out what she’s feeling. It feels sort of like an extended therapy session except the boys aren’t professional therapists in any sense. There is honestly so, so much of this that feels like that and not just for Anita herself. Augustine and Asher also get some random talk-therapy here.

I enjoy how we’re not gonna talk about the fact that Belle gave Anita a Human Servant Mark… so technically, Anita’s calling power for both Belle and Jean-Claude… but apparently that’s just a non-issue or something? I feel like that bit of lore is super forgotten about.

The intro of Vlad and Mowgli syndromes is interesting. I do always enjoy my bits of world-building that really make the world feel lived-in. Didn’t really think about birth defects before this point and now… still probably won’t think real hard about them, but it’s nice to know someone thought about them. I also liked that we got some stuff about how were-lions tend to work. Fun stuff, the weird mixing of human and animal cultural crap that happens within Lycanthrope societies. Kinda dumb, to be honest, but we apparently gotta appease the animal bits or else they’ll tear the human bits apart, I guess. Much shrugging.

I had completely forgotten the whole thing with Auggie and how it was the impetus for figuring out what was actually going on with Anita’s powers. I think I, too, would have freaked the fuck out if I realized it was my powers that had drawn all the important people in my life to me and I’d had zero idea. I don’t especially love that Micah goes “We’re almost thirty, Anita.” in the middle of his argument against her freaking out… but… yeah…

So yeah… so. Much. Talking. It’s not a super bad thing, but it also kind of felt slog-ish to get through at points. Might have been the particular characters involved or might have been the real world encroaching on how much brain-space I have for the fictional world. I liked Danse Macabre well enough. Probably going to forget most of it again, though. Heh. 

Favorite Lines

"The practicalities of life do not cease needing to be done just because other things are going wrong." - Jean-Claude

"Feelings are never stupid, they just make us feel stupid sometimes." - Nathaniel Graison 

Reviews Batch 15

 Alright so... this next pair of reviews are quite short and so I'm posting them together. Enjoy.

 

Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

Short Reread Review

I liked Micah a lot. It was short, sweet, and packed a good chunk of backstory in. 

 

 

Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton

2025 Reread Review

Incubus Dreams is another really focused on Anita's "power creep" and the fallout from it. She, Nathaniel, and Damien are now joined in a second Triumvirate and that's had some consequences. First and foremost, Anita has to remember to actually take care of herself. I find that aspect of having to remember to eat very relatable. Sometimes you're just not hungry and have to force yourself to eat. At least most of us don't also have metaphysical hungers to deal with.

Incubus Dreams is also the book where the character count starts to jump up. There are lots of men to keep track of and that list is not about to get shorter. That said, this is really Nathaniel's book to shine. Anita realizes she's actually moving him into the boyfriend category and I could honestly not be more happy about it. I love Nathaniel. He is precious and must be protected above all else. Heh.

Unlike the last few books, I feel like Anita's work life was better worked into the overall story. It didn't feel as tacked on as it has been. Although I will say, I really, really don't enjoy the inclusion of racist, sexist police officers. I know the series is set in the South and that kind of thing is probably more rampant that I'd like to think... or rather, not think about, but I really don't need it in my fiction. Unfortunately, Anita has to deal with it so... ugh. I think this sort of thing is where that one person on Threads got confused... Anita herself doesn't hold these views, but boy do the rando police officers she has to deal with. Again... ugh.

I liked the world-building around Anita's necromancy powers. I like the idea that we can't raise murder victims because they're essentially rabid until they kill their murderer. Also the reiteration that raising the dead is something Anita absolutely has to do or roadkill starts coming to life... and certain constants needing to be observed despite the "power creep" providing alternative methods of doing the necromantic stuff.

So yeah, Incubus Dreams may have taken me a month to get through this go-round, but it was fairly solid. 

Favorite Lines

"Stop poking at it, Anita. Your heart is not a wound to be poked at to see if the scab is ready to come off. You can be healed of that very old pain, if you'll just let it happen." - Marianne

"Love was not the nice, neat, linear thing I'd wanted it to be. It was not just one thing, but many things." - Anita Blake

"There comes a point where you just love someone. Not because they're good, or bad, or anything really. You just love them. It doesn't mean you'll be together forever. It doesn't mean you won't hurt each other. It just means you love them. Sometimes in spite of who they are, and sometimes because of who they are. And you know that they love you, sometimes because of who you are, and sometimes in spite of it." - Anita Blake

"Guarantees are for major appliances, not for murder." - Anita Blake 

     "Rape is rape, Richard. Is a woman less raped because she likes men? That's a question, Richard."

     "No, of course not," he said.

     "Then why is it less rape for a man who likes men to be raped by another man?" - Anita Blake & Richard Zeeman 

Pokemon Legends: Z-A

This post will include game and storyline spoilers for Pokemon Legends: Z-A. If you're worried about that kind of thing, I highly recommend not reading this post. You've been warned.

I have honestly been taking my sweet time playing this game. It's a lot of fun and really quite chill. I've personally been referring to it as "Pokemon Ooh Shiny!" in my head... which is funny because I have yet to catch any shinies other than the "Government Mandated Mareep." (There's a side quest where you find a shiny Mareep for someone and get to keep it.) But seriously, the amount of random crap to pick up as you're running around the city is insane. I've been pulled off course at the drop of a hat by the random little yellow shinies to pick up.

Lumiose City is labyrinthine. The graphics may not be the best, but the setting feels lived in by its NPCs... which there are a lot of. I honestly don't look for absolutely excellent graphics in my Pokemon games. I have seen artist renditions of realistic Pokemon and, while fun to look at, I don't really need that in my games. Character customization is back with a vengeance. The only thing I have to complain about on that front is the inability to mix and match pieces outside of their "sets." For example, I wanna wear a leather jacket with a t-shirt and you can only swap the t-shirts with "shackets" and wear a leather jacket with a sweater. I get why all that is, but I miss being able to swap indiscriminately. But hey, I was able to put together another Carmen Sandiego cosplay, so I'm overall happy on that front.

I could honestly take or leave the story line. I'm really here for collecting the Pokemon and running around. It's interesting to be running around, saving Pokemon from weird Mega Energy spikes and collecting the Mega Stones, but the rest is honestly just fluff for me. I barely read the text and just kind of... go along with it. The story line is not where my interest lies. I'm too busy doing side quests and catching Pokemon. Boy, are there A LOT of side quests. Some of them are kind of fun, a good chunk of them are battles. Speaking of battles, you have to do A LOT of them, too. Trainer battles to earn the Challenge Tickets for the Battle League or whatever it's called. Honestly... it's a grind.

Which then brings me to the controls. I have issues with the controls. I'm not sure if it's lingering muscle memory from Legends: Arceus or what, but... I don't find the controls very intuitive. I very much dislike having to use the "focus" button during battles. Like, dude, we clearly need to target the Pokemon and keep targeting them, so why, in one-v-one battles, do I have to "focus" exactly? Any Pokemon that uses something like "Take Down" runs through your Pokemon and you lose "focus" on them and have to readjust your avatar to readjust your "focus," which I think is dumb. Corbeau's Gyarados about killed my Pokemon at least twice on separate occasions because of this exact issue. Much frustration. Aaaand your Pokemon will also attack bushes and things during a battle instead of the Wild Pokemon you're trying to attack... not great. Little bit silly. Mostly frustrating. But hey, they have Pokeball Return Guys at all the Pokestops, so you can get back Pokeballs you missed with, so that's cool.

Really, honestly, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is fun. It's open world enough that you can just kind of go wherever at any given moment, but structured enough to keep you on-task when you need to be. From what I've seen in my corner of the internet *cough* Threads *cough*, I'm not the only one who thinks so. There are a lot of people who're having fun just taking pictures of their avatars with their Pokemon. It's pretty great.

I'm not sure where I am exactly, in terms of the main part of the game... I did just hit Rank B today. But I'm having a lot of fun. That's the main draw of this entire franchise for me: how fun it is. So... yeah.

From the Pokemon Museum

From the Pokemon Museum

 

In Other News

I finished my Magnadramon X project over on OviPets. Took me a year and three months to complete these guys. They're part of my Mega Digimon Project. 

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan

So… I did enjoy this enough to keep reading until the end. It’s not incomprehensible and the characters are still enjoyable enough… I’m just not vibing with The Wheel of Time. There’s just a lot going on to keep track of and the writing style just isn’t meshing in my head… I dunno. This just isn’t what I’m feeling right now.

All that being said… I like Faile. I wasn’t keen on Perrin deciding he wasn’t going to call her what she wanted to be called (stop being a dick, Perrin). I kind of enjoyed Egwene exploring the dream world.

But yeah… I don’t really have anything else to say about The Dragon Reborn. I’m definitely gonna at least take a break from The Wheel of Time right now, though. Might come back to it at a later date, not sure. Much shrugging. 

Favorite Line

 "Prophecies are fulfilled as they are meant to be, not as we think they should be." - Moiraine

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton

2025 Reread Review: I'm gonna go ahead and say there are spoilers past the first paragraph, so... you've been warned.

Cerulean Sins honestly kind of feels like a bunch of stuff was thrown at the wall to see what stuck in order to form a semi-meandering plot that went on for too long. I understand there were some loose ends that needed tying up from previous books and character work that needed doing... but... I'm going to repeat myself and say that it felt too long. It felt like a lot and then someone threw the kitchen sink in and the kitchen sink was too much.

The entirety of the vampire politics thing was just so, so tiring. I hate vampire politics. Nonsense rules on top of rules… much like dealing with royalty, I’d imagine. Old school royalty, with the power to kill you as soon as look at you. Musette is a little bit hilarious and a lot annoying. Both she and Belle Morte were jealous of Jean-Claude and Asher which just led to... basically nothing. I suppose that's a bit of a spoiler, but random power-creep happened and suddenly Belle can't touch Jean-Claude because of the rules. Also, how does one suddenly become soudre sang and not even notice? How... what... the way these vampires work is occasionally perplexing. I don't remember this ever being brought up in a satisfactory way and now it'd gonna bug me.

I forgot how goddamn pushy Belle Morte is, the jealous bitch. She also must not have a Human Servant or specific Animal to Call, if she’s able to give Anita the marks. Feels very weird for such an old and powerful vampire not to have either. I was questioning the timing of Belle suddenly seeming to want a Human Servant, but it is heavily implied she's planning to go after Marmee Noir so... guess it makes sense to want to add a bit more power to your base at that point. Still, the timing felt weird.

Oh yes, Marmee Noir is becoming a thing now. Got the interesting vampire/lycanthrope hybrids hanging around, though, again, something that got thrown in that isn't really ever addressed again, that I remember. I can't really discuss much about this because it's ridiculously early days and everything that's popping to my mind is spoilery for later in the series. But yeah, Marmee Noir, put a big ol' pin in that.

Dolph can very seriously take a flying leap off a very tall building. A) if someone tells you they’re too sick to come in, you leave them the hell alone. B) you don’t get to act like a raging lunatic in a professional environment, even if you just saw something absolutely horrendous. His whole blow-up surrounding Jason was also super uncomfortable. And look, I get that we don't really get a whole lot of what is actually going on with Dolph, because I bet it's a lot more than the two things we get from him, but like... he hardcore crashed out at work, causing the largest scene we've ever seen him cause, and... Dolph needs to take a very long break from his job and get some goddamn therapy. He does take a leave of absence after this, but I still needed to rant about it.

I think the line “You’re always sorry, Richard” is profound. He just stuck his whole stupid head in it this book. I think the only thing I can say that I haven't said before is that his decision to "take back the wolves" was just stupidly timed. I agree with Anita, don't pull that shit when the enemies are at the door, dumbass. Anita may not hate Richard, but I certainly do.

Not sure how I feel about Anita and Asher’s “come to Jesus” bit. On the one hand: yes, set and keep those boundaries. On the other hand: Asher definitely has a point, which Anita admitted to Nathaniel earlier. She keeps back parts of herself and that’s not necessarily great. And also, Jean-Claude can keep his head enough in the moment to reiterate consent, but Asher can’t? I dunno, the whole thing is messy. Anita is woefully inexperienced with messy at this point. I also think some of my feelings about this are colored by Asher’s later behavior, which is not great so… yeah.

When it comes to the ending of the book and the feeling of it being too long... I got through the climax of the vampire politics and the story really felt over. It just did. But there were those murders that didn't have a resolve... and then the baggage they ended up coming with... just... I wanted the book to be over and it wasn't. Spent another 11 chapters getting to the actual end. I get that it needed to be resolved and it needed to be resolved in this book, but it just felt detached from everything else, to be completely honest. I know part of that is also a function of the police side of things being so detached from the rest of Anita's life... but yeah. Felt tacked on, really.

So yeah... Cerulean Sins felt too long, even though it probably wasn't. There was a bunch of random setup here and a bunch of semi-random pay-off from Obsidian Butterfly. I hate Belle Morte. I hate Richard. So ready to move on to the next one. 

Favorite Lines

"Non, you would possess me again, and love is not about possession." - Jean-Claude

"No, but you assume that if I'm any good it has to be because a man taught me. That's so sexist." - Anita Blake

"If you throw the furry through a windshield, do they not still bleed?" - Anita Blake

"Legends say that the Amazons chopped off a breast to make them better at archery. I don't believe that. I think it's just another example of men thinking women can't be a great warrior without cutting away her womanhood, symbolically, or otherwise. We can be great warriors; we just got to pick the equipment a little differently." - Anita Blake

"If the law doesn't apply evenly to everybody, then it doesn't work at all." - Anita Blake