 Hi, I'm Kim, and I am currently in a reading slump. This particular reading slump is the effect of the anticipation of two particular books that have yet to be released. They're coming soon, and I want them now. And because I can't have them, my brain is going, well, you can't read the books that you want to read. So you can't read any books at all. So the books that I'm incredibly excited for but are not here yet and I'm mad about that are Thickest Thieves by Meg Wayland Turner, which comes out on May 16th, and A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Moss, which comes out on May 2nd. Today is April 20th, and I need a time machine. My kingdom for a time machine! It's rent fair time in case you haven't noticed. Everyone is talking about A Court of Wings and Ruin, but no one is talking about Thickest Thieves, and I need to remedy that, because Meg and Wayland Turner, Thickest Thieves is the fifth book in the Queen's Thief series, and where did they end up? I was behind the archivist one. The archivist. I'm the archivist. People in the world don't know about End Times. I did a web series, and End Times is fabulous. It's produced by Mad Manatee Productions, and it was really fun. So Thickest Thieves is the fifth book in the Queen's Thief series, shh! Thickest Thieves is the fifth book in the Queen's Thief series by Meg and Wayland Turner, and it has been nine years since the fourth book came out. Now I have to look it up. Only seven years. It came out in 2010. My friend Alex has been in the fandom pretty much since its inception, as I understand it. She got it on the ground floor, and she didn't recommend these books to me until a year or two ago, and I just immediately fell in love. I don't know how she did it. She's got the elevator pitch for this particular series down, and my elevator pitch for this series is Jen's a little shit, and he probably deserves everything that's coming to him. But that really doesn't make you interested in the story. It just seems vindictive. The Thief is definitely an adventure, but you will never see that plot twist coming. The comparison to BBC's Sherlock is quite apt. People don't believe me because these are technically children's books. They're written in such a way that the ideas grow on top of each other, and it leaves you with a story that you can peel apart like an onion. And I'm pretty sure that Meg and Wayland Turner's writing process involves... So she writes the whole book and then she goes back and takes out the linchpin scene, like that scene that would have been like, oh, I understand what is happening as things are happening. And she just takes that out, and then she sits back and watches you squirm. It's sadistic, and I love it. The Queen Victoria takes a more sinister tone. It's also the one where the politics become forefront on the development of the plot, and that's where I throw all of my worldly goods in. I throw my cap over the wall I am in. As soon as politics get involved, I'm like, I will die for this book. I don't know why. There's like three, four things that a book has to have in order for me to just love it. And that would be psychology, philosophy, politics, and really smart main characters. I don't know why, but any combination of those four things, and I'm just so in. King of Atolia is the third book. Again, you don't have to read them in order, but I recommend you do. King of Atolia is all about the long con. Like, you've spent two books with these characters, you know them pretty well, and then all of a sudden everything is different, and it seems so real that you as the reader start to forget and second guess, and maybe, and then you get hit with the plot twist, because Megan the Wheelan Turner is amazing and awful. And Conspiracy of Kings, Conspiracy of Kings is a coming of age story with a heaping spoonful of politics. It's also told in a very different way. It's a first-hand recounting with several third-person narrative. I, like, step out of the story, talk about how you're talking about the story, and then back in the story. And it's very interesting, but I found it captivating. And now, Thickest Thieves is looming on the horizon, and I can't help but wonder what kind of curveballs Megan the Wheelan Turner is going to throw at us in this one. I'm also highly anticipating A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Mass. It's the third one in the Court of Resinborn series, and Mist and Fury left off at this beautiful, gruesome, like, heart-rending cliffhanger. And it's like, I have to know! And I don't get to know for another two weeks. So my reading slump is mildly assuaged by the Howells Moving Castle audiobook, which I'm listening to in preparation for a video with my friend Chrissy of Band of Fondue. She just read the book, and we both watched the movie together, and I'm rereading the book so that we can, like, have a full and academic discussion about it, which will probably have quite a lot of flailing involved. So maybe not quite academic per se. But that is in the works, and it is one of the only books in my currently reading pile that I'm actually making progress on. I am supposed to be reading Graceling and A Darker Shade of Magic, and Name of the Wind, and Ready Player One. I think it's just those four that I started and then never finished. Oh, Lady Midnight is also on the started, but haven't finished. I read and finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but I have yet to start the sequels. In fact, I lost my library copy of the second one. So I should probably find that at some point. That's concerning. But aside from that, hopefully Howl's Moving Castle will keep me sane until mid-May. Because, apparently, I'm not capable of picking up a book right now. Thank you, Michael Boyland Turner! A viento!