 Hello my darling extraterrestrials. I am Kim. This is Dustmotes in Velikor and this is my May wrap-up video. I read nine books this month and last month I read nine books and everybody was like Kim that's a lot of books and I'm like it's not enough books and they're like still it's a lot of books so I need to adjust my yardstick except I did set a Goodreads goal and I'm not I'm behind on my Goodreads goal so okay we're setting the crisis I made up in my head aside and we're moving on to the books. First up was Tests of the Road by Rachel Hartman. Can we take a minute to appreciate that cover art? They made a mountain range look like a dragon and I love it. This is not quite a sequel to Seraphina and Shadow Scale but it's in the same universe. It's about a different character. Seraphina's half-sister Tests has always been the bad one. One of her aunts, I think. One of her relatives calls her the devil child. Raised in a household devoted to Saint Vitt, a misogynistic font of vitriol about how women should act. Tests was curious about the world outside her home and apparently curiosity is the height of impropriety. She makes the wrong friends and she's in the process of living with her mistakes when her family decides that it's time for her to enter a nunnery. Tests decides otherwise she leaves and that's not nearly as simple as it sounds. This book is a very interesting and nuanced conversation on indoctrination and how it can take a lifetime to heal the wounds that your family has caused. This book is a heavy one. Please look up any content warnings that might affect you. Be safe. Also I would like to mention that I really enjoy the way Rachel Hartman will go on whole page tangents about linguistic shifts between languages that she created. Well done, nerd. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabata here. I did not know there was another book coming out. This book was placed in front of me at the library. I read it and then I read the second one and now I need the third one. Anyway, Lyah is a slave and a rebel spy and Elias is an elite soldier on the verge of desertion. It looks at the political turmoil of the martial empire, which is exactly what it sounds like. And there's a prophecy and you can't forget the jinn are coming back. So there's a long dormant vein of magic running through this world and I just I love it so much that I'm having trouble describing it. Grace and Fury by Tracy Bang Hart. Bangert. I don't know how to pronounce that one but this is the first arc that I received from my haul at Yaw West, which was wonderful by the way. This is about two sisters who live in a country where the superior's consorts called graces are chosen by a nationwide pageant. Only the most beautiful, the most elegant, the most demure rise to the top. Except these traits are only touted to keep women in their place. It is illegal for a woman to know how to read. They may not own property, they have no voice and the highest position to which they may aspire is that of grace. This book follows two sisters each on their own path and when their places are abruptly switched they have to learn to adapt to the consequences. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Zhen Wang. This one is bright and brilliant and I adore it. It's a graphic novel. I read it in like two hours and it is so beautiful. Oh my goodness. Prince Fashion has a secret. He loves wearing women's gowns. He feels the most confident and the most himself when he is the height of fashion. So he seeks out a new young designer, Francis, to make him fantastic gowns and costumes and he takes Paris by storm as the fashion icon Lady Crystallia. The Prince and his Dressmaker become best friends and the world is looking a little bit brighter when things start getting complicated. This is a fabulous romp about friendship and being true to yourself and I really can't recommend it enough. An Assassin's Guide to Love and Treason by Virginia Boat Ecker. This is the second book from the Arch Hall and it doesn't come out until October but I guarantee you it's worth the wait. In Elizabethan England Lady Catherine's father is killed by the Queen's men for A. his Catholic faith and B. Treason. Catherine escapes into the night and disguises herself as a boy fleeing to London to inform her father's co-conspirators of his demise and to join their plot. They're going to assassinate the Queen. Toby is a spy in the Queen's service and has been since he was very young. Catholic grumblings as they put it have been getting louder of late and it's his idea to stage a new Shakespeare play to weed out any would-be assassins. It's an intricate dramatic occasionally hilarious and rather poignant story of love and well treason. A Torch Against the Night by Sabata here. It took so long to get this one from the library I had to put it on hold and it took forever. I read three books between reading the first one and the second one. This one is more about a quest and self-discovery and I'm not gonna lie there's a bit of genocide going on in there. Seriously the third one comes out on June 12th and I am so psyched. Arusha and the End of Time by Roshni Chakshi. My full review is here. Here. I don't know if you can see where I'm pointing because I've put the title I've put the cover here. This one is a middle grade reader in the vein of Percy Jackson and the Olympians but with girl protags and Indian mythology and a whole heck of a lot of semi non-human sidekicks. Enjoy. Queens of Innisfree by Tessa Gratton. Again check the cards for my full review. The three daughters of the King of Innisfree find themselves at odds when their father begins to lose his mind. This is an intricate nuanced story about sisterhood and what it takes to rule. Last one. Traders Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Kestra Dallasaur has lived in exile for the last three years. Reportedly for her own protection but mainly it's because her father can't stand her and she keeps getting kidnapped. Summoned home at last and not at all happy about it. She is waylaid by a band of rebels who need her help to overthrow the oppressive Lord Enderic. He's immortal so that might be a bit of a problem. The rebels are not morally pristine either. They hold her servant hostage as insurance for Kestra's good behavior. Simon and Trina, two rebels with very different motivations, are placed in her service instead to watch her make sure she complies and to kill her if she does not. This one is interesting plot-wise and I'm going to read the sequel but I did end up giving it three stars because it's not very compelling and the romance starts way too early but if it sounds like your cup of tea then go for it. That's it. Those are the nine books I read in May. I've got to get the average back up. I have high hopes for June. What are you reading right now? Please come talk to me in comments about books. Abieto!