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goobdiddy.bsky.social
Hoyt
@goobdiddy.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1K following 170 posts
I read too much.

Book reviews on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/hoyt
Fledgling bookstgram: https://www.instagram.com/hoytreads/
Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/hoytreads

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goobdiddy.bsky.social
Book 2 in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach series: Authority (2014). This was very slow and weird, but I liked it. Gave me serious vibes of the game "Control" and "Severence", but creepier. I want to see how this series ends.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Authority (Southern Reach, #2)
4/5: 3.5, rounded up for GR. A bit slow and weird, but I liked the vibes. While the first book in this series covered an expedition into Area X, this volume explored the weird bureaucracy set up to in...
www.goodreads.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:36 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
My first non-fiction in a while: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U. S. History (2023), by Ned Blackhawk. This filled in so many gaps in my history education. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Rediscovery of America
4/5: Very well-researched tome helped to fill in so many gaps in my "vintage" 1980s public school US history education. In particular, the early chapters on the clashes with the Spanish in the Carribe...
www.goodreads.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
I had to know how this story ended, so read the second and final available book in Octavia E. Butler's Earthseed series: Parable of the Talents (1998). So, so dark, but an amazing story.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Parable of the Talents (Earthseed, #2)
4/5: Oof, this went to some dark places, but so well-written! Like the first volume in this series, this book showed that Octavia Butler was something of an oracle. So many of the horrors in this book...
www.goodreads.com
December 16, 2025 at 1:27 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Second book club read for December: When the Tides Held the Moon, by Venessa Vida Kelley. Beautifully written historical fantasy romance.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of When the Tides Held the Moon
4/5: Immersive historical fantasy with a lot of heart. NOTE: there's a phrase glossary in the back of the book to help with the various non-English bits sprinkled throughout the text, since so many re...
www.goodreads.com
December 13, 2025 at 7:03 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
First book club read for December: Good Spirits (2025), by B. K. Borison. A fun, fluffy, spicy holiday romance with a supernatural twist. My first read from that author, and I'd read more.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Good Spirits (Ghosted, #1)
4/5: A fun, fluffy, yet spicy take on Dickens' Christmas Carol. The setting is modern day Annapolis, MD; the FMC is super nice with a terrible family, the MMC is a ghost of xmas past. There's a cat. T...
www.goodreads.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:05 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Interesting sci-fi/steampunk underwater adventure with a symbiote in a queer-normative world.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Odder Still (No-Man's Lander, #1)
4/5: 3.5, rounded up for GR. Loved the world of this book, less so the characters, but I think that's a me thing. Plenty of others would relate to and love the characters as well. This was my first bo...
www.goodreads.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:53 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Publication order of Brandon Sanderson continues with 2012's The Emperor's Soul, a novella that is part of the Elantris world, but works fine as a standalone.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Emperor's Soul
5/5: 4.5, rounded up for GR. A beautifully written fantasy novella. While technically part of the cosmere, and part of the Elantris world, this can definitely be read as a standalone without prior kno...
www.goodreads.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:49 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Publication order read of SJM continues with 2020 and House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City Book One). A bit long, but what an ending. Promising start to the series.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)
4/5: A few issues here and there, but overall a fun-to-read start to this urban fantasy series. This was part of my publication order read of all of Maas' books, and the urban fantasy setting is a wel...
www.goodreads.com
December 6, 2025 at 4:58 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Publication order read of Stephen King continues with 1984's Thinner. This really did not age well. It's basically just one big racist stereotype in book form. Little bit of body horror. Not recommended.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Thinner
2/5: Re-read: originally read this back in 1987 or so, it has not aged well. This was the book that resulted in King being outed as Richard Bachman, and I'm glad to be honest, since I really didn't li...
www.goodreads.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:43 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Quick little fairy tale novella to end the month: The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The River Has Roots
4/5: A nice little fairy tale novella with a bit of a dark turn. Which I guess makes it a proper fairy tale in the tradition of Grimm and all that. It was only 100 pages, and several of those were ill...
www.goodreads.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:07 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Actually reading a classic for once... Franny and Zooey, by J. D. Salinger (1957). By all rights, I should find this boring, since it's just people talking, but I liked it. A captured moment in time.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Franny and Zooey
4/5: Three and a half conversations. That's all this book is, but still is somehow not boring. Salinger is just a master of capturing a moment in time, and I guess I've seen just enough movies/TV show...
www.goodreads.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:14 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Finished yet another duology with A Desolation Called Peace (2021) by Arkady Martine. Superb writing in this hard sci-fi alien first contact / political thriller.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)
5/5: 4.5, rounded up for GR. An outstanding completion for this story. Where the first book focused on the communication between two long-separated human cultures that were essentially aliens to each ...
www.goodreads.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:44 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Wrapped up another series (well, a duology anyway) from Rachel Terry with Flameseeker (2023). It's a YA portal fantasy. Magic, elves, dragons, good and evil, etc.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Flameseeker (Guardians Duology #2)
4/5: 3.5, rounded up for GR. A satisfying conclusion to story began with volume one. This picks up only a short while after the previous book ended, with the same cast of characters. The setting and m...
www.goodreads.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:43 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Finished the final book in Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven trilogy: Human Rites (2025). It was an excellent end to an extremely fun series. Certainly my top series about witches, and definitely in my top modern fantasy list.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Human Rites (Her Majesty's Royal Coven, #3)
5/5: 4.5, rounded up for GR. A very entertaining page-turner to wrap up an excellent series. The series as a whole has definitely been one of my favorite modern fantasy series. Will this series age we...
www.goodreads.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:09 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Publication order read of SJM continues with 2018 and the final Throne of Glass book: Kingdom of Ash. Very entertaining end to the series, wrapping up ALL of the threads from the entire series, including pretty much all of the prequel novellas.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)
4/5: A very entertaining end to a very entertaining series. It looks like I gave the previous volumes: 4, 4.5, 4, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 4.5, and now a 4 stars for this last volume, so overall I guess I had fun...
www.goodreads.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:11 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Final book club read for November: The Vanished Birds (2020), by Simon Jimenez. Some beautifully written and interesting sci-fi.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Vanished Birds
4/5: 3.5, rounded up for GR. Beautifully written, interesting concepts for a future of humanity away from Earth, but such a bleak vision of the future. There's some great sci-fi here, with some cool t...
www.goodreads.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:04 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Publication order read of Brandon Sanderson continues with 2011 and The Alloy of Law, the first book in the second era of Mistborn. This was an excellent start to the second Mistborn series. Very snappy and entertaining read.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)
5/5: Very entertaining, snappy paced, start to a new era of this story. Sanderson found just the right balance between introducing the new characters and new era of this planet, while lightly referrin...
www.goodreads.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:14 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Second book club read for November: Parable of the Sower (1993), by Octavia E. Butler. This was very rough to read at this moment in US history, since it seems like more of a prophecy than fiction. Hopefully we can reverse the trend!

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
4/5: Oof, this was such a dark story to read at this particular moment (Nov 2025), when US society really seems to be heading towards the version depicted in this book! I'm ashamed to say that this is...
www.goodreads.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:57 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Read this for a book club: Hemlock & Silver (2025), by T. Kingfisher. Entertaining fantasy tale inspiring by/adjacent to the Snow White legend.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Hemlock & Silver
4/5: Another entertaining tale from this author, and I had fun reading it. As someone who may be a bit past their prime, I always enjoy seeing a main character who isn't young and perfect, and still m...
www.goodreads.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:06 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Next entry in publication order read of Stephen King: from 1984: The Eyes of the Dragon. I know I read this when it first came out, but I didn't remember it all! Fun, quick, YA fantasy with a dark edge to it (of course).

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Eyes of the Dragon
4/5: Fast-reading YA fantasy with a tinge of darkness (of course, since it's Stephen King), featuring a familiar villain. This definitely reads like a fairy tale, albeit for at least a teen audience, ...
www.goodreads.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:12 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
First book of the month, the second book in Shelley Parker-Chan's Radiant Emperor duology: He Who Drowned the World (2023). An excellent conclusion to the story.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of He Who Drowned the World (The Radiant Emperor, #2)
5/5: 4.5, rounded up for GR. An excellent conclusion to this dark historical fantasy reimagining of the beginnings of the Ming dynasty. Although it's been about a year and half since I read volume one...
www.goodreads.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Crawled my way through Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon (1999). Books that are this specifically technical don't age well.

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of Cryptonomicon
3/5: Whew, this one was quite a slog, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it closer to when it was published. For starters, this was way too long. It's jam-packed with characters gett...
www.goodreads.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:38 AM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Some thought-provoking, twisty timelined dystopian YA sci-fi from Joan He: The Ones We're Meant to Find (2021).

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Ones We're Meant to Find
4/5: Complex, dystopian, apocalyptic story with a nicely twisty timeline and a few surprises along the way. I guess I'll put this in the ecological horror category, since this takes place in a future ...
www.goodreads.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:26 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Trip back to childhood with book three in Madeline L'Engle's Time Quintet: A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I DNF'd it as a kid, and still found it a bit boring as an adult...

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of A Swiftly Tilting Planet (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #3)
3/5: 2.5, rounded up for GR. How was this a children's book? Chapter 1 starts with the threat of nuclear war (hmm, why is Gen X all cynical and stuff?), then the rest of the book is all about predesti...
www.goodreads.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
goobdiddy.bsky.social
Book 2 in the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn: The Viscount Who Loved Me (2000). I think I liked it more than the corresponding season of the TV show, since I got the internal dialogue of the main characters...

Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Hoyt's review of The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons, #2)
4/5: It's hard not to compare them, but I think I may have liked this better than season two of the show (I watched the show first). Yes, we're missing all of the stuff with the Queen, and all of the ...
www.goodreads.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:52 PM