Veronica's Updates en-US Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:16:55 -0800 60 Veronica's Updates 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg AuthorBlogPost26325884 Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:16:55 -0800 <![CDATA[Veronica Roth wrote a blog post: Seek the Traitor's Son Tour!]]> https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26325884-seek-the-traitor-s-son-tour AuthorQaSetting140744 Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:49:41 -0800 <![CDATA[#<AuthorQaSetting:0x0000555557680a18>]]> Review7733083202 Sun, 13 Jul 2025 09:36:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Veronica added 'These Summer Storms']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7733083202 These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean Veronica gave 5 stars to These Summer Storms (Hardcover) by Sarah MacLean
It's hard to overstate just how much I like science fiction and fantasy. I rarely read outside of that genre, and when I do, it's usually for very specific, personal reasons-- because I like the author, or they're a close friend, or because I knew it would be important to someone in my life if I shared in something they enjoyed, etc. In this case, I read These Summer Storms because I think Sarah is awesome as a person, which is why I agreed to moderate an event with her (and because I've enjoyed her historical romances, a genre I do occasionally read because it has comparable vibes to fantasy and I do love a love story, but that's a whole separate conversation).

The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to understand that I'm among the least likely readers to pick this book up on my own, not because it's somehow undeserving of my interest but because I am really good at talking myself out of books before I read them.

When did These Summer Storms hook me, you ask? The first chapter.

Reading this book-- and really, did I read it, or did I devour it, taking extra long walks and coming up with bullshit reasons to listen to the audiobook longer, like scrubbing every stain out of my white sneakers or taking a nonsensical detour in my car on the way somewhere?-- was an important lesson in "any concept can be interesting to me if the author is good enough." It was crackly and engaging from the start, giving me everything I needed to get interested: a sharp main character who gave me just enough information that I felt like I knew her, and just enough intrigue to be curious about her; a setting and a mood that I wanted to spend time with; and of course...a grade A hottie. This is a Sarah MacLean book, after all.

I always insist to anyone who will listen (and even people who won't!) that contemporary authors need to do just as much worldbuilding as science fiction or fantasy authors, and for the rest of time, this book will be my evidence. I feel like I know this place, this fancy little island off the coast of Rhode Island, its history, its vibes, its smells, and all its delightful little secrets.

The last thing I'll say is that this book felt good to read-- I don't mean it was a "feel good" book (though, sure, it has some of those qualities, too), I mean I missed the feeling of reading it when I wasn't reading it, I wanted to check back in with the characters and find out what they were doing. And now I'm wondering if I need to get better at not talking myself out of books just because they aren't my usual thing-- not because it's Bad for me to like what I like, but because I may be depriving myself of enjoyment. And really, we've got to hang on to the stuff we enjoy right now, don't we?

Anyway: give this one a try. You won't regret it. ]]> Review7047789692 Sun, 01 Dec 2024 07:32:53 -0800 <![CDATA[Veronica added 'Asunder']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7047789692 Asunder by Kerstin Hall Veronica gave 5 stars to Asunder (Hardcover) by Kerstin Hall
This book gave me that good ache deep in your gut-- if you're someone who checks the "hurt/comfort" box on ao3 when you're looking for reading material, you know what I mean. It's that feeling when you read about two people who have been through some deep shit together and they finally permit themselves to have just a tiny sliver of tenderness and hope. I'm still thinking about it even though I finished awhile ago, about the lengths to which these characters (and not just the main duo, but the whole team, so to speak) will go to help each other, despite the wounds between them.

So like, I could tell you a lot about this book. I could tell you to read it if you feel like the fantasy you've been reading recently feels a bit same-y, because this one is completely different from whatever else you've read. I could tell you about the blood-soaked rituals to appease eldritch horror beings, the perils of body-sharing, the cold sea air vibes, the array of untrustworthy, unsavory individuals that our heroes have to deal with on their journey, all of whom introduce new facets of this world and how its wonders can be used for ill. I could tell you about all those things but they don't change the real reason you should read this, which is: the characters and their relationships.

I think a lot about "cozy" as a descriptor for books-- not usually my thing, but no judgment here-- and I want to suggest something different for you. Some books give you a cozy feeling because they're like a warm cottage in a sunny forest, so the entire world that they occupy feels safe and comfortable, as well as the stories inside them. But some books give you a cozy feeling because the story creates a shelter against a raging storm-- because the world of the story is harsh, cold, and unfeeling, but the characters have huddled together against it and kept a small fire alive. If a book makes me feel cozy, that's usually why-- because I don't recognize a world that isn't trying to eat me alive, that's just not something I can get my brain on board with, but what I long for and what I've loved in this hard world we live in are the moments when I, wounded by life, find solace with people who care about me imperfectly but earnestly. That's essentially what these characters do, they carry all their hurts and weaknesses and failures into this space they make together, and take care of each other. Now, does it work all the time? Does it work in the end? I'm not going to spoil it for you. But the feelings are real, and complex, and hard won.

And if I don't get a sequel I will riot I WILL RIOT ]]> Review6660695033 Thu, 11 Jul 2024 08:31:14 -0700 <![CDATA[Veronica added 'Someone You Can Build a Nest In']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6660695033 Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell Veronica gave 5 stars to Someone You Can Build a Nest In (Hardcover) by John Wiswell
All of it stank wholly of deliberate smoke-- the thing humans called incense. [...] Shesheshen never trusted deliberate smoke. Humans were seldom up to anything good when they burned things on purpose.

This book sits very nicely in the tradition of the "alien observes humanity" POV-- this involves a kind of "other" figure, usually an alien, making unintentionally humorous observations about humanity as they become better acquainted with us. My favorite example of this is the entire sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, though the others that come to mind are any Animorphs book from Ax's point of view, the Coneheads movie (not sure how that one holds up, it's been awhile since I've seen it), and of course, the spectacular opening to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which includes this paragraph that makes me laugh every time I read it:

This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

- Douglas Adams


lulz.

Shesheshen isn't an alien, she's a monster, but her position in the story is the same. She is an observer, and often a confused one, whose position as an outsider gives her tremendous insights, both humorous and deeply profound, sometimes at the same time. She's also wearier than you usually see with this type of narrator, because she's lived near humanity (and feasted upon it, naturally) for quite some time, and it's always trying to kill her, and she doesn't understand what its DEAL is, and really, isn't that the most goddamn relatable thing you've ever heard.

This book is about her journey toward connectedness-- coming of age, but the exact opposite of the typical coming of age narrative, which involves setting out on your own and forming your identity independently of the systems that raised you to adulthood. This coming of age is about trust, vulnerability, and understanding-- about what we might call 'becoming human' if we believed that becoming human was actually all that great, and I don't think Shesheshen does.

I often talk about science fiction and fantasy exploring things through exaggeration, and depending on who I'm talking to, I get a sort of puzzled look a lot of the time-- but this is exactly what I mean. Fantasy isn't just an escape, though it is often that and truly, thank god for that. But fantasy also makes things bigger and more extreme or dramatic so that you can actually look at them. That's what Shesheshen does with humanity, with love, with family, with the exhausting and horrifying but meaningful task of knowing someone and being known. You can see them all, at last, because she shows them to you in a strange new way.

This book is about her. Her voice, and also her body-- the inventive, sometimes gross, fascinating way that her body operates. This is the second book I've read recently where I felt like someone understood how to write about a being that wasn't a human, and to show the inevitable conflicts and tensions that would arise if we encountered something that Wasn't Us-- a real alien figure, not just some humanoid guy in a rubber mask. (The other was The Stardust Grail, which is also excellent and you should read it.) Like is Shesheshen's POV relatable? Yes. Is she gonna rip out a dead body's esophagus and tell you about it? Also yes. You must simply learn to see through the eyes of the monster.

And like. It's really goddamn funny. But in a sly way where you'll have to stop in the middle of a set of deadlifts to laugh at your audiobook. (Or is that just me?) I'll leave you with two quotes that weirdly happen to come from the same page but delight me nonetheless:

From what she knew of civilization, all children were parasites. You were supposed to grow to like that about them.

and

Self-conscious, Shesheshen picked up her two forks again and tried to capture some of her pasta. Two forks were not enough forks for this. The spaghetti was versatile in its resistance. "Slightly strange. It's like an evasive bread."

I'll never look at pasta the same again. ]]> Review6464003225 Sun, 28 Apr 2024 12:39:03 -0700 <![CDATA[Veronica added 'The Stardust Grail']]> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6464003225 The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei Veronica gave 5 stars to The Stardust Grail (Hardcover) by Yume Kitasei
Coming at you with another "here's the blurb"/"here are my unvarnished thoughts" review--

I blurbed this book because I really loved The Deep Sky (which I bought simply because it sounded interesting, something that becomes rarer the longer you work in book publishing, because you get to know so much of the behind-the-scenes stuff and you hear about things so early, etc.). Anyway, I loved this one, too, and here's what I said about it blurb-wise:

"Come to THE STARDUST GRAIL for Indiana Jones-style outer space heist adventure, stay for the sensitively drawn characters and thoughtful exploration of other forms of life far beyond our own-- Yume Kitasei's second novel is an engaging, fascinating story that you don't want to miss."

That blurb really hits all the beats of why I loved this book-- Yume Kitasei knows all about a tense, high-stakes plot. The Deep Sky was a locked room thriller in which the "locked room" in question was a spaceship, which made the stakes that much higher; The Stardust Grail is a heist in which the setting for the heist is a system of planets, and the stakes are, you know, the survival of a species.

But despite the HIGH, HIGH STAKES, there is a feeling of intimacy in this story that made it easy to connect to-- the same thing was true of The Deep Sky, which dug into the friendships and history of the people inside the aforementioned locked room. Here, the focus is on a friendship between two people of very different species, and their ways of being are impossibly mysterious to each other, which is sometimes just amusing and sometimes...heartbreaking. It feels like an exaggeration of any friendship between people of different backgrounds, that we can love each other without perfect understanding, but our love doesn't keep us safe from conflict.

This book is a tangle of questions about loyalty and love and understanding and survival, and I feel like describing it that way might for some reason communicate to you that this book is not EXTREMELY FUN, but like. Let me assure you. This book is also extremely fun.

Anyway: read it, please and thank you. ]]>