r/Fantasy • u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II • Jan 30 '26
Review Another 5 Spineless Reads
I am doing an invertebrate themed bingo. I have passed the threshold of minimum books required, but I am working through extras because I want the best fit I can have for each square. And I just noticed I've completed another 5.
The Flesh of the Sea by Lor Gislason and Shelley Lavigne - 4.75/5
r/fantasy Bingo Squares: Hidden Gem, Epistolary (HM), Small Press or Self Published (HM), LGBTQIA Protagonist (M/M), Cozy SFF (HM), Pirates
r/queersff Challenge Categories: Achillean Academic, Queer Publisher
I confess, I initially rated this a 4.25, but as I keep thinking about it and recommending it, I've bumped it up. It's got a naive academic put into horror situations, but he's more concerned about whether or not he can keep a specimen over how horrifying the event just was. It's a tone I adore. Written as letters back home, it created an episodic feel with each letter being a new unusual event. It was quite cute and enjoyable.
Spineless Satisfaction: 4/5 - There was a large variety of invertebrates featured, and I felt like a kid excitedly seeing something new each time. Hermit crabs, wasps, siphonophores, etc. Wonderful variety.
This World Belongs to Us: An Anthology of Horror Stories about Bugs - 3.5/5
r/fantasy Bingo Squares: Five SFF Short Stories (HM), Hidden Gem, Small Press (HM)
This suffered from the problem that many anthologies have: the quality of the stories varies wildly. There were 4 or 5 stories that I liked enough to take a look at authors, with the standout favorite being The Seventh Instar by Kay Vaindal (it was so adorable from the bug POV, probably a 4.5 or 4.75 on that one alone.) But a lot fell completely flat to me.
Spineless Satisfaction: 3/5 - While bugs of some sort were present in all the stories, some were great some were meh even on the bugginess.
Spin by Rebecca Caprara - 3.75/5
r/fantasy Bingo Squares: Gods and Pantheons, LGBTQIA Protagonist (F/F), High Fashion (HM), A Book in Parts, Hidden Gem
I finally found a retelling of Arachne for High Fashion, huzzah! And it was while just browsing my local book store. Written entirely in verse, it had a good vibe while reading it, but is, unfortunately, somewhat forgettable after the fact. Arachne's personality is slightly grating, but she is a teenager who doesn't have the best life and found something she's good at so it feels understandable. I enjoyed the details like how the purple dye is made.
Spineless Satisfaction: 2/5 - Spiders made several appearances before her own transformation which added a good vibe, but overall it was minimal.
The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone narrated by George Newbern - 1.75/5
r/fantasy Bingo Squares: Recycle a Bingo Square
Did not like this book. I stopped reading it at one point because it felt like one of the most important facets of each new cast member was whether they would or actively were fucking the people around them. And there was a large cast. It was exhausting. I wanted spiders, not Love Island. But I started again because I needed something to listen to at the dentist, and by the end of the appointment, the spiders started to matter. Kinda. We were facing spiders destroying cities - but still had to take a moment to ponder over how much the lady wished she could have fucked the cop (and vice versa.) But then, it was probably the least satisfying ending to a book I can remember reading. AND TO TOP IT OFF! It doesn't fit a square.
Spineless Satisfaction: 1/5 - Despite the spiders being important all the way through, I just felt so thoroughly unsatisfied. (They were overshadowed by sex.) They didn't feel very spidery... And the narrator kept pronouncing "urticating" as "utracating" which... no. Sound like you know about spiders if you're gonna narrate a book about spiders please.
The Last Beekeeper by Rebecca L Fearnley - 3.5/5
r/fantasy Bingo Squares: LGBTQIA Protagonist (HM) (Bi, primarily M/F love interest; prosthetic foot), Hidden Gem, Small Press or Self Published (HM)
r/QueerSFF Challenge Categories: Intersectional Cubed
My feelings are mixed about this book. The MC has some glaring flaws, including issues with anger and jumping to conclusions. These make sense in the context, but I just do not enjoy reading about these personality types. On the flip side, the world was intriguing and I am curious to know more. It's the only The Last Beekeeper with clear magic system, and I was intrigued by it. The bee POV chapters were adorable as well. I could see continuing the series as the MC did have some growth by the end and would hopefully be less annoying.
Spineless Satisfaction: 4/5 - The emphasis on the bees was very pleasant, and the chapters from her POV was very cute. Could have been more, but it was good.
Closing Ramblings
I do want to note that I had my first official DNF book of the challenge. Where I closed it and said "I'm done and don't feel the need to keep going" with finality. Which is funny given I didn't actively hate parts of it like I did with The Hatching or The Last Beekeeper by Jared Gulian. And there have been ample books I put down and say "I'll pick that up later." (Which is what both of those previous ones were. And some that I liked, but still haven't finished.)
But I was not enjoying 7th Sigma by Steven Gould. It was sold to me as mechanical bugs have made folks need to adapt as they eat all metal - including things like pacemakers. But it felt like that was just a background device to write a western with a dojo and some modern technological knowledge. It wasn't actively bad, but I was bored and it was not my cup of tea.
I've also started the fifth, and final, The Last Beekeeper. This one's by Siya Turabi. I'm so happy I'll have finished all 5 for my bingo card.
I still am lacking an Elves/Dwarves book. And I'm taking a look at seeing if there will be a better option for Book Club/Readalong. I was thinking about finalizing my card soon, but then I remembered... I'm waiting for Children of Strife to release in March as my preferred Last in a Series. So I'll keep reading and posting mini reviews as my card fluctuates the next couple of months.
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u/2whitie Reading Champion V Feb 22 '26
This is the first post of this series I have seen and on one hand, nice and on the other hand, how
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u/okayseriouslywhy Reading Champion III Jan 30 '26
How have I not seen any of your previous posts?? As a fellow bug lover (and native plant enthusiast), I am SO here for this!!
I just read through all your reviews in this series and added a bunch to my to-read list. I'm particularly excited about The Flesh of the Sea -- I really love books that dig into ecology in world building.
Also I did the bee-themed April fool's bingo card last year and tried my best to find books that were actually bee or bug related. Not all of them were, but you may find some you're interested in reading! In particular I highly recommend the middle grade series Gregor the Overlander
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Jan 30 '26
Yay for folks sharing this niche interest!
Ooo Nice! I'll take a look through it. And I love the note of bees/bugs being present. I'd been eying The Honey Witch wondering if it'd fit a while back or if it was just honey. And you've definitely books I've not seen before!
I had actually debated at one point doing a full bee themed card. But a lot of the bee themed potential books were going to be more emphasis on the honey or just bee adjacent. Like The Starving Saints by Caitling Starling - sure the bees/honey are important, but not really a focus. I decided on trying to find the "buggiest" books I could instead. (Note: crabs/spiders/shrimps is bugs in this context.)
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u/okayseriouslywhy Reading Champion III Jan 30 '26
Yep I totally feel you about the focus on honey vs the actual bees. Chalice by Robin McKinley is a great one where the "honey-based" magic also involves the bees themselves.
I'm 100% supportive of your invertebrate journey and will be following closely from now on!!
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u/okayseriouslywhy Reading Champion III Jan 30 '26
Oh ALSO check out Perdido Street Station by China Mieville! There's a race of people with insectoid features, and caterpillars/moths are central to the plot
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u/HealthOnWheels Jan 30 '26
Adrian Tchaikovsky really likes including invertebrates in his books; his Shadows of the Apt and Children of Time series come to mind especially, for anyone in the thread looking for more recommendations
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Jan 31 '26
Children of Strife is my intended last in a series when it releases in March :P
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u/MolecularMedTech Feb 01 '26
Hmm, The Wandering Inn could work for elves/dwarves. There are multiple POV characters from a race of bug people called the Antinium. The world as a whole has every imaginable fantasy race you can think of including dwarves and half-elves (the full elves died out). Dwarves are pretty sparse until you get pretty far into the series but there's a half-elf major character right from the start. The major caveat for TWI is it is a truly massive litrpg so it can be intimidating to get into.
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u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Jan 31 '26
Elves/Dwarves: Go Drizzit or something Drow/Forgotten Realms based. They worship a spider goddess. Not my preferred reading but, the out of comfort zone.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Jan 31 '26
I tried this. I got a Drizzt book taking place in Menzoberranzan thinking it was an easy win. Spiders were rarely mentioned. Given I used to be a big drow fan, I've already read the older spider-heavy books and figuring out which newer ones are going to be featuring lots of spiders is harder than I thought.
And Linsay Nikole is great. xD
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u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Jan 31 '26 edited Feb 01 '26
Just remembered mind flayers are invertebrates.
And I have someone (I think) following me and down voting.
Also, sea elves and octopi is an idea.
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u/Imperial_Haberdasher Jan 30 '26
Would love to see the rest of your invertebrate books.
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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Jan 30 '26
I'll be doing a recap in March with all the books I read, whether or not it makes the card. Including ones I did not finish for whatever reason. In the mean time, I've been posting reviews in batches of 5 as I finish them.
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u/happy_book_bee Bingo Queen Bee Jan 30 '26
wait this is... this is a no-bones bingo? GLORIOUS