Arina

@readingrogue

SFF book reviewer at and . SPFBO judge. Gobbler of space murder mysteries, morally-gray rogues and snarky AI. Reviews and contact:

419 Following1,252 Followers1,005 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and readingrogue.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 28

Good Sunday to you, Womble! I'm reading I'll Watch Your Baby by Neena Viel. Unsettling, creepy horror with Southern gothic vibes and unapologetically messy Black women. Based on the story of Linda Taylor

An ereader displaying the book cover of "I'll Watch Your Baby" by Neena Viel. It depicts a Black woman with a large afro. Her eyes peer out from behind the bold, white title text that fills the top half of the cover. In the lower portion of the woman's silhouette, there's an illustration of a large, Southern-style plantation house with prominent columns, surrounded by trees. The author's name, Neena Viel, is written in large white letters at the bottom.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 26

Today on new additions to the adventure of reading: the new edition of Mexican Gothic with its pulpish cover (love it. Couldn't help myself). And Consider Phlebas, the start of my Culture journey, to better understand the influences behind Stewart Hotston's Project Hanuman

An image of the book cover for "Mexican Gothic" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The cover features a vintage, pulpish horror aesthetic in shades of deep red and teal. A woman with dark, 1950s-style hair and a worried expression holds a lit lantern. She is bathed in a ghostly teal light that contrasts with the saturated red background. Below her, a several eerie mushrooms surround her.

A paperback titled "Consider Phlebas" by Iain M. Banks lies on a patterned surface. The cover art features a stylized, retro-sci-fi aesthetic with a winding blue pathway leading toward a distant horizon under a dark, starry sky. Geometric white lines and a large circular celestial body create a sense of depth and scale. The author's name is prominently displayed in large, bold, white sans-serif lettering across the center.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 25

After an incensed interaction (not, they called me within 5m and immediately solved my problem) with customer service, and a late preorder, I finally got this in my hands

The cover of "Sublimation" by Isabel J. Kim. The title is written in large, vertical sans-serif letters on the right side against a dark background. On the left, against a teal backdrop, is a surreal image of a person’s face and neck repeated and layered vertically, creating a cascading effect. The woman has dark hair and vibrant red lipstick.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 25

Found a cute spider to man my Tchaikovsky books

A 3D-printed spider with a bronze body and a gray head, sits on top of a stack of books by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The spider is very cute and staring at the camera.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 15

Was not expecting this to turn saucy at all. Sir, I was reading this on the bus 😳

A close-up, slightly angled shot of the spine and cover of the black hardcover of "The Carnival of Ash" by Tom Beckerlegge. The gold-embossed text on the spine is prominent against the dark background. The book rests on a patterned yellow cloth over a wooden surface in a warm, dimly lit room.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 15

*them*

An eye-level, angled shot of two paperback copies of Leigh Bardugo's fantasy duology, Six of Crows.

The top book, Six of Crows, is angled toward the left, featuring a vibrant orange cover with a stylized illustration of a character, Kaz Brekker, in monochrome. Large, bold red and white text displays the title and author, respectively, and its black spine with the title in white lettering is visible.

The bottom book, Crooked Kingdom, is slightly offset to the right, showing its black sprayed edges.

An eye-level, angled shot of two paperback copies of Leigh Bardugo's fantasy duology, Six of Crows.

The top book, Crooked Kingdom, is angled toward the right, featuring a vibrant red cover with a stylized illustration of a character, Inej Ghafa, in monochrome. She is holding a dagger. Large, bold white and orange text displays the title and author, respectively, and its black sprayed edges are visible.

Below it, the edge of book one, "Six of Crows," is visible, showing a hint of its orange cover.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 14

*shakes my fist at paperback releases* I have to wait until 2027 to read that one! Meanwhile, I'm enjoying The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge. A young poet (who is as dramatic and fun as you expect one to be) returns to his home city (fascinatingly built around literature) looking for renown.

Book jacket for the hardcover of The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge. The top of the cover features the tagline, "Welcome to the City of Words..." set against a dark, starry sky. The title is written on vibrant, ribbon-like banners of teal, cream, and red that sweep across the center. Below the title is a detailed silhouette of a Italian-style city skyline with domes and towers under a dim light.

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 10

Finished The Tale of the Hidden Village by K.C. Norton and Riley Rookhouse, a fun fantasy take on the Sherlockian detective duo, which plays with a lot: identity, consciousness, gender-fluidity, acceptance, self-image, and what it really means to be alive and feeling, in really interesting ways!

Book cover for The Tale of the Hidden Village, written by K.C. Norton and Riley Rookhouse, featuring a red-haired woman in a crimson and gold dress standing confidently in the foreground. Behind her towers a large, somber-looking orc-like man wearing a heavy dark cloak. The background shows a foggy, medieval-style village under a dark sky, and the bottom of the cover includes the subtitle, "Crimson Smoke and the Emerald Flame."

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 8

The 2 for 1 sale had yielded results. The SF Masterworks collection now fills a whole tiny shelf!

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 6

They are! They also have these "book cover" versions complete with lil ribbon bookmarks. I'm obsessed and had to order 2 more lol

Arina@readingrogue· Jun 5

my life changed when I discovered book sleeves for my lil paperbacks

An embroidered black fabric book sleeve featuring a centered design of a silver sword with red blood on its blade, pointing downward toward a chalice filled with red liquid. A golden sunburst shaped like an eye behind it. The top edge of the sleeve has a decorative black trim with a repeating white pattern of swords and daggers. (front)

A padded book sleeve featuring a gothic-inspired pattern of various ornate silver daggers and swords pointing downwards on a textured black fabric background. The top edge of the sleeve has a solid black fabric band. (back)

Arina@readingrogue· May 31

Had never heard of Lymond but just added it to the tbr as I plan to read Tales of Isyr this year. It would be so interesting to delve deeper into each author's work and find the hows/whys of those divergent results, if that's even possible!

Two paperback fantasy books of the "Tales of Isyr." series by C.M. Debell are placed side-by-side.

The book on the left, titled "The Many Shades of Midnight," features cover art of a lone figure standing on a rocky cliff holding a glowing blue sword, overlooking a vast, misty landscape under a large moon.

The book on the right, titled "In Midnight's Shadow: A Short Story Collection," shows two figures scaling the ornate, dark stone walls of a gothic-style castle.

Arina@readingrogue· May 31

delighted to find out I CAN sneak in a Stephen King book by reading You Like It Darker for the short stories square. Bought it because well, King, had no idea it was a collection

Book cover for "You Like It Darker" by Stephen King.

The top half features the author's name in large, white, serif capital letters against a vibrant sunset sky of orange, pink, and deep blue. Below, two teal Adirondack chairs face a small campfire on a beach at dusk. The smoke from the fire subtly forms the shape of a screaming skull. The book title appears at the bottom in a bold, sans-serif teal font, with a testimonial from the New York Times Book Review underneath.

Arina@readingrogue· May 26

Love it!

The small easter egg on the Angry Robot book's title page. This one, for Project Hanuman, is "Shakti and Bhakti", of Hindu philosophy

Arina@readingrogue· May 26

Ok but my favorite thing is Angry Robot's "File Under" section on the back of books

The back cover of a Project Hanuman by Stewart Hotston, featuring a blurb from Gautam Bahtia, author of The Sentence, which reads: "Dazzlingly fresh and original; relentlessly paced, lavishly crafted, and always human." Below the quote, it lists categorization tags: "File Under: Monkey God | Bacteria | Galactic Rejects | Time to Die."

Arina@readingrogue· May 18

Finally got around to fix my bookshelf for special editions! Looking a little bare atm but I've got my whole life to fill it ehehe

A black bookcase with various SFF novels.

Top Shelf: Holds a boxed set of the Paternus trilogy by Dyrk Ashton; a boxed set of the illustrated editions of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; and the Goldsboro edition of The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi.

Middle Shelf: Features a complete collection of the collector's editions of The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski and The War Eternal hardbacks by Rob J. Hayes. Two small figurines sit in front of the books.

Bottom Shelf: The Russian edition of Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov, with 3D models of the towers of both the novella and the novel (Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory) standing before it. Next to it is the collector's edition of Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey.

Arina@readingrogue· Apr 4

Finally reading my first Janny Wurts, whom I've heard great things about!

Book cover for To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts. The title is written in large, bold, crimson capital letters across the center of the image. A small, winged, orange bird-like dragon illustration is perched on the "R" in "RIDE". Below the title, a quote reads: "'A GIFTED CREATOR OF WONDER' Raymond E. Feist".

Arina@readingrogue· Jan 21

With the paperback release of "Paved with Good Intentions" this year, I now have the full set ❤️ (I'll pretend I don't see the non-matching spines)

A row of five books showing off their spines on a shelf, with the titles Priest of Bones, Priest of Lies, Priest of Gallows, Priest of Crowns, and Paved with Good Intentions. This is the War for the Rose Throne series by Peter McLean.

Arina@readingrogue· Jan 17

You both put mine to shame!

Arina@readingrogue· Dec 21

Morning Womble! As the last of my 12 friends 12 books, I am reading Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau

Picture of an ereader with the book cover for "Dreams of the Dying" by Nicolas Lietzau. The cover art depicts a central figure above a body which is lying on a stone slab, surrounded by several spectral and distressed figures, conveying themes of psychological horror and dark fantasy. They are all standing against a ornamented, gothic, crypt-like background.

Arina@readingrogue· Dec 19

I got mine in the new very cool Gollancz editions with the sad caveat that only the first two have been released in those

Book cover for Imaro by Charles R. Saunders. It features an warrior wearing scaled armor and holding a weapon, against a vibrant red and pinkish background with ankara patterns. It has a quote from Nnedi Okorafor saying: "Charles Saunders was a trailblazer".

Arina@readingrogue· Dec 12

I have... Surrendered to the kindle girlie trend and honestly? I really fucking like it, I don't care

The back of a black e-reader with a transparent cover, inside which are five colorful, book-themed stickers.

The stickers shown include:

A "Slow Readers Book Club" sticker with an hourglass.
A sticker with text "Hello I'm probably reading Fantasy!", styled like a name tag.
A sticker with text "Thinking of what to read next...", in a thought speech bubble.
A "Death by book hangover" sticker featuring a skeleton reading in cozy clothes and holding a tea mug.
A sticker showing a book on fire with the text "Read banned books".

Arina@readingrogue· Dec 7

Good Sunday to you Womble (especially as tomorrow we have a bank holiday here). I'm currently making me way through a recommended book, The Hunters by David Wragg

An image of The Hunters by David Wragg. The cover art features several illustrated fantasy characters in black and white, including a central female character holding a crossbow and a blade, protecting a teenager. The tagline reads: "A violent past won't stay buried."

Arina@readingrogue· Nov 26

finishing The Silverblood Promise and The Blackfire Blade in quick succession and realizing there's no next book yet

A close-up image of Kermit the Frog from the chest up, looking out a window that is covered in raindrops. The background is blurred and dark, and Kermit appears to be in a melancholic or contemplative mood.

Arina@readingrogue· Nov 8

Reading for GdM today is The Silverblood Promise by James Logan and I'm enjoying the beginning very much

The paperback of "The Silverblood Promise" by James Logan, the first book in "The Last Legacy" series. The cover art depicts two figures, one with a sword and a long cape, standing on a house roof beside a stone spire overlooking a fantastical city of large, domed buildings and other spires under a red sky. The title is in large white letters, with a quote from Scott Lynch at the top.

Arina@readingrogue· Nov 4

When you're so used to the tiny yet mighty mass market you forgot how big paperback can actually get

A close-up shot of "The Works of Vermin" by Hiron Ennes. The cover is dark with a central, circular design of a very leggy worm. The title, "The Works of Vermin," is written in a stylized font within it. The cover is decorated with intricate, colorful patterns of red, orange, and yellow, resembling flowers and abstract biological forms.

A close-up shot of "The Works of Vermin" by Hiron Ennes opened and slightly ajar. The right page has the title "A Gentleman of the Void". The left page is partially visible with some text.

Arina@readingrogue· Nov 2

Night, Womble (I almost missed gushing about my current read hour)! I'm near finishing an arc of When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee

Cover for "When They Burned the Butterfly" by Wen-yi Lee. The image shows a woman's face partially obscured by a red, ornate pattern in the shape of a butterfly's wing on the left side. A flame is visible near her chin, and a butterfly is resting on her right hand.

Arina@readingrogue· Nov 1

When you preorder a cool book AND you get cool art for it ❤️

Four large and one smaller print of illustrations featuring characters from Marvellous Michael Anson's upcoming Yoruba-inspired fantasy novel, Firstborn of the Sun. The prints are fanned out on a wooden surface. Two bookmarks are also shown, quoting: "Us against the world. Till the sun falls from the sky. Hand to hand we burn the same."

Arina@readingrogue· Oct 19

Morning Womble! At @fantasticphil.bsky.social's recommendation, I'm reading the iconic The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

A photograph of the book The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. The cover shows a small white cabin, surrounded by tall trees with hanging moss against a red-orange sky and dark fog. A quote from Stephen King reads, “You’re in for a treat. The Reformatory is one of those books you can’t put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.”

Arina@readingrogue· Oct 13

the real real answers is that I am in love with her