I've been reading through Berserk, and... yeah, it deserves its reputation. Right from the start, blood, gore, horror, brooding antihero, check.

However, said brooding antihero starts showing some signs of having actual right from the get-go. Now, coming up on the start of the Golden Age arc, I'm really excited to see where it's all going. It just seems generally a little bit better than its peers in the angsty edgy angst angst angst dark fantasy genre.

Lessee... what else? Oooh, ooh! Mogworld! Well, actually I read this one ages ago, but I quite liked it. It's about a bunch of characters in an MMO who have become sentient and are trying to find a way to die because everyone's become immortal. It's by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, otherwise known as "The Zero Punctuation Guy" which probably tells if you will or won't like it off the bat if you're familiar with his other work. I found it a very appreciable bit of dark comedy with an ending that is absolutely pitch-perfect. Then again, it's been a while. Maybe I'll hate it now. But I don't think so.

I reread it fairly recently, and it remains one of the most gorgeous reads I've ever had.

If you have not heard of it, it's sort of hard to describe. It's framed as a series of conversations between Marco Polo and an ageing Kublai Khan, who converses with various explorers in order to keep up to date with the cities in his constantly expanding empire, and who feels a strange, particular kinship with Marco.
In action, it's like a series of prose poems describing various fictitious cities, which tend to feel more like parables or so on or so forth, broken up by segments of Kublai and Marco talking.

It's absolutely fantastic, one of those books I feel a weird kinda warmth from reading. Also, a very short read!

Last week, I finished Nocturna, by Maya Motayne. It's the start of a new series, and the book will officially be released in both paper and hardback copies in early May. I believe you can pre-order it, if you're interested on Amazon. Anyways, about the actual book.

The book is set in a very Latinx inspired universe, following the Crown Prince Alfie, and a talented shapeshifter Finn. There's magic, some elements which could be called similar to JJBA's Stands, and much more. It was an interesting read, and the characters are extremely compelling, and feel real. There's some heavy subject matter which is discussed in book, fair warning, but a good book nonetheless.

Just finished binging the second of the three books out (Seven Surrenders, first is Too Like the Lightning) in less than 36 hours. (Not continuously, but close!)

It's emotionally/philosophically-heavy sci-fi, but I also want to hug almost every major character.