Bookishness / Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

Land of miracles
Holds dark secrets betrayed.
Hero, where are you?

It sometimes takes a single word to spark an intrigue, and in Kristin Cashore's latest book, that word is zilfium. During an age of exploration, the backward kingdom of Monsea discovers a shiny new neighbor: the eco-tech country of Winterkeep. This frosted nation is filled with airships, democracy, telepathic beasts, and more: mysteries surrounding the energy-producing zilfium, mysteries that some would kill to protect. Winterkeep (Graceling Realm Book 4) is a rather refreshing read after the disappointment that was Jane, Unlimited (2017), with the vivid world-building and intrigue that Cashore is known for. But the moments of moral preachiness and plot unbelievability distract from what is otherwise a new exploration of the Graceling Realm.

Changes for email subscribers

Looking beyond, at 50,000 feet. From my first flight since January 2020.

Hi folks,

This PSA is rather late, but for those who receive email updates from this blog, Feedburner will be discontinuing their automatic email subscription service for the Blogger platform this month. I've been considering some alternatives, so if you receive an email from me later this month from a different email service, do pay attention because you may need to resubscribe to continue receiving updates (which I certainly hope that you will!).

RSS feed readers shouldn't be affected, but watch this space regardless because I might be doing some more blog maintenance in the future.

Seriously, website and blog maintenance can sometimes be a pain, especially juggled in the midst of other pains. But this site has needed some TLC for a while, so I hope I can show it some additional care in the coming months. It's called Building Beyond, after all -- building beyond current limitations, building beyond into new things -- even including a more functional blog post delivery system.

More soon, dear readers.

emily