I just finished my second Patricia McKillip and I am fully prepared to read her entire body of work. I started with Alphabet of Thorn last winter and adored it, and this week I finally read Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

Forgotten Beasts is the one book I see my favorite contemporary fantasy authors reference over and over again as a book they read as a child that influences their writing today. When you're reading it you really can see how it is the blueprint for so many stories coming out now and I can't thank McKillip enough for creating these worlds!

Which Patricia A McKillip should I read next?

The ENDING is 🤯🔥🤌❤️‍🔥

If you are someone who likes to read about dragons, then you MUST READ Riders if Dragons.

All Ginny wants is to be a dragon rider like her brother, but she has to rebel and walk on this path alone.

✨ I am a Fourth Wing fan, and that's why while reading I was subconsciously noting the differences between the two. And There are some aspects where I liked Riders of Dragon more than Fourth Wing.

First of all the bond between dragon and rider is wayy deep. A rider hatches a dragon and takes care of them right from birth. The world has all sorts of dark plots like dragon robbery, killing and selling - just like real world. ✨

Secondly, this book captures misogyny which women face so well. I was so pissed at her parents. Ginny has to prove herself at every point. She is not taken seriously in cases because of her gender. I love that she sticks to her guns and rebels. 🔥

👏 There are parts of book which are dedicated just to her training with her dragon, Fang. Personally those were very important because that solidified her character arc.

But one thing, it is not as dark or intense as Fourth Wing. It is a cozy romantasy with a plot twist ending.

Coming to the men, yes plural, because it is a love triangle. I am not a huge fan of love triangles as they are tricky and could immediately make the characters look super messy. And honestly, I wasn't a fan, until some things happened. No spoilers of course 😉

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but it was such a great cliffhanger! I can't wait to read The Dragon theif. I have so many questions - who is she gonna end up with, where is book taking place, what about her parents?

Honestly, go for it. It's a great book. 9/10.

Thank you so much BookSparks and A.T Qureshi for this copy.

#frc2026 #riderofdragons #romantasybooks

It’s election time!

As this blog post comes out, many states are now starting early voting. Here at FBC, we want to make sure y’all are prepared for the midterms, starting with making sure you’re registered to vote.

Vote.gov is a government website that makes checking your registration and knowing your voting rights incredibly easy. Make sure the website is vote.gov, not votesafe.org, which is a website created by Elon Musk that has been rumored to be collecting your voting information and selling it.

Once you’re on vote.gov, you’ll see a red button that says “Select your state or territory to begin”. Go ahead and click on your state or territory, and that will take you to a page dedicated to voting information about your state, including a link to where you can check if you’re registered to vote.

Make sure to go through the entire page! Even if it’s too late to register by mail or online, you may still be able to register in person. I live in Missouri, where the deadline to register online, in-person, or by mail is 27 days before Election Day, which means it would be too late for me to register now if I wasn’t already. My home state of California, however, allows for online and mail registration up to 15 days before Election Day, and in-person registration is available on Election Day itself. Each state has different rules and regulations for how to register and when you can, so it’s important to read this thoroughly.

If you want to vote by mail and are unsure if you’re eligible or how to go about it, visit eac.gov, the US Election Assistance Commission website. You’ll choose your state and be given a list of links for your voting concerns, including mail-in or absentee voting.
If you have any questions about voting, please let us know either in the comments below or in Discord. We’re more than happy to answer them.

Don’t forget, you can look up your sample ballot on ballotpedia.org, giving you time to look through each representative and any ballot measures so that you can be prepared on Election Day.