I've been buying the books one by one but I finally got the chance to scoop up a whole bundle I hadn't read yet. Great value! Looking forward to seeing what everyone gets up to in this era; bodes well so far for baby dragons.

Now I get to decide what these wonderful people look like, and what colours I want them to wear 🐻💐💞

Whimsical fun ☺️ I was planning to give it to a young friend, but I also want to play with it myself 😄

This is the book I have been waiting for! Women have so much power 💪, but men have been jealous of it. Thanks for letting us see these images 💖

The three books are very informative and inspiring. But they're also fun! The illustrations are really well done. They drive the narrative and they add to the fun! The points are chopped into manageable segments with great illustrations that are, did I mention? Fun.

Ended well. An enjoyable read with solid characters

If the thought of dense, dry textbooks makes you break out in hives (or desperate need for chocolate), this is the perfect antidote by anecdote! The three jaguars tackles the tough business topics with love, coffee, and humour... not just the ones you expect like "contracts", but the real problems you encounter like "when the contract is terrible, but you really wanted to be in that project" and "When deadlines are looming, but your heart is in a bitter and angry place, and the results that would come out if you force it would be something the your audience will not like."

Highly recommended!

I like the shirt. Image is good, shirt is well-made, I’ll wear it often.

Well fitting, decent quality shirt! And the back image and text are lovely.

If one already has most of the books in the bundle, it might not be the best choice. Otherwise, might work well as a gift to someone else one might know would enjoy them.

This novel is the back story on Sedryl, who only develops into a major character in the later books of the Pelted Universe, and I came to it with a lot of pre-knowledge. That said, I think that it would be an interesting read even for someone new to that world.
Like all of of Hogarth's characters, Sedryl is completely believable in her world. Although this is set in a future of intersteller space flight, and multiple cultures living together, the world that she comes from is insular and so stiffly regulated by custom and strict codes of conduct that is most like the stiff British upper society of 1800s literature. Poor Sedryl, more interested in science, farming and the wellbeing of her world than in proper behavior and class considerations! And then she goes abroad, and has to deal with different stereotypes, which also lead to misunderstandings. Sedryl has to work out what she really wants from life, and don't we all respond to that quest!
I love the future described, the science is a backdrop, believable but not intrusive. This is character driven, more finely focused on one character than many of the Pelted Universe novels, but is an extremely satisfying read.
I am a huge fan of MCA Hogarth's Pelted Universe, so I can only guess how this book would land as in entry point to the stories, but I heartly recommend it, as I recommend all MCA Hogarth's writing. She is very good, and her self published books are as polished as anything from the big publishers. (For those of you who might have qualms)

These books are not only very approachable, thanks to a profusion of cartoon jaguars, but also insightful, written from the point of view of someone who Gets It as an Artist. You won't find many hard numbers here-- but plenty of methodology, thoughts into why something might or might not work for you as an artist, and clarity into how to develop and shape a business from the ground up. If you've been thinking about dipping your toes into commissions, convention or mail sales, running a Kickstarter, this is a great investment.

Let me begin this review by stating that I don´t often read romances. I occassionally read books that feature romance, but it´s usually not the main focus of the story. I´ve never read books that feature non-standard pairings either. To navigate the sea of love can be perilous enough in a world with only two genders. Add two more and things are bound to get interesting. But I decided to give this duology a try based on the strength of the first books preview.

And I´m glad that I took that leap of faith.

The first book, "Thief of Songs" follows Amet Emendexte-ilye, "a sharp blade of a man in black silk". A poet and composer of noble blood from the kingdom´s western mountainous region, Amet has travelled to the capital in the east to set the record straight with the royal composer, Dancer on the Cusp of Twilight, for having the temerity to pass Amet´s work off as mere folk music.

The beautiful hermaphrodite Dancer on the Cusp of Twilight on the other hand, is intrigued by the handsome, mysterious stranger...
Little does Amet know that their meeting will set in motion events that will make him question everything he thought he knew about the east, and see his fate intertwined with not only Dancer but with Dancer´s neuter companion Always Falling.

The second book, "Cantor for Pearls" follow Amet and Always Falling as they travell to the sea-side home of Always Fallings family ,summoned by the news of the impending death of an important member of it´s kin. And what kin it is. But not everyone is happy about the family reunion. Can Amet help Always Falling heal the rifts in it´s family and navigate the shifting currents of a culture even more alien than the already alien culture of the east?

The strenght of these two books are two-fold. Ever since I came across this author in 2013 I have been impressed by the strenght of her world-building, and these books are no exception. Hogarth embarks upon a world-building tour-de force and skillfully weaves together the political, cultural and sociological implications of her world-building choices into a splendidly beautiful silken fabric.

And on this fabric she displays her second strength and paints with her calligraphers brush the most exquisite prose and beautiful character interactions. Every character she paints feel like a believable product of the society they grew up in and the intimate moments, both sexual and otherwise, are depicted in a tasteful and well-measured fashion. There simply are no "cringe" moments to be found.

To read these books was a pure delight, and I can only hope that other prospective readers decide to make the same leap of faith that I did.
I daresay most who do will not be disappointed.

/Patrik the Swede

These were the first MCA Hogarth books I read, and though they're not technically the beginning of the timeline, they're a good entry point for the world. In addition to doing a pretty good job giving you a view of the fictional universe and how it works, they're a strong and beautiful look at what it takes to be human, to grow and to change (even if not all the characters doing so are, technically, human). Highly recommend for adult readers, use your discretion for older teens, not for younger teens or kids, IMO.

I've known of this book for several years but never read it, because I lean towards genteel, fluffy fantasies and this is a story full of sexual violence and torture. But recently, I've been in the mood for something dark and intimate, and with the third book in this series just out, I figured I would finally give it a try.

Rather to my surprise, I loved the book. It has some weaknesses: the plot hinges on diplomacy between two interstellar nations, the Alliance and the Empire, and the complexity of politics on that massive scale is glossed over. The backdrop of nations feels more like a painted image than a living thing that twists, turns, and wreaks havoc behind the scenes. Further, there were points where I wanted the characters to succeed by brilliance and instead the results felt more like chance.

This aside, the story has a lot to recommend it. Lisinthir is delightful, especially in the first half of the book, where his wit, courage, and insight all shine. Watching the Slave Queen evolve over the course of the narrative is remarkable, and the way the two characters rely on each other's strengths is wonderful. I especially liked that the Slave Queen's ability to simply endure, which looks like helplessness, was in its own way a power.

I'd expected to have my suspension of disbelief tested by the set-up: The Alliance and the Empire are described as "allies", but the Empire openly enslaves, tortures, and rapes Alliance citizens at their court: nothing even a little covert or deniable about it. But it hangs together well as states attempting detente rather than actual allies. The Alliance doesn't want to start a war unless they have to, and they're not sure they'll win if they do. So they are tolerating things that one wouldn't expect, say, the modern USA to tolerate. The Empire is technologically sophisticated yet their court spurns the use of any weapon that's not innate; this makes sense as part of their culture and the entire heirarchy on which it's based. It's not obvious how they became an advanced society while retaining a horrific feudal culture that seems more likely to stifle innovation, but there are hints that suggest possibilities. The setting works.

The book's core strength is in its portrayal of the relationships between the main characters and the complexity of their emotions. The story navigates a whole range of emotional states: fear, pain, horror, pleasure, love, hatred, anger, hope, despair, and more. These are powerfully, at times overwhelmingly, depicted. The transformations of all the characters -- and everyone is strikingly transformed before the end -- are difficult and plausibly conveyed. It is an intimate, personal story.

The book is full of depictions of rape, sexual violence, misogyny (oh the MISOGYNY), dominance contests, humiliation, drug abuse, etc. None of this is written for titillation: it is not a remotely erotic novel. There's a certain fascination with the power exchange involved, with the emotional response of characters to all this horror. That gets a fair amount of loving detail. Most of the abuse itself is dealt with in few words and not explicitly described.

I found the work as a whole compelling and engaging, the kind of story that devastates in the best possible way, and that uplifts by the end.