Shané Oosthuizen

Apparently there was something about how Leigh Bardugo originally wanted, like it was meant to be more of an adult story.

And so it's been rewritten.

So any references to the actual age, I'm pretty sure have been taken out in the latest edition.

I think there are so many other unbelievable things at, like, age when it comes to fantasy.

I'm just like, that's the least of my worries.

Like, you know, there are dragons and, you know, magic and everything.

So we can let this one slide.

Well I think mine kind of definitely went through a bit of a journey so I think I kind of started in this epic fantasy space and also I think because there maybe wasn't as much out there for like young girls reading fantasy like this is clearly a very kind of boy-centric you know story so I think I definitely moved away from that in kind of teen years and then other formative books that I would have brought in but we probably wouldn't have had time to cover everything is like Vampire Academy and kind of that paranormal romance era Mortal Instruments like that is also really up there of

you know, with the kind of key series in my life and key books in my life.

But then I think there was this beautiful moment, maybe sort of around the time that I read Six of Crows and Court of Mist and Fury, I think where it was like this epic kind of fantasy and this romance colliding, which is, you know, romantic as we know it today.

So I think that that it was kind of a common thread that like came back, this kind of massive world building and just these really epic grand stories.

And then now, because I mean, that was also about 10 years ago.

I think now I have come back again and it is sort of leaning more towards these books and also anything with a dragon.

But yeah, sort of kind of the more epic fantasy.

There's a couple of books I've recently read that have really kind of reinvigorated my love for the genre too.

Because there was some time where I, again, you kind of go in and out.

Like I think it's, you know, you lose the spark sometimes, but it always comes back.

I never lost it.

sort of you know things in a different space that were maybe a little bit more respected um you know so I think I was forcing myself to read books that I didn't naturally gravitate towards and then I as a result wasn't enjoying reading as much and it wasn't until I returned to the things that I love that I was like oh yeah this is the voracious feeling um so yeah I think it was kind of like outside judgment and then also time um that kind of affected me along the way

Your identity is just, you know, fully formed.