arianaofimladris

[arianaofimladris]

Christmas packing 😃

[arianaofimladris]

The last of my crochet gifts is finished and I managed that a few days before deadline (and over a week before ultimate deadline). I used 1500m (a bit less) of merino/acrylic yarn, hook size 4mm. It's for my mum.

The pattern is Rutka shawl by Martika Grabowska.

[arianaofimladris]

Reshaping is back! It took me ages this time, but I needed to finish making Christmas gifts first.

[arianaofimladris]

I like Christmas songs. They make surviving shitty December days easier. I like the tiny things that are put personal family traditions.

I don't want a lot for Christmas. I can buy things I need or want.

I just want to sit by the table with the same people as last year. And I want to see the same people on the next Christmas Eve. That's all.

[arianaofimladris]

Road to Kaer Morhen by Fadly Romdhani

[arianaofimladris]

Ohhh for fuck's sake, if I hear "black Friday WEEKS" ad one more time...

What the hell is wrong with this world 🤦🏼‍♀️

Kill it. With fire. Or anything else.

[arianaofimladris]

Alright, I read The Crossroads of Ravens (or whatever the official title is going to be in English)

The review is without spoilers regarding the plot, just my general impressions, so don't worry.

In short words. It's shit.

I was mildly optimistic when I learned the book was going to be about young Geralt. And young Geralt we get indeed, but he's so bleak and, hmm, plain. It's hard to read more into him. Or I can figure out what I'm probsvly meant to see, but I don't really feel it.

Funny, I should be glad that it is mostly Geralt's POV (with one exception of Sapkowski doing his typical stuff when he needs to push the plot forward from one scene to another, which is presenting the events either in a random conversation or in a letter exchange). But I hardly felt like I was reading about Geralt.

The first 40 pages or so was a styllistic nightmare, with sentences often short and clumsy, with repetitions that seemed unnecessary and (in Polish) awfully jarring. After that it either got a bit better, or I resigned myself to this standard and stopped paying this much attention. I also had this ridiculous thought like I was reading some equivalent of a game tutorial, the kind where the game teaches you fighting mechanism under a cover of training.

I admit, I looked at the plot and plot ideas like I would look at a fanfic. Would I buy this or that in a random story online, or would I cringe and roll my eyes? Sadly, it was the latter most of the time.

There were bits where I can see a lot of wasted potential. Putting a very young Geralt in situations similar or parallel to the ones we know from the saga could be interesting. To show his youth, maybe his naivety, his lack of experience... And this book tries that a few times, but I don't think it delivers. There is not enough build-up to get me invested, and especially when such situation is a parallel to one of the short stories (and Witcher at its best), I just see how pale this one looks in comparison. The best attempt of such parallel was a confrontation thst takes literally 2,5 pages of the book.

How can I get invested when the whole situation is like a 1,5-2k long one-shot fanfic "Geralt gets to fight monster X"?

Side characters and dialogues is another matter that is a huge downgrade. Most of the side characters from the saga, even if they appear just for a scene or two, are distonguishable. Like the dwarf Dennis Cranmer from Voice of Reason. Or Linus Pitt and the discussion on the boat. In this book after finishing it an hour ago I can point one character (besides Geralt and Nenneke) that had some sort of character arc, but he was also, say, main side character. Aside from him, I can say there was this agent, that old lady, that guy from authority... Or there was a caricature of a wizard from saga. No way I can recall any name from my memory.

It was sad when I read half a page and suddenly thought "oh, that actually feels like Geralt, like Witcher". I wonder if it was some older, recycled note.

All in all, those 280 pages did not manage to get me emotionally invested, even when Geralt went to do things that were questionable or stupid or in any way this kind of things that should make me feel. There was one positive note at the very end, but it didn't feel earned and I was just flipping through the last 20 pages just to finish reading.

It's definitely worse than Season of Storms. I remember reading that book ten years ago and then not touching it for the next eight years. When I reread it about two years ago, I was mildly entertained (also because of excellent Polish audiobook) and I got the impression that Sapkowski played a bit and had a bit of fun when it was just Geralt fooling around, with no great stakes looming over him.

In case of Crossroads of Ravens, it was just boring.

[arianaofimladris]

My copy of the new Witcher book is on its way to me, I should be able to pick it tomorrow. I guess I have plans for Friday evening 😁

[arianaofimladris]

... How do I get a fic that is exactly the same but different...?

I have a yummy concept of Bruce being worried/concerned/maybe actually a bit scared what his batmaning leads to when he ends up more seriously injured. I like the concept. The problem is I already mentioned that. Twice.

[arianaofimladris]

I crocheted a cap. Aaaand I drew the pattern for it, once I learned from other patterns how to make the increase starting from the top.

I used Drops Baby Merino yarn (175m in 50g) and used it all (1 yarn cake) for this cap. I crocheted with 3,5mm hook.

It was fun and I actually like the result. It's not bulky (I hate myself in caps in general) and I might actually suffer wearing it.

[arianaofimladris]

Aaand here goes the shawl for my gran. I'm done with Christmas presents I planned ahead, I'm going to try and make one more before Christmas, for mum.

50/50 merino/acrylic yarn, 1400m. The pattern is Helianthus Annuus, I made it once already.

[arianaofimladris]

So, the first bit of the new Witcher book by Andrzej Sapkowski was published in Nowa Fantastyka. The book will be available in a week. I'm quite optimistic, since the book is going to be about young Geralt from what I've seen. I was afraid the new book would be just set in the Witcher world but telling some stories of side characters, or perhaps completely new ones. I'm glad it's Geralt.

So for now I'm waiting to buy "Rozdroże kruków" ("The Crossroads of Ravens" or "Ravens Crossroads", I don't know what the official translation ia going to be)

Spoilers under the cut concerning the bit published in the magazine. You've been warned.

Obviously there is not much to say after reading three pages in a magazine, but the story picks after an event Geralt recalls in one part of The Voice of Reason, when he monologues to Iola and talks about his first monster (the guy who tried to rape a girl). The bit in the zine picks directly after this. Im all for reading about young Geralt confrontinv what he learned with the reality.

[arianaofimladris]

I wonder what's so hard about keeping the basic text formatting in posts online? I'm not talking about anything elaborate, I'm talking about using damn sentences. As in - starting them with a capital letter and finishing with a dot. Using capital letters for names etc.

Sometimes I see long posts in topics that may potentially interest me, but when it's a wall of text with no capital letters, it puts me off. I can't help but see it as a lack of of respect for the potential readers. If the author couldn't be bothered to write something readable, then why should I bother trying to read it?

It's ok for content to be imperfect, with some typos or maybe grammar mistakes (I'm not even a native English speaker, I'm not going to judge others for using English speaking Internet the way they can). But gosh, capital letters is a basic general rule 🤦🏼‍♀️

I feel it's one thing when you write on a private chat with a friend, we all type fast and make typos, or autocorrect makes some funny changes. It's another matter when you write and post something for public to read. Or write an email at work.

[arianaofimladris]

I just ventured into some ancient parts of my drive and found a Word file with elvish dictionary. File modification date? June 2004.

That makes it 20 years in Tolkien fandom.

(Yes, I do move folders from one computer to another. Yes, I have not had a data loss in 20 years, since I was twelve. I don't remember experiencing one before that either, but my files don't go before 2004.)

[arianaofimladris]

That's me opening some unfinished fics from a decade before out of curiosity. IF I'm lucky enough to have an outline to fill in the gaps in the story xD

[arianaofimladris]

It's our Independence Day!

[arianaofimladris]

There are moments when I have ZERO tolerance and that is for smelling people.

I'm taking what is the most expensive train around here and still the guy next to me reeks of old alcohol and not-so-clean clothes. Wtf is this guy doing in a train reeking half as bad as a homeless person in a city bus. I understand the latter seeking warmth there.

But this guy has the ticket. And travells among people like this.