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touching grass isn't enough i need to be

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THE RAVEN KING CHAPTER 31 - comic adaptation PART 2 **IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE 4TH BOOK AND DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED PLEASE SCROLL THROUGH!!! **PART 1

My first time doing a comic longer than 2 pages lmao i died drawing this it was so. HARD!! and it’s only 14 pages long!! so much respect for comic artists all around the world. Here is my xmas/new year gift for the fandom :”) I had to make some changes to adapt the written words to comic but hope that i did a good enough job on this (some feedback would be nice!!)

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THE RAVEN KING CHAPTER 31 - comic adaptation PART 1 **IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE 4TH BOOK AND DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED PLEASE SCROLL THROUGH!!! **PART 2 My first time doing a comic longer than 2 pages lmao i died drawing this it was so. HARD!! and it’s only 14 pages long!! so much respect for comic artists all around the world. Here is my xmas/new year gift for the fandom :”) I had to make some changes to adapt the written words to comic but hope that i did a good enough job on this (some feedback would be nice!!)

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What do you know about Welsh kings?

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It´s ridiculously hot here so I spent all day inside drawing the gang(sey)

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TRC Latin

All the Latin in The Raven Cycle that isn’t translated in the books. The page numbers are from the English paperbacks of the first three, and the hardcover of TRK.

with commentary, you don’t have to read that

THE RAVEN BOYS

114 internec- Whelk was interrupted writing the word on the board, but it’s a word for “kill,” internecare, with the ending off, so it could be conjugated. 115 Ostendes tuum et ostendam meus? Show my yours and I’ll show you mine. (“Meus” is nominative, and here the accusative, “meum” should be used.) 247 Loquere tu nobis? You speak to us? (Loquere is the unconjugated word, here it would be more correct to say “Loquitis nobis?”) 249 Hic gaudemus. Gratias tibi … loquere – loqui pro nobis. This makes us rejoice. Thank you … To speak – you speak for us. (The first literally means “This we rejoice,” but I think that’s a correct way to say it. In the last bit, “loqui” isn’t a word, but I think Gansey means “loquitis.”)

THE DREAM THIEVES 121 In indiget homo battery. The man needs a battery. (Latin doesn’t use the words “a” or “the” so this could also be translated as “A man needs the battery” or whatever. I have no idea what the word “in” is doing here, so we’ll blame that on Ronan’s bad grammar.) 128 Occidet sum! Kill him! (This is terrible grammar. Literally this means “I am he/she/it kills.” “Kill him” would be “Occidet eum.”) 129 Ronan, imploro te! Ronan, I beg you! (Perfect grammar.) 230 Scio quid hoc est. I know what this is. (Point of interest: the word for “this” is in the neuter case so whatever it’s describing would also have to be a neuter word. 231 Scio quid estis vos. I know what you are. (Latin does not have the tu/vous familiar/formal thing like French, German, Russian or other languages later develop, so this means “I know what you (plural) are,” but considering it is Adam saying this right after turning from being Kavinsky, it could mean Adam knows they are both dreamers, rather than being a mistake.) 322 Unum. Amabo te. One. Please. (While this is what it means, there are more common words for “please,” and instead this is used throughout the rest of the series. According to this site, this translation means “I would be delighted (if),” or literally “I will love you (if),” so that’s interesting.) 

BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE 15 Avide audimus. We listen eagerly. (This could mean “we hear eagerly” as audire most often means “hear” but “listen” makes more sense.) 18 Greywaren semper est incorruptus. The Greywaren is always uncorrupted.  25 Est aliquid in foramen … . Apis? Apibus? Forsitan. Something is in the hole … . A bee? To the bees? Perhaps? (I think the “to the bees” is just a bad attempt to pluralize bees so probably this should be in the nominative rather than the ablative or dative, and thus be “Apes?”) 83 Solvitur ambulando. It is solved by walking. (This apparently just means that the problem should be solved by practical means.) 84 Quod nomen est tibi What is your name (Literally “which name is yours.”) 310 Rogo aliquem aliquid. I ask something something. (This doesn’t translate awesomely but in more natural English it’s “I ask something to something.”)

THE RAVEN KING 10 Owynus dei gratia Princeps Waliae … Owen by the grace of God the Chief of Wales 35 Periculosum … . Suscitat … . Quid– It is dangerous … . It awakens … . What– (The second “it” could also be “he” or “she.”) 58 Salve Hello 72 Cabeswater, dissolvere Cabsewater, dissolve (Technically “to dissolve” as the infinitive is used, but this makes more sense.) 74 Operae pretium est It is worthwhile (This is not a literal translation but this is what the phrase means.) 157 Fiat lux. Let there be light. (Literally “let light.”) 221 Miseria fortes viros, Ronan. Misery __ strong men, Ronan. (There needs to be a verb here for this to make sense and context doesn’t fill in the blank. “Misery” is the subject of the sentence and “strong men” the object, but there needs to be an action and there isn’t.) 284 Unguibus et rostro. To the claws and to the beak. (I have a post about it here if you want to see why it doesn’t translate as just “claw and beak.”) 328 amae vias … . Oce iteres Buckets paths … . Swiftly repeating (I don’t even know what’s going on with the grammar here. “Amae” if you look it up will probably be translated as “love” but -ae is not a verb ending so it can’t be. “Vias” probably means “lay line.” -es in “iteres” is not a noun ending, so I have no idea what that means exactly so the translation there is a guess.) 382 Vox et praeterea nihil. The voice and nothing more. 394 Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. Maybe someday you will rejoice to recall even this. (This is a line from the Aeneid, when Aeneas addresses his exhausted, shipwrecked companions.)

bonus: 201 (TRK) N'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat. There’s nothing to get worked up about. (Literally, this means “there is nothing for which to whip a cat.” It’s in French.)

Someone else made a great post with some of the grammar corrected.

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Sophie’s Dark Academia Rec List

In honour of my favourite genre, have a very personal, very subjective recommendations list!

-        The Secret History (Donna Tartt)

The obvious choice, a classic. In my personal opinion, it’s not perfect and there are better dark academia books out there, but it has massively shaped the genre and therefore deserves recognition. Also, the aesthetic is on point! Read if you want to get a feel for the genre or if you’re simply curious.

-        If We Were Villains (M. L. Rio)

Basically a newer, better The Secret History?? Plenty of similarities, minus certain problematic bits that were present in TSH. Amazing prose, incredible characters, absolutely worth the read. A prime example of dark academia! Read if you love Shakespeare and college settings and compelling characters and drama and just beautiful writing!

-        Black Chalk (Christopher J. Yates)

Also a fairly good example of the genre, but tragically underhyped. Darker than, for example, If We Were Villains. Set at Oxford! Will mess with your head. The characters are not necessarily likeable, but interesting. The writing is fairly complex. Read for a dark academia thriller which takes the unreliable narrator to an impressive new extreme (in a good way!)

-        Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

A rare YA dark academia book! Read for murder and mystery and a beautiful boarding school setting as well as a really likeable main character! Due to its nature less dark and somewhat less mature than most of the other books on this list, but if you’re looking for more of a quick and fun dark academia read, this is the one for you!

In a similar vain: The Vanishing Stair (Maureen Johnson)

Cannot actually vouch for this as I haven’t read it yet, but it’s the sequel to Truly Devious and I have heard good things.

-        The Secret Place (Tana French)

MASSIVELY underappreciated dark academia with (gasp) supernatural elements?! The most beautiful prose and funniest dialogue you will ever see. Incredible characters. Again, amazing boarding school setting and close group of female friends! (They will break your heart). Also murder. Also half of the story being told from a detective’s PoV. Read if you value good literature. Just. Read it.

-        The Likeness (Tana French)

Actually, maybe I was kidding before, maybe this book is the most underappreciated dark academia book out there? Either way, it’s my favourite. Within dark academia and within ALL OF THE BOOKS. This is it. The perfect novel. Characters that own my hearts to this day. Writing so beautiful that it had me sobbing uncontrollably on several occasions. The university it is set in is Trinity College Dublin. (Cue me being bitter that I don’t go there every single day for the rest of my life.) Very intriguing mystery, too. Hilarious dialogue. All the emotions. All the heartbreak. Just… I love it so much, okay? <3

-        The Lying Game (Ruth Ware)

Good, very good. Set in a boarding school near the ocean, but unfortunately, only the past tense story line is and we don’t get to see too much of it. Very interesting characters. Much heavier on the dark than the academia. Read if you’re looking for more of a classic murder mystery/thriller and are not too focussed on the academia. Also read for an interesting group of female friends.

-        The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

Very promising, but wasn’t my cup of tea at all. The setting is an American High School on the West Coast. The murder isn’t that much of a mystery. I’m mentioning it here because I know that other people love this book, even though I really didn’t. I would say don’t read, but see for yourself, I suppose.

-        The Lessons (Naomi Alderman)

Yes, okay, an interesting one. Set at Oxford, which was amazing. Interesting characters with interesting dynamics. I read it quickly and was quite entertained. But there were certain problematic bits (regarding LGBTQ+ representation and mental illness), so you’ve been warned. Not my fave, but I mostly enjoyed it while reading it.

There are a few more dark academia books on my shelves, which I unfortunately cannot include on this list, as I haven’t read them yet. One of them is “The Lake of Dead Languages” by Carol Goodman. Another is “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Might edit this post later to add these and more. xx

UPDATE!! (With slightly longer descriptions this time, because people are actually reading this? Reblogging even? Wow!) 

-        The Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman)

THE ALL-FEMALE DARK ACADEMIA NOVEL WE ALL NEED AND DESERVE…?? The setting is A++. An all-female boarding school in the Adirondack Mountains in New York! There is a lake that features so heavily in the story, it basically counts as a main character. Told from the PoV of a teacher who used to go to the school. There are two close groups of female friends, one in the present timeline, one in the past. Both have dark, dark secrets and both fit the dark academia genre so well! Also, heavy focus on Latin rather than Ancient Greek, which I have all the love for. This one is a gem, so give it a chance!

-        Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

An actual classic, as in… first published in 1945. And it reads like it. The beginning came with beautiful vibes! Our young boy Charles starting his time at Oxford, meeting a lot of pretentious people, including one Lord Sebastian Flyte, who Charles is suspiciously fascinated by. Sebastian is the biggest dork to ever dork, carries around with him an actual teddy bear named Aloysius, the absolute madmen?? But it’s all downhill from there, with alcoholism and war and depressing times… And Oxford only really features in the first half or less.

-        People Like Us (Dana Mele)

Another rare YA dark academia!! Features a group of Mean Girls who one day, when out at night to go swimming, find one of their classmates floating dead in the lake. Which is an excellent dark academia set-up, let’s be honest. Also, sapphic girls, incredible sapphic girls with really complex relationships! Bi main character! A fun and quick read, much like “Truly Devious”. More descriptions of the beautiful boarding school buildings would have been welcome, but at least we got a few! Anyway, go forth and enjoy this little beauty.

-        Party Girls Die in Pearls (Plum Sykes)

Umm… I barely even comprehend this book’s existence? Has a prime dark academia set-up with a murdered girl in Oxford, but I still somehow DNF’d it after about 20 pages?! The main character’s name is Ursula Flowerbutton, and if you think that’s quirky and funny… good for you, you might actually enjoy this book. But you’ll also have to endure descriptions of clothes, oh, so many descriptions of clothes! And for anything unique to Oxford that might make the book fun because only those who know will know… you’ll get a footnote. So actually, everyone will know, with zero effort. Definitely not for me, but if you want to read a glossy magazine style dark academia, knock yourself out, friend!

-        The Night Climbers (Ivo Stourton)

Breath-taking! A piece of beauty! Set at Cambridge (and the campus features heavily!), a main character reminiscent of Richard Papen, an intriguing group of new friends that he would do anything to belong with. Including… climbing the buildings of Cambridge at night? Without proper equipment, just with his hands and feet?? Honestly, out of the books on this list, this one is the closest in style and maturity and characterisation to The Secret History! The writing is absolutely gorgeous, the plot fascinating. And it’s dark academia that features a non-violent crime, which works surprisingly well. All in all: A STUNNER THAT FANS OF THE SECRET HISTORY SHOULD CHECK OUT!!

-        As I Descended (Robyn Talley)

A queer, sapphic Macbeth retelling?? Also a rare YA dark academia with strong supernatural elements?! The representation is on point, with two hispanic main characters, wlw, mlm and one of the girls in the main couple being disabled! The boarding school setting is also on point (and uniquely different as the school building is actually a former plantation in Virginia). This book is so different and so spooky! It wasn’t perfect and some say the retelling didn’t work 100% (I, personally, felt that the plot slowed down a bit), but the atmosphere is amazing and the characters are pretty cool, too!

Not to worry, my quest to find and read as many DA books as possible isn’t over. So this list might be updates again some time in the future! :)

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The Secret History Audiobook on Cassette. Read by Robert Sean Leonard

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Excerpts from Cain, A Mystery by Lord Byron and The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

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@inkedpagesnet creation meme: favorite  standalone books

the secret history, donna tartt

“But how,” said Charles, who was close to tears, “how can you possibly justify cold-blooded murder?’ Henry lit a cigarette. “I prefer to think of it,” he had said, “as redistribution of matter.”

insp.

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(instagram: myfairesttreasure)

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Sophie’s Dark Academia Rec List

In honour of my favourite genre, have a very personal, very subjective recommendations list!

-        The Secret History (Donna Tartt)

The obvious choice, a classic. In my personal opinion, it’s not perfect and there are better dark academia books out there, but it has massively shaped the genre and therefore deserves recognition. Also, the aesthetic is on point! Read if you want to get a feel for the genre or if you’re simply curious.

-        If We Were Villains (M. L. Rio)

Basically a newer, better The Secret History?? Plenty of similarities, minus certain problematic bits that were present in TSH. Amazing prose, incredible characters, absolutely worth the read. A prime example of dark academia! Read if you love Shakespeare and college settings and compelling characters and drama and just beautiful writing!

-        Black Chalk (Christopher J. Yates)

Also a fairly good example of the genre, but tragically underhyped. Darker than, for example, If We Were Villains. Set at Oxford! Will mess with your head. The characters are not necessarily likeable, but interesting. The writing is fairly complex. Read for a dark academia thriller which takes the unreliable narrator to an impressive new extreme (in a good way!)

-        Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

A rare YA dark academia book! Read for murder and mystery and a beautiful boarding school setting as well as a really likeable main character! Due to its nature less dark and somewhat less mature than most of the other books on this list, but if you’re looking for more of a quick and fun dark academia read, this is the one for you!

In a similar vain: The Vanishing Stair (Maureen Johnson)

Cannot actually vouch for this as I haven’t read it yet, but it’s the sequel to Truly Devious and I have heard good things.

-        The Secret Place (Tana French)

MASSIVELY underappreciated dark academia with (gasp) supernatural elements?! The most beautiful prose and funniest dialogue you will ever see. Incredible characters. Again, amazing boarding school setting and close group of female friends! (They will break your heart). Also murder. Also half of the story being told from a detective’s PoV. Read if you value good literature. Just. Read it.

-        The Likeness (Tana French)

Actually, maybe I was kidding before, maybe this book is the most underappreciated dark academia book out there? Either way, it’s my favourite. Within dark academia and within ALL OF THE BOOKS. This is it. The perfect novel. Characters that own my hearts to this day. Writing so beautiful that it had me sobbing uncontrollably on several occasions. The university it is set in is Trinity College Dublin. (Cue me being bitter that I don’t go there every single day for the rest of my life.) Very intriguing mystery, too. Hilarious dialogue. All the emotions. All the heartbreak. Just… I love it so much, okay? <3

-        The Lying Game (Ruth Ware)

Good, very good. Set in a boarding school near the ocean, but unfortunately, only the past tense story line is and we don’t get to see too much of it. Very interesting characters. Much heavier on the dark than the academia. Read if you’re looking for more of a classic murder mystery/thriller and are not too focussed on the academia. Also read for an interesting group of female friends.

-        The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

Very promising, but wasn’t my cup of tea at all. The setting is an American High School on the West Coast. The murder isn’t that much of a mystery. I’m mentioning it here because I know that other people love this book, even though I really didn’t. I would say don’t read, but see for yourself, I suppose.

-        The Lessons (Naomi Alderman)

Yes, okay, an interesting one. Set at Oxford, which was amazing. Interesting characters with interesting dynamics. I read it quickly and was quite entertained. But there were certain problematic bits (regarding LGBTQ+ representation and mental illness), so you’ve been warned. Not my fave, but I mostly enjoyed it while reading it.

There are a few more dark academia books on my shelves, which I unfortunately cannot include on this list, as I haven’t read them yet. One of them is “The Lake of Dead Languages” by Carol Goodman. Another is “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Might edit this post later to add these and more. xx

UPDATE!! (With slightly longer descriptions this time, because people are actually reading this? Reblogging even? Wow!) 

-        The Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman)

THE ALL-FEMALE DARK ACADEMIA NOVEL WE ALL NEED AND DESERVE…?? The setting is A++. An all-female boarding school in the Adirondack Mountains in New York! There is a lake that features so heavily in the story, it basically counts as a main character. Told from the PoV of a teacher who used to go to the school. There are two close groups of female friends, one in the present timeline, one in the past. Both have dark, dark secrets and both fit the dark academia genre so well! Also, heavy focus on Latin rather than Ancient Greek, which I have all the love for. This one is a gem, so give it a chance!

-        Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

An actual classic, as in… first published in 1945. And it reads like it. The beginning came with beautiful vibes! Our young boy Charles starting his time at Oxford, meeting a lot of pretentious people, including one Lord Sebastian Flyte, who Charles is suspiciously fascinated by. Sebastian is the biggest dork to ever dork, carries around with him an actual teddy bear named Aloysius, the absolute madmen?? But it’s all downhill from there, with alcoholism and war and depressing times… And Oxford only really features in the first half or less.

-        People Like Us (Dana Mele)

Another rare YA dark academia!! Features a group of Mean Girls who one day, when out at night to go swimming, find one of their classmates floating dead in the lake. Which is an excellent dark academia set-up, let’s be honest. Also, sapphic girls, incredible sapphic girls with really complex relationships! Bi main character! A fun and quick read, much like “Truly Devious”. More descriptions of the beautiful boarding school buildings would have been welcome, but at least we got a few! Anyway, go forth and enjoy this little beauty.

-        Party Girls Die in Pearls (Plum Sykes)

Umm… I barely even comprehend this book’s existence? Has a prime dark academia set-up with a murdered girl in Oxford, but I still somehow DNF’d it after about 20 pages?! The main character’s name is Ursula Flowerbutton, and if you think that’s quirky and funny… good for you, you might actually enjoy this book. But you’ll also have to endure descriptions of clothes, oh, so many descriptions of clothes! And for anything unique to Oxford that might make the book fun because only those who know will know… you’ll get a footnote. So actually, everyone will know, with zero effort. Definitely not for me, but if you want to read a glossy magazine style dark academia, knock yourself out, friend!

-        The Night Climbers (Ivo Stourton)

Breath-taking! A piece of beauty! Set at Cambridge (and the campus features heavily!), a main character reminiscent of Richard Papen, an intriguing group of new friends that he would do anything to belong with. Including… climbing the buildings of Cambridge at night? Without proper equipment, just with his hands and feet?? Honestly, out of the books on this list, this one is the closest in style and maturity and characterisation to The Secret History! The writing is absolutely gorgeous, the plot fascinating. And it’s dark academia that features a non-violent crime, which works surprisingly well. All in all: A STUNNER THAT FANS OF THE SECRET HISTORY SHOULD CHECK OUT!!

-        As I Descended (Robyn Talley)

A queer, sapphic Macbeth retelling?? Also a rare YA dark academia with strong supernatural elements?! The representation is on point, with two hispanic main characters, wlw, mlm and one of the girls in the main couple being disabled! The boarding school setting is also on point (and uniquely different as the school building is actually a former plantation in Virginia). This book is so different and so spooky! It wasn’t perfect and some say the retelling didn’t work 100% (I, personally, felt that the plot slowed down a bit), but the atmosphere is amazing and the characters are pretty cool, too!

Not to worry, my quest to find and read as many DA books as possible isn’t over. So this list might be updates again some time in the future! :)

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A curve of color.

Victoria Street. Edinburgh, Scotland

By Periscope9

*I thought I would be disheartened by all the dreary weather in Scotland. But even with the leaden gray skies and swift sheets of cold rain, the country is so alive with people and alive with color. The sunshine may come and go, but Scotland remains bright and beautiful.*

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Sayid Jarrah + Looking Happy (Requested by Anonymous)

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THIS. KILLED. ME.

anyway, here´s Blue Sargent in front of 300 Fox Way.