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IT IS DONE AHHH here’s the redraw of my first big witcher fan art I did in 2017

hansa shenanigans will always be my favorite :’)

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tag urself the witcher edition

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Watching BBC Dracula, going from ep 1 to 3 like

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Roger the entire time he was dictating his letter to Lyra in front of Mrs Coulter knowing he was calling her out on her shit

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MRS COULTER’S GREEN DRESS

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lyra being the absolute cutest at the arctic institute ୧☉□☉୨

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His Dark Materials | 1x02 The Idea of North.

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My niece? no I don't care, I- trips thousands of pictures of Lyra spill from pockets fuck those aren’t mine i swear i’m just holding them for a friend i- slips on a pile of pictures fu ck no they’re not mine i hate her i just- more pictures fall out as he fall to his knees, desperately trying to pick them up hang on a sec jUst LISTEN

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Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry in the opening credits sequence

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His Dark Materials: Season 1, Episode 1 Reaction

So I watched the first episode of the BBC adaptation  of His Dark Materials last night and let me just say, I love it so far. I adored the books when I was a teenager but they also tore the heart out of me, so I think I’m due a reread by this stage. Below the cut I’ll write not so much a review as a response to the episode, and it will contain some light spoilers so if you haven’t watched the episode yet, read at your discretion. 

1. Lord Asriel

The opening sequence with little baby Lyra being transported to Jordan College by gyrocopter with Lord Asriel was visually stunning, I’m not going to lie. While the Great Flood is described as utterly devastating to many communities in Phillip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, Oxford just seemed to be partly submerged in pretty, dark blue river water. I'm aware that Asriel didn't bring Lyra to Oxford on his own - he only acquired Lyra because she was rescued from the Great Flood by young Malcolm Polstead and his friend Alice. But I understand the omission of Malcolm and Alice - there are plenty of characters for the audience to keep track of, and when Northern Lights was published, we had no idea that Malcolm or Alice even existed, so I suppose showing only Lord Asriel is fair.

As for Asriel himself in this episode, I really loved James McAvoy's performance. On Twitter it was kind of hilarious how many people were thirsting for him (no disrespect meant - I completely understand. That shock of grey going through his hair is quite fetching). I was a little bit wary when McAvoy was cast though, because while Asriel is certainly a very impressive character and obviously has a fierce devotion to the pursuit of intellectual freedom and personal liberty, he is also kind of a dick. I thought McAvoy might be a tad too likeable for the role, even thought that would help add to Asriel's magnetism. But McAvoy did an excellent job of capturing the essence of a man who had lofty but honourable ambitions, while also being a sub-par guardian to Lyra, however much she admires him. The scene where he puts her to bed upside-down perfectly portrayed how bad he is at touchy feely- stuff.

2. Lyra Belacqua and Dafne Keen.

Oh my word, Dafne Keen is wonderful as Lyra. She captures Lyra's zest for life and her adventurous spirit so well, and it's only the first episode! She's less feral than her book counterpart, who was constantly getting into mud fights with other children and was basically a wild thing. But it was a joy to watch Lyra and Roger running across the rooftops of Jordan College together in this episode. What I also like is that Dafne Keen really seems to understand Lyra, which is of course what you want from an actress but she seems to have a fundamental understanding of what makes Lyra such a fantastic character. Her Lyra is intelligent, 'brilliant but lazy' in a way, adventurous, and does have a passionate need to be acknowledged by Asriel, but it's as much about to pursuing her own dreams as getting approval from a paternal figure.

3. The Title Sequence.

I almost wept at how beautiful the title sequence was. The beauty of the visuals took my breath away and the accompanying music was absolutely stunning, and made me feel such exquisite hope and sadness for what this series might be able to do. There were nods to The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass, the gorgeous image of the alternate worlds pressing against each other like the pages of a book, and then the re-working of an Escherian staircase, with Lyra walking up one side, and a boy (most likely Will) making his way down the other side. 

4. The Gyptians.

Ma Costa, Farder Coram and even John Faa are such important formative influences on young Lyra, providing her with a very different sense of community to what she would have experienced in Jordan College. In this first episode though, we see them as their own people as opposed to them purely being seen through Lyra's eyes. The coming of age ceremony was very cool (having an animal companion is already awesome enough, but imagine getting a ring to commemorate the form your daemon took?). We get a sense of their customs, their traditions and how important their sense of community is to them, and of course as a marginalised community in this unequal society, Gyptian children are some of the first children to be snatched by the Gobblers.

5. Mrs Coulter.

Mrs Marisa Coulter. I could write for hours about Mrs Coulter and how fascinating she is as a character. I actually didn’t mind Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of her in the 2007 film, and I particularly like the reveal scene between her and Lyra towards the end of the film. But in this BBC adaptation, I’m very glad that we have a brunette Mrs Coulter. Her introduction and entrance alone were magnificent (again, the music was exquisite). And Ruth Wilson did a splendid job of portraying how charismatic she is, while also hinting at her duplicitous nature and ulterior motives. Mrs Coulter is a delightfully complex character, and manages to play Lyra like a fiddle in this first episode. Also, from clips I’ve seen from the trailers and from Ruth Wilson’s interviews, I get the impression that this is going to be a wilder Mrs Coulter than we’ve seen before. Some have dubbed her 'The Mother of All Evil', which is as well as being an impressive moniker, is also going to have pretty hilarious connotations by the end of this season. I feel as though I am going to have plenty to write about next week as the character is fleshed out more so I’ll just finish by saying that it’s going to be really nice to see this fabulous villianess grace our screens each week.

Some Quibbles:

Where are all of the minor characters’ daemons? And sometimes even Pan or Roger’s daemon or Stelmaria would disappear and I’d be like ‘Has Lord Asriel learnt to separate? Is that what is happening here?’ While this wasn't such a big deal in crowd scenes such as the scene introducing the Gyptians and the banquet in Jordan College, scenes such as that on the airship and in the corridors of Jordan seemed to show adult characters with no demons. This bothered me slightly, as it just came across as lazy. I know it's quite the undertaking to show every single daemon belonging to every single character, but that's the world that Lyra lives in. We can't just assume that every extra has a mouse or an insect daemon and so they're probably hiding in their coat pockets. Perhaps later episodes will do better in this regard. The daemons that we did see looked wonderful.

Sooo . . . Lyra brought no luggage with her on the airship to London? Also, was Mrs Coulter making sure that the airship was delaying take-off? Otherwise she was leaving an awful lot to chance. It was very possible that Lyra could have missed that flight.

Lyra shouting at the alethiometer was kind of hilarious. No hun, it doesn't so much as 'tell you' the truth as show you it. God, Dr Carne, you need to be more clear about these kinds of things.

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So I’ve started reading Philip Pullman’s ‘The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage’, once again.

I had to stop reading it when I first bought it, purely because I had reading material to get through for work and I had to prioritise that. Given that the new TV series is airing in November it seemed like the right time to sink back into that world. I’ve missed Pullman’s writing more than I was expecting to? It has been quite a while since my last reread of His Dark Materials, and I just purchased The Secret Commonwealth so it made sense to read the Book of Dust from the beginning. I may post an actual review or response in the near future.

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It has been a while ...

I’m back on Tumblr after a lengthy absence (mainly because I have more time on my hands). Even so, I’m not sure how much time I’ll spend actively posting, as opposed to liking the content of other people.

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I’m kind of ashamed that it took me so long to see the parallels between these two - both female characters whom I absolutely adored. The difference was that I always knew that Morgana was going to become a villain, whereas what happened to Daenerys was unexpected and also, senseless. They certainly both deserved better than being stabbed to death by men they once cared for . . .

Morgana (Merlin) | Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones)

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Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake -Review.

‘Three Dark Crowns’ is a YA fantasy novel by author Kendare Blake. The plot takes place on the island of Fennbirn where every generation, triplets are born who are each equal heirs to the throne. These triplets are always female and only one Queen can sit on the throne, so once they turn sixteen they must all fight to the death so that one Queen will emerge triumphant - by killing her sisters. In all, pretty dark stuff. The Queens in question all have special abilities too. We have Mirabella, who can control the elements; Katherine, who can make the deadliest of poisons, and Arsinoe, who has a natural affinity with wildlife. 

I enjoyed this book very much, but I will admit that I was disappointed by certain things. It has a very original world, an intriguing plot, conflicted characters, pretty black dresses! There are also poisonous feasts, human sacrifices and bears (oh my!). Firstly, let me just describe what I loved about this book.This world that Kendare Blake has developed was fascinating to me, and I enjoyed how she brought the world to life. There was not a lot of information dumping in this book - the reader gradually and organically learnt about the traditions and customs of the world as the story played out. Of course, this meant that certain details were not explained because they were not relevant to the plot, which could get quite frustrating (I still have no idea what the royal Midwife does after she’s done raising the Queens. Like, is she allowed to leave her post or does she have to live out her days in the same dingy cottage?). But in all, I really liked the potential that this world had and would like to read even more about its history. 

The characters were a mixed bunch. I liked all of the queens and felt that their personalities, their desires and their whims were all suitably original and sympathetic. One thing I really enjoyed were the amount of female relationships in this novel, from female friendships to mother-daughter relationships to the dynamic between the sisters themselves. Some characters were a little one-note, but others had wonderful development and enormous potential for other books. 

Another positive thing about the book were the horror elements. Again, this is a very dark world. The concept of triplets being born who have to kill each other in order to claim the throne is stark enough.But things happen over the course of this book that genuinely shocked me, or that became much darker than I thought they would. Blake was able to to create a convincing atmosphere of dread and mystery in many sections of this novel, and I would love to see how certain scenes would appear in a visual medium. 

As for negatives, I have already said that I wish certain elements of the world-building had been made a little clearer. But one of the weakest things about the novel are the romances. This is just my personal preference perhaps and I don’t have a problem with romance being included, but I felt that some of the romantic subplots took time away from developing the characters a bit more, and making the plot more rich. There were one or two that I enjoyed and thought were quite sweet, but there was one love triangle that I found extremely grating to read (these girls deserve better).

As I can’t get into spoilers in this review I will simply say that I think this book ended well, and it left me wanting to read the sequel, ‘One Dark Throne’. It’s difficult to say who this book would appeal to. It’s hardly ‘A Game of Thrones’ but it is full of courtly intrigue, and it has a decent collection of villains. In all ‘Three Dark Crowns’ is an interesting fantasy novel with fascinating world-building and relatable characters. Although I had problems with certain this, it definitely made me want to find out what happens next. 

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Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name (via quotespile)

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So full of RAGE!!!

So, this is my second attempt at Tumblr, and I would quite like to be productive in some way.This blog will mostly contain reviews, speculations, maybe some mini-essays, and whatever else I decide it will have. I may also reblog a lot of content for writers, both to help myself and also to share that ever valuable knowledge. 

I may also get angry about things. A LOT of things.