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‘what, rationally, was my best course of action? kill them all.’

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Cruel Beauty Reread (ch13-15):

Ignifex is genuinely so refreshing as a love interest.

Aesthetically, he fits a lot of the popular tropes; he's regarded as the villain and feared by everyone, morally grey, super powerful, and has shadow related powers. But, from his first introduction on he immediately acts different from the usually broody gravelly emotionally constipated tortured mmc.

Ignifex is very much a trickster character. He's silly and unserious. He's fully aware that Nyx is out to kill him, but he just doesn't give a shit. In fact, his literal reaction to Nyx telling him she will murder him to avenge her mother and free her people is "completely understandable, please try again" (he's also into it).

Also, I need more fictional men who lay their head on the fmc's lap. It's cute.

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Cruel Beauty Reread (ch9-12):

Despite really loving this book, I will be honest the start of the romance romances? love triangle? is a little rushed.

I would have liked to spend a little more time getting to know Shade and the switch from hating Ignifex and wanting him to suffer happens super quickly. Tbf, though, Nyx' desperate need to be loved is a core character trait of hers, which plays a huge part in how she interacts with both Shade and Ignifex (and pretty much every character).

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Cruel Beauty Reread (ch8):

One of the things that makes me love this book so much and reread it so often is that it is a great mystery book. Despite the genuinely surprising twists towards the end, they are all really well foreshadowed.

It's actually impressive how well the mystery is handled, considering that the story is a fairytale retelling and covers a very familiar plot.

It's also really nice to read a ya fantasy romance, where the fmc is actually pretty astute and picks up on most of the clues as well. It makes her feel competent and the mystery more compelling.

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Cruel Beauty Reread (ch 5):

Oh, Nyx Triskelion, the woman that you are...

I kinda forgot how erratic and how much of a mess she is (affectionate). Reading her first interaction with Ignifex (mli), she jumps between petrified, ready to murder and "take me now" in literal seconds.

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I was today years old when I found out that Rosamund Hodge (author of Cruel Beauty) published a new book last year.

It's a ya sleeping beauty retelling, so I might do a liveblog for that when I'm done with my Cruel Beauty reread.

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Fun fact: I have explained the Silmarillion twice now during both occasions I unintentionally called the great eagles hedgehogs the entire times.

It says a lot about how unhinged the Silmarillion is that neither time did my audience think that a giant hedgehog clawing Morgoth's face or flying Beren and Luthien to safety sounded out of place.

Explaing Tolkien lore to the unaware be like:

"... and then the continent of Beleriand was destroyed and sank beneath the waves."

"Oh so like Atlantis?"

"No, Atlantis comes later."

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It finally hit me today why I find SJM’s use of sexual violence so off: because she’s doing what a lot male authors do, where her first thought as to what could traumatize a female character is sexual.

I have thought about it a lot, and I can’t find a compelling reason for Nesta to have been potentially assault by Thomas. SJM in general has a strange distaste for humans in her fantasy—a topic for another day—but I really don’t see what it does for Nesta’s development. It doesn’t change her, really. All it does is, I guess, give her more similarities to Emerie and Gwyn? But why is THAT something they have to share.

Of the female characters, most of them have some kind of sexual trauma, and medieval times were bad for everyone but the average person had never been, y’know, that monstrous. Why did Rhysand have to sexually assault abs drug Feyre? All it did in the end was serve to set up their “romance” by having it be consensual the next time, which, to put a kind word to it, is in poor taste.

Thoughts?

Definitely agree on how Feyre‘s abuse is handled. No matter what came after, Sjm shot herself in the foot with the Feysand romance the moment she wrote the SA in book 1.

With specifically Nesta, the use of SA is almost acceptable. Which honestly makes it feel worse to me than how those male authors write sexual violence .

Her initial SA by Tomas and the allegorical SA through the Cauldron could both have been defensible to me. I would even argue that both work well together. Tomas happens completely off page, and the Cauldron gives the reader/character a concrete event to explore this topic while still having level of separation through its symbolic nature. Combine that with her friendship with Gwyn and Emerie, who both experienced various forms of gendered violence, and it's a pretty decent recipe for a story about a woman healing from the trauma of SA.

But, where Sjm then completely loses me again is by adding unnecessary gratuitous SA via the Kelpie and the completely unacknowledged sexual exploitation by Cassian and the IC.

It just leads to a complete thematic incoherence in Aosf, ruining what could have been a pretty solid story about finding healing, love, and acceptance. Instead, Nesta is caged and beaten into submission by her family and love interest, all while the narrative presents this to the reader as sth to cheer for. It retroactively makes the Tomas and Cauldron SA seem gratuitous and unnecessary as well.

However, as frustrating as the writing of SA for the female characters is, it's infinitly worse for the male characters. So many of them have experienced some form of SA, Rhysand, Lucien, Tamlin, and even in her other series Crescent City, I'm pretty sure Hunt has as well. All of the perpetrators, of course, are powerful, scheming, promiscuous women. And none of their resulting traumas are explored in any meaningful way.

Tamlin‘s is completely ignored. Neither his trauma of being preyed on as a child nor whatever Amarantha potentially did to him utm gets any mention at all.

Rhys' trauma is only referenced insofar that it gives him enough sympathy for both the reader and Feyre to forget about his own wrongdoings. Otherwise, his trauma has almost zero effect on his relationship with the IC, his romance with Feyre nor his rulership over the NC.

And Lucien‘s trauma is only used to further prove how bad Tamlin and the SC are, how trustworthy Rhys is, and mark Ianthe as completely irredeemable. Lucien himself gets no focus afterwards, other than having to grovel to Feyre for his perceived moral failings.

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Rereading Cruel Beauty (ch1-5):

Nyx is mean, but I think she's much less mean than she thinks she is.

She definitely says things that hurt her sister Astraia, aunt, and father rightfully so in the beginning chapters. However, especially where Astraia is concerned, Nyx has always been exceptionally kind. But, because her kind actions don't always line up with her thoughts, Nyx has a very skewed perspective on herself. She thinks that because she's jealous and resentful of Astraia, that means her love for her is somehow invalid or not enough.

Nyx and Astraia have such a fascinating relationship. They are twins. But because Nyx was raised as the sacrifice to the Gentle Lord, she has been treated as a grown-up by her father and aunt since she was nine years old. Astraia was allowed to be a kid, in fact, Nyx was forced to mother and shield Astraia. Despite being the same age, Nyx was parentified, and Astraia was infantilized.

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AITA for trying to kill myself and killing my man’s girlfriend after my situationship didn’t pay enough attention to me?

I (M) recently drowned my situationship (also M) in a bathtub for a college assignment. After being resurrected through medical malpractice involving stolen EpiPens he suddenly had a religious episode and stopped paying attention to me. So logically, I found his girlfriend (F) who is also MY friend and convinced (read: gaslighted) her into tying me to a table and electrocuting me. This surprisingly did not go well and she died. My situationship then got mad and shot me 3 times, I think he was overreacting. AITA?

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Just started my annual reread of Cruel Beauty (that Beauty and the Beast retelling I can't shut up about)

I'm only a couple of chapters in, and god, do I love Nyx and Astraia. Their relationship dynamic is so complicated and tasty 😋

Nothing tops sisters (or any familial relationship really tbh) that is filled with resentment, jealousy and an unconditional love all mixed together ❤️

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Engel in schwarz

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Breaking News 🥺😢💔💔💔

Gaza under fire again‼️‼️

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #523)

We wake up afraid from bombing and unfortunately the war return again. 💔💔💔

I'm so afraid about my family and my kids please help us evacuate from this place we are crying now and screaming because of the strength of bombing around us.

please help us everything is very dangerous and we return to the killing people. you can support us and my family by donating or sharing my compaign.

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"I am Unity" - Oathbringer ch 119 animation

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Hello friends, I need your help. I have not received any donations this week. I hope for a donation of €10 or €20.🥹🙏🙏🙏

Very Low! Please Share/Donate!

Verified! (356)

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Prophet and Catalyst

The scene it's based on:

No text + lineart appreciation versions

They seem like "really good friends"

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The worst thing just happened! The character whose death has been telegraphed since the beginning just died 💔