#(though the beloved jarl is only mentioned in this chapter :()

[umbracirrus]

An update for The Perfect Storm, two hours before the end of 2023, featuring a twist on the Thieves Guild quest 'Dampened Spirits'.... Hehe.

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Fic rating: E (for future content)

Chapter description:

Elyse wants a day to relax away from the bustle of Whiterun, but the chaos decides to follow her to Honningbrew Meadery.

Chapter excerpt:

"This is where they are coming from?" Her question went unanswered, but even the silence was enough to provide an answer if the look across his face was anything to go by. "Right. I'll do what I can." Sabjorn muttered something which she could only hope was a 'thank you' under his breath as he turned around and began to make his way back towards the entry room. Lydia had her hand resting on her sword, ready to follow Elyse in, until she was put to a halt by a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be fine on my own," Elyse reassured, before stepping closer to her and leaning up on her toes just slightly so that she could whisper. "Something doesn't sit right about this situation. I'll handle the skeevers if you try to find out more about what has been happening around here. Ask questions, and keep an eye on Sabjorn… maybe that employee of his too, his behaviour seemed out of sorts." Though visibly hesitant, the housecarl nodded. "Be careful then. Shout if you need help."

[thetypedwriter]

Rule of Wolves Book Review

Rule of Wolves Book Review by Leigh Bardugo 

I love Leigh Bardugo. 

I love her Grisha Series. 

I love her characters. 

Essentially, there’s just a lot of love. 

This kind of love towards books can be a double edged sword, though. I have such pure unadulterated adoration for the Six of Crows duology that any other installments in the Grisha verse from Bardugo has never quite lived up. 

That might be a super unfair statement to make and I recognize that. However, Kaz Brekker and his team of criminal misfits was the first foray into Bardugo’s world that I undertook and it has a special place in my heart (yes, I read it before the original Shadow and Bone trilogy and yes, I was an idiot and had no idea what was going on). 

For several reasons, I thought King of Scars was...okay. You can read my review on it here. Largely, I just had a hard time getting invested in the characters and the overall political plot of the world following the heist plot of the previous series. 

Fortunately, this trepidation I had going into the Rule of Wolves was largely expelled. Picking up almost directly from its predecessor, Rule of Wolves follows Nikolai in his desperate goal to claim the broken and bitter throne of Ravka despite machinations of other countries and the ever-looming threat of war from Fjerda, Zoya’s struggle to understand the dragon inside of her as well as her own threat of emotions and vulnerability, Nina’s quest to aid her country while in disguise in a foreign land and her growing feelings for Hanne amidst suitors and Jarl Brum, and Mayu coming to terms with herself and the treacheries of Queen Makhi. 

Basically, there’s a lot going on. 

While I found the four of these characters somewhat banal in King of Scars, I found myself much more tolerable of their characters and their motivations this time around. I think this is largely due to the overall plot being more interesting than the last with Ravka on the brink of war and the immeasurable struggles that come with it. 

Add in the Darkling being resurrected, the Apparat doing shady things as always, the resurgence of not only Alina and Mal, but also of Kaz, Jesper, and Wylan and you’ve got me hooked immediately. 

I did think the cameo’s of Kaz and the boys was a bit of a stretch (truly, I think Bardugo knows how beloved they are and was searching for any reason to fit them into the book) and while my literary brain can recognize this and scoffs, my heart is happy because my loves have returned, however briefly it was. 

I could delve more into the thickness of the plot, the twists and turns that arise, the small surprises that pop up, how Bardugo ends almost every chapter on a cliff-hanger (that is truly a lot of skill), but really, this is book is best left to the Grisha fans out there. 

The plot is complicated. This book came across more like a war book than anything else, and while normally this isn’t my cup of tea, I did enjoy the complexities of all the nations and the delve into more strategic and emotional conflicts. 

I would also be bereft to mention that while I was reading Rule of Wolves the TV show Shadow and Bone started airing on Netflix. I didn’t actually plan to be reading and watching simultaneously, but that’s how it worked out and I couldn’t have asked for anything more beautiful. 

It was so neat to be watching what was the past in the TV show while also reading the current going ons of the Grisha world in the novel. I don’t think I’ve ever quite had that experience before and I would be foolish to think that it didn’t increase my overall favorable opinion of both the show and the book. 

Regardless, I fell in love with both. If you want to jump onto the hype train and watch Shadow and Bone with the rest of the world, I say go for it. 

And then I say you should follow it up by diving into the whole of the Grisha series (although unlike me, you should probably start with the original trilogy), and then work your way up to the Six of Crows duology and then the King of Scars duology. 

You won’t regret it. 

It’s a fascinating series with amazing characters that’ll both pull at your heart strings and make you laugh out loud. The complexity of the world, the creativity and detail, the engaging plot, the surprising endings-all of it is worth your time and your interest. 

Recommendation: Consume everything Bardugo has produced. Watch the show and then read the books, or read the books and then watch the show. I don’t care, just go out and do it. You won’t be sorry. Instead, you’ll find yourself falling for the Grisha verse and all that entails, just like me and so many others have. 

Score: 8/10

[curds-and-wheyface]

Getting involved in all the lovely Thorki Fic Recs that are going around today!

I assume a lot of new fics will get recs today, so I’ve included a few slightly older fics that I love.

You Pull Me Out of Line (Make Me Beg and Make Me Chase by @chrisshemsworth​ Thor, a Roman general in the Emperor's army, becomes infatuated with Loki, a young pleasure slave. Smut ensues. Naturally.

Resurrection by hermaline75 Edinburgh, 1826. In the depths of alcoholism, Thor finds himself employed by an unusual man.

While You've Been Saving Your Neck I've Been Breaking Mine by @thisdorkyblogthing The first thing Loki notices about Thor is that he seems to never look down at his food or drink, apparently trusting the servants entirely to make sure his cup and plate are never empty for long. It would be almost too easy to poison him...

Love Looks Not With the Eyes by needleyecandy                 Loki is the youngest of the three princes of the realm, and though he is the sweetest, most innocent, and most beautiful, he can find no mate, for Gaea herself has cursed him in her jealousy. A seer is summoned to court and tells the king and queen that their son's fated mate is a creature so dreadful that he is feared by the gods themselves...

Gone by @fourletterwordsstartingwithl It happened during the summer after he graduated high school. Thor went backpacking through Europe with Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun, and came back to a home that was not the home he remembered. Somehow, in those eight weeks, he had lost his brother.

Chrysallis by @teresa-dances-in-sequins​ WIP The aging, widowed Allfather has found himself a sweet little pet, and Thor's not jealous. Nope.

Stranded by @thorduna Thor, Loki and a house with a pool. Thor is so busy wondering what their parents' agenda was that he fails to notice Loki's.

In Your Heart Believe What In My Heart I Know by                    umakoo/@pohjanneito A Jötunn AU set in Utgård where both Thor and Loki are Jötnar, Thor a blacksmith and Loki the jarl's youngest son. Their lives become intertwined through friendship, which time shapes into something deeper.

Links and reviews below the cut.

You Pull Me Out of Line (Make Me Beg and Make Me Chase) Honestly, I just loved this so much. Slave/master is one of those tropes that draws me in every time (especially when Loki is a feisty little thing and Thor can't resist him) and this setting is so perfect for that. I have a real thing for body worship in Thorki fics too (because...that body) so I particularly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Loki rubbing Thor down before his bath. Loki's scheming is so Loki and yet it's also so sweet here, so young and very taken with Thor, so he plots this whole thing thinking maybe it'll work out for him. The smut is so devastatingly good. Seriously. I can't tell you. I read this on a plane and I kept feeling like it must've been obvious on my face that I was reading some hotter than hell sex. One to keep and read again, definitely. LOVED.

Resurrection I read this over a couple of days and every time I was loathe to leave it. The setting is pretty unique for our fandom; a sort of grim, Dickensian bleakness that is so easy to visualise. The plot is really clever and intriguing, with mystery and high stakes, but the real gem here is the slow growth of emotion between Thor and Loki as what starts as a physical connection unfolds into more. I also loved how the switching of POVs between chapters was utilised to keep the reader up-to date even when Thor and Loki were keeping facts and feelings secret from each other. Brilliant.

While You've Been Saving Your Neck I've Been Breaking Mine Arranged marriage is my favourite trope, and one that we’re lucky enough to have a fair bit of in this fandom of ours. This particular story is such a perfect exploration of that theme. There isn’t a part of this fic that I didn’t absolutely adore. Loki is all prepared to end up with an awful, cruel husband and what he gets is...the dream, honestly. Thor is beautiful in this, so caring, so careful. And they can’t keep theirs hands off each other. My god. Go and read this.

Love Looks Not With the Eyes I’ve never read a fic like this. Loki is forbidden from seeing his new husband and so he (and we) have to rely completely on other senses. So much focus here is on how feel and touch and taste. It’s so very lovely. But make no mistake - this fic isn’t short on plot! When Loki’s curiosity gets the better of him he risks losing his beloved husband for good, and the journey he takes to regain that relationship reminds me of the great Greek myths I used to read about in school.

Gone I’ve just about forgiven Sonia for lying to me about how angsty this is. I love this exploration of Thor’s feelings about ‘losing’ Loki, how he battles on with determination despite Loki trying to put up a wall between them. It’s funny because so much of the canon Thorki story is about Thor losing Loki to this place of jealousy and anger, and yet I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that theme explored in an AU like this. Loki being a teenager means that he’s feeling everything on such an extreme level, that his behaviour here is so easily believable and understandable. A really lovely read.

Chrysalis The only WIP on my list, this remains one of the most hurty fics I’ve ever read in this fandom. Loki is wonderful, feisty and lost and unwillingly-dependent on his Asgardian master. Thor is spoiled and impatient and mean - make no mistake, this is not the gentle and empathetic Thor that we know and love, not yet anyway - yet he’s so hot. The plot is full of wonderful twists and turns, Loki’s past is explored in flashbacks which are each more eye-opening that the last and Thor...my baby Thor. His character development so far has been incredibly satisfying, and is my favourite thing about the story. Love this fic.

Stranded I re-read this fic a month or so ago and left Diana a comment which I’ll reiterate here... “Lastly, we both know you've written sex scenes which are way kinkier and subjectively 'hotter' than the sex in this, but I really feel like this is one of the most emotionally satisfying sex scenes I've ever read. I love how there's chapters and chapters of build-up, slow growth of feeling, and then suddenly it's just happening. It's happening right now, there's no stopping it, they're doing this. And it's so intimate and tender, they're both so ready for it, and I got emotional reading it, both times. In a fandom like ours, with a pairing like this, there is a lot of (understandable) angst in the fanfiction, so the fact that in this fic their feelings end up being, at the end of the day, relatively uncomplicated, is just lovely.” Go and re-read this fic.

In Your Heart Believe What In My Heart I Know ...I mean, where to even begin? As with most of Noora’s stories the location is almost a character in itself. This Jotunheim isn’t an icy wasteland, it’s a beautiful and healthy world that (despite still being snowy at all times) has clear seasons and is capable of sustaining its people. It’s so richly explored, such a perfect setting for this epic story. And an epic it is. When the fic starts Thor and Loki are not similar in age or station but their connection is immediate, Thor shows Loki a kindness and his reaction is so lovely that you don’t need Loki’s POV to know that this is a rarety. From there the story just evolves and evolves over time, in small moments, with such beautiful detail, that by the time Thor finally realises he’s in love it’s something we, as readers, have known for some time. It’s so visual, the plot and passage of time are so well-paced it’s hard not to get lost in this story. I lived a life within this fic. And you must check out the art that goes along with it.

So, there you have it! My rather long list of fics you need to read (or re-read) right now. Thank you to all of the authors mentioned for your contributions to this wonderful fandom. <3