#But THAT'S A LOT OF BOOK. WOW.
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I really like TCF, and I'm interested in book binding. So of course I was curious how much "book" would be needed to adapt the whole LN. I knew it was really long, so it'd take a couple big ones to include everything. Then I did some quick calculations and um. Uh. Well, here's a little math:
50k words at the minimum comfortable size and font comes out to approximately 100 pages. The average "largest" size books contains ~600 pages (at minimum size). That being said, it would kill me to read such tiny text for very long. Realistically, a comfortable font size (for me) would be 350 per page at most, so I'll be using that number moving on.
With that in mind, some of the more popular large book series like Eragon (906k total words, largest book having 280k words or 880 (803) pages) and Harry Potter (1M 84k total, largest having 257k or 870 (735) pages).
TCF has approximately 2M 150k words, 776 chapters. In part one. Ok, so... 2,150,000 words, with 1 page being ~350 words... that's 6143 pages. And if we gave each title in the series ~800 pages each, that's still 8 GIGANTIC books. TL;DR:
Eight books, 350 words per page, 800 pages each.
For reference, here's the A Song of Ice and Fire series, 1M 770k words, 4.2k pages (~400 words per page), 5 books total (~840 pages per book).
THAT'S A LOT OF BOOK.
#the trash of the count's family#Sorry the example image has like 10 pixels total LMAO#I was legitimately excited to try and make the series into a legit book that I could hold and show off#But THAT'S A LOT OF BOOK. WOW.#I don't have the patience to bind that many pages#For fun I looked up how long the average reader would take to read 2M words and uh#At average reading speed (300 wpm) it would take you 110 hours minimum. 95 if you're a fast reader (350 wpm)#If you were read for a solid 3 hours every single day it would still take you 32-37 days#If you were insane and burnout wasn't a problem you could read it in 19-22 days at 5 hrs a day#More fun numbers: avg words per chap for TCF is ~2.8k#I don't have that much time so I read about 400 chapters over the course of 1.5 months. That's abt 1.5 hrs of reading a day#Look at me being all healthy and stuff#Ahem. Anyways. I like numbers
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Many doodles for fun!
#gravity falls#the book of bill#stanley pines#stanford pines#gruncle stan#gruncle ford#fiddleford mcgucket#dipper pines#mabel pines#bill cipher#artists on tumblr#wow lots of tags here
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hello tumblr... first post.. wowie... i really really love objects... ^_^..
#love of the s*n#lots#animatic battle#bfdi#battle for bfdi#bfdia#bfb#tpot#inanimate insanity#inanimate insanity invitational#ii#ii paintbrush#book bfdi#michael lots#door stopper#taco bfdi#saw bfdi#animatic ab#ii cabby#pin bfdi#fan ii#histriart#oh boy im so nervous..#oh boy oh gosh oh wowie wow#dies
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Head pats to show your human that you love them 💞
#svsss#shang qinghua#mobei jun#moshang#Mbj#Sqh#scum villian self saving system#scum villains self saving system#scum villain's self saving system#WOW THIS TOOK A LOT LONGER THEN USUAL BUT IM SO HAPPY WITH HOW IT CAME OUT!!#I rarely animate and when i do it pretty choppy so trying to get it smoother was really fun!#i loved the scene where Mobei pats at Shang Qinghuas hair like ah yes finally his human will understand his courting#and in this animation he DOES REALIZE instead of clowning the rest of the book#ah but i love that about them#theyre so cute#my art#my animation#nibbelraz
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(Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett) I think Shang Qinghua and Ponder Stibbons should have tea and compare notes about somehow accumulating so much behind-the-scenes power by doing menial jobs no one else wants that they could basically run the show if they wanted...
meanwhile we have Shen "meh good enough" Qingqiu
#svsss#shang qinghua#shen qingqiu#sqh#sqq#cumplane#discworld#my art#sqq 100% knows how to delegate meanwhile sqh is here trying to run a sect a demon kingdom and juggle a bunch of secret conspiracies#his little rodent heart is going to explode from stress at this rate no qi deviation necessary#i'm gonna need to draw sqh more i really don't know what i want his design to be yet but i like him a lot#if anyone has any sqh drawing prompts send them to me i need some ideas to play with (WITHOUT SPOILERS THOUGH I'M ONLY ON BOOK THREE)#i was scrolling back to see the last time i had drawn cartoony cursing to remind myself which shapes i like to use and wow#it looks like it's actually been a while??? it surprised me because i really love drawing them#i laugh any time i see them in a comic#anyway what are the odds i reread unseen academicals again before the month is through? highly underrate pratchett novel imho#variations of this quote is actually used a few times in the discworld series i think but this is the one that stands out to me#when stibbons reveals just how much power he actually has at the university#*chefs kiss*#the wizards are so dumb i love them so much
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Pixie princess*.✧
I think Ryne would become one of the pixie's favorite humans
#wow a background!#didnt even use screenshots of il mheg for reference. insane of me#this was very fun to draw!#tried for a childrens book illust kinda vibe#lots of work. fun tho!#ryne waters#tyr beq#an lad#final fantasy#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy 14#ff14#ffxiv#art#my art#xanders art#digital art#fan art
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His mind flashes to Henry.
1 | 2
#red white and royal blue#rwrb#rwrbedit#firstprince#rwrb spoilers#alex claremont diaz#prince henry#lgbtq#filmedit#dailylgbtq#lgbtedit#*#alex x henry#book v movie#nicholas galitzine who told you you were allowed to make *that* face?? god#i'm pretty proud of this one ngl :')#there are many lines that arent iconic but means a lot to me#and that makes me stop and say wow casey so real#this is one of them#the one is when alex is watching henry 'create Prince Henry of Wales for the day.'
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Got the Master sword! I believe there is still one more upgrade to go...
Bonus Groose after Link sealed the imprisoned.
#loz#Skyward Sword#skyward sword hd#I'm almost there... this is where I'm at right now#I couldn't have done it without groose :'0 he's such a cool guy#he's a bully yeah but his character development is WOW#I'm on a roll here#just finished my final semester :))) Freeeeeeee#got splatoon 3 for myself as a graduation gift hehe#now... so much art to do#fanfictions and books i want to read#games to play#also lots of life things to do deal with hhhhh#also i gotta work on my storyyyyyy#i'm spending like... 20 minutes after dinner working on it#it's very little#but it's something!!!
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i dont think yall understand how floored i was when i found out that the interview with the vampire books are actually incredibly erotically gay for real and not just light queercoding or fan's gay ships?? bc this changes everything. i had always assumed anne rice hated fanfic authors for making her male characters fuck, but no, she just wanted to be the only author making her male characters fuck
#i think this is why a lot of people (including me) were initially shocked by the show being so explicitly queer too#bc i can't be the only one who didnt know much abt iwtv and assumed rice's issue with fanfic was the gay sex#and then during the promotions u had interviewers being like 'wow this a very queer interpretation! why is that!'#and poor iwtv fan club president sam reid has to be like well the books are already queer you buffoon#i feel like this is a weird internet myth that needs to be busted#i even remember seeing a hit post on here when s1 came out that was like 'did they have to wait for anne rice to die to make this'#when she's actually credited as an executive producer#LMAO#anyways#alex talks#interview with the vampire#iwtv#lestat de lioncourt#louis de pointe du lac#the vampire armand#the vampire claudia#daniel molloy#anne rice#.txt
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from february 💘
#stranger things#stonathan#i remember drawing this in a barnes & noble because i was doing pretty bad mentally and i knew#that my cure-alls would be my books my tea and drawing these two jackoffs#steve harrington x jonathan byers#i also think the reason i never posted it (this is from either february of this year or february last year) is bc it was meant to#just be a self care thing. didnt want a whole lot of people seeing it#my computer died at the barnes and i was soooo frustrated i walked to a taco bell to plug 'er back in and finish this#that ended up helping too. tacos & stonathan cant go wrong#artings#every now and then i see this in my archives or files and im like huh wow i dont remember drawing this#then i dont look at it for a longggg timeeee#real ones will know that this was drawn in february cuz thats when i headcanon their anniversary meow meow meow#steve harrington#jonathan byers#stonathan art#stonathan fanart#stranger things art#stranger things fanart#also pretend that this is height accurate lol i still have a Lot of problems w this drawing even though i rlly like it a lot#eyes
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there is that adorable pic of a 13 year old pecco and marc, hugging him by the shoulders. pecco hadn’t become a rossi protege yet, marc recently won his title in 125, they are both so so young. like, of course pecco is going to think a senior (albeit as famous as marc was at the time) is cool and worthy of “celebrity” picture! of course marc is going to take photos with kids that ask him to!
and then they meet at the rossi ranch years later, pecco after an abysmal rookie moto3 season, but part of vr46 academy, marc as a multiple world champion in different categories. like, i’m sure they’ve crossed paths in the paddock, but it looks like the ranch was their first outside of work get-together?
i do wonder at what point did pecco stop seeing marc as this admirable motogp giant? they are co-workers/competitors now, supposedly equals. does the childish wonderment and idealization ever go away, when you are put head-to-head? yes, pecco has said that he doesn’t consider himself on marc’s level, but it does really answer the question, when marc achieves something awesome, like a fucking pole on a honda, does it fill pecco only with the sense of falling short, jealousy, frustration, or is there that tiny 13 year old pecco somewhere inside going “wow, this guy is awesome”
anon... first of all this ask is right up my street. second of all, yeah no the thirteen year old never entirely went away
to some extent obviously all riders kinda do this when they end up competing with the guys they grew up admiring. (or well in modern motogp, that's how it worked out - the competitive windows do have to be big enough, yeah? I'm not sure about the nineties premier class riders, but starting from valentino who had the biaggi poster, was a capirossi fan, an norick fan... but then also didn't get to compete directly with doohan for instance and was instead just mentored by him. valentino sticking around for so long basically Breaks this.) like I was talking in this ask about the dani/marc relationship and how when we talk about dani being marc's 'reference', it does mean something slightly different than the valentino hero idealisation. basically, it's the question of whether you think you're gonna fight that guy one day, if all goes well... because if you're little pecco, right, you're looking up to marc and want to be him, but you also want to beat him (if little pecco is feeling very brave). so marc fills the role of 'reference', the bloke who is basically always a few steps ahead of pecco - exaggerated by how precocious marc was. the role of 'hero' is of course again filled by valentino, though in this case pecco didn't actually have to meaningfully compete against his idol. the separation is a bit cleaner
and look, I doubt this ever really went as far as marc's admiration for dani. but yeah as you say: at the end of the day it's this cool superstar who is tearing up the lower categories and then is tearing up the premier class... like that's this prodigy... and then you get to be part of your actual hero's academy AND you're there when the prodigy gets invited to your hero's home!! not only is marc cool, not only is he winning everything, but also valentino clearly thinks he's fantastic... you kinda want valentino to think you are fantastic in the same way he talks about marc and looks at him... and pecco is like. seventeen at this point. great age. super impressionable. he's having a marginally better season than his absolute flop moto3 campaign but it's still!! rough! you know, so far away from this world that valentino and marc inhabit. obviously young athletes dream, obviously they have to be a bit delusional, obviously they have to believe they'll make it, but those are the kinds of harrowing years that really dent your actual belief. like god, the world of valentino and marc must have felt kinda unattainable back then...
anyway, obviously a year later marc became public enemy number one. personally, if I had to guess, I don't really think valentino has ever spoken much to his proteges about the details of the marc feud. it's the kind of thing where you maybe occasionally badmouth a guy you all hate when the kids are in the room, some dismissive comment or some slightly ugly sideswipe... but valentino did probably prefer to keep his mentees out of the whole thing and isn't giving them particularly detailed hot takes on sepang 2015. I mean, look at what luca said last year
hey, he could be lying, but is he really the type? "I'm sure he's still angry" - even that doesn't sound like he knows anything particularly specific about where his brother's at these days. if valentino hasn't spoken much about sepang 2015 with his own flesh and blood, then is he really giving long debriefs to marco bezzecchi? are you sure? of course, unlike luca, pecco does have the dubious distinction of actually being at sepang 2015, so there's always the chance he was in the room when some nasty things were being said about marc... but my sense is that all the academy riders have kind of been left to their own devices when making up their minds about the marc/valentino relationship. just probably a bit of a no-go topic on most days. and while pecco may have initially been completely on board with the marc hate, over the years his stance has mellowed to the brave and bold position of 'actually, I have other stuff to worry about'. like, this is why you don't get this weird bez-style all-over-the-place behaviour from pecco - fundamentally, he is far too sensible and far too interested in his own career to be going around seeking revenge on the behalf of his mentor. it's not like valentino really seems to expect him to either. sometimes the best thing you can do is simply try not to care that much
soooooo fundamentally you get to this place where for quite a few years, pecco really isn't thinking about marc too often I reckon... it's very much background noise - even when he's gotten to motogp, he's obviously not exactly fighting with marc from the word go. he has other stuff to worry about! then marc is gone for a bit! 2021 is kinda weird because pecco never really felt in that championship fight (I mean, maybe he thought he was idk) because he only really got going late in the season, and marc definitely wasn't in that title fight... BUT pecco got his first ever motogp win as a result of a proper great defensive ride against marc at aragon! seven overtakes and re-overtakes in the last few laps! truly some proper smart riding, anticipating where marc was going to attack and figuring out how to get him back every time. and of course, that's like... got to be one of the coolest ways possible you can get your first win? beating one of the all time greats (even if a physically impaired one) in a direct extensive duel? genuinely looking at the current grid, I'd struggle to come up with a cooler maiden win... oh I suppose zarco last year would actually be a decent shout. one of those two imo! anyway what an ego boost that must be
typed out the response to this ask on wednesday and let it *vaguely gestures* simmer a bit, but actually thursday they had pecco on that motogp podcast thingy and talked him through basically his whole career. which is one of those cases of 'not necessarily anything new, but always interesting to hear how the bloke himself puts it', and anyway it does also cover a lot of the stuff referenced in this post, would recommend. I did want to quickly bring it up because pecco does talk about aragon 2021 in that (at around 23 mins in):
Q: And the amount of pressure, for everyone who doesn't remember - it was Aragon '21, vs Marc Marquez, anti-clockwise track, everyone's expecting a certain person to win. [...] Seven times, he passes you in the last three laps, and every time you have to find something, for your first win - A: Not bad, yeah? Q: How was that feeling crossing the line, because it's your first win but it's also the last three laps of craziness that you've come through? A: Yeah, I remember that... we were prepared to fight for this victory because we work at it a lot and we were finally prepared and as soon as started the weekend I was feeling great. Marc was very strong, Fabio was very strong also... We started to race and I did the pole position and then we started to race and Marc was like always super super fast in Aragon because it's a left hander track, he's very strong in Aragon, it's his home grand prix, so... I was trying the maximum and I was there fighting with him and for me was fantastic because I was very strong in a very complicated track for me. The first - was not the first possibility to win but was one of the first and we were fighting with the maximum with the top [player?] so defeating him in Aragon was fantastic and I never could have asked more for my first victory for sure. Because some win their first victory with gap or with some luck, we fight. [...] Yeah, was fantastic.
like I said. it's a really cool win! pecco knows it's a cool win! he knows it's a cool win because it's marc! even two premier class title pecco still feels deeply aware of how special that was
*reaches up to scratch at ear in slightly self-conscious manner when saying "not bad" about beating the eight times world champion*
because it does mean something extra to beat marc, right? and that's also what this represents to pecco, as an opportunity... obviously on balance he'd very much want marc to not be in his team, because he's not an idiot and he's aware it's going to be a bit of a nightmare. that being said! of course, would there be anything cooler than for him than actually beating marc in the same team... I don't want to sound like a broken record on this topic but just to reiterate, none of the titles won post-2019 are in any way diminished by marc's absence - and fundamentally pecco must know he's a deserving champion, even if he still considers himself on a different level from valentino and marc. but of course it would mean something special to beat him! it's already meant something special to beat him in individual races! it'd mean something special if he beats him this year, older bike be damned! and it'd mean something special next year. pecco is deeply wary of marc, and rightly so, but don't take that to mean he isn't up for the fight. he always has been
weirdly enough, I do actually think being valentino's protege might help him be sensible about marc. because the thing is pecco has clearly put some thought into all of this at some point and had to decide for himself... or well, to make peace with the fact that he is not going to be the next valentino rossi - and that he doesn't really want to be. it's kinda the casey versus jorge distinction: you can be a valentino fan and admire everything he's done on-track but still very much know that valentino the persona isn't something you really want to attempt to emulate because it just isn't you, or you can hunger after attaining that kind of 'character' and popularity for yourself and find yourself disillusioned when things turn out differently. pecco's in the casey camp, minus the desire to shove valentino off the nearest cliff edge. like he says:
man wants a quiet life when he's not doing the death sport. and, y'know, marc might not have quite those stratospheric levels of popularity as valentino does... but it's fairly obvious pecco links them in his mind, which is not just about talent. they're both Characters, they're both figureheads in the sport, they're both larger than life. and maybe sometimes, deep down, someone like pecco might wish that kind of thing did come naturally to him... but if he has felt that way, then he's already kinda had to work through all that. he's valentino's successor! he's the next big italian motogp star! but he's never going to be valentino. and he wouldn't want that life, it wouldn't make him happy - and probably he looks at marc with all his drama and controversy and thinks he wouldn't really want all that either. pecco's given all of this a lot of thought, and he's still probably a bit too self-conscious and a bit too aware of all of this stuff for his own good, but that does also mean he knows his own head and where he's at when it comes to his own status in the sport. both when it comes to the character and when it comes to the talent. sure, having marc's fuck you talent would be nice, everyone would want that... but also if you're a two time premier champion, at a certain point you need a certain cockiness about your own abilities. he's spoken about how he needs a more well-settled bike than casey or marc, how he can't out-perform the bike like they can - there clearly is a lot of admiration there, still the sense of respect and awe you probably can't ever quite shake. pecco won't ever be one of those aliens. but he's had enough time to establish himself in the sport before he's had to deal with the marc threat in a more active way, has had the chance to find his place without worrying too much about marc - has been able to build up his own confidence. at the same time, pecco is still very obviously aware of just who marc is and the weight of that legacy and it shapes how he approaches fighting marc. it's pecco's admiration vying with his arrogance - and he has to hope the latter wins out. you can't be fearful of the legacy of those you're trying to beat. you have to kill your heroes, even if it's a strange flavour of hero
anyhow - one big way in which valentino does loom large here is that everyone else is aware of his rivalry with marc and how it is crucial Historical Context for the pecco/marc stuff. because pecco does have that dog in him, he's fundamentally disinterested in fighting his idol's battles and is mainly just looking out for himself. a big part of the general wariness towards marc isn't even valentino-related antipathy or just respect for his abilities, but also this kind of sense of... god, this marc thing is always going to have extra implications, will there be discourse, can there please not be discourse... he doesn't want to get into this stuff, he doesn't want to be part of the sepang 2015 reenactment society. he's pretty determined to stay clear of marc-related controversy at every turn, and generally does do a good job of not letting the undoubtedly extremely annoying marc annoy him... the only time pecco had proper marc-induced head loss was mugello last year - y'know, that whole thing when he felt impeded by marc and then slowed down long enough to give marc the chance to warm up his tyres and catch a pecco tow to the front row. like that was just head gone, the kind of thing that happens when you already find someone deeply annoying and then you kinda choose the wrong moment to get mad at them. with a bit of distance pecco may well have regretted reacting that way, like you don't really want to give marc that kind of opening. he's been way more disciplined since then, but it still opened the door
fundamentally, the less time pecco spends obsessing over marc, the better for him. pecco obviously has to be very aware of marc and wary of him, but he also can't spent too much energy on admiring him or being irritated by him or anything else. (given that valentino's descriptions of the marc/pecco rivalry do seem to frame marc as a competitor who sounds an awful lot like valentino himself, ironically valentino is quite well-placed to offer the 'try to avoid letting the guy who gets off on annoying his rivals annoy you' advice.) it's always going to be tough, isn't it, competing against your heroes, figuring out how to disentangle those past emotions from how you actually approach fighting them, how to feel comfortable enough in your own skin to not be cowed by that status... you can't get to a place where you're so admiring or respectful or intimidated that you're already beaten before the competition even starts - and to his credit pecco has shown he is both willing to stand up to the famous marc marquez as well as capable of doing so. my guess is that for him, the childhood idolisation isn't primarily expressed in a 'wow he dragged the honda to pole!!' (not least when he was using pecco's teammate to directly deny pecco). sure, perhaps you do get those knee jerk reactions of admiring the sheer craft of your rival's riding, just have to do your best not to let it affect you. but for the most part it's... really wanting to beat marc. and sometimes feeling a teensy bit insecure about just how good marc is. and really wanting to beat him. he kinda has to be sensible and talk down in his brain how special this one guy is so he doesn't do anything silly, tell himself it's just any other guy... but it's still always going to be there, hovering in the background. and god does pecco really want to beat him
#pecco very much 'girl who is “going to be okay”'-ing his way into the marc teammate relationship#y'know pecco said somewhere that one of his hobbies is reading sports autobiographies#and I would love comparing notes with him on casey's. like surely it's fairly likely he's read it right?#the pecco/casey axiom is great. he does sometimes come out with stuff where I'm like. wow that's so casey-coded#when he said at assen that he really liked how the crowd was less partisan than at montmelo and mugello?? casey's daughter right there#inherited casey's surliness and valentino's inability to be fast on a friday. truly their best traits#in some ways this is the closest we'll ever get to seeing casey/marc at honda but they'd shoot u in the streets if u said that out loud#//#brr brr#batsplat responds#actually i've had the casey autobiography thought a lot but come to think of it i'd also love to chat to him about valentino's#maybe he's read agassi's!! that's got to be one of the most famous ones surely#pecco buddy would you be interested in a book club#current tag
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I told him he could pick tonight’s bedtime story and he went a little overboard.
Today's Toon Link is illiterate but that does NOT mean he doesn't love stories! However maybe don't pick the creepypastas. They give him scary dreams :(
#toon link plush#loz#zelda#submission#realizing you have the BIG boy because I have a lot of those books and wow that link is large
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I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?
Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate
-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)
-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.
-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.
Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.
-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.
But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')
In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.
All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.
-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?
-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.
I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.
WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.
And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.
Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.
#Sorry this turned into a 100000 word essay on The Iliad it can't be helped#I read Circe by the same author and thought it was like.. better? Definitely not great just less aggravating and kind of boring#Just rote 'you heard about this villainous woman from a Greek myth... Here's the REAL story' shit#It did have a few things I thought were good I remember it starting kind of strong and then just going limp for the remaining duration#I think part of it is that in that case she's expanding on a figure that Didn't have a whole lot of characterization in the source so#like. She had to actually Expand The Character#Again Silence of the Girls is the only Greek Mythology Retelling I have like....positive?.leaning positive? feelings towards#I've got BIG issues with it too but it does pretty much the exact opposite of everything I'm mad at SOA for and in some very#compelling ways (it's just that the author seems way more interested in Achilles and Patroclus than The Main Character Briseis#to the point of randomly starting to have Achilles POV interjections (which I thought were Good in of themselves but#really really really really really really really didn't need to be there) and then get kind of lampshaded by Briseis narrating 'I guess I#was trapped in Achilles' story the whole time lol!!!!!!')#It undermines the book on both a thematic level and just like. a construction level like it's real sloppy at times.#Also the Briseis POV sometimes has these like really out of place Author Mouthpiece Moments where she's very obviously#Stating The Point to the audience and it's like yeah we get it. We get it.#Wow in the scene were our mostly silent enslaved protagonist removes the gag from the mouth of a dead sacrificed girl as a#small but significant act of defiance and grieving in a book called 'Silence of the Girls' you inserted an ironic repeat of the line#'silence befits a woman'. in italics even. Thanks for that. I could not possibly have grasped the meaning of this scene if you didn't#spell it out for me like that. Thank you.#Actually hang on the only Greek mythology retelling I have unequivocally positive feelings for are the 'Minotaur Forgiving'#songs on 'This One's For The Dancer And This One's For The Dancer's Bouquet'. Fully love it. Like not just as songs I think it#does function well as a narrative and engages with and expands on the source in really beautiful and creative ways
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Thinking today about Boothill falling first, but Dan Heng falling harder.
Like I think of Boothill as being pretty self-aware, so he knew it almost immediately. He pointed his gun at Dan Heng and the guy didn't flinch didn't hesitate didn't even get scared just stood there with his arms crossed and casually insulted Boothill like he couldn't have made the furniture of the Express an even brighter red with a single squeeze of his trigger finger. Boothill knew he was doomed before they even defeated Sunday, and it only got worse and worse, the longer they sat at that bar in the Reverie together. ♡
Meanwhile Dan Heng was raised in a prison cell with zero say over anything. He was considered a criminal and he was being punished. There wasn't exactly anyone encouraging his emotional intelligence. It didn't matter what he wanted, so thinking about his own wants/needs/feelings is something that just like. Doesn't occur to Dan Heng.
Like he IS slowly but surely figuring it out, and he still acts on stuff of course. He and Boothill share that sort of ruthless straightforwardness where they can see action -> result. Dan Heng knows that he doesn't want anything to happen to the Crew, so he guards them viciously. Action (guard person) -> result (person stays alive). But I think if you asked him, he'd have a hard time putting his feelings for them into words, "they're once-in-a-lifetime companions" is about as deep as you're going to get from him haha
Anyway, all this to say, I think that even if he already knew he liked Boothill romantically, when Dan Heng- who guards his chosen little flock like a herding breed or maybe a sheepdog with a coyote collar- sees Boothill do something protective, like literally take a bullet for March 7th
("It's fine, it ain't gonna hurt me near as bad as it woulda hurt you, missy. It's just another dent, quit yer fussin'.")
that is when it suddenly hits him like a brick that oh, oh no, he loves him.
#Boothill: Loves Dan Heng and knows it but also knows vengeance is his top priority rn#will not really pursue and especially won't confess but won't lie if asked and will still act overly affectionate-#-bc he doesn't want Dan Heng to think he *doesn't* like him.#but Boothill knows how to persevere and pursue and how hunting involves lying in wait#he'll make it happen eventually now's just not the time#meanwhile Dan Heng: wow I sure feel mopey & irritable every time Boothill leaves wonder what that is oh well *rolls over and goes to sleep*#I love them NSMXIKXMDLD#LOOK Dan Heng is extremely intelligent and quick-witted and sharp and has a lot of book smarts#so that has to be balanced out with some dumbassery somewhere!!!#honkai star rail#hsr#henghill#bootheng#honkai star rail boothill#honkai star rail dan heng#hsr boothill#hsr dan heng#boothill#dan heng#march 7th
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"Juan Borgia was almost as tall as Cesare, but slighter of build. Like his brother and father, he was an attractive man but with a difference. He had the slightly slanted eyes and high cheekbones of his Spanish ancestors. His skin was bronzed from his long hours of riding and hunting but there was often a look of suspicion in his widely set dark eyes."
— Mario Puzo, The Family.
#his description in this book goes hard#because a lot of authors got some sort of a one sided beef with juan *rolls eyes*#and here he's like 'oh wow what a spanish beauty that juan borgia lad is!!' *chief's kiss*#anyway i love how neil jordan took so many ideas from this book#mario puzo#the family#bookedit#litedit#litloversnetwork#booksociety#litdaily#novelsnet#periodedits#perioddramaedit#juan borgia#david oakes#the borgias#mario puzo the family#tvandfilmgifs#by jen
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Oh my god i finished my first outline of the last Angels book.. it's not good and im going to expand and rewrite and make a very detailed, stronger outline but i have a storyline now.... this is so crazy
#the book is CRAZY#but very messy right now so i have a lot of smoothing and character work to do#but wow#mine
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