#Herald&Review

[literallys-illiteracy]

Viktor in Arcane Season 2, Design and characterisation, an essay:

I do not like the Viktor redesign, nor his character within the show Arcane.

This is a thematic analysis of his design and depiction within the show which elaborates in moderacy why.

First and foremost, the design itself, before the character: Viktor, alongside his glorious arcane evolution in the show, is shown through an extremely organic, completely sleek design for his drones, and a membranal, coloured pattern for its corruption.

In both cases, I feel as if their design is stuck in the realm of purgatory in which it is not fully committed to either biomechanical replicants, eg. Androids, nor brutalistic utilitarian augments, eg. Adeptus Mechanicus.

As it stands, the droids in particular demonstrate this combination of themes, being almost entirely human in their appearance, showing no outward mechanical nor magical aspects in favour of a purely white, polished, mannequin-esque design.

In discussion of the droids, I want to note that for their themes of Viktor’s singularity and removal of humanity, this design does in fact work in their favour. This is particularly clear within the scenes presenting them in combat, and the moments in future when they are stalking Jayce through the world; In the final episode particularly, they are shown working in whole unison, scaling the towers and chasing people in a manner reminiscent of World War Z zombies, however in a more unified, hive mind-like manner, due to their purposeful manoeuvring acting as structure for another to get further.

These drone’s primary feature is their mask, being a visage vaguely akin to a humans, though unmoving and clearly artificial, which of course shows the inhumanity of this horde and Viktor’s rejection of human emotions ��� The lack of a face is an aspect that is used quite directly, most notably in Viktor’s bargaining with Mel and Jayce, alongside the skittering, almost insectoid movement that the droid features to avoid destruction.

While this singular theme of cohesion and inhumanity is in favour of these mannequin drone designs, there is more to Viktor’s characterisation than removing humanity as a blanket thought; Rather than removal for the sake of removal, rather than disdain for humanity in large, Viktor should be seeking to move to a state beyond humanity, which is shown in his own personal design.

The concept of moving beyond humanity is one that Viktor shares with Singed in this regard, being a vague dichotomy between the synthetic evolution and the biological evolution, punctuated by their respective epilogue scenes within act one particularly, however I feel as if these contrasting thoughts were intentional narrative choices, then the somewhat organic nature of the arcane evolution works against the contrast.

Before moving to Viktor’s personal design I want to share my own personal view of Viktor as a character.

I want to preface by saying that I am in no way a veteran of League itself, however I have been interested in the lore long before Arcane’s release, and Viktor’s characterisation since I learned of his character.

Viktor as a character was not always the most consistent, varying between benevolent and something near the utilitarianist machine lord we see in Arcane, his primary consistent trait was that of synthetic evolution and moving beyond humanity’s flaws, improving the human form with mechanical augmentations.

There are many routes that one may take this story path, in essence Viktor’s main consistent trait was his relation to an archetypal visionary, similar to Swain, but in the nature of humanity rather than Noxus; In all incarnations of Viktor, he should remain as this same archetypal character, in any shape or form, which all incarnations so far have successfully done.

I want to note something, there is the concept of characters who “Are created to embody an archetype not challenge it”, specifically, at least from what i've seen, popularised by TBskyen. I want to clarify that I am referring to archetypes in the psychological or unconscious storytelling sense, rather than the conscious character archetypes such as the “Nordic Viking” character archetype that Olaf embodies.

 I may write in depth at a later date relating the concept of archetypal characters to storytelling, moreso as templates from which character bases emerge, rather than the typical observation of a character itself, but I wanted to note this as writing about League made me remember Skyen’s phrase and I thought to clarify my meanings.

As i’m sure i have made abundantly clear, my personal preferred interpretation of Viktor’s character is that of the synthetic, syncretic and unifying ascension beyond humanity; Once again there are many pathways that this interpretation may lead to, notably, a utilitarian rejection of humanity is best based on one of two pathways, physiological imperfections or improvements, akin to the mechanicus, which is my preferred focus, which is akin to the Mechanicus in Warhammer, or the removal of unnecessary emotions for the sake of pure efficiency and cohesion, which reflects a character similar to HAL from a Space Odyssey – Neither of these interpretations of an inhuman herald is malicious, nor an incorrect interpretation, however i feel as if the new incarnation of Viktor leans too heavily into the purely unifying cause, when the synthetic evolution acts equally as important to the character in past and in theme.

While there is an element incorporated in the drones that Viktor creates, being faster and stronger than a human, there is a key trait of ascension beyond human limitations that these designs do not accomplish, as they are almost entirely human in design.

This improvement can be seen in the most crucial difference between Viktor and his drone’s designs, Viktor is not part of this unification, Viktor possesses differences, his walking stick, his differing mask, and his third arm, each of which marks him as separate from the surrounding evolution.

Viktor’s transformation seen in the final episodes of season 2 features many traits that I dislike for Viktor’s characterisation, especially when he takes the route of humanity’s emotions and differences being its downfall.

As mentioned above, Viktor hisself is not uniform in the same way that the drones are, being a wholly different colour, wearing a different mask, and featuring different kinds of synthetics to the rest of his flock.

Viktor’s departure from humanity is meant to be symbolised through his mask, being akin to those possessed by his drones, however having a large split, from which comes forth a decidedly inhuman remainder; the concept of his mask is one that was featured in the first act of the season notably, his suspension in the hexcore leaving nothing but his face, and his eyes glowing in the scene which he blessed the first sinn- healed the first wounded.

I feel as if, though conceptually this design is valid, the existence of his drone’s renders his divergence from the unity as antithetical to his own ideals; Though his motif if that of ascending beyond humanity, uncaring to human emotions and morals for the sake of evolution, he acts as the only synthetic which retains its humanity to any extent, while bearing the mask with the largest departure.

His gaining of this mask was a moment foreshadowed for a long time, being the only part of him that was uncorrupted by the arcane, being the only part of him visible properly during the astral sequences with Skye, and being the only part of him that is newly concealed after he abandons Skye once more; the leaving of Skye acts as his abandonment of humanity, his internal compass and anima, which is then followed by his later ascension, however as stated before, for someone who is meant to ascend beyond human individuality or emotion, he still remains as the only source of human individuality in the legion of synthetics.

I cannot stress enough this divergence, the fact that despite this incarnation of Viktor acting as an amoral, inhuman, “driven assimilator”, wanting to bring all others into the same fold, he is the only one who does not follow this tennant.

We can see this even further with the details of his colouration, his reborn body, and his augmentations; Viktor takes directly after the Hex core, being a greyish purple in colouration, with golden accents, which match in colour but not location to his drones.

Viktor’s body itself diverges from the standard drone we see, being extremely human in its design, appearing even biological, coated in metal, rather than a true biomechanical form due to its textured design, not present on his followers.

This leads to the primary problem that I have with this incarnation of Viktor, he is simply put, not the “machine herald”, and is hardly the ascensionist that defined the character for so long.

While I understand the choices made, the directions that Viktor was taken, I cannot help but think that he is simply lacking, in story and development; in thematics; and in what should be the singular unifier of these two aspects, his design.

His goal in this latest incarnation is more directly to remove weakness, rather than to build on existing strength, which both act as the plausible goals of an ascensionist herald such as Viktor, this is in large why his drones lack these same overtly mechanical, almost brutalistic design traits that are present in designs such as his Legend of Runeterra followers, yet at the same time, his own personal design features augments, rather than this same unifying design, with the third arm on his back.

While his archetypal story of ascension towards a vision remains in tact, seeking singularly to remove the human weakness of emotions and individuality, I cannot help but feel that his design does not share this trait, being the only individual in the world is not the removal of individuals, it is just the suppression.

-

Lore.

Though lore was somewhat discussed in the prior section, it was more so characterisation that was used argumentatively before this; My view of Viktor is one that I have made abundantly clear: “An ascensionist, visionary, who seeks to herald machines or augments”. 

I have no inherent problems with the incorporation of the arcane, with his mystical presentation, nor his outward depiction as a villain, in fact, i believe that this utilitarian bargaining and carelessness acts in his favour, being one of my favourite character tropes in fiction, “Doing the wrong things for the right reasons” (Oh, worm).

My problem comes twofold, in his depiction through the show both before and after ascension, and his rejection of this sought ideal.

To summarise the first point, while Viktor acts in a cold logical manner for the scenes immediately before his rebirth, these scenes exist as the primary example of his inhumanity, placing him in the body of his drone – This bargaining scene is another that i feel could have been improved on, most notably, the spliced scenes in which we see Viktor’s face in the astral plane or something(?), severing the dissociation that would have serviced this scene and the following act perfectly. Imagine if Viktor’s face, for the entirety of act 3 prior to the finale, in which Ekko fractures the mask, was hidden; The face acts as the gateway to the soul, being the primary feature used to punctuate a creatures humanity, if Viktor’s bargaining to Mel and Jayce were without this depiction, the rejection of humanity would work far more effectively, and would have helped to enforce his separation of emotions.

Following the ascension, which occurs immediately after this bargaining, Viktor’s design is revealed, which i have already addressed my stylistic problems with, however, in his interactions following this moment, he acts in a more human manner than during the prior scenes, still holding a hope to show Jayce this beauty that he has discovered, yet still waiting until he arrived at the roof to do so?.

Viktor’s motivation is never allowed to develop in whole for the same reason that i dislike this incarnation, he refuses to act in either archetypal role of a visionary or a humanist, while seemingly attempting to remain as both.

While he claims to have become more than he ever was, more than human, his design and characterisation fail to show this at almost every turn, with almost every scene bar two (the aforementioned conversation in the council room and the moment when Ekko throws the Z drive at him) showing him as equally human from before the transformation.

While he claims to want to remove human suffering, he acts only to remove humanity in whole, not improve any aspect of it, or build off of its design, only mimic its appearance.

Viktor’s realisation of humanities weaknesses was not one that was unforeseen, and there is a theoretical merit to the concept of one who wishes to remove humanities imperfections in a communal, hive minded nature, the abject removal of all humanities aside from his own is simply a flawed execution.

Viktor, even after his transformation, clings to his flaws and to his humanity, separating him once again, even further, from his vaunted perfection: Viktor’s irregular textured body compared to other synthetics, his ostentatious mask, his seeming care for outward design, and most damningly, his walking stick, all of which far from necessary in his new perfect form.

If Viktor were to wholly choose, either ascension or unity for humanity, then I would be more than fine with his incarnation, if he had been firmly humanist or inhuman for his goals, then I would have liked his character.

If Viktor were to truly reject humanity, then why not show it first with the removal of his own flaws, his own separation of humanity, from which follows his realisation about human emotions, why have Skye representative of his humanity, of his nature in all of its flaws, when he clings still to his walking stick that represented them from the start.

The Finale.

In the finale of the show, Viktor embraces his humanity, Ekko having shattered his mask and revealed his face, following which he sees Viktor in the future having come to realise his flaws.

I dislike this ending for one primary reason.

It was never our Viktor who learned this lesson. *OUR* Viktor was robbed of this realisation, and even a flawed conclusion it may be, we have still lost a pivotal development in Viktor’s character.

There is no prize to perfection, only an end to pursuit.

And herein lies my biggest dislike of this characterisation.

Viktor’s future statement is one that has sat wrong with me since I heard it, and it is one that is a consequence directly of Viktor’s mischaracterized ascension discussed earlier.

Viktor’s sentiment is his desire to bring an end to suffering, hence that all suffering is derived from emotions, and from humanity.

And even in the end, Viktor describes this as “Perfection”. Viktor does not lament the loss of individuation, rather the loss of pursuit, that he had already completed his life’s goal.

And from this future revelation, Viktor chooses to abandon all his notions of improvement, in his future realisation borne of stagnancy, from the loss of a dream, he willingly abandons all notions of this dream.

This final speech of the future Viktor is one that almost in itself motivated me to write this discussion; should Viktor have simply lamented the loss of humanity, of minds to think, even of unpredictability, rather than the simple monotony of perfection; Should Viktor have understood the drive borne of emotions, from which progress is unattainable; Should Viktor have wished more outwardly to improve human flaws, to grow beyond human, in any way other than removing the “Human” aspect, then I would not dislike this character as much as i do.

Viktor’s design and mischaracterisation, in my opinion, are derived from a countless number of minor missteps and choices, wholly intertwined faucets of character which sought to represent discordant images of a person, souring both aspects in whole.

I do not hate Arcane, I loved it, and that is why I wish for its improvement, for its evolution beyond what it is, to improve its flaws and retain the core integrity of the show, to see it become what it could have been.

Also as a final message, having Jayce and Viktor kiss in the finale would have been infinitely better in the concept of humanity and the necessity for emotions, especially if it was preluded by a realisation of Viktor's actions and biases towards Jayce even following the transformation.

Let the men kiss riot.

Also small edit in post: I want to note that these statements are still for all intents and purposes, criticisms, however made with an attempt to remove any sort of knee jerk or personal reactions to the ending, I did not like the ending too much in general, however i tried to acknowledge those biases where possible and remove them where not.

Authors note: I am so sorry this is so much fucking longer than i thought it would be I didn't mean to ramble on for so long about him

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Dying to know your thoughts on arcane season 2 act 2 (and how you think they handled orianna specifically) ^-^ take your time though and I hope you feel better soon

I talked a little bit about it on Twitter because I use that place as a sketchbook for most meta posts I write.

I... actually did not vibe with the Orianna moment. In a show where so much happens in so little time (and especially in Act 2), the whole thing just felt like taking up minutes that could’ve been used to shed a little more light into whatever the fuck is going on with the Hexcore, which is a point I'll be circling back to later.

I don't think Singed’s character asks for that deep explanation of why he does things the way he does, even if I appreciate his writing and lines. That whole moment felt like This Is League of Legends and Arcane-canon bullshit and “we need to tie everything into lol lore”. And it kills me because I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't make Arcane the main canon universe.

Going back to the Hexcore, a thing that really bothered me was Act 2’s lack of storytelling clarity regarding Viktor. We leave Act 1 with the understanding that there’s something going on with Hextech and that whatever is influencing Viktor has a deeper, more sinister intent. This shows in how he handles his and Jayce's relationship, the effects over his voice lines during their conversation ("It was affection that held us together"), the way the anomaly behaves during EP3's showdown, and Sky's role in all of it. To me, in Act 1, it's implied that the Sky Viktor sees throughout his journey in the underground and how it behaves wasn't in fact Sky, but something using her skin to guide Viktor using a familiar form (a form which coincidently provokes in him a lot of guilt) for its own purposes. I thought showing Sky without her glasses was a really clever way to also convey that, stripping her of what made her human, showing there's something off.

And we get to Act 2, especially EP 6, and I'm beyond confused. The space sequences show Viktor talking and acting like he did before the events of Season 2. He looks like he previously did. He sounds like he previously did. And then they show Sky! Just behaving like a person! No more sinister undertone, no more just despersonified screams of agony from her dying moments to guide Viktor. And I'm so confused about what they're trying to tell me! And it's not the good confusing feeling you sometimes get from art, it's the "I think you fucked up whatever message you were trying to convey".

I know that the Arcane is written to be fucked up. Evil horrors beyond our comprehension is the point, I know that. Most people know that. But the space scenes did not seem to know that at all! All the wariness and tension and lack of agency were just… gone. Idk

And I can't even bring myself to be mad at the "Jayce ruined everything" people because for once I do think it was a failure in the writing depart. It facilitates this type of interpretation 👎👎👎 (this tweet has 20k+ likes)

Not exactly knowing what drove Jayce to act like that is killing me inside, also. They're obviously planning on doing some alternate dimension, multiverse, time-travel-ish thing ("I won't fail"), which scares me on its own merit, but merely knowing something happened isn't as sufficient as I myself thought it would be. I feel like it’s one of the few moments where Arcane’s wait-a-week Act structure backfired because not knowing his process takes A Lot from it.

I tend to really enjoy Arcane’s type of storytelling where not everything is acted out, leaving space for you 🫵 the viewer to fill in those gaps (for example, the enforcer Vi scenes). It's why I like League of Legends in general and Star Trek TOS. Enough is shown for it to feel satisfying but it still invites you as a spectator to participate in this story. I do think, however, that Jayce's major decision change should have been explained a bit further.

And yeah I complained a lot, but I loved a lot about it as well. All the Jinx scenes, the Warwick plot, Vi, Isha, Sevika, Mel, Leblanc... that was all insane in the best ways possible. I have some thoughts on Act 2 Cait but that will gain its own separate post

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

George H. Taggart - Witnessing Without Fear - Review and Herald - 1966

[samusique-concrete]

some thoughts on dark souls 2

well, here we are. a while ago i posted some thoughts on dark souls 3, which i now will update by saying it ended up becoming one of my favorite games ever, period. more than ds1 and elden ring i think (?). beat it multiple times, had a lot of fun fighting bosses in different ways, had fun with people online, been on the grind for getting all the achievements, been looking into installing the randomizer mod, etc. it's thanks to the buttery smooth UX ds3 provides that i got to enjoy my time with it so much. i cannot say the same for ds2.

not to reignite an age old debate but i don't think ds2 is really all that good... or at the very least i think the stuff it gets 'wrong' ends up overshadowing the stuff it really does get right. if you like the game that's fine obviously, i can see the appeal and i'm not here to say "DARK SOULS 2 SUCKS!" or anything. i'll list some stuff i liked and some i didn't so you can see where i'm coming from:

(SOME) STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE:

the ADP/AGL stats. i can't fathom why they thought it was a good idea to tie your i-frames to a stat. ds1 got this right the first time. this is genuinely beyond me.

movement/animations. ds1 could at times feel like a weird take on turn based combat in real time. it worked. ds2 just feels sluggish, on top of not being super responsive. you can be locked on but if you roll and attack your attack is stuck to the direction where you roll and you completely whiff. was ds1 vanilla also like this? i only played the remastered and it's, you know, how it should be. also where are the i-frames for going through a fog door or opening a chest??

the healing system. why did they feel the need to split them into flasks and gems? i certainly never felt the need to have two different healing items, except for the only sometimes useful feature that you can use gems while still moving. didn't see much use in the fact that one heals you slightly faster than the other. if anything having to manage two separate resources, one finite and the other not, was a bit annoying. ds3 went on to improve on this with only flasks; there were more of them and you could move while drinking them.

the menu. a bit finicky to traverse. more on this later.

the hitboxes. jfc. on top of being horrible there's very little feedback for when you're being hit. you just see your health bar decrease seemingly out of nowhere sometimes.

the enemy encounters... are actually fine for the most part. in some sections it's actually hilarious, in a good way (enemies blasting through locked doors? the constant invasions? the forlorn coming to get you if you die a lot, or the pursuer randomly popping in? actually funny stuff). it just got really annoying to deal with them at times for the other reasons listed above, plus also having to deal with some of the most baffling level design in the series.

the level design. the gulch? the undead crypt? good god.

the bosses. they're ok-ish for the most part, though most of them aren't very memorable and it's not really super engaging to fight them because of the combat mechanics. the dudes in armor are tight though and i wish there were even more.

the npc dialogue. these people just never stop their yammering do they. probably the single funniest player message i've ever seen in one of these games was just next to the last bonfire where aldia talks to you. the message just said "right, right". i laughed out loud for a solid while.

(SOME) STUFF I DID LIKE:

the story & themes. i think this is the most realized 'vision' of a plot in a dark souls base game. it's really interesting and it actually makes you care about some stuff, and it also makes you feel a certain way about the world design, which is nonsensical in a cool way. i get that in order to get some of this across they had to write more dialogue but at least you can mash A through that (at the risk of missing something relevant).

the human effigies. a step up from the humanity system from ds1, that would ultimately end up getting revised to perfection in ds3 with the embers.

the graphics. obviously this came out some years after ds1, but for a game that still released on the same console generation as its predecessor, it's a bit wild how much more they could get out of the systems at the time. also the art design in some areas are in my opinion a big step up (thinking of heide's tower of flame, the walk up to drangleic castle, the dragon aerie and other random hallways where the lighting got used in striking ways) and that also helps. (i don't wanna let ds1 off the hook here just for being 'the first one' though; by 2011 the industry already knew what they were doing, and fromsoftware had already released demon's souls prior to it. it is a bit crazy that a game from 2011 looks and feels like that but i say that with a lot of love).

the menu. they figured out a way to make you visualize your character while at the same time trying different armor pieces on (with your character even taking a slightly different stance while the menu was open, as if they were posing), and then they went back on that for ds3. a shame.

majula. obviously the coziest hub.

bonfire ascetics. really, really cool item that i'm baffled doesn't exist in some other shape or form in subsequent titles. i get that they could be used to farm to get an obscene amount of souls but it'd be really cool to have the oportunity to re-fight bosses in other souls games without having to beat the game and getting up to a certain point again. maybe like halve the souls they give out so it's clear that they're there as an optional challenge instead of a farming item, idk.

the atmosphere. atmittedly it's very different from ds1, but it's still... something. there's something to it. i consider ds1's atmosphere and general vibe so well realized that i see it as sort of unsurpassable. this is probably the thing i'd criticize the most about ds3: in that game the atmosphere is really austere for some portions of the experience, though it obviously makes up for it in other ways.

the memories. idk they weren't great and a they're a bit obtuse as a progression gate but still a neat idea. the whole 'action set piece' vibe does clash tonally a bit with what i associate with souls titles but it would've been interesting to see that idea fleshed out in a sequel.

all in all, it wasn't all bad. it was just really frustrating trying to meet the game halfway sometimes when ds1 had already figured out ways to impart something onto you even through all of its friction. i know miyazaki wasn't the one directing this one etc etc but it really does feel like a completely different studio made it. like it was the first 'soulslike'.

echoing my post on dark souls 3, i will now close this one out with a few screenshots.

i realize i've now written about dark souls 3 and dark souls 2, in that order. i guess i'll eventually write something similar, though different, about dark souls 1.

[htyfnetwork]

Bronxville Review Press And Reporter, January 7, 1954

[shallowseeker]

Posts that got me hate mail:

Bad parent sam sequel idea

My "unfair" TFW boobs comparison

Lovemaking styles of TFW

Pretty much anything that included John Winchester or Harper Sayles (which still surprises me TBH)

especially when I compare Cas to John or Cas to Henry Winchester.

[abookfairy]

Magic's Pawn, by Mercedes Lackey

I have known about the Valdemar series for a long time. I cannot remember exactly when I first heard of it, but it has been on my radar for years at this point. So recently, I finally decided to finally get it over with and start with what has been described as one of the best trilogy in that universe : The Last Herald-Mage series, featuring the legendary Vanyel.

After reading it, I finally understand what has made this series so popular. Vanyel is a fascinating character, and I greatly admire the author for not giving him an “ideal hero” type of personality, at least in the first book. Vanyel is beautiful, clever, and the best Herald-Mage of all time, but he is also vain, has a tendency to self-pity, can be a bit selfish, and is deeply hurt after years of abuse that made it difficult for him to trust people. This is a combination of character trait that I do not expect in a classic fantasy series, especially one written in the 80s (but perhaps my expectations of a classic fantasy series hero are a bit skewed). Vanyel is also gay, which is something that is definitely out of the norm for a fantasy series written in the 80s. Speaking of, I was surprised by how real the LGBT+ representation was in the first book : aside from Vanyel being gay, Tylendel is bisexual and Starwind and Moondance are a gay couple. Tylendel dies, but it is completely unrelated to his sexuality, and he is a developed character whose death greatly impacts those who loved him, especially Vanyel. While there are a few questionable things here and there, it is still much better than one could expect or hope for the time period, at least in my opinion.

Vanyel’s abuse and the consequences of it are represented in an interesting way that felt very compelling and realistic. I really like when works of fiction acknowledge that abuse does not make you a saint and can give you some deep personality flaws. Vanyel’s vanity, self-pitying tendencies and lack of trust in people almost cut him off from forming true connections with people. Furthermore, he doesn’t find a true community that fully accepts him as soon as he lives the abusive one, which is a trope that I fully understand (wish-fulfillement and everything) but that I don’t necessarily like. Even at the end, when he is in a much better place that he started in and has made some positive relationships, he is still not fully content with his life, which is understandable.

I also found very interesting the way adults were depicted in that novel when it comes to their relationship with Vanyel. Mostly, they all fail him in some way or another. Some redeem themselves and learn from their mistakes, like Savil (who is one of my favorite characters) and some have to leave Vanyel’s life, like his father. However, even if Vanyel manages to find some trusted adults and mentors, like Starwind, Moondance, and Savil after Tylendel’s death, the impact of the rejection and abuse he has suffered from means that the damage is already done. In fact, this is what this book felt to me : less of a self-contained plot, and more of an explanation of how it got to this point, how Vanyel became who he was. Perhaps this is what this trilogy was intended to be : an explanation of Vanyel, his choices, and why he made them, less than a traditional story.

It could also probably be a plea in favour of therapy for kids! Seriously, so many things would have turned out better if Vanyel and Tylendel had been sent to therapy (or its universe equivalent) from the start.

Speaking of Tylendel, I liked his relationship with Vanyel, as flawed as it was. He was the first person, aside from Lissa, to actually bother to try to understand him and give him affection. He was a ray of hope for Vanyel, which was why his death hit so hard, both for the characters and the readers. The most cruel thing is indeed to give a man hope and then snatch it away. However, it is also clear that Tylended could never completely be what Vanyel needed. Vanyel needed a protector and a lover, but he also needed a companion to help him grow, and Tylendel was simply way too inexperienced to understand that. I have read some spoilers about Tylendel though, so we’ll see what happens in the next books.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this introduction to the Valdemar world. The characters were well-written, their relationships touching, and the world itself is interesting. I look forward to reading the next book.

[royalfirefly]

I'm trying to get back into the habit of reading at least one book every month and to start the year off I chose @gailynovelry 's Ember Warrior!

Like the previous two books I really loved it and had trouble putting it down. I even read it at work when I really shouldn't have had my phone out whoops.

It hurt seeing the trio split up, but I loved seeing their individual journeys. Meparik and Prince Alaezel were really cute together. I loved seeing more of Gildhe in this book. I like their friendship with Crislie. Poor Naevali really can't get a break though.

I really look forward to reading Breathing Gods and Starlit Prince when they're out!

[aperture-of-bullshit]

tldr of my thoughts on the Barbie movie is that for me it fails where I expected it to fail (as a critique of capitalism and the way it and whiteness factors into the misogyny of it all), succeeds where I expected it to (visually and comedically), and exceeded expectations in areas where I didn’t even know to have expectations (Barbie and her relationship to humanity/becoming human)

[dispatchdcu]

X-Men: Before the Fall - Heralds of Apocalypse #1 Review

X-Men: Before the Fall - Heralds of Apocalypse #1 Review #XMenBeforetheFall #herladsofapocalypse #xmenbeforethefallheraldsofapocalypse #sonsofx #sinsossinister #sinister #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #xmen #houseofx #trialsofx #destinyofx

Writer: Al Ewing Art: Luca Pizzari, Pepe Larraz, Stefano Landini, Raphael Pimento, Ceci De La Cruz,  Marte Garcia, VC’s Travis Lanham, and Tom Muller Publisher: Marvel Comics Price: $4.99 Release Date: June 28th, 2023 The Origin of Arakko! In ancient days, Genesis turned back the hordes of Amenth. In ancient days, Genesis forced Annihilation in to a parley. What words were spoken in her mind?…

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW:

THE FIRST HERALD (Project Blue) by Carol T. Luna, Author at The Reading Cafe:

'A dark sci-fi that’s really thought provoking'

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Josephine Cunnington Edwards - Lydia, a seller of purple - Review and Herald Publishing - 1971

[hbogirls]

just watched spring breakers for the first time. i think some people can get tricked into thinking movies are good if they like the colors in it

[htyfnetwork]

Bronxville Review Press And Reporter, February 11, 1954

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy by Carl Sferrazza Anthony #NetGalley #ARC #BookReview

A new book is coming out on the life of #JaquelineBouvierKennedy in the years before she married #JFK. It's a fascinating look at the mysterious woman. #CameraGirl #Jackiekennedy #bookreview #netgalley #arcreview #johnkennedy #carlsferrazzaanthony

An illuminating new biography of the young Jackie Bouvier Kennedy that covers her formative adventures abroad in Paris; her life as a writer and photographer at a Washington, DC, newspaper; and her romance with a dashing, charismatic Massachusetts congressman who shared her intellectual passion. Camera Girl brings to cinematic life Jackie’s years as a young, single woman trying to figure out who…