#I love jesse's character in this story and this made for a super good tragic ending :) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

melanielocke · 3 years ago

Text

Lost in the Shadows - Chapter one

Lucie, Cordelia, Thomas and Alastair are spending the summer in a small town at the edge of a forest. Lucie hopes she can finally tell Cordelia how she really feels, while Thomas hopes to get to know Alastair a bit better. Alastair and Cordelia are glad to get some time away from their family and their parents separating. But something is not right in the forest. People are disappearing, and a creature warns Thomas that he is in danger, that a debt to a powerful being has not yet been repaid and they will need to combine all their abilities to stop what’s coming, and save Thomas.

CW: past toxic relationship, past abuse, mentions of alcoholism, PTSD It won't be super gory, but can be creepy

Tag list: @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @nott-the-best

Tagging @julywood because Thomas is one of the main characters

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32505550/chapters/80620474

‘Are you finished packing, Lulu?’

Lucie heard her father’s voice from behind the door of her bedroom, but she didn’t respond immediately. She was working on her story, and needed to finish this chapter so she could email it to Cordelia. She needed to concentrate, and that required blocking out all sounds coming from the outside world. The chapter had taken a bit longer than anticipated and the ghost of one of Cordelia’s dead boyfriends had somehow made its way into the chapter. Fictional Cordelia had had many boyfriends and all had died tragic deaths to make way for the next. She currently didn’t have a boyfriend and Lucie wasn’t planning another one yet. The real Cordelia had only dated her brother James for a while a year ago. Lucie didn’t think she wanted real Cordelia to have a boyfriend either.

The door opened and her father peeked inside. ‘You haven’t started packing at all, have you?’

‘I need to finish my chapter for Cordelia,’ Lucie insisted. ‘She will be stuck in a very long car ride with only Alastair for company and she needs something to occupy herself with.’

Lucie would be staying the summer with her parents in her grandmother’s manor, whereas her grandmother would be traveling to southern Italy with a couple of friends. While Lucie was usually excited about spending her summer there, she had feared it would be lonely considering her brother James wouldn’t be coming this year. He’d graduated school and he and his best friend Matthew were going to travel across the continent by themselves. She’d feared she’d be alone all summer, but then Thomas, her closest friend besides Cordelia, had convinced his parents to travel to the same town this summer, renting a cottage nearby her grandmother’s house.

‘Alright, I’ll pack for you,’ her father said. ‘But if you find your swimsuit or your sparrow plush toy is missing, then I will not be held responsible.’

‘Jack is coming,’ Lucie insisted, referring to her sparrow plush toy she’d once named after Jack Sparrow, and she put her laptop away to put her plush toy in her bag.

After a short moment of contemplation she put her new pink bikini and an older black and red striped one piece in there too. There was a lake close to grandmother’s manor and Lucie expected she’d go swimming regularly. She returned to her laptop, and tried to think of a good ending for the chapter. She didn’t like to end everything in a cliffhanger, but the story needed to remain intriguing.

‘No clothes? Underwear?’ her father asked.

Lucie considered just bringing everything suitable for the summer but realized they didn’t have that much space in the car. So instead she opened her closet, picked out some tops, skirts, dresses and jumpsuits and put them into her bag. She would probably regret leaving something behind later on but there was no time. Just to be sure, she went over the closet again and added a couple more dresses. She couldn’t leave her new yellow wrap dress behind, she’d sent Cordelia a picture of her wearing it a couple of weeks ago after she’d bought it and Cordelia had commented that she looked gorgeous. Lucie suspected it was just Cordelia being nice but the comment had still made her heart run wild.

She added enough underwear to last her several weeks and then went back to adding clothes at random until the bags were full.

‘Done,’ she announced, and she went back to her laptop, finishing her chapter.

Adding in a ghost was a difficult choice, but Lucie had decided fictional ghosts behaved similarly to real ghosts. Lucie had never seen a ghost of a dead boyfriend though. She hadn’t seen Jesse Blackthorn even once since he’d died four years ago.

When the chapter was finished, she emailed it to Cordelia, hoping she would receive it before she and her brother left home. Cordelia had almost not been allowed to come stay with her family this summer, her father tended to be strict and wanted to keep Cordelia at home. There had been some trouble lately at the Carstairs home though, and Cordelia’s mother had decided it would be good for her to go spend time with Lucie. Cordelia’s brother Alastair had decided to come with her, although Lucie wasn’t sure why. Either way, Lucie had decided she and Cordelia were going to have the greatest summer ever.

***

Thomas hadn’t been this excited about going on a vacation with his parents in a while. The small town where they’d be staying sounded boring, and certainly wasn’t the location most boys his age wanted to spend the summer, but then Thomas wasn’t interested in drinking and partying all night and would much rather explore forests and go swimming in lakes with Lucie Herondale. That wasn’t the main reason he was excited though. A week ago, Lucie had confirmed her close friend Cordelia Carstairs would be staying the summer with her, and a couple of days later Lucie had informed him Cordelia’s brother Alastair would be coming as well.

Thomas had gone to school with Alastair for a year, Alastair a year ahead of him, and at the time Alastair had been rather awful, especially to Thomas’ friends James and Matthew. To be fair, Alastair’s jokes about Matthew behaving like his mother were funny. Matthew did behave like his mother, always coming to collect him when he’d spent too much time around Alastair. Why he’d fallen in love with Alastair anyway, he wasn’t sure. He’d been intrigued by the mystery, he guessed, Alastair’s sad eyes and vicious tongue.

But after that year, Alastair had changed schools, and had gone to school with Lucie and Cordelia instead and he’d heard much from Lucie about him. Alastair had defended Lucie from bullies had kept to himself and created this image of someone who was untouchable, no longer a bully, but he would destroy you if you even considered hurting his sister or her friend Lucie. Thomas was once more intrigued. While James and Matthew were still angry, Thomas had decided he must have changed and he was thankful Alastair had protected Lucie, heaven knew that girl knew how to get herself into trouble.

Thomas checked his phone for the millionth time. He was done packing, but his parents were not. Lucie hadn’t send any new texts and Thomas suspected she needed to pack or finish the latest chapter of her novel before her parents left. She’d listed some ideas that might help him spend more time alone with Alastair, although Thomas was not yet sure if he wanted that. He wasn’t out to anyone but Lucie yet, and although he intended to tell his parents, he wasn’t yet sure how. He wasn’t yet sure he was ready for a relationship, and although he liked Alastair, he was also a bit intimidated by him.

Barbara had sent a message, and Thomas opened it. It was a picture of her and Oliver in front of the Eiffel Tower. Barbara and her boyfriend Oliver had gone to Paris to celebrate their two year anniversary and to celebrate Barbara graduating as a nurse.

Thomas texted a response and put his phone in his bag and walked outside, checking to see if his parents needed any help. A couple of gnomes were running around the garden. Thomas didn’t mind them, they took good care of the garden, and were far from dangerous, but they could get up to mischief. He’d learned that whenever cookies, forks or socks went missing, it was usually the garden gnomes. They lived in forests sometimes, but also liked to build their homes in human gardens. Of course, most humans had no idea they were there, but Thomas could see all sorts of strange creatures. Most were harmless, so Thomas never minded much. He didn’t seek out the supernatural, but he didn’t mind its presence.

Both his mother and Barbara had the same gift, and although Eugenia didn’t she had learnt to see the gnomes. Thomas had found out everyone could learn to see the supernatural if they knew what to look for and knew it was out there. Most people didn’t believe so they didn’t see, but Eugenia had grown up with a mother and siblings who saw everything whether they wanted to or not. She had always known what was out there.

Eugenia and her friend Kamala would be spending the summer in India this year, they’d saved up for months for their big trip. Thomas suspected they might be more than just friends but so far Eugenia had not confirmed this.

‘We’re almost done,’ his mother promised, handing him a plate of cookies. ‘Give some to the gnomes, will you? To show them our thanks for taking care of the garden.’

Thomas went into the backyard where even more gnomes had gathered. It was difficult to imagine most people could look at this scene and see nothing out of the ordinary, when several gnomes were running around, holding something shiny in their hands.

‘The car keys,’ Thomas groaned out loud and he put the plate of cookies on the ground.

‘You can have these, but please give me the keys back,’ he said.

The gnomes said something, but Thomas didn’t understand their language, and then attacked the plate of cookies, dropping the car keys in the process. Thomas picked them up before the gnomes realized anything, and picked up the plate as soon as it was empty. Gnomes could be monsters when it came to cookies and they didn’t have table manners, they just attacked any food they saw. Thomas couldn’t blame them.

Thomas quickly washed the plate and put it back with the others before joining his parents again, who were finally finished with everything.

‘Feeding the gnomes again, Sophie?’ his father asked. ‘Are you sure that many cookies are healthy for them?’

His mother shrugged. ‘They’re gnomes, Gideon. Who knows what’s healthy for them?’

His father couldn’t argue with that logic. Thomas wondered if there would be gnomes too at the cottage where they would be staying, or if other creatures would show themselves. Thomas had learned that if there was a myth or any kind of story depicting it, it probably existed somewhere, but most such beings were very rare and so far Thomas had mostly encountered gnomes.

Checking the car one last time to see if they had everything, Thomas got into the passenger seat next to his mother who would be driving, his father behind. Thomas had gotten too tall to fit in the backseat of this car and sitting there for a long drive would be unnecessarily painful. Besides, Thomas was better at reading maps than his father, and if they got lost they would depend on him to find the way.

As they drove, Thomas couldn’t help but think of Alastair Carstairs. Why had he decided to join the Herondales? Thomas didn’t think he was particularly close to Lucie, although he knew Will Herondale had a weak spot for anything that carried the name Carstairs. He wasn’t surprised the Herondales had invited him along. Could he be thinking of Thomas? And would Lucie’s plans to get them to spend time together help, or only make everything worse?

***

‘I cannot get this bag to close,’ Cordelia complained.

‘Perhaps that’s because there’s a limit to how much fits in there,’ Alastair said without looking up.

He was finished packing, of course. Cordelia, on the other hand, had decided she had not yet enough clothes packed and with some suggestions from her mother and aunt Risa had tried to add more.

‘Don’t you have another bag for me?’ Cordelia asked, annoyed.

She loved Alastair, but sharing a room with him was a bit too much and they’d gotten on each other’s nerves. They were currently staying with their aunt Risa, their mother too, but Risa’s apartment was a bit small for all of them. It was a temporary situation and Cordelia hoped that after the summer she and Alastair didn’t have to share a room anymore. At least in the Herondale manor, there were plenty of rooms and Cordelia intended to get one as far away from her brother as possible. Alastair tended to be neat, and his half of the room was always perfectly in order, whereas Cordelia was a bit messier, and both were irritated with the other.

‘You can check if any of my bags have some space left. Or you can leave the bag opened and put it in the car like this and hope it doesn’t end with clothes littered everywhere.’

Cordelia went to the building’s parking garage and to the car and put the bag there, half open, making sure nothing fell out. No one but the two of them would be fitting in there with how much Alastair had packed. Cordelia couldn’t imagine he’d need all that, but she knew better than to attempt to convince her brother he could leave something behind.

Back inside, she saw Alastair sitting on his bed, vaguely staring into the distance as if he was daydreaming.

‘Alastair, stop doing that,’ Cordelia said.

Calling his name usually brought him out even when his senses were closed off from the world around him. Alastair had an ability that Cordelia best described as him being Harry Potter’s pensieve. He could revisit his own memories, and if they allowed it, other people’s memories as well, as well as bring people with him into memories. Alastair tended to stay out of other people’s memories, but could get lost in his own. Outside their family, no one knew about it and Alastair preferred to keep it that way.

The Carstairs family had always been aware of the supernatural, of course. Once their father Elias had carried the magic sword cortana and fought evil creatures with it. That had been a long time ago though, and Cordelia owned cortana now, but she had never used it to fight anything beyond straw men in the backyard. She didn’t have any abilities though, not beyond her connection the sword, nothing like Alastair’s odd memory. Neither of them understood why he was that way.

‘Were you revisiting your break up again?’ Cordelia asked then.

She knew he’d been revisiting that memory over and over lately, although she didn’t understand why. It couldn’t possibly make him feel better, could it? Of course, Alastair wasn’t exactly known for making the healthiest choices when it came to coping.

‘Charles has been texting me,’ Alastair said, his face blank. ‘I made sure that when I broke up with him, I was very clear about not wanting him to contact me. I wanted to see if there was anything I said that might have made my meaning unclear, any invitation for him to keep texting me.’

‘I don’t think Charles has ever listened to a thing you said,’ Cordelia said. ‘That’s his problem, not yours. Have you blocked his number yet?’

Alastair didn’t say anything.

‘You can block him,’ Cordelia insisted. ‘And you should. It’s creepy how he keeps texting you.’

As far as Cordelia was concerned, Charles had been creepy long before that, ever since he began a relationship with her brother despite Alastair only being sixteen at the time when Charles was six years older than him. Charles must have known how wrong and creepy that was, even if Alastair hadn’t.

Alastair hadn’t told anyone about his relationship, not ready to come out yet, which must have been convenient to Charles. Cordelia had only found out four months ago when she’d started to worry about Alastair, how he’d seemed more nervous and prickly than usual, how he’d lost weight from not eating. Reluctantly, Alastair had told her about his relationship, and Cordelia had been horrified to learn just how much abuse he’d accepted, believing that was how relationships worked. After a month of Cordelia trying to convince him of how toxic Charles was, Alastair had broken up with him. She’d been very protective of him ever since finding out, and was glad he’d decided to come stay with the Herondales with her this summer. Some time away from everything would be good for him, right?

Then Cordelia had found out Alastair had been keeping even more secrets from her, this one surrounding their father. Cordelia had always loved her father and looked up to him, a former warrior who’d slain the supernatural horror that had taken his brother and sister in law, a former hero who’d fallen ill in later life. A while ago their cousin Jem, who was a psychiatrist, had visited, despite their father trying to keep him away from their family, and he’d noticed Alastair was not doing well after an anger outburst. Cordelia and her mother had always assumed Alastair’s moodiness and anger outbursts were just him being a difficult teenager, although at eighteen he was getting a bit old for that. Jem, familiar with mental disorders, had recognized symptoms of something more.

He had recommended Alastair see a therapist. After some pressure from both her and Jem, Alastair had gone and he’d been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Cordelia had found out father was not sick, but addicted to alcohol instead. Alastair had spent years protecting her from the effects, attempting to take care of father while he was drunk so she have the illusion of a normal childhood. Now that she knew, she guessed she understood a bit better why Alastair had thought what Charles had offered was love.

‘I guess I can block him,’ Alastair said.

‘I’m serious,’ Cordelia insisted. ‘You have to stop revisiting bad memories, you’ll only get hurt again. I don’t like seeing you hurt.’

Alastair took his phone out his pocket, presumably blocked Charles’ number, and put it back.

‘Are you ready to go, Layla?’ he asked.

When Cordelia was young, she’d loved the story of Layla and Majnun her mother used to tell her, and Alastair and her mother had taken to calling her Layla.

‘Ready when you are,’ Cordelia said. ‘Lucie just emailed me the latest chapter of the beautiful Cordelia. I’ll have plenty to do on the way.’

#Alastair Carstairs #Thomas Lightwood #Cordelia Carstairs #Lucie Herondale #Lucelia #Thomastair #tlh #the last hours #fic #fanfiction #paranormal au

40 notes · View notes

scottspack · 4 years ago

Text

my wife @got2ghost tagged me to talk about my 10 favorite ships and why!

yall know i LOVE to talk so lessgo!!!!

KIRK/SPOCK - Star Trek: I know this is a very unpopular opinion with some of my mutuals (I apologize Phoenix and Amy) but as someone who grew up watching TOS with my grandma and next gen with my parents, AOS, which came out when I was 13, was MY Star Trek. It was cool and sleek and pine/quinto were hot and at 13 years old I was like This Is Mine Now and have loved it ever since even though I fully recognize what makes it hard to love for classic trekkies! THAT BEING SAID, the reason i love spirk so much (besides the TOS version and the history and love they have) is because AOS spirk was the first pairing that i ever read fic for that was BEAUTIFUL and MOVING and GUT WRENCHING! this was the pairing that made me realize that fic could even be good! that it could not only be good but be AMAZING! even though the AOS movies fumble the spirk bag over and over and over, the things that fic writers have done with these characters and the stories they’ve created around the differences in AOS made a huge impact on me as a young teen and they still have a huge space in my heart!!!!!!!

Sterek- Teen Wolf: there is absolutely a reason that this pairing got so popular so fast and it’s because their dynamic is genuinely so GOOD and funny and there’s so much to work with!!!! Jeff Davis If Not For The Laws Of This Land I Would Have Slaughtered you, etc, etc, BUT regardless of what was done to them in canon, shipping sterek in 2012-2014 was the most fun ive had online in my entire life and i’ll love sterek forever! on this i swear!!!!!! no homo deserves a nobel peace prize!!!!!!!!!

Ruth/Idgie - Fried Green Tomatoes: i think it was phoenix who reblogged something recently about how so much historical gay rep is tragic and sad and doesn’t focus on the reality that gay people have always existed and not every single one of them lived tragic and sad lives. THAT’S WHAT MAKES RUTH/IDGIE SO IMPORTANT TO ME!!!! the importance of historical gay love that was happy! and accepted by their community! and beautiful! and romantic! they fall in love and start a business and raise a child and live in a happy home together! in 1930s alabama! their dynamic in both the book and the movie is unbelievably sweet and hot and i want to cry just thinking about the TENDER LOVE AND CARE!!!!!!!!!!!

Mulder/Scully - The X Files: they’re my parents and i love them! the skeptic/believer dynamic at it’s absolute fucking best! you want to talk about blueprints? mulder/scully is the fucking blueprint. “scully, is this demonstration of boyish agility turning you on?”

Jack/Bitty - omgcp: everyone on tumblr had already moved on by the time i got into omgcp last november, so it feels like im the only one who cares about them anymore but AHHHHHHHHHH i love jack/bitty so much and jack zimmermann in particular (not surprising since spock and lan wangji are two of my other favorite characters, you can see a pattern here) ANYWAYS i think that they are such a fucking good pairing. bitty unconsciously bringing jack out of his shell and making him want to open up and be receptive to love and to be a braver person just by virtue of being apologetically bitty is SO SWEET!! I THINK ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME!!!!!! read Something Like This by emmagrant01 on ao3!!!!

Destiel - Supernatural: i mean what the fuck do you want me to say. its a man in gay love with an angel. if you’ve followed me for any length of time you’ll know two things: im gay and i love the abstract idea of christian mythology. destiel ticks all of my stupid boxes! one of my fave pastimes is going on ao3 and sorting destiel fics oldest to newest and reading all the really good super early fics when no one knew where the show was going with their angel mythology so fic writers relied on the actual bible and took angels seriously and it was GREAT!

Nick/Jess - New Girl: they’re soulmates from SEASON. ONE. EPISODE. ONE. baybee!!!!!!!! aint nothing else to say!

Flint/Thomas - Black Sails: this is a ship i dont talk about THAT often but is extremely important to me for what it represents. ive written about 500 tag essays about how black sails is important for many reasons, one of which is that it’s a show that believes in gay joy and happy endings for gay people. the fact that flint spent a decade in mourning for thomas, burning down as much of the english empire as he could in retribution for how thomas was treated, killed all of the people who called him a monster for being in love, and then at the end of it all STILL got his happy ending? absolute catharsis. extremely close to my heart.

Larry - One Direction: [explanation redacted]

Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji - The Untamed: new comers and heavy fucking hitters WANGXIAN!!!!!!!! there was no way in hell that i was ever NOT going to be fully in love with them once i started this show. not only are they ancient chinese kirk/spock, but everything else about their dynamic is just so fucking good!!!! childhood enemies to reluctant friends to shy crushes to soulmates in pursuit of justice and Doing The Right Thing to them against the world to one of them dies and the other wears white in mourning for 16 years to one of them is resurrected and the other knows its him immediately to a stronger connection than ever to once again them! against! the! world! to LOVERS to MARRIED to DOMESTIC BLISS AND RAISING THEIR CHILD TOGETHER. its..............a lot! and its so good!

this was super fun and im going to tag @wolfbuddy, @significationary, @curlytemple, and @nicolegendary (nicole i want to hear your essay on the gay alien cw show very badly) if you guys are interested in doing this!!!

#i consulted some very old tags on my blog to see if i was leaving any out #that i might still want to include #and i didnt find any that i wanted to include #but i was reminded how absolutely obsessed i was with the 100/bellarke back in the day #which should be obvious since i even changed my url for a while etc etc #but holy shit that show did me so wrong that ive really purged all memory of it from my brain #i could barely tell you the general plot of that show anymore #and SO much of my old otp tags and stuff were all about bellarke #thats what happens when you get straightbaited huh #the betrayal!

13 notes · View notes

haveamagicalday · 5 years ago

Text

My 2019 reads

My top ten reads can be found here

4 Stars

All the Bad Apples by Moria Fowley-Doyle

Deena’s family is cursed. Any “rotten apple” in the family is doomed for a a tragic end. When Deena’s sister Mandy goes in search of the cause of the curse, Deena and friends go after her. This book alternates with stories from the past and present dealing with strong feminist themes throughout.

House of Salt and Sorrow by Eria A. Craig

A darker more horror story retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses. Personally, I felt that connection to the original fairy tale was kinda weak and this could have been pitched as its own fairy tale. It was definitely creepy and kept you on your toes throughout.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Riley Sager is becoming one of my favorite thriller authors but this one was probably my least favorite of his 3 books so far. Don’t get me wrong, it was still really good but while the twist was good, I figured it out fairly early on. I kept waiting for another twist that would blow me away but it never happened. Still, this was fun to read and I still stand by the 4 star rating.

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

After Cinderella leaves with her prince, her stepsisters are left in shame. This story covers the stepsisters lives after happily ever after, and maybe they will get their happily ever after too. This book was sweet and creative. Isabelle, are evil stepsister, was a flawed character but still deeply likable. There was some magic and greek mythology woven in that really made this story stand out for me.

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen does it again in this heartfelt tale of a teenager trying to find her place in the world. Emma Saylor’s mother was an addict and now that she’s gone, Emma only has her stories to remember her by. So where does Emma’s life fit in to these stories and how does the story end?

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

A non witch detective is called in to a high school for the magically gifted to solve a gruesome murder. This was a fun and unique read. It plays out like a typical mystery but the added element of a modern day world with mages and a magic boarding school made it it's own thing. I would actually love to read a series in this world as it was well built and intriguing. A big strength of this novel was I actually was interested in the main character's storyline as I was with the mystery. Sometimes with mysteries, the main character is just there to solve the mystery and nothing more. This was not the case for this book.

The Window by Amelia Brunskill

Jess’s twin sister is dead. She fell out their window one tragic night. But what was Anna doing sneaking out of their window? In this thrilling and emotional book, Jess discovers some of her twin’s secrets and sets out to learn what really happened that fateful night.

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini

A fun short read that brought me back to my middle school years. Eragon holds a special place in my heart and this was a welcome return to the world. It hints at more in the future and I'm excited to see were this story will continue to go. I will admit though that I preferred the in between chapters with Eragon than the short stories themselves. The Urgal story was probably the best but it seems like Paolini is setting up for another full sized novel in the series and it really had nothing to do with the story at all. Still, it was enjoyable!

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman

A satisfying ending to the Lady Helen trilogy. There was a twist about the main villain that I honestly would have hated in any other book but it worked so well in this one. I’m going to miss this fun series.

3.5 Stars

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Echo North is a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. This one had its deviations but was more of straight retelling of the fairytale. There are two parts to this book. The first one is about 280 pages and the last part is the last 120 pages. I think I would have preferred if they were an equal length. The first part could have been shorter and the second part could have been longer. There was a lot of interesting content in the second part that I would have loved to explore more. Still, this was a lovely read and a good retelling of the popular fairytale

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Berube

Skye is our main character. A high school girl that moved to a new town and just wants to be normal, maybe even date her cute neighbor? What stands in her way is her 13 year old sister Dierdre. Deirdre is weird, she’s creepy and she refuses to grow up. And now she is missing. All in all, I thought this was a worthwhile and exciting read. While I was personally left a tad disappointed in the direction it took, I know there are a lot of others that will absolutely love it. And the strength of the first half and the themes it deals with, is enough for me to recommend it! Read my full review here.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Based on Russian mythology and lore. This is a perfect fairy tale to read on a cold winter night. The characters are well developed and the conflict is subtle. It's a slow build up but never felt boring at all.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book! It was quick paced and kept you guessing. However, while I didn't think the ending was predictable, I did think it was a bit cliched. I was surprised by the twist but but it still felt cheesy. The rest of the book was really solid though. There were plenty of red herrings that kept you guessing and it was an enjoyable read with good characters. I liked that this one only had two main characters as opposed to One of Us Is Lying had the four but if I had to pick one though I would say One of Us Is Lying is the stronger book.

3 Stars

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

A retelling of the fairytale of the same name. It was such a sweet story! I thought that Ani/Isi's transformation and growth throughout the story was very well done. The romance was put on the back burner but I didn't mind. It was cute but a little rushed too. It was also very obvious who Geric really was but I don't think it was suppose to be this amazing twist or anything so I didn't mind. I liked the added elements that Hale put into the fairytale. Ani's wind talking ability was a great addition whereas in the fairy tale, she just talks to the wind and it’s never explained why. It stuck to the fairy tale very closely and I really enjoyed reading it.

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Chloe lives with her older sister Ruby, the girl everybody wants to be. But when a night of fun with Ruby goes wrong, Chloe is taken to live with her father, leaving Ruby behind. But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back and make things right for her. This was a strange book. I read it quickly because I wanted to know what was going on but the ending just left me more confused. I don't understand what the point of any of this was? However, the writing was beautiful and I loved the creepy and hazy atmosphere.

Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich

This was pitched as a Faust retelling but I found little connection between it? I loved the Dead House by Kurtagich but her next book was a disappointment for me. While this one was better, I was still left wanting more. It’s strange that the story in the past is the main one, whereas the one in the present is done through transcribed video recordings and journal entries. Honestly, she probably could have done away with the story set in the present. I think many would like this book but it just wasn’t for me.

Twice Dead by Caitlin Seal

Naya lives in a world where necromancy is common, but the wraiths they come back are treated as second class citizens. When a solo trading mission goes wrong, Naya awakens to find herself the very thing she always found disgust in. Wholly creative with lots of twists, this was a strong debut novel.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I read Bardugo’s series of short stories A Language of Thorns last year and absolutely loved it. I was...surprised this was written by the same person. It was a very basic YA novel with a love triangle and super special main character. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I had read it as a younger teen.

Truly Devious/The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

I went into this book expecting a lot of murder and creepy riddles left behind. That's not exactly what I got though. This book was just a tad bit too slowly paced. The murder doesn't happen until a little after the half way mark so the first half of the book felt unnecessary. I feel like 100 pages or so could have been chopped. What I really liked was the mystery behind the school that happened in the 1930s. For me that was the strongest part and I'm more interested in that than the modern day mystery. Which was sort of solved by the end anyway? I think there's more to it but if not it's rather underwhelming. Overall though, I enjoyed the book and the sequel was enjoyable too. Oh, and I need to set the record straight, there's a line in the sequel where someone mentions that the country bear jamboree doesn't have a movie based on it... but it does!!!

Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes

Embry is the town hero for saving a homeless guy from a fire at an abandoned hotel late one night. But what would the town think if they knew she was the one who started the fire in the first place? Now Embry is receiving notes from someone who knows what she did. Now she must choose between letting the truth get out or given in to her mysterious tormentor’s demands. Hidden Pieces was a fairly solid mystery but it bordered on unrealistic at most times. Still, it was definitely a page turner.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

This is one of those rare cases where I found that the movie was better than the book. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good book but the movie fine tuned it a lot. The book was surprisingly long and the movie cut out some unnecessary stuff. I was surprised that there was two love interests in the book and I honestly preferred the one that was cut from the film. He was a much better fit for Willowdean and Bo in the book was much more of a jerk who was initially put off by being seen with Willowdean. The fight that Willowdean and her best friend have was much bigger and more dramatic and Ellen was actually pretty nasty throughout it. The movie definitely fleshed out these characters in a much softer light. The relationship with her mother was also much sweeter in the movie than in the book. It felt kind of emotionless and less inspirational here.

Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy

Popular girls are turning up dead and our main character, Penelope, fears she may be next. I went into this expecting more serious take on Scream Queens. I read this back in September and I honestly don’t remember much other than the characters barely reacted to their classmates/friends deaths and the murderer was impossible to guess and was utterly lame. If the killer has to explain their motives with brand new information that was not found anywhere else in the book, it’s not a good twist.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

This had a lot of potential and I know a lot of people have loved it but it fell flat for me in some places. The book is based on and sort of a sequel to the short story The White People. You definitely need to have read the short story first or this will make zero sense to you. Our main character, Mouse, spends much of the first third of the book cleaning out a hoarder’s house. It gets very tedious but picks up pace when the Twisted Ones are introduced. There are some good moments of tension but Mouse tends to ruin these moments attempting to be funny (which she’s not). The White People works best as a type of horror that is never truly explained but this book does just that. It’s at this point that the book lost me again. I think it’s mostly a matter of taste but I just wasn’t in to it.

Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

I loved this series as a whole but I did not like the ending. Mostly because my least favorite characters ended up as the “winners”. That’s all I’ll say about that.

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon

Helen and Nate decide to leave their cozy life behind to build (literally build) their own little house in a small superstitious town. Problem is, the land they’ve bought is where Hattie Breckenridge a women accused and murdered for witchcraft, lived a hundred years ago. This reads more like a murder thriller that just happens to have ghosts in it than a true ghost story. There were some great twists but it was slow in some places. Like learning about all the ins and outs of what goes into constructing your own house from scratch. Helen and Nate also suffer some martial problems, brought on by the ghost, that just made me anxious and probably wasn’t necessary. I know it adds to the drama and suspense but ugh.

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

There’s a murder. There’s a mystery. But that’s not really what this book is about. Remy’s boyfriend is dead and her best friend Elise is the one who killed him. But it was self defense. Probably. The majority of the book takes place in flashbacks starting with Remy and Elise meeting and becoming friends. What starts as a normal friendship slowly turns into a toxic and emotionally abusive codependent relationship. Ultimately, that’s what the book is about. It’s honestly a fantastic portrayal. It’s toxic on both sides but you understand why they care about each other and stay friends. Not all toxic relationships end with a death though and perhaps this would have packed more of a punch had our main character came to some conclusions about her best friend in another way.

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Nora is a Walker and Walkers are witches. How do I know this? Because she mentions it every other page. For the most part this book was enjoyable but extremely predictable. I would still pick up the next book this author writes though.

2 Stars

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

A modern day retelling about Henry and his 6 wives but this time they are high schoolers. The story is narrated by Annie “Cleaves” Marek, Henry’s fourth wife girlfriend. I'm pretty much assuming everybody knows about Henry and his 6 wives at this point. So where the book really lost me was at the half way point where it turns into a murder mystery type book. If you know your history, you know who did the murder in this book. So the murder mystery angle doesn't work here, The characters don't know for sure, but we the readers do. It becomes somewhat tedious honestly. Our main character also sucked. Cleves was your typical quirky girl. She says witty things that really aren't witty. She claims to be a hardcore feminist but demonstrates this by kind scolding Henry when he says something sexist...and that's about it. This book was entertaining enough to keep me reading but I had my problems with it. Especially the second half. I think there are some people that will really like this spoofy tongue in check retelling but it just wasn't for me. You can read my full review here.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Let me just start by saying that I don't get the hype for this book. It’s an interesting concept but this book just did not work for me. It's somehow not long enough but nothing really happens throughout. The girls were not very "wild" and I don't know what the point of any of this was. This book has been called "feminist horror" and I don't understand that at all. The tox didn't empower them in any way and there wasn't any feminist themes throughout. The gore/body horror was minimal and not very creepy or disgusting at all. Overall, this book was not for me.

The Missing Season by Gillian French

Our lead character moves to a small town where kids go missing every year. The adults find logical reasons for these disappearances but the children of the town believe it is a monster named The Mumbler taking them. Interesting concept that wasn't fully realized. Nothing happens in this book until the last 20 pages. there's no build up or clues that led up to the big twist in the end. When the climax finally happens, it's over within ten pages and then the book ends another ten pages later. Minor plot points lead to nothing and the mumbler was barely played up to make this book suspenseful.

The Babysitter’s Coven by Kate Williams

Adventures in babysitting meets Buffy. Sorta. I went into this super excited and was hoping for something akin to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I did not get that. This reads more like a middle school book and was overly cheesy. I think younger teens would enjoy but I wasn’t a fan.

How She Died, How I Lived by Mary Crockett

Kyle texted five girls one night. Only one responded and met up with him. He killed her that night. Our unnamed narrator was one of the girls who didn’t answer his text and now she’s dealing with the aftermath of knowing it could have been her. f this book had ended differently, I would have rated it higher. I had major issues with the romance. The narrator starts a relationship with the slain girl’s boyfriend and it was so insanely toxic though it was written to be romantic.

Rereads

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen (5 stars)

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (5 Stars)

Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray (5 Stars)

Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (5 Stars)

Heartless by Marissa Meyer (4 Stars)

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (5 Stars)

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente (5 Stars)

Short Stories

The White People by Arthur Machen (2 stars)

I like the story itself but the way it was written was horrendous and hard to follow. It was a huge rambling block of text.

Bridal Boot Camp by Meg Cabot (4 Stars)

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn (5 Stars)

13 notes · View notes

worldbecomefantasy · 5 years ago

Text

Because this will probs get long, the details on who their kids are and for what ships, that’ll all be below the cut. Some will be super detailed, others are kinda just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ they have kids I’m sure but I’ve never plotted that out. I just wanted to take some time and talk about my muses kids and spouses cause I love family man.

Muses with kiddos (in any verse)

Nyx

Cyrus

Khal

Levi

Drautos

Pine

Kanan

To be more specific to their canon verses though:

Cyrus

Levi

Kanan

Canon kiddos

Cyrus Zerrin has three kids, Cillian, Emi and Eli. Cillian is his by blood, after a few hookups with Ocean, another local to Galahd. He didn’t know about Cillian for several years though. Ocean kept him a secret, feeling like Cyrus wasn’t in a good place to be a father. After a few months of their relationship though, Cyrus ended it as he wanted to be a better person. He’d always been the bright-eyed, happy boy in town, and she missed seeing him like that. But the attack on Galahd took his happiness away. It wasn’t until her health was declining that she let Cyrus back into her life, and subsequently Cillian’s as well.

Cyrus of course felt deep regret that Ocean had to raise him for six years on her own, but he understood why she did that. He knew as well as anyone that right after Nyx and Libertus left, and he lost his sister and friends, that he wasn’t okay. He walked a dangerous path and too many times went down the wrong roads. So he doesn’t blame her for keeping Cillian from him, but it doesn’t make him regret his choices any less.

Cillian adjusted well, or as well as any six year old can be expected to. Ocean always spoke well of Cyrus, so Cillian had no problems with him. Their personalities were also more alike than anyone could have imagined. Physically Cillian took almost entirely after his mother, but his personality is a mirror of Cyrus. Always being kind, smiling, the epitome of sunshine. Even when darkness falls, when he’s nine, he maintains his smile.

His second child is a little girl, Emi, that he adopted just after the darkness fell and he went to Lestallum with Libertus. Emi is cute and sweet at first glance. She looks a little shy, but that’s expected from a four year old. What’s not so expected is how much trouble she gets into. Anything that she shouldn’t be getting into, she will find a way to get into. Rooms she shouldn’t be in, things she knows she shouldn’t be touching, whatever the case may be. She will get into trouble. That never changes as she grows up.

The third is Elias. He’s a close friend of Emi’s and when Cy takes in Emi she refuses to be parted from Elias. He’s a year older than her, but he’s the more timid one. He’s very unsure of himself as a young child, but as he grows up he gains more confidence. He’s a bit hotheaded, no doubt from growing up around Libertus, but he’s a good kid. He doesn’t mean to cause trouble- much unlike Emi.

~~~~~

Levi Valter is a husband, and a father of one little girl. Isabel is his eight year old daughter. She takes after her mother, being soft and sweet, but she’s always been a daddy’s girl regardless. She loves having him tell her bedtime stories, either made up, from story books, or real stories of his life. Her imagination runs wild, and he couldn’t be more proud. Levi loves her more than anything in the world, and he wants to treat her to anything she wants. He wants to be the parent to her that he never got.

~~~~~

Kanan has a very loose definition of family. He considers his crew his family, with Hera as his wife and the rest of them his children.

Zeb is older than him, technically speaking, but he still acts like a child. The 40 something year old Lasat goofs around and gets into trouble just as much as the 12 year old human on their crew act just the same.

Sabine is by far the most mature of the kids, but not without her own rebellious streak. That is what makes them stick together though, so Kanan doesn’t fault her for it. Just so long as she’s not painting anything that Hera will get upset about.

Ezra is the most like him, a young boy that’s lost and alone, and a fellow Jedi. Kanan could have let him go, never told him anything. But the Force didn’t allow that.

Finally Chopper even counts as one of the kids. Many people say he’s just a droid, that droids don’t count and are replaceable, but Kanan begs to differ.

Last of all is Jacen. The only of his kids that is by blood his family. Canonically he never knew Jacen, he died just before Hera found out she was pregnant. For the sake of this blog though, we ignore his death. As such, he did get to know Jacen, and he loves his son just as much as he loves the rest of the crew.

~~~~~

Non Canon Kiddos

Nyx Ulric. He’s not a man to have many kids, but across different verses he has many.

In a typical Before the Sunrise/Following the Moon verse he has one son. Elias. Rather than Libertus and Cyrus taking in both Emi and Eli, Nyx takes in Eli. It’s less stress on his best friends, and it keeps the kids close together. This happens after the darkness falls, and Nyx is based in Lestallum with Cyrus and Libertus. In this verse, Eli is the same kid that starts out very timid and grows into his confidence. The change is that rather than being hotheaded, he’s just reckless. Much like Nyx. There is also the variable of Nyx can be a single father, or he can be shipped with anyone still alive in the darkness, though traditionally he’s with @heartsurpluss’ Prompto.

Nyx with Luche. When shipped with Luche (specifically Jess‘ Looch) he has a daughter named Leila. Really the little girl belongs to Luche, she’s his biological daughter, but the mother isn’t in the picture. Nyx falls for Luche first, and meets her and falls just as in love with this tiny infant. He loves her so much. In canon, it’s rather tragic because she ends up an orphan, so we ignore canon. Before the Sunrise/Following the Moon though she gets her parents. Luche is horrifically scarred and has terrible self esteem, not thinking himself worthy of love or a family. Nyx does his best to combat that, not just because he loves Luche, but because he doesn’t want Leila growing up without her father. She needs a parent, and Nyx knows he won’t survive past the darkness, he knows she needs Luche.

Nyx with Prompto. Again, this is specific to Jess‘ portrayal. She has a verse for Prom where he had a daughter with Cindy. That daughter is named Anna. This is usually something that happens in a modern verse. Nyx is a middle school teacher and actually meets Anna before he meets Prom. She’s a little spitfire in his classroom, and he adores this kiddo. Then during a parent-teacher conference he meets Prompto and falls in love with him. Obviously it’s not an instant in love, but seeing this cute lil blonde single father stumble in is entirely too endearing.

~~~~~

Khal is semi canon, but not totally. Her main ship is with Spencer, a fandomless oc played by- you guessed it- Jess. Spencer is an ICU nurse when they meet, but shortly after that transfers to NICU. He spends 8 years there, being best friends with Khal, but never anything more. They’re dating in everything but title. Khal refuses to admit her feelings until one day, he comes home from the NICU with a baby, because the baby’s parents couldn’t keep him and Spencer refused to let go of him. That day Khal just broke and admitted to herself, and to him, how she feels. Because she wanted to be Rory’s mother.

~~~~~

Drautos is not the type one expects to see as a family man, or even a married man. He is business first and he’s always been like this. But a lesser known fact is that he does want a family. He wants the family he missed out on having from his home being destroyed when he was 12. Because of this, I have a lot of verses with Jess about how he becomes a parent. For context, Jess- as you can likely tell by now- is a multimuse. She rps a lot of characters, including: Luche, Pelna, Axis, and Tredd. With each of these is an option for Drautos to be a parent.

Drautos with Luche. Luche has Leila, this is a fact established while discussing Nyx. Drautos is interesting in the image of a perfect family, because he doesn’t know how to actually have a family. He doesn’t know how to be a parent. But slowly he does genuinely fall in love with Luche, and with Leila. He will do anything to protect them, and when Insomnia falls his highest priority is ensuring that Leila is safe.

Drautos with Axis. Shortly after Axis’ youngest is born the mother died. This left Axis alone, and struggling to care for three children. What good commander would just stand by and watch this struggle? Certainly not Drautos. He takes the chance in helping Axis, and in return gets a family.

Drautos with Pelna. Pelna is a tiny baby glaive, and Drautos maybe just likes showing off how powerful he is to the young glaive. The fact that Pelna has a toddler son named Danny only helps. It’s a fun game until he realizes he’s in too deep.

Drautos with Tredd. Tredd has no kids of his own, but he wants them, and he’s something like an uncle to Axis’ kids. So even if he’s not presently capable of providing Drautos with that image of a family that he wants, he could one day. Particularly if by some miracle (known as RP meta because fuck canon) Drautos and Tredd are the only ones that make it out they’re left with Axis’ kids, Luche’s daughter, and Pelna’s son. So suddenly they went from none, to six.

~~~~~

Pine is the one that I was basically just like, she’ll be a shrug emoji. Cause @bygonesin and I have discussed that yes, her and Argent will certainly have kids, we’ve never really talked about how many or who they are though. But both of them come from large families so it stands to reason they’d have a large family of their own.

#about pine #about drautos #about levi #about kanan #about khal #about cyrus #about nyx #ooc

1 note · View note

mazojo · 5 years ago

Text

Favorite Sohma’s

Hi yes, uh, I needed a space to rant about fruits basket because I am still very broken so yea

Disclaimer that this is just my opinion and I still love them all very much, just needed to get this out of my system ayee. Also I will include a song that reminds me of them because I am that invested in this so yeaaaa

14- Kagura Sohma

Boy by Little Mix - “I know what you’re worth girl, you know what you got”

I rank Kagura as my least favorite just for the fact that I cant really relate to her I guess? I mean, she is okay, I think she is cute and all but I don't think violence is the way to go about her struggles and she is so much more worth than she gives herself credits for. In the end, I dont think I full understood her big struggle as much as the other characters and thats why she is at number 14, although I want her to be happy and full of love and support like the others ;w;

13- Akito Sohma

My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day - “But it’s plain to see, Evil inside of me is on the rise”

Akito is a complicated one for me man. Of course, in the beginning and throughout the manga you learn to really dislike her because she did some terrible things, specially to my baby boi Yuki and eye-.... But then when we learn more about her and everything she has gone through we start sympathizing with her but i..... cant just forget everything she did. I get she was traumatized since she was little, she became dependent on the zodiacs because of her father’s words and mother’s behaviour thus becoming a broken person with this big responsibility she didn't ask for. It really ticks me however, how much pain the others underwent through her, and even though its a healing process, the traumas and everything they suffered is still there which is why I cant place her higher. I do not hate her by any means, but she isnt my favorite person on this list either. I do ship her with Shigure and I think they help each other out, and they grow from the other.

12- Shigure Sohma

Used to the Darkness by Des Rocs - “Now would you pray before you twist the knife? Yeah, would you take my hand and take a life?”

*big sigh* Shigure is also a complicated one for me. It may be my big dumb energies showing but I didnt fully get a grasp on his character? I know he was doing everything for Akito’s sake to liberate from the curse and be with her so she is finally a “woman” but he always acted a bit shady xD?? I would have love to know more about his backstory, we dont get much from his motivations and character other than the perverted aspect and that he loves Akito lmaoo. I do think he is hilarious and I love the dynamic he has with Hatori and Ayame lol

11- Ayame Sohma

Starships by Nicky Minaj - “Starships were menat to fly, Hands up and touch the sky “

To be honest I am pretty neutral about Ayame’s character. He is hilarious and I love how Yuki insults him every tike he gets the chance lolll. I like how throughout the story he tries to change to become a better brother to Yuki and person even though he is pretty extra most of the time about it. He has a good heart and even though he made some mistakes he owns up to them which in my opinion, makes him a good character <33 I love his friendship with Hatori lmaooo they balance each other out sooo well

10- Kureno Sohma

Taking Chances by Celine Dion - “Never knowing if there's solid ground below, Or a hand to hold, or hell to pay”

I really like Kureno! He has gone through quite a bit and he needs a hug. I am sad thinking how most of his life he lead it pretty similarly to Yuki’s, apart from everyone and super enclosed to his relationship with Akito due to him breaking the curse and feeling bad about it. I do wish we would have gotten to know more about his personality and story, if we did I would have definitely ranked him higher! He really reminds me of Tohru’s father and I think Uotani is perfect for him <33 would have love to see more about the two of them and hopefully they expand upon it in the anime

9- Ritsu Sohma

Waving Through a Window by Ben Platt - “On the outside, always looking in, Will I ever be more than I've always been?”

Okay okay so I have a lot of thoughts on Ritsu. Manga Ritsu is okay, I really dont have much of an opinion on him due to him appearing only in a few chapters, I feel like from the Sohma’s, he is the one we get the least information about. But then the anime episode came out where they presented Ritsu and I thought they gave him so much more life and rounded personality where, I get to relate a lot to him? I am someone who is constantly apologizing for absolutely no reason and seeing him be all anxious and stressed about others interactions is big relate to me and I stan. I also think the whole dressing as a woman plot line is better dealt with in the anime and I hope we get to see more about his insecurities and troubles in the future because he is truly a very interesting character! I stan my one (1) anxious monkey.

8- Kisa Sohma

Mean by Taylor Swift - “But you can take me down with just one single blow, But you don't know what you don't know”

Cinnammon rooooooolll. Kisa is such a cutie. I dont have much to say other than my mood every time I think about Kisa is hugging her like Tohru does because she is babyyyy. Also her bullying story is one I think many viewers and readers can relate a lot to and such an important topic I think they covered pretty well and I loveee. Also her and Hiro are one of my favorite ships because they work so well and asdfgh in this household Kisa is a queennn.

7- Isuzu Sohma

Take me Home by Jess Glynne - “Came to you with a broken faith, Gave me more than a hand to hold”

I really like Isuzu!! I am pretty bummed we wont get to meet her in season 1 of the Anime reboot but hopefully in the nest season! She is quite a complex character that I didnt really understand at the beginning but once we see how much she loves Haru and all that she does in order to protect and keep him save she really went up my list. She has gone through so much, from her shattered reality from her parents, Akito threatening Haru, her being locked up withour given any food.... Isuzu is so strong and one of the best build characters in the series and I am super excited to see her in the anime!

6- Hiro Sohma

Time to be a Man by The Airborne Toxic Event - “And it’s time to be a man, Tell me how does that go?”

My bastard childdd <33 He is such an asshole and such a sweetie at the same time. His whole inner struggle of not feeling like a good enough man for Kisa is so heartwhelming and I think it really makes sense to the type of person he is. The flashbacks of him telling Akito how he loves Kisa and the feeling of uncertainty and impotency when seeing the girl he loves being hurt by his actions and wanting to be good enough for her even though he is more than enough sdfghjasd. I am also a softie for older brothers who love their families *cough cough* spoiler alert: Momiji *cough cough* that I love me one angry boi

5- Hatsuharu Sohma

4 Seasons by Rex Orange County - “I saw myself as less and you so high above me”

Cow boil! apart from the fact that I love love loveeee Haru’s design, I think he is also such a well build character! He is not only supportive of everyone (aka the loves of his life, Rin and Yuki xDD) but he is so interesting! His split personalities give him a cool trait (even though dark Haru doesnt appear much in the end of the manga) and I love how he helps everyone and makes sure those he loves are protected at all cost and happy. He is Rin and Yuki’s fan club stan leader and I am co-leader so we been stanning aye

4- Hatori Sohma

Fireflies by Owl City - “I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes, I got misty eyes as they said farewell”

Boooooy the next four to come are my absolute favorties and I would die for their happiness and love so *takes big breathe* I LoVE hAtORi sOhMAAa. To be honest when we first meet him I didnt like him much. I thought he was your usual dark deep character who doesnt talk much because he is too cool for everyone (which, he is) and that was that. But boi was I in for a riDE. His story about having to erase the memories from the woman he loves is one of the ones I cried through the most. I put myself in his shoes and wonder if I had to erase the memory of the person I loved the most, make them forget they ever met me, all our happy times, sad times, angry times.... No matter what its one of the most saddening moments and the whole scene is heartbreaking, which makes me love Hatori even more for the fact of how strong he is and selfless. He puts himself before others and he need to know he also deserves happiness and I am glad in the end he got it because homeboy needed a break ;w;. I also adore Ayame’s relationship with him xDD, he is like his idol and big same.

3- Kyo Sohma

This song saved my Life by Simple Plan - “Sometimes it feels like nobody gets me, Trapped in a world where everyone hates me”

Top three babyyyy. We have now my angry cat boi™. I mentioned it before but going into the reboot firsthand without reading the manga nor watching the first anime, I thought Kyo was going to be my absolute favorite character. I knew he would be the angry boi who was soft inside and probably had a tragic backstory™ that made him act the way he did and I am a sucker for those types of characters. And I love Kyo, I really do, specially when we find out more about his struggles and past. The exclusion he felt throughout his life for being the cat, the abandonment, feeling like he had no one and was ready to die because he didn't have any source of genuine happiness (well, apart from Kazuma ya know but stillll). Then he finds Tohru, the girl he promised to protect, the one that reminded him of the woman that helped him out all those years ago and I just.... poetic cinema at its finest. Kyo and Tohru make one of my favorite couples and I love how flustered and In absolute l o v e he is with her and Kyo is great man....

2- Yuki Sohma

Nandemonaiya by RADWIMPS - “Crying even when you're happy, Smiling even when you're feeling lonely”

THIS WAS ONE OF THE HARDEST DECISIONS OF MA ENTIRE WEEB CAREER SO EXCUSE WHILE I SCREAM. Yuki Sohma won my heart and entire soul throughout the series. I liked him from the start but he wasn't my favorite favorite at the beginning you know? I thought he was isolated and thats why he didn't have much friends and he was perfect and what not but boi was I wrong and happy about it. I think one of the reasons Yuki is one of my favorite characters in fruits basket is how much I can see myself in him. Having the constant need of perfection while also wanting to connect with others but finding it hard is something I personally struggle with and every time we learned a little bit about his backstory my heart broke. Everything Yuki had to go through, the rejection, the isolation, understanding that you are loved and not a burden, falling in love with someone, finding that figure of a mother/friend he always yearned for.... The complexity of Yuki’s character is astounding and I love my rat boi so so much.... When he joins the student council, finding his little group of friends and opening up to a more carefree and true Yuki, forgiving those around him and going and eye- YuKI IS MY BABY RAT BOI AND STAN HIM OR PERISH FROM HERE ;w;

1- Momiji Sohma

Eine Kleine by Rachie - “If I were to go through life living just to take somebody else's place, Then I would rather have been born as a pebble, living out my peaceful days “

*Clears throat* *trumpets sounds intensify* *stands on podium* I LOVE MOMIJI SOHMA WITH ALL MY HEART AND HE MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. Thats it. Thats what I want you to get out of this post. I don't know if this is maybe an unpopular opinion-ish but Momiji’s backstory of his mother rejecting him, saying awful things, him having to accept being forgotten by his mother and sister whom he loved, not even being able to live with his family, is one of the most heartbreaking ones of fruits basket. Maybe its like what I said with Hiro and I am a sucker for big brothers that love their families, the sad smile of Momiji, my baby, angel, perfection when he sees his family and not being able to be with them, him loving Tohru but letting her go and be with Kyo because its her happiness that matters to him and I am-..... The selflessness of Momiji and how much of a sweetheart he is, his heart of gold and always being there for those around him, that moment where Akito was looking for Tohru and he got hurt trying to defend her.... Momiji is one of my all time favorite characters. He is a precious bean and I will never not shut up about my love for ma boi <333

Anyways that was long and ramble but I just needed to shout this somewhere because I've been missing they //rip

#anyways uh spoilers #but I love they #bye read fruits basket and come back to me later #t h e m #fruits basket #anime #manga #fruits basket spoiler

7 notes · View notes

kbrown78 · 5 years ago

Text

Monthly Wrap Up: August

Not a lot to say with this month. Mostly I just wasn't in the mood for reading or writing (which is why this is late). I tried to do 2 readthons and didn't fully complete either of them. I only read 6 books and while overall they were good (only having one 2 star), they were almost all disappointing to a certain degree. I did still manage to have a good variety of books (including a non fiction), read my classic of the month, and continue with my yearly reading challenge. Also midway through the month I started impleneting a new star rating system on a scale of 10 stars that I would then translate into a scale out of 5 stars. For clarification numbers on the left is out of 10 stars and the numbers on the right is out of 5 stars: 1-2 stars=1 star, 3-4 stars=2 stars, 5-6 stars=3 stars, 6.5-7 stars= 4 stars, 8-9= 5 stars (if a book manages to get 10/10 it's obviously going to be 5 stars). Not a bad month, just wasn't what I hoped it would be.

More Than This by Patrick Ness: In the past I've read two very different books by Ness. A Monster Calls and The Knife of Never Letting Go. Also had very different opinions about the books. I've stayed away from Ness' other books because they've gotten mixed reviews, at best. The one exception seemed to be More Than This, which everyone seems to like but also tip toed around what it's about. Now having read it, it makes sense why very little is given away about this book, but I really didn't like it. The only reason I kept reading it was in the hope that I would get answers by the end of the story, which I didn't. I will say that the first quarter of this book, when Seth is waking up and just experiencing the environment around him, was actually good. Lyrical and introspective, the pacing was just right and really pulled me into the story despite little action or dialogue. It was definitely my favorite part of the book. After the mysterious Driver shows up, however, the entire novel goes downhill. Instead of being a slow, tender story that would focus on people, and life, and mortality, it just degrades into this weird action packed dystopian. Characters were just bland, absolutely devoid of personality and minimal back story to establish how tragic they are. As for Seth himself, I liked that he was gay and in the big scheme of things it wasn't a big deal, but I don't get why their had to be such extreme hatred for him being gay when that was only a very small part of the story. What's most frustrating about this book is that nothing makes sense and it provides no answers. Even the ending makes no sense! I can't go into any details because of spoilers but this is definitely one of the worst post apocalyptic/ dystopian stories I have ever read, and there are a ton of generic ones out there. This novel was just a cheap Matrix rip off with sloppy execution. Based off my opinion of this book, and what I've heard of other works by Ness, I don't think I'll be reading any more material that produces. More Than This received 2 out 5 stars (3/10) and was my pick for the Treasure Hunting Readathon: Door.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: I was initially going to read this one next month, as my classic for September, but I picked it up for this month as part of a reading challenge (which I did not complete). I know it's classic that a lot of people read as a child, but I wasn't one of those people, and I was curious how I would feel about it as an adult. There were definitely some problematic aspects of this book that are honestly staples of Victorian literature, child abuse (neglect) and racism. That being said, I rather enjoyed this book. It's a simple story, a sour girl discovering a secret garden, with a lot of depth due to the themes of love, friendship, and growth, making it both easy to read but something that lingers with me. It's a pretty book, with both the writing and the setting, that works as a timeless classic. The Secret Garden received 4 out 5 stars (7/10).

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: When I read this book in junior high, I liked it but I honestly didn't get the hype. Now rereading, I realize that I missed so much as kid and this is the type of book I would recommend everyone read. Taking place during WWII, this book follows a young girl named Liesel as she grows up in a small town in Germany with her foster family. This is a book that nails everything that a historical fiction should be. The war serves as a backdrop while the spotlight is put on the struggles of daily life and the effects of the war. Characters are all well written, to the point where they come off as life like. Each one stands out as an individual with their own story to tell: from the book thief, to accordion player, to the Jesse Owen's fan, to the Jewish fist fighter, even Death himself. Even the plot, which is simple war time slice of life, really pulls me in with it's humanity and stellar characters. It's honestly hard to restrain myself in this quick wrap up because this book evokes so many thoughts and emotions in me. The best thing about this book is that it shows the humanity, it shows the light even in dark times. There's very little fault to this book, if any, and is the kind of book the comes along every once in while that you know will withstand the test of time and evolve into a modern classic. Needless to say The Book Thief received 5 out 5 stars (9/10).

The Social Sex: A History of Female Friendship by Marilyn Yalom and Theresa Donovan Brown: While the topic of this piece of nonfiction did appeal to me, since I'll read just about any history book that focuses on women, but I think because it was a topic I had such high hopes for, I was ultimately disappointed by it. There were only a few chapters that I thought were actually informative, which is actually the problem I have with most shorter history books. When it's a history book there's generally a lot of ground to cover, that can't be properly condensed into a book under 400 pages. The result is usually a text that glosses over the more intimate and intricate details, which is what I'm really looking for. I really wanted to get a sense of the real world history of friendships among women because it's something I feel like doesn't get the spotlight it deserves and even in fiction I'm always looking for good examples of friendship between female characters. The first few chapters focused on the philosophy of friendship, while emphasizing how male dominated it was at the expense of women. That theme remained to almost the halfway point, which I really didn't want because that lesson has been driven in my head and I don't want to see it everywhere I go. Those chapters really only focused on a few notable female friendships at various periods of history, and only in 3 countries (sort of 4) in the entire world. There were a few solid chapters in the middle, and the book did end better than it started, but the last few chapters kept repeating the same thing. I felt stiffed because most the book just wasn't informative or memorable. An interesting subject that just fell short in it's delivery (and possibly research). The Social Sex received 3 out 5 stars (6/10) and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “book by 2 female authors” (which was really hard to find).

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: Every century, someone is chosen to be the bearer of the Godstone. Princess Elisa is the current bearer, and while she is prophecised to perform a great act of service, the path to that destiny is filled with danger. When she is married off to a king from a neighboring kingdom she must finally face what it means to be the bearer and begin her long journey with an uncertain ending. I am excited to talk about this one but I'm finding it hard to. When I first read it back in high school, it instantly became one of my favorite series and remained one of my favorite series all these years. Because of how much I loved it, I put this reread off for awhile because I was super nervous that it wouldn't live up to my previous experience. It didn't, but to be fair it would be almost impossible since my reading tastes have changed, I have a better understanding of what I think makes a good book, and I've been hyping up this book for years. What made this first book so beloved to me (an intelligent female protagonist who experiences amazing growth and the role of religion) were still all there with the depth that I remember them having. There even some surprising elements: like I still thought the romance was well handled and I loved the world. Everything about it from the religion to the geography to the language and even the fact that all the characters have darker skin (seriously if you're looking for more diverse YA I would totally recommend this one), clearly has influence from a certain culture in our world but is still its own thing. There were however, a few things that did disappoint me, one of them being a big deal (at least for me personally). The pacing of the narrative itself was fine, especially since there was a lot of journeying in this book, but it almost felt like the narrative was moving too fast and I just wish there were at least a few moments where the plot settles and we get more intimate character moments. The major issue I had with this book the lack of girl power, something I thought this series had but upon reread I was confronted with the fact that it really doesn't. Again I would like to emphasize that Elisa is a fantastic character, not only because she proves her intelligence and puts it to good use but she's someone who grows past her insecurities and becomes a better individual for it, but she's the only female character that gets this treatment. Most of the other females, like her sister Alodia, her nurse Ximena, and her new handmaid Mara, get little screen time and are hardly relevant to the story, while the only female side character, Cosme, is a total bitch to Elisa for basically the entire novel. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted in terms of girl power, and I was really disappointed by that, but that's my only major complaint. This book has its strong points that elevate it beyond the typical YA fantasy but it isn't all that I thought it would be. The Girl of Fire and Thorns received 5 out 5 stars (8/10) and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “reread of a past favorite.”

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson: Immediately after I finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns I started reading this one, since I want to marathon read all the books in the Fire and Thorns series, like I did last time. Where the first book focuses on Elisa's personal growth (the whole series does but its most prominent in the first book), introducing the world, and the battle of good vs evil (Joyans vs Invierne), the second book focuses more on Elisa being a ruler while still having a looming destiny and the political machinations of the world, and starts to blur the line between good and evil. Based on that summary it sounds more like the kind of book that I would love, but I struggled more with this book than I did the previous. I think it's due to the fact that this book tried to tackle more mature subject matter, but kept the narrative pacing the same as its predecessor, and also didn't really remedy the issues I had in the previous book, which were only more prominent. I didn't like the political intrigue because almost everything about it was just kind of dumped in the book with no prior development, which it really needed in order to create a believable scenario. I discussed in The Girl of Fire and Thorns wrap up that I was pretty disappointed by the lack of girl power which only got worse in this book. Mara as a character frustrated me because she only existed to talk about boys with Elisa, but there's also a lack of females being major characters or even important figures in politics. Even Elisa being a ruler is undermined by all the males in her court (except Hector), which is something I've seen done with YA fantasies with female monarchs, and I really don't like it because it reduces the queen down to little more than a figure head. Carson clearly shows that she can write amazing characters that are also female, but I don't know why she reserves it to only 1. Speaking of Elisa though, she is the best thing about this whole series. Like I love everything about Elisa. I love that she retains her core characteristics (strong moral code, her faith and intelligence) but she continues to progress as a character, constantly evolving to reach her full potential. She's honestly what drives the narrative, her decisions as a queen, her destiny as the bearer of the Godstone, and her internal growth. As YA fantasy, especially one from the time period it was published, this is a good book, but it's frustrating seeing the obvious potential this book has to be a rather sophisticated fantasy series, but then just not having it reach that potential. The Crown of Embers received 4 out 5 stars (7/10).

Thank You Everyone

Keep Calm and Keep Reading

#monthly wrap up #girl of fire and thorns #rae carson #more than this #patrick ness #the book thief #markus zusak #the secret garden #frances hodgson burnett #the social sex

5 notes · View notes

kathubs · 7 years ago

Note

hey katie--could you do a ranking of all of the amber benson movies you've seen, from favorite to least favorite? :)

This is an EXCELLENT question, thank you, Clem! I took it a little too seriously maybe (and i’m a little drunk and long-winded), but you asked, so I’m giving a good answer ;)

I pulled out my handy dandy masterlist of Amber’s work and started categorizing her movies! (fun pic to clarify that i am the world’s biggest nerd)

Also please note that these are just my opinions - I am by no means a film critic or an expert on anything, I’ve just seen a lot of Amber Benson movies!

Never seen: (if anyone has links, send em over please)Hollywood, PennsylvaniaLong Island Confidential

Not yet released: The Griddle HouseSelling IsobelThe Nightmare GalleryGlossary of Broken Dreams

Here’s where it gets fun!

Terrible:Act Your Age - this movie is not very good, and she’s hardly in it, so it gets a “terrible” ranking, yikes!

Meh all around (worst to best):The Blue Tooth Virgin - she’s in literally two minutes. i couldn’t watch the restDon’s Plum - i’ve only seen her parts! and apart from her face, i found them pretty unlikeable. :/ SFW - she’s in like ten minutes at the end. looking very adorable with round cheeks and round glasses. the rest of the movie is just okJack Reed (all three) - TV movies. She was SO YOUNG but she’s only in a couple scenes each. From what I’ve seen, they’re fine, nothing groundbreakingSimple Things - this is just bad, and she’s not really in it that much, but it could be worse. somehow. don’t ask me howKiss the Bride - again, i’ve only seen her parts, and they’re underwhelmingThe Crooked Man - so she plays a nice mom, and then she has a shotgun, and then she wears scrubs and gets murdered. she’s so pretty and tragic. but the whole movie is just…. so shitty and she’s only in 10 minutes of it. so it’s meh

Okay for plot, not for Amber:The Prime Gig - this is actually a pretty good movie! i enjoyed it. she’s really not in it much at all - definitely a background character, and she only has a few lines. but i sat through the whole movie and she looks super badass in her few appearances.Imaginary Crimes - another background character, but with many more lines this time. she’s very young and very adorable. another movie where i watched the whole thing, because it was good all around, and not just for her face!

Okay for Amber, not for plot: Taboo - oh my god, Taboo. I rewatch this all the time because she’s extra hot in it - she plays drunk the whole time, and at one point wears a nightie and a collar - but oh my god it’s so bad. the plot is weird, the dialog is stilted, the acting is so wooden. just a terrible movie, but with one hot amberIntermedio - see above! she had a broken foot when they filmed this, and is on crutches the whole time. her hair is super long and she wears a pretty short skirt. those are the biggest selling points…. oh and she gets chopped in halfTripping Forward - ugh, i kinda hate this movie, because the leading guy makes me feel uncomfortable. i just don’t like his face or voice or personality. but amber is beautiful and cool and has streaks of blue in her hair. honestly you should skip watching this movie and just look at the beautiful gifs maria made insteadHoliday Wishes - this is hard, because it’s pretty bad, but i want to like it! it’s a christmas movie, she’s in love with a ghost, there’s some body switching, ugh. the plot just really irritates me and i find different things to complain about every time. and whoever dressed her should be fired. but she’s pretty and she’s the lead actress, so that has to count for somethingOne-Eyed Monster - never tell amber this, but i don’t like this movie…. she really likes it so it makes me feel bad to dislike it :/ it’s about these people shooting a porno in the mountains. she’s the makeup artist. ron jeremy’s dick gets possessed by an alien, and it impregnates amber and kills everyone else. it’s so weird and so not my humor…. but amber loves is and amber looks great in it, so, watch it i guess? Attack of the Gryphon - this would be ranked better if the gryphon wasn’t so flipping bad! the cgi just ruins the whole thing. well that and the evil sorcerer’s weird slutty sidekicks. i dunno. amber plays a badass, sword-fighting princess, and at one point (where she’s kissing a mediocre guy) you can see her whole back, which is lovely. she does a cute accent too. this is ranked highest in this category because she worked so hard to do the accent, ride a horse, fight with the sword, etc, but she couldn’t save this movie. Pretty decent:Latter Days - a heartwarming film about gay love! amber isn’t a huge character but she’s good.Another Harvest Moon - another heartwarming one, this time about folks in a nursing home. amber has blue hair again (what’s with her and blue hair) and it’s very sweet! The Crush - just. iconic. watch it. she’s so little and it’s just a really really good filmDust Up - a slightly weird Western horror type movie. lots of gore and drugs. she is a total badass at the end. and holds a baby! mom!amber! Desire Will Set You Free - the biggest selling point is the lesbian sex scene. i don’t super love most of the movie, probably because i’m a boring old lady who’s not involved in the berlin gay party/drug scene. but her parts are excellent and she kisses a lady!!!! and protects a beautiful trans lady! she’s so good! King of the Hill - possibly her favorite film she’s ever worked on, and one of her first. it’s really good. young Jesse Bradford is the lead character. she’s got a small part as his neighbor. she got to dance with him and kiss him! and then have a seizure on the floor. she’s very good and the film as a whole is excellent. long and slightly depressing, or maybe just bittersweet, but definitely a good one. House of Demons - this is high on the list because i literally just watched it. she’s a hippie! who time travels! and she trips on acid! she’s very pretty and angelic, and the film has a really interesting premise. definitely will watch again. The Killing Jar - oh i unabashedly love this. she’s a small-town waitress who gets held hostage at her restaurant. no spoilers but she doesn’t die, woohoo, and is a lowkey badass. add her pretty face and southern accent and it’s just great.

Amazing:Can’t Hardly Wait - ok forget the fact that she’s in it for like two seconds, i fucking love this movie, it’s so goodBye Bye Love - tiny teenage amber and eliza! ahh i love this. another heartwarming one. she has a decently big role and she’s just so cuteChance - YES. love. so much respect for amber. she wrote and produced and directed and starred and edited. and kissed james marsters. and was amazing. go watch this! it’s on youtube! she’s incredible! Lovers, Liars, and Lunatics - all of the above (minus the kissing) but better. funnier and tighter. she’s an adorable clumsy burglar. it’s excellentStrictly Sexual - ohhhhh god oh god. she’s not the most likeable character but holy fuck is she sexy. there’s just…. a lot of sex and drinking and smoking, a lot of excellent outfits, a lot of cursing, a lot of amber being to-die-for sexy and gah. plus she’s in the whole thing! as ¼ of the main cast! lots of sexy amber! Race You To the Bottom - !!!! i love this movie!!! so much!!!! she is just incredible. and it’s a good movie too! i mean again she’s not the most likeable, and neither is her love interest, but it’s okay because she’s so hot! and she’s again in the whole thing, but this time as ½ of the main cast, and therefore she gets almost ½ of the screentime and it’s so so so good7 Things To Do Before I’m 30 - MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE AMBER MOVIE. oh my god it’s just the most amazing thing i’ve ever seen. she’s so adorable through the whole thing, and she’s IN the whole thing! as the star! the lead character! the one who all the plot revolves around! !!!!! do you know how groundbreaking that is for an amber movie!!!! not to mention she looks SMOKING the whole time. i mean how many times have i reblogged the bikini scene??? watch it for that alone. you’ll start it for the bikini and then continue for the adorable love story and her character arc. oh my god just go watch this movie now

to anyone who read this whole thing… bless your heart. thank you clem for letting me yell about amber so much. i think ive spent my whole tumblr career building toward this ask. thank you thank you and i love you clem and i love you all and i love amber benson the most!!!!

(see we’ve come full circle because clem made this for me and now i’m amber hugging clem) (does that make sense)

#amber benson #masterlist #a definitive ranking of every movie amber has been in #finally #asked and answered #faithlesbihane

48 notes · View notes

bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 7 years ago

Text

My Super Special Awesome Sauce Supernatural Re-Watch -- Season 1 Epsiode 1, Pilot

Welcome to my Supernatural Re-Watch project in which I'm re-watching every episode of Supernatural. Why? Because I want to. I've kind of made a name for myself in the Shadowhunters fandom for my love-hate relationship with the Freeform show. So I thought, hey, since I'm reviewing a sub-par show that constantly disappoints me (Shadowhunters), I should also review a show that I love. This way, when I'm critical of Shadowhunters, my audience can get an understanding of where I come from. What it is I look for in good story telling. Or they could think I'm a hypocritical idiot. Either way, I'm doing this. And also, I love Supernatural and I'm really just looking for an excuse to watch the show and then talk about it. So here we are with the very first episode, the pilot. I would like to remind everyone that these are my own opinions and would ask that you please respect them. You don't have to agree with them. You have your own truth just as much as I have my truth. Also, I have not seen any of Season 13 so please don't spoil me for anything.

RECAP

Our pilot episode starts off with showing something that happened in our main characters' tragic past. That once upon a time they were living a happy, normal, apple pie life. Until their mother, Mary Winchester, walks into infant Sam's room and sees a figure looming over the crib. She gives a scream and father, John Winchester, runs in and only sees the crib. He goes over to check on Sam and notices that there's blood on Sam's blanket. He looks up and sees that Mary is somehow stuck to the ceiling, mauled and dying. And then she catches fire which causes the entire house to burn. So basically this is a bad day for everyone. It was bad enough Mary got mauled by something but then she was also burned alive too? And now the family is left homeless? Tough break. Not to mention the creature that did this burned the house too -- this is not a very considerate creature. As the house is burning, John tells Dean to take baby Sam out of the house and to take care of him. This exchange is actually very important for the rest of this series in terms of Dean's character and how he views Sam. You'll see. They escape the burning house and from that point onward, John Winchester cares only for revenge. He and the boys become hunters of the supernatural in order to find the creature that killed Mary Winchester.

Skip 20 years or so into the future, we meet a grown up Sam who we find out has left the hunter life to go to Stanford to become a lawyer. We find that he is a very smart cookie based an his LSAT result which pretty much means he has his choice of law schools to go to and even has an interview for a law school in a couple of days. He's succeeding in college, he has friends, and a very attractive, very supportive girlfriend. He's on track for a great life, really. But he refuses to talk about his past or his family to anyone in his new life which suggests that he and his family did not part amicably. He also claims to hate Halloween which is a call-back to his previous hunter life that he chose to leave behind. He's still haunted by the past. This all comes to a head later on in the night when Sam hears someone in his and Jess's (the girlfriend) apartment. Sam investigates, a round of fisticuffs ensues and it's revealed that the intruder is the brother, Dean. Dean tells Sam that their father left on a hunting trip and hasn't been seen since. He wants Sam to help find their wayward father. Sam agrees on the condition that he be back on Monday for his interview.

So the brothers go off to their father's last known location and find a supernatural case to be worked. Men are going missing but their cars are always found on a bridge. They gather information and eventually figure out that the phenomenon that is happening is what's known as a "Woman In White." Basically, these creatures are ghosts. When they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful and in a moment of temporary insanity, these women killed their children and then subsequently killed themselves. And now as spirits, they walk up and down highways looking for unfaithful men. And if they find one, they kill him.

Along the way of this investigation, we get a first glimpse on some of Sam and Dean's investigation techniques. In order to find out more about the men that went missing, they used fake federal marshal badges to get the police to talk to them which backfires later on in the episode when the police realizes they are not federal anything. Except maybe fugitives. They arrest Dean but Sam is able to get away in order to further investigate the woman in white. Sam eventually calls in a tip that there's a shooting somewhere in town which enables Dean to escape. Sam is then carjacked by the woman in white (Constance). Constance take Sam to her house and attempts to make Sam be unfaithful. She eventually just attacks Sam but Dean arrives in time to shoot her and Sam steps on the gas pedal of the impala and rams the car into the house. Constance had been talking about how she could never go home so now that she was inside the house, she finally had to face her children in which they were all finally able to pass on. She couldn't go home because she was too afraid to face her children and as a result, neither her or her children could pass on. Dean takes Sam back so he can do his interview. Sam enters the apartment, lays on his bed, with his eyes closed until he feels something wet hit his face (which could be foreshadowing for something that's revealed in Season 4), he looks up and sees Jess plastered to the ceiling much like what happened to Mary and just like Mary, Jess also catches on fire and burns the apartment. Another bad day and again, this is a very inconsiderate creature. Dean, just as he did as a kid, pulled Sam out of the apartment and now, all Sam can think of is revenge just as John did.

There's also plenty of Winchester melodrama going on in this episode, as well, which is a trademark of the show. That while working the cases, the boys are often working through their own issues as well. Throughout the episode, Dean is kind of making digs at Sam's decision to leave the family business and pursue the apple pie life. Dean can't understand why it's so easy for Sam to leave and why Sam doesn't feel as strongly about revenge for their mother. Sam eventually tells Dean that he has no memory of his mother considering he was only a baby when she died and thus the thirst for revenge on his end can only go so far. Can you really desire revenge for a loss you never really knew? Obviously, Sam's statement causes anger in Dean but they eventually work through it. By the end, Dean still doesn't quite understand why Sam wants the apple pie life and is willing to abandon his family but he's also willing to let his brother live his life...until the demon attack, of course.

The Good

Really, as far as pilots go, this is a very solid pilot. Pilots are normally real beasts to handle, especially if you have a fantasy kind of setting. You have to create the world, set up the rules of the world, introduce the characters, make them quirky and likeable, all while layering on some sort of charm to the story-telling that's going to keep the audience engaged. And this pilot does it very well. All of the world building, rule-setting, character set-ups are done sporadically through the entire episode giving the audience a lot of time to breathe and really understand the story that's being told. There's very few moments where long paragraphs of exposition are given. And when they are, the actors deliver it in a way that doesn't make it sound like a college dissertation. That's a very rare skill to have. There's funny moments, there's dramatic moments and it rarely feels forced which is rare to find in a pilot.

I love that the title screen has this very paranormal-esque motion to it as it pops up on-screen. It really sets the tone for the show you're watching.

I felt that going back 20 years to see the tragic backstory of the family right at the very beginning was a very smart idea. Just put it there right in the beginning so your audience realizes right away the motivations of these characters.

Going back to this episode, I had forgotten how much chemistry Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have even from the very beginning. Their banter is great. It has a real rhythm to it. You feel like these two are brothers. They argue and get on eachother's nerves but you can also tell they genuinely care about the other as siblings would. I have three younger brothers; I understand how you can both love and hate your siblings at the same time.

I love the symmetry we have with the first scene and the end scene. Just how similar the two play out really makes it work and sets up the tone and the foundation of the story very well.

I enjoyed the ghost story that was played out as well. The show found an urban myth and put their own spin on it and it was really interesting for me to watch and see how it played out.

Right off the bat, this show makes the decision about the music. That being it's going to be classic rock and I really like it. It really sets a tone that actually works. Not to mention, it's kind of refreshing to have a show that has a different sound than the typical alternative pop that so populates a lot of the other shows currently airing. Don't get me wrong, I love Ruelle but I do get kind of sick of hearing it in every show. The classic rock really adds something to the atmosphere of the show.

The Bad

I really don't have anything too terribly bad to say. Like I said, this is a solid pilot. It succeeds more or less in everything it's trying to do. But sometimes the exposition or the manner in which it was written was a little clunky at times. But oh well. Sometimes that can’t be avoided in pilots. Even in the commentary on the DVD for this episode, the writer said he wasn’t happy with the exposition scenes.

I guess another thing would be that I've never understood John's motivations in this season for leaving clues for the boys to follow him around on. Why does he want them to follow him and complete cases he's decided to abandon? He kind of just leaves these towns wide open to have more victims for these creatures when he could've just taken care of it himself. He has no real way of knowing if Sam or Dean are actually going to take these cases or not. But it has been a while since I’ve seen all of Season 1 so maybe I'm just remembering things wrongly.

Favorite Quotes

SAM: You gotta update your cassette tapes. DEAN: Why? SAM: 1) They're cassette tapes and 2) (he lists a bunch of bands) -- it's the greatest hits of mullet rock DEAN: House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole. This is just really great banter. I love it.

DEAN: (to Sam) No chick flick moments. This'll become important in Season 11. I'm just saying.

SAM: (to ghost) I'm taking you home. This is just a bad-ass one liner delivered very well by Jared. All throughout the episode, Constance keeps on muttering how she wants to go home but then she can never go home and Sam has had enough of this shit so he's all, "I'm taking you home."

Well there we have it for the Supernatural pilot. I'd honestly probably give this episode an A-. It's a very strong introduction to the show. We got the motivations of our characters, we got an interesting urban legend, there were funny moments between the boys, dramatic moments between the boys and set ups for certain themes that are going to be employed later on in the story. Basically, a well-rounded pilot.

Man, it feels good to talk about something I love. So if there's anything anyone wants to discuss about this episode, please let me know. Was there something I missed? Do you like the episode as I did? Or do you think it's complete trash? Just be respectful of everyone's opinions. And remember, please no spoilers for Season 13.

#supernatural #spn #supernatural rewatch #spn rewatch #supernatural season 1 episode 1 #spn season 1 episode 1 #supernatural 1X01 #spn 1X01 #supernatural pilot #spn pilot

1 note · View note

rogue-rook · 7 years ago

Text

many many highlights from The Crystal Kingdom from a first-time TAZ listener

featuring some bits from the Lunar Interlude II: Internal Affairs

travis: “it was streaming on witch. that’s like magical twitch!”

SWEET ANGO HAS RETURNED!

i cannot believe griffin went to the EFFORT of making a fantasy costco jingle

the lockpicking garden gnome called the Nitpicker that insults the damn party is a beyond brilliant object for sale at the fantasy costco

I really want to lodge a complaint with the HR department of the bureau of balance on sweet angus macdonald’s behalf bc these grown men are FULL ON BULLYING THIS TEN YEAR OLD BOY GENIUS

so is this new shitty scientist consultant lucas a bigger annoyance than shitty train butler wizard jenkins or does jenkins still retain that title

travis: "anything this touches turns to crystal?" griffin: "yeah, pink tourmaline" travis: "yeah, I'm not gonna say that, because I'm an adult"

CAREY FANGBATTLE is like on par with Jess the Beheader in terms of Cool Names

griffin: “so the three of you are currently sitting in a gondola, which is another word for a little boat” travis, singing: “the more you knoooowww”

“so it’s made of crystal, right?” “yes, everything is crystal” x1000000

the crystal kingdom song is beautiful

griffin: “you see a sign that says The Magical World Of Elevators” justin: “griffin's really stickin it to the people who say he's not allowed to have elevators in this game”

today in failed brand marketing: “Upsy, your lifting friend”

this arc is ACTUALLY set up like a video game level puzzle, when griffin says “ah, you’ve solved my crystal puzzle” it will actually apply

clint: “I rolled a 4 but I get another roll...a 5″ travis: “wow, you're really bad at dnd”

merle: “I'm gonna use Banishment on the cockroach” griffin: “okay, you're just gonna yell GET OUT OF HERE COCKROACH, I DONT LOVE YOU ANYMORE”

magnus is being fucking mean to lucas, the genius inventor, and he’s been a TOTAL DICK to sweet boy genius detective angus macdonald, and i feel like pointing out that he was WAYYY nicer to shitty evil wizard train butler jenkins who beheaded a guy with a teleportation door

griffin: “one of the signs is labeled Radiation Ventilation Maintenance Chamber, and the other is labeled Lil Genius BuddyBot R&D" travis: "I feel like this is a trick” clint: “I feel like griffin has been playing Fallout”

I LOVE HODGE PODGE THE LIL GENIUS BUDDYBOT!!! EVEN IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE EVIL, THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE MADE ME LOVE HIM PRETTY INSTANTLY AND NOTHING CAN CHANGE THAT

hodge podge: “magnus! merle! take-o” goddamnit griffin

justin: “can we just put the stone of far speech in front of the robit and griffin, you can just talk to yourself?”

hodge podge is exactly the kind of unsettling demon robit with a mostly-adorable voice, except for when he goes demon-y, that I expected from griffy

justin: “my character taako has innate skills in: investigation, nature, history, religion, arcana, and religion” so is he double good at religion then

taako: “okay, I got a question for you: who....do we work for?”

lucas: “hey, are you just mean to everyone?” THANK GOD SOMEONE VOICED THIS LEGITIMATE FUCKING CONCERN, THE GRUBBY GRIFTERS ARE MONSTERS

clint: “I look up what scrumbled means” griffin: “justin said that in a Monster Factory once and I’ve been using it like it’s a real word” justin: “I am the lewis carroll of my generation”

noel the friendly medic robit’s voice started at vaguely-angus like and then became straight up country southern and i really hope somebody calls griffin on it

i really think griffin introduced the nitpicker so he could have a way of introducing his own critiques of his dad and brothers’ dnd skills

the little compact mirror has some shit in it that i think must be important

there’s a rift in space and time and pink tourmaline is coming out of it and the damn song is super ominous and making me MEGA NERVOUS and honestly i don’t know what the flying goddamn fuck is happening but i am SO INTO IT

lucas: “you’re just yelling hugbears at me” magnus: “BUG! HEARS!” “what” “what”

so is lucas just like holding these poor bugbears in fucking slavery

the grubby grifters discover the tourmalined body of boyland and magnus asked if he can DESECRATE THE GODDAMN BODY OF HIS TRAGICALLY DECEASED COWORKER

griffin: “these two figures are just taking these ice robits to Fool School”

awww they’re gonna fight one of my favorite little creepy crawlies! human sized tardigrades that will absolutely fuck their shit up!!! so cute

griffin: “you’re so loosey-goosey with your possessions! ‘hi scuddle-buddy! bye scuddle-buddy! go get on that train to hell!’”

clint/merle’s immediate panic when they decide the only option here is to CHOP HIS GODDAMN ARM OFF

killian, after picking lucas up: “THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST SHITTIEST DAY EVER, WE ARE TWO PEOPLE DOWN, YOUR LAB SUCKS!!” #relatable, I feel u killian

during this arc the mcelboys keep talking about how they don’t remember shit from the beginning of the show bc that was two years ago and im like what? what? that was three days ago, friends!! its bc ive binged this shit in under a WEEK

merle basically has a plant fetish okay, that’s the only reason this soul-wood shit worked

griffin: “it actually curls up and gives you a thumbs up as if to say 'hey! I'm your arm now!’”

so like this planar system shit is probably important, right

this parseltongue motherfucker that’s like fucking haunting the grubby grifters needs to start explaining what their whole, like, DEAL is

this Red Robe dude is having a FREAKOUT over the damn umbrella and im like mmmmm maybe taako shouldn’t have just taken the damn umbrella, no questions asked

killian’s scanner is having a major freakout over a lich being present and im like, yeah, its the fucking umbrella, yall

oh, real quick, the mcelboys gotta pause the action to whine at each other about character voices

killian: “I am going to ABSOLUTELY murder that man” yeah, killian remains the most goddamn relatable npc in this fucking world

i sure hope The Adventure Zone Zone doesn’t have any super important info in it, bc im not gonna listen to the mcelboys talk about the maxfun drive from two fucking years ago

the crystal golem just called the grubby grifters bounties, and said it was time for noelle the friendly medic robit and the grubby grifters to all go back to the astral plane and im like WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? GRIFFIN! WHAT?

OH FUCK ITS BEEN KRAVITZ THIS WHOLE GODDAMN TIME!!!!! KRAVITZ!!!!!

griffin: “a D6 is like a dice-ass-dice! that's like some monopoly shit!!”

kravitz: “i don’t even know how that even worked, like with physics”

taako: “luke! use the fork!” merle: “the fork will be with you, always”

magnus: “I want to roll an investigation check on noelle...I rolled a 2″ griffin: “okay well you know noelle is a robot”

YALL!! SHITTY TRAIN BUTLER WIZARD JENKINS AND MAGIC BRIAN THE GERMAN MORON BOTH CAME BACK!!

magic brian the german dumbass: “i had an invitation to my wedding for you, and instead of RSVP-ing, you murdered me!”

travis: “when you say they evaporate, do they go back to heaven or hell or the after plane, or whatever, or are they GONE?” griffin: “it kinda seems like you obliterated their soul. kinda seems like you just kinda ERASED them” travis: “you know, at the end of day, I punch people, but dad unmakes their existence, who's the real monster?”

the fact that noelle died in phandolin when the grubby grifters and gundren rockseeker turned the whole town to glass is so goddamn fucking tragic, THANKS GRIFFIN!!!!

lucas miller: yet more proof that dickin around with science and magic and mad scientist shit is always gonna end badly for everyone

kravitz: “taako, you’ve died eight times”...[...]..”magnus, you’ve died 19 times”...[...]...”merle highchurch, the richest bounty i have ever hunted, you have died 57 times” WHAT?? WHAT? WHAT???? WHAT???? GRIFFIN!!??? WHAT????

THIS STORYLINE IS LIT

griffin: “a legion of ghosts” justin: “great”

i think both griffin and I have forgotten that carey fangbattle and killian are in this scene. also merle has had a soul-bond wood arm this whole time

the grubby grifters beat a goddamn LEGION of ghost robits, or ghrobits, and then kravitz slides back into the scene all like “uh, hey, assholes, thanks for saving me, I’ll make up some legal loophole bullshit to thank you” that’s not a direct quote, that’s me editorializing. i fucking love kravitz

taako: "they found new bodies, just because they're mechanical doesn't mean the life is any less valid - battlestar galactica"

oh fuck magnus got a cheating deck of cards in like episode goddamn THREE and he just whips em out in episode fucking 39 against kravitz

kravitz, massively misunderstanding the assholes he’s talking to: “the rules of nature are there for a reason, so lets just stop running afoul of them, as if this all just funsy-fun make-believe!”

magnus: “kravitz! tell julia I love her” TRAVIS!!!! TRAVIS MCELROY! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO MY HEART!!!

lucas: “you'll never see me again, but if you do, i'll be doing good, and please don't kill me instantly”

justin: “i give angus a thumbs down” motherfuckers

killian: “hell yes! I love this plan! me and carey, and a robot ghost with a gun arm! sounds like a plan!” magnus: “sounds like a spinoff!” killian: “that’s sounds like some torchwood shit!”

davenport the goddamn pokemon

on one hand, I’m really goddamn suspicious that the director isn’t actually destroying the relics but is collecting them for her own gain. but on the other hand, if this turns out to not be true, I will feel bad for suspecting her so hard

taako: “director, here’s the truth. what did you have for lunch on Dec 3 2015? you don’t remember right? that’s when you told us not to talk to the Red Robes. what’s I’m saying is WE FORGOT!”

YOOO THIS EPILOGUE PROPHECY IS SOOOOOOO COOOOOL GRIFFIN!!! WHAT IS THIS!!!! ITS SO GOOD!!!!!!

this was a wild wild wild wild ride and whatever griffin is doing with this story is LIT

#balance arc #the adventure zone #the crystal kingdom #mcelroys #mine

14 notes · View notes

mermaidsirennikita · 7 years ago

Text

July 2017 Book Roundup

In July, I read eight books--most of which were unfortunately mediocre to poor. However, there were a couple of standouts, and one of them was fantastic. My favorite book of the month was Riley Sager’s Final Girls, a thinky thriller that deconstructs the concept of a final girl, while at the same time embracing the best parts of slasher movies. If you love Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, you have to try this book.

So--below is the good and the (unfortunately, moreso) bad or fair to middling.

Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau. 2/5. After the assassination of the king and crown prince, the kingdom of Eden is left in turmoil. The crown would go to the king’s widow, but after she goes mad, that’s not an option anymore. That means that twins Andreus and Carys are left to battle each other for the throne--or else give up their family’s rights to the kingdom and endanger their own lives. Aaaand that’s pretty much it. There are romances thrown in, but the book moves incredibly slow for its length. The assassinations--events that we know occur because that’s the plot--take forever to actually happen, and for that matter once it does happen it’s really fucking nothing. It’s super predictable, the villain can be spotted from a mile away, and that makes Carys and Andreus seem super stupid. Also, Andreus is cursed or something and Carys has a magical drug addiction. The other issue I have with the book is that so much is made of how close the twins are--and a brother-sister twin relationship is such a cool topic to write about--but the fact is that they aren’t close. If they were, they wouldn’t be ready to stab each other in the back at a moment’s notice. Not the smartest book.

The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor. 3/5. As a young girl, Maeve was bitten by a shark. The event sparked a lifelong passion for the creatures, and at thirty she’s returning home to her grandmother’s hotel as a successful shark researcher. Recently, she’s sparked the beginnings of a romance with fellow researcher Nicholas--but back home, she runs into former fiance and childhood love Daniel, now the chef at the hotel and the single father of a young girl. Maeve’s feelings for Daniel return as she bonds with his daughter, the situation further complicated by an illegal shark finning operation nearby. This book is well-written, and while it didn’t thrill me in any way, it was pleasant. It’s very much a “finding yourself” story, and I think that a lot of people would like it--you could call it a thinking beach read. At the same time, however, I found certain plot points to be rather predictable. But I appreciated the focus on sharks, animals that I love, and the ongoing threat of finning.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 3/5. Emma married her high school sweetheart, Jesse, with whom she was madly in love. The day before their first wedding anniversary, he went missing, and was presumed dead. Three and a half years later, Emma is engaged to her new love, Sam, when she receives the news that Jesse has been found alive. Now--who does she really want to be with? I gave this three stars because I read it over the course of a day and it was certainly engaging, and Reid writes romance in a really lovely way and many people have and will love this. But this was no Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It actually kind of infuriated me. It’s painfully obvious what Emma’s choice will be, the first half of the book breezes through each romance in a way that makes it difficult to get attached to either one, and the latter half is largely Emma dithering and treating each guy like shit. The thing that irritated me most is that--well, look, I felt condescended to. The old Emma loved to travel and see the world, and it’s implied that this was all a part of her youth and now she’s more mature and values the Real Things. She’s Mature. And I’m like, bitch you’re just kinda boring now. There’s a scene where she’s basically like “I don’t like to fuck on kitchen counters anymore, I’m not in my twenties anymore I’m in my thirties”. BITCH YOU ARE THIRTY-ONE HE HAS BEEN MISSING FOR 3.5 YEARS NOT TWENTY. Like I respect her moving on and have no issue with that time frame, but Emma acted as if Jesse had been away for decades when he just hadn’t. Sigh.

The Incarnations by Susan Barker. 4/5. Beijing taxi driver Wang begins receiving mysterious letters from a stranger that claims to be connected to him through their past lives. Detailing their different lives together, the stranger clearly also knows a lot about Wang’s current life, including his troubled marriage and his young daughter. Desperate to find out who his “stalker” is, Wang becomes obsessed with the letters, and in the process confronts his own troubled past. This is a dark fucking book, and it isn’t for the faint of heart because it honestly has a little bit of everything--to the point that I couldn’t give it a 5/5 because I did find some points a bit too disturbing. Not in a gratuitous sense--it was the right choice for the book, just not always for me the reader. But it is so well-written, and really original, and interesting in a way that so many reincarnation books aren’t. It goes to some very interesting places, and was incredibly gripping. For that matter, you get to see a number of different periods of Chinese history, which is always fun to read about. Highly recommend if you’re looking for something really different.

Because You Love to Hate Me, edited by Ameriie. 3/5. This anthology--featuring authors like Renee Ahdieh, Marissa Meyer, Susan Dennard, and more--focuses on villains. Each story is actually a response from the author to a challenge given by a different writer; the challenger follows up the story with an essay, reacting to the story and discussing villainy. Many of the stories are takes on classic villains--Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series, The Little Mermaid’s sea witch, the Erl-King/Queen--while a few others are completely original. As with almost any anthology, this was a bit of a mixed bag. A few of the stories were really excellent. “Marigold” was the first thing I’d read from Samantha Shannon, and now I’d really like to see something else from her. “Jack” was one of the few stories I found actively gruesome, and “Gwen and Art and Lance” was a pleasant, different surprise. “Indigo and Shade” and “The Sea Witch” were also interesting. However, a few of the stories weren’t for me just because of their style or content, and a few more seemed to fail at really being... well, about villains. I felt like I was reading a bit too much about sympathetic villains, you know? And the essays weren’t really for me--they felt like Tumblr posts. But with that being said, it was enjoyable, and I think a lot of people would love it.

Final Girls by Riley Sager. 5/5. At nineteen, Quincy Carpenter survived a massacre at Pine Cottage, during which all of her friends was killed. As the only survivor, Quincy was immortalized by the press as one of the “Final Girls”, the other two being Lisa Milner and Samantha Boyd, who survived similar such massacres. Ten years later, Quincy is shocked when Lisa commits suicide, and the mysterious Samantha shows up on her doorstep immediately after. If you’re a fan of slasher movies, I highly recommend this book, which not only deconstructs the “final girl” archetype but tells a hell of a story. It shifts between the present and what happened to Quincy on the night she survived, and both stories are equally compelling. Quincy is a remarkably complex and flawed character, as is Sam--I was enthralled by both. While I had an inkling about one of the twists, I certainly didn’t predict all of them. It’s not only a great story, but an important one--while few of us experience traumas as horrible as Quincy’s (thankfully) the way she dealt with hers was very familiar to me, and the Sager does an excellent job of examining the difference between being fine on the surface and being fine in reality. A must-read.

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica. 2/5. Clara, mother to a four-year-old daughter and a newborn boy, has her world shattered when her husband is killed in a car wreck. What is written off as a tragic accident becomes more complicated when their daughter, Maisie--who was in the car with Nick when he died--insists that her father was being chased by a “bad man”. Becoming obsessed with what happened to Nick, Clara begins to trace the last few months of her husband’s life--while, in alternating chapters, we see the truth unveiled from Nick’s perspective. I gave this book two stars instead of one because I do think it portrays grief well--Clara is irrational to the point where she becomes unhinged and obsessive, and this does ring true to me, especially since she’s probably suffering from postpartum depression as well. But the ending. UGH. THE FUCKING ENDING. It ruined the book for me, as did the fact that we were clearly supposed to sympathize with Nick when he was a complete dirtbag. Spoiler alert: Nick wasn’t cheating on Clara like you might initially think (he keeps going on and on about her pregnant body, and I was like wait are you into this or are you resentful of it idek) but he was keeping a million things from her. An ex-girlfriend showing up in his life again, a kid that was possibly fathered by Nick before he met Clara, a malpractice suit, the fact that he’s apparently the worst dentist on Earth and deserved the malpractice suit... God. I should have known that I would hate Nick as soon as I realized he was a dentist. Clara isn’t much better. She idolizes Nick, jumps from one conclusion to the other over the course of a couple pages, and honestly doesn’t seem to have any kind of life outside her husband and kids. Drop this, read Final Girls.

Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo. 3/5. In 1916, the Jersey Shore experienced a series of shark attacks that would really be the first attacks in American history to capture the public’s imagination. They remain pretty distinct, as they occurred in a short period (from July 1 to July 12) across both the ocean and a nearby creek, and four people were killed and one injured by what seemed to be a single shark. I read this in honor of Shark Week and because I’ve always been seriously fascinated by these attacks, ever since I was very young. Capuzzo does a good job of describing the shark’s potential life and the attacks themselves. But he also spent a lot of time fleshing out the lives of people who often weren’t even the attack victims themselves but their loved ones, which like.. fine, I’m sure that worked for a lot of people, but I’m here for the attacks. I also feel like more time should have been spent on discussing theories regarding shark behaviors and what made these attacks so unique--and were they really unique at all? Capuzzo seemed to be very set on the idea that this was a juvenile great white, that it was attacking for these reasons, etc. And not all scientists, at least from what I’ve read, agree with him--even a discussion of outlying, unlikely theories would have been nice. Capuzzo also didn’t seem to explain why he was so set on the great white theory, when a bull shark would be another likely candidate--some would say more likely than a great white, especially during the creek attacks. With that being said, if you’re interested in the topic it’s a quick read and nicely informative. To paraphrase Jon Snow, I like the shark bits.

#books #book recs #book recommendations #book roundup

6 notes · View notes

eloarei · 8 years ago

Text

So I was tagged by @nomadsky the other day; thanks, Sekiei! There's little I love more than talking about my favorite characters. (By the way, Sekiei, some of your answers were like A+ so perfect, and a few of them were characters I would pick, so I might just note those characters and then pick someone else, for variety's sake.) (Also, the rules don't say how many to pick?? But I'm assuming they meant 10. I'll aim for that.) EDIT: THE RULES: post your favorite characters and what you like about them/ why. In no particular order: Hanna Falk Cross (Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name (aka HINABN))

--- Not a sixteen year old girl. Hanna is a 24 year old guy, tiny, red-headed and adorkable, who apparently learned magic from a hobo and is allergic to ghosts. He's uniquely talented at fucking things up, has abandonment issues, and secrets I'll never know but will always haunt me. Despite the perma-hiatus status of the series, I still love him, even seven years later, so much so that I was willing to devote 2 years to writing a longfic about him. Honestly, I feel like I know him better than my own characters now. And, sure, it's probably my own semi-IC version of him, but that's probably not a surprise considering HINABN topped out at 100 pages, some of which didn't feature Hanna at all. Of course, you probably have already heard me say this five million times, but I wrote a story I'm pretty fond of, featuring this loser: Rogue. Garrus Vakarian AND Runner-up: Mordin Solus (Mass Effect)

--- Sekiei already said Garrus, so I'll be brief and move on. Garrus is the most charming bug-dragon alien around. He's perfect, honestly. Would that men like him actually existed in real life, even in human form. --- I mean, I love Mordin. I actually would have romanced him if it was possible (not instead of Garrus; I'd have done a separate playthrough). I still think of him anytime someone says “seashells”. Mordin is a funny, interesting character that I think is often overlooked, partly because he only features in half of the series, I imagine. I've never read a Mordin fic, although I'd like to. I've read a few Shakarian fics that were pretty good, but I don't remember any of them off the top of my head. Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)

--- It was hard to choose between him and Gon, because I think of them largely as a team, but Killua is my favorite because of all the growth he goes through over the course of the series. He's a silly, irreverent, dangerous, smart-ass kid, but he has so much damage that's brought to the table by his friendship with Gon, and he becomes such a good heartfelt person by the end. Also he's totally a conduit for the absolute FEELS I get from the series. Whenever he screams or cries, I feel it in my soul. I've still not read any Killua fics that I think are truly top-notch, which is kind of surprising. Varric Tethras AND Runner-up Merrill (Dragon Age)

--- Again, Sekiei already chose Varric, and mirrored my thoughts about him: he's fantastic and why the HELL couldn't we romance him?! He was absolutely my first choice, and I was honestly upset when I found he wasn't romanceable! --- This was kind of a hard choice, because I like a lot of the DA characters almost equally, but I find Merril to be especially precious. Weirdly, I never got around to romancing her, but she's one of those characters that I think is really adorable and I just want to pet her hair and give her tasty snacks and warm blankets. (Also I low-key ship her with Varric; don't ask me how that works. Or do.) Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)

--- Hoo boy let me tell you about Valentine. Gawd, he's such a damn beautiful android. And I don't really mean that in a physical way (because yeah he's cool looking; got a good aesthetic for sure, but I wouldn't say he's at all pretty). Valentine is 100% the kind of guy I want on my side, to have my back. He's somewhat similar to Garrus in that rogue lawman kind of way. (Speaking of “Rogue”, he reminds me of my portrayal of “the detective” (purely a coincidence, because I was 90% done writing Rogue before I played FO4), which clearly proves that I have a type.) His tragic backstory and circumstances mirror The Lone Survivor's almost perfectly, and they are really so wonderful together, which is why it KILLS ME that he was not romanceable. I think I'm still in denial, tbh. He's funny, sarcastic, yet still very sincere, and though he acts very confident and is well-liked even by people who don't like synths, he has this deep loneliness in him that really rips up my heart in all the best ways. (By the way, writing this spurred me to replay Fallout4, which spurred me to start a Valentine-centric fic I was fiddling with the plot of last year, so if I actually do finish that fic-- Sekiei, I'll have you to thank!) I read a great Nick/Nora fic last year, although I can only recommend the first like... 30-or-so chapters? because the last few sort of deviate from the quality of the beginning (imo), and the fic never got finished. Still worth a read. Jesse McCree AND Hanzo Shimada (Overwatch)

--- Honestly, as someone who has scarcely played Overwatch, it feels a bit disingenuous to put one of their characters on my fave character list, but that's part of the charm of the series: you don't really have to play the game to get most of the details it takes to get involved in the fandom. And given how explosively popular it was this past year-end, I got pretty involved. If you follow my fandom blog, you might have noticed that it was 90% McHanzo for a few months. That's because there's something really charming about those two characters! (Or, at very least, the way fandom portrays them.) McCree is such a goddamn stereotype hahaha but I love him. A grown-ass man who dresses like a cowboy because WHY NOT, he seems to have a pretty easy-going temperament that makes me feel at home. Not to mention, you think of McCree and you can't help but think of the endless desert and vast blue sky. He's a big goof-ball but also dangerous with a bit of a dark past. You know I love the type. I'm writing a McCree-centric AU, but who knows if I'll finish it. There are already quite a lot of other great McCree fics out there. --- I tried not to pick two characters from the same series, but I love McCree and Hanzo equally and in different ways, so I couldn't not. Again, there's not a whole heck of a lot of canon for these characters (I mean, there's a bit, but not as much as if they were, say, the main characters of their own piece of media, and not left largely up to the interpretation of fans), but they seem to have pretty defined personalities. Hanzo is a fairly serious guy, with a fairly serious past, and I like that in a character, that sort of stoic sincerity. But he's also got a mischievous/silly streak, I think, if only evidenced in canon by the fact that he (much like Jesse) tends to dress in an outfit several centuries out of date. But he looks damn good in it! Honest to god, he's frickin' gorgeous. XD Like, what a beautiful damn character. And I love a character that can probably kill with a glance. Whew. Erhem. Aside from that, though, he also gives off a nice peaceful vibe-- meditating up high somewhere quiet with tree leaves blowing in the breeze. Great character aesthetic. Anyone who's in the Overwatch fandom has probably already heard of “Hang the Fool”, but it's far and away the best McHanzo fic available, and I highly recommend it! Fawkes (Fallout 3)

--- Often I know about characters before I encounter them in whatever media they're from. That's partly why I choose to get into games/shows/etc. I was caught off guard by Fawkes, a big scary green “super mutant” from Fallout 3, who you encounter near the end of the story. Up to that point, all the super mutants you meet are just big dumb brutes who are trying to kill you, and have a good chance of succeeding, because they are, as I mentioned, rather large and scary. But Fawkes was locked up by his kind precisely because he was different. He's intelligent, compassionate, and loyal-- truly one of the nicest and most 'good' people you ever stumble upon in the Capital Wasteland. Also he kicks ass, because he is fucking huge and carries a gattling gun like it's no big deal. If I play FO3 again, I'm rushing right to that part so I can pick him up as soon as possible. Also, I'm one of like maybe a handful of people who ship him with the Lone Wanderer, which prooobably makes it my rarest rare-pair. Luckily, my friend Choco wrote a kick-ass long-fic about them, which made my whole month when I read it last year. Noctis Lucis Caelum (Final Fantasy XV)

--- It was really hard to choose one out of the four main guys from this series, but I eventually decided on the main character Noctis, because I really think he's a great main character. Final Fantasy main characters are known for being kind of whiny and emo, and Noctis doesn't exactly deviate from this plan, but he adheres to it in such a way that makes sense to me. I find him to be very realistic! He's 20. He's tired and just wants to sleep. He likes to play video games. He rolls his eyes at his dad's affection but obviously loves him. He goofs off with his friends but can get stuff done when the time comes. He's a cat person, but he likes dogs too. Oh and he loves food, but he's a picky eater. And unlike other FF main characters, his style is very casual. I have actually seen people who dress like him. ...I actually AM a people who dresses like him. He's a good character who didn't deserve any of the shit that was thrown his way-- but at least he had good friends. I've read a few good Noctis-related fics so far, but nothing very long that left much impression yet. Hoping I'll find one at some point. If not, maybe one of my own will end up fitting the bill.

Jinbe (One Piece)

--- Wrapping this up with another somewhat-obscure character, Jinbe from One Piece. (Or, if you like, because romanization is weird: Jinbei, Jimbe, Jimbei, etc) First, I love One Piece. It's a great, super-long anime with so many good characters! But Jinbe, oh. He's a big, blue, intimidating fish-man who often looks angry and has mannerisms/speech patterns that are reminiscent of I think both samurai and old mob-bosses. But he's an intensely sincere guy, who's fiercely protective of those who are important to him, and the promises he makes. Everything he does for Luffy makes me cry. XD When nobody else will risk giving Luffy a blood transfusion because of stupid old racist laws, he publicly declares his willingness. When Luffy's knocked out at Marineford and Akainu is coming after him, the way Jinbe holds Luffy and gives Akainu the most visceral snarl I've ever heard. I love it. I really like scary looking guys who are sweet. ALSO, I haven't seen any good Jinbe fics, so if anybody has one I'd love to see it. =3

Tagging: uh, I dunno. @braincoins, @tempuslunam, @chocochipbiscuit, @tequilatrashbin, @buddhistmamaduck, @milarca, and @ whoever else wants to do it.

#elo talks #long post #it didn't originally say to add pictures but I like pictures #fandom meme #of course you can ignore this if you don't want to do it

5 notes · View notes

loserlikescomics-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Top 5 - January 2017, Week 1

First New Comic Book Day of the year, nerds! A pretty sizeable pull this week,. but then again, I’m subscribed to way too many series because I’m a damn fool. But just like my other problems, it’s fine, so let’s move on to something else. I’d like to point out that this Top 5 list will be SPOILER HEAVY, as will all of my weekly Top 5 Lists from here on out. Because of that, you can expect Top 5′s to be Read Mores. Let’s get started!

5) Nova #2 (Jeff Loveness, Ramon Perez)

I don’t know much about Nova, whether that Nova is Rich or Sam. Because of that, I’m having a really fun time watching these two get to know each other and interact with one another and other people. There’s one scene in particular, where Sam takes Rich to Amadeus Cho’s flying food truck base to make sure that it’s actually Rich, and within a few panels the whole Champions team shows up. Rich struggles with the fact that everyone is a legacy hero and is also “twelve years old”, and Loveness even kinda calls out the absurdity of Young Cyclops through Scott and Rich’s interaction, which I thought was pretty funny.

The fight scene at the beginning is just kinda average, what you’d seem to expect from a Nova fight: punches, laser blasts, flying, cool helmets. After that, though, the issue is pretty much just dialogue. Sam and Rich go to Knowhere, where they have another comedic conversation with a telepathic dog named Cosmo, which makes me confused and also really excited because like what the fuck? But also holy shit? A highlight of this scene is “Just be confident! Women love men. Not weak, sweaty boys.” coming from a dog in a cosmonaut suit. This comic so far is making me like Sam even more, and start to like Rich, and I’m excited to see how these two interact with and learn from each other in future issues.

4) Saga #41 (Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples)

Marko’s manbun is still ridiculous but I’ll be god damned if he’s not my favorite character. I’m sorry but I just had to get that off of my chest. Last month’s stinger (Prince Robot asking Alana to raise Squire, then putting his armcannon to his own head) left me really excited for how this exchange would play out. I’m a bit conflicted on what I want to happen to Robot. One one hand, I was really excited for Robot’s arc to come to an end, where we see him go from one of the most powerful characters in this story, spiraling out of control until he kills himself while extremely high and sad, but on the other hand I still think Vaughan could do great stuff with Robot and potentially even have him pull the nose up. Y’know, despite how fucking awful things have been for him in these past few volumes. Yeesh.

We get a small lil’ interaction with Will, Gwen, and Sophie that I enjoyed, where Will finally finds them and proposes to Sophie that he trains her to become a Freelancer like he used to be. Gwen is pissed off, but Sophie calms everyone down and declines his offer. Will then asks Lying Cat if she wants to join him or stay with Sophie, in which she stays with Sophie. You can HEAR Will’s heart breaking and I almost started crying but he turns around and walks away before we go back to Phang. There’s a standoff where The March has Kurti, and everyone sans Marko is trying to figure out some way to save Kurti. Naturally, Hazel does some dumb bullshit and The March drops Kurti and gets lit the FUCK up with some blaster fire, with the classic Vaughan stinger showing that Marko is the one who just killed The March, which has me SUPER PUMPED FOR SOME MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR MARKO PLEASE READ SAGA IT’S SO GOOD

3) Nightwing #12 (Tim Seeley, Marcus To)

I love Dick. That’s not just a cheap joke to get really weak chuckles, he’s actually my favorite superhero. So, naturally, I love this run on Nightwing. The Raptor arc was really fun for me, but I’m enjoying the Bludhaven arc even more. I just love seeing the other side of Dick that’s not detective work or fighting, where we see him talking to people and going soooooo out of his way to help as many people as he can, just because he thinks that he should.

I like the cast of the Run-Offs, especially Stallion and Shawn. The dynamic of them fearing the most loveable member of the BatFamily is really cool to me, because Dick has always been the last harsh because he’s always smiling and willing to lend a hand, and I like watching it play out. Speaking of Dick’s lightheartedness, there’s something special that I love about his quips. There’s even a panel where Dick tries to banter with a member of the Run-Off’s and the dude is like “I’ll help you save my friend, but I won’t banter with you” and Dick is pretty much like :’)

I realize that this segment has basically been me saying “GOD I LOVE DICK GRAYSON but like. C’mon just read Nightwing. It’s so good. Please. He’s so pretty.

2) Champions #4 (Mark Waid, Humberto Ramos)

These little assholes keep getting deeper and deeper into my heart. I loved the beginning of this, when they’re all scrambling to not die and Kamala is taking charge, showing that she’s the actual leader of the group (despite whatever Cho has to say). My favorite part of this issue was the conversations that the team had while they were trying to move the wreckage back towards land. Kamala and Scott clear the air about the Inhuman/Mutant dynamic that I’d honestly forgotten about with these two, and showing genuine care and respect for one another that made me feel all warm inside. Sam and Viv also have a moment where she repairs his helmet and he calls her out for being so emotionless, before Viv reveals her super tragic past that I had no idea about. Sam then goes to apologize and Viv just shushes him.

The rest of the issue is just a “How do we get out of this wacky situation” type thing where they all work together to escape an Atlantean ship, another example of how well this team is starting to work together and trust each other, another thing that warms my heart and puts a shit-eating grin on my face. My only complaint here is that Miles might as well be absent from this issue because he barely has five lines of dialogue that aren’t quips, but I still loved it regardless. Please read Champions.

1) Green Lanterns #14 (Sam Humphries, Julio Ferreira)

As soon as finished this issue, I knew it was going to be my #1 this week. I had to stop myself from crying at work while I was reading this because it hit me so hard. Jessica Cruz is a fantastic character. I love her so, so much. As someone with anxiety, I find her relateable and love seeing her be able to overcome obstacles that are put in front of her, whether it’s via help from her friends or her own willpower. When I first picked up Green Lanterns, I thought it would just be a fun buddy cop-esque title with some ringslinging, but I also got two characters I enjoy so much that I’m so excited on every other week when I get to read another issue with them.

The Lanterns save the day, basically, by saving the villain that was trying to kill them. This causes Frank/The Phantom Lantern to feel Compassion, which turns him into an Indigo Lantern, leading to him realizing his mistakes and taking off the ring (which is such a better-written solution than punching him with giant boxing gloves until someone else can take it off of him). Simon and Jess then take this opportunity to get the ring away from him, at which point Jessica puts it on herself to keep it away from him, in which we get a short bit of “What emotion is my strongest?” from Jessica, where she hopes against hope that her strongest emotion isn’t fear. The Phantom Ring chooses Will, and she stays a Green Lantern, realizing that she’s more than her fear, her anxieties, and her shortcomings. She finally makes constructs, and proves that she truly IS worthy of the Green Lantern ring that picked her.

She takes off the ring and gives it to Simon while she celebrates her constructs, and he contemplates putting the ring on. This is where I was a little worried that the story would fall apart, and that Simon would either put the ring on and get the same spiel about how he deserves the ring, kinda undermining Jessica’s development, or have some other emotion get picked by the Phantom Ring and the fight would continue. Humphries proved my cynicism wrong, however, and had Simon put the ring down, saying that being a Green Lantern is good enough. Some other stuff happens, but really, I’m just so happy about this arc. Rage Planet was a good volume, but The Phantom Lantern was so, so good, and I would recommend it to anyone,

#loserlikescomics #comics #long post #nova #saga #nightwing #champions #green lanterns

0 notes