#Magic of the Lost trilogy

[socialfauxpa]

2024 Book Wrap Up

Managed to read through 69 books* this year. My average rating for the year was 4.47 haha I'm not the biggest critic of anything. I rated 9 books 5 stars and have included some specific thoughts about them all under the cut.

Feel free to follow me on The Storygraph if you'd like real time updates on what I'm reading through out the year.

*Including comics and text based RPG novels.

5 Star Reads Reviews Under the Cut:

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

My first read this year and probably one of my favourites. Part of The Radiant Emperor Duology following Zhu Yuanzhang and her rise to power following She who became the sun.

I LOVE this series and recommend it to everyone, I will be re-reading them in the future, Zhu is maybe one of my favourite characters ever. How can you support women's rights if you don't support women's wrongs.

Loved everything about this book the characters the pacing the way it ties up some of the dangling threads from She who became the sun.

One of the things that I LOVE about this series is Shelley Parker-Chan's exploration of gender, societal roles and the gender dynamics in their historical fantasy. It is SO delicious. The idea of like recognizing like and being able to find happiness in it or exploiting it for personal gain makes me CRAZY

Who doesn't love reluctant allies due to the babygirlification beam of the first novels central antagonist.

Both She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the world are fantastic audio books Natalie Naudus is fantastic and I loved the vocal tones she would use for each characters in their various gender expressions.

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

The thrilling conclusion to the Imperial Radch trilogy. Breq was a space ship, due to circumstances outside her control, she isn't any longer and its everyone else's problem.

I really loved this series, there's really something so lovely about the concept of a machine that cares so deeply about its humans that it is willing to tear every ounce of itself out to help them. Especially when its humans wont let them.

I really loved this book and the way it concluded the Radch trilogy. Something something finding community and helping what you can and protecting each other from what you can not.

The Unbroken and The Faithless by C.L. Clark

Books 1 and 2 of the Magic of the Lost trilogy.

These books consumed me. I LOVE them.

I read the unbroken in 2022 and re-read in 2024 when The Faithless came out, and its SUCH a banger will be re reading again.

Characters and world building is INSANE. Very high fantasy politics and drama with a back bone in French colonialism of Northern Africa. I really loved this setting as its super different from a lot of the other high fantasy series I've read in the past.

Touraine and Luca's relationship and dynamics make me insane. What if we each others only salvation and path forward but continuing to use and be used by one another is flaying an exposed nerve that may cause not only our destruction, but will break the peace we have managed to broker between our two nations at great personal expense.

I LOVE the magic system C.L. Clark has created in this universe its so meaty (pun intended) and I am desperate to know how this series ends.

Highly recommend the Audio book of these as well. Rasha Zamamiri's performance is INCREDIBLE. The way she plays not only Touraine and Luca, but all the characters like Jaghotai and Djasha adds so much depth and richness to the story.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book, I've been working my way though the Wayfarers series whenever I need a book I know I will love.

I re-read LWTSAP before reading A Closed and Common Orbit this year. CCO is a fantastic heartbreaking read I would absolutely recommend as well but it didn't quite hit the same as the first.

Can't recommend this novel enough I once described it to a friend as "what you remember liking the most about Firefly, with the lived in grungy alien world building and crew dynamics of mass effect 2" and I stand by that haha.

The Prospects by KT Hoffman

Loved this gay a hell baseball romance.

It really hit when I needed something lovely and happy with good romance and tension not about being gay in sports but about being good enough at the sport you love to continue to do it after the summer I had (woof).

You go funky little trans baseball man and you climb that tall man like a tree good for you gene.

We love a teammates, to rivals, to teammates (again), to reluctant friends, to lovers story line.

I loved this book enough I actually thought about watching baseball but I did manage to repress that urge and funneled the energy into watching the PWHL.

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Loved this gay as hell soccer romance.

The third? sports romance and second Meryl Wilsner I read this year and 100% my favourite.

I really thought the pacing of this was really well done and the romance between Grace and Phoebe was so lovely. I really loved the exploration of fame and how it impedes someones ability to truly be themselves. I'm also a sucker for a "wait this person is just willingly giving out their love no strings attached??? That cant be right, they must want something from me" trope.

Who doesn't love a golden retriever newbie helping the black cat veteran finding the joy in the game again, they also fuck nasty about their problems.

Boy howdy Meryl Wilsner can write sex scenes too, the locker room scene was both unexpected and gorgeous.

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

The third Meryl Wilsner I read this year. LOVED.

I'm so hype for her Meryl Wilsner's new book coming out in April 2025.

I read this one on my phone on a plane to LA this Halloween and loved every second of it.

The concept of Cassie meeting her freshman best friend's recently divorced mom in bar before she knew who she was, then continuing to "date" her hooked me and I had such a fun time reading this.

I loved that the narrative tension didn't come from the illicit nature of the romance causing issues. But was really just a straight forward romance novel about two people falling in love without realizing it, and the miscommunication that follows when you love someone you "aren't actually dating". Incredible.

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

Probably one of my favourites of the year. I LOVED THIS BOOK

The second novel in the The Saint of Steel series. I loved all the saint of steel novels in this series but Paladin's Strength REALLY HIT.

I though the fantastical world building, the mystery and magic from the first novel really got turned up to eleven in this one. For my money this novel was perfectly paced and balanced with the romance between Clara and Istvhan.

The idea of a paladin whose god has died and now they need to find something new to devote themselves too is DELICIOUS.

I'm a sucker for a lover and a beloved narrative especially where neither one thinks they are worthy of the other's love (they are).

Another fantastic audio book. I listened to it twice before it went back to the library. Joel Richards' narration of these books really adds a fantastic richness to each of the Paladins and I really really loved his performance of Istvhan.

[paeinovis]

Developing a theory that Phoenix's personal Place of Living is a disaster, while the Wright and Co. office is kept impeccably clean (him looking after Charley, compulsively cleaning the toilets in Multiple Games and even getting Apollo to in AJ) because Mia did the same (and/or had him doing those chores while he was interning for her lol)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Midnight Kingdom

book 2 in a high fantasy trilogy based around a city at the nexus of multiple realms, following the heirs to four noble houses

the heirs are scattered across the realms, trying to survive, keep their city together, and find a way to defeat the gods

necromancy, fire magic, magic controlled by music & dance, shadow familiars and god possession

bi, lesbian, demi, ace MCs

[desdasiwrites]

– James Islington, The Shadow of What Was Lost

[musewrangler]

The wooden door to his room crashed against the wall and he was only half awake when he was hauled from the large chair, tangled in the blanket he’d covered himself with.

For a brief moment, his magic sang at a familiar presence before the Queen was before him, eyes huge in her pale face.

“I’m sorry, Firmus,” she said urgently, snapping her fingers at another guard. “But there’s no time and Leia must put all her efforts against this attack.”

“Attack…?” he began.

The two burly guards on either side of him gripped his arms tightly as a third man approached with the hated silver cuffs.

And Piett understood.

“Please,” he said to the Queen, struggling futilely in the iron hold of the soldiers. “Not again…I…!”

The regret was very real in her face even as the first cuff snapped around his wrist and he jerked with the poisonous heat of it.

The other cuff was locked in place and once again he was suffocating and ill. She placed a hand to his face so that he could see her eyes.

“I truly am sorry,” she said. “I will make certain they come off as soon as possible. But I cannot risk you joining the fray.”

He was half dragged from the room, doing his best not to vomit as the Queen strode ahead of them.

[necessiteez]

HONGJOONG SMUT FIC RECS LIBRARY

disclaimer: I do not own any of these works and they do not represent the real kim hongjoong. all rights belong to the respective writers who made them.

all pairings are hongjoong x reader only.

further info is already stated in the main Library.

✶ - favorites

╔═ second♕floor ═╗

「 ✦ Pirate!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Let Me Take You Away - @ithinkilikeit-reactions (wc 3.7k)

✶ Pirate King: Kim Hongjoong - @cookycherry (wc 4.5k)

Sea Superstitions - ithikilikeit-reactions (wc 8 .8k)

My Lady - @seongsangssbitch

Lost at Sea - @acupoftaewithsomesuga (wc 6.9k)

Pirate Joong - @hyetiny

Pirate King - @cybrsan (wc 7.6k)

A Selfish Desire - @hwashotcheeto (wc 4k)

🆕✨ Shiny New Toy - kitten4sannie (wc 2.1k)

「 ✦ Best Friend!Hongjoong ✦ 」

friends to lovers trope

✶ Tell Me to Stop - @tenelkadjowrites (wc 4.4k)

Acorns - sa_honey on ao3 (wc 4.3k)

Marigold - @yoongiseesawmp3 (wc 12k)

✶ The Best Friends Code trilogy feat. Seonghwa - tenelkadjowrites

Heavy on Your Tongue - @swallowedbymadness (wc 4k)

We Ransacked the City series, multi-chapter feat. Seonghwa - tenelkadjowrites

🆕✨ Between Friends - anyamaris (wc 3.4k)

「 ✦ Academic!Hongjoong ✦ 」

includes College Student! Hongjoong, Professor! Hongjoong, school setting

Fire & Flames - bustdownyunho on ao3 (wc 5.8k)

✶ Motivate Me - @hwaightme (wc 10.2k)

Hideaway - @minisugakoobies (wc 7k)

Teacher Seonghwa + Student Hongjoong male reader - @star-suh

Study Buddies - halflinghoney on a03 (wc 2.4k)

✶ Can't Stand You - @domjaehyun (wc 3.7k)

✶ Training Wheels - @luvt0kki (wc 10.7k)

Rule #4 - @k-hotchoisan (wc 6k)

King's Play - @atzfilm (wc 4k)

A Special Kind of Heat Delivery - artof-seonghwa (wc 2.4k)

「 ✦ Idol!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Good Girls Don't ONGOING - halanote on ao3 (wc 22k)

Work Life Balance - evphoria87 (wc 1.6k)

Drunk in Love - barnesbabee

✶ All Yours - forhongjoong (wc 4k) HAS GOT TO BE THE OLDEST WELL-WRITTEN SMUT I KNOW SO THIS ONE IS SPECIAL

In the Wings feat. Seonghwa - sanjoongie (wc 2k)

A Night In implied poly - @written-in-flowers (wc 3k)

✶ 2 Soon part 1 - @03jyh23 (wc 12.8k)

✶ 2 Soon part 2 - 03jyh23 (wc 11.5k)

✶ Man-Spreading - barnesbabee

🆕✨ Bouncy - flurrys-creativity (wc 1.8k)

🆕✨ [11:07] Secrecy - hanatiny (wc 1k)

「 ✦ Roommate!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Movie Night - @severetimetravelnerd (wc 2k)

✶ Deal - @hongism (wc 10.3k)

Declaration - tenelkadjowrites (wc 9k)

✶ Don't You Want Me? - @yeonjuns-beanie (wc 7.4k)

Ass So Fat, Hit that From the Back gen reader, only Hongjoong is turned on - orphan account/abandoned (wc 2.9k)

Exhibition and Voyeurism feat. Seonghwa - hobi-is-golden on ao3 (wc 3.6k)

🆕✨✶ Got a Thing for You - ilwonuu

「 ✦ Mafia/Gangster!Hongjoong ✦ 」

All I Need - @cocobeanncteez

Princess feat. San- @teeztheflag (wc 4.6k)

For Your Entertainment - @atiny-piratequeen (wc 4.3k)

5:31pm - @mingishoe

✶ A Rose is A Rose feat. Seonghwa - @daddyfordaeddy (wc 3.5k)

Guns and Roses - @baekhvuns (wc 5.4k)

✶ Cheating w Gangster!Seongjoong feat. Seonghwa - @thelargefrye (wc 2.6k)

✶ On the Rocks feat. Seonghwa- @kitten4sannie (wc 2.7k)

Backfired part 2 - ateezreactionsandscenarios (wc 5k)

🆕✨ Unbroken - hanatiny (wc 7k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong Working Different Jobs ✦ 」

includes photographer!Hongjoong, barista!Hongjoong, writer!Hongjoong, doctor!Hongjoong

* photographer!Hongjoong

Picture Perfect - @ikigaitsuki (wc 6k)

Something to Say - themoonlightfae on ao3 (wc 5.9k)

His Muse - firepoppyqueen on ao3 (wc 1.4k)

* writer!Hongjoong

✶ Mr. Write series, multi-chapter, writer!Hongjoong - @1117feverlessdreams

* cafe owner/barista Hongjoong

Iced Coffee barista!Hongjoong- xoexoxhoe

FFF Day 14 feat. San - sanjoongie (wc 2.6k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong in fantasy/historical/mythical setting ✦ 」

Rendezvous with Destiny royal advisor!Hongjoong - alxdelusional (wc 6k)

Do You Believe in Fate? Hongjoong with magic, multi-chapter - @lettersfromaphrodite (wc 42k)

Starseed: Perfect Love male reader, King!Hongjoong - thelargefrye (wc 3.7k)

His Majesty's Responsibilities King!Hongjoong - @xirenex (wc 8k)

✶ Forbidden Fruit Hades!Hongjoong - nateezfics (wc 2k)

Day 19 Bard!Hongjoong feat. Knight!Seonghwa- @multiwreckedmess (wc 6.3k)

The Spoils of War, Chapter 2: Hongjoong the Queenmaker multi-member, King!Hongjoong - fullspectrumfangirl, stitchdragon on ao3

Die for You royal guard!Hongjoong - @beginningofwonderland (wc 7.4k)

I'd Rather Burn nobleman!Hongjoong - latte-fairytaekwoon (wc 6.2k)

✨🆕 ✶ New World mad prince!Hongjoong, HEAVY ANGST - @sorryimananti-romantic (wc 27k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong in the Fashion Industry ✦ 」

includes Fashion Designer! Hongjoong, Model! Hongjoong, Fashion Company CEO! Hongjoong

✶ The Met and the Aftermath - @angiesmagicspace (wc 5.7k)

✶ Perfect Little Pet Cruella! Hongjoong @armysantiny (wc 5.9k)

✶ Business Attire - @nebulousbrainsoup (wc 4.5k)

Perfect Design - @sector-i-closed

Be My Muse - sanjoongie (wc 1.2k)

Untitled - @cherrysoojins

The Model - @doritochoi (wc 1.7k)

✶ High End - @songmingisthighs (wc 2k)

Mistletoe feat. Seonghwa - justthere4kpop (wc 2.4k)

「 ✦ Something's Wrong with Hongjoong ✦ 」

includes Villain!Hongjoong, Evil!Hongjoong, Perv!Hongjoong, Yandere! Hongjoong and dubcon themes. ⚠️ I don't support non-con fanfics

An Eye For All Things Sweet - @sugarcherriess

Textbook perv!Hongjoong - @ateezinmymind

Crimes of Passion: Gotham au Intro - @thetypingpup (wc 5.4k)

* Yandere

Desire - @lovesanmotion

Indulgence - @mint-yooxgi (wc 2k)

The Villain part 1 - @yourfatherlucifer (wc 1k)

The Villain part 2 - yourfatherlucifer (wc 1k)

˖ ࣪⭑last updated 06/05/24 ˖ ࣪⭑

[what-even-is-thiss]

I don’t think that a story needs to literally make sense in a nitpicky cinema sins type way. Like I write magical realism for gods sake, but I do think a story needs to consistently follow its own type of logic for the most part or else an audience will pick up on that.

I think the reason that something like “Somehow, Palpatine has returned” went over so badly was not because it’s impossible in the Star Wars universe for someone to come back from the dead or something. It’s because so far the new trilogy had a theme of the new generation being allowed to take over. Yoda burned the ancient texts, Kylo Ren continued the sith cycle of the apprentice replacing the master, the old heroes were dying off one by one. Solidly establishing itself as a new thing.

And then, oh no the old bad guy from the last two trilogies was secretly the bad guy in this one too! Oh no!

Like in some stories that would make sense. Not really in this one though.

In some stories there’s a giant elephant in the bathroom just because there’s a giant elephant in the bathroom and we don’t need to question that. In other types of stories you’re gonna need a damn good explanation for how and why the elephant got there.

If your movie has been established as a cheesy stupid martial arts comedy and your goofy protagonist kills a bunch of ninjas with breakdancing moves, that’s fine. I get that. But if you’ve been making a serious cop drama with intrigue, realism, and minimal amounts of gun combat and your hardened old detective kills people with breakdancing, your audience will be lost and confused.

You don’t have to get a degree in physics and fully understand the properties of magnets to put a big magnet in your story, but make sure it’s the type of story that would have a big magnet in it.

[macrolit]

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

NYT Article.

*************

Q: How many of the 100 have you read? Q: Which ones did you love/hate? Q: What's missing?

Here's the full list.

100. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson 99. How to Be Both, Ali Smith 98. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett 97. Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward 96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman 95. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel 94. On Beauty, Zadie Smith 93. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel 92. The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante 91. The Human Stain, Philip Roth 90. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen 89. The Return, Hisham Matar 88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 87. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters 86. Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight 85. Pastoralia, George Saunders 84. The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee 83. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labutat 82. Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor 81. Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan 80. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante 79. A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin 78. Septology, Jon Fosse 77. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones 76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin 75. Exit West, Mohsin Hamid 74. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout 73. The Passage of Power, Robert Caro 72. Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich 71. The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen 70. All Aunt Hagar's Children, Edward P. Jones 69. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander 68. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez 67. Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon 66. We the Animals, Justin Torres 65. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth 64. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai 63. Veronica, Mary Gaitskill 62. 10:04, Ben Lerner 61. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver 60. Heavy, Kiese Laymon 59. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides 58. Stay True, Hua Hsu 57. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich 56. The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner 55. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright 54. Tenth of December, George Saunders 53. Runaway, Alice Munro 52. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson 51. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson 50. Trust, Hernan Diaz 49. The Vegetarian, Han Kang 48. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi 47. A Mercy, Toni Morrison 46. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt 45. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson 44. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin 43. Postwar, Tony Judt 42. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James 41. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan 40. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald 39. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan 38. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Balano 37. The Years, Annie Ernaux 36. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 35. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel 34. Citizen, Claudia Rankine 33. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward 32. The Lines of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst 31. White Teeth, Zadie Smith 30. Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward 29. The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt 28. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 27. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 26. Atonement, Ian McEwan 25. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 24. The Overstory, Richard Powers 23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro 22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo 21. Evicted, Matthew Desmond 20. Erasure, Percival Everett 19. Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe 18. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 17. The Sellout, Paul Beatty 16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon 15. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee 14. Outline, Rachel Cusk 13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy 12. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz 10. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson 9. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro 8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald 7. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead 6. 2666, Roberto Bolano 5. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 4. The Known World, Edward P. Jones 3. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel 2. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson 1. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

[tossawary]

I don't have a solid plot attached to this idea, I don't currently really have the desire to drop everything to go write "The Hobbit" fanfiction, but for a while I've had the idea of *gestures vaguely" some post-canon story (probably some form of fix-it) taking place before, during, and after a grand dwarven opera performance in Erebor.

Because I am absolutely certain that the Lonely Mountain had an absolutely stunningly beautiful Royal Opera House (and plenty of other, less grand performance halls) that, at the city's height, was putting at least one show every single day. Orchestral symphonies, operas and operettas, dramatic plays, dance performances... you name it, they had it and more. The various cultures of Middle Earth evidently ADORE music, dwarves absolutely included. The Company all bring instruments to Bag End to play and sing themselves off before their quest!

Also, beyond the music side of things, with how dwarves are named as master crafters? Smiths and toymakers and magicians? No way that they did not have some of the most gorgeous costumes, sets, and effects on the planet. Dwarves would go WILD with their articulated stage puppets, I know it.

One of my biggest issues with the film trilogy is that it failed to deeply explore the Company as people who had lost their home, beauty and culture included. Smaug not only killed countless people, entire families, and leave many of the survivors poor and desperate, the dragon went on to hoard their heirlooms and life's work and leave these priceless gold treasures UNUSED. It is an additional heartbreak to imagine Smaug tearing through Erebor neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, so that he could tear out every gemstone in, say, mosaic made by someone's grandmother that sat above the breakfast table every morning. To think that Smaug in the aftermath tore magical lanterns off the walls, the sort that might have been decorated with animals or flowers, to make some daycare walkway just a little more cheery for the children, and in his greed left a dead city in the dark.

The live-action movies put both Smaug and the Balrog in these... absolutely enormous chambers that serve somewhat unclear purposes. The king's treasure vault and a former marketplace, I think? (Moria has been raised by goblins, I can forgive the emptiness.) It's a quick visual depiction of Thror's uncontrollable gold lust to give him a Scrooge McDuck room, sure, instead of anything with an actual organizational system (normally, I assume dwarves are big on sorting their vaults if they have one). Super big columns and hallways and staircases do somewhat effectively communicate the "lost glory" of Moria (I am very fond of these movies!!!), even if I also think it's not as interesting as it could have been. And the other obvious purpose of big, open warehouse-like spaces is 1) it's easier to animate the big creatures moving around in them generally and 2) it allows the films to show off the full-bodied visual spectacle of their big creatures.

But I think it would have also kicked ass to put Smaug in Erebor's former Royal Opera House or something, some enormous theatre decorated across generations. That could be big! The ART (statues, fountains, banners, windows, general architecture) that you could put on the exterior, which has had its face ripped open for the dragon to get inside? The ART that you could put INSIDE (mosaics, murals, and more) as Bilbo sneaks inside? Ohhh, you could include so many potential lore references with thematic relevance!

Also, Bilbo could get jump-scared by old articulated stage puppets or something. IT'S THE DRAGON-! Oh, no, it's some old opera prop. (Yes, we're talking more about an actual adaptation of "The Hobbit" rather than fanfiction concepts now.)

Sure, there's raw material treasure and coins hoarded here in this place, but there would also be musical instruments and toys and household tools and cookware and fancy dishes, wedding jewelry and anniversary gifts and family shrines and festival costumes, fountain statues and street lamps and mailboxes and business signs, and other evidence that people really LIVED here. These are all ordinary objects that Bilbo recognizes from the Shire.

We could tie these objects directly back to objects we saw featured in Bilbo's home early in this adaptation, which he was trying to "protect" from the dwarves during their "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates" song. There are half-burned portraits of people's late parents here too. Did he think that there weren't any dwarves who made doilies or handkerchiefs embroidered with flowers? Of course they made things like that too.

It's perfectly symbolic to, say, place Smaug's bed in an area like the king's throne room. The dragon is now the King Under The Mountain. But I think it would be deliciously haunting to have the throne room of Erebor be empty, the throne half-broken, the silver stripped from the walls and moved elsewhere, because Smaug doesn't care about Thror's old audience chamber. What's a dwarf king to a dragon? He burns the same as all the others. The dragon has instead made his bed in a beautiful public place of art and culture that was for the people, by the people, surrounded by the lovingly crafted belongings of the ordinary people he killed. Gold is gold to a dragon whether it's in a coin or a candlestick.

I think if you really want to sell one of the key messages of "The Hobbit", which in my opinion is: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." then you ought to throw yourself behind EREBOR being a place where food and cheer and song had value, not just the Shire. Thorin isn't lost at the end because he's a dwarf and dwarves don't value such things, but because he as a specific person who makes the mistake of weighing pride and gold over people, and he comes to regret that on his deathbed.

So, back to the fanfiction idea, I think that Erebor had music again in it as soon as dwarves started living in it again. It will take decades and decades before the Royal Opera House is half as splendid as it was before, and there is a performance there with beautiful costumes and puppets and sets comparable to those that came before, some traditional historical show that is part of specific seasonal holiday for dwarves. But that very first winter, when the future still looked grim, I think the dwarves cleared out a small stage and cast the roles of this traditional musical retelling of their history among them, based on who knew the parts best, because they aren't just miners and smiths and soldiers, and there was music again in Erebor that winter despite all the damage that the dragon did.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Burning Kingdoms series (The Jasmine Throne, The Oleander Sword, The Lotus Empire) by Tasha Suri

Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

Fantasy, epic fantasy, politics, secondary world, series, adult

Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland

Endorsement from submitter: "Utterly hilarious romp. No actual sex, but somehow hornier than 90% of books with actual sex in them that I have read."

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Araşti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world―and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea.

To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Araşti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who’s got his eyes on Avra’s every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they’re sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.

But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings―and, more important, they’ll be legends.

Fantasy, humor, adventure, secondary world, queernorm, adult

[letraspal]

“—but Daphne softens him. She’s the reason I got a mobile phone when I turned 15. And the reason I got to go on school trips. And probably the reason my father didn’t murder Simon after our ancestral home lost its magic. She’s a good person. A good stepmother.”

Daphne Grimm | Women of the Simon Snow Trilogy

[sheepscot]

You know a fandoms gotten to you when you dream up a fic: In dream I loaded my Danny phantom DVD and saw a new episode? One I hadn't watched before and selected it.

It starts with Batman sitting in the back of a theater waiting for whatever it is to start, people around asking him why's he hear in this rinky-dink town? And Batmans like "what, a man can't enjoy a night without it getting interrupted by villains?" And people accept this

But then we learn the real reason is when the screen rolls down and a silent film starts playing with Cassandra Wayne playing the heroine. Cass who had been kidnapped by magical means.

Guess who plays the leading man? Danny Fenton. But notice how I didn't call him the hero- that's because this story is a tragedy where the girl is ripped away from the young man by a vampire villainess (played by the irl kidnapper) and is haunted by his failure.

For some reason this story is split into a trilogy and played over a week cause after the first show Casper high and the rest of Amity Park (where this is taking place) are obsessed (like Ember McLain levels obsessed)

And for some weird reason outside of the silent film trilogy my dream was a musical? Like all the kids are getting to school and having a musical number about how great and amazing the silent movie was. Dash Baxter specifically sings that he chose a grayscale outfit because of how cool the movie is.

Danny manages to astral project himself to Sam and Tucker and explain that it's a ghost that's done this, like the ghost writer but for film. And that his body is trapped in a ghost lair film studio where the story is actually being filmed live when the audience sees it so the only way to save him and Cass is to mess up the ghost directors story so could they please save them? Because the story has Cass get turned into a vampire by the villainess and Danny really doesn't want to find out if the vampirism sticks after the story is done.

Sam is like "I volunteer as tribute"

Danny protests like "I know it's your dream to be a goth vampire but the story also continues to follows me as an 80 year old man being depressed about losing the young love I once had and being confronted by said lost love being a vampire. Please just get the specter speeder and the boo-merang and save us!" Because Danny's body gets locked into the roll of tragic lead once the cameras start rolling

And then I woke up (⁠ノ⁠ಠ⁠益⁠ಠ⁠)⁠ノ⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

So I imagine how the story ends is with Batman teaming up with Sam and Tucker to go into the ghost zone and save the day. But how? And does Sam get her dream of becoming a vampire?

I might continue to work out the ending and write the fic

[aphroditesmoon]

to the people who follow me for my book content, these are some authors that i no longer support:

pierce brown: one of the earliest authors to share the "i stand with israel" posts. (I guess rebellions are only cool for plot points. I loved red rising but ive always found it to be a whitewashed version of the hunger games, and b4 u go "but hunger games characters r white too!!" No theyre not. Katniss was supposed to have darker skin. The movie franchise whitewashed her.)

sarah j maas: has made it clear that her grandmother was in the IDF and is proud of her israeli heritage. I liked her when i was like 14. I grew to realise just how much queerbaiting and subtle racism there is in her books.

victoria aveyard: i loved her for a very long time, red queen was the series that pulled me back into reading and she have been one of my biggest inspiration in being a writer, but she had made a statement of standing in neutrality, and she have made a tiktok of her Starbucks order while everyone is trying to boycott starbucks for their donation to israel. I hope her words and actions are only of ignorance and that she'll learn to do better soon. but until then, I've completely lost my respect for her.

•••••••••••••••

IN RETURN: HERE ARE SOME AUTHORS WHO HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING AND DONATING TO PALESTINE AND WRITE AMAZING BOOKS:

- Rebecca F. Kuang: The poppy war trilogy, yellowface, Babel.

- Olivie Blake: The atlas six trilogy, One for my enemy, Alone with you in the ether, Masters of death.

- VE Schwab: A darker shade of magic series, The invisible life of Addie Larue, This savage song (monsters of verity) duology.

- Chloe Gong: These violent delights duology.

- Faridah abike iyimide: Ace of Spades.

- Leigh Bardugo: The grishaverse, Ninth house.

- Tracy Deonn: Legendborn series.

- Xiran Jay Zhao: Iron widow series.

[kalak]

Luke skywalker has so much rage inside him and I want people to recognize that. No he's not a shy baby boy, you know how much grit it takes to keep on doing and remain optimistic at the face of insurmountable evil? That boy is full of emotions. And yet he is kind. That's the key to his character - that he is full of rage but he doesn't let that stop him from hoping.

He definitely has a hair trigger temper - hell, his main character flaw in empire strikes back was his impulsiveness and recklessness - and he's so much like vader, he wants and loves so strongly and he despairs as strongly too. And what does he do with that temper? He fails, he loses, and he blows up and wrecks shit, but also that temper is the flip side of loving, and he embraces that too, he loves with all his heart. Point is, he's a very action and emotion oriented person, and that's what pushes him so close to the dark side; he's fatalistic, he's sometimes ridden with guilt, he's emotional.

But then he learns patience, he learns gentleness - learns to be a jedi. It's all learned; do or do not, yoda says, and he learns to do, to keep hoping. He isn't born as a sunshine boy, it's not his nature that makes him that way - he's naturally emotional, kinda whiny, full of rage; all the hallmarks of a darksider, but he learns to grow beyond that. That's how he can extend such an understanding hand towards sith and dark siders, his father - he knows the dark side. He understands it, he flirts with it, and yet he chooses to do better.

The meaning of luke skywalker in the star wars narrative is hope - hope isn't a magical deus ex machina that solves all your problems. It's not there all the time from the very start. It's something you cultivate, just like luke did throughout the trilogy.

Hope is continued existence. It's optimism that perseveres. You know that line of bravery being doing it in spite of the fear? Well, hope isn't the absence of giving up. Sometimes it's just screaming crying trying to kill your own father, but it's also making the right choice and trusting vader to make the right choice, too. If there's one good thing about the sequel trilogy, it's that - luke may have run away, he might have done some... uncharacteristic things, but that doesn't mean he's lost hope. He returned to fight again after all, didn't he?

Even if you fuck up, you return and fight - with a relentless optimism that being good will be enough, that the world is a better place for this choice. And Luke does that, again and again - still carrying all those emotions within him. He's a fire that burns strong and bright; he's sunshine and tempered death.

[folkdances]

in the trilogy, character pairs were a lot of the time set in bringing someone back from the dead or generally playing with the dead and the undead and the alive. this was the case with mia/maya in aa1, mimi/ini and adrian/celeste in aa2 (edgeworth/franziska as well to a certain degree), and of course in aa3 it was iris/dahlia, but also godot/diego, and obviously there was a lot more going on but this is a recurring thing that ace attorney does. it works with the turnabout theme, reviving the dead and reviving dead cases, and it works with phoenix's literal name. that's why i think it's really cool that that doesn't happen in aa4. aa4 is a really grounded game and isn't super interested in telling these literally 'magical' stories. the feys were magic, but trucy and troupe gramarye are magicians who work with practical things, illusion and obfuscation.

of course it is implied that trucy and apollo's perception ability is magical in nature, but i don't think it is ever outright stated that it is the same way it is confirmed that the feys possess unique magical powers. and because aa4 is so grounded and so invested in telling this particular story about corruption in every meaning of the term, it does its character contrasts with characters being "moral" and being "immoral" in the sense that the lines between these two labels are very blurry.

there is the contrast of kristoph/klavier, obviously — klavier is the good one because he can accept defeat in the name of truth, because he strives to find the truth and, when he realizes that what he is pushing for is not the right thing, will stop pushing for that thing, whereas kristoph is driven by his own pride and ego. it gets more complicated when you shift your focus towards, for example, phoenix (attorney)/phoenix (father). trilogy phoenix is naive and loyal and has these searing convictions (not that apollo doesn't), but he regularly puts people on pedestals and himself in positions to be betrayed. it is difficult for him to accept that his judgement of a person might have been faulty we see this thinking in turnabout goodbyes and in farewell, my turnabout and in bridge to the turnabout.

disbarred phoenix has lost that naivete because of the sheer amount of time that has passed, yes, but also because of the breadth of the "betrayal" he suffered. we know that disbarred phoenix wright is still a "good person", but he is more willing to get his hands dirty, is more willing to lie and omit and yeah, cheat.

there is the example of lamiroir/machi, in which lamiroir is portrayed as being a very innocent and tragic figure and for a good portion of the case, we sort of believe that machi has taken advantage of her innocence to a certain degree. the main parallel is of course that of kristoph/phoenix, but i think it is so interesting how phoenix dips a hand into the same methods kristoph used with the bloody ace — a less drastic and "evil" play, yes, but one from the same book nonetheless.

back to what i said about dying cases and turnabout, that's what a lot of the trilogy cases, every single one almost, focused on. the end-message is always one of rebirth and reinvigoration — two examples so you know what i'm talking about: in turnabout goodbyes, phoenix's revelation of the truth by bringing dl-6 back from the 'dead' is what starts edgeworth's journey towards becoming a different person. in rise from the ashes, his highlighting the detective's work in bringing sl-9 back from the dead is what frees the skye sisters and allows lana to experience a "new lease on life". this repeats over and over again. these are very classic endings. but in aa4, what's highlighted is the exact oppposite: corruption.

kristoph starts off as a very cool and collected person (in the player's eyes) and his descent into paranoia and greed and egotism is revealed to us across the past and present. we see apollo start off in turnabout trump as a different person than who he becomes by the end of turnabout succession; he doesn't become a bad person, but he's been through enough that he develops a sheen of pessimism while still remaining recognizably apollo, so brash and convinced and caught in the pursuit of justice, a corruption, yes, but less drastic. i already covered the change phoenix undergoes. trucy goes from being an element of zak's tricks to conducting tricks of her own (page vs ace). lamiroir has undergone a sort of breakdown of identity. wocky's slowly dying. even the clients we defend vary so deeply from the clients of the trilogy in that their innocence is already cast in doubt when apollo defends them because they've already gotten their hands dirty or are societally deemed 'shady characters'. in the first case, the client is a disgraced and disbarred lawyer. in the second, a gangster part of a violent mob. in the third, a seemingly innocent child is revealed to be a smuggler. and of course behind it all there is the legal system, already dark and corrupt in phoenix's time, now twisted so far out of shape that it is a miracle any cases are won at all. and that's also why i think making the prosecutor apollo goes up against (klavier) be a very just person works out amazingly.

not sure how to really end this but tl;dr apollo justice is an amazing game that plays with themes in a very different way from the trilogy and i love it!

[mjmr493]

I am beyond excited to learn more about Sebastian Grimm in book 2 of the Wildersongs trilogy. But here is a incomplete list of what we DO know about him:

He hates lying to his mom <3

His hair lost its pigment after overusing his magic while casting for the first time

People think he overly scrutinizes spells, but he’s really memorizing them to account for his reading disorder

He planned to take over his mom’s flower trade before discovering he was a caster

His ears turn red when he’s embarrassed

Grimm understood there was a serious issue of Leo’s consent while under the curse (avoided commands, never took Leo’s affection as truth)

He acts similar to his mentor, Phade, who nominated him to the Fount when he was 11

He gets motion sick, poor guy

Phade is the only instructor in the Fount that’ll allow Grimm and Leo to work together

He’s trying to join the Coterie and get a seat in the Citadel so he can change the system from within (we love a man who can organize for systemic change)

People from his village, Dwull, have ostracized him since he was a kid. They blame him for losing control of the rain spell and the subsequent flooding (that distance from others has followed him to the Fount)

He seems only mildly affronted that Leo's Grandmagic threw him out a window in second tier

That man has so much restraint and I just need to know what he’s holding back. Biting his tongue to keep from saying what? Holding himself in check so much that his body trembles from effort. What was he going to do?!

We need his POV in the next book!! Grimm may have be outwardly put together, but Ik inside must be raging.