#Their books on the shadow realms

[masked-alien-lesbian]

I don't care if it's been a whole year, the LIs better be still looking for mc. They better be searching all corners of the Light realm for a way to find us

[turtletoria]

man having the worst day of his life about to have the second worst day of his life

[bonefall]

.. opinions on wind runner? i feel like im one of the only ones that genuinely hates her sometimes

If you feel like the only one who genuinely hates her, I think you need to look around more. Wind Runner is a very widely disliked character, because she's often used within the story as a small antagonist who "threatens" the authority of Tall Shadow. Gray Wing dislikes her. Thunder is openly cat-racist to her. She spends several books trying to break through the moor cats' xenophobia to join a group that came to HER LAND.

Then, when Moth Flight is old enough to be a relevant character in Forest Divided, Wind Runner is turned into Yet Another mean mom the very moment Moth displays ADHD. She's contrasted to her mate Gorse Fur, who is a Soft And Good Dad, and ultimately MASSIVELY punished with the harrowing events of Moth Flight's Vision (even though, for most of that book, she's completely right.)

Ask yourself why they're especially harsh on WIND RUNNER for being mean to her child, in the arc with Tom the Fucking Wifebeater and his redemption death, plus Thunder being forced to stop being mad at his abuser Clear Sky, please.

To me, Wind Runner is an intense, ambitious woman who's demonized for it in a way that men just aren't. She's subject to several misogynistic trends within WC, plus a huge helping of xenophobia that goes absolutely unexamined. If DOTC cared at all about women, it would have treated her with the nuance she deserves.

Wind Runner is treated with nearly endless suspicion by Gray Wing through books 1 - 3, while he's bending over backwards to suck Clear Sky's toes.

Her wanting to join the group that came TO HER HOME and being a bit pushy about it earns a stronger reaction from Gray Wing than Clear Sky murdering people.

She's pressured into changing her name "to fit in," and it's still not enough. She wanted to join the group so bad she changed her name, at the request of the Mountain Cats, for a chance of being better accepted

This came after she'd already saved Jagged Peak's life when a burrow collapsed on him. She's plenty trustworthy.

She keeps doing shit to try and prove herself to this group of assholes. Remember Bumble being dragged back to her domestic abuser? Gray Wing interprets this as a power struggle, when WIND RUNNER WAS NOT EVEN PART OF THE GROUP AT THE TIME.

From Wind Runner's POV, she did something that the Moor cats wanted done. It was fucking evil. It was committing violence against another member of the out-group the cats see her as.

But who actually has the power here? Tall Shadow does.

Gray Wing said it himself that she could have come up with some excuse for Bumble to stay, and she didn't. In fact, any cat could have spoken up. No one did.

and still. STILL. Wind Runner gets nothing. Her reward is Gray Wing surmising that actually, her doing their sick dirtywork was a political move.

It's more consistent as a motivation with how Wind Runner wants to join their group. The thing she's been doing.

She only actually gets to join the group after Thunder starts publicly hurling slurs at her for suggesting they need to be ready for Clear Sky to attack them. "What do you know about peace? Last time I was here you were NOTHING BUT A ROGUE WITH A ROGUE'S NAME"

Gray Wing even starts purring when she gives birth, because her ambition goes away briefly and she "stops bossing everyone around." this is treated like a sweet thing. god forbid women retain their personalities when they have kids

She loses her first premature child to a seizure and Gray Wing starts proselytizing his religion to her. "Maybe it's a good thing your weakest child died because Jesus has them now" I want to beat him with a hammer

When her second child gets sick, Clear Sky has a bright idea that involves killing it. I refer to this as his "reverse leper colony" suggestion. He only develops a sense of humanity towards the sick when his brother's pregnant wife is in danger. Wind Runner and her kitten barely seem to clock as people to him.

It's only after her SECOND baby succumbs to a horrible, painful death that she decides the moor cats are assholes, and she goes to start her own group. It's LONG overdue. I was extremely excited to see it.

Now. Listen.

I've been treated just like Moth Flight before. I've practically heard the scolding in Book 6 Chapter 3 verbatim. I'm not downplaying anything about Wind Runner being harsh to her; being yelled at like that never fixed the problem.

What I'm saying is that this is the SAME arc that summons the hollowed-out ghost of Storm to coo that Clear Sky "never drove anyone away" with his abusive behavior and gives Tom the Wifebeater a heroic redemption death.

So why is the scolding from Wind Runner treated as unambiguously harsh? What's the difference between her and them?

Why is it that outside of this little bubble of the community, you can get buried in a flood of people crying about how "Clear Sky made Summisteaks Butt he thought it was the right thing :((( He feels bad about shoving Thunder's face in a weeping, pus-filled wound and trying to kill him :((((" but Wind Runner is mean about Moth Flight not catching a rabbit and she should be skinned alive

Why is WIND RUNNER held responsible for the death of Clear Sky's child in Moth Flight's Vision, WHEN IT WAS COMPLETELY HIS OWN FAULT??

So, why should I hate her? Because she's mean to the idiot protagonists? Because she's Yet Another Bad Mom whose actions ARE treated as Bad in the story, in the arc famous for openly weeping whenever someone's mad at their abusive dad?? When she has this whole horrific, unexamined story about how incredibly bigoted The Settlers are towards her and the extremes she goes to in order to please them?

I'm glad she's mean, actually. She should have been even meaner. I think she should have a gun

[niaerinisms]

Book 2 was not bad, you all just didn’t care about the book outside of your white boy LI

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Two of my author queens that deservedly sit high upon my favourites shelf 🖤

[rhysknees]

What to read next

[animehouse-moe]

2024 Manga Taisho Award Winners Announced

In somewhat of an uncontested victory, Kimi to Uchuu wo Aruku Tame Ni walked away with nearly a 100 point victory. Following it in second place is Hiromu Arakawa's Daemons of The Shadow Realm. And only 1 point behind it in third place is Tales of Craftsmen From Kanda Gokurachou.

Though three series, it's really 1st and 3rd that are incredibly interesting. Kimi to Uchuu only has one volume out currently, with its second coming in May. Published under Kodansha, given their recent... "aggression" with manga licenses, there's a very strong chance to see an announcement for it sometime this summer.

On the other hand, Tales of Craftsmen is the first ever manga to be nominated, let alone place in the top 3, of the Manga Taisho awards from Leeds Publishing. It's a really incredible feat, and just another feather in its cap considering that it had recently won Freestyle's Read This Manga! award. Add on top that it's been nominated for the Osamu Tezuka Cultural prize, and it's a work that everyone should have their eyes on.

Though, many seem unaware of it, so I have a post in the works for this afternoon to detail its history and journey that led it to such commercial success and critical acclaim on only a single volume. The short of it though is that like with Kimi to Uchuu, manga readers should be making a lot of noise about getting it licensed over here.

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Welcome! These are a few of my favourite things...♡

Bare min starter-pack to get to know a bit about me :)

she/her. 26 y/o lives in the UK.

My favourite hobbies are reading, dreaming, drinking coffee and obsessing over pets.

My favourite movies tv shows: Blue Eye Samurai, LOTR, Arcane, Haunting of Bly Manor/Hill House and the Office.

I work in the legal profession.

My guilty pleasure is reality shows...

I read fanficton of my fav novels every night to sleep and to wake and have for the past decade.

If you like:

Fitzloved (Realm of the Elderlings; Of Cats and Closed Doors)

Shadowhunter Chronicles;

18th 19th century classical literature;

Mauraders & Drarry Era (specifically, jegulus & wolfstar, rosekiller etc.);

All Souls series.

Relevant Posts/Essays ͙͡★

My Love Letter to OCACD and Fitzloved

Magnus Bane is the best Downworlder

Wessa is the Best!!!!!

Tessa Tessa Tessa

Ranking of SHC Novels

My response to Booktok turning the book community into fast fashion

Top 5 in the Shadowhunter Characters, Ships

I also love to make moodboards for the All Souls universe by Deborah Harkness which you can find: here !

Please let's be moots and friends :D Have a lovely day scrolling 😊

Gorgeous art by pandyals_art on instagram

[wobubling]

Beloved feels like a revolutionary girl utena character. Like yeah he would say shit like “if it cannot hatch from its shell, the chick will die without ever truly being born. we are the chick and the world is our egg. if we don't break the world's shell, we will die without truly being born.”

[hopkinshatburger]

Here's every book I read this year. A bunch of manga, graphic novels, and even 2 regular Novels surprisingly enough. I've never read 17 books in one year ever in my life so I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish with a reading disability.

[wineredsea]

I just committed to the grave mistake of reading the prelude to daughter of the drow. yeah I definitely will not be normal about liriel baenre.

[liminalhymnal]

Saw a guy on reddit talk about how Giorno is super evil for putting Diavolo in the death-loop. Dude, that devil guy killed a lot of people. Brutally. Cold-blooded with extreme prejudice-style murders. There's a fitting irony to putting that guy in infinite situations where he's the one on the receiving end of the reapers scythe.

If we're talking undeserved punishments then let's talk about Terunosuke, the edgelord who never killed but got turned into a living Goosebumps book for all eternity.

[mylifeisalieandididntknow]

Natsume's scared of his own skin most days but that's alright. Satoru will just have to show him that no one is going to hurt him, that Satoru won't hurt him.

[balu8]

Marvel Super Special #11: Warriors of the Shadow Realm

by Doug Moench,John Buscema,Rudy Nebres,Peter Ledger and John Costanza

Marvel

[peonyblossom]

i wish we could’ve had the option to give our mc a makeover too

[rhysknees]

What to Read in 2025