#There's going to be a LOT that needs to be solved when Salem and the Gods are defeated

[foulfirerebel]

What role do you think ghira, ilia and the new white fnag will play in the vacuo arc? Besides having cute reactions to bumblby being a thing now.

I hope they don’t do a repeat of what happened at haven where the “good Faunus” save the racist humans so all the Atlesians have a “change of heart”. The last thing this show needs is more respectability politics lol.

Put of everyone ilia seems the most likely to tell the Atlesians to their face that they brought this upon themselves for their complacency in atlas many MANY societal injustices without trying to sugarcoat it.

Simply put? Helping to arm and aid Faunus who can fight, while aiding in taking care of those who cannot. Remember: there's not been a gathering of people this big since the olden days of Ozpin and Salem, so there's going to be MASSIVE tensions between every nation.

But of course, that's not all. The New White Fang is going to need to be one of the lines of aid and defense for the combined forces, and people are NEED to accept their help. I can see them telling off some racist asshat Atlesians who complain about how the "animals" are talking back now and threatening to leave them in the desert or something if they don't accept things as they're moving.

Also, just one other thing about Haven. The choice there was either leave the kingdom itself to die, not just the school, or go and help them. It took the Belladonnas nearly being assassinated and Blake's speech to get some Faunus to WAKE UP about the situation.

And if some people STILL want to cause problems? They can do so in the harsh, unforgiving desert sands. There's too much at stake to cater to racists, and since the show itself has shown our protagonists shutting them down and basically that their ideas don't matter or deserve time in the long run? I don't see any respectability politics being used at this point.

Mistral is arguably a work in progress for now, but Vacuo? Shit, the Atlesians and Mistralians are going to be lucky that Vacuoans don't rip them a new one BEFORE or ALONGSIDE the Faunus. I say this because Atlas and Mistral both drained Vacuo dry of resources following The Great War.

So. Calming the tensions or resolving them between nations is going to be...interesting, to say the least. I don't see The New White Fang prioritizing Atlas citizens (unless they're Faunus, were already poor, etc.) that decide to keep their horrible attitudes intact after everything its done to the world and the Faunus.

This isn't saying I'm wanting fights to break out or people killed, just the tensions to be a factor at this point. Old wounds reopening, a lot of social injustices being called out, the imperialism, colonialism, racism, you get the idea.

Any sort of division at this point only aids Salem, so this is going to be interesting to see how it's resolved. I do like that Ruby's message convinced so many to come to Vacuo. The world tensions aren't going to be solved overnight, but at least they can start by helping defend the kingdom.

TLDR: I want the NWF to help Faunus across the nations, and to be helping defend Vacuo alongside others. I'd also like them to be keeping tensions low, shutting down the racists, and proving to Salem how wrong she was to underestimate and discount Faunus.

The citizens of Atlas have lost their kingdom, homes, and livelihoods. I'd like at least one of the NWF to rub salt in the wound by calling them out on things the nation did, but they'd be one of many doing that. People of Vale would want answers for the Fall of Beacon, Vacuo for the colonialism of both Mistral and Atlas, and Mistral for their lack of support following Beacon's fall.

It doesn't mean that I think all citizens of Atlas necessarily deserve to be treated like dirt, but there's a lot the nation needs to answer for when all is said and done. In the meantime, ensuring people are able to defend themselves and taking no shit from the more bigoted of people from there will absolutely be a good start.

[bestworstcase]

Question from someone who's attempting to write rwby fanfiction. Do you have any advice on how avoid portraying team RWBY and their peers (JNPR, Penny, Oscar, etc) as people who are 'just better' or somehow more inherently virtuous than Those Evil Villains Over There Who Must Be Defeated and The Failures Of Generations Past? Because I want to write the girls and their friends bringing an end to a millennia-long conflict and upending the status quo and yeeting the brother gods, but like. I don't want to somehow imply that they have some special holy righteous sacred innate thing that made them succeed where others couldn't. And I feel like I keep accidentally implying that.

step 1. Worry Less.

if you don’t believe that RWBY et al are intrinsically Just Better Somehow you’re probably not going to write your story in a way that inadvertently implies as much even if they’re ultimately the ones who Solve The Problem. they’re just in the right place at the right time to escape this cycle these things happen bfrgk

step 2. remember that everybody does what they think is right

no one is a Bad Person on purpose and even when someone does something they know or believe to be wrong there is always some rationalization going on that makes it okay or makes it something outside of their control. keeping this in mind whenever you write character conflict is really important for portraying conflict in a naturalistic way—even if it isn’t something you put In The Text it’s useful for you as a writer to know what’s Going On in the heads of the characters who are wrong and why they’re doing the things that they do.

(a good exercise if you want to practice is to rewrite a scene from the other side’s point of view; if you have for example an argument between two characters who are both extremely convinced of their own rightness and don’t like each other, can you leap into the antagonist’s perspective and write that argument from their side in a way that paints the protagonist as irrational, stubborn, foolish? if you can switch your writer POV around like that to see things from the Wrong Perspective it becomes a lot easier to handle complex conflicts because you have a really solid grasp on what everyone’s stakes and opinions and reasons are.)

step 3. don’t be afraid to let the Good Guys fuck up & don’t be afraid to let the Bad Guys have a point

rwby does this really really really well. nobody is ever one hundred percent completely right—not in the story and not in real life—so letting the good guys be a little bit wrong and the bad guys be a little bit right creates points of common ground and margins for compromise to be built in between. and obviously if you have protagonists who are able to make mistakes and grow and accept compromise then Innately you have protagonists who are flawed and three dimensional, because if they were Perfect they wouldn’t need to learn or grow.

step 4. think about Why these characters are the ones who solve the problem

this is something that’s just helpful to have in mind as a writer to clarify your own framing; often the answer is a lot more about circumstance than any intrinsic Betterness and in the case of rwby a lot of it just comes down to the fact that salem attacked when she did—team rwby et al weren’t inculcated into the paranoid keeping secrets cult and didn’t have ozpin to lead them, so they figured out their own way of doing things that (because it plays to humanity’s strengths) works a lot better.

y’know how every time someone new is let in on the secret, the first question they ask is “why don’t people know? why not tell everyone?” the story is making the point that the natural, instinctive human response to finding out about a secret war is to go “it shouldn’t be secret!”—ozpin has to work very hard and be extremely careful about Who he initiates into this conspiracy because his methods run contrary to human nature. it takes active effort to quash that reflex to ask for help. what makes team rwby et al "special" isn’t anything unique to them, per se; its that they learnt the truth outside of this coercive environment that trained the old guard to Never Tell Anyone, so they intuitively grasp that telling more people and asking for help is better than not. because Most People put into this situation would intuitively grasp that.

[eastwindmlk]

“You’re wrong.” A voice came from behind James, taking him by surprise. The point of his pencil was almost going through the newspaper. His head whipped around to see an unfamiliar face peering at him from between the seats behind him. “Uh, thank you? But I am pretty sure about this one.” He muttered, too confused to question the woman. His eyes drifted back to his crossword. “Suit yourself, but you are wrong.” She chirped, disappearing back into her seat without offering what she believed to be the right answer. Which suited James just fine. He did not need help to solve it.

A few minutes went by, and the train halted at the next station. A chilly breeze was going through the car as people bustled in, shaking snow from their heads and shoulders before settling into a spot. Tapping at the next clue that stumped him, his lips rubbing together in thought. Pressing them together, the lady behind him appeared again. “You are thinking of the wrong type of season.”

James turned a quarter so he could see her properly, wondering what type of person would feel the need to meddle in his puzzling time. He was not sure what he was expecting, but it was not a set of brilliant green eyes framed with thick lashes. Red-painted lips, wearing a knowing smile. So, at least she was cute. Not that it made what she was doing less rude.

“What makes you say that?” He asked before having thought over whether he really wanted an answer. “You’re thinking food seasoning, but you’re doing the Times crossword.” James nodded. So far, she was right. Taking off his glasses to polish them, he thought over her words, a smile creeping onto his face. “Fall. It is bloody fall.” He realised, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Looking at the woman for confirmation, he felt oddly proud when she nodded, withdrawing once more.

Another station passed them by; he finished his crossword in peace before turning to stare out of the window. The afternoon skies were already dark grey, and he was watching street lights fly past. “You’re a long way from home; what brings you to Scotland?” James asked, seemingly out of the blue, having the urge to engage the lady behind him in conversation. There was a long pause, thinking that maybe she hadn’t heard him. Or he had assumed he had not been talking to her, which made sense. Turning in his seat, peering along the gap in chairs, he offered her a smile.

The green eyes stared back at him, a little baffled. A paperback copy of Salem’s Lot being lowered. “Huh?” The lady blinked at him, her head cocking slightly. “You’re not from around here, are you? So, why are you heading to Edinburgh?” He tried again, feeling a little less confident than he had moments ago. The smile on his face turned more awkward the longer he persisted. “Am I wrong?”

“No, no, you’re not. South London, born and raised.” She smiled, and the book was now closed on her lap. “I’m here for a conference. Speaking at one, actually.” James watched her hands wring together for a moment before she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Sorry, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I severely underestimated how long a four-hour train ride actually is.” he hoped that being honest would put her at ease a little.

“You’re right! Four hours is forever on a train!” Her laugh reassured him a little, making her seem less nervous. “What about you? Because you don’t sound very northern either.” Now it was James’s turn to laugh and shrug. “Same, actually. But I am recruiting.” She hummed, nodding slowly, before extending her hand. “Lily Evans, pleasure to meet you.” Reaching over the seat to shake her hand, he smiled. “James Potter, pleasure is all mine.”, “Say, there is a very empty seat next to me and about two more hours. I think my masseuse will murder me if I keep sitting like this.”

And like that, she was sitting next to him. The two hours melted away like it was nothing. He learned they were going to the same conference. As well as having similar tastes in music, films, and food. She bought them a drink in the dining car, and he produced an entire roll of chocolate cookies from his bag. When the train pulled into Waverley station, it signalled the end of their journey. Pulling on his gloves, James contemplated asking for her number or her card. Anything.

But Lily beat him to it. “So, second date tonight? Dinner?” A question he did not have to think twice about. Nodding maybe a little too eagerly. “Meet me at the ticket booth at six.” It wasn’t until she was already halfway down the platform that he wondered why she had called it a second date. A question he was sure to ask her that night.

[howlingday]

Oh ok so I'm about lore dump one of the most important for my Rwby world. So

I have seen all of Rwby and don't know everything so I'm gonna step over real Canon lore.

I'm not good with power balancing in stuff.

A lot stuff my be understanding which you might see differently.

Feel free to call anything out you think could be better also I'm not asking to write anything if want to use my ideas I give you permission but I'm asking you to?

Without further ado let's talk about The Keep and it's Keeper.

Long ago when the brothers still wandered the Rement with their creations a women would follow and worship them. The women was mighty curious about the gods. She would flatter them, bring them gifts and talk about how the world was. Inreturn they would sparly talk of a relam they lived before. The women wonder if they were born their or if it was another world they made. As she grew old and Time neared its end she would build a magic mask to keep her memories and a piece of soul so her apprentice would have all the tools he needed.

As time pasted the mask would gather more soul pieces and memories. Soon a women named Salem would gather the armies of Humanity to fight the gods. The current holder of the mask thought she was insane with how much he knew of the gods.

So he gathered a small group of people and ran far away from the battle and prayed for mercy. It is not know if the gods listen or were seemingly so egotistical that they missed the spot. With population they would try to reproduce but it was quickly show 2 generations they would end up inbreeding with how little they were. So the current holder tried to slice human and animal DNA to fix the problem and it worked.

But would one see humans came back so the host now called the Keeper would return and learn of Salem and Ozma using the relics he would learn Salem,Omza, and even the Ever After story and mangne to get a single leaf of the Tree. The next Keeper would become one of Salem's handmaidens. Which would go terribly so as the castle burned the Keeper would shove a child away causing the child to knock out but seen by someone else and saved.(A story for another time)

Salem and Omza were locked in battle so the Keeper would hide away. The Keep would soon develop fully as it's own entity. As magic started to die out the Keep and it's current Keeper were able to grow a small tree from the preserved leaf. Using the tree they were able to make a Potion that would awaken magic in people without magic but kill those unable to handle it. So the Keeper title would be passed down all the way to morden day always staying out of Ozpin and Salem sight even giving people Magic or making Magic tools to keep them of its tail.

I think that's enough for origin. Many of his actions will effect my Rwby world. Feel free to ask any questions or critique anything.

This sounds like a really interesting idea. I'm kinda curious to see where this story goes. Though I do have some questions about the story, too.

First off is the mask the Keeper wore, and how it would store the memories of the previous keeper, as well as their soul. Does the mask still do that? What happens when someone wear the mask? Does it ever come off?

Next is the topic of the inbreeding group who were able to solve their problem thanks to splicing animal DNA. How exactly did they do that, and were there any ramifications to the inbreeding?

Last is the tree growing in Remnant. Is it sentient? How is it decided whether or not a person is worthy? And if these people are granted magic, how are they kept out of sight by the rest of Remnant?

[kob131]

https://youtu.be/NfWwEHn4pLo

"Why not use the Staff to seal her in their pocket dimension? There is LITERALLY negative 13 reasons why (reference) this wouldn't work-"

Oscar: We can't just wave it like a magic wand and make our problems go away. And we haven't even told you about… him. Yang: Who? Ozpin: The spirit in the Staff. Like Jinn, but, well, he's a character. He can build you anything, but only if you can explain to him how. Like any craftsman, he'll need blueprints. Some sort of reference. It'll help if we have real world examples to show him.

They literally preemptively addressed this point.

"So you're saying that they don't have schematics for a-"

Pocket dimension, yes. If you were gonna say 'prison' or 'safe' or 'vault': Those would still be physical objects in the real world. The whole extra-dimensional pathway was because they were trying to transport a bunch of people to safety when that wouldn't work if they had to physically transverse the distance. Unless you have someway of proving that there is something like this in RWBY that isn't a Semblance: it doesn't work.

"-If there was no Salem, James would have no reason to bomb Mantle!"

Acting as if James is in a rational state of mind when the entire fucking point of the last Volume is that no one is acting rationally out of fear. James is clearly going through personal issues that wouldn't be solved rationally. He might not try to bomb Mantle...he might also try to STOP Team RWBY from imprisoning Salem in this mythical pocket dimension can be built without examples or even a fucking point of reference. I mean, with everyone evacuating Mantle AND Atlas, he still fought them leaving so despite stopping the plan would just jeopardize everyone so clearly he is NOT above these actions.

"Either Salem gets back to Remnant eons later, after humanity has got it's shit together or Salem will just drink the tea and we'll lose our main villain."

First off-

Humanity has already existed for six million years in the real world. We're barely getting along as is and that's without monsters from the dark coming to rile up fear in a never-ending cycle. For what reason do you think humanity would be getting along later down the line? And why would Salem be gone this long even?

Like, assuming your 'pocket dimension' is the Ever After: why would it take any truly extended period of time for Salem to escape? If Team RWBY can fend off all of the creatures in the Ever After, why wouldn't Salem, who's demonstrated to be FAR stronger, just burn everything in her path then threaten the Blacksmith to escape? Mind you, we are assuming that team RWBY as of Volume 8 knows about the Ever After here. Which...they don't. So even the fuck up is within a fuck up...within another fuck up, because we're assuming that they could even do this when nothing in the show has shown this.

Yes, he's probably just being glib here. But aside from mild phrasing, I'm reciting his points AS IS. If I were to remove the glibness, all that would be left here is 'Team RWBY plan stupid because it not perfect." Me including the glibness is a fucking kindness to him.

"The only issue is Cinder but they can stop any intervention with the help of Jake Steelbark since he'd have no reason to oppose them."

Once again, making a lot of assumptions here. How do you know they could stop Cinder's involvement? They would, once again, need SOMETHING to present to Ambrosius to construct your 'pocket dimension'. Which we haven't seen so they would need to track that info down, possibly go retrieve it if it's not readily available THEN enact the first part of their plan and theoretically get James on their side.

I do mean 'theoretically' because this Jake Steelbark fellow seems awfully accommodating and reasonable. Unlike James Ironwood, who did the equivalent of taking Germany's standing army into England during an event that celebrates the end of WWII and this is BEFORE he went off the deep end. There is nothing to indicate James would listen at this point. In fact, I detailed a reason why he WOULDN'T listen what with trying to stop the plan with Winter despite SAVING HIS PEOPLE.

"This plan would-"

Not fucking work because the original plan and the Ever After fall happened because they had the materials specifically needed for this incident but things went awry and caused actions that they didn't account for.

Because as I have explained: This whole ass plan only works if you IGNORE canon, such as the limitations on the Staff, the materials on hand and the time limit. The very foundation of this argument is already stretching things and the details just break it.

Sure, it could happen. What could have also happened is that James proceeded to rip off his pants to reveal a hula skirt, did a cancan and then the dance would impress the Brothers so much that they create a miniature black hole to suck up Salem and her forces. It only breaks like, two other rules in canon. Your plan would only work because the world of RWBY is fictional and thus technically ANYTHING can happen.

Your argument has no basis. You have failed as a critic.

I'm done. I watch a few minutes in and it's just insults. I don't have the patience for this shit anymore.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Team RWBY as also "bad protagonists" because they apparently don't affect the main plot or at least aren't constantly driving the main storyline forth at a nonstop pace. Yeah that also baffles me because "team RWBY don't affect the main plot" How? They are the main plot!

I think it's partly motivated by a mentality that they "don't do enough" or "don't do it correctly".

The kinds of things that Team RWBY tends to do are more about the value of small and partial victories, the resilience and healing needed to keep going in the face of relentless evil or failures by forming strong bonds with each other, and the willingness to lean on others and trust others to continue the fight when you've fallen down.

A running theme of most views like the original point was making seems to operate on the notion that the only valuable thing a protagonist should do is big, grandiose absolute victories that fix everything perfectly and put them as the big saviors whom all should respect and defer to.

In other words, a lot like how a lot of people seemed to think Adam and Ironwood would be.

But the series actively skewered and dissects this mentality, with those two being highlighted more and more overtime as being intensely self-righteous at best and downright monstrous because all they really care about is their own grandiose fantasies at the expense of others.

Hell, Ozpin, even if his own goals were better-intended, suffered from this issue for millennia, since his belief that he was the only one who could oppose Salem and fixation on the bigger picture meant that he constantly overlooked how his "perfect world order" was cracking and falling apart at the seams because of the numerous small failings and societal issues he considered to be less important than defeating Salem (whom was smart enough to recognize his bad habits and exploited it ruthlessly), and arguably to the point of overlooking the possibility that his entire quest set to him by his God was likely never intended to succeed in the first place, because his goal was fundamentally impossible.

RWBY is a story about the small victories, how they can inspire others to try their best, even if only a little bit, and how the little things can build and improve to truly enacting change, in ways that grandiose gestures and fixation on bigger glories can overlook, or outright actively harm. How much the small things we do to help others can snowball into bigger and more profound impacts because we as people remember to actually care about others, instead of seeing them as a stepping stone for "the main characters".

And more than anything, that justice and a better world is a living and breathing organism that needs to be cultivated and nurtured with care and compassion, acknowledging and addressing the warts and all of society and that the fight never ends no matter how much people might want a guaranteed "happily ever after". Not forced at gunpoint or by "purging the problems until they go away" by those who think everything should be solved by the egomaniacs with the biggest god complexes.

That's exactly it. This isn't a story where we find a giant superweapon or where we have a series of battles where some win and some lose. Salem is immortal, infinitely patient, and the game is rigged against them. The only way to win is to change the fundamental narrative of Remnant itself. It's a story about broadening your understanding, learning to get back up, accepting yourself. Which often leads to cool battles, yes, because the demons of human nature here occasionally have the form of literal demons you can shoot in the face.

[bhu98]

The way my heart broke when these things happened in ep 8 and why i feel its important:

1. Ruby killing Oscar: a bit biased bc I love rosegarden. But honestly speaking it's bc of how similar they are. They're both the youngest of their friend groups with a huge amount of responsibility on their shoulders. I think this was significant bc Ruby does feel some type of way about him, whether it's kinship, responsibility, friendship or romantic. Based on the context, I'm assuming responsible as that's what the whole scene was about.

2. The close up on Yang when Ruby drank the poison: as an older sister who also had to take care of her younger sister and grew up with her, I would be absolutely devastated if my sister did that in front of me. The amount of confusion, guilt and regret I know Yang is going to feel next episode is something I look forward to seeing RT executing.

3. Ruby fucking dying: need I say more?

4. Jaune failing to save another person: Not sure if this is gonna hurt him as much since it was Neo, but this was yet another life that he failed to protect. He was so close and yet, he couldn't succeed. I would also like to see more of his frustration with that concept, but right now I doubt it since there's a lot RT need to go over.

5. The cat going inside Neo: I screamed her name out of concern bc Neo didn't give a fuck about Salem, or the survival of the world, she just wanted her friend back. So yeah, she was out for revenge and once she got it, the sense of emptiness, loss and hopelessness was all that was left. Before she could even think about her next move, if there was one, that damn cat possessed her. This is another biased opinion bc I love Neo, she's that gray character that was pushed too far and was Ruby's worst nightmare bc of it. Like imagine if she had kept blaming Cinder instead? Would she be a good guy? Definitely not. Her problem solving is to get rid of the problem and then there won't be one. Would she be a major inconvenience towards Salem and crew? Of fucking course. And God I just need Neo to be given another chance and be like, fuck those other guys, then be the tank RWBY and everyone never knew they needed. Anyways, that's it for my rant!

[nancyd-yeahyouknowme]

It’s me yo girl… jk I don’t think anyone follows me but it’s okay I’m just vibing and typing out my Nancy Drew thoughts bc THE NEW GAME IS COMINGGGGGGG! I’m so exciteeeeeed. They just posted more shit on Instagram/FB, I’m living for it, and I’m p high. So yeah, anyway…I was thinking about how I’m especially looking forward to Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Seven Keys (sidenote: wonder what the acronym is going to be?!?!? MSK? MYS? KEY?)bc I LOVE the ND storylines in general. Even the games that I really don’t fucks with and play as often (I’m looking especially at you, CRY, RAN, and MED), I still love clicking through most of the conversations, playing out the little side missions/mini games, and just exploring the overall gamescape. So…

Even if KEY (I’m going with that for myself for now) is as horrible to play as MID was, it will (hopefully!!!) still have a good storyline and fun little tasks and random phone calls … all of those classic ND things that make all the difference. Like… even with MID, I really did love the Johnny cake thing or whatever, and it was kinda cool to explore “Salem” and learn some history. I also LOVED the herbs task. But, of course, HATE HATE HATE the non-point-and-click… I can’t even put into words whatever the fuck MID used to move around! I am sure there is a word for it, but frankly, I don’t care to use it. I hated it. 0/10. Still hate it. But, again, I know I’ll go back to it SOMEDAY bc I get in just the right mood… all bc of that storyline and the characters … and the herbs!!!!! But back to KEY…

The Czech Republic?!?!?!? I cannot WAIT to see more of the environment. I am SO EXCITED to find out how/why ND finds herself there. And, of course, I’m looking forward to playing the coffee (I think???) mini-game that HER keeps teasing!!!

I’m also LOVING the clues that HER keeps posting. That energy is really great and so appreciated! And, special shout-out to all of the fucking smart ass mofos out there who keep solving their little hints and clues and puzzles (which are all HARD AF, in my humble opinion) and then posting them for lazy ppl like me!!!! I love a good walkthrough, love all of the helping hands… I do really TRY to solve a lot of puzzles myself, but when it comes to the more difficult ones (especially these clues that HER keeps posting! Like damn!), I usually need some assistance, lol.

Welp… anyway, that’s all she wrote. Peace

[onewomancitadel]

This oncoming post is post is a result of me imagining the worst case scenario, not necessarily actual speculation.

So Ruby imagines Penny as a great warrior and relates a story about her through the sword she passes on as a birthday present, and separately there is a Girl Who Fell Through the World who is real, and separately Jaune has become conflated, or is the original, Rusted Knight, and this is with the implication that the stories are real or the stories in some way gain realness by being told. There is an order of magnitude of difference between what these two imply and we'll probably find out across the volumes but I suppose you can follow the implication that Penny could be resurrected through the story Ruby told about her.

I don't think this makes sense to happen and I've defended the character life/death ethics in the story on the basis that there is a pretty rigid framework and if they broke this it basically opens up the gate to a lot of nonsense - and of course I think would ruin the life-affirming nature of Penny's death - and then of course I was like, oh they're going to bring Pyrrha back with this, but why, because doing that is the reverse of Jaune having lived twenty years by himself and it would be terrible and bad and again break the life/death ethics of the story and all the things in it that gave it meaning.

I don't think this is what they're going to do because there's a much more potent message beyond it (the people you love are never really gone because they loved you and changed you - that's a direct theme of giving the heart over and changing) and because again, it would break the ideas that I think fundamentally justify their decisionmaking behind character deaths (particularly when - and I'm sorry to say this - the characters who've died are largely not main cast deaths but still leave an impact) and because once you introduce all of the Ozlem theming it starts getting sticky, mostly because we know Ozma's resurrection didn't solve everything and is categorically not a good thing (the reincarnating curse needs to be stopped). Now they've functionally made Jaune experience more of the Ozma curse I can see them potentially leaning more into literally repeating the same mistakes but they did literally resurrect Penny and that journey of hers did literally mirror almost all of Ozma's story. As I mentioned in that post about Penny, I think Summer is the Salem to Penny's Ozma (especially as it relates to Ruby) in terms of how those direct journeys might be mirrored.

So like, I'm mostly catastrophising (I guess Penny fans would be happy but it'd break the show for me lol) and it is helpful for thinking about the literal relation between the 'real world' and storytelling.

[alyssalikestoreadbooks]

Spells Trouble - P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

"Double double, twins spell trouble…

Hunter and Mercy Goode are twin witches, direct descendants of the founder of their town of Goodeville. As their ancestors have done before them, it is now time for the twins to learn what it means to be Gatekeepers–the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds, ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and nightmares come to life.

When their mother becomes the first victim in a string of murders, the devastated sisters vow to avenge her death. But it will take more than magic to rein in the ancient mythological monsters who’ve infected their peaceful town.

Now Hunter and Mercy must come together and accept their destiny or risk being separated for good."

Read Date - October 2024

Length - 320 pages

Genre - Mythology, Fantasy, LGBTQ+

Rating - 7/10

Stars - ★★★★☆

Notes - The start of the book showing off that their witches is super cool. This is my first fantasy book i’ve ever read so i’m really new to this all, and i like how it’s introducing it through Salem, and loosely, the Salem witch trials. It’s so cool to me. The dynamic between Hunter and Mercy is so interesting. They’re twins, but they’re having some issues with each other. Nothing major, just small things like not liking each others partners. The party scene was a great introduction to all the people and friends in the twins lives. I liked it. The ritual scene was also a good introduction to the world, and gave us back story to what happened after the prologue. The ritual going wrong was a shock and i liked how it was handled. The death of their mother, abigail, likely by the wolf is such a poignant scene i wasn’t expecting this early on in the book. Their mother being ripped away is a big deal for them, as they’re still young witches who need their mother, and also to be taught. The reveal that Xena can transform into a human to take over this mentorship role is so cool. Human Familiars are such an interesting plot line. It all reminds me of Charmed. The twins friends being there for them turning their time of grief was super sweet, and i liked how they were there for them. The spell they do to remove Mercy’s grief is so cool, and i like how all the friends got involved. Chapter 13 being about the sheriff, and his past life, is also really neat. I love all the murder-mystery elements, and i think it was played out so well. The reveal that the person who died was Emily, the twins friends, dad. The girls helping her grieve in return was nice. The spice between Kirk and Mercy was different, and i wasn’t that into it. It was trauma sex and she needed something to forget about the pain. Kirk being there for her though was nice, it would’ve just been nice if he could understand why it was happening. The twins working to fix the trees is a bit confusing and takes up a lot of time, but i know it’ll come together in the end. It generally shows off the girls and their witchy abilities! Perfect for the halloween season. Mercy having doubts about Hunter’s God is interesting, and a cool plot point that i never considered when first picking up this book. The conversation through the realm is so fucking cool. I like that they get to talk to other people from different realms, like the demigod. There’s so much happening, and I don’t want people to think I’m not following, it’s just very hard to review this one IN the moment the way i do. There’s so many interweaving plot points playing with each other, and i can see how they all end, and i cant choose just one to focus on. The God Instead Of Goddess situation with the twins is going to be a big deal, and it keeps rearing it heads up again and again without being resolved, so i know there’s going to be conflict. The Kirk situation has to be solved eventually, whether she leaves him or not is undecided. The person/thing who’s killing people in goodville is still on the loose, and the girls are obviously NOT safe. If their mom was killed, they can be as well. It’s a big issue. And then there’s the conversation with the Demigod, and the reveal that the girls shouldn’t be the only two guarding FIVE realm doors. It’s all so much happening at once. The twins having to kill the monster is so insane to me. They’re just teenagers! I love that the twins leave behind remembrance to the native americans who helped the witches through the years in their spell. Jax revealing that Kirk is an absolute dick was another shock! I wasn’t expecting him to guilt trip her, and have a “meltdown” only to reveal that he was stringing her along the entire time. The borderline abuse was such a shock. He’s such a piece of shit and i hate him. In the end, Mercy and Hunter are able to convince emily’s parents to let her do the ritual, and she helps them out instead of kirk. Something goes wrong with the ritual, at the end, and Mercy can’t get in contact with Hunter. The fight scene with Polyphemus and Hunter was SO COOL and it gave me anxiety and it was so perfect! I loved it! I bet there’s a sequel to this book because honestly the ending was really flat and kind of left off on a cliffhanger, and I don’t know if i’m interested enough to seek out the sequel myself. 

[prophctic]

annika sat down, running a hand through her hair. it was a lot to take it, but growing up in the supernatural world, at the very least, meant she and everyone else here was good at rolling with the punches. biting her lip, she tried to make sense of everything jo was telling them.

"it sounds like it was the dread doctors," she agreed, "but jo is right; if sebastian is dead, if the original dread doctors are dead, then...what are they even doing anymore?"

"and who are they? if the original dread doctors are dead, and sebastian is dead..." sam frowned. "you said they were an evolving organism, jo. does that mean that there were always more of them, over the years?"

"you said people thought the beast of gevudan was the original werewolf for a long time," ivy said, eyes focused on the space ahead of her, darting slightly as she thought. despite all she had been through, all they had all been through, in the last day and a half, she felt herself almost relishing in having a new mystery to solve. not that she was happy that they were in more than one form of supernatural peril; rather, if she thought about this, it meant she didn't have to think about salem. not to mention this seemed almost more dangerous; after all, the coven didn't know where they were, at least not yet, but the dread doctors apparently knew exactly where uche and her siblings were. "but they were wrong," she continued, looking up at everyone. "ife was the original werewolf. what if people are wrong about when the dread doctors originated, too?"

"you think they could have been around a lot longer than the 1700s," sam said, looking over at ivy.

"it's possible, isn't it? how long have hunters been around?" she asked. "were the argents the first?"

"i've heard about them going back to the beast of gevudan, but not before. but...their family had to be around since before then, right?" annika inquired.

"and these dread doctors, they're not supernatural, and they're not quite hunters, either, right? some hunters are...well, pretty exclusively that, aren't they? they kill indiscriminately. others, like you guys, and allison, you're trained to know how to defend yourselves against supernatural attacks, but you don't hunt people just for being supernatural. you work with the supernatural, help them; you're helping keep anyone from getting hurt. but the dread doctors sound like they're...i don't know. on their own side." Ivy frowned thoughtfully. "they obviously don't care about keeping people safe if they're kidnapping people, kidnapping kids, and doing experiments on them. how do we know they even really cared about sebastian? i mean, it says he was their friend, but...what if he was another one of their experiments? what if they've been doing things like this for a really long time, longer than people have even known they existed? you said they could make people forget they had even seen them, didn't you? so what if they made people forget they existed before? what if there were always more of them than just the ones from gevudan, and it's always been bigger than sebastian?"

"it would explain why they would be here now, and why they would target uche. or at least, it would start to," sam said. "ivy brings up a good point. in early civilizations, there were already hunters; not hunters of the supernatural, but people who hunted for food, or protected their families from danger."

"that there were," ajani agreed. "and you are right; humans have worked with and against the supernatural since the beginning. some found marvel and mysticism in our existence, some wanted to work alongside us or even join us, still others feared us and because of that fear, wanted to be rid of us. and of course, not all supernaturals have always been kind to humans. much like la bete, some do harm others, and need to be stopped. i would sadly not be at all surprised if these dread doctors sprang up far earlier than texts may state, perhaps in response to fear, or curiosity, or both. they may very well have been around far longer than we realize."

"so the ones allison and her pack killed, those were just...a faction of them?" willow asked faintly.

"it may be so," ajani said sadly.

"how did they attack here in new orleans, though? i thought this was a sanctuary city?" gemma asked nervously, hands wringing together.

"it is, and you are safe here," ajani assured her. "allow me to explain. a sanctuary city means you cannot be extradited elsewhere, though of course, any crimes you commit here you will be held accountable for. not you, of course; i speak broadly for any who visit this place. likewise, you are contained safely here from any who seek to harm you; you cannot be tracked once you are within the confines of new orleans. but people can come here all the same, and though there are laws in place that state they cannot attack, some still do. those who do are dealt with, but attacks do happen. and if i understand what joanna is saying, these dread doctors are traveling along electronic currents, similar to those conducted by the nemeton. if that is the case, they would have had an easy entry into this city."

jo snapped to attention when they addressed her. "right," she said, stepping further into the room. she sank to her knees in front of the coffee table and pulled a few books out of her bag. two of them were clearly journals, worn with use; the last was a novel, titled the dread doctors, with the eerie cover art that one would expect from a late 80s scifi book. "like i said over the phone, they're called the dread doctors."

"someone wrote a book about them?" claire asked, leaning forward to take the book.

"don't open it," jo hurriedly warned. as if burned, claire dropped the book back to the table. jo winced. "sorry, that was abrupt. allow me to explain." she picked up one of the leatherbound journals and held it up for a moment. "back in the mid-1700s, there existed a providence in france called gevaudan and within that province, there was a wolf."

"la bête du gévaudan," damaris muttered. "the first infamous werewolf in recorded history. what about him?"

"in the hour of la bête's reign, there were rumors circulating about who he was and what connections he had. he was eventually taken out by the family that started the legend of silver being harmful to supernaturals: the argents. prior to that, however," she continued, "it was rumored that he had friends. and when marie-jeanne argent killed the wolf, sebastian valet, these friends sought to bring him back to life."

"like eshe did with her siblings," lux pointed out.

jo nodded. "yes. except these friends weren't supernatural; they were strictly human. at the time, however," she said, picking up the second journal, "there was a massive wave of scientific breakthroughs and interests. so where these friends lacked magic, they had science. so they tried bringing him back to life through science, but that didn't work. they were close, though. however, time passed, they grew older and sebastian's body decayed. this was in a time long before humans learned the proper ways to preserve bodies, so there was nothing they could do about it. they faced two problems then: the natural process of decomposition and their own mortality.

"the leader of the doctors, the original, his name was marcel. over decades of time, he managed to master the art of blatant pseudoscience and learned how to manipulate electromagnetic forces."

ife straightened up at that. "the electric residue," she recalled. "julia said there was electric residue left over when they disappeared."

"and i believe that," jo said. "what marcel and his fellow scientists did was figure out a way to exist within those electromagnetic forces, thus outside of the flow of time that we know. so when i say that they're human, they very much are. there is nothing supernatural about them."

dean pursed his lips. "but i don't get it. what does uche have to do with sebastian? and it's the twenty-first century; they haven't given up on bringing him back to life yet?"

"i'm getting there," jo reassured him. "but knowing how they got this way is important to understand how we got here."

dean nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"once they figured out how to keep themselves alive, they returned to their original goal of bringing sebastian back," jo continued. "but so much time had passed that he no longer had a body. so they needed a host. over time, they mastered the art of transferring one person's spirit into another body, but that wasn't easy. sebastian wasn't just another person, he was a wolf; he was the most terrifying beast that had ever existed in france. a lot of people in this day and age think he was the first werewolf in existence. the people of gevaudan certainly thought so. that's where the book comes in," she said, setting down the journals and picking up the book. "it's all but a detailed memoir of their experiments."

uche frowned. "experiments?"

here, jo hesitated. she opened her mouth, then closed it. she set the book down and freed up her hands to gesture as she spoke. "the scientists, dubbed the dread doctors by the author of this book, realized that the only people who could possibly handle a spirit like sebastian's were people like himself: supernaturals. but it was nearly impossible to find werewolves that could be taken down by humans and withstand the strength of sebastian's spirit. so they thought that maybe the answer was in people who had untapped genes, like someone who was born into a werewolf family, but that lycanthropy gene was recessive, so they were functionally human. but those people still turned out to be too fragile for their experiments and all of them died... except for one. jeon haetae was a korean teenager back in the late 1850s, and he was the first person to survive what the doctors were doing. he was human, but his mother came from a line of werewolves, so he did, too." she paused and bit her lower lip. "but haetae's father came from a line of fae."

the revelation came to uche dully, like a soft punch to the chest. she blinked. "he was a hybrid."

"genetically, yes," jo confirmed. "he still died, a few weeks into their experiments, but he survived far longer than anyone had thus far. so the doctors began experimenting on people like him, other hybrids. they found people who came from two lines of supernaturals but were humans themselves."

"is that why they targeted my sister?" ife questioned, holding uche tighter. "because she is a hybrid?"

jo considered the question for a moment. "in theory, i believe that would work. despite not being human, uche is the original hybrid; if anyone could handle sebastian with ease, it's her. but i don't think that's what happened here."

julia frowned. "why not? it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"in theory," jo repeated calmly. "but the dread doctors... after jeon haetae died, they realized that adults only last for so long. since the 1850s, the dread doctors have only ever experimented on young children. most of them still died pretty early, but those who didn't could last a few years; often years that they doctors wouldn't have had with adults."

"christ," dean swore beneath his breath.

claire eyed the book carefully. she wanted to read for herself what had happened, despite how horrifying it all sounded. "why can't we read it?"

"remember when i said that marcel mastered pseudoscience?" jo recalled. "his particular brand was memory science. the dread doctors learned how to manipulate the memory of anyone who came across them. in the past, this was used primarily against parents who'd seen their child being taken, back before the doctors found a different method of kidnapping them. but years ago, a decade, i think, the dread doctors' victims escaped."

harry's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "they escaped? how?"

jo shook her head. "i don't know. there were only a few of them left alive at that point, but they managed to get away. so to protect themselves, the dread doctors erased those kids' memories of them, even from afar. but the thing about lost memories is that their return can be triggered, so..."

claire blinked. "the people who escaped wouldn't know that they'd been held captive and experimented on... until this book forced them to relive it?"

jo smiled, though it looked saddened. "essentially, yes. to my knowledge, some of those escapees remembered what'd happened to them even before they found this book, but for most of them, it was a violent awakening. and once they read it, the doctors found them again."

interest in the book firmly lost, claire shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself and stepping closer to her father.

"how do you know all of this?" dean asked. "you didn't tell us anything about it."

"because i didn't experience any of this for myself," jo said. "my family, the harvelles, are offshoots of the argent family. allison, the current head of the california argents, is my distant cousin. we haven't had much contact over the years, because the argents operate differently than the harvelles, but i did get in contact with her about a year ago. she's a part of a pack out there⎯⎯and according to her, that pack killed the dread doctors almost two years ago."

lux furrowed her eyebrows. "if they killed them, then..."

"the dread doctors are an evolving organism," jo clarified. "there have been multiple variations of them over the years, so it stands to reason that allison might have killed the previous generation and another sprung up. the thing is that there is no reason to. because, as far as allison has told me, the doctors succeeded in bringing back sebastian, and the pack killed him, too, in a way that can't be reversed. so if uche was attacked by the dread doctors, and it really sounds like she was, then they are acting in a way that i can't make sense of. for all intents and purposes, their god is dead and they have no reason to exist anymore."

[itsclydebitches]

The sad thing…I think Ruby already did “break”. In "Risk". When she snapped at the table. Yeah, it wasn’t much, but knowing RT and the FNDM, I feel that’ll be considered enough.

I think you might be right, anon. I just rewatched those scenes and honestly, the supposed work they did was just as flimsy the second time around.

First, Ruby begins the meeting by generally being pessimistic about their situation. Everyone else is worried, but they're working hard to keep their hope up. Yang asks what they're going to do now and Blake, though she lists all the challenges they have to overcome, doesn't follow it up with any negative conclusions. It's Ruby who says, "So then it's impossible." Their leader is shutting down the conversation, not just failing to come up with the next step, but actively discouraging everyone else from doing that work either. It's Emerald who points out that this is a problem in her own, Emerald way: "Ms. Hero with all the answers" suddenly doesn't have any to offer. Yet instead of helping Ruby to overcome her pessimism and lead their team again, the group succumbs to yelling at Emerald instead for, frankly, speaking a mean but very accurate truth. When Oscar says that they have to stop turning on each other, Ruby reveals she hasn't been listening. Her thoughts are still on the supposed impossibility of their problem. “Then nothing has changed! We’re in the exact same place we were yesterday!" and she runs from the room.

In a vacuum I don't think this scene is bad. It actually has a lot going for it. The floundering leader, the group turning on each other without anyone nurturing Blake and Yang's attempts at optimism, Oscar being the sole voice of reason... there's good stuff here. The problem is everything that comes after it and, admittedly, how our reading of the scene is colored by what came before.

Basically, Yang goes to comfort Ruby and they... don't talk about any of the issues Ruby is displaying in this scene. They mainly talk about Summer which is indeed a issue, but not a relevant one right now. If RT wanted a grimm!Summer subplot I really think they should have put that somewhere other than in the Volume when our Big Bad is attacking and a major ally goes Genocidal General. But even putting aside the amount of the conversation that's devoted to Summer rather than their current problems, Ruby goes on to say:

“I wasted our time getting Amity up, thinking help would come, but it didn’t and Amity fell. I was being childish."

Now, I think Ruby has indeed been very childish since Volume 6, but she wasn't childish here. The problem is she was passive.

Yes, Ruby Did A Thing by sneaking into Atlas HQ and helping to send that message, but she admits fully that this was primarily in an effort to get other people to come and solve this problem. Yang is the one who frames Amity as something that could potentially help people now that they've had a warning. Ruby frames it as a tool to get other people here to fix things. If Ruby's passiveness had been confined solely to trying to call in reinforcements and if calling those reinforcements made any sense, we'd be fine, but this is the arc where:

People need to evacuate due to the threat Salem poses and Ruby keeps a portion of the Kingdom from doing that.

She does this under the firm believe that she and her team will fix things somehow, despite not having any way to achieve that.

So she calls on other people to come and fix the currently not fixable situation. She calls more people to Atlas when the primary goal is to evacuate Atlas. Reinforcements, while generally a great strategy, change rather drastically when your opponent is immortal.

Help doesn't come because of course it doesn't. Ruby knows how few huntsmen any other Kingdom has. Ruby should know how far Atlas is from everyone else and that it's only been about a day. Common sense should tell her how seriously people are going to take a 17yo stranger talking about magic and immortal queens, yet Ruby is mad because "it didn't [come]." She's upset that other people didn't arrive to fix this despite it being staggeringly obvious why that didn't happen.

She sat out the biggest battle to date, explicitly commenting on how sad it was that others were dying while she rested in a mansion.

May told her to choose someone to help and Ruby wouldn't.

Harriet told her that Qrow was in custody, but Ruby made no plans to try and help him (something Blake says is now a lost cause).

She knew the rest of her team was missing, but sent May to find information instead.

When the team finally gets back together and asks, "What next?" Ruby throws up her hands, announces that it's impossible, and runs from the room.

The problem is not with Ruby having a (mini) breakdown, it's that this breakdown was about the supposed impossibility of their situation when Ruby hadn't tried anything yet. Up until this point, she's done nothing except deal with unexpected problems she's forced to tackle (Penny arrives, Hound arrives) and otherwise fosters the war onto others. Ruby doesn't need to come up with a plan after opposing Ironwood, she'll just call on the world to come and fix things instead. She doesn't need to choose someone to help because there are no sides and that magical solution will arrive with the army no Kingdom actually has. Any minute now. She doesn't need to try and find her Uncle, or her team, doesn't need to coordinate with Whitley when he thinks of using the airships, or come up with a way to help Nora, or go down to fight the grimm in Mantle, or speak to the man who has spent generations fighting this exact fight, or make use of her grimm-specific eye weapon... Ruby spends the Volume waiting for others to arrive with a fix that won't test her morals and when they don't, she crumbles. It's impossible. It's hopeless. And I'm like, Ruby, you're throwing in the towel before trying anything and you're doing that on top of seizing control of this moral dilemma in the first place.

There's a lot of character potential there. Frustrating to watch, but potential nonetheless. Problem is, no one forces Ruby to face it. Yang talks about how they had to take the "risk" (what risk?) and that her own "plan for Mantle didn’t work either," but "a lot more that wasn’t in the plan" did (what plan?). Yang acts as if the world truly failed by refusing to magically show up and fix things to her sister's liking, rather than the truth: Ruby failed by opposing Ironwood under the confidence of blind optimism — I'll surely find a better solution than the one that leaves half a Kingdom to potentially die — immediately failed to come up with that, offloaded the problem onto everyone else, staunchly refused to make any hard decisions, and then when others tried to come up with a single idea to improve the situation she announces that the whole thing is impossible. The Ruby in this moment needs a serious wake up call and then a hug.

But no one forces Ruby to confront her passiveness (or rather, May and Ren make an attempt before being told off). No one challenges her (wonderful) instinct to Do The Right Thing in a world that demands practical solutions. Ruby is not shown to owe her teammates any apologies for continually undermining their attempts to do something while she waits for that perfect solution to arrive. There's no growth here, just Ruby stewing in the supposed horror of other people not coming to her rescue, even though the viewer can easily see all the obvious, non-horrifying reasons why that happened. All of Ruby's actual difficulties — turning on her allies despite them all dealing with a terrifying trolley problem, refusing to help in small ways because it won't fix everything at once, ignoring the allies she still has and the civilians in danger to instead watch safely from afar, blaming this bad outcome on others' failure to show up and solve the problem she insisted on taking on, the hypocrisy that made all this worse by eroding the trust Ironwood had in her — are ignored because the writers knew they'd have her go, "Relic!" in a minute and then bam, Ambrosius lets them cheat their way to a solution. Why have your protagonist work through her failures and strive to do better when you can just have her 'remember' that she can do a version of a plan she opposed in the first place?

Sometimes I imagine a Volume 7 finale where Ruby balks at the idea of leaving half the Kingdom behind and, instead of gleefully attacking the Ace Ops, convinces Ironwood to use the Relic in a slightly different way. They can modify this idea to help everyone, she's sure of it, and yes, Ironwood might have more reason to put his faith in her — and the safety of his people — if Ruby hadn't been lying since she stepped foot in the Kingdom. A version of Ruby that owns up to her mistakes and commits herself to regaining Ironwood's trust in the name of unity, establishing herself as Salem's oppostite. Maybe she surrenders herself and we get a cool prison break where Ruby remembers that Qrow exists. Maybe she reaches out to Ozpin in an effort to discover whether they can use the Staff in a way that saves all of Atlas, not just the floating city. Where Ruby defends the people of Mantle with her silver eyes, or confronts Salem in the whale, or is coming up with short-term ideas for how to make things a little bit better. A story where "I don't like it when friends fight" leads to Penny being the bridge between Ruby and Ironwood's group, where Ironwood isn't randomly throw into the villain deep end, where the conflict revolves around all the heroes facing off against established villains as they struggle to evacuate everyone, keep the Relics safe, and keep the grimm from overrunning them all. A version of the story where Ruby can collapse under the weight of all this without me going, "Yeah, but... you demanded this responsibility. And then you didn't do anything with it. Of course this is hard, it would be staggeringly hard for anyone, but I'd feel a bit more sympathetic if this weren't largely a problem of your own making, compounded by you hoping others will solve the problem you explicitly took on."

So yeah :/ I think in RT's mind these scenes do constitutes a "break" that Ruby has now grown from. And yet...

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2022!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

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251. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely devoured this book. Although you can tell that this is a product of the time (mainly by certain derogatory words that King uses), the story feels timeless. I also think that this is the perfect read for October. The artwork, the atmosphere, and that build up of terror is definitely going to keep you up at night.

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252. Just A Bit Obsessed by Alessandra Hazard--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Re-Read in October 2022: This is the one I was most excited to re-read in the early books of this series. I love how certain events in this book happened because the actions of the woman in this felt very petty. Definitely made me feel giddy as I re-read!

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253. Two Truths & A Lie by April Henry--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I usually enjoy YA thrillers because they're fun and there isn't a lot of thought processing behind it because of their predictability (save for a few I've encountered in the past), and this one wasn't any different. While it was fun, it wasn't mind blowing. I had my suspicions over who was the killer and what some of the twists would be, so it wasn't entirely surprising. But with all of that being said, it was still an entertaining read and would make for a great cozy murder mystery by the fireplace as the weather gets colder. I don't have a fireplace, but the image just sounds nice. Will this blow your mind? No. But it might just entertain you!

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254. Nick & Charlie by Alice Oseman--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I LOVE MY BOYS. Even if they sometimes lack communication and let their insecurities get the better of them. I loved that this had Oseman's classic art throughout the book. I love these two so much and like one of the characters said, if there was an example of what soulmates look like, it would be them. Please read Heartstopper before you read this!

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255. Two Degrees by Alan Gratz--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was the second book I've read by this author and I am convinced that I need to read all of his books. I loved this novel and what it could represent, AND that it is aimed for the younger generations (anyone of any generation SHOULD read this). Just like in the last book I read by Gratz, this one tells three separate stories that eventually come together into a great overarching narrative. What I love about this is that it makes me want to connect the dots before the epilogue and try to guess how these characters might know each other. I think each story carries its own important message in regards to the climate change currently happening, how people are reacting (or not reacting) to our changing world, and the aftermath of the consequences of our actions. Gratz doesn't hold back when it comes to giving us the jarring reality of the situations these characters face, including the casualties that occur during these events. I also found it so terrifying how the hurricane story mirrors what just recently happened in Florida. That timing was just...wow. I highly recommend this book and I think it should be taught in schools. Our world is changing and I'm glad to have another book that explores the topic.

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256. Spells for Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy via the publisher because I interviewed the author on Indigo's Instagram page. This did not affect my review in any way. Much like the MC of this book, reading her story was like taking a trip into the whimsical world of family and Salem. I enjoyed getting to know more about this witchy family and their cursed history. I also loved how the male MC learned to trust and love those who offer him a home and felt for him as he faced some of the darker realities of his situation. I adored watching the two of them fall for each other as they tried to solve the mystery at the heart of this book, and how they helped each other find themselves. This was just such a sweet read about family and magic and I think if you want a good October read that won't give you nightmares, then this might be perfect for you! The atmosphere and setting is great for those who love realistic fiction with a touch of the otherworldly, and the humour will make you want to wish you were a part of this family. I didn't make this a five star rating because it took me a bit to get into the story but once the mystery started, I was hooked.

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257. Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The moment I heard about this book, I absolutely wanted to read it. This was so heavy, but so good. I couldn't stop listening to it--even through the darker moments. I think that if you're thinking of reading this, definitely check for trigger warnings. Diamond had such an incredibly rough life leading up to this book's publication. I think she put the perspective of the situation (from the POV of an outsider) best herself when she shared the POV of a man in her life: how her childhood is so fascinating, but it's easy to think that when you're not the one living it. She lived with an abusive father, siblings, and a mother who fell more and more into herself. Despite the heartbreak and the moments where my heart dropped for her, I am so glad I read this and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for incredibly hard hitting memoirs that don't shy away from the dark realities of some families.

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258. How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The fact that this book was on my shelves for years hurts my heart because IT WAS SO GOOD. I was so surprised and hooked from the beginning! Gilliland deals with some heavy topics in this, but I love that these topics were explored (especially because we are seeing more and more fatphobia in society). I think this book will help anyone who thinks they are alone in hating their bodies, or thinking that the insults thrown their way makes up who they are. Moon struggles with her self-image and the way others see her because she has always been compared to her "perfect" twin sister. I think exploring these topics will help (even if they can be triggering) because it will hopefully help the reader feel less alone. Don't even get me started on Moon's love interest. I loved how their romance flourished and that this was a classic enemies to lovers romance trope, intermingled with some pretty bugs. Her love interest was such a cinnamon roll and I'm so happy that they found each other. However, you can see their ages in how they react to certain situations (even though Moon is more mature in other situations.) Also, this book is definitely for the older teen (and up). Keep that in mind if you're recommending it to anyone younger than fifteen or sixteen. Please read the trigger warnings for this book!

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259. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I finally read this one after it was so popular during the summer. I can see why, though. This has summer written all over it (especially because of the title and cover.) I enjoyed this and I loved that it was set so close to home (for me). I liked seeing how the relationship between the MC and the brothers was slowly developed through flashbacks. I wasn’t a big fan of one of the big twists and how the love interests acted at various times (although I understand too because they’re so young). Not going to lie though, I’m team older bro. Sorry not sorry. One of the main reasons why this isn’t higher rated for me is because while everyone hyped this up, I just kept thinking of the other romance novels that used this same theme and storyline. I know there’s no true original ideas anymore (for the most part, save for the few instances) but I mean, this was still not as good as other novels I’ve read with a similar storyline. Would I recommend this to others? Of course! It’s a great summer read and if you haven’t read the books I’m thinking of, then I think you will love this.

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260. The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was NOT expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. There was something about it that just kept pulling me in when I wasn’t listening to it. Also, a Toronto setting? Heck yeah. This building made me think of the Ice towers in the city. The mystery was fun and the twist was unexpected. I mainly loved this book for the voyeuristic storyline of this ghost watching these lives continue—no matter how chaotic. It shows that we truly never know what a person is doing behind closed doors. This was also surprisingly terrifying. I wasn’t expecting to feel moments of discomfort (despite the topic and genre of the book). There are various scenes that are definitely nightmare inducing. Perfect for October tbh. If you want a thriller/horror novel with compelling characters and a unique perspective on what it might be like to be a ghost stuck where you were murdered, then you might enjoy this one. But read it with the lights on.

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Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them?

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Happy reading!

[zacs-of-rwby]

Cloqwork Uncharted AU

(as promised lol)

So this is an AU that I actually came up with last year to fill the “Adventure” prompt of Ozqrow week. I also wrote an entire 5,000 word one-shot outline that I never published. We’ll see how this goes, who knows, maybe I’ll resurrect it. So! Here’s the basic premise.

For those that don’t know, Uncharted is an adventuring video game series that follows a treasure hunter who travels around the world solving puzzles, finding lost cities, and getting shot at

That’s all you need to know about it to get this lol. That being said...

Qrow Branwen is a famed treasure hunter, known for discovering lost civilizations and artifacts that were long thought to be made up.

Ozpin Pine, on the other hand, is an eccentric billionaire on a decades long hunt for four mythical artifacts that are fabled to have been the gods’ gifts to humanity: those being the Relics of Choice, Knowledge, Destruction, and Creation

The academies no longer exist, at least not in the form we are used to. They are all ancient, abandoned ruins left to house and guard the relics with magic traps and, perhaps, even mysterious guardians who look like soulless monsters.

Ozpin hires Qrow to help him find the treasure since, you know, he’s rich and Qrow has famously done this before

Qrow absolutely hates Oz at first, seeing him as a pretentious, despicable means to an end. He needs money and Oz has plenty of it

Oz actually respects and admires Qrow right from the get-go, having heard a lot about him and appreciating his honesty and bluntness, even when talking to the man who has hired him

Oz insists on being there for every part of the journey, even the more gruelling parts of walking through jungles, trekking across continents, and getting into fire fights

Cue Salem! Because in true Uncharted fashion, they are not the only ones looking for these treasures

Salem is the head of a mercenary group called the G.R.I.M.M. and she has been looking for the Relics for the same amount of time Oz has, except she is solely seeking the power they supposedly possess: the power to summon the gods

Perhaps Oz is so determined to get there first because he’s the only one who really knows what happens when all four relics are brought together

It’s not a complicated plot, but Oz and Qrow’s dynamic in this AU is immaculate and extremely fun to think about

Really it’s just another excuse to throw these two idiots into a situation where they inevitably fall in love, because I am predictable and I regret nothing

[philcoulsonismyhero]

You found my breaking point / Congratulations

Sometimes you’re perpetually sad about a character and want to drag other people down with you, so here, have a tragic Ironwood playlist.

It’s a much condensed and properly ordered version of the 60+ track one I’ve pretty much had on loop for over a year, and it roughly follows his emotional arc through Vol7. He starts out a hero, determined to carry on the fight without Oz, but the weight of leadership and having to be a politician when he’s much more a soldier grinds him down and pushes him further into loneliness and despair. Then Atlas is attacked, he finds out his allies have been lying to him and Ozpin never had a plan to beat Salem in the first place, and his anger, resentment and fear get the better of him and he starts making choices he never would have made before.

I could writes essays on this man and the tragedy of his fall and how he only broke like he did because so many factors, including nothing less than The Entire Narrative, conspired against him, somebody stop me

Tracks:

Hero - Jeff Williams, Caleb Hyles // The Pretender - Foo Fighters // Soldier - Fleurie // Human (Acoustic) - Rag’n’Bone Man // Weight of Living, Pt II - Bastille // Silhouette - Owl City // Icarus - Emma Blackery // Devastation and Reform - Relient K // Numb - Linkin Park // Eyes on The King - Benn // I Gave You All - Mumford & Sons // Heel Turn 2 - The Mountain Goats //  Control - Halsey // Monarch - Rise Against // Save Me - Skillet // Promises I Can’t Keep - Mike Shinoda

[Spotify link]

(Commentary on song choices under the ‘keep reading’ because I’m incapable of keeping all of these thoughts to myself)

Hero - Obvious choice, but listen, it’s a Perfect character song and I love it dearly. Also, it very neatly sets up the person he was trying and thought himself to be, as well as the fact that he’s already deeply damaged and defines his self worth in relation to what he can do for others with no thought to his own life and safety.

The Pretender - James has such strong opinions on Ozpin’s choice to keep Salem’s existence a secret, and clearly hates keeping anyone in the dark about it. He’s also determined that he’ll be the one who finally manages to take Salem down, even though generations before him have failed.

Soldier - So much of James’s identity is tied up in being a soldier and he solves problems like a soldier and that’s always been one of the things that kept him in conflict with Ozpin. Also, consider this one foreshadowing of how making compromises in pursuit of his ideals is going to be what eventually breaks him.

Human - James never admits to it and that’s one of his biggest problems, but he’s clearly struggling being only one man under the weight of so many expectations, as well as so much blame and scorn from allies and the public alike when his methods don’t actually work.

Weight of Living, Pt II - Gotta have a song in there about the weight of living, he’s thematically Atlas after all. Also, I’ve always interpreted him as being something of a generational foil to Ruby, someone who started out with her idealism and had it slowly crushed out of him. “Do you like the person you’ve become...?”

Silhouette - Someone give this poor lonely depressed bastard a hug, he so desperately needs one.

Icarus - James’s very public position and total inability to manage his public image causes him so many of his problems. In a lot of ways, he’s his own worst enemy and biggest stumbling block on that front.

Devastation and Reform - He never gets a true win. Every time it seems like he might, something else always goes wrong or something is lost along the way. And every time it happens and he gets back up to try again, he’s lost more of himself, sometimes very literally.

Numb - When things keep going wrong he starts to shut down, to shut people out, and his complicated feelings towards Ozpin are a big part of that. He’s desperate for Oz’s approval, but also resents him and is equally desperate not to make his same mistakes. It stops him from connecting with Oscar (and also Ruby, tarred by the same brush for keeping Oz’s secrets), something that might have saved him if he’d let it.

Eyes on The King - James’s allies turn on him, he starts thinking of himself as the only one capable of doing what it takes for Atlas to survive, and he’s still reeling from the fact that it seems like none of the people he chose to trust with all of his secrets and information trusted him with theirs in turn.

I Gave You All - Very much an anger-at-Ozpin song, all of his pent up rage at the constant disapproval and the lies and the realisation that the man who always criticised his methods had no real plan of his own, and even considered the battle unwinnable. It doesn’t excuse what he did, but is it any wonder he got so angry at Oz-via-Oscar in the Vault?

Heel Turn 2 - “You found my breaking point / Congratulations.” He finally loses it, makes the decision to shoot an ally, and resolves to do whatever it takes for Atlas to survive even if he ends up hated for it. I could quote so much of this song, and the only bit that doesn’t quite fit is “I don’t want to die in here”. He clearly couldn’t care less about his own life, so for that read ‘Atlas isn’t going to die today’.

Control - He has a dark side, and now he’s chosen to let it out. He doesn’t care if he has to scare people into cooperating, they Will do what he says.

Monarch - This one is James doubling down on his new course of action, on being the person he feels he has to become and trying to convince himself that he’s acting out of a determination not to repeat Oz’s mistakes rather than acting out of fear.

Save Me - James could have been saved from himself, but the tragedy is that there was no one left who could have pulled him out of his own darkness. He alienated his allies, refused to listen to people he considered to be nothing more than naïve children, and made enemies of the only two people he might have listened to as peers - Qrow and Oz/Oscar. And the idiocy of the Atlas military system meant that there was absolutely no one else who could have, or even would have, tried to drag him back from his drastic course of action.

Promises I Can’t Keep - Think of all the promises James made in his character song, the commitments to protection and strength, and join me in being extremely sad about the fact that somewhere deep down he must have known just how much he was letting people down.

[kitkatopinions]

Combat Goggles for the ship meme?

Alrighty, Yang and Neptune aka Combat Goggles for the rwby shipping ask game.

What I think works about the ship: For real, tell me Yang wouldn't be interested in a guy because they're goofy and amusing and would kind of worship her. Because she definitely would be, and Neptune could be that kind of guy for sure. Yang has a lot of confidence and drive to push Neptune out of his comfort zone. And she's playful and teasing, but also is a lot more intuitive and caring then people give her credit for, which would pair well with the fact that in my head, Neptune is a much more sensitive person than he lets on and cares a lot about what other people think. Yang would inspire confidence in him by just effortlessly demonstrating that being yourself is cool. And for Neptune, he's a friend first and foremost through thick and thin, willing to go the extra mile for Sun, understanding why Sun does what he does, and being a quiet listening ear when Sun goes on and on about Blake, and all of that is something Yang could use in her life. Plus, I'm sorry but they just look good together.

What season I think they were best in: Season two. The show pretty heavily hinted at Neptune's attraction to her in his 'what a woman' moment and they had good chemistry during their mission together.

How I would get them together in canon: I'd legit have it be an 'after the events of the show' ship. Like, all this stuff happens with Salem, and then they're just... supposed to go on with their lives and it leaves Yang kind of reeling. Yang stays on as a Hunter despite the fact that the rest of her team doesn't (Weiss wanting to take care of her brother, Blake working on Faunus rights, and Ruby focusing on helping to rebuild the world,) and she winds up working with Neptune a lot until they kind of just fall into a partnership. I'd have Blake's work cause her and Yang to drift apart, which Yang is hurt by but she tries to be understanding, and pretty soon realizes that all that's needed to turn her and Neptune's 'partners-by-convenience, have an apartment together as friends, go out to dinner all the time because what else would they do after work' relationship into a full blown romance is just asking if he wants that too. So yeah.

How I would get them together in an AU or re-write: Okay, I'd have Neptune connect with Yang during the Vytal dance instead of basically being told to go talk to Weiss. Then after they hit it off at the Vytal dance, they decide to start dating, and Yang makes it clear she only wants something casual and Neptune has feelings for her but agrees and complies with her wishes. After the Fall of Beacon, they go their separate ways, but reconnect once Yang gets to Haven. Neptune (and probably Sun too) decide to travel with them to Atlas after Haven gets shut down, and he and Sun are eager to join Team RWBY in whatever adventures they have and mysteries they might try to solve once again. Neptune winds up paired up with Yang for quite a few missions and when the two go out dancing with Neon Katt and Flynt, they're reminded of the Vytal dance and wind up starting to date for real.

What struggles I think they’d have to work through: I mentioned Neptune's 'womanizer' ways in another Neptune post, so I don't feel like I have to rehash it here, but yeah. To be clear though, I think Yang would be one hundred percent fine with him continuing to be flirty even while they're in a relationship as she's also just a generally flirty person, but it needs to be the 'respect woman' kind of flirting and not the 'you're trying to conceal your misogyny and nobody is fooled' kind of flirting. Yang the character as she should've been wouldn't stand for even a shred of disrespecting women, thank you very much. But tbh, that's the only struggle.

Some songs that I can connect to this ship: Casual, by the Habits. She's so High, Tal Bachman. Message In a Bottle, by Taylor Swift.

Do I think they’d stay together: They'd be the on again off again of the freaking century. They'd break up and make up and break up and make up so many times that their friends can never keep track of it. Like, Ruby brings Yang 'sorry you broke up' cupcakes and is like "hey sis, you wanna watch some of your favorite movies and listen to Taylor Swift?" And Yang's like "Oh I know last week I told you Neptune left me, but this morning he called and asked me to take him back, so we're fine."

How I personally feel about this ship: Fun fact, this is one of the earliest RWBY ships that I shipped! Like many of my early RWBY ships, I no longer ship this because my own fanfics and stuff have majorly evolved, but I still think this ship is fun.