#also inspired by all my romantasy reads lately

[samssims]

the princess and the pirate stable boy

Inspired by the world of Regal by @simgerale

[olderthannetfic]

The To Gaze Upon a Wicked God situation is more complicated than a straightforward "yes/no" on whether it's a colonizer romance or not imo.

I think the author wants to send an anti colonial message with the book, but it very much wants to have the cake and eat it too. It's written a lot like other "dark romantasy" and the marketing surrounding it went hard on the enemies to lovers thing (the Zutara comparisons especially was still being pushed even in late April). Iirc, the real love interest only appears for less than five scenes?

With that in mind, I don't think it's unreasonable to read the protagonist's rejection of the prince at the end as a set-up to a tortured "I love him but I can't trust him anymore because he's evil and lied to me" while Baihu simped for her in the background and the prince gets redeemed with a heroic act at the end of the second book or something. That was my impression until it was revealed that the childhood friend was the real love interest.

(Maybe I just read too many angsty "you killed my whole clan but I still love you even though I'm not supposed to" cnovels in my youth hahaha)

Imo, it was in really bad taste to do a fake out marketing, but idk if she has control over that. It feels like nobody around her understood how touchy the subject and her inspirations were, because none of these irl decisions wouldn't have happened if they did. I don't think the original anon had the right to comment like they understood everything without reading the book, but I completely get the feeling of "wtf girl you did not just write/say that." Also the writing was... not good.

I hope the "baihu cut" remedies a lot of its issues. Plenty of white authors write shit takes on history. Asian authors shouldn't be burned at the stake when they do the same

--

(Followup to last anon about to gaze upon wicked gods) One thing I forgot is that the author's notes directly mentioned the Japanese occupation and unit 731. I think it's reasonable for readers to make the connection between that and the Roman invasion + human experimentation mentioned in the book. I can't blame them from being grossed out or even outraged when everything irl points to Antony being the intended love interest even though he's the leader of in universe unit 731

I can well believe that it's mostly a skill issue.

People should be free to criticize a book for what's actually in there, but yeah, there's definitely this vibe like nonwhite authors or minority authors or whomever aren't allowed to just... not be very good.

I don't mean they should be free from all criticism, but there's a particular type of extra torches-and-pitchforks criticism that amounts to "Thou shalt be a godlike writer from birth or else!"

[edwinspaynes]

Do you have any good fantasy book recommendations? I'm looking for something new to read and love TLH.

Hallelujah! Yes, I do. :)

If you're down for a little bit of weirdness, I would love to recommend the Charm of Magpies series by KJ Charles. They're extremely weird self-published books, and they're simultaneously masterpieces of queer literature and so genuinely off-the-wall terrible that they form a perfect dichotomy. Either way, they have a place of prominence on my "favourite books" shelf and if I'm honest with myself are my personal favourite fantasy novels besides TLH and TID. The first book is called The Magpie Lord.

If gay magicians with moving tattoos fighting giant rats and angry art students with the power of their magical sex bond isn't your thing, The Jasmine Throne is a much more normal fantasy novel. Inspired by Indian history and mythology, this sapphic book is super fast-paced and features some amazing characters. The world-building is super rich, and if you love to immerse yourself in a well-built world, this is definitely the series for you.

Another awesome book I loved was The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by SA Chakraborty. It featured kickass pirates and a main character who had a huge heart but also was ruthless and cunning. I loved her and her crew so much, and if you're a pirate enthusiast, you'll adore it.

Romance fans, these ones are for you: Laura Thalassa's books. All of them. She's a top-tier author. They're romantasy, meaning that their primary focus is romance and the fantastical world is meant to enhance the characters and relationships. I especially love the Four Horsemen series, a 4-book quartet where each book follows a horseman of the apocalypse falling in love and becoming a malewife. Book one is Pestilence. But if you prefer faerie courts and bad bargains, the Bargainer series is great. The first book is called Rhapsodic. Please note that these books contain somewhat dark subject matter like SA and abuse and may not be for everyone.

The Shades of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab is also wonderful, and I've been gunning for a reread lately. It's set in a world where there are multiple alternate Londons and the MC Kell Maresh can hop through them. He's the adoptive son of the King and Queen in one of the Londons, and his brother Rhy is set to be king. I love this series and it's so fun, especially if you like things set in London. Book one is A Darker Shade of Magic.

Up until this point, I've only talked about adult fantasy. If you like YA, you also will probably adore the We Hunt the Flame duology by Hafsah Faizal. At this point in my life, Faizal and Cassie Clare are my only two auto-buy YA fantasy authors... and, honestly, the only two YA fantasy authors I really enjoy reading from. The world is based on ancient Arabia, and there are tons of awesome characters and an enemies-to-lovers romance. There's also a great side character, Altair, who reminds me a bit of Matthew Fairchild. 10/10 duology, honestly.

I'm going to tag @belle-keys here too because I know she'll have more to say on this. :)

[inseasofgreen]

Writeblr Interview

Thank you both to @leahnardo-da-veggie and @drchenquill for the tag!

Short stories, novels or poems?

Novels! all the way

What genre do you prefer reading?

Fantasy, both dark and romantasy. even better if they're combined

What genre do you prefer writing?

Fantasy! I tend to struggle writing anything but fantasy.

Are you a planner or a write-as-i-go kind of person?

I like to start with a plan and some ideas, then let the characters take the reins and throw it all out the door

What music do you listen to while writing the story?

I have a playlist with cinematic soundtracks that I tend to listen too. Though I do often listen to the GOT and HOTD soundtracks. Daenerys' aaaHHHH AHHHH's actually are the source of a lot of Zemorri's most badass scenes.

Fav books/movies

I've been trying to get more into reading so lately it's been ASOIAF and the Witcher - two of which inspired the creation of Nyrus and POTO. I have a long TBR but I like to buy books before I read them, which is hard right now with money being a bit tight the next month or so.

Any Current WIPs?

2! Well, more like 3 if you include the second Plight of the Dragon, the sequel to POTO. We have Plight of the Oracle, which I pretty much have dedicated my blog too. Plight of the Dragon, which is more like one shots and random braindumps of what happens after the first book. Then Familia Ante Omnia, trilogy set in modern day NYC and is about the downfall of the crime ring from inside. Which I actually see a lot of it's themes in POTO. But that's on a hiatus for the foreseeable future.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

An oversized orangey flannel, black crop top, and either leggings or shorts depending on the weather. Throw in a black beanie for good measure too

Create a character description of yourself

oof okay here we go

She was a short, adorable little thing. She sat fidgeting with a ring on her left ring finger, too timid to make her presence known. Her dark brown hair, cropped at her shoulders was tucked behind her ears. A few strands that had once been a fringe fell, cascading over her grey eyes. The roseness of her cheeks a striking contrast to the porcelain like skin. She looks up at someone giving a slightly crooked smile before getting up from her seat.

was literally me a few minutes ago rereading was I wrote when my fiance came up and wanted to go up to bed lmao

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

oof no, hard pass. fictional people tend to be more interesting anyway

Are you kill-happy with the characters?

I tend to be? I have a rule with killing off characters, a few actually. It ends their arc nicely, it serves an actual purpose and isn't for shock value, and they under no circumstance can come back alive. I absolutely h a t e when death is cheapened. Don't introduce stakes that high only to make them pointless.

Coffee or Tea while writing?

diet coke or water!

Slow or Fast writer?

both? I don't know what is considered fast I guess. If i'm really feeling it and don't have distractions I can get about 1k an hour and keep that up for a few hours. Then there's days like today I'm surrounded by distractions and not feeling it too much, right now I'm at 1,500 for the 4 hours i've written

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Shows and books! Also games. Funny enough Zemorri came from a skyrim oc and Sciosa came from DnD campaign that never happened. They've both undergone a lot of changes since then though.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

I answered a similar question a few times and I think I'd really be a dragon. I'm a hoarder of my little trinkets and love to stir the pot a bit.

Most fave book cliche?

Chosen one and mentor. WIth a spin. Do not give me another old ratty wizard and some a elijah wood/daniel radcliff look alike. PLEASE. Using this to promo POTO which has chosen one and mentor- mentor: hot scary milf chosen one: anger riddled brat who really isn't keen on playing by the book. boom there. not that hard.

got kinda heated there. apologies

Least fave book cliche?

"Only one bed" I'm sorry!! It's just over done at this point

Fave scenes to write?

Any scene with dragons. They're the most fun to write honestly.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Night! I literally typed that as nite send help I've always been a night owl haha. It's actually almost 4 am as I type this

Reason for writing?

Writing has always been an interest of mine. I would love one day to be able to support my family with it! Whether that's as an indie author or traditional author. Also I fear I would go crazy with how many stories and plot lines I got up in my head. That or my oc's would manifest irl and nuke me right there with their dragons.

Leaving this an open tag!

My brain is clocking out and I can't even think of who to tag at this point. So if you're reading this and want to be tagged congrats!! Consider yourself tagged

[wolfreader]

october 2024 wrap-up - young adult fiction

this month i read five (5) young adult novels and one (1) young adult novella.

we unleash the merciless storm by tehlor kay mejia 📖 🌟🌟🌟

in what is beginning to be a trend with young adult duologies i've finished lately, this was enjoyable but simply not as good as the first book. there's not a lot i can say about my specific problems with the book without spoilers, and i don't want to spoil it as i still think the series is good.

in a very general sense it felt very disconnected from the events of the first book. rather than feeling like a natural continuation of we set the dark on fire, the events of we unleash the merciless storm felt like a tangentially related story with the same characters. part of that is due to a change in perspective from dani (the pov character of the first book) to carmen (her love interest). and i understand that, given the events of the first book, having carmen's persepective feels somewhat necessary in order to remain invested in her as a character, but it did not help with the feeling that this is a separate story.

i rarely say this, especially about young adult, but i feel like this would have benefited from being a longer series. at the very least, a trilogy.

belladonna by adalyn grace 📖 🌟🌟🌟🌟

consider this a very low four star. there are some things i think adalyn grace does very well, and some things i think she fumbled.

belladonna has a really great atmosphere. while it certainly has all the expected trappings of a young adult romantasy, i think grace nails a toned-down version of the classic victorian gothic novel. it helps give the book a compelling atmosphere even in the parts that feel a little tired.

my main issue is the relationship between signa (the main character) and death. i understand that he's an ageless entity, but given that he has been actively watching over her since she was a literal infant, having him be interested in her romantically at all is incredibly strange. i think their dynamic would have been infinitely more interesting if it were parental or just generally mentor / protege rather than romantic.

most ardently by gabe cole novoa 📚 🌟🌟🌟

this is a retelling of pride and prejudice in which lizzie bennet is a trans man named oliver. if i'm referring to the events of the original novel, i will use "lizzie" and she/her pronouns, while if i'm referring to the events of most ardently, i will use "oliver" and he/him. just to clear up any confusion as i will be comparing most ardently to the original novel.

as a story, cute. as a pride and prejudice retelling, uninspired. the biggest fumble was making oliver and darcy get along right off the bat. the lasting appeal of pride and prejudice is the slow burn nature of lizzie and darcy's romance - if you're going to take out the central element of the enemies-to-lovers romance, why even make a p&p retelling in the first place? i should not be having cutesy romantic scenes before we're even halfway through.

in the same vein, having oliver immediately dislike wickham was a mistake. i mean, if he's going to get along with darcy and hate wickham right away, what's even the fucking point. why are we here. lizzie's simultaneous dislike of darcy and affection for wickham is the source of most of the drama in pride and prejudice. the entire point of the title is that it describes the main flaws of the two leads - darcy is pride and lizzie is prejudice. she makes snap judgements about people and holds onto those judgements for a very long time.

i think most ardently would have benefited a lot from being an original regency romance that is simply inspired by p&p rather than being a direct pride and prejudice retelling.

also i swear to god... why the hell did we get a fucking tightlacing scene in a book set in regency england? i understand that it's a dream sequence meant to emphasize oliver's dysphoria, but i feel that there are much more regency-period-appropriate symbols of femininity and oppression that fucking tightlacing. the popular silhouette of the regency era didn't even require tightlacing.

mysteries of thorn manor by margaret rogerson 📚 🌟🌟🌟🌟

this was cute! elisabeth and nathaniel's relationship was one of my favorite elements of sorcery of thorns; they present themselves as being cool and collected but with each other they're just dorky teens with crushes and i think that's really cute.

loved everything about silas in this as well.

threads that bind by kika hatzopoulou 📚 🌟🌟🌟🌟

one of the most original and inspired greek mythology derivatives i've read, especially in young adult. i suppose it makes sense given that kika hatzopoulou is actually greek.

the limitations on what gods can pass powers onto their descendants and the specific requirements that must be met for the powers to work are very interesting to me. in fact, i think it makes it more interesting than a world where you can expect anyone you encounter to have magical powers. excited to read the sequel and learn more about this world.

the guinevere deception by kiersten white 📖 🌟🌟🌟🌟

this is my second attempt to read this - back in high school i picked it up from the library and genuinely could not get past the third chapter. i don't know what was wrong with it or with me, i just hated it for some reason. but, i'm older and wiser now, my second hand bookstore had a copy for like three bucks, and i had store credit and nothing to read.

and this second time around i actually quite enjoyed it! very fun take - guinevere is a very interesting character. i think kiersten white does a good job at having her be very capable and competent while making it clear that she is still a sheltered teenage girl. the mystery surrounding her and her origins is very compelling.

that being said, changing mordred's origins to have him and arthur be around the same age was clearly only done for the sake of haing a bad boy morallly grey love interest to contrast with the good boy righteous king love interest. i can see where this is going from a mile away, which is a little boring. and what is even the point of genderswapping lancelot if they're not even going to be gay?