#and the audiobook narrator just KILLS this scene so well done

[punsbulletsandpointythings]

Zale and Halla friendship truely is the IDEAL friendship

[blindbeta]

Blind / Low Vision Person’s Review of “Blind” by Rachel DeWoskin and Why Writers Should Not Underestimate the Benefits of a Sensitivity Reader

[Content warnings: spoilers for the book. Ableism. Brief mention of an accident involving eye trauma. Mentions of suicide. Stereotypes about blind people. Also this review, because I focused on the portrayal of blindness, comes across negatively. Please know that I have no hate for the author and might even read another book she wrote. However, I did not like the way this book portrayed blindness and, as difficult as it is, I wanted to be honest in my review.]

I struggled with the title, and I’m not even sure benefits is the appropriate word. What I want to convey here is not Brought to You By Big Sensitivity Reader Company vibes, but more This Book Was Not Good and It Needed a Sensitivity Reader Very Badly vibes.

Blind is about Emma Silver, a high school student who goes blind in a traumatic accident. Here is a good summary and review by a blind person. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated well. I’ll start by saying this will only be a review of the portrayal of blindness — I’ll try to leave my other opinions out just to keep things focused.

Unfortunately, focusing on just blindness means that it will not make this review more positive, because this book is about a blind girl recovering from going blind. In a way that is both inauthentic and swerves well out of the author’s lane. I say that because, as I hope will become apparent, this book consists of main character Emma being sad about being blind for the majority of the book. The book doesn’t simply have a character who goes blind. That is the main character’s entire arc.

This is a long review. However, I believe it will be invaluable for my readers and anyone who is interested in writing a blind character. Because this book passes most of my minimum standards for writing blind characters and was still lacking due to many factors, including stereotypes. I included many sub-headings so you can find specific topics easily.

Helpful Links

I include these links in the review. I’ll list them here for easy finding.

Here are two reviews of the book by blind readers: one and two.

Here is a video of the author talking about some of research she did for the book.

Here is my post Things I Want to See More Of / Less Of.

Here is my post about writing a blind character adjusting to being blind and being all sad about it when you aren’t blind yourself.

And finally, here is the post I shared that lists misconceptions about blind people.

The Author

The author, Rachel Dewoskin, is not blind. I did as much research as I could, but even if I hadn’t done so before reading the book, it was obvious she wasn’t blind herself. There are too many inaccuracies and offensive moments. This becomes a problem not because her MC was blind, but because she told a blind person’s story and used tropes in ways I think would be better off written by a blind person. If I’m going to read a story like this, I don’t want to read it from the perspective of a person who isn’t blind. When I get into the details of what went wrong, I hope you’ll see why.

Did the author do her research? Yes. The author met with blind people, clearly researched assistive technology and cane skills, and even taught herself contracted Braille. She talks a little about it in this video.

In fact, I wanted to say I am so impressed and grateful this author immersed herself in things like Braille and cane skills. None of my followers have shared that they went to a Lighthouse For the Blind or taught themselves to read Braille or spoken so passionately about why they loved it.

But sometimes research falls short. Or it is simply not enough.

That’s why I’m writing this review. For you writers writing blind characters when you aren’t blind. Because while the author clearly had good intentions, while the author clearly did her research and put in the time to learn and listen in ways I don’t think many of my followers have yet — the book was not authentic enough for me.

This book needed several sensitivity readers. If it had any, I would be surprised.

The Cover

The audiobook seems to have Braille on the cover, but I can’t tell if it is accessible or simply a picture of Braille. The cover features the word Blind in white print on a black background, with what seems to be Braille in rainbow colors that also spell out the title. I’ll reserve judgment here, since I don’t know the answer. If the Braille is tactile, then the cover is fantastic.

In the video I linked, the author seems to be holding the hardcover edition of the book with Braille on the cover. I can’t tell if the Braille is actually tactile or not.

What I Liked About the Book

I wanted to list a few things I liked about the book.

1. The main character is Jewish.

2. Emma has a large family full of well-developed characters and realistic portrayals of various ages. Everyone reacts uniquely to her blindness and I thought these characters were all used well. The scenes with Emma and her older sisters as well as the scenes with her mom were really great.

3. Emma gets therapy for her trauma. She also gets training to use a cane. These are annoyingly rare in stories.

4. As I said, the author clearly did her research. This is obvious when reading the book and In everything I found when researching the author after I finished it. I want to give the author praise here. I thought her explanations of technology Emma uses were the most accurate I have seen so far, both in books and when doing sensitivity reads.

What I Didn’t Like

I will start with this: Emma, after a year of learning to use her cane, is still using a cane inside her own house. After a year. This is not realistic, nor does it seem comfortable at all to use a cane in one’s own home. I don’t know anyone who does this and according to the other reviews, I am not the only one who was surprised by this.

Basically, this story would be okay with some inaccuracies. That’s to be expected. The real issue I had with this book was that it uses tropes the blind community generally hates and that the book is literally about !!! a character going blind and adapting. That’s the story. If you remove the blindness and the trauma, the story falls apart.

The author told a story that was not hers to tell and she did so badly.

If you are confused about why I dislike this, please read this post called Writing Blind Characters Accepting Being Blind When You Aren’t Blind Yourself.

What Did The Author Do Badly?

Trauma and Blindness

The story starts when main character, Emma, goes blind after a fireworks accident. Not only is this cliché, but it also tics one of my boxes in my Things I Want To See Less of post. This author wrote about a character going blind due to a traumatic accident. Link to the post.

In telling a story that was not hers to tell, here are some harmful things in the book:

The author does not do a good job of separating Emma’s trauma from her blindness. To be fair, this is difficult and most people don’t know to go about doing so with purpose. There are a lot of times in the book where the fact that Emma is traumatized leads to her saying a lot of terrible things about blindness and blind people that are never corrected or contradicted in the story. Again, if you are not sure why this is a problem, read the link I shared to my post.

Here are a few times this issue came up:

-Emma develops a habit of rocking, which myself and many reviewers know to attribute to trauma, but it isn’t clear if the author thinks blind people rock, as the stereotype indicates. Is Emma rocking as a trauma response or because she is blind? The book doesn’t make it clear. This is a time where authors need to be clear.

-Emma assumed she will never get a job, be kissed, get married, etc, after going blind.

-Emma yells about being ruined due to her blindness. The first two hours of the audiobook consist of Emma complaining about being blind. She mentions never being able to get a job a few times, assuming she won’t be able to work. While blind people do struggle with employment, this is due to discrimination, lack of transportation, lack of accommodations, lack of community support, and other systemic issues.

-Emma calls herself disfigured.

-Emma states she wanted to die. In another part of the book, when a background character we never met, Claire, completed suicide, Emma wonders if she was so focused on Claire because she wondered if she wanted to kill herself too.

-On the subject of the character, Claire, Emma states: “How easy would being gay be compared to being blind?”

This is especially damaging because some people are blind and gay. It also isn’t fair for Emma to compare them and the systemic issues that are faced by blind people and gay people. Emma not only trivializes homophobia, but also decides being blind is worse. For Emma, being blind is the worst thing ever, which is very isolating to read.

There are times where the fact that Emma is traumatized was not only grouped in with her blindness, but where the author used trauma to write ideas about blindness that are ultimately harmful.

This book, if readers of the blog want to read it, should be a lesson on why separating trauma from blindness is important. Whether that means making clear distinctions in the narrative itself or just not writing about a character going blind after a traumatic accident.

Let’s continue the overall things done badly.

Stereotypes and Tropes About Blind People

1. Rocking —

I have already mentioned the rocking thing above, but to reiterate here, not all blind people rock to orient themselves.

2. Touching Faces —

Emma and another blind character literally feel each other’s faces, one of the most hated tropes for blind people. In another scene, Emma feels another character’s face without asking.

3. Where Are the Audio Descriptions? —

Emma compares her life to a horror movie she couldn’t watch. This is a subtle reinforcement of the idea that blind people don’t watch films or television. The book makes no mention of audio descriptions. I suppose Emma and all the other blind characters simply don’t watch films or shows anymore.

4. Supposedly Fake Service Dogs —

Emma gets a dog that is specifically said to not be a guide dog. Emma brings this dog to restaurants and to school. Emma explains that she can get away with bringing her dog because no one wants to tell the blind kid no. This was, as you may be able to imagine, frustrating to read. Plenty of blind people have been denied access to transportation and buildings with a guide dog that is supposed to be able to travel freely. Emma’s blindness would absolutely not be a big help to her in bringing her dog places where it is not allowed. In showing Emma getting away with bringing her dog into restaurants when he is explicitly not a service dog, the author is contributing to a huge myth that prevents actual service dogs from traveling freely. Yes, this is only a book and it probably isn’t falling into the hands of someone powerful — however, it has probably been picked up by a business owner, a driver for public transport, a teacher, etc.

5. Avoiding words like see and look —

Emma avoids words like see and look. She also gets angry at her friends for using such words. At one point, Emma’s friend says something and Emma snaps, “I can’t see”. This prompts her friend to, according to Emma, never make that mistake again. Toward the end of the book, Emma is still avoiding such words.

Here is a list of misconceptions about blind people. Look at #6.

Here is another review of this book that also touches on this issue. The reviewer states: “The strange thing is that I’ve never known any blind person avoiding the use of words like “see” or “look.” Again, I’d hate for sighted people to read this book and think that blind folk all avoid words with visual associations; in fact, the only blind friends I talk to moan about sighted people avoiding the use of such visual words because they think we’ll be offended!”

6. All Blind People Are Apparently Totally Blind —

At one point in the story, Emma attends a school for the blind. Another character, who I think was Emma’s mother, says that the campus is beautiful. Emma makes this remark: “Why bother making a school for the blind beautiful? It’s lost on everyone anyway.”

Wow, Emma, that was rude. This is another example of where Emma’s pain and anger cause issues for readers. If they take this at face value, they may think that blind people don’t notice or appreciate beauty. More importantly, they might also assume, like Emma, that all blind people can’t see. As I have stated many times on this blog, most blind people have residual vision. Not everyone is totally blind. This is why, like beautiful grounds, schools for the blind also have things like stairs with high contrast.

7. Subtle Use of the Idea That People With Low Vision Should Rather Strain Themselves Than Be Blind —

This one was less obvious for me. However, once I thought about it again, I understood what I was reading in this character. There’s a rather outgoing character named Seb whose personality is very refreshing in this story. Seb attends the school for the blind with Emma. Seb has low vision.

So Seb wants to get a job. Remember how Emma was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get a job now that she is blind?

Instead of showing Seb getting a job to prove that idea wrong, he knows he has to conveniently not mention being blind when he applies, showing up in sunglasses and without a cane. The book states he worries he wouldn’t be able to fill out the application.

Here is what the book states:

[Quote] “He got hired without telling any of the guys who ran the place that he wasn’t sighted; I know because he had confided in me and Dee the week before that he wanted the job—if friend worked there and said they had an opening—but Seb was worried he wouldn’t be able to fill out the application. So he showed up one night before closing time, wearing sunglasses and not carrying a cane, and asked all casually if he could grab and application and bring it back the next day.

And he spent all night filling it and brought it back the next day. He didn’t mention that he was blind or that the application had taken six hours to finish with the help of his sighted brother.” [End quote]

Seb has no obligation to reveal any personal information to them. If he wants to fill out the application on his own time, in a way in which he feels comfortable, that is fine. However, the book implies he thought he would not be hired if they knew he was blind. Rather than talk about the employment discrimination that is such a huge problem for blind people, the book decides to skip over this. And rather than address Emma’s fear-based expectation that she will never get a job, presumably because she doesn’t think blind people can do anything, the book ignores it.

Seb getting a job, especially in this way, does absolutely nothing to assuage Emma’s fears. Or challenge any possible low expectations the readers may have.

Seb fills out the application by himself and it takes six hours. Six. Hours. His brother also helps him eventually and it still takes that long. No one I know, even with intense internalized ableism, would sit there for six hours doing something like that.

Seb should be using a magnifying device or a scanner app. There is tons of technology out there for people with low vision and the author chose to include absolutely none of it in the book. Instead, she chose to show a character struggling for six hours without exploring his reasons for doing so. Does he do this because of internalized ableism? If yes, how can the same character tell Emma the school will get rid of her “Poor Blind Kid bullshit”?

Now, in some families and some cultures, it would be more appropriate for a family member to help. However, the author tells us nothing more about Seb’s culture, his family life, or his motivations. I assume he did not ask for his brother’s help until later, because I can’t fathom why having a family member help from the start would take six hours.

Why is a character doing this in a story that is supposed to be about adjusting to blindness? Clinging to his remaining vision instead of using a few adaptive tools to make things easier on his eyes hardly makes him a good role model for Emma. Why is a character modeling independence in this specific way? In a way that tells Emma that it is better to struggle with a little vision than to be totally blind?

This is reinforced when Emma says some kids, including Seb, pass well. This is something that cannot be given nuance unless it is written by someone who experienced it. Otherwise, the story shows Emma over and over again that being blind is bad. Undesirable. Which is ableist.

Do people struggle with this? Absolutely. Did the author write it well? No.

And Here Are a Few Things That Could Have Been Done Better

In this section, I wanted to go over things I thought could have been done better. They aren’t necessarily harmful, but I wanted to mention them.

Sunglasses

The main character wears sunglasses when she goes out. This is likely because she has a scar she feels self-conscious about, but this is still a big stereotype that the author could have taken more care with.

O&M Issues

So Emma has someone come around to teach her orientation and mobility, which was nice. The author put in her research here as well. However, the instructor leaves after a time, which seems odd. Rather than work with her around her schools or other locations, he decides she has learned all the basics. I received O&M training until university.

Now Let’s Examine The Blind Characters vs Tropes

In this section, I want to go over the biggest tropes in the stories structure, the number of blind characters, and what I normally advise to get around these issues. We’ll see how this advice compares to how the book turned out.

So, the things to look out for are:

-tokenism

-blind characters going blind through trauma

-blind characters being sad about being blind

Examining Tokenism

Emma is not the only blind character. The blind characters include: Emma, Sebastian, Dee, and Annabelle. I normally say to have one other blind character at minimum. The book meets that requirement.

Examining Blind Characters Going Blind Through Trauma

I also normally suggest avoiding characters going blind through trauma, especially main characters. If the writer would like to go ahead with this, I normally suggest 2 or 3 other blind characters who didn’t go blind through trauma. With 2 as the minimum. I admit, I prefer the main character not to be the one going blind through trauma, simply because the main character has so much power in the perception of the reader.

Let us examine each character.

Emma - went blind through a traumatic fireworks accident

Sebastian- unknown

Dee - unknown

Annabelle- went blind through Retinitis Pigmentosa

On the topic of Dee and Seb, Emma does mention they may have better hearing, which she claims you only have if you lose your sight before the age of ten. We can guess that Dee and Seb both went blind in early childhood or were born blind, but we aren’t sure. What I want here is explicit confirmation that other characters didn’t go blind through accidents. We only get that with Annabelle and her RP.

Not only that, but the other blind characters are not in the novel as much. Annabelle only shows up at the end, seemingly as a way for Emma to help another recently blind person to show how she has developed. Seb and Dee are only in a few chapters, mostly as flashbacks. They don’t get much backstory or development either.

However, it fills my minimum requirements, so I’ll let it pass.

Examining Blind Characters Being Sad About Being Blind

This is literally Emma throughout the entire book. Until the last few chapters.

Annabelle has a similar, shorter arc, although she is only 9 at the time. Annabelle comes in near the end of the book.

It is normal for people to need an adjustment period, particularly if they are young. However, to have the entire book consist of Emma being sad and having trauma focused mostly on her blindness is not something I’m okay with. Especially because, as I wrote in this post, it can leave non-blind readers with a very negative impression of blindness. Again, why would I want to read about this arc from an author who isn’t blind? Why make the entire book about adjusting to blindness?

Anyway, then we have Seb and Dee.

There characters were refreshing in this story, which is mostly Emma being sad and angry.

Dee doesn’t seem to be sad, but we don’t know much about her. She does seem well adjusted and laidback. She and Seb go skiing, so that’s something.

Sebastian gets a little more attention in the story. He does tell Emma the school for the blind will knock the “BPK bullshit” or “Poor Blind Kid bullshit” right out of her. I thought it was funny. Sebastian also has a big personality and interests outside of moping about being blind. He enjoys skiing and, according to Emma, he would have no problem with presenting on the Lighthouse For the Blind in front of people who aren’t blind, unlike Emma, who struggles with calling attention to her blindness. Which I can understand, what with the awkward questions her sighted classmates give her.

However, Seb also has an issue with hiding or fighting against his low vision in some parts of the story. If Sebastian were the main character, I could understand some of the things he does. However, this does not go well at all with Emma’s arc.

Anyway, Seb and Dee don’t get nearly enough time in the book for me to feel 100% comfortable using them as exceptions.

How Would a Sensitivity Reader Help?

If I were doing a sensitivity read for this book, I would suggest including more about Seb and Dee and the school for the blind. I would have explained that the way the story sidelines them shows Emma is not okay associating with her blind friends. I would have asked for more backstory, more contrast between them and the main character, and possibly a few more blind characters Emma met at the school for the blind.

If the writer was insistent on having Emma go blind in an accident, I would have suggested reducing the time she spent depressed and shifting the focus from her blindness to her traumatic accident. I would have had the author work harder to separate the two, even if it took Emma a while to do so. I would have also suggested reducing Emma’s remarks or have them called out. For example, her comments about not being able to get a job or beautiful schools being lost on blind people. Sebastian would have been excellent in this role.

I would have worked with her to either get rid of or subvert the list of stereotypes. Most of them are easy fixes.

I would have told her blind people don’t use canes in their houses. I would have given suggestions for assistive technology for Seb to use. I would have helped her with the section on trauma and blindness, reducing or erasing a lot of the issues I included there. I would have suggested giving Emma an arc that isn’t entirely about adjusting to blindness, even if her story starts with going blind.

I probably would have seemed nicer about my feedback because the author still had opportunity to make changes.

The author could have done more research on stereotypes and cane usage, but I think there is an important lesson here about the benefits of sensitivity readers.

In the end, a sensitivity reader would have fixed most of the problems in this story, despite the amount of research the author did. Research cannot always teach you everything and that is where a sensually or authenticity reader comes in. Moreover, there is a certain respect in involving communities you are representing. In paying them in money or exposure. In listening to their voices and respecting what they say. If the author was willing to learn Braille and sit with blind people to learn about canes and technology, why did she stop at getting sensitivity readers? Why does it feel like she didn’t want to include the blind community in any meaningful way?

I hope this helps someone.

-BlindBeta

[moonlit-void-to-the-far-unknown]

Alright! Time for Cheynnes review and talk about TDATT.

Okay *clap* so let’s start with what was different then the book.

The meeting between Arvin’s mom and dad. They don’t have the whole outside talk. Willard comes into the wooden spoon, orders the meatloaf and is as awkward and cute as in the movie but he doesn’t talk to her really at all in the book.

Roy is not the first kill by sandy and Carl. He’s right near the end. Like when they are on there way back from the last ‘vacation’ but in this I am glad they didn’t show Theo and Roy’s story cause honestly it was a lot of Theo being well Theo.

Sandy and Carl are a lot more dark, like with each other and in general. It’s hard to explain. But also Carl finds another waitress at a diner and it’s a whole thing.

Bodecker is way worse in the book. Like he kills multiple people for Leroy, he takes multiple bribes and everyone hates him. Also it’s explained more why he asks for candy, cause he’s supposed to be staying sober and candy is a better alternative to ya know booze.

Willard does way more fucked shit in the book surrounding the ‘prayer log’ he gets dead animals from the road to use as sacrifices, and also buys lambs and stuff to bleed out and use the blood as an offering. He straight up kills a guy to use his blood. And when he kills jack, that dog was just a random stray that came up to Arvin a bunch and in the book Willard straight up shoots the dog in front of Arvin when he gets home.

The preacher scenes with Lenora are way worse in the book because Preston is disgusting, like he keeps lenoras panties and uses it to wipe the blood of himself after they are done. He abuses both the red haired girls you see at the end after Arvin kills Preston. The scene where Arvin confronts him is very different in the book. Like very different. But I like how they did it in the movie. That is a 10/10 good change.

Prestons wife is another victim of his grooming cause he says ‘I had been training her since she was 15’ and now all he does is snap his fingers and she ‘kneels at his staff’ Aka the scene you see of Preston getting a blow job.

The scene with Carl and sandy and Arvin, captured the true awkwardness of the book. But Arvin shows how smart he is, he uses a different name, he doesn’t let them trick him into things and he senses something is up when they are pulling over at the road.

Lenoras death. Oh god it’s so much worse in the book because they describe her thoughts and then the full thing of suffocating.

Arvin kicking the kids ass? Yeah that’s basically the same. From the tire iron to smashing the kids face so bad he was in the hospital.

Still the hottest of scenes.

So now my review is, this movie is soooo goooooddddd like the acting and the way tom played Arvin, the way r.patts embodied the sleezy preacher is just amazing.

The accents were spot on, Bill skarsgard as Willard sounded so much like the audiobook narrator it was insane. Tom even knew where to fix his jaw, more front forward then back resting. He had the sort of mouth placement where it sounds like he always has like a bit of dip or chew in his gums.

The acting between Lenora and Arvin. My god beautiful. In the book Lenora is said to have a little crush on Arvin but only because she reads romance novels and is lonely and Arvin is the one person who loves her the most in this world.

I am happy that lenoras full death scene wasn’t as graphic as described in the book. Like. Trust me the book was so much worse. Baby girl deserved so much better.

Um. My thing with the movie is watch it if you can handle the fact of Religious trauma and sexual abuse, violence and blood.

It can be a lot when you really focus on the movie and the undertones. But

I recommend it. If anything just for a good Southern American gothic movie.

Also recommend the book but again that one is way graphic in descriptions and should be taken with caution.

[stark-strange-love2]

Thanks for tagging me @salty-ironstrange-shipper I LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH

1 - Do you prefer friends to lovers or enemies to lovers? | Enemies to lovers

2 - Would you rather be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fanfic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fanfic? | Terrible adaptation of my favorite fic

3 - Would you rather read fanfic chapters backwards or read them as parsed from google translate? | Google translate

4 - Would you rather consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator or have to read on a tiny printed piece of papers written in yellow highlighter? | Monotone audiobook (but aren’t all audiobooks super monotone?)

5-  Would you rather get a tattoo on your body of very fanfic title you read or never read fanfic again? | Never read fanfic again

6 - Do you prefer vampire au or werewolf au? | Vampire AU primarily, but I don’t mind them both at the same time hehe!

7- Would you rather get sold to a boy band or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest? | Time Loop god no fucking boybands I would die as their cult sacrifice

8 - Would you rather kill your favorite character or marry your least favorite character? | marry my least favorite character

9 - Would you rather meet your love interest in a coffee shop au or college au? | College AU 100%

10 - Would you rather have your fic history leaked or never read another fanfic again? | Fic history leaked- yall already know I’m fucked up and i don’t really read anything too bad so it’s cool!

11 - Would you rather be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life? | Mpreg plot twist I love mpreg so this is NOT a problem, but a blessing XD

12 - Would you rather gay ships or straight ships? | generally gay ships, but I’m open to all. I guess I just relate more sometimes, but if its the Red Queen then heck yeah every gay or straight ship in that book is hella interesting

13 - Would you rather ship a rarepair with almost no content or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut? | Rarepair (isn’t ironstrange a rarepair?)

14 - Would you rather see your otp shatter years after their happily ever after or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place? | Never have the happily ever after- more angst :)

15 - Would you rather read a poorly written but complete fanfic or a literary masterpiece last updated june 2013? | Literary masterpiece (that’s so rough, but I know some of my fave’s have been unfinished rip)

16 - Would you rather read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words or 70k words worth of fluff? | 11k smut tbh

17 - Would you rather read only alternate universe fanfics or only canon fanfics? | au fanfics. I despise canon. give me my high school au!!!

18 - Would you rather introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing? | Ongoing smut fic

19 - Would you rather read your notp with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization or your otp with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization? | OTP with tropes I despise and inconstant characterization

19 - Would you rather read a fic with an interesting concept but very poor writing or read a fic with an uninteresting concept with really good writing?  | Uninteresting, but well-written

20 - Would you rather have a major character death or have a bed sharing scene but it’s a ship you hate? | Major character death

21 - Would you rather read a fanfic that has constant grammar and spelling mistakes or one that the characters are wildly different than canon? | Grammar and spelling errors

22 - Would you rather every fanfic includes Jackson Wang or every fanfic includes at least one nsfw moment? | NSFW moment (that’s just a bonus [exactly @funkylittlebidiot])

23 - read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome ship or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your notp all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar?  | Dead dove (dead dove can be quite interesting while the whole point of NOTPs are that they suck)

24 - Would you rather have the power to read every fanfic in existence or have the power to make any ship canon? | Make any ship canon (as long as it’s done right)

25 - Would you rather have your otp get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way or all members of your otp survive but get together with other people? | Tragic death

26 - Would you rather read a cringy 70 chapter harry styles mafia au or a high school kpop au y/n fic with horrible grammar? | Harry Styles mafia au i cannot do y/n inserts oml no

27 - Would you rather accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss? | Read a smut fic about my boss

28 - Would you rather read smut fanfic aloud to your parents or submit smut fanfic to the employer of your dream job? | parents oml i cannot do that to my career

29 - Would you rather pine after an oblivious love interest or be the oblivious love interest pined after? | Be the oblivious love interest (LOVE ME PLEASE)

30 - Would you rather hanahaki disease or your soulmate’s first words to you tattooed on your body (and they’re really stupid)? | Tattoo soulmate’s first words (then I don’t die, but I’d rather read hanahaki)

31 - Would you rather be an alpha, beta, or omega in omegaverse? | Alpha (I’m a huge bitch, but I do 100% respect and love consent)

32 - Would you rather read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant? | pregnancies...

33 - Would you rather be able to resurrect dead fics or have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly? | Create new fics ENDLESSLY

Tagging: @stxphxn-strange 

[dezmondmyles]

haha ok i got tagged by @taruyison ilu <3

alright cool lets do this

Would You Rather - Fanfic Version

Do you prefer friends to lovers or enemies to lovers? Aw man, do I gotta choose? I really love both, but there’s something a little more mmm, intimate, about enemies to lovers.

Would you rather be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fanfic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fanfic? "terrible” and “amazing” are very subjective, and I love trashy movies/games that are fun to watch/play so that’s kinda my attitude with fanfics haha.

Would you rather read fanfic chapters backwards or read them as parsed from google translate? Backwards? I guess? If I have to translates a fic, uhh, I just Don’t lmao.

Would you rather consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator or have to read on a tiny printed piece of papers written in yellow highlighter? If I had to choose, probably the audiobook. My eyes have trouble reading black text on white background sometimes as it is.

Would you rather get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read or never read fanfic again? Never read fanfic again ahahaha. I’ve read some trashy fanfic just based on the equally dubious title before.

Do you prefer vampire au or werewolf au? If you know anything about me as a person.... Well you know that answer. And if you don’t, it’s uh, werewolf.  

Would you rather get sold to a boy band or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest? Time loop I guess? I never listened to 1D.

Would you rather kill your favorite character or marry your least favorite character? What if my favorite character is already dead?? Also what’s stopping me from marrying my least, killing them, and cashing out on the life insurance??

Would you rather meet your love interest in a coffee shop au or college au? My big brain take is to combine both- The local coffee shop near campus. Boom.

Would you rather have your fic history leaked or never read another fanfic again? Again, I’ll just never read again lmaaaao.

Would you rather be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life? I uh, wrote?? Some of the mpreg in a reasonable semi-thought out fashion?? Also I’ve already spent most of my reading subjectively bad fanfic so like, idk.

Would you rather gay ships or straight ships? I can do both?? Also are we talking gay-gay ships or “these two are in a samesies relationship but theyre bi” ship? cause i can do that too.

Would you rather ship a rarepair with almost no content or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut? Honey I’m already in rarepair hell don’t even talk to me lmfao.

Would you rather see your otp shatter years after their happily ever after or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place? I mean, both is already like, the Thing with them anyway lmfao. I fuck hard with bittersweet endings all the same.

Would you rather read a poorly written but complete fanfic or a literary masterpiece last updated june 2013? I mean I do both. The former esp if the content is compelling enough for me to continue reading just to see how much more terrible it can get.

Would you rather read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words or 70k words worth of fluff? I can do both, the fluff will probably make me cry though in the end lmao you don’t get that many words of fluff without something sad in there

Would you rather read only alternate universe fanfics or only canon fanfics? My bread and butter is AU by virtue of being a crossover shipper. No matter how close to canon I get with either, it’s still ultimately AU. Plus, canon is dumb af anyway for both so i’m doing everyone a favor lmao.

Would you rather introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing? Depends on the normie. I have non-fandom friends who enjoy writing and reading as much as I do, and I feel like that a well written smut and fluff fic would be more compelling to them, if not just to analyze the characters.

Would you rather read your notp with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization or your otp with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization? I think I’d pick the notp honestly. Listen, anything can become an otp with the right convincing in my book. Though, for most of my notps, they employ a lot of similar annoying tropes I hate seeing in most of my otps so like, can’t win them all.

Would you rather have a major character death or have a bed sharing scene but it’s a ship you hate? Major Character Death in the bed they were sharing.

Would you rather every fanfic includes Jackson Wang or every fanfic includes at least one nsfw moment? dunno who that is so I guess one nsfw moment it is.

Would you rather read a fanfic that has constant grammar and spelling mistakes or one that the characters are wildly different than canon? Have you read any of my fics I’m the worst speller/grammarererrr ever. However, I can take “wildly different” to a certain point in the case of many AUs where you kinda have to fudge things a little for the sake of your setting.

Would you rather read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome ship or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your notp all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar? Dead Dove, no contest.

Would you rather have the power to read every fanfic in existence or have the power to make any ship canon? Any ship canon. I literally have no interest in read every single fanfic ever.

Would you rather read a cringy 70 chapter harry styles mafia au or a high school kpop au y/n fic with horrible grammar? At least I know who Harry Styles is lmfao.

Would you rather have your otp get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way or all members of your otp survive but get together with other people? They’re already dead in their respective canons so it can’t get worse from here right?

Would you rather accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss? I think the latter because I would rather I lose respect for my boss than the other way around lol.

Would you rather read smut fanfic aloud to your parents or submit smut fanfic to the employer of your dream job? Like taru asked, what is the context. I think the latter though if it was allowed and it’s explicitly what they wanted.

Would you rather pine after an oblivious love interest or be the oblivious love interest pined after? I’m both irl (probably lmao)

Would you rather hanahaki disease or your soulmate’s first words to you tattooed on your body (and they’re really stupid)? I had to look up what hanahaki was lol, so I guess soulmate’s first words. And I mean, how much more stupid would mine be anyway?

Would you rather be an alpha, beta, or omega in omegaverse? None, I hate omegaverse with a passion. You can’t dress it up in any form possible to make me enjoy it. Idc what character(s) is/are in it, it bugs the fuck out of me.

Would you rather read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant? I mean, out of morbid curiosity, I’d wanna read both?? I’d hate it but I’d attempt to read it at least once?

Would you rather be able to resurrect dead fics or have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly? New fics, so long as they’re getting completed on top of that ahaha.

whoo, that was fun! it’s been a while since i’ve done one of these memes. thanks for the tag, taru!

ok so i guess i’ll tag in return: @cooldadmondmiles @theladyisapirate and @seventhstrife

have fun friendos!

[mikami]

Death Note Audio Drama 01

Disk 1: Pattern Recognition - a summary / partial translation

The Death Note audio drama is a German audiobook production that is officially licensed, but has been written and produced without any further involvement from the Japanese copyright holders. A Japanese release is, as such, not planned. An English release was announced in 2017 and has since never received any more news nor a release date announcement.

The audio drama starts of pretty benign as a retelling of the manga with some changed facts and dialogues.... and eventually full-on diverges from the plot and leads to a completely alternative ending. It’s pretty wild for officially licensed media. Wild enough to absolutely warrant being shared with the English-speaking fandom at large.

Since the whole drama is 12 hours in total in 12 disks (covering roughly one manga volume each), I won’t be able to provide a full translation and instead will summarize the less juicy bits while doing a full translation of anything funny or interesting. 

All future episodes will be found in this tag on my blog.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

We open to the sound of someone typing.

LIGHT: Something is rotten. Post-modern. Post-truth. Post-Justice. Day in day out, the same lies in endless repetition. Killers get away with murder. Drug dealers sell poison to children. The world is drowning in its own filth. The world is infected with corruption. I am the cure. I am the--

A knocking sound.

SACHIKO (muffled): Dinner is ready, dear!

LIGHT (groans, but then goes on): I am the surgeon who cuts out the cancer, I am the--

More knocking.

SACHIKO: It’s your favourite dish!

LIGHT: One second, mom! 

SACHIKO: Are you talking to your friends online again?

LIGHT: It’s fine, mom, I’m coming!

SACHIKO: Hurry up, it’s getting cold.

______

We cut to a scene of the task force entering the school in which Kuroh Otoharada has taken children hostage. The scene is fairly simple. Someone (I think Matsuda?) is pretty violently insistent on shooting Otoharada if necessary. They find Otoharada dead in the bathroom. 

______

Ryuk, who has a voice like a friendly fat little man narrating fairytales, tells us the rules of the Death Note. We cut to Light coming home and giving Sachiko his test results. They cut out the whole ‘number one in the nation’ and simply changed it to top grades in a nation-wide test exam. Probably because Germany doesn’t have ranking lists like that at all.

_______

A TV report about Otoharada is playing. A lady named Noriko Takai is trying to interview Matsuda about the incident. Matsuda refers her to the upcoming pref-conference, but admits that Otoharada died of a heart attack.

_______

Typing noises again.

LIGHT: To all those who are interested... If you are reading this text, something went wrong. If you are reading this, I might even be dead. In that case, dear me, dear Light Yagami. This is your younger self. In case you’ve forgotten everything, this story may be hard to believe, yet every word is true. Yeah... You found a notebook on the school grounds. Yeah... It claimed to have the power of bringing death to anyone you name in it. And yeah... you laughed about it. You were thinking of a prank. However... you couldn’t resist, am I right? You wrote the name of this guy from the school hostage taking and he died. But it could have been a coincidence. So you tried again. And what you saw, scared you. But in the same moment, you understood the power you had. So you ran home into your room and the confirmation was already waiting for you. With his claws, and glowing devil’s eyes.

________

Ryuk is indeed in Light’s bedroom. The meeting dialogue is largely very similar to the manga. However, this snippet happens....

LIGHT: I didn’t expect something so---

RYUK: Something so demonic? I’m hurt. I’m quite the catch for a denizen of the netherworld. I could be a sex god, if I wasn’t so good with death.

Ryuk elaborates that the notebook now belongs to Light, that nobody can see him, that he wasn’t chosen, that the shinigami world is boring... yadda yadda, we know this from the anime already. Light says his famous “if someone dies, does that make me a murderer?” line and Ryuk just says “of course it does.” Another funny Ryuk line: “You killed someone else too? Awww, you’re my man.”

________

In a flashback Light walks Shinjuku. Takuo Shibuimaru shows up and Light kills him, hurray. 

Back in the present:

RYUK: Fantastic. You killed this guy for flirting with a woman?

LIGHT: She wanted to be left alone.

RYUK: Alllright, social justice warrior. But isn’t that a little... strict?

Light launches into a speech about his ambitions. Ryuk keeps pointing out that he is afraid. Light gets annoyed at being condescended, since Ryuk is the one who gave him the weapon in the first place. However, he also admits to being scared. But still, someone needs to do it. But who else could do it, if not him? Etc, etc, etc. HE WILL MAKE A BETTER WORLD.

_______

A TV segment about the early Kira deaths. The chief prosecutor is under fire for treating prisoners badly, since people assume the prisoners died of bad food in prison. Other people deny that this is how it is, because they assume that bad food would have more than 3 victims. Someone else assumes it is the will of God. Some other guy is praising whoever does the killing in a flippant and humorous tone. The interviewer criticizes him for these views.

________

L: Come in, Watari, come in. 

WATARI: I thought you might already be in bed, Mr. L. It’s fairly late.

L: No sleep, no, not sleeping. Can’t sleep. 

WATARI: How much coffee did you...

L: There’s a killer on the loose, Watari!

WATARI: That is always the case, Mr. L.

L: No, this time it’s different. Different, you understand? I looked at the data, check it out. Heart attacks going through the roof.

WATARI: The deaths among criminals? Wasn’t that about the food?

L: No, it can’t be the food, when it’s taking place so hand-picked and world-wide. These people can’t all have been poisoned by the same dose. What do the deaths have in common...? The only connection really appears to be that all of them are criminals...

WATARI: You are a master in pattern recognition, L. You’re famous for it. 

L (laughs): Famous, yeah. We have to contact interpol. I looked at the data. Someone is killing criminals by the dozens. We need to talk to interpol.

WATARI: They had a conference announced for later today anyway. Well... tomorrow. In their time.

L: Time? Time zones, of course! 

WATARI: Mr. L...? 

L: Let’s look back at the data for a moment. 

_______

Ryuk is impressed by how many people Light killed. Light admits to getting nightmares due to it, but he also is determined about his mission. He explains his idea of heart attacks leading to recognition of the pattern. Ryuk is pretty flippant about Light’s plan, saying he is the only danger to mankind.

_______

Nature noises.

WATARI: Are we working in the park now, Mr. L?

L: I need to stay on the move. Change wifi hotspots.

WATARI: Isn’t that a little... paranoid?

L: In the face of a killer who can kill from a distance? No, it’s only appropriate. Completely appropriate. Watari... You need to create a filter. Something to distort my voice over the phone. 

WATARI: That’ll be done in no time, Mr. L.

L now explains his initial idea of how to catch the killer. He asks WHEN someone would use their power to kill and concludes that they’d do it after work before bed, in free time timeframes. L assumes someone would likely kill between 4pm and 2am, but which timezone? 78% of people die in that timeframe, in GMT-10. Thus L narrows it down to countries in that timezone for a start. And he also wants to factor in weekends, holidays, other free time events... for all those countries, to narrow it down with reference to the 32% of killings done at other times. 

_______

The interpol meeting is in session. The French representative argues that if the assumption is that this is black magic or something, then it isn’t under their jurisdiction. After all there are no laws about magic or cursing people. The US representative and meeting leader explains that there weren’t any laws about cyber crimes (or even a concept of cyber crimes) either before there were computers. Thus she argues in favor of investigating. 

________

RYUK: I mean, I love it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a god of death and you are basically my dedicated intern.

LIGHT: Can’t you just---

RYUK: I will just do what I feel like. You can’t write my name into my own book. I am practically the only living being on this planet that is pretty much safe from you. And that’s exactly why I’m asking: when is it over? I look at you, putting on airs full of significance, how you’re killing the killers, the rapists, the serial killers.... You declared yourself the highest arbiter. 

LIGHT: Someone has to do it. Someone has to tidy up!

RYUK: And what happens when you’re done with murderers? Tax evaders? Jaywalkers? Two hairdressers having a brawl at a bar? Where do you draw the line after which the world is cleansed? Let me tell you something. This world has always been a cesspit. 

LIGHT: I’ll know it when it happens.

RYUK: Or when someone stops you.

LIGHT: Oh come on, who’s supposed to find me?

______

Back at Interpol, they’re debating the need for an international task force. Soichiro suggests bringing in L. French representative is just like “oooh, you’re calling a mystery to solve a mystery?”. Who L is gets explained.

Watari comes in and explains that L is already on the case. L’s message is played. He wants cooperation from the police.

______

A TV report about further killings. A different channel, a religious speaker claims the final days have come. A different channel again, a stand-up comedian talks about the Kira case and jokes that if all killers gets killed nobody would be left to run the government. Says he’d love to do it, but he smoked weed as a college student, so he’s probably on the list too....

Yet another channel recalls that the most popular theory about the killing has religious qualities and that people online are talking of “Kira, the saviour”. 

Light turns off the audio on the TV and Ryuk complains.

RYUK: They assume Kira is male... How sexist.

Light is currently busy googling ‘Kira’. Light complains that people don’t manage to spell ‘Killer’ correctly, if that is what they mean to say. Ryuk is the one who brings up how ‘you Japanese’ swap L and R and thus explains the name.

Then the Lind L. Tailor broadcast happens and Ryuk tells Light to put the audio back on.  

______

The Task Force is discussing the broadcast. Matsuda thought L would be more self-assured and less... reading his text off flash cards. He then realizes the name sounds familiar to him and looks it up. 

______

Light talks to Ryuk about writing Tailor’s name and does so. He dies.

LIGHT: Oopsiedaisy, heart attack.

L’s voice picks right back up. Light is confused and angry. L explains the scheme. The taunt proceeds as in the manga.

_____

Matsuda is just like ‘I tried to tell you, boss. Tailor was on death row’.

______

There is actually noises of Light breaking things in his room as he gets mad about this. Ryuk tells him to calm down. L disconnects on TV.

RYUK: Mic drop. Rock ‘n’ Roll.

LIGHT: Shut up.

______

Matsuda and Soichiro have their conversation about L’s stunt and also Kira lowering crime rate while Soichiro is rushing to catch the train home.

______

SAYU: Oh no, not curry again....

SACHIKO: Sayu, you love curry, you---

SAYU: That was when I was 6, mom! It makes you fat.

SACHIKO: Don’t be silly, dearie.

LIGHT: Everything makes you fat, if you eat too much of it.

SACHIKO: Thanks, Light. At least one person in this family uses his brain. You get that from your dad.

As if on cue, Soichiro comes home. He is delighted about the curry. Talks about the Kira case. He also brings up the idea of Kira being a teenager. Light chokes on his curry quite lengthily at that. 

______

Ryuk expresses his surprise at Soichiro leading the investigation. Light comes up with his plan to change the time of death.

______

L calls Soichiro and Soichiro gives him the news that Kira now kills hourly. L declares people connected to the investigators to be suspects.

______

The US Interpol representative and Watari are meeting for coffee, though Watari does not get coffee because it messes with his heart-rate. Watari requests the FBI to supervise in Japan. Specifically the FBI because the CIA might include a mole. The FBI meanwhile is meant for inland and thus not yet related to the case and can function as external. The representative is pretty shocked and initially refuses, based on the rules for the FBI. 

______

Three detectives leave the case because they don’t want to risk their lives by fighting Kira. 

______

Watari informs L that the FBI has agreed to investigate. L has already looked into the suspect pool via social media. Related to investigators, 16-24, only in the Kanto region.... 

______

Ryuk informs Light of someone tailing him. It’s a lengthy dialogue but very canon-close and not super interesting.

LIGHT: If this is the police....

RYUK: You’ll put up your hands and surrender?

LIGHT: I’m going to have to kill them. All of them.

RYUK: Yeah, that’s what I thought.

[geryreviews]

Alex Verus: Fated

Book by Benedict Jacka

Review by Gery Hristova

Warning!: This review contains the usual random fanart and pointless comics done by me. Enjoy!

I wonder how explaining these books to people would go?

Ok, ok, I know people keep comparing Alex Verus to Harry Dresden. But you know what, now that I have finally read the first 7 books of the Dresden Files (thus becoming a specialist on the topic), I can safely say… I like Alex Verus a LOT LOT LOOOOT better.

Why?

EPIC MAGIC FIGHTS, POLITICS, COOL PLOT TWISTS, MAGIC EVERYWHERE, ONE LOVE-INTEREST, LONDON, PROTAGONIST IS A DIVINER AND IT’S AWESOME WHEN USED IN FIGHTS OR EVERYDAY LIFE, MAGIIIIIIIC!!!!

*continues fangirling for a few more minutes*

Ok, we all have reasons to resonate with some characters/stories more than others.

Me, personally, I adore books filled with more politics, action scenes, magic fights and …ONE LOVE-INTEREST! Ok, it doesn’t have to be ONE, but definitely not every single person with boobs that happens to pass near the main hero!

Back to the point …I mean, back to the~

REVIEW! 

THE SETTING

Best way to describe the series...

Don’t expect police investigations or crime stories involving vampires, fairies, werewolves and others. Nor is the protagonist a powerful avatar, able to use all types of magic through martial arts.

But the world IS secretly inhabited by mages who have their own governing system. AND each mage can only use one type of magic…hmmm, maybe Dresden Files+X-men.

Types of Magicians

Cinder - fire mage, Anne-life mage and Sonder-time mage

You have the most common Elemental Mages who can use powers such as air, fire, water, lightning, force, etc.

Living Mages are mages who can affect living things (either to influence their mind, heal/mess up their bodies, etc)

And the final, rarest and strangest of them all are the  Universal Mages - they can affect time, space, chance, they can see the past or the present, etc.

Anyways, most mages belong either to the Light or the Dark ...faction.

Levstas - a Light Mind Mage 

Both factions can be equally evil and cruel (it's only a matter of whether you feel the need to hide the bodies or brag about them). There is a constant struggle for power and status, even among the Light mages. Therefore, enlisting/enslaving/black-mailing useful minions is a great pass-time for the big players in the magical society.

And having someone who can see the future in your team can be highly profitable.  

THE PROTAGONIST

Alex Verus is a diviner. No, he cannot shoot deadly bullets made of air, disintegrate you with a touch or anything as flashy, but he can come up with other creative ways to hurt you if he feels like it and annoy the crap out of you while he's at it. This rare type of mages specializes in information- they can learn any new skills instantly just by checking into the future in which they've spent hours/days studying them; they can find out any dark secrets about you if they put their mind into it; they are hard to surprise, hard to kill and hard to be found if they don't want to be found. Random chances and free will limit the certainty of their predictions, but Diviners are the best at exploiting any situation to fit their needs.

THE PLOT

Nevertheless, being a neutral mage (not belonging to either the Dark or the Light faction), means that Alex Verus has plenty of time to mind his own business (a small shop selling books, herbs and other "magical" thing-a-ma-bobs), advise any confused novices and, of course, look through the future for the fun of it...sometimes resulting in answering his customers' questions before they even ask them.

Alex's peaceful and predictable life comes to an end when he becomes the centre of attention for major players in the magical world. They all have one thing in common - they need a diviner (who hasn't gone into hiding yet) to retrieve an ancient, seemingly-impossible-to-get, artefact. Corrupt Council members, powerful Dark Mages, dangerous acquaintances from his past, are just a few of the new additions to Alex's list of people-to-avoid-at-any-cost. The only question is: should he run or will his curiosity be the death of him.<spoiler>(the fact that there is a sequel, gives it away, I suppose.</spoiler>

WHAT BOTHERED ME IN BOOK 1 AND DOES IT IMPROVE?

-LUNAAAAA -  One of Alex's few friends, an adept with a very dangerous ability, Luna is one of the main reasons readers can decide to turn away from the series. GOOD NEWS - she doesn't stay a useless wimp for long (only in the first 2 books). And neither does Alex keep treating her like a pet dog. XD

 -Illogical deisions- The first book has a few, which I didn't notice during my first read (cause I was having too much fun!)

WHAT I REALLY REALLY LIKE!

Alex vs Onyx - All you need to know is that Onyx is a Dark Force Mage who absolutely despises Alex! Every scene where these two interact or fight with each other are priceless!   

Romance -  It's not Luna.  Rather slow (it takes a few books until you even realize there is one), but worth it! One of my favourite fictional couples of all time! 

And Morden...I like Morden too...how many fanarts did I do?

AUDIOBOOKS

The audiobooks are pretty good! It took me a bit of time to get used to the narrator's style since I read the first five books myself and had different voices for the characters, but other than that I have no major complaints.

COVERS

"I LOVE THE BRITISH ONES!" is what I would've said before THIS HAPPENED!

WHY PUBLISHER!!! WHYYYYYY! Now I need to buy the new ones as well in order to have matching covers…you’re so cruel…

I like the new ones too...

WEBSITE AND EXTRAS: 

There is a WHOLE encyclopedia regarding the Alex Verus's world! Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan.

CONCLUSION: 

Despite having read a HUUUUUGE amount of Urban Fantasies featuring male mages as protagonists, there's something about the Alex Verus series that totally captivates me: maybe it's the awesome divination magic that is used in a super creative fashion; maybe it's the world-building that might seem limited compared to other books, but it's very well-thought-out, detailed and believable; maybe it's Alex himself. Whatever it is, I consider Alex Verus to be one of my top 10 favourite series of all time (and top 3 favourite Urban Fantasy series)

Will I recommend to friends: if you enjoy Urban Fantasy, then definitely YES! Paperback, Hardback or Audiobook: Paperbacks are perfect (wait for the new covers to come out if you're living in the UK). Audiobooks are great too, but it took me some time getting used to the narrator. Nevertheless, still worth buying and highly enjoyable!

RECOMMENDATIONS

Here are some other similar Urban Fantasy series:

Dresden Files - DUH! Ok, half of the readers adore it, the other half hate it with passion! I tend to deviate between the two. Crime/Mystery/Urban Fantasy. 

Iron Druid - Focuses more on pagan deities (Celtic, Norse, Slavic), fairies and other mythical creatures. Couldn’t get into it, but it’s the second most popular one, so…

Peter Grant  -Very different and original. The style wasn’t my thing, but if you’re looking for a Fantasy/Crime book with an English twist, then go for it. 

Daniel Faust - More of an anti-hero, a lot darker and gorier than the rest. Barely any magic though… 

Prof Croft  - A Harry Dresden Fanfiction :D  that I enjoyed more than the majority of Harry’s books! Nevertheless, lots of similarities with the Dresden Files…

Happy Reading!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball 054

Bulma and Krillin are just about to leave without Goku when he finally shows up at the last second.  They open the hatch and let him in.   

Goku finally takes that mouse out of his mouth and assures it that they’re safe, but Bulma reminds him that they won’t be safe until they make it out of the undersea cave they’re in.  �� She’s only guessing that the area they’re in leads to an exit.   If she’s wrong, or if the pathway collapses before they can reach it, they’re doomed.

As it turns out, there was a whole other thing Bulma needed to be worrying about instead: the sub runs out of fuel and now they’re literally stuck dead in the water.  

So Goku uses the Kamehameha Wave to get them moving again.  This screencap doesn’t really illustrate that very well, but it’s the best I could do.  The whole thing is kind of questionable.  Sure, Goku could probably generate enough force to push a submarine forward and out of the cave, but how is he pushing back against it, instead of just shooting ahead like he normally does?   His attack instantly destroys the canopy of the sub, so all they can do is hold their breath and pray.   What would it feel like to be pushed through the water that fast with no protection at all?   Also, they shot to the surface very quickly.   Wouldn’t that give them the bends?  Oh well, it’s just a cartoon.

Meanwhile, General Blue rises from the briny deep.  We have no idea how he made it out of the cave, but it shouldn’t matter, right?   His entire unit is beaten or dead, and he has no supplies or vehicles.   Even if his superiors at Red Ribbon Headquarters knew where to find him, they would just abandon him as a failure anyway.   He’s done for... or so you would think...

The kids make their way to an island, which just happens to be the one where Blue’s base is located.   Goku checks out his Dragon Ball, and he’s bummed out to find that it’s not the Four-Star Ball that he was looking for.  It’d be funny if he threw it back, but I’m pretty sure he’s hanging on to them so he won’t get confused.   The Dragon Radar can’t tell the balls apart, so the only way to find a specific one is to keep gathering them until your number comes up.  

It is kind of interesting, though.   The Red Ribbon Army never would have found this Dragon Ball on their own.  Blue was searching the ocean floor, but the RR Dragon Radar wasn’t precise enough for him to realize that it had fallen beneath the ocean floor into that cave.   Even if his people did manage to find a way into the cave, it would have required an even more thorough and exhaustive search to find it.  I sort of wonder what would have happened if Goku hadn’t gone after this one.

Krillin wishes he could have scored some of that sweet rainbow treasure, and then Bulma reveals that she managed to grab a giant diamond on their way out.   This has been improbably stuffed in her underwear the whole time.   So it’s not like the entire trip has been a waste.

Even so, she’s had enough of this crap.   Goku reminds her that she was the one who insisted on coming along, and she reminds him that he never mentioned the Red Ribbon Army was mixed up in all of this.  She’s calling it a day and heading back for West City as soon as she can.

First, though, they try scavenging for food an drink in the abandoned buildings near the shore.   Did they just not see the Red Ribbon Army logos on the walls?   Stuff like this is how you can tell filler scenes from the original manga.  Yeah, Toriyama isn’t perfect, but when he’s the one telling the story, he usually points out details like that.   

Not that they have much to worry about, since the only guy still here tries to hide in the shelves.  He overheard the kids talking about how they defeated Blue, and realizes that he wouldn’t stand much of a chance on his own.    But right before they enter the room, he was on an open channel with HQ, so Goku ends up talking to Commander Red, though neither of them know who’s on the line. 

Goku apparently still doesn’t understand how long-distance communication works, so he wrecks the station while looking for the source of the voice. 

Back at HQ, Red just wants to know what’s going on.   Presumably, he’s been tracking the Dragon Ball as Goku moved it from the cave to Blue’s base.  But since no one is responding to his calls, he has to assume the entire Blue Unit has been wiped out.  

The kids grab a Red Ribbon aircraft and head back to Roshi’s place.  Bulma gives Krillin the diamond to pay Roshi back for his mini-sub, which was lost when the cave collapsed.  She’s rich anyway, so she doesn’t need any treasure.   Bulma’s kind of weird that way.   She only joined this caper for the sake of adventure, but now she’s bailing out because things got too dangerous.  There’s no reward in this for her, save the mere excitement, but she’s had her fill.   Anyway, Krillin snifs the diamond, because it was next to Bulma’s genitals. 

Back on the island, Roshi’s chillaxing to some tunes... No, wait, he’s listening to some sort of erotic audiobook.   Seriously, I have no idea what this is.   It’s a lady talking to the listener, saying stuff like “I’m walking on the beach.   Oh no, I fell into the water, and now my bathing suit is wet.   Well, I’ll just have to take it off.”   Actually, I kind of dig how stupid that is.   I like the idea of a sexy voice narrating really stupid things.   “Oh no, I was cleaning the house, and the vacuum machine accidentally sucked up all my clothes!”

The kids bring Roshi the diamond, and he tries to calculate how long it would take him to spend that much money on strip clubs.   I should point out that Roshi never returns that shrinking device Bulma gave him, nor is it ever mentioned again.   My point is that I don’t really see Roshi paying for strip clubs.   He’s the sort of dirtbag who’d try to find some way to get as much out of a strip club for as little money as possible, because he enjoys the public shaming aspect of it.  Like, he’d hide in the strip club restroom and try to watch the dancers use the toilet.  Master Roshi belongs in jail.

Speaking of crime, Launch sees Roshi getting a diamond and decides to steal it.   I thought she was starting to warm up to the old man, but it turns out Launch has been playing a long con this whole time, just waiting for the day when Roshi would get something valuable enough to be worth stealing.  She grabs the Red Ribbon air vehicle and vamooses.  

So here’s a question.   Launch has been living here for a while.   Why doesn’t Roshi take all of her guns when she’s in her Blue mode?    It wouldn’t completely solve the problem of Blonde Launch, but at least things would be a little safer.   I think the answer is that Blue Launch wants to have a few guns on hand when she sneezes, just in case.   So even if Roshi did try to sweep his house for weapons, Blue Launch would make sure he never found them all. 

As Launch leaves, General Blue drops in.   And I mean literally.    This mofo swam all the way back to his base, killed the last soldier under his command, and followed Goku back to Roshi’s island with only a rope and a few other supplies.   Dude didn’t even bother to change into a fresh uniform. 

This right here is what I find impressive about General Blue.   He’s gotta be the strongest guy on the Red Ribbon payroll, but more important than that is his sheer tenacity.   Every time he seems to be beaten, he just keeps coming back, and he seems to get more dangerous with every setback he’s dealt.  

I mean, look at this guy.   He started the arc with an entire unit of troops at his disposal.   Submarines, warships, whatever else he had.   Roshi made short work of most of that, and the rest were wiped out when the undersea cave collapsed.  Goku kicked his ass, and right now he has nothing to show for it.  His only chance to save himself is to take back the Dragon Balls, so he’s decided to beard the lion in his den.    He lost to Goku and Roshi when he had an entire army backing him up, and now he’s going to confront them again all by himself.   He’s finished right?   So you would think... 

[fonulyn]

Fanfiction would you rather?

Tagged by @hellishgoat​ 😘🦎

Friends to lovers or enemies to lovers?

friends to lovers. i want them friends anyway so they can build from that :3 but i gotta admit enemies to lovers does have its charm, i just don’t really currently have any otps it’d fit for.

Be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fic or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fic?

the terrible adaptation of my fave fic. why would i wanna watch anything, well made or not, of a story i already hated? at least with the terrible adaptation i could think back to the good story i loved.

Read fanfic chapters backwards, last to first, or read them as parsed from google translate?

none of these make any damn sense lol. i have read stuff last to first tho, so i guess that.

Consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator, or have to read every fanfic on a tiny printed piece of paper written in yellow highlighter?

the yellow highlighter. i don’t have the attention span for audiobooks.

Get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read, or never read fanfic again?

...well I could always still write. but i’d get the tattoo. but i’d be all black ink no visible skin lol.

Vampire Au or Werewolf Au?

not interested in either. if I had to pick I guess werewolves.

Get sold to a boy band, or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest?

time loop! no contest!

Kill your favorite character, or marry your least favorite character?

kill my fave. bc they’d still be alive in other iterations.

Meet your love interest in a coffee shop AU or a college AU?

coffee shop. i’ve got no interest for school aus tbh.

Have your fic history leaked, or never read another fanfic again?

have it leaked lol

Be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist, or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life?

mpreg. i don’t even mind mpreg as is, if it’s done in a way i like otherwise. not a huge fan but it doesn’t squick me out either.

Gay ships or straight ships?

both. but my main ships are gay ships.

Ship a rarepair with almost no content, or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut?

LMAO I already do the first option. it’s my life. 24/7.

See your OTP shatter years after their happily ever after, or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place?

well, if it’s a “happily ever after” then it means they won’t end up shattering in the first place so. I’m not answering a question that’s flawed to begin with :’D they’ll be happy forever.

Read a poorly written but complete fanfic, or a literary masterpiece last updated June 2013?

literary masterpiece. but honestly i don’t really touch unfinished fics so... neither is a realistic option.

Read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words, or 70k words worth of fluff?

both. i refuse to choose. ...okay the smut.

Read only alternate universe fanfics, or only canon fanfics?

depends on what counts as canon tbh. bc like everything i read and/or write is canon divergence, really. it’s not full-AU bc it plays in the canon sandbox. buuuut idk. i’m still gonna say canon bc au makes me just think of coffee shop aus and werewolf aus and no.

Introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing, or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing?

lmao smut. the first ever fanfic I ever read was smut and i turned out fine :’D 

Read your NOTP with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization, or your OTP with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization?

i would never read either. ain’t got no time for that. but like, if i gotta choose, then the perfect characterization bc weird characterizations are my biggest pet peeve.

Read a fic with an interesting concept but very poor writing, or read a fic with an uninteresting concept with really good writing?

the one with good writing. but I could do both.

Have a major character death, or have a bed sharing scene but it’s a ship you hate?

well. bed sharing doesn’t need to be shippy lmao I’d take that and have them just talk about their actual love interests while unable to sleep in the same bed :’D

Read a fanfic that has consistent grammar and spelling mistakes, or one that the characters are wildly different than canon?

the grammar and spelling mistakes. as long as i understand what’s going on i can deal.

Every fanfic includes Jackson Wang, or every fanfic includes at least one NSFW moment?

gonna echo Theo and say idk who the hell jackson wang is lmao but nsfw is good I’d take that in a heartbeat. could use some good smuttage tbh.

Read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome otp, or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your NOTP all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar?

dead dove. i wouldn’t read the solid block even if it was my otp :’D

Have the power to read every fanfic in existence, or have the power to make any ship canon?

the power to make any ship canon. i’ve read all the fic i wanna read so :’D plus then I’d get to resurrect Piers too, as an added bonus.

Have your OTP get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way, or all members of your OTP survive but get together with other people?

get together in canon? that is wildly unrealistic tho lmao

Read a cringy 70 chapter Harry Styles mafia AU, or a highschool Kpop AU y/n fic horrible grammar?

neither. urgh. fuck. the mafia au.

Accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic, or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss?

about my boss. not interested but no one has to know i did it lol.

Read smut fanfic aloud to your parents, or submit fanfic to the employer of your dream job?

read fic to my parents. they’d be chill.

Pine after an oblivious love interest, or be the oblivious love interest being pined after?

be pined after (lol the most unrealistic question of them all)

Hanahaki disease, or your soulmates first words to you tattooed on your body (and they’re really stupid)?

I don’t get hanahaki or the appeal at all so. the first words tattooed thing. i’ve kinda been wanting to write something like that tbh.

Be an Alpha, Beta, or Omega in omegaverse?

beta. to avoid all that nonsense i’m not interested in :’D

Read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries, or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant?

...idek. furries? isn’t that a basic werewolf fic anyway 8)

Be able to resurrect dead fics, or have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly?

oh my GOD have the power to create a plethora of new fics effortlessly! i have a to-do-list so fucking long i’ll be 90 before i’ll get through it 😩

tagging absolutely no one and everyone lol do it if you feel like.

[warrenmike]

1. How long have you been a fan of Outlander?

oh dear lord i don’t even know. i read the first book on my way back from a nyc trip before i lived here in june of 2015 and then by the time july rolled around i’d read the first four books and had watched season one, so i guess it’s been three years?

2. Have you read the books? If so, which ones?

yes, all of the main books twice and i’m on a re-read via audiobook. i started to listen to the lord john audiobook but the narrator is different and i don’t like it as much.

3. Which is your favourite secondary character?

i have too many but i love john gray and i also love ian murray with all my heart.

4. What is your least favourite storyline?

anything involving sexual assault being used to move the plot (aka all of it) but mostly everything that happens when claire gets taken by the browns and i really hope they decide to leave that out.

5. Favourite episode(s)?

i don’t know if i have a favorite episode now that i think about it... :| 

6. The episode(s) you skip?

i fast forward anything with frank in it.

7. Be honest, how many times have you watched “The Wedding?”

well i’ve marathoned the show like eight times so

8. Finish the sentence: Frank Randall is _________.

dead ;) 

9. What’s your Outlander watching ritual?

the first season i binged it all in one go. the second season i watched the day after it came out as soon as i could find a torrent. the third season i would stay up til 3 AM to watch it. this season i’m not quite sure what i’ll do.

10. Are you into shipping?

i don’t ship real life people, but if that’s your thing, you do you as long as it’s not causing harm or distress to the people involved. with the characters in the show though? giMME.

11. Do you read Outlander fanfiction? If so, what’s your favourite?

eh occasionally. i haven’t found any that have actually grabbed me.

12. What Outlander merchandise do you own?

i have some of the stuff from torrid from last year, and this year i ordered some as well. i have a necklace with claire’s rings on it (though i took frank’s off because eh). i have a copy of outlander signed by rik rankin, sophie skelton, graham mctavish, gary lewis, lotte verbeek, andrew gower, stephen walters, scott kyle, and gillebride macmillan from outlander con, plus photo ops from the con as well. i have the season one part one dvd from a blind bag i bought at the con. and i have the entertainment weekly magazines from s3 and 4. 

13. Which was your favourite: Rupert or Angus?

i caNNA PICK FAVORITES BETWEN THESE TWO i love them both.

14. True or False: Lt. Jeremy Foster is a delicious cinnamon bun.

true.

15. If you were to attend a “fucking bar-b-que” with Geillis Duncan what would you order?

a hot dog, lightly cooked.

16. What areas of interest has Outlander sparked for you?

scotland. i want to go there SO BADLY but i’m broke and can’t afford it so maybe one day. also a general love of nature? like i just want to go explore woodland hills and valleys and i want to get to oregon as well because nature. 

17. Biggest plot hole in the show?

so like... omitting laura donnelly from s4? that sort of plot hole? jenny neVER SEEING HER NEICE? obviously it wasn’t done on purpose buT WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO

18. Bree and Roger: Yay or Nay?

absoFUCKING LUTELY

19. Which JAMMF habit do you find endearing?

tapping his stiff fingers on anything within reach

20. Finish the sentence: Claire Fraser is _______________.

a badass

21. Marry/Fuck/Kill: Dougal, Black Jack, Geneva.

can we not? dougal scares me, black jack is a horrible person, and geneva is a waste of time

22. If you could change one thing about the show version of Outlander, what would it be?

for them to not have cut the scene with jamie praying for his wife and child. you know, the one where he says “lord that she be safe. she and the child.” evERY NIGHT. IMPORTANT STUFF. 

23. Using one word for each, describe Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3:

thrilling, emotional, reunions

24. What are some of your other favourite shows/movies?

idk man i miss graceland

25. Where are you from?

new york

tagged by: @brianna-mackenzie tagging: you, if you watch outlander

[bookishbichic]

Hello Hoomans,

I would like for time to slow down, but it pays me no attention  and does what it wants.

One of the goals i set this year was to be intentional in my reading. Last year was a train wreck, even though i read more i did not enjoy reading at all, i was chasing some mad unattainable goals.

But this year has been A-Awesome for reading. I stalked discovered new authors and read old books i have had since the beginning of time.

In this post i would be highlighting authors you should check out, i mean if i tell you i am trash for a persons book   shits gotten real.

I hope when you  pick up their books and  just enjoy the wonderful words they have written. Fall in love with this characters too.

so without further ado :

  K. J Charles made me Useless in June

Hi I would like to formally announce that i am KJ Charles trash. I discovered her books on Scribd and then i became useless in June.

So for Pride month, i didn’t post anything and i am sorry about that, but lemme tell you why, K J Charles happened i discovered her books M/M romance set in the Victorian era filled with magic and mayhem and stinking rats and Magpies. SOLD!!!

The characters, The world building, the writing itself ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL.

Here’s the series that started it all, i’m still not done with it yet i don’t want to part with the gang yet. All are available on scribd.

The Magpie Lord| A case of possession| Flight of Magpies

  The Queen : Grace Draven

I wrote a review of the Phoenix unbound which i highly recommend. She’s on my Auto buy list. I discovered Grace’s work last year and since then i have been hooked on every word, I look forward to Ippos King and Dragon Unleashed.

Yes i am absolute trash for her books.

Here’s what i just finished reading from this Queen. 

Phoenix Unbound

  C.T Phipps We need to talk

I think Phipps secretly enjoys making Peter Stone suffer. In his New book 100 Miles and vampin’  i thought  the MC would finally catch a break and Finally FINALLY get the benefits of being a vampire. Well that was squashed quickly everything was a glorious wreck right until the end.

I recommend this book for a serious laugh out loud session. The narrator does a good job of portraying Peters frustrations and adventures.

one of my favorite scenes was when A bat outta hell by MeatLoaf was playing, it fit the scene perfectly.

And Yes  the titles are a parody of NWA albums.

Here’s the Audiobook.

The first one is in the series is Straight Outta Fangton.

  Annette Marie the goddess

Yes i have written a review of The Red Winter Trilogy and now i’m basically appealing to everyone to check out this awesome book, because it is the  fighting priestess with  Hot fox god and others you never knew you needed. I don’t know why it took me so long to read them.

Its available on Kindle Unlimited

And it has some scenes drawn , trust me you need this.

Red Winter: Complete Trilogy

Lilly Archer is slowly Killing me ( But i like it)

I have discovered a new cliffhanger practitioner. Lily delivers her stories bite-sized  and builds up on the stories and characters in the coming books, each one better than the last. I appreciate the books because though they are short they pack a punch and i always look forward to the next one.

( yes i am a huge M for loving Cliffhangers it adds to the excitement, yes i am aware patience is a weird virtue in the book community).

Her books are listed below and i am still reading the last one.

Fae’s captive|Road to winter |Bite of winter|Beyond the mountain|Taken|The Bazaar

  I must say i am enjoying this reading year how has your year been so far in terms of reading and other goals? Let me know in the comments and tell me which books you love to check out.

Also guys if you are interested in Scribd , you can sign up by clicking the highlighted link you get 2 months free!! So go go go and check out the library of unlimited books, audio books and more.

Till next time

As always,

Booked Unicorn

Favorite Books in 2019 so far: Where i list authors whose works have made 2019 a joyous ride so far @kj_charles @willohugger #lilyarcher @Annettemmarie @gracedraven @scribd #books #bookblogger #bookrecommendations Hello Hoomans, I would like for time to slow down, but it pays me no attention  and does what it wants.

[ezaudiobooks-blog]

Dead Memories Audiobook Online Streaming - D.I. Kim Stone 10

New Post has been published on https://ezaudiobooks.com/detective-kim-stone-crime-thriller/dead-memories-audiobook/

Dead Memories Audiobook Online Streaming - D.I. Kim Stone 10

Download and Listen Free

On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.

With EZ Audiobooks, you can listen and download to Dead Memories Audiobook: An addictive and gripping crime thriller (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Series #10) Online Streaming for free by Becky Chambers on my website.

Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Audiobook series includes 11 books, which is also good for a Thriller Audiobook fan:

Silent Scream Audiobook

Evil Games Audiobook

Lost Girls Audiobook

Play Dead Audiobook

Blood Lines Audiobook

Dead Souls Audiobook

Broken Bones Audiobook

Dying Truth Audiobook

Fatal Promise Audiobook

Dead Memories Audiobook

Child’s Play Audiobook

Dead Memories Audiobook: An addictive and gripping crime thriller

Dead Memories Audiobook Free Download – D.I. Kim Stone 10

Angela Marsons�� work has been garnished well by the narration of Jan Cramer on many occasions; same can be observed in this mystery that is full of action and suspense the basic ingredients of nice thriller. Crime thrillers have always been Angela’s best since the release of the Kim Stone series the books like Silent Scream and Fatal Promise have been praised highly because of their excellent plot and the progress of the story that always keeps you well engaged till the end and the final disposition of the whole issue.

Two teenagers are found by Kim Stone chained to a radiator at the start of the story, one of them however is in the form of a dead body and the girl proves to be the only survival. Kim first thinks of it as a coincidence related to her own past as her brother died in the same way but a few days later a couple burnt in a car looks exactly the same as her parents died. She is sure that someone is after her who knows her past and wants to tease her before killing her. A wonderful subjective type of story this time is presented to Kim’s own personal life and she is trying to save herself this time and no other person.

The incidents that she observes give her pain that is more troublesome for her than the fear of death. The story is totally different from the rest of the Kim Stone series as unlike the old ones the story is not related to her life, the story is about her life and survival. The criminal is a mastermind this time that has done all his homework in order to tackle the master detective. The suspense is also one the major elements of this chapter and develops well with the tale.

Review

A new Kim Stone audiobook is always a cause for joy in this household. I love her, the interaction of the team and the cases. This one is no exception. First, someone has staged murder to directly mirror Kim’s tragic loss of her twin brother, Mikey. Additional murders mirror other traumatic events from her life. A lot of criminals have reason to hate Kim, but who hates her so much they would kill innocent people just to reenact these events?

Dead Memories Audiobook: An addictive and gripping crime thriller (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Series #10) is one of those books you just don’t want to put down. Book Ten continues to keep the streak alive. This book requires the prior knowledge gained from having read the earlier books. This is not a series to read out of order.

[musicislife1396]

Series rating: 5/5

Genre: Fantasy, grimdark

Author: Mark Lawrence

Synopsis: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers. In a few the old bloods show, gifting talents rarely seen since the tribes beached their ships on Abeth. Sweet Mercy hones its novices’ skills to deadly effect: it takes ten years to educate a Red Sister in the ways of blade and fist.

But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls as a bloodstained child of eight, falsely accused of murder: guilty of worse.

Stolen from the shadow of the noose, Nona is sought by powerful enemies, and for good reason. Despite the security and isolation of the convent her secret and violent past will find her out. Beneath a dying sun that shines upon a crumbling empire, Nona Grey must come to terms with her demons and learn to become a deadly assassin if she is to survive

I just finished Holy Sister  today and this is hands down one of the best series I have ever read. There is not one thing that I didn’t love about this. Straight up, 5/5 stars for each book on the series. Also, for those of you who like audiobooks, the narration for this series is top notch. I audiobooked all of them and it was just a great experience.

I’m going to try to insert some structure into this review so, first I’ll talk about the writing style. The whole series is kind of a frame story. Each book gives a glimpse into the present, or rather to the climax that the entire series is leading to as a prologue and epilogue. And then the rest of the book fills in some of the details. And that progresses with each book, with a little more making sense. I hope that makes sense. Each book then in turn is usually told in two different timelines. It sounds confusing when I try to explain it, but it’s actually very well done. It creates this suspenseful atmosphere that keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. The writing is also very evocative and this is just all around such a well written series.

The world is really cool. The books are fairly short and heavily plot and character oriented, so the world is not very thoroughly explored. At the end of the series, there are still things that I have no explanation for. But it’s done well. We learn progressively about the world as the characters learn about it and that serves as much to drive the plot and characters forward as it does to flesh out the world. It’s just masterfully written. It might be a bit frustrating if you like very clearly defined magic systems such as Brandon Sanderson’s. This series definitely has a soft magic system, though it’s not as vague as say, A Song of Ice and Fire. I personally like both soft and hard magic systems and I really loved the magic in this series. There are multiple branches or aspects of the magic and I thought they’re all really cool. I thought the world was really cool.

I read Prince of Thorns by Lawrence as well and I didn’t like it as much for one main reason. Both this series and the Broken Empire series are set in a past-apocalyptic world where the people have kind of reverted to medieval-ish levels of technology, but they live in a world that used to be inhabited by technologically advanced people and there are vestiges of that. Which is a trope seen in many fantasies and one that I really enjoy, with one caveat. I don’t like it when that world is made out to be a future of Earth. At least not if there’s magic involved. It’s for some reason very jarring for me when that happens and it takes me out of the story and I just don’t enjoy it as much. And that’s what The Broken Empire series did, and I am so glad that this series was just set on some planet called Abeth. It’s all I needed for it to not be ruined for me. Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent.

The characters in this series are the best and Nona Grey is the best of the best. I don’t remember the last time I loved a main character as much as I love Nona. She is the most precious murderous nun in the world. She’s just so loyal and values friendship, which are two things I value so much and I feel like they’re so under-explored in books. So this story was just a balm for my soul. It’s so great to see Nona grow and the relationships that she forms and how those shape her and how she shapes others and ugh! It’s really hard to talk about the characters without spoiling anything, but just… amazing! Every single character is so amazing.

The story itself is fast paced and as I said before, keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s dark. I mean it gets super dark sometimes, but it’s also ultimately such a hopeful story. And those are my favourites. I classed it as a grimdark fantasy, but I’d say it fits better with the more recently coined subgenre of ‘hopepunk’. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can google it. But just to give you a feel of what I mean, you know that scene in The Two Towers, where Sam and Frodo were captured by Faramir and on their way to Gondor, but the Nazgul attacked and Frodo almost put on the ring and then almost killed Sam when he tried to help? And then Sam talks about “the great stories of old” and what made them stick with you? And Faramir hears and Gollum hears and Frodo hears and they’re all in the middle of a battle terrified and hopeless, but Sam somehow gives them hope and it’s a super powerful scene? Yeah, it’s that feeling. That’s hopepunk. And that’s exactly what this whole series feels like.

That’s all I can really say without any spoilers, so I will close by saying that I wholeheartedly recommend this series.

Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence – Series Review Series rating: 5/5 Genre: Fantasy, grimdark Author: Mark Lawrence Synopsis: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy young girls are raised to be killers.

[mythographystudios]

The novel Slow Up has a lot of things going on. While knowing these is not a necessity in enjoying the story, a deep background in the possible technologies and techniques involved will make it a much better read.

9. Rapid Serial Visual Representation

Can you read it?

It’s a speed-reading trick where text is parced into single point. Some speed readers like it, others do not.

Here’s an online tool to try it out.

8. Most of the IT Scenes Are Inspired by my Own Job at Wind Telecommunications HQ

Most of the tickets came in at a frantic pace, just like in the novel.

The scenes have nothing to do with real persons and situations. But the feeling of an uphill battle, that Sisyphean task of fixing hundreds of computers every day is there in Galene’s job.

7. For More on Nootropics, Check Out Reddit

Nootropics are real and have measurable effects. If you want to try them out, consult an expert. There is a lot of info online, but don’t push yourself too hard. Again, consult a doctor, not the marketing brochure.

Nothing is like the movie Limitless of course, that was a magic pill with insane powers. Real nootropics help you focus, help with creativity, memory.

Read up about Nootropics on Reddit.

6. Polyphasic Sleep is Real But You Should Take it Slow

  Going directly at Uberman will most probably make you a zombieman.

We’ve all heard about geniuses who simply skipped sleep like Leonardo Da Vinci. That is not actually possible, of course, they only took short naps, powernaps as they call them now, to help their brain recharge.

My opinion is that getting good sleep is more important that gaining a few drowsy hours. I’ve seen that sleep deprivation cuts down on creative thinking. And there are serious medical risks involved.

Again, Reddit has a nice beginner library on polyphasic sleep.

5. The Cybathlon is a Sports Event for Augmented People Where Doping and Pushing the Limits is Kind of the Whole Point

Credits: Angel Giuffria, Bionic Actress. Cybathlon. The Spartan Race. Oscar Pistorius.

The logical next step in athletic events is to have augmented races. Some augmentations actually give an advantage over other athletes, like in swimming. Especially with world-powers sending out troops at stupid wars and having young veterans come back disabled all the time, the day where augmentations are common-place is today.

The Cybathlon is not quite an Olympic-level event yet. But it showcases what can be done, and it won’t be long before augmented athletes can compete side-by-side with regular ones, like Pistorius did in the Summer Olympics of 2012. Yes, we know what he did afterwards, that’s not the point.

You can watch the scene mentioned by Gregoris in the novel, where the winner shows unprecedented evgenis amilla (fair game spirit) and swaps out his number with Oscar’s so he can be the winner:

4. Humans With Amplified Intelligence Could Be More Powerful Than AI

Artificial intelligence is all well and good, but there are those who believe that we can expand the limits of our intellect and reach amazing levels.

Frankly, a merge of mind and machine where a trained user can hook up and amplify his intelligence for short amounts of time is what we consider most plausible.

Another archetype of this is the Mentat from Dune. Human Computers that crave information and can help with decisions.

Wacky hair is a must

From David Lynch’s Dune, we got the Mentat Mantra (It’s not from the Frank Herbert novels but fits so well it got adopted instantly):

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

3. Mean Girls is a Must Watch

Mean Girls quotes can be applied to any situation

Nuff said. Watch it.

2. Unlike Wanted’s Turning Bullets, Turning Arrows Are Real

It seems crazy but it’s true. An expert archer can shoot turning arrows around corners.

You Can Speed up Online Videos, Audiobooks and Video Files for Faster Input

It might seem weird at first, but the mind adapts very quickly.

Here are some tools with pitch correction:

Chrome plugin for online videos.

Video file speed control with VLC

Audible Narration speed control

1. The Tech is Real: Artificial Wombs

It looks adorable. The real-live version, not so much.

External wombs are being researched and seem to work just fine. There are many real medical conditions where external wombs would be suitable. Of course, that opens up a can of worms, since humans could be raised from prime genetic material without people knowing. It’s almost like a dystopian sci-fi story.

Slow Up is Available to Read Now

Limitless meets Black Mirror in this novel that pushes the limits of a couple’s minds.

When Galene meets a man who’s only goal in life is to make his mind go faster, she ends up falling for him. But will she manage to keep the relationship going at the top of the glass tower, when in reality she’s too much of a slob and is bogged down with all her unfinished goals, when their age difference becomes too much of a problem, and when his work places them in the sights of an unforgiving huntress?

Do you want to know what’s next for the computer geek Galene? Do you wanna meet Artemis? Then read this bittersweet story in a world where thinking too swiftly can get you killed.

[button link=”https://mythographystudios.com/books/hire-a-muse/slow-up/&#8221; style=”tick”]Read Slow Up[/button]

9 Things You Didn’t Know About Slow Up The novel Slow Up has a lot of things going on. While knowing these is not a necessity in enjoying the story, a deep background in the possible technologies and techniques involved will make it a much better read.