#and there's something here for everyone

[tbookblurbs]

Jade War - Fonda Lee

5/5 - More ambitious than the first, expands on international geopolitics, characters really start coming into their own

SPOILERS!

We jump back into the Green Bone saga to find time passing as it should. It jumps around a little bit more in this book, skipping months at a time instead of weeks, as in the first, but this makes sense for the type of conflict developing. The two clans, realizing they can't continue their battle in the streets without losing their civilian base, start fighting in other ways (propaganda, influence on national politics, (il)legal operations to increase their funding). This fundamentally changes how the book operates. I struggled with the change a bit at first because it's so much more cerebral and it plays out kind of like a chess game (I have never been good at chess). Thankfully though, the other characters also struggle to change their ways of thinking and prepare for all eventualities. All actions have consequences, including actions the characters took years in the past. Every detail still matters.

Meanwhile, we see Anden get sent to Espenia because he refuses to become a Green Bone. As he is one of my two favorite characters, the fact that he's depressed for a lot of this book made me quite sad. But the way he handles himself, developing relationships with the Port Massey Green Bones and fostering a relationship with the Pillar's son, are critical to his character development. From the beginning, there's this underlying current asking if Anden can really step out/away from clan life. Will he be independent? Does he want to be outside of the family in that way? And when he finally answers no, it's like the natural conclusion of what happens and all the more satisfying because he's really thought about it and considered all his options.

Shae's plotlines made me really proud of her and also really sad for her. She struggles with finding love and connection as the Weatherman of the clan and, on some level, as a woman who is more accomplished and smarter than most of the men that she interacts with. Her past with Espenia comes back to bite her, but you have to be proud of how she handles herself. She lost the duel (barely) but retains her dignity.

Hilo, on the other hand, has never been my favorite character and his actions in this book cemented that status for me. All of his actions are in character, but they're also infuriating. The ending of the story, with Wen near death and Anden putting on jade again, was thrilling in the extreme. Again, Hilo's response is completely in character, but again, infuriating. More on that in the next book because that's where this one ends.

The international geopolitics that Lee writes in here are just fabulous. the fact that it's a world undergoing globalization is integral to the plot, and the national politics of Kekon are of direct interest and have power over the main characters and antagonists. I strongly disliked Espenia for a lot of the book, but it's a former colonial power so what did I expect, really. I know that technically the Mountain is an antagonist because they are in opposition to our protagonists' goals, but its hard to dislike an entity when you know they're also trying to do what's right for their people. I might not agree with their methods but I can respect and understand their motivations.

An ideal sequel that might surpass the first book in my eyes. It's got everything the first delivers and more.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Happy 10th anniversary to FNAF!!

[pigswithwings]

above all else a trans woman is a person. above all else a trans women is a woman who goes to the same grocery store as you and buys fruits in the same grocery cart as you and goes home and eats her dinner the same as you. above all else a trans woman is a woman who dresses like you do and talks the same way you do. above all else a trans woman is a woman who wants to be cared about the same way you want to be cared about and a trans woman is a woman who makes friends the same way you make friends. above all else you should care about trans women because they are people. treat her as such.

[mynnthia]

was talking with a friend about how some of dunmeshi fаndom misunderstands kabru's initial feelings towards laios.

to sum up kabru's situation via a self-contained modernized metaphor:

kabru is like a guy who lost his entire family in a highly traumatic car accident. years later he joins a discord server and takes note of laios, another server member who seems interesting, so they start chatting. then laios reveals his special interest and favorite movie of all time is David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and invites kabru to go watch a demolition derby with him

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dog Meshi.

[joshuamj]

Okay, but what if EoW!Zelda had to impersonate Link

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo learns something about himself 🏳️‍⚧️

Based roughly on this old post.

Bonus:

[Leo is taking the fact that he was born biologically female simultaneously very well and also not so well but overall he’s mostly coping with the fact that it was Draxum that just essentially gave him the turtle equivalent of ‘The Talk’.]

[egophiliac]

was this anyone else's first thought, or

[rainpunk07]

hear me out, danny speaking russian (dc x dp hc)

so i was just watching a video about space, right? allegedly, turns out if you (an american) wanna board the international space station you must speak russian fluently since the only way to get there is by a russian shuttle and pilot (nasa apparently ended their own shuttle program way back when??) (don’t quote me on this)

so picture danny learning russian at a relatively young age for the sole hope of going to space and such, and it coming out every once in a while when he’s mumbling or something like that (it’s basically second nature to him)

so danny ends up at gotham for whatever reason (demon twins, reveal gone wrong, idc, they’re all cool) and he wants to start anew, so he pretends to only speak russian?? ig?? it’d make for some funny/interesting BatFam interactions i suppose

i don’t know where i was going with this but i want to read prompts of danny speaking russian

[lucabyte]

On autonomy, and what it means to be Obliged to Help.

Bonus:

[delicourse]

i miss them a little if im gonna be honest

[crescentfool]

reunion 🌸

[paxcallow]

desire to draw raz's hair unhatted and uncombed spiraled into imagining an extended gag about some emergency situation forcing all of the psychonauts out of the motherlobe into the quarry in their jammies at like 2 am and judging each other's clothing choices instead of getting actual work done.

[chloesimaginationthings]

scooped michael afton gives me gender envy . i need his gender Now.

Michael Afton, the epitome of gender

[inkskinned]

you were raised in comparison.

it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.

you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.

you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.

what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.

it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.

you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.

you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?

a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.

you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.

it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.

something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.

[undertalethingems]

Unexpected Guests Chapter Ten, Act Two: Page 10

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3-on-1 would normally be quite an unfair fight, but so far, Gaster's proven to be more than capable of taking what's been dealt... but the battle's far from over and our heroes still have plenty of fighting spirit!

The long fight continues next time, coming Jan. 11th!