#book hamster

[justfinishedreading]

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe Volumes 1 - 5

Oh god I’m hooked, I bought and read all 5 volumes over the course of a week! Oh where to start. I first learned about the Hades and Persephone myth a couple of years ago when it was mentioned in the TV series Harlots, a murdering aristocrat force feds pomegranates to a sex worker and calls her Persephone, they later share a genuine bond but it is ultimately doomed because… well he’s a murder. Over the years Greek mythology has come back into fashion, in particular with many YA and fantasy retellings, and the Hades and Persephone tale is one people adore, it’s the allure of a gloomy, scary king that turns out to be a softie. Before reading Lore Olympus, I had watched a show on Greek mythology, and was reading an old book I was given like a decade ago, retelling the myths for children, so I’m aware how the original myth goes in general; Hades kidnaps a young Persephone and takes her to the underworld, later she is rescued but she feels sympathy for Hades and agrees to spend half the year in the underworld and half the year above ground (she agrees but she is also forced to agree because she ate 6 pomegranate seeds and once you consume food from the underworld you must remain there. This myth explains why we have the seasons, in Autumn and Winter Persephone, the goddess of Spring is in the underworld.

When I heard about Lore Olympus it was on a YouTube video about society’s normalisation of older men with much, much longer women, and the reasons why such unbalanced, often abusive or controlling relationships are favoured by men and how the age gap portrayal in media excuses them. So not a great endorsement of Lore Olympus. I avoided getting it for a long time but still there was the allure, the promise of passion and melodrama, of gorgeous art and Greek mythology, in a seductive mix of modern and classical imagery. I picked it up in the bookshop several times, and put it back down again -the art looked promising but the layout of the book was awful. Now I’m a graphic designer so I care about these things, the comic was born as a webcomic and looking at volume 1 you could tell it wasn’t designed with a book layout in mind, the art was sparsely tossed across the pages. It was not good. So months went by and I resisted buying it. But in the end my desire for some romance with high emotion and angst won, and boy does it deliver. Within a week I’d consumed all published volumes, buying one at a time and devouring it and buying the next the following day. Happily the graphic design does get better from volume 2.

So here’s the good and the bad. The Age Difference, on one level this does not bother me because these are gods, in that old book I was reading about Greek myths I learnt that when the god Hermes was just a new born baby he escaped his cradle, stole Apollo’s cattle, sacrificed them to the gods, did some other stuff and then lied to Apollo when he came round accusing Hermes. The concept of age and knowledge and ability are not as we know them. The Greek myths were also OBSESSED with youth and beauty, so with the source material being already so problematic it isn’t a surprise that it bleeds through. However did the author NEED to make Persephone literally 19? She couldn’t just be a young women? The author went out of her way to specify that Persephone is 19, something that is so problematic that various characters and Hades himself acknowledges as being bad, he asks do you mean she’s 1919 years old? (Already a lot young than him if she were 1919 years old, him being thousands of years old) No?! Actually 19!?! I understand that the age difference is part of Lore Olympus’ appeal, the forbidden nature of it, but could her age have been left a little vague, perhaps even aged up a little? Because at the end of the day if we associate Persephone’s personality too much with her age… what happens to her and their relationship with Hades when she becomes older? Also the mention that her body will forever be that of a teenager is distasteful and sends the message that bodies older than teens are not desirable. I suppose since she is the goddess of Spring, to be forever youthful makes sense. 

On the good side, this series handles well difficult topics, it has examples of toxic relationships (not Persephone and Hades but Hades and a former lover) but shows why a person might fall into toxic behaviours, it also depicts well a case of rape and the victim blaming that follows, highlighting narcissistic personalities, and overbearing parents. The reason people love Hades and Persephone’s relationship in Lore Olympus is because they bring each other hope and joy in a world of both physical and emotional pain. 

Back to the bad, Persephone’s character is a bit of a problem, she’s the born sexy yesterday troupe, so young and naive but super overly sexualised, academically clever but clueless to the ways of the world. Of strong will… but easily led astray? Shown to struggle with prejudice but also given a lot of special treatment and privilege. That last point doesn’t bother me so much because at the end of the day the Greek gods were AWFUL people, they were forever throwing tantrums, meddling in the lives of humans, and causing havoc on a whim. The gods were the ultimate abusers of power and unpredictable moods. In that sense Lore Olympus is a good representation of the Greek gods, those guys were MESSY.

P.S Apologies that my photos have been so bad of late, my laptop died and my phone camera is really bad!

Review by Book Hamster

[candyh0rns]

Yo why is he lookin at me like that

Ya got a starting problem pal?

GET OU- 🗣️🔥

I shoot him with my George pig plushie hope he'll leave me alone for now.

Feel sick today and this guy isn't making it any better 😔

Ps. Inspired by @squidflavoredsoup :³

[bear-pattern-hamster]

"Carrie and boiled Japanese peanuts🧸🐹🥜"

This is Carrie, a hamster with a bear pattern on her butt.

She is a female golden hamster.

"Carrie eating a cucumber🥒"

"Japanese peanuts🥜"

[adequately]

ﾍﾟﾀ (ง˘ω˘)วﾍﾟﾀ

[dinodanicus]

Here are some of my favorite pages from a children's book I illustrated that was never published. It's been several years since I made these and they are still some of my favorite artwork I've done for a book.

[keydekyie]

Depressed? I'm the furthest thing from depressed. I mean, look at what I've accomplished.

[soapsinthebox]

Study date

(finally finished it WOOOO!!)

[amrubrum]

Evangeline in ACFTL asking: "What are you to me?"

and Jacks answering: "Nothing."

VS

How he actually felt like:

[punchable-panda]

Everyone’s really excited about season 2 because of Grover in a wedding dress and Percy as a hamster but they took out all the fun parts of season 1 like saying sorry to the pink poodle, DOA records, and drowning in a bathtub etc, I just think they might not put those in.

[cautiouslyyyoptimistic]

I personally think it would be funny that between books 1 and 2 AKA sqq's sexy widow era, airplane suggested writing as a way to get his feelings out. Since he was like ya know, grieving but he refused to call it grieving.

So shen qingqiu does it and he actually ends up liking it and just gets into a huge frenzy about it, writing purely for self indulgence. Like, the main character is so binghe coded its insane but he refuses to acknowledge it. There are many wacky and unhinged elements you wouldn't fully understand even if you were from the age of the internet. But then oops! It somehow gets leaked and copied everywhere and everyone reads it and its like a mega hit not just in the cultivation world, but also among civilians.

And everyone's like "wow great world building and charming characters, some character motivations were hard to follow sometimes, But overall a really original danmei concept! Hope the main pairing get together next book!"

And shen qingqiu is like "... I wrote danmei!?!?"

[moondaepuppy]

Debut or die au where they're all shapeshifters, and that one time when keun sejin accidentally shifted at school (his form is a hella massive bear) so they have to cram him into a storage closet to hide him until he can transform back

[justfinishedreading]

Alice in the Country of Hearts, volume 1 by Soumei Hoshino and Quinrose

The plot? A classic case of a girl who feels not special or unique, suddenly thrust into a world where everyone is crazy interested in her. Add Alice in Wonderland imagery, with guns and violence, and a lot of silliness. This one stays in my collection because the cover is so beautiful, but I’m not interested in buying any more volumes. 

Review by Book Hamster

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[bear-pattern-hamster]

"Carrie ＆ Kirby Café🧁🌟☕"

This is Carrie, a hamster with a bear pattern on her butt.

She is a female golden hamster🧸🐹

"📖Paperback🎉"

[joe-spookyy]

matthew | he/him (any pronouns are ok) | evil fag

hi i’m matty. short for matthew long for matt. i post and i reblog and i answer asks and dms and i love to yap about anything and everything always. and i’m down to be mutuals! if i was a beast i'd be a coyote and i LOVEEEEE werewolves.

i post: horror (reanimator american werewolf in london the lost boys the thing jaws my beloved) and practical effects and star wars (luke skywalker just like me) and star trek and comic hawkeye (clint just like me) and the x men (iceman and cyclops just like me) and rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead and x-files and buffy the vampire the slayer (oz JUST like me and xander pretty similar to me) and indiana jones and (lego) batman and early universal monster movies and IT (mostly the book and miniseries but eddie just like me) and the muppets and music especially car seat headrest (but also check out my band one strange dog we’re on spotify). and i like joy and happiness and glee and good things and wonder.

spotify | letterboxd | FREE PALESTINE! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

dni: oscar sandy

[rodentbrains]

the way sidestep ortega and chen are forever tied to each other by heartbreak mostly/especially because they cannot talk about it to each other or those who weren't there. the way that dannys feelings reflect a general truth which is that as long as they dont talk about it there will always be a wall between them and everyone else. the way they don't even get the full comfort of the quiet knowledge that at least these two other people know exactly what you went trough due to the telepathic nature of the event. the way we know the least about heartbreak from ortega's perspective who came closest to experiencing it "objectively"