#but he genuinely empathises with Percy in the show

[sentientsliotar]

imagine if Grover told them it was a gift from his mom who just died at the base of the hill

K but honestly the most surprising thing to me is that Percy walked into Hermes cabin, opened his bag and his jellybeans were still there.

You're telling me that CANDY survived the HERMES KIDS UNSUPERVISED????

Sally Jackson must have some Jellybean protection magic or something because I was honestly expecting Percy to pull out an empty bag.

[anyoldfandom]

Genuinely another reason I am excited for Percy Jackson to be a show is bc I want it so badly to beat the shit out of Harry Potter. Fundamentally it is a more inclusive world than Harry Potter bc it was made for disabled kids and also makes disabled kids feel seen. Percy Jackson was written with love and it tells kids that you can make a difference. It empathises with antagonists that aren't nazis, but kids who've been fucked over by a system upheld by their parents, and then dismantles the system. It tells kids they can make a difference in the way the world works, not just that they can take down individual bad guys.

Also, just saying, Rick is actively making the cast diverse and while he has definitely fucked up in the past (looking at Piper so hard), at least he's growing and changing to be more inclusive and doesn't pussy foot around adding explicitly POC and queer and disabled characters.

[kingofterrors]

I was tagged in this ask by @inktog - thank you!

I’m not great at tagging other folk, but if you see this and you fancy doing it, consider yourself tagged! Also, by the way, if anyone seeing this really likes being tagged in these kind of things, let me know! I will tag you in future!

This was hard. At first I was like, “I’m not sure I can even name ten relationships I ship”, and then had far too many as soon as I thought about it for more than ten seconds. So here we are. :)

First, list your top 10 ships without reading the questions below.

1.      Luz Noceda / Amity Blight – The Owl House

2.      Harrowhark Nonagesimus / Gideon Nav – The Locked Tomb Series

3.      Sabran / Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra – The Priory of the Orange Tree

4.      Caleb Widogast / Essek Theyless – Critical Role Campaign 2

5.      Beauregard Lionett / Jester Lavorre – Critical Role Campaign 2

6.      Harrowhark Nonagesimus / Ianthe Tridentarius – The Locked Tomb Series

7.      Kara Danvers / Lena Luthor – Supergirl

8.      Amity Blight / Boscha – The Owl House

9.      Korra / Asami – The Legend of Korra

10.  Percy / Vexahlia – Critical Role Campaign 1

Then answer the questions.

Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I’m going to be honest, it was from the very beginning of Harrow the Ninth – the Prologue, where we get that amazing moment of Ianthe kneeling down and taking Harrow by the chin. I’m going to quote, because this scene just marched up to my house, kicked my door down and stole my entire mind.

You were shocked into opening your eyes when you felt the girl opposite cup your chin in her hands – her fingers febrile compared to the chilly shock of her gilded metacarpal – and put her meat thumb at the corner of your jaw. For a moment you assumed that you were hallucinating, but that assumption was startled away by the cool nearness of her, of Ianthe Tridentarius on her knees before you in unmistakable supplication. Her pallid hair fell around her face like a veil, and her stolen eyes looked at you with half-beseeching, half-contemptuous despair: blue eyes with deep splotches of light brown, like agate.

Looking deep into the eyes of the cavalier she murdered, you realised, not for the first time, and not willingly, that Ianthe Tridenatrius was beautiful.

Dude.

Have you ever read a fic about 2?

Yup! More than one! I don’t generally seek out smut for my ships, for whatever reason, but I freely admit that I sought out smut for these two. And found it. Found it with quality in spades. Praise be. Is this a good spot for recs? If so:

Sleepless by pugoata

Like a Lullaby by SweetScentences

Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/profile pic/tumblr?

Nope. I tend not to change my pics very much, and they tend to focus on single characters rather than ships, again for whatever reason.

If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Yeah… Well of course they’re not together in canon. I ship supercorp foolishly, helplessly, knowing all the while that the chances of it becoming reality are vanishingly small. That said, we don’t ship purely for canon, do we? So if Kara and Lena were together and then were to break up I’d be disappointed, but I suspect they’d find their way back to each other. These two have a history of being separated, then rediscovering their love and coming back together. I give it a couple of weeks. :)

Why is 1 so important?

Man, I don’t know! It snuck up on me! I think there’s something here about firstly, the context for Lumity. Amity’s crush on Luz was just presented as normal, as something fine and good and natural, and that meant so much to me. There’s a softness here that I love so much. I also heavily empathise with Amity – the trying to live up to expectations and feeling that you have to hide yourself behind emotional walls – and the thought of her finding love with someone like Luz who is so open and emotionally giving does my heart good. I want Amity to find acceptance and openness with Luz. I want Luz to find herself seen and valued for exactly who she is by Amity. I want to see them finding strength and security in each other. I just love them, you guys.

There’s a bit in this wonderful YouTube video essay, which I recommend to the moon and back – watch it if you haven’t! (“The Owl House is Great and Here’s Why, by Film Freak”) Where the essayist concludes their section on Lumity by saying: “I don’t know if Disney will chicken out in the future with regards to Lumity or any other queer rep, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic. Maybe I just have rose-tinted goggles for how soft this ship is, but whatever, let me stan just once.”

And… yeah. That.

Which one has the strongest bond?

Wow, tough one. Probably Sabran and Ead. They’ve gone through everything together, and are prepared to wait for each other in the end. Their bond is strong enough to take that and more.

Which ship has lasted the longest?

For me or the ship itself? For me of all of these probably Korra / Asami. Shipped ‘em first time I saw LoK, and haven’t stopped.

How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

Have they ever gotten together? If they ever did get together they’d break up every couple of days. These two are a mess, and their relationship is a toxic trainwreck. Still ship ‘em though. Can’t help it. Sometimes ships are just fascinating. If this was real life I’d want them to not come within shouting distance of each other. In fiction I’m riveted.

If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive: 2 or 8?

Definitely Harrow and Gideon. Those two have fought through apocalyptic situations before, and my money would be on them to do it again. Plus they are the quintessential battle couple. Can you imagine Harrow’s bone magic and Gideon’s martial expertise being unleashed on zombies? Those two would save the whole damn world.

Amity and Boscha would put up a good fight, I think, but I can see them disagreeing on key decisions which might hurt their chances.

Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

Given that Kara is a whole secret identity, we could say they are continually hiding their relationship when Kara is out there as Supergirl? I could also see them hiding their relationship at Lena’s insistence to protect Kara from Lex before she realised Kara was actually Supergirl. She might even want to do that afterwards as well, on reflection. Lena is very protective of Kara, ironically enough. :)

Is 4 still together?

Right now? This is another non-canon ship. That said, this is one I’m genuinely hoping for a canon appearance from. Their relationship might be put under strain from the fact that they’re both mages, and mages tend to get selfish and power hungry (or at least these two claim that’s how it goes). I think they’d work through it though. These two talk big about their own selfishness a lot, and then in practice are very caring and protective of others. I can see that extending to each other. Just kiss already.

Is 10 canon?

Yup! My token het ship are still very much together, growing old and having babies.Good for them. :)

If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

This is an invitation to go into huge depth, but my initial feeling is that Harrow and Gideon would again have it hands down. Those two are world-endingly powerful. Although that said, Kara and Lena might give them a run for their money. Pure power ranking? Let’s see…

1.      Harrow / Gideon

2.      Kara / Lena

3.      Korra / Asami

4.      Beau / Jester

5.      Caleb / Essek

6.      Percy / Vex

7.      Harrow / Ianthe

8.      Sabran / Ead

9.      Amity / Luz (no shade, but these guys are literal children. Grown up they’d put up a better showing, I’d bet)

10.  Amity / Boscha

Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5?

I mean… Fjord? I wonder sometimes what would have happened if Beau had genuinely put in a play for Jester, rather than stepping back to let Fjord make his move. She very obviously decided that Fjord should have a free shot, and I wonder how it would have worked if she actually decided to compete. Would Fjord have stepped back to let Beau make a try for Jester if he was aware of her feelings? I don’t know. A genuine competition would have been heartbreaking but oh so interesting to see.

Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr tag?

Not hours, but I have put some good time into finding fanart for these two. There is some good work out there!

If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you SINK?

Amity / Boscha. Sorry you two! I wrote myself into shipping Amity and Boscha, when I fell in love with Boscha and decided she could actually be good for Amity in a snarky, take no shit kind of a way. I would still love to see more of them. (Halfway through that one-shot btw.) But if it was them or everyone else? Sorry guys. :(

[musingsonbooks]

Foretold: Review

4/5 Stars

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Foretold!

Foretold was a fun book to dive into. As someone who struggles with their own mental health, it was a refreshing (if at times painful) representation of how difficult a condition like OCD is to live with and Lumani does an excellent job at never letting us forget what Cassandra is going through. Her writing shines when she pulls us into Cassandra's head, reminding us again and again of that fear, that catastrophic thinking.

For me, Foretold reminds me a little of Percy Jackson. With ‘Cassandra’ and the scryers it's hard not to notice the influence of Greek myth. Combine this with an underground world, a summer camp - however fake it might be - and a final quest and the comparison becomes apparent. That being said, Foretold is not a Percy Jackson rip off, the plot twists, the trauma, and the characters are all unique and wonderful in themselves.

I spoke already about how much I liked Cassandra. While she might not be the happiest protagonist, her pain and her suffering make sense in context. And unlike some YA fiction girls, she's not all sad all the time - a trap that a lot of YA Protagonists fall into. Cassandra is influenced by her OCD, always on the lookout for disaster; she's caught up by the trauma of losing her mother and her desperate need to save Colin, but anxiety isn't the only emotion we see from her. Throughout the novel Cassandra is kind, she's funny, she makes you empathise for her plight. The relationships she builds with her friends and mentors feel genuine, and you're happy for her to have found a place where she belongs.

Speaking of her friends, I enjoyed them immensely. All too often, the friends of a protagonist feel washed down and out. There were times, especially in the beginning, where Griffin and Regan felt like cardboard cutouts; here's the funny chatterbox, here's the school bully, but the more we got to know them the more engaged I became. Griffin and Regan's constant banter reminded me of my own friend group, and that only made me like them more. Seeing them support Cassandra, through her failings and her triumphs, no matter what she was going through, reminded me of what friends are for.

And then there's Colin. Throughout the novel, I wanted to learn more about him. This is where I think Lumani fell short. In trying to sell a fairytale romance, she reduced him to a bland, perfect prince. His troubles felt trivial compared to Cassandra's, though I don't mean to undermine him, and especially in the first half of the novel I found him painfully flawless. It wasn't that I disliked Colin, just that every time he appeared I felt like Lumani was forcing me to love him. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed that there was little time put into love triangles and a messy romance (the bane of any YA novel) but I would have liked to learn a little more about Colin, glimpsed at what secrets he might be hiding.

That being said, his sections were a breath of fresh air in a novel where tension never quite disappears. At its core, I would say Foretold is a story about grief. Like many YA novels, it's a coming of age story but it's also one saturated with the loss of a parent, the loss of an 'unbroken' brain. A disorder like OCD doesn't make you broken, but I understood Cassandra's struggle with it, her mourning of a 'normal' life. Being different often leaves you lonely, and that loneliness is painful to live with. It's no surprise to me that Cassandra latched onto her identity as a scryer when she found out about her gifts, the chance to settle into a new normal.

There were times throughout the novel where the pace felt sluggish, other times where it raced ahead, but I don't think it was a bad book. In fact, for a YA audience, I think Foretold is an important read. Even now, in 2021, it's difficult to find YA protagonists with mental health issues who still get to go on fantastical adventures without being magically cured. Disabled people deserve escapism that includes them too and Foretold does an excellent job showing us the difficulties that come with OCD while also giving Cassandra a gift and powers that most teens can only dream of.

Overall, I enjoyed Foretold. It's definitely a book I would recommend to a friend or family member, even if they weren't a YA themselves. I look forward to a chance to read the sequel when it comes out!