#but what happens because of that premise gets complicated fast

[not-poignant]

I really wish I could be better at expressing my thoughts well enough at the end of each chapter rather than making unsightly gurgling noises every chance I get but truly I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for Palmarosa. It's exactly what I needed from this fandom and I'm so happy someone with your level of skill and experience was the one to gift us that. I'm at the point when I'm thinking about it no joke for at least half my waking hours. I've been absolutely bewitched and I CANNOT stop thinking about the overarching plot or your beautiful characterizations. I'm in like, SO fucking deep bro it's not even funny. Jesus. Anyway thanks again for the good food and I'm at the edge of my seat, always, to see where it all goes. Hope you have a good day pia!

You gotta start thinking about other things! Like kazoos and that weird noise they make. Or really grumpy looking frogs that biologically don't know how to smile. Or the stale taste old icecubes get. Or like...er...

sadflkjds

Anyway thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! I can't wait to finish the next chapter, I'm about a third of the way through, or just over, and it's still so horny it's like 'Raphael you'd better not be having sex for the whole chapter' and Raphael's just 'why not I can do what I want.'

Like damn, I didn't sign a contract with the guy but you'd never know that from the way he acts

(*bounces happily that you're enjoying it!)

[vlovann]

Hazbin Boss: A Theory ⚠️ SPOILERS for “Full Moon” And “Apology Tour”!!!⚠️

I’m super curious if this is gonna end up with a crossover to Hazbin Hotel at some point.

First

I think Blitzø and I.M.P are going one of two ways.

1. After a week or so of Blitzø not having energy to do anything, I.M.P will crash for a while because…while he has everything he needs to make his business even more successful, it’s not even worth it because in the end since the visitation of him and Stolas is what kept it together. With his new revelations, he’ll refuse to use it out of guilt for using Stolas. If there’s no hope for them, there’s no hope for anything else. They’ll all need to get different jobs. Honestly, I can see Blitzø working at a fast food joint as a bitter employee or being a job hopper because he can’t find anything that really sparks him like, y’know, his own business. Maybe he’d lose everything and him and Loona would have no choice but to move in with Moxxie and Millie (to their own dismay), causing a kind of roommate sitcom dynamic. Despite their help and attempts to comfort, this is the lowest Blitzø has been in his life. They can’t help him. He’s entered his darkest depression.

He just stays glued to his phone on the couch until he sees a reminder of Stolas, has a mental breakdown, and then watches TV to distract himself.

OR

2. It’ll go the corporate route, partially (entirely) out of post-it’s complicated spite and a manic episode, Blitz DOES use the gem to boost his business. They’ll move out of that business complex and into a shiny new building. They’ll recruit more employees to receive bounties with a whole system, more hitmen, etc. Everything is changing for the “good of the company”, but really, it’s all a distraction from how Blitzø really feels. Like something is missing. Like Stolas is missing.

They have a grand reopening party and the OG crew watches Blitzø interacting with a bunch of other prospects and investors and realize it’s not that close knit family anymore. They don’t have anymore say on how things operate and they’ve become subordinates (I hate that word). He’d be pushing them away, maybe even to the point of resigning as well. This would nearly send Blitzø past the point of return. Having the same results as #1.

BUT THEN

They seem to be inching towards the same premise of forgiveness that makes up the basis of Hazbin Hotel. Maybe Blitzø will try therapy. But all of them in hell are too fucked up, so he uses his gauntlet to go to earth in disguise, see how fucked the US healthcare system is, making a bigger hitlist than ever before.

It splits again here. Either he’ll try one therapist for like two weeks and think he knows more than the therapist like people who can’t admit when they’re wrong seem to think.

OR

he’ll try a bunch of different therapists, none of them fit whether they talk too much or too little, give him homework, send him to a mental health institution where he promptly breaks out…when he finds a $ex therapist who has pride stuff everywhere, is LGBT and Kink affirming, asks him his pronouns, etc. (He did NOT know this was a thing). It goes well and he actually notices small changes.

BUUUTTTT just as things started going well, something happens to the gauntlet and he can’t get to the mortal realm.

Sometime after is when he sees Charlie’s commercial on the TV for the Hotel and finds his way to get help.

I ran out of hypothetical juice. I’ll repost if I come up with something, but I need FOOD.

[circuitspinner]

got any spiderverse fic recs?

actually, i do! it's pretty much all ghostflower though (and entirely gwen-focused due to my personal biases; i do intend to branch out more at some point) so sorry if you wanted something a little different!

(also, this isn't every fic i've read and liked, just some of my absolute favorites!)

look at me, falling fast is a fic that i have thought about literally daily since i first read it, which means a little over two weeks now. it goes over gwen's perspective of the scenes we get with her and miles on earth-1610 in atsv, and its take on these characters (and gwen in particular) just clicked with me in a way not a lot of fics i've read in this fandom have so far

threading the needle is the only incomplete fic on this list, because i generally avoid things that are unfinished- it was published as a one-shot initially, and the first chapter can be taken as a standalone. the premise is pretty simple: how would atsv be different if gwen had known about the existence of earth-8? once again, i just love the way she's characterized here, especially in that first standalone chapter.

watercolor skies is set sometime after the hypothetical end of btsv, where gwen still hasn't returned home to earth-65. for lack of a better way to phrase it, there's something that feels very relatable about her complicated relationship with her father.

salad days takes place during the timeskip between gwen joining up with the spider society and finally going to earth-1610. i don't have a lot to say about it, other than (like everything on this list) i really like the way it handles the characters.

waiting is a little alternate-universe fake dating au (that spirals into a full-on series that ends up hitting some of the same beats as atsv does, interestingly enough) that i think is really fun to see with these characters! gwen actually makes a decent first impression on miles' parents in this universe

watercolour girl is, in some sense, about gwen's relationship to her hair- and how it relates to the people she loves.

a litany for survival is about the canon events in gwen's life. it's something that just really resonated with me the first time i read it. something about the way it's written just really clicks for me, i think?

to slip from your tongue like words is actually from hobie's perspective; his observations on gwen's obvious affection for miles and his subtle (for him, anyway) attempts at encouraging her to go against the society.

ghost of me is about gwen struggling to cope with the guilt and grief over what happened with her world's peter parker, and being blindsided by the anniversary of his death.

[dungeons-and-dictions]

It’s Analysis Friday about precisely why Hazbin Hotel is such a stand out.

But first - this is probably my last Hazbin Hotel-related analysis until the next season; give me asks during this long dry spell!

Why on this specific topic? Because I’m tired.

Y’all.

Listen.

I’m all for subjectivity. People can just like or dislike things regardless of quality. Heck, I know Helluva Boss is part of the Hazbin world, but it gives me too much cringe and vicarious embarrassment to handle.

(Yeah, I’m weird. I know)

But I keep hearing people say Hazbin Hotel is mid or just relying on hype.

Those are fighting words!

We are getting quality on par with Disney movies for a tv series!

That’s crazy! Let’s break it down.

Musical numbers

Talented singers play the main crew. Stephanie Beatrix plays Mirabel Madrigal, Kimiko plays Izzy, etc.

There were 2 songs per episode! And because it is truly perfect for a musical, we even get thematic reprises and callbacks!

Does anyone recall when similar things have happened in animation? MLP:FiM had a glorious episode that was ALL musical with a reprise. That’s all I have at this scale outside of Disney.

Characters

I’ve always known Vivzie to put thought into her work, and this shines through so well in Hazbin.

Lucifer’s depression is similar to my own

Angel’s gradual changes and struggles are realistic

Charlie’s breed of passion is the same as mine in my career

Alastor’s extremely manipulative yet we all love him

Velvette had one of the best formal character intros I’ve seen in a long time

Hazbin Hotel works really hard to get away from stereotypes, and dives in past superficial traits.

Also, we get things like Valentino sounding like he’s squeaking because moths squeak. We don’t need these things!

Animation

You know what else we don’t need?

Airplane arms!

Complicated dance moves!

Cute leg swishies with cuter sound effects?

Every second you see is 10+ frames traditionally. (Idk the studio’s technical details). That’s wild to add in these complicated extra details! And they flow so nicely! This level of quality for 2D (and honestly 3D too most of the time) is unheard of in the West nowadays.

And on that, western adult animated shows typically are so poorly made, especially in the art. Even the few I have seen that have okay stories to tell absolutely stink in terms of visuals and movement.

Story

Yeah, this is the biggest weakness Hazbin Hotel has, no doubt. The story is actually an incredible premise, and truly done pretty well within the awful time constraints. I think everyone is valid in saying it was far too fast! Hopefully we get more (or longer) episodes in upcoming seasons.

But at the same time, this is also the nature of musicals. If you think this is fast, don’t watch the Les Miserables musical where everyone only sings. Idk why, but singing the entire time makes everything seem like you’re in a race car on autopilot.

Don’t forget; the symbolism just drips out of the screen in this show. The fact that I could still do more analyses even now is a testament to that with all the content I have done since it aired. Vivienne goes hard on the details.

But put yourself in Vivzie’s shoes. You do the impossible, shot for the moon while hoping for maybe the top of a 5-story building, and you were offered the stars. Your project has been a part of who you are before you even went to university, and a major company gives you a way to bring it to life? Why wouldn’t you settle for this good of a deal?

Innovation

People do not bring up often enough that Vivienne broke a glass ceiling separate from that of gender. She showed that YouTube animations can be taken seriously, and even be aired.

In this age, the Saturday morning cartoon blocks I grew up with no longer exist. There were tons of great shows, and I could talk with other kids about it. Nestled within these weekends were shows that ran short pilot episodes for potential series. The last time I saw one was Adventure Time’s pilot.

It’s been a whiiiiiiile.

So having a cutesy little indie pilot animation amongst thousands on YouTube be such high quality and get a mainstream platform? Spindlehorse made history!

Moreso, Helluva Boss is also demonstrating the capacity of indie studios like never before - and what may pave the way for the future of animation too.

Out of all the animated series running on YouTube, Glitch is the only creator who does 3D that I am aware of. Even Glitch’s work has only started within the past few years, ie after Vivienne managed the impossible.

So please, stop complaining about subjective parts so much. Hazbin Hotel objectively has some of the highest craftsmanship in western animation.

We are blessed that Vivienne’s dream has come true in such a glorious manner. When I discovered her back in 2012, I couldn’t have guessed the pilot would be so successful, nor that it would change what was possible for animation!

[latentspaceofficial]

research tangent! scp x wh13

so this is something a little bit different than what i normally talk about. i'm putting on a different cap today. ok little nerd moment thats been living rent free in my head for days. ive got an antistatic bag on my desk thats been sitting here for a while and i noticed something familiar

that sure as hell looks like the scp foundation logo

which got me really thinking. so its very obvious to me that the scp logo takes inspiration from this iso or ansi symbol. but whats even more odd was looking at the timeline of the scp wikis birth. im a zillenial (god i hate that word) so my childhood was watching markiplier play scp:cb, scrolling the old wiki, fucking with cleverbot. fun stuff like that. i was still a drooling idiot. when sci-fi renamed to syfy. but i remember the switchover and not being allowed to watch eureka because there were some "goddamns" in there. but i was allowed to watch warehouse 13, in spite of steve's existence. i was way too into the steampunk and lore of warehouse 13 when it was relevant. so much so i had a fucking farnsworth ringtone on my lg shit phone and i thought it was the coolest thing. i'm also still gay as hell for h.g. wells and her fit.

but anyway anyway. the premise of warehouse 13 was finding dangerous "artifacts" that imbued special status affects on people and to neutralize them with "neutralizer grid polyethylene static bags" as they say. their motto being "snag it. bag it. and tag it." or something to that effect.

what im getting at is that warehouse 13 has a similar premise to the scp foundation, but more mainstream comedy and less psychological horror. there's a tangential link between wh13 with scp via anti static bags and the symbol. so i looked into this a bit. through cursory searches, i didn't find anyone really talking about this other than a similar premise. so i looked at timelines. in july 2008 the scp foundation wiki (idk which one) was started, while wh13 piloted on july 2009. with a year delta, it seems clear "who stole from who". but wait. writing, pitching, and filming takes quite a while. is a year really enough time? i can't find any trademarks registered by universal nor any evidence of a canadian filming license. so this is where i stopped typing on my phone and started researching. the waters are a bit muddy, so bear with me. wh13 was co-written by a handful of people and rewritten as well. but the original plot was announced by sci-fi here in october of 2007

according to wikipedia (the free encyclopedia), inspirations for warehouse 13 include the x-files, raiders of the lost ark, something called moonlighting, and this show from the late 80s and early 90s called "friday the 13th: the series". i'd never heard of it, but it shares the vaguest premise with both wh13 and scp to keep bad artifacts away from harming people.

well what about the scp wiki? when did it form? well it's complicated. (i'm sorry for my poor cropping, it will happen again)

the scp wiki itself states that the original scp came from 4chan and that a lot of original organization happened on 4chan. indeed 4chan is the source of famous scps such as 173

posted on june 2007 is the original lore post about 173 and can be seen as the beginning of scps. which pre-dates the announcement of wh13. i don't know about you, but how fast you could go from trolling 4chan to a pilot script? at this point "some government authority retrieving dangerous magic embued items" was not a previously done idea and was indeed original. the x-files kinda did this before with balancing larger plot arcs with mini plot supernatural occurrences, not all aliens. but nothing about being an authoritative group that comes in and cleans up super natural mishaps. nah, mulder and skully just stayed in the basement or took an occasional road trip to see a whistleblower. i honestly love scp far more than wh13, but i'm going to be the devil's advocate and not give the new era spin on an old idea to the scp wiki just yet. 173 is an scp, but the idea of scps is not fully laid out yet. the thread was also deleted days later and thus only lived in the minds of active forum users of the time as fan derivatives were made. so there was a period of time where the fandom had started to form, but no official wiki existed. the semi official scp wiki formed in january 2008. later than the announcement of wh13 but before the pilot of the show ever aired in july 2009. so it's always possible the writers were 4channers and yoinked the idea. again, it's so fascinating how close in time and narrative the scp wiki and wh13 are. i personally doubt the writers were on 4chan at the time, but neither the wiki nor the show writers exist in a vacuum. i think it all warrants scrutiny and there's no smoking gun saying who inspired who, or if it's absolute coincidence. that is unless some ogs from the scp wiki or the writers of wh13 are able to speak on it. i'm curious what other people think.

[finalgirlminamurray]

quick mini reviews of various other books i've read this year:

the eyes are the best part by monika kim. this was pretty good. i read it a couple weeks ago and flew through it in one day (do not use my ability to read quickly + amount of time i sometimes have to do it as any sort of average metric). i like a good complex female protagonist and the gorier parts are appropriately both gross and satisfying. what surprised me about this one is that it's mostly a fairly realistic family drama, but those parts are very well-done and compelling. the main character's relationship with her family and the complicated dynamics among them feel very real in a way that doesn't necessarily have to be drawn from life (i do read the acknowledgements, and i appreciated the author thanking her mom and saying she's nothing like the main characters' mother. not everything female and minority authors write is autobiographical, you know...) i'd recommend it. i don't think the gore is too bad if you're bad at handling that stuff but then again my perspective on that is a little skewed.

fantasticland by mike bockoven. this was one of the books i was most excited to read while waiting for my library's copy to come back in and it did not disappoint. most intense episode of defunctland ever. basic premise is that the employees of a fictional florida theme park (not intended to be an analogue for any real ones; disney world and universal studios both still exist in this setting) get trapped inside the grounds when a major hurricane hits and end up going full lord of the flies within a few weeks. the story is told through a series of interviews with each chapter presented as a survivor of the incident giving their account to the in-universe author of a book about it. i really liked this one. reading the back cover seems to build up expectations of a much more sensational story than it actually is; it ends up a lot more realistic-feeling than i expected, with the characters genuinely feeling a lot like real people (mostly teenagers and college students) all trying to process the situation they were just in. there's some ambiguously-supernatural stuff in a couple chapters, and if there's one thing i don't think worked it's that the book is maybe not quite long enough to give a feel of how things spiraled out of control as fast as they did. (i was expecting more of a gradual buildup, i guess.) most of what happened seems to be the fault of one guy immediately forming his faction into a violent gang of every-man-for-himself marauders, but i think that's also disturbingly realistic for the kind of masculinity-idolizing guy who's a little too eager for a real apocalypse to happen. also recommended, i feel like this one slipped under the radar a bit.

bunny by mona awad. going backwards a little to stuff i read over the summer, this was on my tbr for a while because it gets a lot of circulation. i liked it more than i was expecting, since "grad school/mfa hell" is kind of its own genre at this point with all the expected cliches associated with it. lot of reviews comparing it to heathers and mean girls and while i would lean more towards the vibe of the former i'm surprised none of them brought up the secret history, even though that's the go-to "dark academia" book. it's more explicitly supernatural-horror themed but i think it's a worthy successor if you want more in that vein focused on female characters. and if the term "dark academia" hasn't lost all meaning at this point. it's a quick read and i thought it was worthwhile but it's probably not for everyone - again, it's a highly specific subgenre and people are as likely to be annoyed by that as to like it. speaking of which...

hangsaman by shirley jackson. this is what bunny actually reminded me the most of, although probably because i ended up reading it right after hangsaman and was already primed to think about it. of the three jackson novels i've read i would have an absolutely impossible time picking a favorite, but this is probably the most underappreciated. (i do still need to read her actually underappreciated work like the road through the wall and the sundial.) fiction doesn't have to be relatable for you to appreciate it of course but i also felt like this was the closest thing i've read to an actual reflection of my first-year college experience. mostly due to me also being a reclusive introvert who didn't talk to anybody. so maybe not that much like my college experience overall but also natalie waite is literally me. when it counts. anyway this was really good. my last thought is that i was fully expecting tony to be revealed to be imaginary at some point but she never is, at least not explicitly, so maybe that's why i was still surprised by a certain twist in bunny.

the collector by john fowles. oh man this book. almost certainly the scariest or at least most effective horror novel i've read so far this year. if you want a story about a serial killer (or, at least by what's implied by the ending, the beginning of one) that really makes you feel for the victim as a real person in a horrifying situation this is it. what gets me about this one is that the situation objectively isn't as horrifying as others that try to do the same thing - she isn't being tortured or sexually assaulted or confined in unpleasant conditions, she's just being kept in an isolated house and not allowed to leave. i think most stories like this would invite some sympathy with the antagonist because of their psychology just making them really detached from reality, especially since we do get his pov first and last, but by the end of the book you will absolutely loathe him. the complete lack of empathy or ability to see his captive as a human being. especially since we very much do get to see her as one. funnily enough i was thinking about how some of the sections from her pov when she's just remembering stuff about her life from before she was kidnapped are the kind of thing i would find pretty uninteresting in a different book but here it adds to the effectiveness. there's some interesting themes here about the intersection of class and gender politics that were very much intentional too. will probably write more about this one in separate posts because it's the kind of book that stays with you.

haunted by chuck palahniuk. of his novels i’d only read fight club before this year so i picked this out of my current workplace’s more extensive collection and had a really good time with it. well maybe not wholly a “good” time because some of the stories in it are a lot but it was an excellent read. since it’s both a novel and a collection of short stories it might be hard to review as a whole so i might end up making more posts about this one too. some parts would definitely require some extensive trigger warnings before recommending but i think it all works really well for what it’s doing. there’s a good mix of the disturbing and the absurd here; i like when authors use this format to fully indulge all their weirder ideas. the first story “guts” really sets the tone here; palahniuk has said that whenever he reads this one live at least some audience members end up fainting and i don’t know if that’s from the content or them holding their breath at the start as instructed but i was certainly squirming in my seat reading it. fun stuff.

carmilla by j. sheridan le fanu. rounding things out i followed up this year’s dracula reread with another vampire classic. this one’s a novella and a pretty short read; i had picked up a new edition at the bookstore last month with a postmodernist introduction by carmen maria machado, whose works i read back in college and generally liked a lot. not sure how much this adds to the text of the novella, positing it as a real historical document edited and censored by le fanu, but then again i was reading the book for the first time and not primarily there for the intro. overall it feels like a dreamy and slightly surreal dry run for most of the vampire tropes that would become enshrined by dracula 25 years later. not that it isn’t good on its own, though. it’s insane how openly gay this is for the time; i know that close affection between women wasn’t necessarily read as romantic back then but like. at one point laura briefly wonders if carmilla is a man in disguise, which she thinks would actually make their intimacy more understandable. you can make an argument for gay subtext in parts of dracula but this isn’t even subtext it’s just right out in the open. i loved it to be clear although it does kind of run out of steam towards the end. you can really see the influence this had on dracula which feels like it earns its ending more thanks to having more time to establish the characters and build up the threat of its villain. it’s still highly recommended reading if you’re interested in the origin of a lot of vampire fiction staples. and lesbian vampires of course

that’s about enough for one post but i will forever continue updating on the books i read. reading is so fun everyone should do it

[biwenqing]

My Thoughts on: Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

I picked this up after I finished my reread of Golden Stage/Terrace, looking for a relationship that felt similarly balanced. I think I found it, but the books are also so different it would be a disservice to compare them. Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know is very much a story of the fantastic with lots of playing with tropes (which is a soft spot of mine). You can read the details on the Carrd and you can read the translation here on WordPress.

Things I adored:

The characters: Just about every one of the main characters (except for the ones you were supposed to hate/dislike) are delightful! Moral codes are all over the map, but that's what made it so great. No one was fully good or bad, and the story explores the ways that work in this world. The characterizations were delightful, especially considering that the POV does shift around a lot. There are some characters' POVs that would feel a bit dragged out now and then, but that was so rare and usually ended in advancing the plot so masterfully, I could easily forgive it.  

The premise: The fan-favorite character/secondary male love interest of a terrible hetero romance novel has said novel dropped on his head with a note asking him to fix the reader hated ending. It seems like a simple set up, but it gets so complicated and the ways it dives into some of the existential questions that comes up when you find you are a character in a story is masterful. I don't want to say more because I don't want to spoil it - I went in unspoiled and the twists that came up around the premise delighted me!

The worldbuilding: This had some of the most detailed and specific descriptions of the way cultivation worked (advancing and regressing in levels), as well as details on different cultivation paths to follow. At first, it felt like a lot, until it became clear how important it was to the story as a whole. By the time I was five chapters in, I no longer felt it was clunky and instead leaned into the insight it provided. 

Ties into characters but I feel needs its own shout-out - the female characters: There are three main ones, the "female lead" of the romance novel, and two high-ranking leaders in the demonic sect. They are all so different from each other and the stereotypes I feared would plague them were subverted or played with masterfully. Definitely shipping potential abounds between all three too, if that sweetens the deal. Support women's wrongs!!!

The romance: terrible bastard men miscommunicate at each other. Okay, not really, it's a lot more complicated than that. I will note that this is definitely a plot-heavy story so if you are looking for a more heavily romance focused, it might not be for you. But if you LOVE slow burn, unrequited love that is actually mutual, leveling of power imbalances so the relationship works better, exploring toxic and non-toxic possessiveness, power couples, and in a lot of ways friends to lovers, this story is for you!

Things I didn't like:

I don't think I have any? I couldn't read it fast enough? Like I said, some places would slow down a little, but it usually made sense in the context of a story that spanned so many decades.

Content Warnings:

Do pay attention to what is mentioned on the summaries. I think I'd more strongly warn for rape - the victim is a male character  assaulted by a female character, and it is brushed off in a way that made me uncomfortable, but I think that was also sort of the point? It does happen off screen. The male character ends up marrying the character who assaulted him sooooo... yeah. Be aware of that and take care of yourself! 

[halfagone]

DID YOU SAY THAT YOU READ WEBTOONS? What uh.... What are your favorites? 👉👈 I'm still trying to wean off reading manga, and the only webtoons I've read are Queen Cecia Wears Knickerbockers and Wayne Family Adventures 😂

Yes, I have read quite a few Webtoons in my day (Why do I sound so old right now?) I have not heard about the Queen Cecia Webtoon, but Wayne Family Adventures is a very good choice, in my totally unbiased opinion. 🤣

If you want more DC Webtoons, then there is Red Hood: Outlaws and there is Zatanna & The Ripper. I haven't caught up with either of them, but if you do love those characters or want to see more from them, I definitely commend checking those out. There was also the Vixen: NYC Webtoon, but unfortunately that one seems to be cancelled now. 🥺

If you're interested in completed Webtoons, then I have a few offerings. I love Siren's Lament, it's a wonderfully complicated Webtoon even if it does hurt my heart sometimes. Gourmet Hound is more of a slice of life with some drama for added effect, but I really did adore that Webtoon that the art was just so cute!! Flow has some incredible worldbuilding mechanics and it's just so tasty. If you want more hero Webtoons, then there's I Don't Want This Kind of Hero, although that one does contain some distressing themes at times so like... beware. And then there is one of my ultimate favorites, which is called Gepetto, which is inspired and based on the Pinocchio tale but more futuristic and dystopian, if that's your fancy.

As for ongoing Webtoons, there's Marry My Husband, which is one of those time travel Webtoons where the MC dies and comes back to life sometime in the past and tries to fix their future. The main story is done, but they do have side stories which have been super cute to read.

There's the ever famous The Remarried Empress, and you'll probably see a lot of references to characters from this Webtoon if you read other Webtoons with a similar premise of- arranged marriage, terrible consort, attractive male lead that is decidedly not the husband, but don't worry he will be.

There is a newer Webtoon called I am the Villain, which is part of the Isekai genre, I would say. It's a beautiful Webtoon, the art is just stunning, and I have no idea what's going on but I'm having a great time.

For more action-based Webtoons, there is Eleceed and if anything happened to my boy Jiwoo I will kill everyone in this room and then myself. And apparently I've done a poor job of that promise because this boy has gone through it, but he still a sweetheart and I love him for that.

There's also the Omniscient Reader, which was actually originally a webnovel called Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, but has since been turned into a manhwa and it's so long but it's so good. I love my sunfish man and ugly squid king (bonus points to anyone who knows that reference).

Here is a Webtoon I have complicated feelings about: Tower of God. This was actually the first ever piece of media I published fanfiction for. It's this really incredible, complex, mind-bending fantasy Webtoon. It is very long, it currently stands at 581 chapters and counting. Unfortunately, the fandom ruined the experience for me, and I pretty much quit all of my fics and that's how I found myself here in the DPxDC fandom! There is an anime for it, currently just Season 1 is out but fingers crossed on Season 2! 🤞But definitely read it first before you watch because the pacing is a little fast for the anime and you don't get that same sweet, sweet tension. I am lucky enough that I do still have one beloved friend that I can talk about Tower of God with, or else I think I probably wouldn't have put it on this list at all.

Eleceed, Omniscient Reader, and Tower of God are all manhwas, which are Korean manga for a shorthand explanation. So if you want to wean yourself off those forms of fiction then... maybe stay away from these because they can suck you in.

Speaking of beloved friend, @midnightenigma recommended to me the Like Wind on a Dry Branch Webtoon, and I am still so upset about it because I will never be the same. 😭 The worldbuilding for this Webtoon is amazing and I adore the slow building romance and plot, and the exploration of grief and just- I am not okay.

I have more things I could recommend but that's... probably as much as I should offer now. lol I hope you find a treat to read from the bunch, though!

[ladyhindsight]

CC is clearly biased for Herondales. She tries really hard to make the reader find Herondales attractive the truth is I never felt more dry reading about Jace, Stephen, Will and James. They do nothing for me. They all have the same personality except for James who has next to no personality aside for being constantly horny for Cordeila. I dare any person disagreeing with my statement give me 5 difference between Will, Jace and Stephen personality wise. Despite all her efforts to make us like Herondales I always found the other characters more attractive. Jem over Will. Anyone over Jace. Michael over stephen. Anna over James honestly anyone over James. Kit is a mini jace no originality. Freaking Manuel from TDA came off as more attractive than Jace and that says alot 💀.

Oh and can someone please tell me her obsession with eyes, weird ass body proportions and no one mentions the way shadowhunters walk sounds hilarious ngl like what what do you mean they walk like cats or lions or dancers. If shadowhunters's walks are like cats does that mean Jace walks are cattier cuz of all the extra angel blood. I try to picture Jace's walking and all I can imagine is Andrew tate's looney tunes fruity ass walk.

Her books are the fast food of literature as a booktuber described it as.

Period.

I said sometime before that the side characters are more interesting because they aren't (as) surrounded by Clare's bias or manipulative narration. Therefore more likable because I am not force-fed how great and amazing they are, I just get to take my time with them and get familiarized with their characters on my own. Problems also arise with Jace having problems more important than the others, that his issues are the grandest and most highlighted. Also Jace, Clary, and Simon are the only necessary characters whose stories are tied to the main plot. Even their romances (Clary with both Jace and Simon) have plot relevance. Others not so much.

As Clare's writing has always been more or less mostly telling than showing, it's not surprising that she needs to tell how amazing the Herondales are instead of actually basing her pretense on actually showing. Instead the readers are just offered this premise in every story, every other character is written just admiring and loving them, so it must be true? Just have characters fawn over someone and you bet the readers will also. Right.

Clare seems to think that other characters telling things is showing.

Clare's attention strips any side character of all intrigue and turns them into what Clare's protagonists usually are. Then they become all looks and hair and eye colors and wear white shirts through which their marks shine through (like Jace literally in every TMI book). Some concepts which Clare presents in her series are complex and complicated, I can agree with that, but her writing is unable to capture any depth or meaning of any of them. Attributing factor to this is her always ending up focusing majorly on love, especially the romantic kind of the main couple, as the motivator. I've read amazing pieces of TSC fan fiction, the kind of thoughtful and honest looks on the characters that Clare is unable to acknowledge on her part.

Her writing only presents the shallowest of emotions. Her writing on grief, loss, or love aren't really thought-provoking, just more cookie-cutter ideas on top of the previous ones. Not that all writing absolutely needs or has to be insightful, it's just that people pretend her writing is deeper than it actually is. Like people think chopped-up sentences are anything but surface-level poetry when in its essence poetry as an art and craft is more than that.

Everyone is so right on money with James' lack of personality. When he got furious with Grace (rightly so BUT) I felt really weird about it. Your message really helped me figure it out though: I had no idea of his personality nor any prediction on how he may react to more controversial happenings. Well, that's not true. Everyone on the Righteous Side of things in TSC always react with fury, roasting the antagonists crisp with their verbalism. But still I had no idea. Who is this guy calling Grace a criminal and a fiend? I don't know him at all.

And what makes the Herondales great really? I don't see why James or Will are anymore heroic than Clary, Cordelia, Emma, Simon, Alec, or Isabelle. I don't think Tessa as particularly heroic but that's also my faint memory of TID and disgust of her talking, so this is not to be entirely trusted.

[cumuluspro]

Choosing The Right BPM Platform:Why CumulusPro Straatos Stands Out

Are you confused by all the Business Process Management (BPM) platforms available out there? You must know your company's specific needs and problems before looking into the features of any BPM platform. BPM can serve a variety of purposes. Sometimes, you need to automate boring tasks, make it easier for teams to work together, or make your processes run more smoothly. Before choosing a platform, you should make sure you know exactly what you need.

Differentiating the good tools and software from the bad can be hard because so many claim to improve your workflows and make your processes more digital. But what BPM tools really help your process stand out from the rest? We are here to answer this question and explain why CumulusPro Straatos might be the answer you've been looking for.

Power meets simplicity

Its powerful features and easy-to-use interface make CumulusPro Straatos stand out. CumulusPro Straatos is great for situations where not everyone in your company is a tech enthusiast. Graphical drag-and-drop Process Designer makes it easy for even non-technical employees to set up digital business processes in minutes. Not having to worry about complicated coding is a good thing.

Scalability and flexibility

Businesses are all different, so what works for one might not work for another. These reasons make flexibility and scalability very important things to think about when picking a BPM platform. Web services, cloud applications, or on-premise business applications can all be easily connected to and integrated with CumulusPro Straatos. The CumulusPro Straatos BPM business process management system can grow with your business, whether you are running a small startup or a multinational company. This way, your processes can change as your business does.

Instant Access to Help You Make Smart Choices

It's essential to have real-time information about your processes in today's fast-paced business world. CumulusPro Straatos' Process Monitor gives you a comprehensive view of all ongoing and completed transactions so you can spot bottlenecks and fix important problems before they get worse. CumulusPro Straatos lets you manage your processes proactively for maximum efficiency, so you don't just react to problems as they happen.

Secure and Dependable Design

Protecting private business information is very important. So top BPM tools like CumulusPro Straatos are made to work perfectly with Microsoft Azure Cloud. There are built-in security controls and a team of more than 3,000 cybersecurity experts working to keep your data safe at all times.

Explore BPM solutions with CumulusPro Straatos at https://cumuluspro.com/

Original Source: https://bit.ly/3T4XZTJ

[hell-heron]

Ok so. The complaints masterpost bc I won't be sleeping OR writing my thesis today very obviously lmaoooo

The premise is: the kids aged 7-13 roughly of people who work for a certain company have a convention to go on a 14 days camp in the mountains which is organised according to an American college admissions officer's idea of wellroundedness even though no such thing exists here. So we have like 5-8 activities a day many of which are recurring/are trying for some sort of end result for example there's a 'film class' where we're attempting to wrangle our 40 tweens into all appearing in a 4 minute videoclip set to a The Family Madrigal filk. The amount of 'yesss show us the unique talent which you surely have and are comfortable performingggg' of everything is overwhelming. The wellroundedness anxiety clusterfuck timetable is theoretically varied and well split but actually everything that isn't about sports or performing is heavily sacrificed for the sake of logistics and the film project. I'm really hating the film project because the main task Is getting the other 35 to shut up while a small group is filming their talent and i feel like a prison guard.

Obviously this age range is insane for the lenght of the stay, the younger kids are constantly weeping and failing to mesh, the one-size-fits-all supervision policy does NOT work, and overall we have ten thousands logistical issues from it

The parental feedback and communication aspect is suffocating. They call home every other day, they receive messages every night (which obviously causes projectile weeping when some logistical issue means we lose a message or when someone has sane parents so they don't get messages every night like their roommates) we must post 50 pictures at least a day, which the parents use as basis for their complaints: someone for example called to ask why their child wasn't smiling in it, while one of mine, who I remind you are aged 10-12, told me his mother told him to ask why he was only in one of the pictures posted during the day. This is super alien to my formation and my ideas of what a sleepaway experience should be for and overall I don't wish to repeat the experience

Another issue is that we can't allow the younger kids to manage their own meds so we can't allow the older ones either, we confiscated all medical supplies on arrival, gave them to the infirmary and at morning and night we have to take the kids there and queue up so they can receive their allergy meds and ear hole disinfectant from a doctor. This is insane for our age group and a huge waste of time for the kids given out doctors keep some comfy hours and scold us if we ask them to come for some too minor emergency.

Another is we have uniforms which we replace and wash every day, this is both to make them more easily recognizable and because the younger kids are not really capable of managing their luggage etc that makes sense. However the whole process of managing the materials is so convoluted and fast-paced and unintuitive, the time allotted for the morning, shower and night transitions is kind of narrow, so it means that every time the kids are inside their rooms they have to be completely focused on quickly carrying out their procedures, if they goof off or leave the room or do anything else but prepare it complicates things immensely and that just sucks. There's a resentment this breeds in the worker because you think 'wtf, we provide 14 hours of unstopping fun for you all day, we only ask that you be focused and cooperative and not prioritizing fun for 30 minutes thrice a day, how can you make it so hard for us instead?' but it's not really what's happening because so little of it is real unstructured fun of the kind they want when they're chilling in their rooms, even though they really do enjoy the activities. The uniforms and backpacks and water bottles and everything are also low quality AND scarce so we can't do anything about the constant complaints which really erodes trust imho that you will be the person Who can help with their more serious problems. I feel like only using the uniforms for trips outside the Camp might have been better.

We also do pretty elaborate evening parties which are just unnecessary imho after very long intense days of activities and the entertainers are just so fucking whinyyy lmao the kids enjoy it plenty are plenty engaged but they still complain that the counselors don't motivate them enough and don't sit with them and don't participate actively enough like sorry if we need to keep a bit of a distance to observe discipline problems and also we work 15 hours a day with no break.

We always finish at midnight bc there's not enough night workers and we have to put the kids in bed ourselves and can't leave til they're calm, and after bedtime we have a group reunion and age-group reunion, the second of which is useful but both of which run long, and after that my coworkers still appear to hang out. I don't lol. This obviously leaves just the bare 8 hours to sleep, no time for anything else in the day, some of my coworkers I think have a bit more time for hygiene bc they live on the premises but they put me in a B&B a couple minutes away and it does sadly make a difference, i can't go to my room at any point during the day.

I had NO introduction to my duties whatsoever no tour of the premises no anything lmao, on the days where I should have done that I instead was sent to another city to bring home the Kids from the June Camp, sleep there and pick up the July ones. None of that was in the job description, it was told to me that I would Need to do that while I was on the train for the camp. My roommate Is a freshly 18 year old girl still with a year of high school to go and she still had to do that, though not on her own like me. Overall the circulation of information is painfully stilted, there's too many groupchats none of which i was added before the start.

[dyaz-stories]

wreck my plans || Eddie Munson x Reader

word count: 1.8k

warnings & tags: mentions of violence, implied bullying, hurt/comfort, unresolved tension, angst, pre season 4 so no big spoilers.

also available on ao3.

a/n: the idea for this one-shot is based on the same premise as @m0chaminx​‘s Beat Up, which i recommend you read! like about 80% of the fandom I haven’t stopped thinking about Eddie since the show dropped, so here’s a little something about him. the reader in this is kind of an OC i have in mind for the show, so i might write more with her in the future, depending on whether inspiration hits ^-^ i would love to hear from you, so feel free to let me know your thoughts! 

Ever since the year had started, you had gotten used to waiting for Eddie in the library. Not because you were dating, as some of the many assholes of this school liked to joke about — you didn’t know if they were making fun of him or of you, in that case — but because you had been… tutoring him. If you could call what you were doing tutoring.

Eddie was a quick thinker. If anything, it seemed his mind was running a little too fast, in every direction and things that he found uninteresting just got lost in that complicated maze.

Unfortunately, that included pretty much everything school-related. That meant that you could go over something with him one week and he’d understand it so easily that you wondered how he could have failed the past two previous years, and then he’d come back the next and it was all gone. Sometimes, it almost made you want to question your sanity.

Others, like right now and, in fact, every week for at least fifteen minutes before he deigned showing up, you asked yourself why you were even doing this. Sure, it was a favor your dad had asked of you, because he worked with Eddie’s uncle, but it still felt like such a waste of time, in such moments.

This week, though, it turned out that Eddie had a good reason for being late.

You heard him approaching the small corner of the library where the two of you worked (hid) and looked up, reviewing the snippy comments you’d come up with while waiting, but the words died on your lips as soon as you saw him.

“Holy shit, Eddie,” was what made it instead, a horrified whisper.

He gasped in fake horror.

“What kind of language is that, princess?”

You ignored the nickname. He’d been using it for a while and you knew that while he wasn’t doing it to be a dick, it also wasn’t a compliment coming from him. Instead, you got up and walked around the table to get a better look at him. The black eye was the first thing you’d noticed, of course, but the split lip looked like it had to be painful at well, and, based on the way he was holding himself, slightly hunched, you suspected there was more than you couldn’t see.

He cleared his throat, averting his eyes when you got close, and you thought you saw him blushing a little, but it was hard to tell what with— everything else going on with his face.

“Ah, come on, it’s nothing, let’s just—”

“It’s not nothing,” you protested. There was empathetic pain in your voice. “How did that happen?”

He sighed dramatically and let himself fall onto a chair, putting some more distance between the two of you. Despite his antics, he seemed to still refuse to meet your eyes.

“It’s that damn marching band. They cornered me and they used their instruments to beat me up. They’re really creative when it comes to using their trumpets.”

He glanced at you long enough to see you raising an eyebrow at him, and rolled his eyes in response.

“Come on, you’re meant to be the smart one. Who’d you think did that?”

The question stung more than you’d like to admit, because he was right. It took a special kind of confidence to do something like that. It took being certain that you were untouchable and that nothing would happen to you, and knowing that no one would even care enough to give you a hard time, because who gave a fuck about what happened to Eddie Munson, freak-in-chief at Hawkins High?

Last year, you would have put your money on Billy Hargrove without any hesitation. Billy liked getting into fights, and he was awful, but at least, and you couldn’t believe you were finding him redeeming qualities now, he was fair. He fought his own battles.

As far as you were aware, the new asshole in chief, the captain of the basketball team, liked to have two of his friends holding the people he didn’t like before he hit them.

Most people didn’t cross him, of course. They didn’t have much of a reason to, because Jason didn’t try to get on people’s nerves the way Billy did. When they did, though, like Eddie seemed to be unable not to do? When they did, it got ugly.

“I probably have something in my bag that could help,” you mumbled, quickly walking back to your spot.

You knew you did. The last few years had turned you into a very careful person. Sure, it was unlikely to run into a Demo-dog these days, but you never knew.

It had taken you by surprise once. You had been coming to tell Mrs Henderson that you hadn’t found her cat. You had been the first person she’d asked after Dustin. Being their neighbor, you had sometimes been tasked with watching over Mews during holidays, and she had hoped he’d run over to you. That had, unfortunately, not been the case.

You were walking over when the weird little abomination had started running to you with its face wide open. Fortunately, you and Dustin had managed to fend it off.

That had been your introduction to the strange things that were happening all around Hawkins. Then, of course, there had been the whole— Starcourt— thing, and you’d decided that it would be better if you always had things to help with injuries, particularly since Steve Harrington seemed prone to getting beaten up.

“Dang, were you getting ready for a fight?” Eddie asked, sounding both surprised and impressed, as you pulled out gauze and disinfectant.

“No, it’s just, uh— You know Max Mayfield? She skateboards and she, uh, falls. Often.”

Of course, Max hadn’t used her skateboard in months, maybe longer, but you doubted Eddie would know that.

“Sinclair’s ex, right?”

“Right,” you answered, “you know Lucas?”

While speaking, you grabbed a chair and pulled it so you could sit facing him.

“Yeah, he’s in Hellfire. Why do you know the freshmen?”

“I’m Dustin’s neighbor,” you shrugged. “I see them around all the time. Now come here, would you?”

“I don’t know, I feel like this might sting…”

You glared at him, and he shot you a crooked grin in response. Messing with you. You should have known.

“Come on, Eddie,” you said quietly. “I can’t leave you like that.”

His expression changed, looking almost sheepish, before he leaned forward a little.

You’d noticed this before. Eddie was all snark and dramatics and exaggeration, never letting anything else come through, defenses always up. But as you worked with him, you realized that they always crumpled when faced with genuine kindness. He was clearly delighted whenever you responded with the same tone as him, knowing he’d managed to get you, but when you refused to participate in his game? That was when you managed to catch a glimpse of a side of him you didn’t think he ever showed to people.

You kind of liked that.

Gently, you dabbed disinfectant on the cut, one hand softly holding his chin up. He flinched at the contact at first — not of the disinfectant, but of your touch, before he allowed it, though not without his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. His eyebrow twitched, but he didn’t express any discomfort, and it made you want to chuckle, comparing his stoic reaction to Steve’s protests, but you held it back. Explaining how you knew — and were friends with — Steve Harrington would be a lot more complicated than for Dustin and Lucas.

This time, though, it seemed you were the one who couldn’t meet Eddie’s eyes. His bore into yours, with the same intensity he gave to everything in his life, and you had to glance away after a few seconds, feeling your heart hammering in your chest. What were you doing? It was far too late to get a high school crush! You’d be leaving for college soon, you couldn’t— you couldn’t start something now!

“I think you’re good,” you said, voice squeakier than you’d intended.

“Uh, actually, while we’re at it…”

He raised a hand, and you saw his bloody knuckles. Which meant he’d probably landed a good punch on someone.

“I should see the other guy, right?”

“The other wall,” he admitted with a grimace. “I missed the guy.”

Finally, this got a chuckle out of you.

“That might be for the best,” you said, carefully disinfecting the wound. “That guy sounds like the kind of person who’d be a pain if you injured him visibly.”

“And the kind of person whose parents would probably drag me to court,” Eddie added cheerfully, though bitterness pierces under the forced intonation.

“And allll of Hawkins High would fall over themselves to testify in his favor,” you said, grabbing the gauze and starting to wrap it around his hand. His fingers brushed against your palm, calloused from playing guitar, and it sent a strange sensation through you, one you tried not to dwell on too much, but that shot straight to your heart.

“You wouldn’t,” he said, voice low enough that you had to wonder if he actually said it or if you’re hearing things.

“I’m sorry this happened to you, Eddie,” you whispered instead of answering. “You didn’t deserve this.”

His fingers closed around your hand, and you finally found the courage to glance up. His hand was warm, but that was nothing compared to what you saw in his eyes. Your breath hitched in your throat. Close. He was close, and looking at you like you were the only thing that mattered.

His eyes fell to your lips.

And then he threw himself back on the chair, giving you a big smile, mask back into place so fast it almost gave you whiplash.

“I mean, I kinda did, if I’m being honest. I provoked him all day, and we know that poor kid doesn’t know how to handle difficult emotions, right?”

You rolled your eyes, but you were already grinning, unable to help yourself.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“I agree, he definitely needs therapy,” Eddie nodded virulently. “In the meantime, may I remind you that I’m on the verge of failing maths?”

“May I remind you that that’s progress and that you were failing maths two months ago?”

“Exactly, can’t let me fall behind, chop chop!”

Again, you rolled your eyes, but you grabbed your books and leaned over, starting to explain, still half bickering with him. You said nothing about the tension earlier, didn’t dare to, didn’t want to risk tearing down his walls if he wasn’t ready to let them down in front of you.

Under the table, though, you softly squeezed his hand, which hadn’t let go of yours.

And he squeezed back.

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations - Complete series

The results of the poll I put up are so far inconclusive (pretty much every category got the same amount of votes), so I'm probably going to do all of them but I'm going to start with complete series. As a note, for now I'm trying to not repeat books, so at the end I'll mention books I have already covered that also fit the criteria.

I almost always buy books before the series is complete. I'm not sure why, though I do find it more convenient to not have to buy a six book series in one go because that can get expensive even if they're all out in paperback. Not to mention getting matching editions can be a struggle. There's also the issue that books might nog get sequels if not enough people buy the first book.

But sometimes it's nice to be able to read all the books in a series after each other. You can go into book two still remembering what happened in book 1, something I regularly struggle with. I went into Chain of Iron not remembering what was going on with James and Cordelia and why they were getting married and had to look up a lot. And you won't have to wait 1-2 years for the sequel after reading a book that ended on a serious cliffhanger. For that reason, I have put together this list of complete series that I would recommend. There are a little more books in this picture than usual, mainly because they're all complete series.

All of them are duology's or trilogy's, interestingly enough I couldn't find many series that are longer and I feel like duology's especially have been popular lately.

I'm starting with Black Wings Beating by Alex London

This is a trilogy set in Uztar, a land that worships birds of prey and falconers, and follows twins Brysen and Kylee. Brysen wants nothing more than to be a great falconer, but is not particularly talented at it, whereas Kylee, who does have the gift to speak the hollow tongue of the birds, would rather escape falconry forever. When Brysen's boyfriend gets in trouble, he needs a ghost eagle to get out, something he'd promised a debtor he'd get, and so Brysen sets out to the mountains to capture a ghost eagle, whereas Kylee follows him to keep him safe. This is a very underrated series, which is sad because it's very good. An interesting and unique magic system that relates to the language of birds of prey, a heavy focus on the complicated sibling relationship between twins who grew up in an abusive household, two queer main characters. Brysen is gay and Kylee is ace/aro. Brysen is kind of a dumbass who regularly needs to be saved from himself but I loved him regardless, whereas Kylee is very protective of him and mainly goes along because she wants to keep him safe.

Also by this author: Proxy duology (YA); Battle Dragons series (MG), neither of which I read

Next up is Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

This is an alternate history duology with the premise of the American civil war ending in a zombie apocalypse. The solution to this problem? Training Black and Indigenous people to fight the zombies. Jane McKeene is a Black girl going to school to become an attendant, a personal bodyguard for rich ladies, which is a better option than fighting in the frontlines. But people are going missing, and Jane finds herself caught up in a conspiracy by people looking to return America to former glory days. I think this series was an interesting take on zombies. It's been a while since I read this one, so I don't remember the details as well, but I do remember Katherine being one of my favorites in this series. She's also on the cover of the second book, which is on the picture, and I thought her and Jane's friendship was one of the most interesting developments, especially since they dislike each other at first. One of the main villains was also really interesting and really unexpected, I won't give too much away about this character but it was very well done. It's also a queer book series, with Jane being bi and Katherine ace/aro. It's fast paced, especially in the second book, and there's lots of action, making this an easy series to get through.

Also by this author: Dread Nation was her big breakthrough, but she's published several relatively unknown YA books before that, which I haven't read, including Vengeance Bound and a Promise of Shadows. Her most recent book is a Rust in the Root, which I haven't read yet but is on my wishlist.

Then I have the Girls of Paper and Fire series by Natasha Ngan

Somehow with this series I ended up having three different editions. I didn't even realize I'd ordered the last one in paperback, but the hardcover was so expensive I'd just left it this way. Could look better on my book shelf, but it could also be a lot worse. Sometimes publishers publish a regular UK edition paperback and then for the next book it ends up being a very big UK paperback much like the one I have for this series and it looks terrible.

This series is sapphic fantasy trilogy set in an Asia inspired world ruled by demons. Demons in this case are antropomorphic animals, also known as the Moon caste. In between are the Steel caste which are humans with animal traits and the lowest and most vulnerable caste are the Paper caste, which are humans. Each year, eight human girls are chosen to serve the king as Paper Girls, which are essentially concubines. This year, there are nine, and the ninth is Lei, a wide eyed country girl who lives in a village with her father and is taken away to the palace. There, she falls in love with one of the other Paper Girls and ends up caught in a rebellion against the king and the caste system. This book deals with heavy topics, including sexual assault, and I do not remember 100% if there is rape on page but I think there might be, so be careful with that. The first book is mainly set in the palace, but the second and third explore the rest of this world a bit more, and I think the world building was very well done, and the world building is very complex, with lots of issues with some people on the rebellion side too rather than just king bad rebellion good. The love interest especially ends up being rather morally grey at times.

Other books by this author: The Elites and The Memory Keepers were both published before this series, neither of which I read

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia is a dystopian duology set on the latine inspired island nation of Medio.

This world is divided between the inner and outer parts of the island with a wall seperating them. The outer parts are barely habitable due to the salt on the land, but the wall keeps them out of the inner part, whereas the inner part is wealthiest. The upper class of Medio has a tradition that all men, who are in power, have two wives to support them. A primera is more intellectual, she keeps track of the household, servants and supports her husband in politics. The segunda is more emotional and sexual. She is the one who has sex with the man and has his children and raises them, but Segunda's are also taught to be charming, to play with other people's emotions and soothe the husband etc. The main character, Dani, was born on the outer side of the island, but her parents fought very hard to get her a better life. They got her a forged upper class pedigree and got her enrolled in a school for Medio girls to train them in one of the two wife roles, in Dani's case as a Primera. At the beginning of the book, she marries the son of an important politician, and is approached by a rebel organization to spy for them, leaving her with a difficult choice. What I thought was very interesting about Dani as a character is that she's so conflicted about her role in this world. Her first instinct is to cling to the privilege her upper class position grants her, after all, her parents sacrificed so much to give her that, but she also has the chance to fight for a better Medio for everyone, and has to make a choice. Along the way, she grows closer to her husband's Segunda Carmen, a girl she used to hate in school, and falls in love with her. I won't give too much away about book 2, except that in book 2 Carmen is the protagonist, which worked really well in this duology and I liked her POV a lot, perhaps even better than Dani's.

Other books by this author: Paola Santiago series, a middle grade published by Rick Riordan's imprint.

Upcoming: Lucha of the Night Forest, a YA fantasy coming 3-2023

Crier's War by Nina Varela

This is a duology in which humans made a race of automatae that look exactly like humans but better looking, smarter etc. And eventually, the automatons took over from humans. This duology is told from the alternating POV of Crier and Ayla. Ayla is a human girl who lost her family to the Automae and wants revenge. And she intends to get it by killing Crier. Crier is the daughter of the Sovereign, which in the case of Automae means she was constructed by his wishes since Automae are made and not born. Crier was to follow in his footsteps and become the new Governor, but her father might not be as good a person as she always believed, and her betrothed Kinok is definitely not someone she trusts. And then she meets Ayla. This book is an enemies to lover between Crier and Ayla, except that it is really one sided enemies. Ayla wants to kill Crier at first, but Crier is kind of a useless gay from the beginning, which I think creates a hilarious dynamic. There's lots of twists and turns in this series, especially with Crier finding out more about her origin and about her fiancé Kinok's plans for this world, but also Ayla's family's origin and their role in the creation of the Automae.

Upcoming by this author: Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom, a middle grade fantasy

The last duology I'll be discussing is A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, which seems like a very stereotypical YA fantasy title, but is the first book in a very good fantasy duology set in a west Africa inspired world (the author is from Ghana specifically).

Ziran is a prosperous city in the desert surrounded by many poor and war stricken areas. Malik has fled from his home with his two sisters to go to Ziran and start a new life, but his younger sister Nadia is abducted by a vengeful spirit in exchange for passage into the city. Desperate, Malik strikes a deal with the spirit to get his sister back - if he kills princess Karina. And so he enters the city's Solstasia competition to get close to her.

Princess Karina is far from ready to take on any royal responsibilities, but when her mother, the Sultana, is assassinated, Karina has to take the throne. Far from ready for this role, Karina decides that instead she's going to bring back her mother from the dead. She finds an ancient spell to help her. The only problem, she needs the heart of a king. So during the upcoming Solstasia competition, she offers her hand in marriage to the victor.

During the first book, Karina and Malik meet a couple of times and have their own plot, but their stories also intertwine a lot, and during this whole time they are essentially trying to kill each other without the other having any clue, making this an interesting take on enemies to lovers. Nor do either of time really want to kill the other, it's more of a necessity for their respective goals in saving family members, which I guess is understandable? I loved Malik immediately. He's sensitive, anxious, traumatized, and will do anything for his sisters. Karina took a little more time since she's a little unlikeable at first but she's really one of those characters who grows on you.

The plot of this book is also very good and there are some well thought out plot twists that I didn't see coming and interesting world building that deals with topics such as immigration. The second book especially is rather long and it's not a very fast paced series, which is often the case with more world building heavy stories so that has to be your thing.

Other books by the author: Serwa Boateng's guide to Vampire Hunting, which is the first in a middle grade series published with Rick Riordan presents

Complete series I've covered in previous recommendation posts: This Poison Heart & This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron

Let me know if you've read any of those, and it's still possible to vote on the poll for which category books I'll cover next.

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[writingwithcolor]

Gingerbread man as golem

@yaronata asked:

I would like to write a character who is Jewish and uses a Golem. She's based on the D&D class of the artificer which looks magic but isn't, because they produce all their effects with inventions, like the "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote. Her story is that her very Jewish town was under attack from a terrible monster when she was little. Her Rabbis made a Golem to protect the town, and it succeeded but was torn to pieces in the process. She was fascinated by the Golem and as a kid didn't see a big difference between it's sentience and person's so was really thankful for its sacrifice like you would a person's sacrificing their life for you. They thought all the pieces had been devoured by the monster before it died, but she went looking and found the piece used to animate the Golem, which she, kinda misunderstanding called its "heart". She kept the piece and grew up to be an incredibly skilled cook, specialising as a baker in the town. I imagine she would make a lot of really good food for the Jewish holidays, or to break fasts on ones like Yom Kippur or Tish'abav. But she also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice and the town still being alive, because I feel "we are not dead woo" is a big theme for Jewish holidays from my research, so it could fit, for which she invented ginger bread men to be the golem, and gave them little "hearts" of fruit or honey, and you're meant to eat them limb by limb like the beast did before eating the heart. This would be the inspiration for using the "heart" piece later to make her own giant gingerbread Golem to help her save the world.

These are my questions 1) would it be considered bad or disrespectful for someone who isn't a Rabbi to make a Golem, or is this method of taking an animating piece someone else made disrespectful? 2) Her journey will take her far from her town and her Jewish family and friends and she will likely travel with gentiles. Would it be disrespectful for a Golem to be used to protect a lot of gentiles and one Jew in the course of saving the world? I don't want to fall into the stereotype of someone putting all their effort into valuing and protecting very specifically the group that in real life is oppressive to them. 3) While she is not using magic and is actually mimicking its effects with technology she invents, is this drawing too close to the line of "magical Jew"? 4) I like to "play test" my characters in ttrpgs to really get a feel for them before I write. Would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character when I am a gentile, and would it be disrespectful to play a Jewish character in a setting where there are demonstrably real gods other than the one of Judaism?

I really like this character idea and I think it's cute and fun and rooted in Jewish culture but I really want to make sure it's respectful and as good as I, a gentile researching on the internet, thinks it is. Thanks so much! Have a nice day!

My answer to this is very complicated because there are things I both like and do not like about this premise. First of all, I love the idea of a cookie golem, and I'm even imagining the magic word that brings him to life (EMET/truth) would be written in icing. And I'm okay with the part about how she found a piece of the old golem and used it to build a new golem, because that makes sense for a golem made from a baked good when you think about how people use sourdough starter to make a new batch of sourdough.

However, here are the thing that make me cock my head to the side like my little sister's German shepherd:

1. re: "magical Jew" - that's not a trope I've ever heard of. Remember, marginalized groups don't receive identical disrespect across the board. It is indeed a trope to use Black people or disabled people as supernatural plot devices who exist only to further the stories of white main characters or able-bodied main characters. But I can't say as I've ever seen anyone using Jewishness that way. Usually if we are someone's one-dimensional plot device it's as someone's lawyer, fixer, "money guy", etc, not a supernatural force. So this isn't something you have to worry about.

2. I have a certain level of discomfort with you playing as a Jewish character just because playacting as a marginalized culture you're not part of strikes me as off, but I understand that that's how you gain insight into a character you're about to write so it's more of a writing exercise than anything else. (I wonder if D&D regulars from marginalized groups have written about this -- I've only played a few times casually with family so if I did run into this type of discussion in my social justice reading I wouldn't have absorbed it. If anyone is curious I played first as Captain Werewolf, and then switched to playing as Cinnamon Blade because lawful good was too hard. :P )

3. I would prefer you omit the detail about eating the cookies piece by piece symbolically, for two reasons: a. it unintentionally evokes Communion by having appreciative people consume a baked good symbolic of an entity who sacrificed his life for theirs, and b. focusing on the details of flesh consumption reminds me too much of Blood Libel (yes, a gingerbread man is in the shape of a person but how many of us actually think about it literally, the way this act would cause?)

As to your first question: I'm fine with her making a golem even though she's just a rando. Second question: I see what you're saying and maybe it could be more okay if it's really clear how well these gentile folks are treating her? And questions three and four are answered above.

I really do love the idea of a giant gingerbread man golem. Cookie golem T_T <3

--Shira

I would like to second Shira’s point about not ripping apart the gingerbread cookies. I honestly would prefer they were used as decoration, and other cookies eaten instead, since that part just feels so not-Jewish to me, but I don’t have golem-specific issues other than that. It seems like you have already been doing a lot of research, which is appreciated.

As far as the ttrpg/DnD aspect… I bounce back and forth on the topic of playing characters that are so very different from our experiences, other than in fantasy-related ways. However, I am aware that a lot of people will play with, and experiment with gender in game, and learn something about themselves in the process (the number of trans players of ttrpgs who tried out their gender in game before they were out is high). It’s different with Judaism, and even more significantly different when it comes to things you can’t convert into, like various actual, real-world races. But because people do sometimes experience growth from experiences like this, I’m hesitant to dissuade players completely. I do urge you to, at a minimum, bring the same care, research, and willingness to learn, that you brought to this question.

--Dierdra

This sounds like a creative storyline that you could have lots of fun with 😊

At first I was confused by this part:

She also made a town specific holiday to honour the Golem's sacrifice

But then you really got me thinking about different types of Jewish holidays and how they come about, so thank you for that!

Because it’s often the little details that either make a story super powerful or kind of nonsensical, I think it would be a good idea to decide what type of holiday is being created here:

A full-blown chag with restrictions on labour and halachic obligations? These are commanded in Torah and new ones can’t be added.

A minor yom tov with halachic obligations but no restrictions? These were instituted by the rabbis prior to the destruction of the Temple, so again new ones can’t be added.

A public holiday or equivalent? This would usually be declared by the Knesset in Israel, and filter to the rest of the Jewish world from there.

A community-based yom tov with specific customs only for people in the know, such as certain Chasidic groups celebrating the birthdays of their deceased leaders? I asked around, but no one can really tell me how these holidays get started, which is probably a good indication that they arise quite organically from a group of people who all just feel that it should be celebrated. Probably not created by a single person, as such.

Something she runs from her bakery, not religion-based, but more like a day of doing special products and deals the way many small businesses do on their anniversary?

Now, if the people of a modern-day town were actually saved by a real live Golem, that would arguably be the most overt miracle for many generations, so there would be a decent chance of options 3 and/or 4 happening. It’s entirely plausible that there could be special foods for this day that become a tradition, including Golem cookies. People who directly benefited might also return to the site where the Golem fought the monster and recite the prayer, ‘Blessed is Hashem, Master of the Universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.’

Alternatively, if it’s important that your MC created the holiday, something like option 5 might be the best. Hopefully this will still fulfil what you need: you describe her as incredibly skilled, so I can imagine the day when she goes all out on the Golem cookies being one of the most exciting events of the year for the townspeople, just because her baking is that good. Plus, they already have a personal stake in the Golem’s sacrifice, so I definitely think it could be a thing without being an official holiday. Also, if she is outside of an all-Jewish environment, don’t forget that she would have to decide whether to commemorate the anniversary in the Hebrew calendar or the local one.

Coming back to the cookies, sorry if we’re getting a little repetitive on this point! But I don’t see the cookies being torn limb from limb as part of a celebration. First of all, this doesn’t sound like a very celebratory thing to do, to say the least. Can you imagine explaining that to a three-year-old on their first Yom HaGolem? They would be terrified! (I don’t read this suggestion as accidental anti-Semitism so much as getting carried away with a metaphor, which I’m sure as writers we have all done!)

But also, it’s worth pointing out that our commemorative foods aren’t usually that literal. If you think about hamantaschen, maror, or apple in honey, they’re all symbols. That’s not to say that having Golem-shaped cookies is a problem, as this sounds like just a bit of fun that the MC is having and not something that is directly at odds with Judaism or Jewish culture. But it’s worth bearing in mind that the more literal you go from there in terms of tying the cookies to the event they commemorate, the less culturally aligned your holiday food becomes.

Finally, about the Golem protecting non-Jewish people: I like this idea! There’s a stereotype that we only use whatever is at our disposal to help ourselves and other Jewish people, so a Golem being created by Jews but helping others as well is a big plus for me. Of course, as has already been pointed out, this would be an odd choice if her Saving The World team were anti-Semitic or otherwise disrespectful to her/her community, but I don’t think you were headed that way!

-Shoshi

I have to come back in here just to squee over the phrase “Yom HaGolem.” Well done :D

--Shira

[donald4spiderman]

Ok hear me out. Spencer is dating Reader and she’s always hated that she’s been more chubby/curvy. And one night in the middle of a case she calls him crying and Spencer just gets really soft and calms her down after a bad nightmare. And his heart breaks cause his loving girlfriend hates her body. So Spencer plans this elaborate date and proposes maybe? You can decide if the team have met her or not. I’d like it to be the original team but if you wanna combine the original and new teams together that’s cool too!

no bc my body image issues have been rampant lately so this is personal as hell to me. I work out a lot and i’m fit but i’ve never been SKINNY like i have thick legs and muscular arms andnnfnfjndjnffn so this is personal.

I modified this a bit but it’s still the same premises hope you like it! ***BTW IN THIS UNIVERSE THE S3-7 CAST EXISTS FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW— SO THE LATER SEASONS HAVE MORGAN AND HOTCH.

also sorry this is a long

TW: body image issues, discussions of food & weight, insecurity, crying, kissing

WC: 1.5k

-

You know, pragmatically, that you have nothing to worry about. Spencer chose you. And for the past four years, Spencer has worshipped you every day— again and again. He is the most loving, considerate, and tender partner you could ever wish for. He is near perfection.

You’ve met Spencer's friends many times. You’re not close with either of your parents, so the team of profilers welcomed you into their arms with grace and care. Each and every one of them is beautifully amazing and exceptionally brilliant.

Spencer‘s friends are not only badass, but they’re also gorgeous. JJ, Emily, and Garcia are national treasures— so visually stunning it’s almost sickening.

You knew he used to have a crush on JJ way before he met you. You’ve also heard the tale of Lila Archer, the celebrity actress who made out with your boyfriend in a pool. Spencer’s had an eventful life, full of beautiful, sweet, magnificent women— so why does he choose you?

You view yourself as bland in comparison. What do you have to offer Spencer that he can’t find elsewhere? You don’t have toned abs, slim hips, and slender arms. You’re not striking in any way.

Spencer calls you every night when he’s away on a case. He’s never missed a call, even when he got shot in the neck and kidnapped by a murderous cult. He’s reliable and consistent, and that eases your worries a little bit.

It’s eleven pm in D.C. and your phone rings right as your getting in bed.

“Hi, my love,” Spencer says breathily, his voice slightly muffled by the phone. He’s away in Ohio for a case.

“Hey.” You reply, the sweetness in his voice soured by your mood. “How’s the case going?”

“Good. JJ and I are about to pass out in our beds— we’re so tired.”

You can’t help the way your face drops. “Oh. Well, get rest.”

Your about to hang up before he interjects. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Why?” You know better than to lie to your boyfriend, who happens to be an expert on human behavior.

“Okay, I know a lie when I hear one. (Y/N), baby, what’s wrong?” He pleads.

You can’t help the tear that rolls down your cheek. “God, I’m sorry. I just miss you so much. You always know what to do when I’m feeling like shit.”

Spencer knows how much you struggle with self and bodily acceptance. He hates the world for making you feel anything less than incredible, both inside and out.

“I miss you too, so much, (Y/N).” His voice is thick as if he’s going to start crying too. “I love you so much, so fucking much. You have no idea how beautiful and amazing you are.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” He laughs through a sob that wrecks his body. “You deserve everything in this world. I promise to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. You are the love of my life.”

You wipe the tears from underneath your eyes. “Sorry for keeping you up. You must be tired.”

“Never, if it means I get to talk to you.”

“I love you, Spencer.”

“I love you too, (Y/N). More than you’ll ever know.”

-

Spencer wakes up the next day with a newfound determination. The team solves the case as fast as possible, and by the end of the night, they’ve boarded the jet back home.

Spencer has more than enough hours to think about you and how much you mean to him. Hotch is seated directly across from him, rereading the case files.

“Hotch?” The wiser man looks up from his files, raising an eyebrow.

Spencer pauses for a moment. Maybe he’d be better asking Morgan or JJ for advice, considering Hotch’s tragic circumstances regarding Haley.

But no one loves like Hotch does-- sincerely, passionately-- stronger than anything else in the world. Spencer decides there��s no one better to ask.

“How uh did you know that Haley was the one?”

Hotch’s eyes soften for a bit. He clears his throat. “I knew since the day I met her that I would love her for the rest of my life unconditionally. She makes me complete. Do you feel that (Y/N) makes you complete?”

He already knows why Spencer is asking for his advice, steering the conversation in that direction.

“Yes. She’s my world.” Spencer whispers.

“Then it’s simple, really. Love doesn’t need to be complicated and precise. It’s what you do with it that matters.”

“I want to marry her, Hotch. I want to be with her for the rest of my life.”

Hotch smiles, “Then do it.”

Spencer feels the rush of excitement as he gathers everyone on the jet, including the prior sleeping passengers, filling them in on his big plans.

“I need all of your guys’ help.”

-

There’s a firm knock on your door at four in the morning. You know it isn’t Spencer because he has a key, but who could it be?

You take a cautious look out of your peephole to find Penelope, Emily, and JJ outside.

“What are you guys doing here?” You yawn. “For god's sake, it’s four am.”

“We know, and we’re sorry.” Penelope smiles.

“Is Spencer alright?” You ask, wondering if things suddenly went wrong during the case.

But by the joyous look on their face, you know nothing somber occurred.

“Spencer’s completely fine. But, we need to you to get changed and come with us. FBI’s orders.” JJ chuckles.

You change into warmer clothes in minutes, and the BAU ladies usher you into Emily’s car as fast as possible.

“So, no ones gonna tell me what’s going on?”

They shake their heads, “We’re just... running a quick errand.”

After a few more minutes of driving, Emily parks on the side of a dimly lit street.

“I need you to put this on.” She says, holding up a blindfold.

“Are you guys gonna murder me?” You joke, slipping the fabric over your eyes with little resistance.

“Quite the opposite, actually.” You don’t have time to think about what Penelope means before you’re being yanked out of the car.

You walk, guided by JJ, for four minutes. The grass beneath you crushes below your boots, and the hushed whispers of Emily and Penelope behind you do nothing to calm your nerves.

“Okay,” JJ says, halting to a stop. “You can take off your blindfold now.”

You hesitantly slip the blindfold off, revealing a brightly lit table in the middle of a secluded field. Morgan, Hotch, and Rossi are standing off to the sides.

Suddenly, Spencer emerges from behind a tree, dusting the leaves and dirt off his adorable sweater.

“Hi?” You laugh, utterly confused by this situation. “What’s going on?”

His hands are shaking, and he has to swallow a few times before he can speak. “I-I uh got y-you apple pie— uh your favorite.”

Spencer walks you towards the table, where a small slice of warm pie sits lonely on the table.

“Y-you should um... eat it.” He urges, pointing at the knife and fork next to it.

You glance around, trying to gauge the emotions of everyone around you, but fail. Stupid profilers and their poker faces.

Your fork cuts into the heavenly smelling pie, and you scoop up a bite into your mouth.

“It’s... good? I’ll pretty much eat any pie you give me, Spencer.”

He smiles, “I know that. But t-this is a special pie.”

“Okay...”

“You should t-take a closer look— at the pie.”

You inspect the dessert, completely puzzled until a glinting piece of silver catches your eye. Spencer notices the shock in your face and catches the plate that almost falls out of your hand.

Morgan hands him a napkin, and when Spencer pulls an apple-covered ring from the slice of pie, you almost faint.

“No way.” You gasp; tears spring to your eyes as Spencer wipes the ring clean.

He holds it tightly between two fingers, bending to kneel on one knee.

“(Y/N) (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N), I knew from the moment I met you that you were the most special woman I’d have the pleasure of meeting. A month later, you asked me out for our first date, and I couldn’t believe that someone as gorgeous and amazing as you would settle for someone like me.” You scoff at his humility.

“I spend every moment loving every part of you, (Y/N). None of my love will ever stop— ever. I promise to share my heart with you until the very end. There is absolutely no one I would rather be bonded to for the rest of my life. You are better than my dream girl because you’re real. You’re here, and you chose to love me every day— the good, the bad, and the ugly. (Y/N), will you do me the honor and great privilege of allowing me to become your husband?” You silently sob.

“Please say yes.” Spencer smiles.

“Yes!” You exclaim, pulling him up to hug him. “How could I say anything but!”

The dam breaks, and the entire team begins to cry as you and Spencer share a passionate kiss, almost collapsing down onto the grass from the sheer force of your love. He slips the ring onto your finger; it belongs there.

“I choose you, (Y/N).” He repeats.

“I choose you, Spencer, always.” You whisper into the crook of his neck.

Nothing’s ever felt so right.

[haec-est-fides]

God i am so glad to meet someone who also doesnt like the way new rome is portrayed but in a different way than me. Like i never understood why it was two praetors and not consuls? And I think in canon New Rome is only a few hundred strong not even a thousand like? Its not much of a city especially since they have generations of legacies, and youre telling me its basically a hamlet. And there are reinforcements from beyond the camp right like that pilot? And in the attack by Caligula and Tarquin, they had advanced warning from Leo right? And looking at a map of CJ it is a prime defensive position surrounded by running water that repels monsters, one main chokepoint, hills, A LITERAL GOD and we know they are fast engineers so they didnt build fortifications? Like if they know its zombies stand on top of a stone wall or behind a moat and snipe them with arrows. Its the same thing with SoN like there were no actual preparations for a proper defense and siege. Like Julius "built two giant encircling walls for one battle/siege" Caesar is rolling in his grave. And with all of that said even if they had New Rome would have been crushed in one day. The problem with demigods is they can be killed like any mortal and you are telling me Caligula didnt take advantage of modern weapons like bombers? Exploding the mostly empty fleet just leaves a whole army stranded and desperate and hey what do we have to lose right lets just take New Rome with our overwhelming numbers and give it to the only dude left who may award us. And i hate how they have written Octavian's role as augur like that was a super sacred and respected position. He had extreme political power since nothing political like elections could happen without the gods and therefore the augurs permission but everyone treats Octavian like a joke like no everyone should be courting his favor or at least not dissing him to his face. And they usually read bird signs so it feels like Rick just had octavian destroy the pillow pet to set him up as a jerk. And like, I can buy everyone who was loyal to Octavian just shutting up to avoid a civil war in series okay the last time a demigod civil war happened it left the world vulnerable and the gods were not happy and the cause for war was revealed to be a plan by Gaea amyways and CJ on a whole seems much more pious than CHB and they are focusing in bettering relations bw the two camps basically on orders from the gods which you cant do if your own camp in embroiled in a war and it is likely the seven will side with Reyna. But it is not very Roman admittedly to avoid avenging a beloved commanders death especially if in universe he is seen as the savior of rome. Prior to TTT Reyna should be facing significant political pressure at least if they were actually written as /roman/. Also disclaimer its been a while since ive read the books and i have mostly been lurking around for toa spoilers instead of actually reading them mostly because i find the whole premise of unnoticed immortal emperors ridiculous and it raises so many infuriating questions and they are basically noncanonical in my eyes but like Camp Jupiter and New Rome had so much potential Rome was known for its complicated politics and tactics but it was all squandered. And somehow CHB is run worse than this. And Riordans flippant humor towards the death and killing of characters is... questionable from a character pov especially. My attachment to this series is basically stockholm syndrome from childhood and the glimmers of good ideas. Sorry for the word vomit but i just really wanted to talk about my thoughts.

Hey anon? ily <3

Everything you just said is basically something I've thought at one point or another. I mean, a lot of these concerns are handwaved away because it is a book series for a younger audience, and Riordan -- like all authors must -- made certain choices, but I completely get how you feel. A decent handful of fans do, as I've discovered! ToA really brought out the Romans among us, haha.

I agree that the premise of ToA requires a big suspension of disbelief, but so does the premise for all of Riordan's books. I'd definitely recommend reading ToA if you have the time / interest!