#echo of worlds

[rhetoricandlogic]

ECHO OF WORLDS by M.R. Carey

RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2024

In the conclusion to the Pandominion duology (following Infinity Gate, 2023), two multiversal empires hurtle toward mutual annihilation.

Since neither the organic Pandominion nor the machine hegemony recognizes the other as sentient beings, negotiation is impossible: There can be only complete destruction of the other side to remove the inconvenience. The potential for reconciliation is slim indeed, lying in a small and desperate band consisting of Topaz, a young woman evolved from a rabbit; her best friend, Dulcie, a former member of the machine hegemony; Essien and Moon, two mentally unstable, renegade Pandominion soldiers; a digital copy of Hadiz Tambuwal, a dead physicist; and Rupshe, a liberated AI. Rupshe believes that they must appeal to the Mother Mass, a planet-size intelligence who may have the power to halt this looming apocalypse. Of course, the location of the Mother Mass is one of the Pandominion’s closely held secrets, and trying to uncover it will attract unwanted attention to our fugitive heroes. Cue plenty of desperate situations from which the protagonists make hairbreadth escapes; but even though literally billions of background characters die, there never seems to be much doubt that they will ultimately triumph (especially since the story is narrated from a time period after these events). But in the midst of that breakneck action, Carey wants to give the reader a lot to think about, beginning with the central Aesop: Xenophobia is bad, and we must respect sentient beings regardless of how alien they look, think, or behave. Related to that, we have the classic SF warning that it’s unwise to hand over your infrastructure to a complex machine, because it’s eventually going to become self-aware and start having opinions. There’s also something in there about the dangers of an oversize, autocratic bureaucracy filled with workers focused more on personal advancement than helping people. But if the author is offering a message about manifest destiny and environmental conservation, it’s decidedly mixed: While Carey vividly depicts polluted, devastated landscapes, the story strongly suggests that since there seems to be an infinite amount of resources, there’s always another unspoiled world to escape to whenever things get too bad.  

A wild if somewhat predictable ride; slightly unwieldy but reasonably entertaining.

[venusbloo]

2024 July Reading Wrap Up

**All links below are to the books’ respective StoryGraph pages for reference. I do not receive any compensation for clicking these links!! How is it already August? I feel like this year has flown by so far, and while I read a ton in July, I once again did not stick to my planned reading. I did read some of what I planned, but I let a few other books go in favor of deep diving into a young…

[lilyblossom-art]

All of the zeldas so far in order of release

This took me so long lol i don't even know why i did this but here it is :>

And also i have not played eow yet so no spoilers pls

1. Classic Zelda

2. Zelda I

3. Alttp Zelda

4. Cdi Zelda

5. Other cdi Zelda

6. Oot Sheik

7. Oot adult Sheik

8. Oot downfall Sheik

9. Ssb Zelda (i needed to get to 25 lol)

10. Oox Zelda

11. Fs Zelda

12. Tetra

13. Fsa Zelda

14. Mc Zelda

15. Mc stained glass Zelda

16. Tp Zelda

17. St Zelda

18. Ss Zelda

19. Albw Zelda

20. Hw Zelda

21. Botw Zelda

22. Ancient princess (named after Sonia from totk)

23. Coh Zelda

24. Aoc Zelda

25. Eow Zelda

[blueskittlesart]

may have spent slightly too long in eow link's house today. im obsessed with him

[lotus-pear]

learning to love

[reblip-reblog]

"Come see the many looks of Princess Zelda throughout the years!" image from Nintendo Game News

[demigods-posts]

i'm one hundred percent certain that after percy and annabeth made out underwater. and he wanted to make their relationship official. the question was not "will you be my girlfriend?" but "can i be your boyfriend?" i don't care what the canon says. percy gave annabeth the space to take the lead in the relationship. because after a lifetime of being abandoned by everyone she dared to care for. and then watching her on the brink of a panic attack at the thought of losing him the last four years. he wanted to honor a new beginning between them by follow her lead and moving at her pace.

[scribbly-z-raid]

Nintendo has blessed me with a mainline Zelda game with a playable Zelda. I owe you my life

[sycamorality]

echo made out of letters/symbols in mspaint

[yasmeensh]

The comforts of palace life are still within reach for Zelda with the Tri-rod ✨

[actual-kiwi-fruit]

Day 29: reflections and ripples

[noxcheshire]

I am sick, dizzy, and can barely think but you know what would be WILD?

If the DC universe was an echo of Danny’s world. What if the continents of their planet shifted enough where Amity is now in New Jersey and had then become Gotham.

And when Danny died underneath the portal a part of his death fractured and imprinted itself into those various worlds. One of them being Gotham, where Danny’s home ironically used to be where Wayne Manor used to be.

So just imagine it, you’re coming back from patrol, grimy, sweaty, and with questionable intentions by dressing as an overgrown bat when suddenly the lights dim. It dims and brings darkness, only enough light to catch the beady marble eyes of the bats you fear.

And then electricity jumps in the middle of the room, flinging itself around like an agitated snake in wide open circles.

Everyone is backing away, some weary, some cursing, some just half way out of their own suit.

And then a child — barely as old as your youngest now, flickers to life before you, screaming and screaming, wailing in pain as the scent of burning flesh mingles into the air. You can see the boy, black hair and blue eyes that underneath the bright light that burns them is causing black to turn white, and blue to turn green.

The electricity crackles and when the boy is about the drop, limp, certainly lifeless, he vanishes as if nothing had ever been there.

But he comes back, he always comes back, in the moment of calm and in the moment of despair, echoing that painful wailing of death.

It’s so wrong.

It’s very, very wrong.

It didn’t even matter anymore why the boy showed up, only that this moment of pain continues to haunt the cave of heroes.

Continuously haunting, even as some whispered apologizes when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as some provided songs of comfort when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as stories of Gotham are told and promises (though uncertain and flimsy at best) are spoken to the wailing boy who always drops fast and disappears just as quickly.

Always, it was the same.

Until one day it wasn’t.

The electricity crackled like it always did. A spark, and then a calamity of light. And the boy would be there, uncurling himself into a tense position as he would wail.

But not this time.

Instead the boy curled himself in the air, calm as can be, almost as if he were sleeping. Even the electricity that they have learned to dance away from was calm, gentle, like ocean waves.

And when the electricity vanished, the boy did not, instead dropping to the floor where Dick was quick to catch him, grunting in preparation of weight only to show alarm at how thin the boy truly was.

On that face that has haunted them all for months is just a boy, sleeping, and scarred. A boy breathing very slow, slower than what they would like, but here in the physical realm with them.

Dick brushed back bangs of black hair, and slowly, ever so slowly, glazed blue eyes stared back.

[venusbloo]

June Reading Update

Well, despite my best intentions, I have already let the year get away from me!  I meant to do regular reading updates here on the blog – at least monthly – but I’ve lapsed terribly.  Most of that is due to reading slumps, but I also struggle sometimes with feeling obligated to stick to my reading plans when I just want to mood read.  So, I’ve decided to change my reading update format a…

[morethansky]

ARC TROOPER ECHO | The right thing to do “No matter what, we are united. Rule one: We fight together.”

Bonus:

[cozylittleartblog]

my new vocaloid music player charms are available from that Place You Acquire My Stuff. i will be making more songs, so let me know what songs you think i should add next!

sorry for the crunchy quality, i am SO tired of people stealing my shit

[lucabyte]

A belief in Nominative Determinsim