#feel free to hmu again if you ghosted me. i’m willing to talk it out without shaming you

[coasttocoastreads]

Welcome back to Week 2 of Coast to Coast Reads! Who’s still alive? Katya and I are dying while social distancing, but at least we had a few laughs discussing this book:

Crescent City (House of Blood and Earth) // Sarah J Maas

★★ / ★★★★★

Summary in one two gif(s):

Real Summary:

Crescent City, a place where vanir (supernatural beings such as angels, fae, shifters, etc.) and humans freely mingle and go about their days. Bryce Quilan is a 20-something fae/human who’s still reeling from the murder of her friends 2 years ago. But after she’s commissioned to help search for an ancient artifact, Bryce, along with her new angel partner Hunt, unearth previously buried secrets about the murder that threaten to expose a worldwide conspiracy. 

Pros:

Great side characters. I would die for each and every one of them.

Lots of different mythological creatures! Not just another Fae Book™️

Cons:

It’s literally ToG 2-7 combined. If you read Throne of Glass, you’ve already been spoiled for this book. 💀💀💀

It’s wayyyy too long

Drags a lot in the beginning

Plot .5/5 (the .5 is for you, Lehaba)

What can I say. SJM literally plagiarized herself by taking the plotline of the tog books and translating it to this new setting. The writing itself was subpar, and most of the time it felt like the author herself had no idea where the plot was going, instead letting it drag on until a plot twist that makes no sense is revealed. (You’ll know which one I’m talking about when you get there.) I’ll compare CC with ToG with spoilers under the cut. 

Pacing 2/5

The beginning is full of info-dumping as SJM tries to set up this world which is metaphorically like ours, but everyone’s hot and does fantasy cocaine all the time.  It narrates boring day-to-day schedules that could have been condensed into a paragraph and at times I was tempted to skip ahead. The plot does pick up near the last 25% though, so I’ll give it that. 

Worldbuilding 2.5/5

It was confusing. To be fair, after all the info was dumped at the beginning, I didn’t bother going back to try to figure things out when they popped up again after. But like still??? I think I only started understanding the hierarchy of the government with the Asterrii(?). Also what are the Triarii I am still lost. SJM attempts to blend a more modern society with one of fantasy creatures, and for the most part it succeeds, but it often just feels...strange. I think the one thing I’m most hung up about is why swords and guns still coexist. Like ??????? it’s one or the other plssssss abandon the “aesthetic” Also while they literally have cell phones and keurig machines there aren’t common things like cars? Why.

Characters: (This is unconventional, bear with me)

Main Characters: -infinity/5 they could go die for all I care

Bryce and Hunt were both super unlikeable, 10/10 would let fall from a cliff. They are literally just rewrites of Aelin and Rowan? Bryce is like ahahaha yeah people think I’m Just a dumb vapid Female™️ who parties too much and gets trashed but SIKE I’m actually the chosen one and I’ve been hiding it this whole time because I didn’t want to hurt people’s feelings uwu. And did I mention I’m actually a trained Warrior who can keep up with The Boys? It’s Aelin y’all. There are numerous times where a character says that she’s not stupid and I’m like...are you sure... This girl makes the poorest decisions, yet ofc, there aren’t any long term consequences... (Also 99% of her problems come from ghosting people literally just respond with “k” sis)

Hunt is... idek what to say about Hunt. He’s just Rowan but in angel form. His inner monologue cycles between I must pay off my debt so I can gain Freedom 😔, why is Bryce so hot 🥴, and Shahar 😭. Once again, literally Rowan who also was bound to some evil villain, had the hots for their CENTURIES YOUNGER pupil/protectee, and had an old lover die tragically which led to them believing they can never find love again UNTIL BryLin comes along. Snooze. 

Side Characters: Infinity/5 

Ruhn Danaan was the most valid character and that’s the hill I’ll die on. He literally just wanted to protect his sister cuz she’s stupid af but she keeps pushing him away bc he’s an “alphahole” (haha how subversive :/) I want a whole book about him and Hypaxia, preferably fanfiction so I don’t have to read “soft feminine breathing” ever again.

Literally all the supporting cast- Lehaba, Therion, Ithan, Jesiba, Flynn, Connor, etc, etc. had more compelling characters and side stories than Bryce/Hunt. I was 100% more invested in them and I can’t wait to read/write more about them. 

(Pls let me marry Jesiba Roga or Therion 🥺)

But while the people on the “good” side were spectacular, the villains all felt one-dimensional and the product of over-recycled and overused tropes mashed together. Sandriel and Pollux are literally just Maeve and Cairn (is that his name)

I’d recommend for:

People who loved Throne of Glass and are lamenting the absence of new content. Please read about Rowaelin 2.0

People stuck at home during this global crisis and have too much time on their hands. (If you need that free epub, hmu)

People who are willing to skip all scenes that feature just Bryce and/or Hunt 

People who hate themselves

Would I travel here?

Sorry, what? Already shredded my passport, not getting a replacement, sorry. 

Overall thoughts:

I wish I could somehow take those hours of my life back but alas. 

See y’all in two weeks with a hopefully better book selection,

Tiff

Spoilers under cut

Okay time to VENT

OKAY so CC=ToG, let’s break down how

Danika’s death is the Nehemia Incident, setting the mc up for a journey of self discovery/reclaiming their power. They both show up as ghosts later to encourage mc in a time of great self-struggle.

Syrinx if Fleetfoot. bc all female mc’s need a pet to reveal her Feminine and Soft side

Sandriel and Pollux are Maeve and Cairn. Evil female character with vast power and her torturer? COOKIE CUTTER FORMULA. The scene where Bryce offers herself up for Hunt in the lobby also kinda mirrors that scene in..HoF? QoS? Don’t remember, but pretty sure that happened. Also that scene was so fucking dumb, I really thought Bryce had a Smart Plan, but I was bamboozled once again. 

A gem from my notes: “Bryce is Aelin but with cocaine”

I think the whole demon portal thing is a ripoff of ACOWAR (or is it KoA I can’t even remember), sacrificing yourself to close the rift, etc, etc. 

Anyways, Bryce = Aelin, a party-girl front with a sob backstory that’s her superpower origin story who always has a Plan. 

Hunt = Rowan, broody warrior busy repaying debts getting orders they don’t want while pining over a lost love. They reluctantly let the female mc in and voila they’re in LOVE

The whole “plot twist” that revealed Hunt’s true plan along was so fucking dumb...

It wasn’t a plot twist, it was just plain bad writing

There was no set up at all, nothing alluding to Hunt secretly masterminding an attempted coup with the help of Magic Meth

The whole time I was like “...this is part of their plan right. There’s no way he legit planned this...”

Character’s POVs should reveal what they’re thinking, even if you’re just hinting at something to reveal later...this was just lazy

Another thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was the sudden reveal that Fury and Juniper had been in a relationship the whole time? Despite like above, there was no prior allusion to that?

It felt like half-assed representation at best and completely irrelevant to the story with it coming up again in a throwaway line near the end

Also? I’m fairly certain there was a scene in the beginning where they were all out clubbing and Juniper hooked up with some rando while Fury was also at the club with them? Was this before they got together or did SJM insert this so last minute that no one caught it?

Wtf is sunball. Can someone just help me out here.

Some people have been saying Hunt is Asian coded? Where???!!!!! All I’m seeing is the same stuff she pulled in ACOTAR where all the Illyrians were tan so people could claim they were poc for woke points but not get in trouble for art depicting them as white ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SJM pls stay away from “like calls to like” you don’t deserve it

[nothing-i-can-do-now-i-guess]

Looking For Long Term RP Partner

(3/14/2020)

Alright, back at it again with another partner search! A lot of my rp’s have quieted down now so here I am. I’m Kia, female she/her pronouns and over 18. 

About me and how I roleplay

I live in the EST timezone and I’m generally pretty open for the day to respond. Sometimes may be busy, but I’ll respond as soon as I can.

I’ve only used Discord to rp before, but I’m willing to do email or Google docs if you would prefer that. However, I would rather use Discord or Tumblr Messenger for OOC

That being said, I’m totally game for OOC talks! I love spazzing over our characters and anything that happens. Sending music or drawings, I’m about it. I’m hoping to make some friendships out of this too.

I roleplay in 3rd person and usually give 2-3 paragraphs per reply, really just depends on what’s happening. All I’m asking for is some effort and I will readily do the same.

I like having a huge over arching plot, but have some subplots going on. Normally because I think up a lot of little ideas for things that can be explored on their own. 

I like to either double or have one main pairing and then have some side characters, just to help keep things interesting. I’ll play as many characters as we need, I like to explore multiple characters. My characters are usually poc and lgbtq+.

Looking to have F/F as a main paring, any other relationships can be whatever ship that happens. While I may or may not make sexual innuendos and stuff like that, I do not rp actual smut, I will only do fade to black. 

I rp original characters. While I prefer to do original plots and worldbuild, I also like to enter oc’s into fandom universes too. Canon characters can be side characters that appear or are mentioned every once in a while. Letting you know now, I don’t personally use face claims, it’s normally rather difficult to find someone who looks like what I envisioned for my characters so I just don’t use them. 

What I’m looking for in a partner

You have to be 18+, I just don’t feel comfortable rping with minors as an adult.

No ghosting! I understand life gets in the way sometimes and you may have to step back for a while. Just let me know real quick and I’ll understand. Or if you lose interest just tell me. I will try and let you know if I’m going to be busy for a while too.

Please participate in plotting and worldbuilding with me. It sucks whenever I feel like I’m the one putting in most of the effort. I like to create large worlds together and it’s rather difficult to do so on your own.

Please be able to reply at least once or twice a week. Sometimes responses take a while to craft, I’ve definitely needed a day or two to be able to think of what to write before. If you can respond multiple times a day, even better!

Be open to dark and mature themes. Violence, swearing, alcohol and drug use. I love angst so sometimes things happen. However, if you have any limits, don’t be afraid to tell me. I would never want to make you feel uncomfortable. I want this to be fun for the both of us.

Original Plots/Characters and Fandoms

I have a few plots in mind already, but if you have something you’d like to do too, let me know. I also just have a couple of oc’s that I’ve never gotten the chance to do anything with but I have no plots for them. So if you have any ideas you want to try with one of my oc’s, please tell me. For now I’ll keep the ideas pretty basic and explain in more detail when we start talking

Original Plot: Two girls go on a cross continental drive searching for a guy that one girl thinks she’s in love with and the other is the guys younger sister. Over the course of their journey they find that they are slowly falling for each other. Spoiler alert, the guy is a total tool that left them both behind at some point.

Original Plot:  Original Plot: A princess is betrothed to a prince of an allied kingdom since birth but has never met him. One year before their wedding they finally meet at a party. The princess also meets their sister and the two instantly take a liking to each other. The other princess recently has been engaged to the prince of a rival kingdom in hopes of creating peace. (May contain fantasy elements, up to you.)

Fandom: The Mummy AU. A priestess has been brought back from the dead, to the fear of the medjai. Since they don’t know how to kill her, they manage to capture her and a female medjai is assigned to watch over her. When the priestess is no longer deemed a huge threat, she free to leave but not without an escort. Cue the medjai and priestess leaving and trying to integrate into normal society, and possibly develop feelings.

Fandom: Hancock AU. A pair of immortal soulmates with powers always find each other in life and are happy together, but as they spend time together, they lose their abilities and become human. Unlike the others that paired up and became human, these two always part ways so that they never have to worry about losing each other. Someone wants them dead and not wanting to see the other hurt, one leaves for the last time to save the others life.

Fandom OC: Anastazija Catalina Ani Dragomir- A moroi princess with spirit powers from the Vampire Academy book series

OC: Lena Floros- A wendigo with the ability to change forms.

OC: Sanania Dawsonelle- A water fairy with the ability to shrink and grow as she pleases

OC: Lysandra- A spartan woman that’s feisty enough that its a struggle to find a man to marry her off to.

HMU here if you have any question or want to rp together. Or like this post. If we get a plot that we’re both into then I’ll give you my Discord or email so we can write together.