#final fantasy only has like 5 plots and 5 types of character

[anakinh]

popping in from rebirth-induced exile to ask why did they make glenn ever crisis into ardyn??

[maleyanderecafe]

The Script Shop of Dreams (Manhwa)

Created by: Ao Xiao Ze

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Fun fact, I actually did do the translations for chapter 5 I believe of this manhwa for a friend before it got a full on official translation. As of current about 25 chapters are out. It has similar plot device as I want to be a Big Baddie where the female lead is jumping through different stories, though currently, she's only in the isekai/murder mystery story. I do like this kind of idea so I hope there will be more of them in the future.

The story starts with with Luo Meng, a rich girl who can have anything, except finding a man named Mu Han. She met Mu Han a year ago, and he became her tutor. After confessing to him, Mu Han suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of his existence. Annoyed at this, she starts to look for him. In this world script games, games that allow you to live different stories and different lives, have become popular, and also was created by Mu Han. To look for him, Luo Meng goes into a store called the script shop of dreams, and opens one of the scripts after seeing Mu Han's name on the front, causing her to be absorbed into the book. She ends up going into a murder mystery type story as the female lead when she was a child and immediately finds that the butler that looks just like Mu Han. After talking to the system, she finds out her role- to prevent the murder from happening in the mansion in the first place. She first ends up acting haughtily towards her fiance, only for the butler to step in when he tries to slap her out of anger. She tries to force an interaction with her and the butler, but due to the script, he ends up avoiding her. Still, despite the fact that the system states that all appearances are based off her own memories, the butler seems to have had yandere tendencies, knowing exactly how long she grew her hair out amongst other things. At night, she ends up getting kidnapped, and is able to feign passing out until she's able to escape. When the kidnappers go after her, the butler comes and chops their heads off. When returning back home, we see that the butler has had an interest in the young girl since he was saved by her, promising to kill everyone before finally killing her. Luo Meng continues to reject her fiance, though has to break up a fight between him and the butler, ultimately siding with the butler and asking him to teach her how to dance. The fiance writes a letter to the female lead whom comes to visit. Luo Meng acts rudely towards her new guest, slapping the tea out of the maid's hands and causing a mess. Luo Meng ends up kicking the female lead out of the mansion, where the butler promptly murders and hides the body of the maid who helped her. Luo Meng interrupts a meeting with the fiance and the female lead, using this opportunity to break off their engagement and kick him out of the mansion. The female lead freaks out, trying to attack Luo Meng, only to be saved by the butler, when suddenly the tradition of "Finding the bunny" releases. It's basically a towns tradition similar to finding easter eggs except it's one bunny. Her and the butler go out to eat food and participate in the festival before going to a hotel to rest. Luo Meng goes to the bar area to listen to the story of the "Finding the bunny" tradition.

It seems that her character was a rich noble who was given everything when coming to the town, and ended up choosing a bunny from two twins. She gave the oldest twin a large sum of money, causing the younger twin to get jealous. Soon after, the bunny bit the miss, with the younger twin watching from a secret area. She ends up being blamed for drugging the bunny, ultimately leading the town to drive her to her death. Outside, two people aim to kidnap her, only for the butler to kill them. A mob of people start to gather outside of Luo Meng's inn, with the butler even throwing the fiance to the mob. Luo Meng is greeted by the female lead and the two of them go into the room where the younger twin hid before. Here, the fiance breaks in, trying to get them to escape as he's distracted the mob for a bit. When they escape, the female lead talks about her younger twin and what kind of person she was.

As I said before, I do like the concept of Script Shop of Dreams. It has the same system as I want to be a Big Baddie, but unlike in that story, Luo Meng is purposefully looking through each story to try to find Mu Han. In the latest chapter it is implied that she will likely jump into another story that is more sci-fi, which I'm all for. I really like the idea of going through a bunch of different genres since it gives different and more unique settings (that isn't just isekai number 1000, though this current script is set in a pretty isekai like setting) as well as different types of roles that the main character must play. There's just a lot of possibilities to it that can be explored. The artwork in this is also extremely pretty from the various colors and the poses of the characters (especially the butler). There's a lot of mystery as well, not just in the current script but also surrounding Mu Han as well. Is the butler actually a yandere for Luo Meng or just the character she's playing? Why does the butler want to kill Luo Meng so badly? What are his goals? Is he actually aware of what's going on in the script or is he following how the author has made the story? Where did Mu Han disappear to? There are a lot of things that have yet to be solved and the story has just begun. The current setting as I said still plays mostly like an isekai style story, but with the main focus of murder mystery, not even giving the other characters names. The murder mystery is slowly unveiling though, showing the effects of the main character that Luo Meng is playing with the twins as her character's actions were the creation of this new holiday. The murderer seems to be the butler, but why he's killing people is something that isn't fully understood yet.

The butler for certain is a yandere for the character Luo Meng is playing, even Luo Meng mentions it herself, but why he's killing everyone and wants to kill Luo Meng is yet to be fully understood. He seems to have been conspiring with the people who kidnapped Luo Meng but ultimately kills both of them, imagines killing the fiance when they're arguing (and probably would have if Luo Meng didn't interfere), kills the people trying to kidnap her again in the inn, seems to take great care in making sure her diet is maintained, watches how long her hair is, etc. As much as he obviously cares about and obsesses over Luo Meng, it does make me wonder what he's plotting. He still plays the role of a butler and still is trying to maintain his composure, but we don't really know why. It's clear that Luo Meng's character saved him when he was younger and there is a significance to the snake eyes that is associated with him as well, but we have yet to uncover what's going on with that. Even then, when Luo Meng eventually jumps into another script, will the character that looks like Mu Han still be a yandere? Is it a one time thing or is it a trait that carries over? There are a lot of questions, and it is rather exciting, despite all of that.

Overall, a very pretty manhwa with a fun premise. Compared to a lot of other manhwa I've read, the pacing is pretty good and makes sense for what's going in the story and the artwork is really pretty as well. I hope that we will be able to jump into other worlds soon and that Mu Han really is a yandere through and through.

[wolfgirl-sister]

A lot of times, I have people ask me for recommendations for incest media, or just don't know where to start, so without further ado:

Cocteau Azaka's Incest Reading List!

Books

Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block

Incest Rating: 9.5/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama, Tragedy, Coming of Age

Overall Rating: 9/10

Wasteland is a beautifully written, albeit heartbreaking, book about love, loss, and growing up as an outsider. The book utilizes multiple points of view, signified by changes in font and narrative distance, to paint the picture of three teens in 1980s SoCal who are looking for answers. The first time I read this book, I finished it in tears and immediately read it a second time, just because I wanted more of it.

Hale by K Webster

Incest Rating: 9/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama

Overall Rating: 5/10

Hale is... Not a great book. The characters are so painfully cishet and neurotypical that, while they're ostensibly fleshed out, they're so perfectly, stereotypically normal that I legitimately felt alienated. I suppose the point is that it's not always the fucked up people who can be in a forbidden relationship, that even the girl next door can fall in love with her brother, but in execution the only reason the characters weren't boring is that they wrapped around to being fascinating if only because this was what being "normal" is like.

Overall quality aside, the romance itself is not only convincing, but spectacular. It's a poignant depiction of the line between siblings and lovers blurring until it's inevitably crossed, and it has an explicitly happy ending— a rarity in incest media.

Love's Forbidden Flower, by Diane Rinella

Incest Rating: 6/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Will They Won't They, Explicit

Genre: Romance, Drama

Overall Rating: 4/10

To be blunt, this book was a letdown. I appreciate what the author was going for, and I felt that it did achieve that, somewhat?

But I could not stand the characters, particularly the secondary love interest that's introduced after the main character is let down by her brother time and time again. The reason why this book is on here at all is the end of the second act/early parts of the third, where the protagonist's brother is redeemed and they finally are together, even if it's only temporary when they find that they're not able to withstand the challenges of a socially unacceptable relationship. Rinella wrote a fascinating turn in the plot with a bravery not usually becoming of Western authors of the genre, and for that I applaud her.

Kara no Kyoukai: Records in Oblivion by Kinoko Nasu

Incest rating: 6/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Unrequited, but Explicit, Sub-plot

Genre: Urban fantasy, neo-noir

Overall rating: 7/10

Obviously, I have a fondness for Kara no Kyoukai, and for Azaka specifically, but I'll admit that this isn't the most incestuous book on the list. It does have some payoff with a platonic date at the end, but primarily it's on this list because it does a good job of exploring Azaka's feelings and not invalidating them or downplaying them. I would recommend reading the KnK books prior to this one first, or else you'll most likely be hopelessly lost.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Incest Rating: 4/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Questionably Requited? Auxillary to the Plot

Genre: Chuck Palahniuk, Drama

Overall Rating: 8/10

Like most of Palahniuk's works, Invisible Monsters is about fucked up people doing fucked up things, driven by self-destruction until they enter todestrieb. As usual, it's fucking glorious.

Invisible Monsters focuses on themes of beauty, identity, attention, disability, and the way that all of these intersect with womanhood. It's not for readers who are squeamish about depictions of transphobia or a narrator who is somewhat transphobic herself, but if you're able to stomach it I highly recommend it.

If you're reading it just for the incest, you'll probably be disappointed, but if you want a fantastic book with some small amount of explicit incest feelings, I would say go for it.

Not Forever, but For Now by Chuck Palahniuk

I'm putting this on the list because though I haven't read it yet, I know that it's explicitly incestuous. I cannot promise that the incest is good, I can't even promise that the book is good, but I can assure you that those brothers are fucking.

Manga

Sayuri-San no Imouto wa Tenshi

Incest Rating: 10/10

Incest Type: Explicit, Sisters, Focal Point

Genre: Yuri, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy

Overall Rating: 9/10

This manga is very short, but focuses on the day to day life of a young woman and her estranged, sickly younger sister, who re-enters her life suddenly with a halo and wings that only the protagonist and her friend can see.

It's an extremely sweet, funny and lighthearted manga that is nonetheless deeply touching.

Citrus

Incest Rating: 5/10

Incest Type: Step-Sisters, Focal Point, Explicit

Genre: Yuri, Romance, Drama, Gyaru

Overall Rating: 6/10

Citrus is the queen of sister yuri, earning the rare privilege of an anime adaptation, which in this genre is rare! However, just because Citrus is queen does not make it the best, not even by a long shot. The plot is extremely melodramatic, the kisses questionably consensual for most of the first acts, and with the strict uniform standards, a lot of the tertiary characters can be difficult to discern in black and white. It has it's redeeming qualities, but mostly I've found that it's over-hyped.

I Met My Sister On A Dating Site

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Sisters, Focal Point, Explicit

Genre: Yuri, Slice of Life, Comedy, Romance

Overall Rating: 7/10

This is a really cute and short manga with a great premise, but honestly it's very lacking in substance. That's okay though, because it does exactly what it sets out to do: be something short and sweet that ends with sisters dating.

Oshi no Ko

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Twins, Explicit, Ostensibly Requited? Sub plot

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Revenge, Idols

Overall Rating: 8/10

I've written my thoughts on Oshi no Ko elsewhere, but to keep this brief, this is a fantastic series, and reading/watching it was the time of my life. The art is glamorous and over the top, with visibly heightened emotions that really sell the drama of it all.

We've only just started to get to the incest as of this chapter being written, but Ruby's reaction to her brother are so endearing that I'm preemptively rating it very highly

Koi no Kaze

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Slice of Life

Overall Rating: 6/10

I don't have too much to say about this one— it's your basic, straightforward sibling love story played straight, with not too many twists or turns. I do appreciate that it includes an outing scene, so I'm rating it a bit higher, but it also hits on public acceptance, which for some people is a really important part of the fantasy.

1 x 1/2

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Mother/Daughter, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama, Yuri

Overall Rating: */10

Taiyaki, the mangaka who created 1 x 1/2, is in my opinion one of the greatest mother/daughter writers and artists out there. 1 x 1/2 is a complicated work to judge as an English speaker because what's currently on Mangadex is an excellent fan translation of an unfinished, no longer canon first draft. This is phenomenal, and does a great job of everything it sets out to do, until it ends very suddenly. When Taiyaki restarted 1 x 1/2, she partnered with an (incredibly mid) translation partner called Yuri Hub, which means that her work can no longer be fan translated, and the translation published is pretty clearly machine-based. It's honestly very disappointing, as I would love to have a proper translation of the new 1 x 1/2.

Visual Novels

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Siblings (Explicit? Implicit? Somewhat unrequited?), Parent/Child (Explicit)

Genre: Fantasy Mecha, Action, Drama, Samurai

Overall Rating: 9/10

Muramasa is an epic, and I don't know how to impress the drama of the fight scenes throughout, and the way that they combine real swordplay theory with imagined mecha combat, crossed with samurai tropes. It can be really difficult to get through, as the game is not even in the slightest for the squeamish. There's a lot of rape, both implied and explicit, however the antagonist's motivation is that she wants to ascend to godhood so that she's no longer bound by the rules of morality and therefore can marry her father. Additionally, her relationship with her brother is extremely sexually charged, and their fight scenes often involve comparisons to sex.

This is one of the best mecha VNs ever written, with a truly fantastic ending.

Tsukihime

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point (of one route)

Genre: Action, Urban Fantasy, Horror

Overall Rating: 7/10

This game is a touchy subject for me. I've had the misfortune of playing Tsukihime after having it hyped up for literal years, so it not measuring up to that hype is less a statement on my objective assessment of the VN, and more a statement on how beloved it is.

Having said that, the Akiha route is fantastic. I'm not sure that I have much to say on the subject that hasn't already been said, but believe you me, Tsukihime is worth playing.

Love Ribbon

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Sisters, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Slice of Life, Drama, Romance, Comedy, Yuri

Overall Rating: 6/10

Love Ribbon is a short, sweet VN that's a really solid 6/10 and is worth the $15 it costs to support an indie dev. It focuses on two sisters who were raised apart, and only meet when they share an apartment to attend a prestigious high school. The romance is cute, the plot is uncomplicated, and there are only two routes, but there's a long epilogue where they're explicitly dating and ostensibly get symbolically married. If you have unresolved daddy issues that you can't touch for fear of untangling something massive, this is a great read because so do those girls.

Thank you for reading, I hope that this list helps people!

[medilies]

Byler fic rec - 5 WIPs that are worth it

I know some of y'all don't like reading incomplete fics, but here are some that are so good even the WIP averse won't regret reading them.

These fics are still updating (just not very regularly) so you will get the complete story eventually.

As you can probably guess, they're all longer chaptered fics, so expect multi-layered plots with at least a healthy dose of angst in each.

cosmonaut. by ghostshaming (T, ~82k, 15/?)

Gut wrenching. Heart breaking. A deep dive into Mike's depression and what could have been. You'll notice the writing is beautifully sensory, I'd also say this fic probably is the closest to the show plotwise. One of those fics that has its own little vibe unlike anything else.

them's the breaks by emelinelou (not rated but I'd say T, ~90k, 14/?)

A bit of canon divergence here where Will can mind-travel into the Upside Down and make it his own... or so he thinks. And ik I'm saying this for all of them but this is just fucking BRILLIANT - the overall tone is a bit more lighthearted than cosmonaut despite the characters still getting into some sticky situations, the byler of it all is ~chef's kiss~ and I really like the characterization of Mike and Will here (that is, if they were the type of people to greet each other with 'Yo').

If You Stay by Flurryofstarz (M, 52k, 11/?)

The Proposal AU! This is another fun, fairly lighthearted one. I watched the film for the first time after reading this, and I gotta say, I was disappointed - this is so much better than the film imo!! (Read: more meaningful conversations between the two leads, fewer bizarre moments thrown in, well adapted to fit byler, just as much comedy, and more drama heheh). A wonderful fic, whether you've seen The Proposal or not.

Make Believe by Flurryofstarz (E, ~84k, 17/?)

Flurryofstarz strikes again! This is an a/b/o fic, in which Mike does everything in his power to protect Will, who he's sure will present as a male omega, the most oppressed designation. (Don't worry if you don't know what the terminology means, it's all explained!) This fic is so intricate and beautiful and stays so true to the characters, it had me SCREAMING at Mike at some points, because that boy has good intentions but that does not translate to good outcomes. This is definitely one of the more serious fics, with no end to the angst in sight. 10/10. Go read it.

(Also, note that while it's marked as explicit, it hasn't yet reached any NSFW content, so please don't let that stop you. Though be warned there are some uncomfortable moments thanks to our favourite small town bullies - so far I'd rate it M.)

the vale of shadows by sevensided (stonedlennon) (M, ~30k, 11/?)

I mean, duh. Everyone's familiar with sevensided's legendary work a dream always the same - that's just basic byler lore - and this is the third and final installment of that series, in a fantasy setting this time! I can't say much more for fear of spoiling it, but trust me when I say it's equally brilliant as ADATS.

This is the only fic on this list where I'm not 100% sure if they'll continue to update. Even if they don't, though, the latest chapter ends on a nice note.

That's all, go give these amazing stories some love!

[salt-hag]

fall 2024 cdrama + kdrama check-in list

haven't done a check in/wrap up post of dramas watched in a while so wanted to do one before the end of the year ✨ hoping to have finished a lot of these and have a list of reviews at around new years

dramas watched

story of kunning palace (cdrama)

8.5/10 for me. This is my year of loving costume period cdramas and I kicked it off with sokp. Really enjoyed the time travel/redemption plot line and Bai Lu as a somewhat reformed evil empress.

the legend of shenli (cdrama)

9/10 for me. A little slow in places but this goes down in my list of fav drama romances. Badass and admirable female lead and quirky oddball male lead who simps for her (as he should). I found the fantasy somewhat goofy but lovably so. This is a *comfort* show for me now. Has the best happy ending/post finale last episode I've seen up to now.

the double (cdrama)

9.5/10 for me for the sheer melodrama. Is this technically a better drama than the legend of shenli? No, of course not. Is it entertaining as hell? Yes, so it's gets a .5 boost. Costume period one-woman's-revenge, absolutely delicious. Hilarious male lead who loves the drama of it all and is very handsome. I was telling a friend about this and she was confused. Weren't you just watching this earlier this year? No, dear reader, she had the revenge stuff confused with Story of Kunning Palace. I have a type, and that is conniving women getting what they want in beautiful period costumes while a handsome, competent man answers their beck and call and simps all the while.

currently watching

RIGHT NOW: Are You the One (cdrama) - ep 22/40

This started out as costume period brain popcorn for me but now there's intrigue and back-stabbing and a clever woman out-scheming men in power so. yeah i'm enjoying this i guess whatever...

RIGHT NOW: Cinderella at 2am (kdrama) - ep 3/10

I haven't watched a kdrama in a while and I wanted a comforting, brain-popcorn modern rom com. I think this will deliver.

My Journey to You (cdrama) - on ep 20/24

I am DETERMINED to finish the gorgeous scheming assassin ladies period drama. I WILL. It's just the main plotline made me snooze a bit at ep 20 so it's taking me a while.

The Princess Royal (cdrama) - ep 6/40

Snowfall (cdrama) - 17/24

dropped or on hold (I'm a mood watcher)

[on hold] Love Like the Galaxy part 2 (cdrama) - ep 12/29

[on hold] Meet you at the blossom (uncensored period BL, Thai) - ep 4/12

[on hold] Lost You Forever season one (cdrama) - ep 17/39

[on hold] In Blossom (cdrama) - ep 22/32

Another one I am DETERMINED to finish!! But I don't vibe with the main actress. I loved the one who played the female lead before the body swapping. Otherwise this drama has everything I would ever want: costume period murder mysteries, a very beautiful man who devotedly simps for his nice wife, a clever female lead with quirky interests, BODY SWAPPING AND IDENTITY SHENANIGANS.

[can't decide to drop or not] Only For Love (cdrama) - ep 21/36

I can't really stand modern-setting cdramas, I'm sorry. I was watching this one for Wang Hedi. I somehow made it to episode 21 despite the cringe. Might finish watching this while pmsing.

[can't decide] Tale of the Nine-tailed 1938 (kdrama) - ep 9/12

Idk why but I just found the plotline kind of boring?? I loved the extra character and world lore. But I had problems with the original TotNT too so.

[dropped] Till the End of the Moon (cdrama) - ep 20/40

This was gorgeous but I like sweet romance, I'm sorry. This was too dramatic for even me. I wanted Bai Lu to love her problematic malewife!!

[dropped] Miss Night and Day (kdrama) - ep 2/16

Loved the concept, found the show too painful to watch.

____

anyway hoping to get back into kdramas this fall or in 2025. we'll see!!

[harpagornis]

Kizazi Moto review

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is an anthology of animated shorts from studios all over Africa, with the theme of afrofuturism and science fantasy (mixing frequently indigenous spiritual beliefs with the tech, and many shorts are actually about gods or spiritual beings). It's a shame that the project is attached to Disney, because this is one of the best anthologies I've seen in a long while.

So let's review the individual shorts.

Herderboy

By Uganda's Raymond Malinga, this portrays the story of a boy trying to join a band of herders, which harvest kyber crystals from cyborg cows and are under constant attack by spirits (read dark side hyenas). It's a good start to the anthology; the CGI is bright and makes good use of color, and it has a nice twist at the end.

7/10

Mkhuzi the Spirit Racer

By South Africa's Simangaliso Sibaya and Malcolm Wopé, this one bears a bright and joyous 2D animation. It features a half-human half-something boy who struggles with his Zulu identity, and that all comes crashing down in a race against gentrification. It's a delightful short with beautiful visuals and actual incorporation of cultural themes into the narrative.

9/10

Moremi

By Nigeria’s Shofela Coker, this is a pretty bleak looking CGI short not out of place in Love, Death & Robots. Long ago, soul stealing giants forced a woman to construct magical machines by giving her son's heart to the gods; this is about the summary you're gonna get without getting into heavy spoilers. A delight if you're into mythology as there's quite a few allusions to Nigeria's folklore, but I can see people getting a bit confused and the visuals can be grating at times.

6/10

Surf Sagoma

By South Africa’s Nthato Mokgata and Catherine Green, in a future where sea levels rose and mutant octopi lurk in the depths a boy is peer pressured into surfing in dangerous waters. I have to say, while this has a happy ending it is rather bleak and the CGI visuals are not particularly pleasing.

5/10

First Totem Problems

By South Africa’s Tshepo Moche, we're back to 2D, this time more Disney-esque. If I had to describe this, it'd be like a mixture of the first half of Brother Bear and Coco. It's pretty fun, though a bit lacking in substance and the family feuds can get grating.

7/10

Mukudzei

By Zimbabwe’s Pious Nyenyewa and Tafadzwa Hove, an influencer desecrates Great Zimbabwe, only to be taken to a timeline where it never fell to colonialism and became basically Wakanda. The concept alone is amazing, though the story itself is rather generic.

8/10

Hatima

By South Africa’s Terence Maluleke and Isaac Mogajane, this is by far my favourite of the shorts, it features the tragic conflict between merfolk and humans, with a Black Panther 2 reveal at the end. With stellar 2D animation and allusions to Dogon mythology, as well as a good solid plot where the reveal has just the right amount of foreshadowing without becoming obvious.

10/10

Stardust

By Egypt's Ahmed Teilab, I had the highest expectations for this one, being the only Middle Eastern short in the mix. It's an alright story, I really loved the science fantasy twist on astrology by just being handed a "destiny" in a tube with stars inside. The protagonist naturally choses her own fate over the manufactured ones... though getting there is quite spoilerific.

8/10

You Give My Heart

By South Africa’s Lesego Vorster, this is another return to 2D animation and the second one about influencers amusingly enough. The plot kicks off in a competition in which the human contestants can ascend to godhood. Godhood is very much treated like being an influencer, and amusingly one of the previous contestants was demoted by typing in all caps. Overall pretty fun and the animation is gorgeous, though the characters designs can get a bit ugly.

9/10

Enkai

By  Kenya’s Ng’endo Mukii, the final short is done in a CGI mimicking stop motion, which combined with the stellar coloration and lighting makes for a stunning visual experience. This too deals with the divine, this time the young Enkai seeking to become a creator deity like her mother. There is a big plot twist that I will not spoil, and recontextualises the whole short.

9/10

Conclusion

I give the overall anthology 9/10; barring a few hiccups, these are wonderful stories from Africa's many creative voices. Again, pity Disney has a grasp on this.

[joculine]

DIE Issue #5 Reread (Gillen & Hans)

We are so back. Lets get into Premise Rejection.

This is my second favorite issue of the first arc, after Issue #2. I think it holds my favorite panel, which we'll get to later. This is a really bombastic finale to the trek to Glass Town and it sets up what will become a wild couple arcs. I'm sure you aren't expecting a standard ending to this "hero's" journey from DIE and that's certainly not where we're going. Let's get into it.

Art

I really like the design of this harvest god above. He's massive and lanky, and seems like kind of a mess.

I absolutely adore the design of this robot brain guy from the Eternal Prussian forces. Look at him.

What a weird little thing!

This issue is also full of stand out appearances for Ash and Sol. And gosh... are they stand out...

Good lord these two are volatile together. This is a great example of a relationship between a GM and their most "In It" player. The issue is really just long fight for control over the plot. I love that they are made for each other in the worst ways possible.

So About The Fallen

Part of why this is my second favorite issue of the arc is that it has the second Oh Shit moment of this comic. The reveal that the Fallen are dead players is such a great plot point. It clicks with the whole fantasy becomes reality becomes fantasy again deal, it keeps Sol around to stir up trouble after his death, totally re-contextualizes this type of enemy and how they've treated them, and, best of all, raises far more questions than it answers.

Big contender for my favorite Sol panel.

So everyone who has ever played this game and died ("the word is die") is revived as The Fallen. What does that actually mean? Aren't our crew here the only kids who have played the game? How are there so many Fallen here already? What about the elf queen, who was an NPC Sol made?

For those first questions, perhaps this is the Homestuck in me or perhaps this is me back-reading some later plot into this, but it seems pretty obvious some sort of time shenanigans needs to be in play. And it eventually sort of will be. (It will be quite similar to how Skaia functions actually.) We'll save that for the issue it shows up in, wayyy down the line.

As for the NPC Fallen, I believe there's some clarification in the RPG book here—there are Fallen, the monster and enemy a GM can throw out and there is the Fallen class, which all players receive upon dying in DIE. Diegetically though, I think there is not much difference between an NPC who has been abandoned or skipped over and a player character (or player as the case is here) who has died. They are both expended beyond their purposes and given a new role as detritus. They also have a drive to claw relevance back from the blood of the Paragons, something that would bring them back to life (and back into importance.) DIE has a zombie curse but only for those who would make the most emotionally painful zombies to deal with. Very on theme.

In this way, it's also very Dark Souls, isn't it? I wondered about this too for those games. Why can Ornstein and Smough not just come back hollowed and kick my ass again? They lack the curse of Undead, that tormenting anchor of relevance that only affects those hungry enough for dominance to keep going past the point of death.

Those who are Fallen (like the Paragons or the Chosen Undead) are meant to exist as long as needed to see their stories to the bitter end. Is that curse something imposed on them? Yes. Is it something they feed into themselves? I think so. There's nothing stopping Sol from just giving up at this point. But that's not what he's going to do. He's going to keep going because he can't let go of the game. Dying is no reprieve. And hey, now the Fallen aren't so morally simple to kill after all! Remember what Izzy was saying about the House Rule? Looks like they may have been cutting into actually Real People from the Real World for some time now. Ruh roh. We'll see this play out more soon. For now, we can think about how poor Sol has found out he is more at the whims of Die than he may have thought.

Speaking Of, Sol Has Kind Of Always Been Like This

Which I'm sure comes as a very painful shock to him. He's someone that views himself high above the players, a plotter pulling the strings. A real mastermind GM type.

That's what this boy is telling me. His work, be it Legos, Glass Town, the ruleset, or his grand second game, it all exists in a complete, crystaline state. You admire it. You follow the path he has set out for it. It is "finished" before any of the players set foot back on Die.

This is, of course, not how things will go. The title of this issue is Premise Rejection after all. Ash figured out quite quickly that Sol has put them in a railroading Saw trap to force them to play along. In response, she is guiding the party to pull it apart by the screws. Rather than look for these keys or whatever the Chamberlain was talking about, everyone has used their skills to pick away at Glass Town's defenses and put the big robot army against Sol's cool magic castle. With a fairly light application of their magical power, they manage to pull of city wide carnage at little risk to themselves.

This is classic player behavior and a great example of how a little thinking can tear down even the grandest GM constructions. Remember how we talked about how Glass Town was a pretty poorly thought out city? Sol is finding out just how problematic his plot holes are proving to be.

I love watching him come down with his big stupid cape. Look how unprepared for this he was. Do you think he was hiding at the top of Glass Town the whole time? I bet he even had a palantir or something. What a dork.

Very quickly we watch him start to edit the rules on the fly like a flailing GM. The damage is already done, so at this point he's flexing out of spite. Look, he's even restricting class abilities:

I do find it interesting how Sol's Master abilities are written to reflect Ash's Dictator ones. They're both italicized and both have squiggly lines around the speech bubbles. They're also both highlighted in colors, Ash with red (a major one in her color palette) and Sol with blue (also in his palette).

Let's connect their magic briefly with color (we'll talk more about color very soon) and say the red Dictator compulsions in this issue are destructive and "game breaking" while the blue/purple Master laws are defensive and "game enforcing."

Importantly, they both deal with the narrative but in different ways, Ash more with emotion and motivation, Sol with what people and things can literally do. We know from go that a Dictator is a story-teller and a plan-maker... that's not too dissimilar from a GM!

But Sol, huh? What a sore loser.

A Dictator's Best Weapon

I never really got why Ash has this crazy death touch thing. It struck me as an odd choice to give the social manipulation class. Chloe shared her thoughts with me when we were talking about DIE a few months back and it's illuminated things for me.

The Dictator commands emotion, yes, but they command narrative as well. What is this death touch if not the ultimate command—a powerful punctuation to the Dictator's arsenal. If making you love her doesn't work, making you dead will get the job done too... and there's certainly no way to argue with Ash on that. It's as though she's walking around with a big pen she can use to strike out bits of Sol's story she doesn't like. She went big here and scratched out the author section. Yikes. Hope you got a plan to follow up on that, Ash!

Look at her go, already editorializing just seconds away from killing Sol. Do we think Ash believes the narrative she's telling herself? Do we think she believes she can make us buy into it? The great part is, I don't really know! It's moments like these that pull us out of the story and remind us we're being given most everything through Ash's words that get to the core of what DIE is after. It's about these people trapped in stories of their own making and how it turns them into quite awful characters.

This is probably the darkest we've gotten so far. A great reminder to Ash's friends and first example to the reader at just how much she can commit to playing the anti-hero. Anyway, let's get back to the death touch.

This is the other half of that power—the power of its implication. See how Hans has set up this panel: first, your eyes hit the glowing hand, the brightest object in the panel and the thing that has just killed Sol. Then you move back to traditional left to right and see Ash. She's crying, but resolute. Then her words. They're harsh. Maybe understandable though? Then back at that hand. It's not just the weapon that killed Sol now, but the thing that may touch someone else. She's reaching out for their hands to start the ritual. She's letting them know what "anything" means... they'd better be unanimous. Now that's a master manipulator at work.

This is that favorite panel BTW.

How Far Is Too Far?

Here's another stand out panel from this issue. Ash's expression is exquisite: pain, anger, thrill, resolve. It's all there. This comes moments after using the voice to completely dominate the Chamberlain of Glass Town and it's not what I'd expect to see from her.

She's filling her role both as Dictator and schemer and yet I feel like she's about to throw up or cry. Or both. The metaphor here paired with the destruction she saw the from the Steel Dragon in Issue 3 is delectable. She's recognizing the horrible power she's choosing to wield in order to bring ruin to Glass Town... but she's also not rejecting it.

This is a question DIE is going to keep asking of its characters: how far are you willing to go with your role? Will you play your part even if it is horrible? What if harnessing the power of a Paragon is your only option? What if it's not?

Here's Angela, the badass cyberpunk, failing to both be grizzled or distant from her humanity. I think it's interesting Case, such an innocent pet, is mechanical, especially given that our other examples of robotic entities are all warmongering automatons. She treats him as so real, while she views the Prussian leaderbot as a tool to be hacked and who's autonomy is to be overridden. That's not to say I think that leaderbot is isn't merely an automaton though... I actually think this is more damning to how Angela anthropomorphizes Case.

I said last issue Case is a pricey distraction. I think that's still correct. Even here she feeds him one last piece of Fair Gold, understanding he will probably die again tomorrow. It's a bit of a waste before what's going to be a dangerous battle.

Matt, meanwhile, seems perfectly able to indulge in his pain enough to... save his friends? Or start an attack on a city full of people? Both I suppose. Not a great look but one he appears to have little issue with for now.

This interaction stood out to me this read. I've always had trouble understanding why the Emotion Knights have talking weapons. It's cool, obviously, but I had trouble seeing something deeper than that. I realized tonight though, these weapons are their emotions, not separate entities.

That sword is Matt's own worst impulses, weaponized both literally against his enemies and psychologically against himself. After all, what is a knight but their weapon? "Don't listen to it," Ash says. She might as well say "That's just the depression talking." Yeah, no shit.

Another quick observation... is she even listening? Getting "back to [his] family" is exactly what the sword (Matt's own grief) is worried about. Very empty words, but perhaps very intentional to keep Matt on track and focused.

Chuck has no problems living as a swashbuckler in a fantasy world because he is Chuck. No other comment needed.

Imagine for a moment that I stopped there and moved onto Isabelle. I feel it's important to at least entertain the hypothetical joke if we're going to talk about the Fool. Chuck (and his class) exist as a joke, but he's a joke you have to take seriously eventually, right? And be respectful and shit.

We see his carefree and self-focused attitude come to a head when he draws a gun on Ash. Yes, Chuck has no problems living as Die wants him to and he's willing to go frighteningly far to keep it that way.

Joining him is Izzy, who has begun to take her role as a "cleric" very seriously. What's going on here is complicated. Let's lay out the facts:

Isabelle is the one who brings up the House Rule. "We treat Die as if it's real." She's also expressed fear at being relied on as a teacher (both holy and high school), while still assuming responsibility of it.

This moment is a union of those two traits. She wants to stay in Die because these are real people who's lives they've ruined and she feels like someone needs to step up and guide them. While she hates the idea of doing that, she (very rightly) does not trust anyone else to a good job of helping the residents of Glass Town (or perhaps any job.)

This is especially odd with the role of the Godbinder, who deals in debts and balances with the gods. As she describes in 1991, she's an atheist with pets—really more demonologist than cleric.

Excepting Angela (who I think is underused in this issue TBH,) the party is in full roleplay here. What comes of that commitment? The burning of Glass Town. Not a good sign.

The Emotion Wheel

This is already so damn long and emotion wheel talk is going to drag it even more... but I need to do it at some point. Let's start with the first proper introduction of the wheel.

Oh look, it's Plutchik's wheel of emotions. This is not an original insight, it comes directly from one of Gillen's essays in the back of each issue. I think we might respond to those directly soon.

The wheel posits that all emotional states are variations of mixtures of 8 core feelings. This is how the Dictator and Emotion Knights function (the former mechanically, the knights more textually. Sol may be a fan of Plutchik's work.) Dictators treat this as a palette to work with, Emotion Knights as a sworn order to follow.

I think there is a strong connection between the coloring used in many of these panels and the colors on the wheel. Memory scenes, for instance, play with purple and blue: disgust, sadness, remorse, disapproval. Ash's story of the Joy Knight is pink and red, quite far from the yellow of joy and closer to contempt, loathing, and anger after many years walking as a corpse.

But Cassie, you may say, Ash's dictator powers are always red... and so is Matt's sword! Hold onto that thought with Matt, but it's also not an exact key. Which is good! I think that would be pretty boring!

As I noted in the Dictator/Master section, I've thought of reds and blues and destructive and constructive magic. This follows with the red skeleton, the blue magic core mantaining Glass Town's shield, the red sword that destroys it, and Isabelle's portals to escape.

I also think that Fantasy Heartbreaker is just a really really red arc. If I remember correctly, future arcs have a more varied palette. Perhaps there will be more color for us to explore there.

Now that I've dropped this big unwieldy graph, I also want to share a bit about how much I love Emotion Knights. I've run a game with a Fear Knight before, which was a lot of fun. And could you imagine a Trust Knight, sapping and destroying bonds between people to use as critical hits? I can imagine a very potent relationship between her and her Dictator wife. Really just a fantastic and juicy concept. I think they should be in every game.

Other Thoughts

I don't have anything to say about this other than it's great.

I think it's fun how badly Ash reads Sol's eye theming. I don't think he's afraid at all.

It's almost impossible to see Dominic and Ash as the same person. Ash is just so... confident in everything. She schemes. She kills. She's beautiful. She's a dominatrix... but outside Die she just... isn't that at all. She's so scared and so hollow on Earth.

I say almost impossible, but that's not really true. I think it's a familiar feeling to many trans women. It's scary to see how hard she's fighting to go back to that in this issue. Is it good for her to do that? I don't think so. Not entirely. Is it easier for her to be on Earth than Die? I honestly don't know. But I think it appears easier to her. Die is the world in her closet, but it can be so painful to stay there when there's so much waiting for you outside it. And yet... I don't think she's ready to go. There's still deeper for her to go.

Kieron writes her well.

Next time we'll be talking about either the end of issue essays or just jump into issue #6, I haven't decided. It'll be much shorter than this, but we had a lot of character stuff to cover. I'll leave you on my favorite line.

[mundanemoongirl]

I’ve read 32 books this year. Some were mysteries, some were thrillers, some were realistic fiction, and most were fantasy. So here’s my top 5 out of every book I’ve read!

But first, my honorable mentions

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi has some of the most beautiful descriptions and wordings that I have read. I also love the Persian culture in it. I'm always fascinated when reading about different cultures and this is one I don’t know much about. It felt unique and authentic. The reason this one isn’t in my top 5 is because I felt it relied too much on tropes and the plot was a bit cliche. The second book especially suffers from this.

Going Dark by Melissa De La Cruz is a mystery I thought was so good it helped to inspire my own. It touches on important topics like racism and mental illnesses. I love how social media is used to find clues and I was so invested in the story that I stayed up late every night to know more. The only thing keeping this book from being perfect to me is that about halfway through, the backstory is told to the reader. I would have rather the characters find it out for themselves.

When I tell you I loved Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao so much I wrote a three page paper on it and submitted it for my communications final (I got an A). I love character driven stories and Xifeng is one of my favorite characters of all time. Her arc progresses at a perfect pace and I love seeing her use the few skills she possesses to get what she wants. As a dark fantasy writer, I appreciate that the book doesn’t shy away from gruesome aspects. The reason this book isn’t in my top five is because I wanted to see Xifeng’s rule as empress. That’s it. I just wanted more Xifeng.

And now my top 5 under the cut

5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is not the type of book I’d normally read, but it blew away all of my expectations and I absolutely adored it. At first, I didn’t really like Monique’s character. I wasn’t interested in her failed marriage and I was pretty annoyed every time she didn’t understand what was being said to her (which happens way too often), but as she learned from Evelyn I was really rooting for her.

It was Evelyn’s story that wouldn’t let me stop reading. It was similar to Xifeng in a way where she started as a girl who was pretty, but had nothing, and manipulated her way to becoming a superstar. I was especially gripped by Evelyn’s insistence that Monique will hate her. I just needed to keep going to find out why.

There were a lot of unique aspects that I liked, such as the chapter titles. They were so fun and I kept repeated them in my head. I also like how parts of the story are told through forums and news articles. Other than the fact this this is a unique aspect, I liked it because we got to hear a different perspective than the person telling the story.

Also, yay for a bisexual main character! It was done so well and respectful, and not the stereotypical cheater character. I have been waiting my whole life for this type of representation.

The last thing I want to say about this one is that Reid really makes an art of writing. There are so many quotable lines and you can tell so much thought was put into every word.

4. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

It’s a pretty cliche story: a princess must reclaim her throne. But The Queen of the Tearling works so well because of its main character, Kelsea. She’s such a beautifully complex character. On one hand, she wants to prove herself as queen. But on the other, she wants to be free to be a teenage girl. She rules with compassion for her people. But she also has an underlying ruthlessness and short temper. She looks to the future by examining the past, and how can you not root for a character so strong that she demanded her throne with a knife in her shoulder?

I appreciate that this book didn’t go the trope route and have the ruler of the rival kingdom become Kelsea’s lover. It’s fine one time, but it’s way overdone, and Kelsee’s strengths shine through more without this trope.

I like how each chapter opens up with a quote. Like the articles in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this gives the reader insight into what other characters think.

I have to say that even though this book blew me away, the last book has the worst ending I have ever read in my life. It was lazy, dismissive of the themes throughout the series, and just exasperating because it erases the growth of the characters and kingdom. I have no idea why Johansen would write it into existence and it somewhat tarnished my view on the series.

3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Is it really surprising that a Hunger Games book is in my top 5? I was hesitant at first to read it because I thought it would be a sympathy story or a cash grab, but I'm so glad that I gave it a try because it was so much more than I thought.

I feel like it's a theme on my list that I like to see stories where something small slowly evolves into something big. That's a big part of why I love this book. We get to see how the games went from something no one liked to the sporting event we know it as. It was a bonus to see that Snow's impact on the games as well.

I loved getting back into the Hunger Games universe, especially now that we get more of what the capitol is like. I have to admit that I haven't read the original trilogy in almost a decade so my memory is a little shaky, but I don't remember anything about the capitol being poor at one point. I liked this detail and getting to know capitol kids like Clemensia because it makes the capitol more complex. Before, I only knew it as a completely evil, selfish, privileged group of people, but now we can understand it better.

I love Lucy Gray's character. As a former musician, I appreciate that her power is through song and I enjoyed reading the meaning in her lyrics. I was kicking my feet reading about the Hanging Tree song and her teaching Snow about katniss roots because they live on to haunt him 60 years later. As always, Collins knows how to incorporate so much meaning into her writing.

The only thing I disliked is that it started to drag in Part III.

2. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

This one was heavy, but I'm thankful to McCurdy for being vulnerable and sharing this raw story. As someone who grew up on iCarly, she was an important part of my childhood. I listened to the audiobook version, which just made it all the more personal.

You can tell from the writing that McCurdy was meant to be a writer. She somehow manages to make such a sad story humorous, and I found myself getting lost in her the way she describes background information that I didn't even notice that she deviated from the main topic until she brought us back. Not to mention, the writing sounds like she is telling a story directly to you. It reminds me of experts like Bell Hooks, someone who I have described as having a style like talking to a close friend.

McCurdy also has a deep understanding of herself and her emotions, even during times in which she didn't understand nor want to understand the harm that was done to her and how she copes with it. It's obvious to the audience what's going on, but not to her, and she writes it in a way where we can understand the truth of her circumstances while also understanding her point of view from when she was experiencing trauma. I doubt many people can understand themselves this well.

Each chapter had me hooked. I kept telling myself that her life couldn't get worse, but then it did. There were times when I nearly cried, and once when I was so shocked that I involuntarily covered my mouth with my hand and couldn't move it back for a minute. This book will make you feel everything.

I hate how some people are shaming the book just because of the title because this is such an important story, and if you just read it you would understand the title completely.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

Fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery all in one? So much diversity that you can swim in it? Quite possibly the cutest romance to ever exist? I didn't know the perfect book existed and yet here it is.

I knew this book would be a favorite of mine from the moment I saw it. You have a beautiful, colorful cover on one side, and a description on the other saying a girl has to destroy her first love in order to get magic. I still can't believe that this is Sambury's debut book.

One thing I love about Blood Like Magic (and its sequel) is that despite all the fantastical elements, the books feel so real. Voya's family feels so real because they aren't rich, they aren't powerful in a social aspect, and they aren't perfect. The cast of characters feel real because POCs, gay, and trans people are going to exist no matter what. The romance feels real because they don't instantly fall in love. The plot feels real because sometimes everything will go wrong, no matter how hard you try to make it right. And of course there's the realest aspect of them all: all Black grandmas are going to have attitude.

Ok, I have to talk more about the romance because Luc and Voya are so stinking cute. I was actually squealing and kicking my feet while reading because it's so obvious that they adore each other and can't even tell. I didn't even like the enemies to lovers trope before I read this book, but Sambury does it perfectly. I also like that she makes a distinction between physical and romantic attraction because I think it gets muddled in a lot of popular books these days.

Voya's such a relatable character. We all struggle to make decisions sometimes. We never want to be left out or hurt the people we care about. Also, her name is so pretty and it doesn't even mean anything?!

Do I even have to mention that all the different types of magic are so fun and creative? Do I even have to mention that all the advanced technology seems like it could really happen? Everyone go read Blood Like Magic and Blood Like Fate right now.

[torneko]

Dragon Quest and Innovation

A sentiment I've seen shared time and time again is that Dragon Quest is a series that is generally played safe, it's one that has fallen into a comfortable position where each entry is going to be revered and thus has no need to push forward.

I've seen this parroted of course by detractors of the series who cite it as the most generic of JRPGs as well as those who enjoy the series and simply find it to be a comfortable and very refined familiarity.

I, however, disagree with this notion entirely. 11 *does* fit this notion more than other games in the series, but I don't it fair to base an argument on a game that was intended to be an anniversary title, one that celebrates the 30 years of games before it (which it does extraordinarily well, mind. I don't want it to seem for a second like I don't adore that game. I very much do)

What follows will be a discussion on most games in the series and how each of them innovate - either on the series formula or on the genre itself. I have not finished 6 or 7 so I will be skipping those, I've barely touched 10 but it will be mentioned briefly.

The first game has been talked about to death - and will likely be talked about *even more* if I ever get around to doing my silly little video series on DQ - but I digress. Everyone familiar with Dragon Quest knows the impact that this game had. This is the game that defined the JRPG genre and everything that came after. Most games can track some influence back to the original Dragon Quest, whether they realize it or not.

The second game introduced party members, beating the original Final Fantasy to the punch! To this day the Prince of Midenhall is the only Dragon Quest hero who can't use magic in any capacity to further cement the necessity of the other party members.

The third game is where things start to get really interesting though - DQ3 was released in a post FF1 world (albeit by a few months). Both games had class systems, similar to Dungeons and Dragons, but Dragon Quest differentiated itself by allowing you to change classes at any time after a certain point in the main plot. What turns this simple system into a masterclass in nuanced design is that each spell learned by a character is carried over to their new one. Though there are a set number of classes on paper, there are an uncountable amount of combinations that are dictated only really by the amount of effort and time you want to spend engineering them.

My beloved Dragon Quest 4 is the first one that truly captured the narrative structure much of the following games have - but with a presentation that none of them have dared copy. Most DQ games are a series of smaller-scale self-contained stories as you journey to get the macguffin or journey to defeat the big bad, but 4 decided to take the time to give chapters dedicated to introducing various party members, the standout being, of course, Torneko's. Torneko is introduced on his own. He's derivative of the merchant class in 3 and is thus not a fighter, his gameplay isn't the typical jrpg faire and instead is one of playing the market and merchanteering to get the money for gear you logically should not have at your level - this is something that people are still trying to replicate with games like Moonlighter.

Pokémon would not exist as it does without Dragon Quest 5! It posed the question of "what if you could recruit any enemies you face?" Furthermore it decided to experiment with following a protagonist over the course of their full life, it decided to make the player make the decision of who to marry - a massive narrative decision to be handed to them!

I don't want to be typing this all night so I'll quickly go over 9 and say a couple sentences about 10.

9 is very overlooked (outside of tumblr), people are very quick to dismiss it as a "weird glorified spinoff" or whatever when this is incredibly reductive. 9 was a game born to be on a handheld, and thus it was designed to take *full* advantage of that. They *really* didn't play it safe with this one and it created one of my favourite entries in the series! When tasked with translating the DQ formula to handhelds Horii and co. decided to make connectivity a core theme of the games mechanics, allowing individuality in character creation and plenty of goodies available through playing with friends who also owned a copy or by connecting to the internet (since this was the first Dragon Quest game that could do so!)

DQ9s innovations led to the *legendary* Masayuki map! A treasure map for one of the games randomly generated dungeons that was shared between people so much due to its contents that it *ended up referenced in the mainline games* as the Ruby Path of Doom!

And 10. Like I said, I haven't played it, but it's an MMO. That's a first for the series, and that should be enough evidence that this is a series that's ever moving in new directions, one that isn't afraid to take risks.

Dragon Quest 12 has been mentioned to have a more mature tone than the previous entries in the series, as much as this might feel out of left field and as much as I might have my own doubts as to how it would turn out, this is a direction I feel is quite natural for the series in ways. Dragon Quest is ever-evolving, and I'm glad that it isn't trapped in complacency like people for are for some reason convinced it is.

[sodaliteskull]

The Starcrossed Cycle: Media Influences

Got inspired by the meta dump @byjillianmaria did (which you can find over here), and wanted to do one for the Starcrossed Cycle!

(I go into more depth about how they influenced me below the cut, because I love getting in the weeds with this shit!)

Borderlands & Sunset Overdrive - A neon, hyperpop veneer over top a dystopia caused by corporate greed, these were the main inspirations for the world that Iradurel grew up in

Saints Row & Borderlands - Violent settings with little to no regard for the sanctity of life, these were inspirations for the life that Iradurel led before being put on ice

The Addams Family - A family that stands in direct opposition to the norms of their society, they were a big inspiration for Iradurel's parentage, the Kortellako family

Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt & Saints Row - Panty from PaSwGB and the Boss from SR were big inspirations for Iradurel's character

God Eater & RWBY & Horizon - Settings where monsters with no end plague the world were something that really tickled my pickle, so I made up my own with the Opiri

Dragon Age & God Eater - If there's going to be monsters, then there are going to need to be monster hunters to fight them. May as well give them powers to do so, but watch out! Those powers have a price! These two are the biggest influences on the Opiri Slayers

RWBY - And if you have monster hunters, then you need a place to show them the ropes, and this was the series that inspired me to make a dedicated school for the Opiri Slayers

Critical Role & Dimension 20 (specifically Fantasy High) - I really enjoy the differing takes on what Gods are in these two: either outside forces that have come to the world of their choice and shape it according to their whims (CR) or endemic to the world but shaped by their followers (FH)

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem & Babylon 5 & Mass Effect & Critical Role - Eldritch horrors causing problems for mortals that they view as little more than ants, another inspo for how deities work in this setting

Babylon 5 & the Legend of Zelda - A repeating cycle of conflict perpetuated by a single malevolent force is something that really gets my motor revving, so I yoinked that for Marenkes' history

Sailor Moon & the Legend of Zelda - The reincarnation aspect from these to tie into the cyclical aspect of the above bullet point was just a natural fit. I gotta have that miracle romance!

Dragon Riders of Pern - The concept of dragon riders is sick as hell, and ones that are psychically bonded to their mounts? Fuckin' awesome, my dudes! Everything else that McCaffrey thought was necessary to add to that equation? Big Yikes! But my desire to have the draconic Eidolons does stem from this series

Assassin's Creed & Final Fantasy XIII & Tales of Symphonia - Settings where the world is older than anyone realizes, and problems from the past (caused by a group of individuals with godlike abilities) are coming to bite the present in the ass were concepts that really excited me! Bonus points to ToS for inspiring a pretty big piece of the physical world of Marenkes!

Mass Effect & Horizon - Ryla is very much in the vein of a Commander Shepard (doing a full Paragon run, naturally) and Aloy type person

Dragon Age & Mass Effect - People being able to use magic because of a natural element in the world is definitely inspired by DA's lyrium and how biotics can use their abilities thanks to eezo from ME

Horizon & Assassin's Creed - The modern world is built on the bones of a far more technologically advanced society that was completely wiped out due to hubris preventing a solution being thought up to a preventable situation, that's the kind of juiciness I wanted for my setting!

Mass Effect & Eternal Darkness & Babylon 5 - The path to victory has been paved with so many sacrificed lives, but it is only thanks to those sacrifices that success will be possible. I fucking LOVE plots like this!

[elliepassmore]

Temptation of Magic review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: art and art history, secret societies, paranormal creatures, dark academia

I enjoyed learning about the magic and myths of this world. There are paranormal creatures familiar to us, such as sirens and vampires, but there are also ones that are more unusual and unique to this world, such as the Spectre and Empyreals, of which the main character is the latter. There's a lot of lore and tradition behind the creatures that I found interesting, and I liked that we got to see a number of different types in the flesh, as well as theoretically through Nicole's mother's journal.

I also liked the inclusion of art in the plot. There's so much real art that features mythological creatures and events, it's a pretty natural way to suggest an underlying magical influence in our world. Scott goes a step further and also says that some of the art is varnished so humans see one thing and those in the magical community can see another, such as Dante and Virgil in Hell by Bouguereau, which features heavily in the novel. I definitely think that art is an area underutilized in fantasy so I really liked seeing it here, particularly in a dark academia-type book where we get to know more about the artist, the painting, the history, etc.

One thing that confused me though was that I never really got a good grasp on why the art was the center of it all. At first it's a thing with Nicole's family and the clues her mother left, but the society they're running from is interested in the paintings as well. Art is propaganda, but I'm definitely going to need a more solid reason for why art seems to be the only way people in this world encode messages and greater truths. There are no great literature pieces pointing to the truth? There's no buried capsule or treasure hoard or something that does it? I love art, and I like it's inclusion of the book, but it does feel like somewhat of a roundabout way to tell people things if you want to tell people while also keeping the meaning encoded.

Also, I know this is dark academia, but beyond the first instance, the quoting of Frankenstein is just weird. It kind of comes in halfway through the story and the first time it happens it makes sense, one of the characters is literally holding a copy of the book, but then after that I'm not sure why it keeps coming up. This isn't a book that contains a lot of book quoting like some other dark academia titles, so it felt a little out of place.

Nicole is an Empyreal in hiding, hoping to avoid both the Wake and the transformation that will make her an even bigger target than she is now. She's determined to figure out her mother's last clue and both keep her family safe and ensure they can remain in the town she calls home. In order to do so, Nicole has spent a lot of time studying art and art history, both in the human and magical sense. She's knowledgeable about her field and her mother's previous clues mean she's got an analytical mind for things like codes as well. I liked seeing Nicole's passion and love for art, as well as for her family. She's strong-willed and determined to figure out this final clue, no matter what stands in her way. Other than the instalove, I think she's pretty well-rounded as a character, and while she may act recklessly at times, it's in character for her desire to protect her family.

The Palmer family functions well as a unit. Her older brother, Dylan, is also an Empyreal and he and Nicole train together to keep their skills sharp and ensure if it ever comes down to it they'll know how to fight. Their younger sister, Bells, is a Seer and is desperate to help her family beyond just maybe glimpsing how something will go later on. Their father is also a Seer, but he also is something of a chemist/apothecary and brews potions and other things to help suppress Dylan and Nicole's transformation and scent to ensure they stay even more under of the radar than what might naturally be possible. Unlike in some other stories, the family by and large talks out situations and plans on how to overcome them together. I liked seeing the cohesion in their family unit and how it wasn't just Nicole on her own, though sometimes she does sneak around and do stuff by herself, though there are words about that afterward.

Remi is a siren who lives in town with her siren parents, the three of whom fled and are also in hiding. The two families get along well and are aware of each other's status as 'on the run' and so work together to ensure the town is safe and kept free of anyone who could threaten them. As things ramp up in the story, Remi lends a helping hand to the Palmers and when her parents come back into town, they're also more than willing to help out. I really enjoyed seeing how the two families got along and formed their own larger family together, determined to protect one another and everyone's secrets.

I really loved the Palmer house. On the outside it's like every other house in their coastal town, but on the inside it has a well-equipped training gym and a secret library where their magical book collection, their mother's journals, and any magical art pieces are stored. I really loved the library in particular and thought it was a great addition.

Kyan comes into the picture pretty early on, he gets his own POV, and it's interesting to watch him grow and change over the course of the novel. In the beginning, he's a soldier for the Wake, determined to do his job...but for him that job really is protecting other supernatural creatures. He doesn't understand why some creatures are afraid of Empyreals when they're 'there to help,' but once Nicole is in the picture and more secrets start coming to light, he begins to understand more. I did appreciate that his protective and noble streaks meant that he isn't bullheaded when learning the truth. Kyan really does want to help people, and when he discovers hints the Wake might not actually be doing that, he listens.

There is instalove in the story but I don't think it's too bad. It's hard to determine over what period of time the book takes place, but I'd say a week or two. That being said, I do feel like the buildup to the instalove is done so that the 'lusting' and 'liking' come first and then the 'love' comes last, so it at least feels like more of a natural progression than at other times. There are sex scenes toward the end of the book, and they are somewhat detailed.

My one real complaint about the book is that I feel the last 70-100 pages were extraneous. There's not a lot going on and it kind of just focuses on the winddown after the climax of the story. If it needed to be there, I feel like it could've been summed up in maybe 20 pages. I did think one thing that happened at the end was super weird and I get why they did it....but I'm just not necessarily vibing with that decision.

Overall I enjoyed this story and it's a good dark academia read with art and paranormal creatures. There's a lot of trying to figure out the clue and scheming on how to outwit the Wake, but there are also moments of action as well.

[awkwardpasta004]

So after reviewing the stuff left from the world building, I’m starting to get into this mindset of “do I really need these things to start fleshing out my story?” I can see my story a lot clearer now, more than I ever have, and I’m trying to look at the world building to see what I actually need done so that I can hurry up and get to figuring out the history. The history is what will make the story fully click for me. I know it will. I can feel my story in my head, which has been a whisper for a long time, and now it’s finally getting louder and the fog is clearing. I just wanna get to it! But I need to make sure I have these last tiny bits of world building done.

I have a character name that needs to be changed, which won’t be hard since she’s pretty much the only white protagonist so I won’t have to do as much research for her than I have done for literally everyone else! That’s the challenge of being a white writer and wanting to write a story where the main cast is majority POC and everyone is pretty much queer. I mean I am queer myself but I wanna do everything justice and put out the story that I would’ve wanted to read as a teen. But most importantly, and this has always been my motivation since I first started writing poetry and short stories as a kid, is to give lonely kids a story with friends to hold onto. I mean I was a very lonely child and books gave me people to talk to when things weren’t going great at home and I wanna do that for others.

Man I decided to get deep there. I just have all these thoughts and feelings about writing and such and I’m too shy to do writing vlogs. Even though talking aloud really helps. I prefer to talk to someone about story stuff and I used to have my sister but we don’t really talk all that much (she’s horrible at answering texts). She was the one person who knew every detail of my series so it was easy to bounce ideas off her but I don’t really have that person to call anymore. I mean my bf chats with me about it but he doesn’t know all the details so I’ll be prattling on and he’ll get so confused. I feel like I should make a PowerPoint but then again I can’t just call him whenever I want cause he has other things to do. Bleeeeh. Oh well I’ll figure it out. I mean it’s why I’m typing now.

I’m wanting to get started on writing out the history and plotting the story so I can start doing NaNoWriMos but in other months besides November. Omg how fun would it be to start writing the first book to my queer fantasy series during pride month?! Hehehe that would be great!

Ok time to focus! Gotta do home stuff so I can apply to jobs and work on finishing my pre writing! I’m determined! May is the month for finishing my pre writing!

Oh last note…I am struggling not to keep reading Fourth Wing. Ik I’m not going to be able to listen to it when I go to the store later cause I need to keep my head focused. Yesterday I started my drive home on chapter 5 then ended my whole day on chapter 18 (I have the audiobook. I am not reading a physical book and driving)

[aroaceoutinspace]

What I Read in July!

For so long now I have been in the worst reading slump, getting through a book a month at most, but I got so much read in July and I'm so proud of it. I finally feel a bit more like myself 🥰

1. Babel by RF Kuang

I was dying to read this book for so. long. and it didn't disappoint! This was a fantasy story set in 1800s Oxford in a fictional Translation Institute, Babel. The storyline and imagery was just incredible, and everything felt so accurate to that timeline. The way it explored linguistics and meanings that got lost in translation fascinated me, the characters broke my heart, and the way RF Kuang handles racism in the story was just as educational, accurate and raw as always. Anybody who read this and said 'oh it made me feel guilty for being white!'.... you're the problem.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

2. Gallant by VE Schwab

This was a really satisfying fast read in my opinion, or maybe after the monster that is Babel anything would seem fast 😂. Since many pages are taken up by illustrations and journal pages with little writing, the story itself is fast but still really good. It explores a girl in an orphanage who has always been able to see ghosts, and the only possession she has is her mother's journal who tells her she will be safe as long as she stays away from Gallant. I am a sucker for dark fantasy and the concept of entities entering from other worlds, and really loved this story. I did feel slightly underwhelmed at the ending, but the story and atmosphere was enjoyable nonetheless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

3. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Trust me when I tell you that this is what Shadow and Bone wishes it could be. Murder, secret societies, college campus, magic and a girl who can see ghosts. What's not to love?! I adored Alex's sarcastic character, and her back story was so raw and unjust. If you like dark academia vibes and fantasy, just read it. One of my top books without a doubt.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

4. Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

If course I immediately devoured the sequel and was not left disappointed. Finding out more about a certain ability interested me so much, and so many elements came full circle! Fair warning however, this is not the end, and now I must endure the wait for book 3 🥲. Story of my life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

5. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Honestly I tend to stay away from romance books for the most part because of amatonormative themes that often crop up, but in my experience gay romance is more modern in that sense, and this plot was far to amazing sounding for me to skip. Yet another historical setting, a misunderstanding that plunges somebody not magical into the magical world, curses, and forbidden gay love. What's not to love! That twist at the end of something unrectified was brilliant and I will have to read the second book very soon!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️/5

Other

Now this isn't technically a book.... but I mean audiobooks count as reading so audiodramas do too? Right? 😂

I am currently in the depths of a Magnus Archives obsession, and finished season 2 in July. I am now halfway through season 3 and so much is happening I am enraptured. I need to know everything-

The Magnus Archives is a horror audiodrama (but more the slightly gorey than jumpscare type. As someone who reads dark fantasy and not horror I still enjoy it). The Magnus Institue deals with researching paranormal cases and investigating their credibility, but everything mentioned becomes important at some point. That is how beautifully crafted it is. Names and themes crop up over and over and you find yourself trying to make so many connections. Its just amazing

If you do plan on listening to it, don't worry if you don't notice connections at first. It's at MAG 16-20 you should start noticing the similarities. Season 2 (MAG 40-80) was a bit of a drag, but trust me when I say it crawled so Season 3 could run like a maniac. New obsession here I come.

3.5-4 stars for Season 2 but 5 stars for season 3 so far!

Thank you for reading, I hope you'll give one of these a try!

[pocketbelt]

Blue Archive: Volume F: Where All Miracles Begin (& associated events)

Those events being Operational Plan: Nisir’s Summit, Ark of Atrahasis Conquest and Phrenapates Showdown, because they pulled out every fucking stop for the grand finish of Story Arc #1.

When a gacha game’s story arc manages to pull off gameplay-story integration far beyond what games with thousands of staff and hundreds of millions of dollars in budget across a 5-7 year dev time don’t even consider doing, because that would involve giving a shit about your gameplay

Blue Archive’s Volume F could be a perfect end to its story, practically, incorporating as it does basically every single last character possible, referencing basically every single event and giving all of its dozens their moments in the sun. I’m glad it isn’t, because more is unbelievably welcome, but as grand endings to years of story go it’s top tier. Even the earliest and seemingly completely irrelevant events like Bunny Chasers On Board pay off here, it’s nuts.

As well as using its standard story format to deliver the plot, the game locked progress behind clearing Nisir’s Summit (all recurring raid bosses active, needing to be worn down by the server), Ark of Atrahasis Conquest (the ‘territory control’ hex grid map event type) and Phrenapates Showdown (server-wide co-op raid event); they ‘used the whole animal’ when it came to using game mechanics and modes for this story, to say nothing of the final trick of Phrenapates Showdown (ROT13 cipher: znxvat lbh gryrcbeg gur fghqragf bhg bs gur rkcybqvat rarzl onfr, naq gura yrggvat lbh hfr gur svany bar erfreirq sbe gur cynlre punenpgre gb fnir Fuvebxb Nygre vafgrnq, lbhefrys, abg ivn phgfprar). I don’t know how well that plays after the events end, but if they’re integrated even in basic form that’d be ideal.

There’s too many great lines to share, too many good moments, payoffs, arc resolutions and advancements and character developments, too many to share. Blue Archive isn’t as philosophical and often isn’t as deep or complex as contemporaries can be, it’s practically meathead at points, but that is also its strength. It’s earnest, often simple, regularly fucking funny and it manages its characters and story threads better than you would expect. It doesn’t fall into the trap of wallowing in the struggles and miseries of its world, but actually does something with and about them.

When the gacha game story arc breaches the GOTY list.

And for a slightly spoilery take: Blue Archive Volume F hits the same notes and has the same anti-nihilistic "life is worth living for its own sake" declaration as Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, only it doesn’t shit the bed in the final hours and devolve into gracelessly yelling it on repeat and beating your head in with it. So yeah, Volume F > Endwalker

[silver-wield]

When I see really bad takes in FFVII fandom like "kill tifa instead, she's just right there", " it's "all" of them, "misogyny" there that when killing a woman, uh many other things. I just want to tell any of you, just go play any other game that focuses on multiple routes, and player immersion? Like I dunno, 999, dark souls, tactics ogre, tokimeki girl's memorial, corpse party, Persona 3, 4, 5, fate/franchise by type moon, harvest moon, Etc the list goes on. Just go play visual novels, literally any game you can self insert yourself in because that's the point? But FFVII, rather FF was never that kind of franchise, if there's any, at most it serves a purpose but really could honestly just be unnecessary fan service. FF is about its narrative and the rpg part is about being in that world ,and not being the character yourself. I've been playing a lot of these types of games for years and a huge fan of jp games. So when they imply FFVII is such, I cringe a lot because this game would be the worst in that genre. It wouldn't even qualify 😂. I mean what's the point of still watching or playing a game known for it's story if you don't get the narrative and it's characters.. 😂.

Exactly! Final Fantasy is not and never has been a choose your own adventure game. Idky so many people think they decide what happens in them. The player doesn't decide anything.

If I got to decide what happens in FF then Clive sure af wouldn't be lying on a beach alone. He'd go home and we'd see him happy with Jill. But because there's always and only one story path, Clive is left alone on a beach.

And before some smartarse tries "there's no options in xvi" uhhh yeah there is. You can take Jill or Tarja. There's also a chance for you to hang out with Otto or Gavin, so there are choices in the game, but the plot is the same no matter how much or little you do or who you hang with.

Ffvii always and only ends with Tifa. Cloud is always in love with her. He will always be with her, no matter how fucking salty y'all are about that.

Just go play a nameless protagonist game. It's not like there's no good ones out there.

[bravetemptation]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation 2022

It’s December 31st, and here we are. What a YEAR. Let’s take a look:

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 7

2. Word Count posted for the year: 247,189 words (holy shit 😅)

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction

4. Pairings: Harry/Louis; Liam Payne/Oli Wright; Zayn Malik/Louis Tomlinson

5. Story with the most:

6. Kudos: 491 - From This Moment On

7. Bookmarks: 149 - From This Moment On

8. Comments: 58 - From This Moment On

9. Work I’m most proud of and why: A Little Twist of Fate - this fic is so long, probably one of the longest I’ve ever written, and it’s fantasy, which is my favorite genre. Even though it has the least interaction, I don’t think I wrote a better one than that this year.

10. Work I’m least proud of and why: I don’t really have one - I think everything I wrote this year was pretty good 😂

11. Share or describe a favorite review you received: every comment I get is a blessing - I don’t usually get a lot of them, so when someone takes the time out to even say three words about how the fic impacted them, I feel very pleased.

12. A time when writing was really really hard: I would have to say in June and July, when I had four WIPs going at the same time, which my beta will tell you I NEVER DO. I’m a one fic at a time type of person. I couldn’t figure out which one to write or where to take any of them. Thankfully they all got done and published 😂 that and right after my first Harry residency show when I got Covid and it knocked me out for two weeks 😂

13. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: All of the Zouis content I did in A Little Twist of Fate, because it came off so realistic that @daggerandrose thought it sounded like a zouis fic and I was completely unaware that I could even write any pairing other than Larry.

14. A favorite excerpt of your writing: The first time Harry and Louis touch properly in Your Gift Is Wasted On Me:

“Come on, come on,” he heard Harry mutter, and he completely agreed. But finally, they were doing it.

“And the winner …”

Louis held his breath.

“Of this season of the Great British Bake Off is …”

Louis grabbed Harry’s hand, squeezing it tightly as he waited the agonizing three seconds.

“Marge!”

“Fucking yes!” Louis yelled, jumping off the sofa and dancing around. Niall was on his feet too, but as Louis turned to Harry, he found him sitting there, his mouth open slightly, staring at the screen as though he wasn’t even seeing it.

“Harry, what …”

“You held my hand.”

15. How did you grow as a writer this year? I allowed myself to just write. In years past, I kind of did maybe two stories a year just because I wanted them to be different, I wanted the perfect prompt, or I was just lazy as hell. But this year I was pushing out fics every few months and it felt GREAT.

16. How do you hope to grow next year? I hope to possibly enter a fest or two so that I can get a little more traffic on my fics (as well as querying in real life for my finished book and finish writing the new one I’m working on - that’s going to be super exciting)

17. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer? (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc) Every person who helped me work through plot holes and major mistakes and read my work before it was even out - especially @sunflowersometimes @daggerandrose @chloehl10 . They’re my main source of motivation ❤️

18. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year? Not specifically, though I like to think I put a piece of myself into every fic and every character, and if you know me really well, you’ll be able to catch it. But I wrote a fantasy fic which is literally what I want my real life to be so I THINK I’ll go with that 😂

19. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers? Write. Write every day, even if it’s only three pages or three sentences or three words. Write from your heart. Don’t let the interaction - or lack thereof - of others dictate how you feel about your work. Ask other writers to beta for you - it’s more fun when you work with someone else.

20. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year? I have several projects in the works: The Dear Devoted Delicate Series (one mini fic for every year they’ve been together); If There’s No You (an amnesia fic); If We Can’t Stop The Bleeding (a vampire fic); and Place In Me (a 1D reunion fic). I’m sure there will be more but that’s all I really have planned at the moment. Hopefully you’ll get to see them ALL 😘

21. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read. Anyone who wants to do this can - I’m sure most of you have already been tagged 💞