#honestly? I hate to say it but it was maybe the weakest of the trilogy

[transsexual-divinity]

Pics from seeing MaXXXine yesterday

[bloodgulchblog]

7, 9, and 22 on choosing violence?

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Noble 6.

It's pretty unfair of me. Of course everyone loves their ocs. Everyone should get to love their ocs! Everyone should love their ocs and thrive.

I just got Tired of it all real fast.

9. worst part of canon

Halo 5 is a meme answer at this point.

TV Show's not canon so I won't count it, they were at least prescient enough to make it a separate continuity.

I could also say Kilo Five, but I have such complicated feelings about it. Kilo Five pisses me off a lot, but it's also pretty interesting.

I don't like Denning's books (and a couple things he does really frustrate me) but I feel like saying they're the worst just because I don't like them would be petty.

I think the weakest part of the written Halo canon just in terms of overall craftsmanship is the Uprising comic because it just sucks, but it's honestly a boring kind of suck. Nothing that happens in it really matters. (I mean, Ackerson dies, but that's the only good thing I have to say about it.) The art is bad, really really really bad. The writing is bad. But none of the characters matter, so it's like. Fine.

....One of my followers will probably be able to point out something I got really unhinged about hating before that I forgot here, lol.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I am taking this as carte blanche to do propaganda for the YA Halo novels again.

I think the first one is better than the second one, but the second one has Middle Book of a Trilogy problems and then the third one never got to happen bc it got cancelled (due to low sales, I would assume.)

Anyway.

Halo: Battle Born is about a group of teenagers on the planet Meridian. When the Covenant attacks Meridian, it puts up a big forcefield bubble over their town because there's a Forerunner Thing in there that the Covenant wants to dig up, so the Covenant is protecting their new digsite.

Most of the town's people managed to hide in an underground bunker and are locked in there by the town's dumb AI. The only people who aren't are these teenagers... and the bunker is starting to flood.

They do have one thing going for them, though: also trapped in the forcefield bubble? A wounded Spartan-III who got separated from the rest of his team.

Between the group of them, they need to figure out how to rescue and evacuate the townspeople without the Covenant killing them (and maybe fuck up the Covenant's plans while they're here.)

If you have absolutely zero tolerance for stories about high school kids, I completely understand. But I went into this in good faith and it was a lot of fun. As a Halo nerd, it was really enjoyable to see a writer doing work to flesh out what civilian life (especially for young characters) is like in this universe because we mostly don't get a lot of opportunities to see it. It's fun to read about Victor wanting to make videos and movies and trying to have a channel. It's fun that Dorian is in a band and plays some kind of mostly-computer instrument we don't really know how it works.

It's fun that Saskia's parents work for a shady weapons company and maybe knew the attack was coming and abandoned their daughter. :)

(Actually it's wildly fucked up, but that is the kind of fun we have here.)

I also really enjoy the way they bond with the Spartan, Owen, and how he finds some commonality with one of them in particular.

You can make some criticisms about how some of the tech is a little goofy (mostly re: a genetic lock that shows up, based on my memory) and maaaaybe Owen is a liiiiiittle too willing to tell the teenagers some truths that he shares, but also it's not like Halo has ever been particularly good about having its characters do opsec anyway. (Plus Owen is... also a teenager! And he's in a really bad situation and separated from his chain of command.)

I think it's worth your time if it sounds fun.

(The second one isn't as good, but it DOES have the protagonists getting pulled into working for the UNSC and that's very fucked up!!!)

[mermaidsirennikita]

Have you read anything by Kylie Scott? I just finished the first book in her Stage Dive series and although I initially thought it was fun I ended up absolutely hating it. I’m trying to decide if the other books are worth reading. I read and fell in love with the VIP series by Kristen Callihan after you posted about enjoying them. I thought maybe Stage Dive would be a fun follow up but now I’m not sure.

I love Kylie Scott overall, though I did just finish her Dive Bar trilogy and it wasn't my favorite... To be fair, it's basically a small town romance thing, and those are always hard sells for me. I did enjoy End of Story quite a bit, and Stage Dive is actually a favorite series of mine.

I actually prefer Stage Dive to VIP, largely because while I looove Managed and Fall and super enjoy Exposed, I did not like Idol…. At all. So I have to take it down a notch there.

But for a Stage Dive breakdown...To be honest, I gave Lick a 4/5 but I wouldn’t say it was especially memorable to me. I largely remember the one rough sex scene, the general setup, and Jimmy Ferris: The Early Days. The issue with David is that he's honestly a pretty sanctimonious hero, and he has a very classic "first hero syndrome", where you can tell that Kylie had a MUCH stronger idea of what the next few heroes were like, but she wanted to ease you into the world. He has the least personality , his story is the least impressive.

I think that the second book (Play) is better if you are up for a kind of unusual m/f ship with a manic pixie dream guy (but not really because he’s actually got some tough shit to deal with). Mal definitely has ADHD, whether or not the book makes it explicit (can't remember) and his hyperactivity is a lot for me in other people's books, but his dynamic with the heroine made it work for me here. It's when he gets serious with her that you're like "oh, he's in LOVE".

Lead (Jimmy's book) is my favorite in the series, in part because Jimmy is SOOOO bad in Lick, and you really get this very sort of closed off guy at first in his own book. Reading Lick first does help with context, imo, because you know how bad off he was. But the arc of emotional intimacy he has with Lena is super beautiful. They have one of my favorite kissing scenes I've read in romance, AND! One of the greatest "let's just do it once to get it out of our systems" followed by the hero having an existential crisis I've ever read. Jimmy's emotional issues--his rigidness with his routine, the way he isolates from his friends and family, his guilt and shame--also read very similarly to those of recovering addicts I've known, too. I don't know, I found his book super lovely. And I should add--Lena is for sure my favorite heroine of the series. Tough and hard-nosed and also just, sadly, completely smitten with her boss, who is her friend, for whom she's supposed to act as a sober companion. MESS.

Deep is also really good, I love it almost as much as Lead. Its plot is very.... spoilery, but there's a very good buildup to it, especially in Lead. Parts are a bit contrived, but I really enjoyed the couple, and I was kind of trash for their antics. Like, Ben FUCKS UP. I was there for the drama.

So yes, I would recommend reading the others--Lick is probably the weakest for me. Lead is the strongest, followed by Deep, but I did enjoy Play... Though again, Mal is not a traditional romance hero. You may like that, you may not. It's a gender dynamic you don't see a lot of, tbh, though not in any kind of like, kinky way (.... :().

Both Stage Dive and VIP actually suffer from First Book Syndrome, imo, where the author kind of plays the safest, least interesting book first and then is like "okay, now I can show you the people I was really excited about". I do think Kylie does some very good shit with buildup in Lead especially because Jimmy like, literally sexually harassed his sister in law and overdosed in Lick... and then has to own himself and like, accept love in Lead.

[araphiel]

Obi-Wan Kenobi: my thoughts on the series [spoilers]

Just binge-watched the 6 episodes all in a day and, honestly, it was even better on re-watch! I freaking LOVE this series and I don't care what anybody else says.

Watching Ewan McGregor reprise the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi was everything I wanted!

Obi-Wan's arc is just so beautifully realized. It's heartbreaking seeing him in the first episode, depressed, consumed by guilt, his connection to the Force weakened; and then through the season we see him slowly becoming more like himself again, culminating in that spectacular finale where not only is his connection to the Force fully restored but it's more powerful than ever because he has someone to fight for. And by the end of the series we see him laugh and smile again, he has forgiven himself and moved on, he has healed. 😭😭😭

His relationship with little Leia warms my heart. They have such a delightful dynamic and share so many lovely moments. I love little Leia so much! She's so precious! Vivien Lyra Blair did such a splendid job. She was Leia through and through. And their last scene together, where Obi-Wan tells her how she inherited her parents best qualities left me in tears.

Vader was also freaking phenomenal in this series. His presence alone is so menacing. And the way they handled the Obi-Wan / Vader dynamic was perfect. From their first encounter on Mapuzo, with Vader coming for Obi-Wan like a freaking terminator; their flashbacks together and how their fight paralleled their duel on Mustafar; and their final confrontation which was just so emotional and powerful! And watching Obi-Wan truly leveling up and I could see his resolve in finishing it but then he sees Anakin's face through the broken mask and you can see Obi-Wan breaking again, his eyes so full of pain as he tells Anakin he's sorry. I don't think I'll ever recover from this scene! And Anakin/Vader telling Obi-Wan he is not his failure, with Anakin's own voice coming through and the blue light reflecting on his face, it truly felt like it was Anakin absolving Obi-Wan 😭😭😭

Personally, I found the Reva subplot was the weakest part of the series. I don't know if it was the writing or the acting or both, but something about her character and her arc just didn't click with me. I'd rather we had more of the Inquisitors as a whole or maybe just focused more on the Grand inquisitor, idk... I think it goes without saying that despite this I don't think Reva/Moses Ingram deserves any of the hate she got. But yeah, hers was definitely the least interesting part of the series for me.

Some additional thoughts: + Small detail, but I really liked the recap of the Prequel Trilogy. + I LOVE the Obi-Wan theme! John Williams never disappoints. + I love all the different Order 66 flashbacks we've been getting, not only in this series but also in The Mandalorian. Rips my heart to shreds every time. + Leia and Bail's relationship is so sweet 😩 + Owen's "Like you trained his father?" was such a low blow! Like DAMN! + Little Leia is such a SAVAGE! The way she schooled her asshole of a cousin, calling Obi-Wan old twice, "Is this a staring contest?!" I LOVE her! If she and baby Grogu had met, they would be unstoppable! The Empire wouldn't have stood a chance! I love my space babies! - Reva's parkour through the roofs in episode 2 is probably my least favourite sequence in the whole series. I would rather they had cut this and instead gave us a proper showdown between her and the Grand Inquisitor (although I guess she would probably have lost...) + The moment Obi-Wan learns Anakin is still alive 💔 + I could get lost in Ewan McGregor's blue eyes 💙💙💙 + Vader throwing Obi-Wan into the fire — tell me you're not over Mustafar without telling me you're not over Mustafar + But it was honestly gut-wrenching seeing Obi-Wan burn + Loved seeing the Fortress Inquisitorius + When Leia holds Obi-Wan's hand with her tiny little hand and he strokes her hand back 😭😭😭 + The flashbacks in episode 5 made me so emotional! And it was so lovely seeing Hayden as Anakin again. + When Reva is asking Obi-Wan where he was when Anakin was murdering younglings and why he didn't stop him, and we can see the hurt and the guilt on Obi-Wan's eyes 😭 My love, you were on Utapau getting shot at! 😭 + Vader pulling that ship down and ripping it apart — OMG! That was so powerful! This series really gave us some peak Vader content. I want a Darth Vader series asap! + Also, his fight with Reva?! Brilliant! The way he was just toying with her, not even drawing his own lightsaber, like it was beneath him. *chef's kiss* + Little Luke is adorable too! If we get a second season, I hope we get to see more of him. + When Obi-Wan does his iconic opening stance in episode 6 and the music builds up — I FELT things!!! And just when I thought it couldn't get any better he ends up switching hands during the duel and don't ask me why but I found that hot as hell! What a legend! + Like seriously, that was simultaneous the sexiest and most gut-wrenching lightsaber duel ever! + The way Vader purposefully gave obi-wan the low ground — tell me you're not over Mustafar without telling me you're not over Mustafar, Part 2. + The open helmet scene will haunt me forever 😭😭😭 I AM DEAD AND IN PAIN 😭😭😭 Utter perfection! + Uncle Owen and aunt Beru are freaking badasses and I LOVE them! + Always a pleasure seeing Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine! + Obi-Wan's laugh healed my soul + I mean it when I say that Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi owns my heart. I love him so much 😭💙 + "Princess Leia Organa, you are wise, discerning, kindhearted. These are qualities that came from your mother. But you are also passionate and fearless, forthright. And these are gifts from your father. Both were exceptional people who bore an exceptional daughter." — sobbing forever over this scene 😭😭😭 + I loved that we got to hear Obi-Wan's iconic "Hello there" one more time and I think it's hilarious that was the first thing he said to Luke when he finally met him! The sassy king is truly back as his old self 💙 + And how adorable is it that the toy ship Luke is playing with in A New Hope was gifted to him by Obi-Wan 💙 + I LOVED seeing Master Qui-Gon again! And the first thing he says to Obi-Wan being "Well, took you long enough" is just so in-character!

There's so much more I could say but I'm going to shut up now.

Check out my letterboxd for more of my thoughts.

[swgoji2001]

My Thoughts on Jedi Fallen Order

So after upgrading to a new, stronger laptop (pretty sure my stupidity in attempting to run this game on my old laptop hastened its tragic, untimely demise), I finally finished Jedi Fallen Order last night. I had mixed feelings going into this game, as I have some friends who said it was amazing while others said it was a mediocre story with decent gameplay.

Now after playing, was it the greatest Star Wars game I’ve ever experienced? No, but it was very good. Some minor gripes here and there, but overall I had a blast playing the game.

Warning: Some spoilers will be included, I’ll try to keep them as minor as possible though.

Story:

So I’m not gonna go overly deep into the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who still hasn’t played the game, but to be honest I found the plot of Fallen Order to be a bit generic at first. It’s a classic light side vs dark side narrative with a redemption arc or two sprinkled in. In fact, I found the plot of Fallen Order to be quite similar in structure to the Disney Trilogy. Both have MacGuffin hunts (holocron and wayfinder), both include journeys to different planets following the trail of someone else (Eno Cordova and that one assassin dude mentioned in IX), both have mentors who have distanced themselves from the Force (Cere and Luke), and both have antagonists who were failed by their masters (Trilla and Kylo). 

Fallen Order splits off from this more generic route after returning to Dathomir and does it’s own thing, but I found myself asking why I enjoyed the first 75% or so of Fallen Order when I absolutely hated the DT. I found the answer to lie mainly in two things: the characters and the world they found themselves in.

Characters:

Cal Kestis: I absolutely loved Cal’s character arc. He has his own deep personal struggles with his past, feeling responsible for the death of his master. He faces those fears and comes to terms with his past, determined to make a better future. Cal not only comes out of his journey a Jedi Knight, but as a stronger person. Compare this to Rey, who had no meaningful flaws or personal struggles. Plus Cal’s the first ginger Jedi! Score one for diversity!

BD-1: My fourth favorite Star Wars droid, only behind HK-47, KOTOR 2′s T3-M4, and K-2SO. He’s cute, adorable, and loyal to a fault. What more could you ask for in a droid? (Other than a tibanna-powered blaster rifle and a bloodthirsty, anti-meatbag personality of course!) Plus there’s a revelation about his history towards the end that only makes him better and better.

Cere Junda: Star Wars has always had its mentor characters, but in all honesty I found Cere to be pretty generic. A Jedi Master who failed her Padawan and touched the dark side, only to be horrified by it and renounce the Force. Throughout learning her story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had already seen something like this before. Her arc isn’t bad, it’s well done and feels natural to her character, it was just rather generic.

Greez Dritus: Gotta say Greez grew on me as the game went on. He has his flaw in his gambling problem which bites Cal in the ass a couple times, but towards the end I really felt the connection between him and the others grow. He’s also the source of a good deal of humor.

Nightsister Merrin: Sadly, Merrin being an eventual ally was spoiled for me, but I love the subversion because it was built up that she would be an eventual boss fight. Merrin might be my favorite character besides Cal, I wish there were more interactions with her in game! She’s hot, has a great accent, a wicked sense of humor, and is powerful with Nightsister magick. But beyond all that, she’s a parallel to Cal. Both are survivors, the last of their kind, and I’m hoping that if a sequel is made, it goes deeper into their relationship because Merrin and Cal have great chemistry. I also love how Merrin challenges Cal and Cere’s plan to train the next gen of Jedi using the holocron, putting that idea in a more realistic, less idealistic light.

Prauf: I really feel bad for him. I liked him and you could feel the camaraderie between him and Cal, how he wanted Cal to succeed and do great things. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Oggdo Bogdo: Fuck this frog! He killed me so many times!

Trilla Suduri (Second Sister): The Jedi Padawan that felt betrayed by her master and became an inquisitor. I always love it when antagonists have a personal connection to the protagonists in some way, shape, or form. Trilla shakes Cal’s faith in Cere, and plants seeds of doubt in him. She wants revenge and the Emperor’s favor, and therefore we know why she chases Cal across the galaxy. She has motivations for all her actions, which is something that Kylo lacked in the DT.

Taron Malicos: I knew something was off about this guy the second I met him. I quite enjoyed the clash of beliefs between him, Merrin, and Cal. Malicos proposes a way forward, a new Jedi Order, but one founded on darker teachings. He offers Cal that power, but Cal proves his stature as a Jedi in refusing it.

Ninth Sister (Masana Tide): Probably the weakest of the villain characters for me. Ninth barely has any presence in the game at all other than the start and to serve as a boss battle on Kashyyyk. I honestly just don’t think she fits into the story as is. Perhaps if they tweaked it so that Ninth and Cal knew each other back before Order 66 she would have fit better. Ninth just doesn’t have any personal connection to Cal and the Mantis crew (like Trilla does) and doesn’t really serve as a trial like Malicos does. Remove her from the story and not much changes.

(If you somehow haven’t had this next one spoiled yet, I’m impressed. Please skip to ‘World’ if so)

Darth Vader: I absolutely loved how he was portrayed. A terrifying, unstoppable force. You won’t last in a fight with him, your can only hope you can outrun him.

World:

Fallen Order’s worldbuilding was on point. Cal’s ability to sense Force Echoes lets you get a more detailed understanding of the environment around you. It’s a small-scale Star Wars story, but the planets all feel lived in if you take the time to explore them. It’s the small details like the probe droid witnessing your initial use of the Force on Bracca or the side-stories you can discover like the tragic tale of the family running from the Empire on Zeffo or Malicos’ corruption and manipulation of Merrin that really flesh out the world. Compare this to the galactic-scale story the DT told, which somehow made the galaxy feel extremely small and uninteresting.

My only complaint with the world-building is the Zeffo. They’re just... there. Very little is explained about them. Who were they? Why were they important? What happened to them? Why did they disappear? Perhaps this was to leave room for a sequel but to me the Zeffo just felt like discount Rakata. I wish the devs had gone with the Rakata instead, but maybe that’s just me.

Also the wildlife on every world is more than capable of killing you if you aren’t careful so you almost always have to be on your toes for them, which rolls us into the next part...

Gameplay:

The gameplay was great fun in Fallen Order. Leveling up and unlocking new abilities was exciting and once I got the hang of them all, it was so much fun just cutting through your enemies. I played on Jedi Master difficulty (died approximately 75 times, give or take a few I may have missed) and it felt really well balanced. It forced me to study my opponent’s moves and adapt to them instead of being a hack-and-slash type of game. Combos are fluid and fun to pull off, parrying opponents leaves an opening to attack, and you can experiment with different fighting styles.

Customizing your lightsaber and appearance was also great fun. So many different options and combinations for everything! Plus you got rewarded for exploration with these extra customization options, so it adds incentive to do that if you care about appearances and whatnot. You can become the General Grievous of ponchos!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Fallen Order was a great game that could have been even better. Of course I have to admit I’m looking at this through the nostalgia of games like KOTOR 2, which flipped Star Wars completely on its head. I would have preferred if Cere’s story had been a bit more nuanced, the Ninth Sister had more reason for being in the story, or if the game had Cal seriously question the use and role of Jedi in the galaxy (he does a couple times to BD-1, but it’s never really built on).

And then there’s my overall gripe about this type of story set after Order 66. It sets up questions like... where was Cal during the OT? Was he dead? Somewhere in the Unknown Regions doing something else? I know the ending of the game sets up the opening for Cal’s story to continue, but still, these types of stories usually end in death for the Jedi protagonist, so I am a bit nervous for his future.

Despite that though, I am super happy I finally decided to play this and am eagerly awaiting a sequel to continue this story.

[thecsquirrel]

Now, that I’ve allowed myself to simply be entertained for a couple of hours, I can now think a little bit more about what worked and didn’t work for in WW84.

If I have to give a rating it’s 6.5/10.  I was entertained and you know what, I’m going to watch it again; however, I didn’t love it like I loved the first film.  Since, I’ve finally unmuted all the hot takes, two days later, it’s easy to pinpoint why there’s such disappointment.  

There are 3 camps:

1. The “I hate Gal Gadot as human being camp.  2. The Queer Camp   3. The Comic Book Camp   4. Film Narrative camp.

I’m sticking with camps 2 through 4 here because those are where I fit in.  I think in all of these discussions the one thing that needs to be made clear is that Comic Book Diana/Animated Universe Diana   is not the same as the Diana on screen, and well, that’s the problem.

While I was excited by the inclusion of Cheetah, I never really gave myself over to the hope that Patty would give us the Diana/Barbara dynamic from the comics, but I understand that there was hope for that path.  Furthermore, I get why the Steve Trevor closure plot was there, however, it went on way too long and honestly once we got the invisible plan (a scene I loved!) I was done with Steve. 

 In a film that was 2 1/2 hours long, way too much time was spent on a literal goddess pining over dead man.  Do I wish this film had been much more about Cheetah and have her be the main Big Bad?  Yes. Emphatically.  But that would mean a whole different narrative and that’s not what we got. 

There are lots of things to nitpick once the entertainment value wears off and I think what was the most disappointing (at least to me) was that we lost our warrior, we lost our amazon.  

One of the things I loved about the first film was that we got to see Diana as a warrior and a defender of the weak.  She was allowed space to be compassionate, intelligent, and even diplomatic when she needed to be; moreover, she never hesitated to go into battle.  And the icing on the cake, is that she never brooded or moped about it and that was refreshing. 

Now yes, she was tempered by that experience and seemed to give up on mankind (can you blame her) but she eventually grows to realize how she can fit into the world again (this is all DCEU film universe).  I get Jenkins’ desire to skirt the edges of the Zack Snyder JLA universe, but this feels almost divorced from her first film. 

Ultimately, I’m not sure who this film was for and I say that as a proud GenXer who has been having a great time watching the old Wonder Woman tv episodes.  If you want to laugh yourself silly, please watch.  It is a campy time capsule. And truthishly, the tropes in this film made it perfect for a film in the 80s, but this is 2020. Seriously, having an immortal warrior goddess pining after a whole dude for 60+ years is literally crazy town.

I really do hope that DC can get its film universe together because they really have great superheroes and villains and all these fun storylines, but there is literally no cohesion. And even though Marvel can sometimes be formulaic, every film in that Universe has worked towards a goal.  Perhaps, DC doesn’t have to go that route, but I want more Cathy Yan BoP and even Wan’s Aquaman.  

Finally, if the pattern holds, there is always one film in a trilogy that is the weakest, so hopefully, we’ll get one more go with this Wonder Woman team and we’ll get something a little closer to the Diana Prince many of us yearn for.  

In the meantime, if you are looking for Diana Prince badassery then do yourself a favor and check out the DCEU Animated Universe.   Exhibit A:  Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

edited to add: 

Good!  Now, I hope they go sit down with Gail or Greg or maybe just someone who is not hellbent on heteronormativity and they make a better last film.  P.s.  They don’t even need to leave Themyscira.  Find some Black writers and find Nubia! 

[moghedien]

Could you recommend some adult sff? Love your blog btw!

Thank you! 

And ok, I could give you better personalized recs if you give me some idea of what you’re looking for or what you like, but I’m gonna give you some general recommendations. Also I only really feel comfortable recommending books that I have personally read, and there are tons more out there than what I have read. If you want to find more, looking at recent Hugo nominations over the past few years might be helpful. Also one of the reasons why I know anything at all about the SFF world is that I’ve been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast for like, a decade. I never really mention that podcast, but its literally why I started reading at all and also they have a pretty active goodreads group as well. 

So recommendations: 

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: 

This is one of my favorite books period. This is a far future space opera about an artificial intelligence who used to be a spaceship and now is only one human body, and she is ANGRY ABOUT that. I don’t really want to say more than that, but if you like AI shenanigans and being sorta confused as to what is going on the entire time, then this is the book for you! It’s the first book in a completed trilogy.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: 

Obviously I’m gonna recommend the Wheel of Time. This is the first book in a 14 (actually 15) book series and if you need something to do with the next 1-5 years of your life *motions toward EoTW*. 

So the Eye of the World, I think is uniquely good as a book if you kinda want to get into adult fantasy for a few reasons. For one thing, its kinda considered to be one of those “classics” of the genre but its not too old to be offputting to some readers. It’s a 30 year old book, so its not reflective of the genre now, but you can definitely see its influence all the place, even outside of just books. The Eye of the World specifically, also goes out of its way to make readers comfortable. It leans heavy on Tolkien references and tropes at first without being a straight up copy of Lord of the Rings like some classic fantasy books are. Its done very purposefully, in my opinion, to make the reader feel like they have some idea of what’s going on, and the series quickly drops the Tolkien references as soon as its established itself enough. 

Also the Gandalf parallel for the series is a smol bi lady and there is 24 year old rage healer who wants to fight everyone with her own two fists.So many women to stan. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of the Expanse, which is a nearish future space opera that takes place in our solar system. Mars has long ago been colonized and is a completely separate government entity than Earth, and conflict between the two planets has been stirring. The Asteroid Belt has also been colonized and have long been little more than tools of corporations that run their colonies. A group of ice haulers working in the outer planets get in the middle of one of the biggest secrets in the solar system and find themselves in all kinds of trouble. 

I don’t really want to say more than this, but this is probably the only SF series that I actively keep up on when a new book comes out. There are 8 books our currently, and the 9th and final book will be out sometime in the near future. There are also several short stories and novellas set in the world, and there’s a TV show that I really like though I need to catch up on it. 

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Hello, this book comes with content warnings for literally everything, but it is such a good book/trilogy. This is book about a woman trying to find her daughter again in the middle of the apocalypse. Definitely a heavy read but absolutely brilliant. The world has a magic system based on geology and the people that can use that magic....saying they’re discriminated against is an understatement. I don’t want to say much more about it, but if you have any kind of content you can’t read for whatever reason, I’d check before picking this up. This is the first book in a completed trilogy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

So this isn’t really super SF heavy and is actually sold as a literary book, but it takes place after a flu pandemic has wiped out a large portion of the population...so maybe this is a bad time to read this book, OR its the best time to read it. Depends on how you’re dealing with *motions at the world*

The book flashes back to before and during the pandemic a lot, but is largely about art’s importance and is actually quite optimistic in its messaging, and this is another of my favorite books ever. But yeah, might be a bad time for you to read it of you can’t deal with the content now. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

I just remembered that this book also has a plague, but its a subplot and not the major thing. So this is a big ol’ chonky standalone book that is high fantasy, deals with multiple cultures having to interact and work together, and has dragons. Also there’s a genunine slow burn f/f romance and *chef’s kiss*. I can’t really say much else, mostly because I struggle to explain this book, but its very good and probably my favorite book from last year. 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 

In this house we stan Mary Robinette Kowal, ok? 

So this is a science fiction that is more an alternate history that poses the question, hey, what would have happened if an asteroid slammed into the east coast in 1952 and the world had to scramble to colonize Mars so that everyone didn’t die on earth when the climate got catastrophic, because that’s the inciting action of the book. The main character is a Jewish woman who was a WASP pilot in WW2 and is a computer for the space program when all this happens. The book deals with sexism, and racism, and xenophobia, and all the social issues that are gonna come up with it being set in 1952, but Mary Robinette doesn’t flinch away from addressing social issues in any of her books, even when it makes her main characters look bad. (Also if you like Pride and Prejudice, she has a series that is just Pride and Prejudice with magic and like, yeah, its good). 

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

This is a book which poses a question, what if dragons were like weird animals that were real and an eccentric woman spent her entire life traveling the world to study them and then told the stories of that in her memoirs when she was too old to care about the consequences of publishing all her scandals. That’s what the book is about. This one is probably actually the weakest in the series, just because it deals with so much set up. It’s a great series to get on audio because Kate Reading is a fantastic narrator, and the prose works so well as audio, because it’s just someone telling you her life story. There are five books in the series. 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

So this is a novella and is the first in the murderbot series. Basically a killer robot gets addicted to television shows and accidentally became sentient. I haven’t read the others in the series, but I really need to reread this one and get to the others. 

Jade City by Fonda Lee

This is a fantasy set in world sorta inspired by the early 1900s but is in a fantasy world. It’s like a mafia movie and kung fu movie had a baby and it was this book. The sequel is out currently, but the third book is set to release next year.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon 

This is another heavy read. This is a SF story set on a generation ship that has a society very heavily inspired by the antebellum south. There’s class issues, race issues, gender issues, mental health issues. All kinds of things intersecting here. Its fantastic, but a heavy read.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is another fantasy classic, and is the first of the Farseer Trilogy. The title is sort of also a description of the book, so like. I’m not sure what else I can say. I haven’t read further into the series, but people I trust love it, and honestly I need to reread this and read more of the books. 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

So if you think that Station Eleven might be a bad book to read at the time, then this is THE WORST POSSIBLE BOOK TO READ RIGHT NOW. Or, maybe the best. Depends on how you cope. This is a book about time travelers based in Oxford and the main character accidentally gets stranded in the past right as the Black Plague is about to hit. And it hits. The book is horrific. The second book in the series is much funnier. This one ain’t funny, but is good. Just, oof. 

Mistborn or Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

So if you want to get into the Cosmere, which is a series of series that interconnect and will ruin your life, then then my personal opinion is to either start with Mistborn or Warbreaker. People might not agree with me, but that’s my personal opinion. 

Warbreaker is currently a standalone (a sequel will come out eventually but its not set up for a sequel so you can 100% read it as a standalone). The magic in this world is based on colors, and the story revolves around two sisters. One of them is betrothed to the horrific God King of their neighboring kingdom. The other sister ends up being sent in her place because their dad hates her. I adore Warbreaker so much. It has it all. Two women discovering their true places on the prep/goth spectrum. Talking swords. Vivenna. Everything you can need right there. 

Mistborn is a trilogy that is very emo and will ruin you. Its about people who swallow metal to get magic powers and live in world where the dark lord won already, so they’re all emo. And that was the worst description of Mistborn I ever could have written, but I find it too funny to change. 

So if you’re interested in the Cosmere, but are afraid to commit long term, pick up Warbreaker. If you want to get into a series right away, pick up Mistborn. 

[redisriding]

King of Scars - Review

I have just finished reading King of Scars and let me tell you, I have some THOUGHTS™

I don’t want to spoil anyone though, so read below the fold at your own discretion…

(Also contains spoilers of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy and the Six of Crows Duology, but it is unlikely that one has not read those books but has read King of Scars).

Nb. I word vomited this onto the page so apologies for any typos/misspellings/incomplete trains of thought!

Okay so, let me start by stating my position in respect of the other Grisha Verse books. I enjoyed the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. I really liked the first one, thought the second one did nothing but elongate the story, but found the third one redeeming. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the two main characters/love interest as I found both Alina and Mal annoying in parts, but I have to remind myself that I am in my mid-20s reading YA books so maybe I can’t be too critical of the behaviour of teenagers(?!). I am however a sucker for when the female lead chooses the good boy they grew up with over the mysterious creepy stranger, so yeah I shipped them. What made this trilogy for me was the amazingly vivid universe that was created – the Grisha Verse – and the absolute romp of supporting characters. So, not wanting to leave the world behind just yet I read the Six of Crows duology and I LOVED THESE BOOKS. Not only did we get to delve deeper into the Grisha Verse, but the storyline is fantastic, the characters are brilliantly painted, and the dialogue is some of the most witty, most wonderful dialogue I have ever read (Jesper anyone?). Plus, the Nina x Matthias dynamic is my absolute favourite romance trope!!! With honourable mentions to Kaz and Inej of course.

Going into King of Scars I was hopeful for a thrilling adventure across the Grisha Verse I have come to know so well, with some excellent characters and cracking banter.

 Was that what I found?

 In short, no.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this book. It was an enjoyable read. However, I do think the King of Scars is Leigh Bardugo’s weakest work. Now, I don’t know whether she was writing under pressure from her publishers, fans etc., if there was something going on in her life perhaps to throw her off her game, or if the King of Scars was genuinely the direction she wanted to take this series/story/universe. The characterisation was good as always, I enjoyed learning more about Nikolai and Zoya’s respective backstories, and yeah, I ship them hard, but there wasn’t as much witty banter as I had hoped. Particularly from a character like Nikolai who gave so much in previous books. Sure, the argument can be made that this book is about him battling his own demons, so fair enough if he was somewhat off his game. I think however this book fell down in two key ways, (1) the universe and (2) the story itself.

What do I mean in respect of not liking the “universe” as conceptualised in King of Scars? This might sound a little strange, but in the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows duology the “magic” that the Grisha possess appears very “real” (if magic can indeed be real). There are rules about how Grisha power works and thus seems plausible to me. I feel like King of Scars departed from this. I don’t mean the Zoya/Dragon story line. I actually quite enjoyed the exploration of “but aren’t we all things” and the blurring of the lines between different Grisha powers. I think that will make an interesting development in the story. What is less clear in how magic works in the Grisha Verse is (1) the demon that possesses Nikolai (but sure I can get on board with it for the purpose of the story and to be quite honest I don’t REALLY care about a lot of the minute details about the world’s in fantasy books operate), and (2) the whole mid-section of the book where Nikolai and Zoya are sucked into this Twilight Zone/Alice in Wonderland alternative dimension that emerges in the fold. This is where the book lost me. I didn’t totally understand what was going on, and I think the writing fell down here. It was like even Leigh Bardugo didn’t have a clear idea as to what was happening. Trying to make sense of it was a bit like trying to look through fog. Dragons, bees, three-headed bears, a big rock that became a palace, thorns??? I was totally baffled by it all. Where they in the fold or the Unsea? How did they just suddenly disappear? Where did that pilgrimage camp go? Was any of that real or just an illusion to trap Nikolai and Zoya there? Even at the end I’m unsure as to how much Yuri knew, how much he was leading them knowing what was going to happen or was he just a hapless buffoon that got caught up in the whole thing? How exactly did Zoya defeat the bee witch queen? What happened with Nikolai and his demon? Is it is half defeated? Is the demon the Darkling himself rather than a residue of the Darkling’s monster? Does that mean that the Darkling lives half within Nikolai and half within Yuri? Maybe some of this is deliberately vague and will be cleared up in the next book, but I honestly think that a lot of it has to do with the writing because there are parts that are perfectly clear and I do understand what is happening, for example when Zoya slays the dragon. Perhaps this was because I had read the previous books and I understood what it meant to kill a creature to create an amplifier, but equally, I believe that Leigh Bardugo wrote this section clearer because she had written the previous books!

Essentially, I felt that I had a good grasp of the Grisha Verse but this whole section is too off the wall for it to be believable to me and just doesn’t feel like it “fits” with the universe that had been created/developed in the other books.

The second thing I dislike is the story. Yes, see previous thoughts above in respect of the whole mid-section of the book, but this whole story was just angling to bring the Darkling back? Nah, I don’t like it. Not because the Darkling is a baddie and the thought of him being back can only mean bad things, but because I think its lazy writing. There is already so much conflict, or potential for conflict, in these books with Nikolai becoming King and trying to save Ravka that there was no need for the Darkling to return. For one, I think it undermines everything that happened in the Shadow and Bone series for him to return and presumably be defeated in the next book?. Mal sacrificed himself for Alina to destroy him, only for her to lose her power afterwards. It doesn’t seem right that he went on “living” in this alternative universe. The whole body swap thing was just bizarre, and again, lazy writing. I’m not a fan of people suddenly appearing back from the dead as a trope anyway, but this was particularly sloppily done. (Yes, I know Mal came back from the dead too but there was some explanation as to have him having two souls/lives inside him and as I say I was an Alana/Mal shipper so I was prepared to overlook it). I just felt that the Alina/Mal/Darkling storyline was wrapped up so nicely at the end of the Shadow and Bone trilogy that is doesn’t seem right to bring the Darkling back as the villain in a Nikolai/Zoya story. The final line in the Shadow and Bone series about Alina and Mal living a normal life if a life with love could ever be such a thing absolutely destroyed me (I wept for the evening after reading that – it’s my catnip), but that story felt complete. I don’t see how the Darkling can come back within at least Alina being involved again, and she doesn’t have her powers anymore which were the only things that defeated the Darkling. I think what my uneasiness boils down to is, presumably Nikolai and Zoya are going to defeat him in the next book, but no matter how comprehensively they do so, I’m never going to believe that he is actually dead, or that death in the Grisha Verse really exists. That at any time, anyone, not matter how long they have been dead for could just reappear with some absolutely insane story of how they managed to remain living even though they were totally, utterly, completely, without a doubt dead. 

I think the crux of my disappointment with King of Scars can be summed up as follows:-

Will I be reading the sequel?

Yeah...probably.

Will I be thinking about what is happening to these characters every day until that book is released?

No.

[jazon-todd]

some (mostly negative sorry lol) thoughts

it’s obvious that these movies were made separately with no real plan on where the story should go once they cooked up the idea to start the trilogy back up again. 

and I don’t think it’s strictly rian johnson’s fault, this falls squarely on disney for not making this completely avoidable. rian had to try and work with what JJ left him, and JJ had to turn around and try to work with what rian left him. like if you’re going to have different directors, at least use the same writers. they clearly didn’t

It’s like…. way too much happened for one movie, while at the same time nothing actually happened at all. We’re back to the same exact point we were at at the end of return of the jedi, just this time all the skywalkers are dead

the first ten minutes I’m pretty sure actually gave me whiplash. going from a planet to another planet to another planet under 2.5 seconds with maybe 3 sentences of dialogue was migraine-inducing

palpatine looked like a fucking demon out of hell. my dad kept whispering DEW IT under his breath and I was losing it

he’s literally not explained at all, kylo knows he’s there, Rey knows he’s there, the FO and resistance know he’s there… and we’re just supposed to accept it lmao. apparently, he’s been there this whole time but now is when everyone starts to care 

palpatine also fucks, apparently

and like I get that this whole movie is about ~hope~ or whatever but it’s honestly just like this man railing a family for 3 generations and they all die before they’re free of him lmao

I really hate how luke and leia both knew rey was a palpatine all this time and still treated her like family anyway when they sent their on child and nephew away because he was “too much like vader” like what

the asian was shit all over once again, I literally do not trust white men with us but whatever

fight scenes were cool but way too quick, better than any we’ve had before in this trilogy. nothing has yet to touch duel of the fates or battle of the heroes though, rip r*ylo but obi wan, anakin, darth maul and qui gon are different

pacing was v weird

I’m really annoyed with how rey snapped at finn when all he wanted was to help her and didn’t tell him who she really was or what she was going through. they made her isolate herself from her friends and it was really ugly

they tried shoving what should have been three full-length movies into one

I guess JJ saying “we explain finn’s background and his family!!!” is just him meeting jannah and being like “oh we’re both ex stormtroopers? cool!” like ok, I was expecting actual backstory but okay

Not sure how rey and ben BOTH somehow got the power to heal someone

oh hey han

PACING WAS SO FUCKING WEIRD

this movie was clearly trying to do a lot of over-corrections from the last jedi instead of… letting it be. which just goes to show that disney shot itself in its trillion dollar foot because they for some reason tried going into a trilogy with different directors and writers for every movie 

great to see the knights of ren doing jack shit except get killed after 5 minutes total of screen time, literally what was the point of any of that. they sucked at their job

again, palpatine was great. didn’t know if we needed him for another trilogy, though. felt like we were beating a dead horse at this point. like, rey or kylo could have walked over and pulled the life support and he’d die in like a second

you could tell the last act was supposed to be emotional, but it moved so fast nothing resonated 

palpatine is just fucking stupid, like just stop shooting the lightning and he would have won, but whatever

no offense to kylo but idk how the weakest skywalker (she says subjectively) got the power to literally resurrect someone when anakin couldn’t even do it but I digress. it’s clearly that ~our true love can save us~ trope 

also speaking of anakin wasn’t ANYWHERE in this movie other than a quiet sentence even though he’s still the fucking chosen one, 0/10 automatically

like they had him say “bring back the balance as I have” LIKE OK IF THE BALANCE WAS TRULY BACK WHY IS THIS EVIL MAN STILL ALIVE HELLO I truly think the worst part of the trilogy is making anakin fail at what he was supposed to do

nice to know finn is force-sensitive FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE THE MOVIE ENDS AND WE NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN

actually cried like a little BITCH when ben saw that rey was dead and was holding her body I gtg

the reylo kiss was cute I guess, rey looked really happy 

like I always knew and said he would die……… but I felt like he deserved to live after what he did. idk tho. his death didn’t sit well with me the way vader’s, or luke’s, or leia’s did.

PACING WAS SO FUCKINGGGGGG WEIRDDDDDDD like when ben died and rey was looking down at him my theater was all upset and then it just switched right to everyone celebrating rather than rey mourning for like more than a second and everyone was literally like wait what

didn’t really like the ending all that much but rey also never really did much for me, so sorry rey stans

I still can’t believe she buried anakin’s lightsaber, the man who hates sand more than anything else in the entire world, on the planet he was enslaved on. like, I’m so lost on why these little details were just forgotten about.

not sure how I feel about rey taking on the skywalker name, like on the surface it’s pretty cool because it’s becoming more of a group name (like the new “jedi” title), but I also don’t like how much they were talking about how anyone can be powerful no matter where you come from, just to turn around and make her both a palpatine and a skywalker anyway. idk, more on that later

also not sure how I feel about her starting and ending the trilogy alone lmao but she clearly found her place (even though she’s literally fucking alone) so I guess it works out

liked her saber but idk the mechanisms behind it bc I thought they needed a certain metal to contain the kyber crystal, but that would actually require jj to refer to source material and we know he doesn’t look past the movies so

idk I’m feeling pretty cynical bc endgame sucked ass and GOT sucked ass and so I guess star wars had to suck ass to complete the shitty conclusion trifecta 

all in all, it’s a decent movie, I guess, the more I sit on it. there’s not that many issues I have even though above may seem like a lot, but….

as much as I love finn and rose and poe and what they have given me over the years……. disney should have left star wars be in regards to the trilogy. literally nothing is different from the return of the jedi to now, just that all the skywalkers are now dead and anakin/darth vader died for literally no reason but whatever

[rosecorcoranwrites]

The Obligatory Strong Female Character Post

What constitutes a "strong female character" (or SFC for short). As a person on the internet, I’m obligated to weigh in on this. Everybody’s doing it! But what do we mean by “strong”? Is a strong person the same as a strong character? And do we need more SFCs in fiction?

Physical Strength

Obviously, “strong” and “weak” can describe someone's physical attributes. A strong person is physically fit and muscular. They can lift heavy objects and carry weights great distances, and sometimes know how to fight. A physically weak person, on the other hand, might be sickly or flabby and can't lift or carry much at all.

Hollywood churns out many physically strong female characters, although many of them are played by actresses who might blow away in a strong breeze. Most of these so-called SFCs could be replaced by sexy, physically fit lamps, because while admittedly strong, these ladies are not in fact characters. They are hollow beings with very little personality and characterization beyond “She kicks butt!” Thus, while these are "strong female somethings", they can't be called SFCs.

I have two issues with people who think that there are not enough of this type of “SFC”. One is that there is an underlying idea that, to be as good as male characters, the female in question must be as physically strong, if not stronger, than her male counterparts. Because apparently physical strength is the height of worthiness and likability, or something? Often the idea of role-models comes into the conversation regarding SFCs, in that people think little girls need better role-models. To such people, I ask, would you teach little boys that in order to be good enough, you must be as physically strong or stronger than your peers, and that anything less than that is not worth imitating? Of course you wouldn’t! So why should little girls learn the same lesson?

As an aside, I also think it’s funny that in a time where we are so cognizant of unattainable female body images, we perpetuate them in the type of physically strong female characters we portray. Again, Hollywood has willowy actresses habitually dropping men three times their size with one punch, not with magic, nor with martial arts designed to make up for smaller body sizes, but just sheer physical strength. And this actually does have an effect on real-life expectations: I went to a firing range as part of a Citizen’s Police Academy class, and the men in my group could not get it through their heads that I—a tiny, 5'3" wimp—couldn’t lift a police-issued shotgun long enough to aim it properly. I physically could not do what they could do without trying. I’m not saying writers can’t have physically strong women characters, I’m just saying that, maybe, take into account that that strength might require a larger body, muscles, training, or strategy. But I digress…

Strength of Character

Thankfully, most people who call for more SFCs are not talking merely about physical strength, but instead something more like strength of character, or strength of will. Someone with a strong character doesn't give up easily. They've got chutzpah, and moxy, and gumption, and a bunch of other words that are fun to say. Yet I quibble with people’s call for more and more such SFCs, because there are already plenty of characters like this. And there always have been. Books for children have always featured girls with just as much grit and wherewithal as boys, as have many classic books for grown-ups. Think about Elizabeth Bennet, Anne Shirley, Mrs. Frisbee, Mina Harker, Sara Crewe, and Gerda from The Snow Queen, just to name a few off the top of my head.

So where is the "there aren't enough SFCs" crowd coming from? These people, in my opinion, want women who never need, nor want, any help. Such a character is smart and capable enough to do everything by herself. She not only has a strong will, but is strong-willed. She doesn’t ever cry or get freaked out or feel helpless—because these are signs of weakness! She has guts, i.e. plot armor so thick that she will never ever meet an obstacle she cannot surmount. Which is… really boring, honestly.

Captain Marvel is a shining example of this type of so-called SFC: literally nothing affects her, physically or emotionally. There’s this line about how she’s supposedly too emotional, but she never shows any feeling besides a little smirk. Is cockiness an emotion? Anyway, there’s one scene where she finally realizes that everything she knows is a lie and that she’s been used by a genocidal race of space goons. This would have been a great moment for her to lose it, to scream, or cry, or use her powers so much that she accidentally blows off her inhibitor chip. But no, having her get frustrated or sad would show that she’s not 100% in control of everything, which would make her look weak. And human. And relatable on any level. I don’t know if you could tell, but I did not care for Captain Marvel.

Again, people who advocate for this type of SFC want role-models for little girls to look up to, without realizing that these super-capable, unassailable SFCs are just as unattainable an ideal as physically strong yet-muscleless ladies. Some girls are naturally shy and mild, other are unsure of themselves, and a few have actual anxiety-related issues. Are these types of girls weak? Again, let’s look at our male counterparts. Would you tell a shy little boy that he’s weak because he’s not as bold as his peers? Or that he shouldn’t seek help from others because he should be strong enough to do it by himself? Or, instead, would you tell him how to show true strength—the Mina Harker, Mrs. Frisbee, Sara Crewe type of strength—by persevering even when things are hard, and you do feel small, and things don’t go your way? Maybe we should be teaching girls the same thing.

Strong Characters, Female or Otherwise

So then, what is a strong female character? Is it a character who is a strong female, like a woman who can take down twenty guys in a fight? Or is it a female with a strong character, who never gives up no matter how tough it gets? I submit that it is not—necessarily—either. An SFC is, in short, a strong character who is female. Clear as mud, eh?

What no one ever seems to ask in all the SFC discourse is what, pray tell, do we mean by a "strong character"? Maybe the easiest way of answering this would be to find some examples of weak characters of either sex.

Bella Swan springs readily to mind, as do half-a-dozen female YA protagonists who might be described, in the most charitable terms, as “one-dimensional”. They lack agency and personality, generally because they are meant, more or less, to be reader inserts, so that the audience can imagine themselves in that role.

I submit that Ray, of the new Star Wars trilogy, is also a weak character, but in a different way. She makes decisions, sure, but without any motivation. She wants to stay on her planet and wait for her parents, because she needed a backstory, but then she’s fine going across the galaxy with Finn to drop off a droid, because otherwise she wouldn’t be in the rest of the movie, and she eventually decides to join the Resistance because that’s what a protagonist would do. Then she goes to train with Luke, apparently forgetting that she was waiting for her parents. Then she goes to try and turn Kylo Ren good because that way they can have a cool fight scene. She definitely has strength of character, in that she makes good decisions and isn’t easily swayed from doing whatever heroic act is required in any given scene no matter the odds, but there’s nothing behind any of her actions. There’s no there there. She does what a protagonist would do, not for any reason of her own—for example: because of her deep love of the Jedi, because she wants to find out the truth of her parents, because she’s wanted on her home planet for droid theft—but because the story requires it. And “because the story requires it” is never a good reason for doing things!

Lest you think I’m picking on the ladies, let me name the weakest character of all (and I apologize ahead of time to fans of the series): Ender Wiggan, of Ender’s Game. He has less agency than Bella and less reason for his actions than Ray. He might make one or two decisions in the entire book, the rest of the time just sort of moving around and doing things without purpose. We never see why he wants to do anything. His one character trait—and an informed one at that—is that he’s smart. That’s it. You could replace him with a lamp that’s intelligent enough to complete the objective of a war game (no, really, there’s a scene where all he does is complete the object of the game—get to the goal rather than focus on killing everyone on the other team—and he is lauded as a super genius) and nothing would change about that story.

What do all these weak characters have in common? Lack of personality, agency, goals, interests, quirks. Put simply, they are not well developed; their characterization is weak. Developing a character is a lot like developing film: the better you do it, the clearer the image should become. Thus, weak characters are a dark film that someone wrote on: “Bella is average and loves Edward”, “Ray is Force-sensitive and always tries to do the right thing”, “Ender Wiggam is a genius”. The end. Those don’t give a very clear impression of who we’re dealing with.

A strong character, i.e., a well-developed character, is one who we will know like the back of our hand by the end of the story, because we have such a clear picture of them. We know what drives them, or what makes them content. We know what they like, hate, and fear. We know odd little facts about them the way we know our friends’ foibles and eccentricities. A strong character feels like a real person.

Note that this in no way means that characters who are strong in the other two senses—physically fit or strong in character—can’t also be strong characters. There are plenty of multifaceted bruisers, fighters, and macho characters of both sexes out there—just watch anime! There are also, obviously, characters who never give up but, rather than being one-dimensional heroes, have traits that make them interesting and likable, like those who do what’s right despite wanting glory and money instead, or who are pure hearted but kinda dumb, or who became a hero due to some complicated backstory that still informs their actions. What I’m saying is, it’s possible to be a physically-strong strong character who also has strength of character!

But that’s not a necessity. Obviously, physical abilities are not a prerequisite to a well-developed character, but nor is a strong moral compass and grit. Take someone like Starscream, the ever scheming and completely untrustworthy second-in-command of the Decepticons in Transformers. Although tenacious in his own way, I don’t think anyone would hold him up as a model for “strength of character”. He’s backstabbing, weaselly, and willing to betray anyone (even himself!) to achieve his goals. No one would describe him as a weak character. What about Javert, from Les Miserables? He’s definitely got wherewithal—he needs it in order to obsess over one stolen loaf of bread for twenty years—but in his final hours, he gives up and chooses suicide over a world that doesn’t jive with his vision of justice. That might, ultimately, make him a weak person, but it cements him as one of the best examples of a strong character: he has a worldview and a goal and an obsessive personality; a real person like him would do something like that when his world comes crashing down. Many weak people, if depicted intricately and written clearly, might make strong characters.

We Need More Strong Female Characters

So, with this as our definition, do we need more SFCs in our fiction, or are there enough already? Yes, we do, and no, there aren’t. I’m not one of those people who demands a 50/50 ratio of male to female characters, but I do wish that the female characters we do have were stronger characters. The problem is that when we say “SFC”, writers hear “woman who can hold her own in a fight”, “woman who can save herself”, “woman who can’t be beat”, etc, and think that that absolves them from giving said women anything resembling a personality. They check the SFC box and pat themselves on the back for how great they are at writing "strong females", forgetting the “characters” part of the equation.

Honestly, I think the reason so many so-called SFCs are weak is precisely because it’s currently anathema to present a woman as anything but totally strong. Take Rey: having grown up on off-brand-Tatooine, she could have been savvy and money-hungry, perhaps planning on selling BB-8 back the Resistance instead of just delivering him. She could legitimately want to help Finn and the little droid get home, but might as well make a quick galactic credit while she’s at it. This would also payoff later, when she learns that she’s Force-sensitive, because there might actually be a temptation to the Dark Side—the easy side—contrasted with her innate desire to do the right thing. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Too bad! Because girls aren’t greedy! Girls can’t be tempted to take the easy way out! Girls need strong role-models! Role-models can't show weakness!

Which is dumb, because real people—men and women—are weak sometimes. People have physical and mental ailments. People have blind spots, and bad habits, and temptations. Even characters who are meant to be role-models can do so by showing that weaknesses can be overcome.

And this next statement might blow some people’s mind, but not every character, not even every female character, needs to be a role-model. The dearth of female characters in a lot of stories isn’t going to be solved by adding in a dozen women who are all do-gooding übermenschen; if you’re going for realism, you need characters with a diversity of goals, traits, and personalities, not just a diversity of sex.

Give me those meek and mild well-defined female characters. Give me shady, cowardly, or stingy ladies who feel like someone you could meet in real life. Give me musclebound fighters who have intricate motivations and backstory, or snarky fly-boy type ladies who totally can’t put her money where their mouth is. Give me female characters who struggle to do the right thing, or get exasperated with other people who they don’t consider up to snuff, or are super gung-ho with their hero duties to the detriment of their own safety, or any combination of the above. Basically, give me female characters who are as multifaceted and developed as the average male character.

We do need more SFCs in fiction, so we need to stop praising half-hearted, one-dimensional substitutes who happen to be female, because such characters are anything but strong.

[kbrown78]

Monthly Wrap Up: September

Looking back, September wasn't a great month. Granted I did read 9 books and 3 of those books were over 500 pages, but most of these books I didn't enjoy. There were a couple highlights and two of the books that I did read were non fiction, both I thought were fairly good. I will also say real quick that I tried to start the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I gave up on it because it was the exact same story I had to endure in the second book and I wasn't going to deal with 800 pages of that.

The Defiant Heir by Melisa Caruso: This is the second book in the Swords an Fire trilogy, and I thought it was even better than the first, and I gave the first one 5 stars. First it does build off of what was established in the previous book, with the worlds and the characters. The main conflict is Amalia trying to prevent an internal war while also trying to solve what happened to the missing Falcons. This series is exactly what I want to read, with an amazing intellectual character who knows how to use her smarts to achieve her goals and is someone who tries to do right thing. The relationships are all astounding, female friendships in particular, and I like that Amalia's mother is an active presence who cares about her daughter but lets her do her own thing. The romance is great too, despite the fact that there is a love triangle. The villain is despicably evil, but he's not mustache twirling and while he did have a sad past, that fact isn't even remotely treated as an excuse for his horrible actions. The plot keeps me invested and keeps adding new twists that add to the story. The world is fantastic, with each location feeling well developed and distinct from each other. Seriously the only complaint I have about this series is that it isn't longer. The Defiant Heir received 5 out 5 stars.

Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore: This book was such a disappointment. When I first read the Graceling trilogy, I hated the other two books, and I think that clouded my judgement and made me rate Bitterblue much higher. I do ultimately think Bitterblue is the best book in the series, but after rereading it I realize that it's not nearly as good as I originally thought it was. It's going to be hard to do this review without giving away spoilers, but I'll try. A brief synopsis is that Queen Bitterblue is working to help her kingdom recover and there are those that are trying to stop her. So Bitterblue makes an effort to be a good ruler and do the right thing in difficult situations. She's also book smart, which I usually like that type of character, but she did some really stupid things and was also quite bratty at times. There are two potential love interests, and I didn't really like either of them. One was just brooding, which I never like in a love interest, the other one was a bit boring. The weakest aspect of this book is definitely the plot. There's a sub plot about rebellion in the other kingdoms, but it was pretty irrelevant to the overall plot, and I just wasn't interested in any of the characters involved. This is the part where it's impossible to talk about the book with out spoilers, but I will say this. The struggle's that the kingdom is facing were well written and did a good job of exploring various themes of ruling and recovery. However, the big plot twist at the end that helps resolve their issues is so unrealistic that it causes the entire story to just collapse. The best aspects of this book were some of the themes explored and the art work because there are some beautiful interior designs. I would still say this book is the best out of the three, but looking back it isn't nearly as good as I remember it (although I do in part blame the reading slump I was in after finishing Defiant Heir, but only partly). Bitterblue received 2 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar promt “book with your favorite color in the title”.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence: I went into this book with high expectations, and while it did live up to a few, it also disappointed me. The basic summary is this girl gets taken in by a convent of assassin nuns, where she spends her years training. Sounds like a pretty cool synopsis, but every time I hope a book is going to be similar to Harry Potter, with the schooling, it never lives up to that expectation. First I liked the protagonist, Nona. It was nice to have a female character who was a badass fighter, but she wasn't cold. She cares deeply about her friends and friendship and protecting those she cares about are important to her. That's not a type of character I see often. With that established, I do think some of the friendships were well done, like Hessa's, Arabella's and Clera's, because of how much they differ but at the same time feeling like it wasn't forced. Some of the nuns were interesting, but they didn't quite feel fully fleshed out, and one nun I hated because of how mean she was and I'm sick of seeing that kind of adult in fiction. The world building was so weird, and I honestly didn't like it because it felt very underdeveloped and made little sense. The story is Nona's story, but there times when I felt like it didn't focus on her and those were usually my least favorite parts because I was just invested in Nona, not in anything that was happening in the outside world or with any other character. Because of that there were some parts I honestly just skimmed through. I mentioned the Harry Potter thing, and what I meant by that is Nona has classes that she needs to take, and while they are mentioned, I didn't get much of sense of her learning. It was more like she suddenly had these skills, which I blame on both the lack of detail on what she did learn, and the poor pacing of this story, with those parts just being rushed through at a rate I couldn't even discern. So while I liked parts of the story, I definitely didn't love it was much as I thought I would and I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with rest of the series. Red Sister received 3 out 5 stars from me.  

The Silk Roads: A New  History of World by Peter Frankopan: I was originally going to be reading this book over the entire year, but I decided to just finish it up as some as possible. I didn't tag this book and I won't be doing a full review of it because it is historical nonfiction. Now the premise of the book intrigued me, exploring world history through the Silk Road, and I also though the cover was pretty. The first half of the book really intrigued because I like learning about ancient history, and it was very detailed and I was fascinated by what I was learning. My impression, however, had been that this book would primarily focus on ancient times, but this was not the case. I could have done with history that was all pre-1700s, but the last third of the book focused on history from the 1800s to modern times, and while I tried to pay attention because there was a lot that was relevant to today's world, I just couldn't focus as much as I had in the previous sections. That's not to say it wasn't as well written or well researched as the previous parts, I just wasn't interested anymore. So this book received 3.5 out 5 stars,  but that's only because it's a case of “it's not you, it's me,” and I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves history.  

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero: This was the other nonfiction I read this month, and this was just a real quick self help book. I do think overall it did a good job at identifying ways to improve but I do admit I started skimming through the extra text just to get to the bullet points. So helpful but maybe not presented in the most efficient way. You Are A Badass received 3 out 5 stars.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins: Oh man, I was looking forward to this book, but it epicly failed. I read a sample of it and was really intrigued. It felt very mysterious, I didn't know exactly what was going on and I got the distinct impression that these characters weren't entirely human. Then I read the rest of the book and I didn't connect with any of the characters, I found the writing style to be increasing irritating, the story made no sense to me because I didn't understand what was happening and I didn't understand the sense of urgency, and I got increasingly sexist vibes from the story. All I can make sense of is that “Father” was gone missing from the Library and there's a lot of death and resurrection. I can't do a full review of this story because I DNFed it 50% through, I just couldn't take it anymore. I initially chose this one as my pick for the PopSugar promt “book set in a library”  and needless to say this book received 1 out 5 stars because I couldn't even force myself to finish it.  

Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce: I hoped that I would enjoy this one. I've been looking forward to reading it for awhile. But lately I've really been struggling with YA, and even for a YA book I found this one to be bad. First, there's no plot. Literaly two major events happen in the book and that's it everything else was filler. What I remember of almost all my favorite reads as a child (with the exception being East) is that they got into the action and the plot fast, so I can definitely say that even as child I wouldn't have liked this book. I thought all the characters were pretty flat. I wasn't expecting to get everyone's perspective, I thought there would just be Sandry's perspective, since the book is literally called “Sandy's Book,” and I don't think adding in the extra perspectives helped the story in any way. I also got the impression that the children were acting overly immature but also the audience was expected to be immature. There was one scene where three of the character don't know what the word “kid” means, and it really irritated me. I won't be doing a full review for this one too, because I did tag it, but I didn't take any notes because of how overly simple this story was. I have the next 3 books and maybe they'll get better, but I'm in no rush. Sandry's Book received 1.5 out 5 stars.  

The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi: So I mentioned in the previous entry that I have been struggling with YA, particularly YA fantasy. This book, thank goodness, is a very pleasant exception to that. I really liked reading this book the first time through, and second read through, while there were a few things I disliked, I actually enjoyed the story even more. It's always pitched as Hades/ Persphone with Indian folklore, and both parts are so well done. I loved the romance, I loved the story, I loved the characters (most of them). The writing style is gorgeous, it's so flowery and atmospheric. I could see the vivid colors, I could taste the jewel fruit. I love Chokshi's books, and I cannot wait to get to her short stories that are set in the same world. Star Touched Queen received 5 out 5 stars.  

Sabriel by Garth Nix: And so we return to the YA slump. I shouldn't be too hard on this book though. There were some very interesting aspects of it, and the first half of the book was good. Sabriel was competent character who was trained to deal with death, and Mogget was this eerie figure that I kind of liked but was also kid of afraid of. I loved the focus on death, and how death is it's own world. The magic system was really cool to, with different marks and the bells. I thought the pacing of the first half was decent too, fast but not rushed. Things took a turn, however, when the love interest was introduced. It was so obvious this guy was the love interest, and the relationship felt so forced and there was insta-love, which I hate. After Touchstone was introduced, the pacing was so much more rushed, there was a lot of telling instead of showing, and there was also quite a bit Deus Ex Machina. Things really fell apart in the second half, and it turns out this was because the first book was going to be treated more as a prequel instead of a first book. Sabriel received 3 out 5 stars.

[geek-gem]

OK KO The Power Is Your's

3:39 pm I've just watched the episode and okay gonna say this first. I missed the first part a bit and started at the part where this giant spray was being well spray a can of it.

DONE WITH THIS AT END I MENTIONED SPOILERS

Because I was watching this video talking about these leaks about possibly PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale 2 being announced this October which is this month and just those leaks from 4Chan were deleted and just like the guy said just....take it with a gain of salt but the fact that stuff was deleted makes me think. Including how just....the choosing just these four characters at first sorry whatever this is something else.

But basically I missed the first part a bit.

Honestly I did like the episode. Yet really just it's not my favorite. But yeah I missed the first part and that could of affected some of my thoughts. I'm talking about the part where the world gets sprayed.

Yet I also wanna talk about this. I'm not a fan of Captain Planet yet I'm thinking I forgot if I've ever seen the show maybe. Including I seriously question why the fuck Ian and who else decided to think of this crossover could be a good idea. Yet I'm sounding like a douche but what the episode shows and speaks I think I get what it's trying to do. Oh head no it doesn't suck.

Really let's say and I am one of the people just it's not a major game. Yet I'm not the biggest fan of Captain Planet's being included in a game called Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL which I have for PS3. But also me being not the biggest fan and despite the theme of the show. I think I have seen episodes when I was very young.

But sorry let's talk about the episode. So it seems like a Captain Planet villain shows up and teams up with Lord Boxman and his robotic children, they start some pollution with a spray mainly around the plaza despite the world is shown. Including the villain makes the mention some people believe climent change however it's spelt doesn't exist.

Let me say just yes their are people who seriously think that oh head yet I believe come on it's obvious it exists.

KO is the first to notice this. Yet Rad and Enid don't give a shit despite the signs. Including with KO finding out it's Boxmore on the other end doing this. Also seeing it's kind of well yeah flooded. One of the original Planeters however it's spelt but one of the people who has one of the rings arrives and KO and him team up.

Including with Rad, Enid, and that skeleton guy and bear guy I can't believe I don't know their names yet. He gives me them rings too.

KO has heart and honestly that fits him so much.

Rad had fire.

Enid has water.

The other two skeleton and bear have wind yet they have to share.

Basically them and the other guy summon Captain Planet and try to kick the villains ass, yet because of Boxman and his robots he basically disappears not killed.

Then they try to summon him again but the others argue and the original guy mentions of why the others got jobs and KO is able to get them working together again because of his ring of heart.

I'm honestly gonna say this episode was silly. Yet it's mainly due to how I remember how weird it is. Including just I am not so used to Captain Planet yet I just....I forgot if I ever made fun of him. Yet I grew up around people who didn't like the character. It's just weird and yet this could apply to any person who's a fan of a franchise or series that has a crossover with a series they were never really a fan of.

Yet yeah it was funny at times but I feel and I was thinking about the episode of what it was trying to do.

But I wanna mention this I don't know just if this is the episode itself or my tv yet I saw some black lines going back and forth a bit like it was something old long ago. It's not too noticable yet it's something I saw. I thought it might be something they did on purpose and the episode was gonna end like all of a sudden and we go back to the real world of OK KO and the characters go like what the fuck in a way.

But no it doesn't end like that. Including I wanna say it seems Boxman develops a crush of some sorts on this Captain Planet villain yet she goes away because something you can make anywhere dirty or just the shit that happened. Including it breaks Boxman's heart despite how silly it is of how it's portrayed one of the times I found funny.

Now we get to the ending. When KO mentions stuff like everything is back to normal and some shit. Captain Planet talks about how that's not really true.

I think I had thought of this during the episode. Listen and wanted to talk about this OK KO is a light hearted show yet it's very meaningful at times.

But during the episode and I don't wanna cause drama but basically just I feel the whole episode was trying to tell us something. I know I'm sounding stupid because it was trying to teach us this.

Basically Captain Planet and the other guy sorry forgot his name and just I'm sorry out of focus not seeing the first part and I don't focus on names at times unless their said a lot despite I remember it was shown. But they talk about how even if Captain Planet can clean some stuff up. It's gonna keep happening. Including the other guy I think it was him no must be him said climent change is permanent.

Then we get to just the weirdest part of the episode. Where it seems to be the most silly.

Yet I was well kind of horrorified ha lol okay to smile yet everyone such as Captain Planet, the other guy, and the other people who originally had the rings come back, in their original art style. But to make things no not worse oh my head but crazy KO, Rad, Enid, and Mr. Gar show up and just is very weird.

Wanna be honest if I can but some what disturbing. Meh I don't wanna say I hate it. Yet I'm shocked they did that. Because it's just okay not out of nowhere but you don't expect it.

I even wanna say I was thinking when I saw that. People on Tumblr mainly OK KO fans are gonna have a lot of fun, for some stupid meme shit and people's reactions being WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK for me just seeing in a real realistic versions of characters I like drawn like that was weird.

Yet I feel people are gonna have fun with those and people are gonna be freaking out because I was bothered to by that ha okay to smile.

But I'll just skip to this and wanted to say this before I wanted to write this and okay maybe during the episode.

I think of Ian and seriously no offense if someone else helped with him this please tell me yet I keep reading this was Ian's idea. Yet I feel like what he was trying to tell us with this episode was this.

Guys this shit is happening for real. We are seriously ignoring it. Our world is in some real shit and I'm talking about climent change. Theirs actual fucking people who don't believe in that shit so to prove my point I'm gonna bring a character from my childhood and have him crossover with my own show. We did to do something, we need to help the planet, our president fucking sucks he's one of the people who doesn't believe in climent change. We need to actually fucking help or some shit.

Okay that was a bit too long. I wanted to mention the president thing just I don't like talking about politics at times and our president if I remember has said he doesn't believe in climent change. I don't wanna make that the big deal of this. Also seriously the past few weeks have sucked and I question the government at times and even said one time I'm surprised we haven't....become the Helghast and overthrown our government. That's a reference to Killzone and just some stuff has made me question of reblogging stuff about some news sorry.

Really it was a nice episode I don't mind it. But it's not my favorite and during yeah looked at my last paragraph. Ether it's just me or I'm not the biggest fan wow I am being a big hypocrite.

Yet I was gonna say I'm not the biggest fan of crossovers like this. These silly short ones. Why I mentioned I'm a big hypocrite I liked Rugrats Go Wild where the show Rugrats crossovered with The Wild Thornberrys, the Nicktoons Unite games, and that Jimmy Timmy Power Hour trilogy. Those are ones I mostly enjoyed because of them being stuff I like.

Including I wanted to mention I'm so used to awesome kick ass crossovers such as the guest characters in games like Mortal Kombat, Injustice, also yeah the comic book stuff such as DC crossovers but I'm talking about other stuff. Including PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, and despite Marvel vs Capcom Infinite seems to be the weakest of the Vs Capcom games some of the story haven't watched all of it. It's very simple yet it's nice to see some interactions despite some choices being made. I even like Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe yet that game is weak compared to others after it.

Also Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is the reason why I seem big into crossovers okay the Nicktoons Unite games started it or some shit. But playing MK vs DC when I was younger when it first came out inspired me to think of and draw a shit ton of Cartoon Network vs Nicktoons.

Including I'm one of the few or many people who wants a Sega vs Capcom. I even talked to myself last night I'm surprised Sega and Capcom haven't done that yet, and me discussing Sonic has been in T rated games before.

But also I wanna talk to my friend about how I would be horrible at picking characters for the Sega side because I like Sega and some of their games. Yet the first big characters list I had to make it to 48 when I put 9 Sonic characters because I felt they were important.

That got off topic yet was talking about crossovers.

Got tags done and well I put spoilers and was gonna put now but yeah I put spoilers in case despite the tag 4:29 also was gonna say again I'll see the new viewing to see the start 4:29 now turned 4:30 pm forgot to mention this.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the Steven Universe Uncle Grandpa crossover despite at first liking it and I did like Uncle Grandpa, but over time just meh I have to grow up I just don't like it much. Yet this episode was enjoyable and silly but not one of my favorites and I in the words of Lori Loud I littertly talked about crossovers 4:31 pm

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #169 - X-Men: The Last Stand

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Not really.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

0) Forewarning, I get a little more frank about my distaste for this film than I expected. So if you like this film and are tired of the criticisms about it, feel free to scroll past.

1) So this film had a troubled start. Fox took a while to pull the trigger and when they did Bryan Singer had signed on to direct Superman Returns which he now claims to regret. They hired Matthew Vaughn to direct - and he even made some casting and conceptual progress - but he had to bow out after a family issue. Then they brought in Brett Ratner because the film was rushed into production and he had made a successful film in a rush for the studio with Rush Hour. This - in my opinion - leads to a lot of the issues the film has.

2) This film does not open with the monologue which has opened both previous X-Men films, instead getting straight into a prologue involving Erik and Charles in 1986 visiting a young Jean Grey.

This is probably one of the earliest in depth uses of the CGI facelift technology which Hollywood seems to be all the rage about these days. It’s weird, I’m glad it doesn’t last long.

3) So in 1986 Charles can walk...but in X-Men: First Class he couldn’t walk because of Erik. Then in X-Men: Days of Future Past (before Wolverine altered the timeline) it was established he CAN walk at the expense of his powers. I can head canon a remedy for why Charles and Erik are working together despite being strained, but this is a great example of how continuity in the X-Men films kinda goes to crap after a while. 

4) Not only do we get a Stan Lee cameo, but also a Chris Claremont cameo (Chris Claremont being one of the most quintessential X-Men comics writers).

(Claremont is the guy with the lawnmower, Stan Lee with the water hose.)

5) The intro scene with young Warren Worthington/Angel tearing off his wings is very much inline with the dark tone that the previous films had. Too bad nothing really comes of it.

6) The Danger Room.

Honestly this is one of the strongest elements of the film right here. We actually get to see the team sorta work together (as well as the one time Rogue actually uses her powers in this film), Logan in teaching mode is fun, Colossus has his one line in the whole film, and it’s a fun two minutes (I’m guessing at the time) of screen time.

7) I started discussing this in my X2 recap, but Cyclops in this film literally does nothing.

There were a lot of “casualties” born from the rushed production, and James Marsden was one of them. Cyclops was the badass leader of the X-Men in the comics, with great relationships with Jean and Professor X. In this film? He mopes about Jean’s death, goes shoots up a lake with his eye beams, then dies off screen within the first twenty minutes. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt as bad if he’d had more to do in X2 but you can remedy his lack of screen time in X2 with the promise that he’ll get to do something in this film. But no. No he doesn’t.

8) Similarly, Rogue in this film gets to do absolutely nothing.

All she does is feel bad about her powers, get shoved into an awkward and underdeveloped love triangle between her, Iceman and Kitty Pryde, stand in line at a pharmacy, and have her powers removed. She doesn’t even get a fight scene! This is the end of the trilogy. This is what Rogue was supposed to be growing into all along, the badass heroine we know from the comics. And while the continued conflict with her powers and total frustration with them is a good concept, it does not stand well on its own. It needs more. ROGUE needs more.

9) Kelsey Grammer as Beast.

According to IMDb, Grammer was cast when Matthew Vaughn was still directing. Which makes sense, because he is an absolutely fucking perfect fit for the character. In every way. Easily the best part of this film is Grammer as Beast. Like Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler in X2, you don’t feel like you’re watching an actor here. He perfectly represents not only the X-Man’s intellect but also his when needed ferocity. Unfortunately Beast gets a little lost in the mess of the film, but damn if Kelsey Grammer is not just totally phenomenal in the part (which makes the rest of the film’s mediocrity all the more disappointing).

10) The idea of a mutant ethics class taught by Professor Xavier is wonderful, and if explored a little more illustrates an inherent hypocrisy in the character. Professor X has not always been the stalwart in the comics that many believe him to be. He is flawed, often times superior and filled with hypocrisy. Saying one thing then doing another. This film gives us our best peak into that, teaching a class on mutant ethics before it being revealed that he - without consent - went into Jean’s mind and set up barricades. Making her afraid of her powers instead of teaching her to use them. Unfortunately this isn’t explored as in depth throughout the film as it could be.

11) One thing I really REALLY do not like about this film is Storm.

According to IMDb:

Halle Berry had initially decided not to reprise her role as Storm for this film, citing lack of character development in the previous two installments, and a tense relationship with Bryan Singer. However, after Singer's departure, and suffering a major box-office flop with Catwoman (2004), Berry agreed to return, on the condition that her role be expanded. Consequently, in this film, Storm replaces Cyclops and Professor Xavier as team leader of the X-Men (which is keeping with the comics, where for a time Storm served as team leader in Xavier's absence).

In the film’s attempt to make Storm stronger, the filmmakers instead make her impatient, judgmental, superior, angry, and rash. None of these are traits I would use to describe Storm in the previous two installments nor in the comics or any other medium. It is a total disservice to the wise, patient, empathetic character we were introduced to in X-Men. The one who stood by the bedside of a man who hated her just so he wouldn’t be alone when he died. Trust me, there are plenty of moments in this recap where I am going to be calling out Storm’s characterization.

12) I believe when Bryan Singer was slated to come up, the film was going to exclusively concern itself with the Dark Phoenix Saga. Instead with his departure, Jean Grey’s return as the Dark Phoenix is reduced to a subplot to the mutant cure plot. And honestly? The mutant cure is wildly interesting. Taking inspiration from the first arc of the Joss Whedon penned Astonishing X-Men, I am consistently more interested in the plot with the cure than the Dark Phoenix plot in this film. I think both (especially Dark Phoenix) are put to a disservice by being paired together, and instead they should have been their own thing.

13) Did I mention how much I dislike Storm’s characterization in this film?

Storm [after Beast tells them about the cure]: “Who would want this cure? I mean what kind of coward would take it just to fit in?”

Beast: “Not all of us can fit in so easily. You don't shed on the furniture.”

First: this is remarkably judgmental of Storm, especially considering in X2 she offered Nightcrawler a safe place from the outside world. It just doesn’t make sense.

Second: GOOD ON YOU BEAST! Storm is being sort of ignorant in that statement. Her powers are practically invisible. But does she actually hear what Beast says? No. Because not two minutes later... 

(Screenshot taken of a GIF set who’s source is unknown [if this screenshot is of your GIFs, please let me know].)

There are so many things I want to say about this, but I think it’s said perfectly in these comments from @marxisforbros, @helioscentrifuge, and @kawaiite-mage:

This - more than anything else - perfectly represents my issues with storm in the film.

14) Even in what is by far the weakest of the first three X-Men films, Ian McKellen as Magneto is still wonderfully strong.

Magneto [after a mutant asks why he has no tattoos]: “I had a mark once my dear and let me assure you no needle shall touch my skin again.”

15) Added to the seemingly infinite list of things which are underdeveloped because this film is trying to do too much, Pyro’s return brings nothing to the film. He’s not developed, he’s not peeled back, his rivalry with Iceman is never fully explored, he’s just there out of obligation to the ending of X2. Which is - like a lot of this film - unfortunate.

16) Another item to add to the above mentioned list: Ben Foster as Angel.

Angel is one of the founding members of the X-Men in the comics along with Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, and Iceman. And in this film he just serves no purpose. At all. I think he’s here largely for fan service but I think we only get three distinct scenes with him which are: he runs away from his father for trying to cure him, he is seen at Xavier mansion looking for a safe place, and he goes to save his father. He never really interacts with anyone, we never really get to see him fight, or develop. He just is present in the film.

17) Okay, for the sake of time, here is everything that this film is trying to do: the cure storyline, the Dark Phoenix saga, introduce and develop Angel, continue Rogue’s struggle with her powers, introduce Kitty Pryde, continue Pyro and Iceman’s rivalry, continue Logan’s feelings for Jean, while also introducing iconic characters like the Juggernaut. And none of these things are done well. They are all desperately fighting for time and development and end up being underserved and under baked.

Vinnie Jones as the Juggernaut is particularly disappointing because he could’ve been a great Juggernaut but ends up being stupid comic relief instead.

18) Mystique deserved a better end to her story than get cured, get ditched by Magneto, and feed the feds dirt on Magneto. Again, this is a result of the rushed production as Rebecca Romijn had other scheduling conflicts.

19) Jean Grey’s Dark Phoenix is also not really developed well. We don’t really get a peek into what it felt like to be held back for all these years with invasive and nonconsensual psychic barriers. Instead she’s really fucking horny, does a lot of weird standing around, occasionally has a moment of clarity where she begs for death, and then goes back into being someone who just stares in the distance and doesn’t really talk. And she also aligns herself with Magneto for some reason.

20)

Xavier [after Jean wakes up and escapes]: “What have you done?...I warned you.”

Logan...literally did nothing. He didn’t wake her up, he didn’t let her lose. She woke up, talked to him, and escaped on her own. And you’re fucking giving him crap? What the hell did you do buddy? You created this. You taught her to be afraid of her powers! Don’t give me this Jedi Council mentality that you were doing the right thing all along by teaching her to be afraid of herself. Okay I’m done.

21) When you agree with “death to all humans” Magneto you know there’s a problem.

Xavier [about Jean]: “She needs help, she’s not well.”

Magneto: “Funny, you sound just like her parents.”

Magneto: “You’ve always held her back.”

Xavier: “For her own good!”

22) This film also suffers from just boring fight choreography. Like the fight at the house is sorta dumb and lazily choreographed in my opinion. Storm flying in the air at the beginning is cool but then everyone else is just kinda...hitting each other.

23) Xavier’s death is remarkably sudden. Like, too sudden. We are left in shock, not in tears. We don’t really have the time to process it. Although seeing the school in morning over his death is done well, the actual effect it has on the audience is miniscule.

24) You know what else this film totally drops the ball on? Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde.

You know what hurts most? Ellen Page could be a freaking amazing Kitty Pryde and the fact the character is so lackluster in the film is not through any fault of her own. Kitty is one of the most badass fan favorite characters in the X-Men comics, but instead of using that to their advantage the filmmakers decide to thrust her into a half baked love triangle with Iceman and Rogue and only have her use her powers for a few minutes in an overstuffed fight scene at the very end. We never really get to know her as a character or analyze her relationships with the other teammates. But it’s Academy Award nominated actress Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde! That should be way more awesome than the filmmakers ended up making it.

25) Hey, remember how the relationship between Logan and Rogue was so freaking amazing in the first film? Yeah, this is all we get of it in this film.

Rogue [when Logan catches her leaving X Mansion]: “I want to be able to touch people, Logan. A hug. A handshake. A kiss.”

Logan: “I hope you’re not doing this for some boy. If wanna go, then go. Just be sure it’s what you want.”

[Rogue asks Logan if he shouldn’t be telling her to stay.]

Logan [warmly]: “I’m not your father, I’m your friend.”

Man, I really need to watch the Rogue Cut of Days of Future Past.

26) The most frustrating part of this film is that there are great moments and aspects to it. Jackman is still great as Wolverine, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, the idea of the cure. This line in particular has always stood out to me.

Magento [after Pyro he says he could’ve killed Xavier if he’d been asked]: “Charles Xavier did more for mutants than you’ll ever know. My single greatest regret is that he head to die for our dream to live.”

That line is remarkably powerful, for even though the pair are at incredible odds with each other they’re friends. They have respect, they both want a similar goal (for mutants to be free form oppression) they just are going about it differently. I love that line.

27) Hey, remember how I said I really dislike Storm in this film?

Storm [after Jean killed the professor]: “She’s gone Logan, she’s not coming back.”

Storm: “She made her choice, now it’s time we make ours.”

(GIF originally posted by @kulo-ren)

Okay, first of all: isn’t Jean supposed to be like one of your best friends in the world? Weren’t you Xavier’s first students together? You wash your hands of her pretty freaking quickly and get REAL comfortable with that REAL fast. And then second: the hell do you mean she made her choice? SHE MADE NO CHOICE! This is the result of Professor X screwing around with her mind to the point where she can’t control her own damn powers! Like hell this is a choice! God, I hate what they did to Storm in this film.

28) Wait, is that...that’s R. Lee Ermey. The voice of a sergeant as the military prepares to go fight the brotherhood, that’s R. Lee Ermey!

Huh.

29)

Kitty: “There’s only six of us, Logan.”

Yeah, because Rogue doesn’t get to do anything, you killed off Cyclops, Angel is also barely there, you don’t really get developed as a character, and Colossus already had his one line for the film.

30) I think this is the last time I’ll say this, but I really hate what they did to Storm in this film.

Storm [to Logan, about Jean]: “But are you ready to do what you need to do when the time comes?”

Except for that weird line about what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning in X-Men, when has Storm ever gone into battle expecting to murder someone? What part of Xavier’s teachings or his memory would make her think that being EAGER to kill Jean is fucking okay? I just...ugh. Moving on.

31) One of the best parts of this film is the scene where Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge so it drops them all off on Alcatraz. It is an incredibly powerful and memorable visual and one of the standout aspects of the film.

32) So Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge, gets to Alcatraz (where the cure is being held), and sets his army of mutants lose before saying...

Magneto: “In chess the pawns go first.”

For one thing, Magneto is all into mutant brotherhood and everything. He has never once shown to think that one mutant’s right to live free was more important than the others, so why are these guys suddenly pawns. Secondly, and I don’t know how clear I can make this...

You have the freaking Dark Phoenix on your side, the most powerful mutant ever with no limits to her powers. AND SHE’S JUST GOING TO STAND THERE UNTIL THE BATTLE IS OVER!?!?

33) In the climactic battle, the X-Men don’t really fight like a team. At all. They’re sorta each doing their own thing while standing next to each other. It’s...boring.

34) Okay, this line is probably very stupid but I love it.

According to IMDb:

Cain Marko's line "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" was inspired by a popular web parody film that made use of scenes from X-Men (1992). Throughout the parody , the Juggernaut character repeatedly says, "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" According to the Wikipedia, Brett Ratner even has a link to this parody on his own website.

35) I will say, even though this film has its problems, the way they defeat Magneto at the end (by distracting him with Wolverine) is very smart I think.

36) I have nothing to say about Phoenix’s demise that I haven’t said before. Underdeveloped, sorta doesn’t make sense, all that jazz.

37) So Rogue decided to get the mutant “cure” after all. And when she talks to Bobby about it...

Bobby: “This isn’t what I wanted.”

Rogue: “I know, it’s what I wanted.”

While I admire the idea for Rogue to take this decision in her own hands, I get the feeling the filmmakers were very noncommittal on this idea. They shot an alternate scene where Rogue tells Bobby she DIDN’T get the cure, meaning they didn’t really know which one fit the story better so they don’t invest in either idea. Also - and I said this earlier - Rogue didn’t do anything during the entire film.

38) The final glimpse of Magneto playing chess is actually a pretty nice way to end the film. It drives home how he has no one - not even Charles - while also setting up things to come. But...wouldn’t he still be under arrest? He’s still a terrorist, powers or not.

This film is an underdeveloped mess in my opinion. While there are still strong performances and worthwhile additions (notable Kelsey Grammer and the Golden Gate Bridge scene), there are characters who are just pretty much forgotten and the fact it’s trying to do too much means nothing is done particularly well. If you liked X2 you should watch it just to get some sort of closure after that film, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll enjoy it. It’s just...eh, in my opinion. I do not enjoy it.

[nickireadstfc]

The Foxhole Court: A Summary - The Exposition Court

Exposition! Legit so many fucking character introductions! ‘!!!!!!!!’ moments! Foreshadowing! Show, Don’t Tell! Opinions! Predictions that will no doubt end up being Absolutely Fucking Ridiculous! Yay!

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to sum up the Foxhole Court.

In 2013, now-renowned author Nora Sakavic blessed us with The Foxhole Court, book one of the All For The Game trilogy. In this first installment of orange gay sporty murder shit, protagonist, runaway and professional sassmaster Neil Josten signs with the Palmetto State Foxes, a ragtag sports team of outcasts and lunatics, in order to escape his Fucked Up Past™.

On his team he finds Kevin, a childhood friend of his with an equally Fucked Up Past™, and Andrew, a messed-up murder maniac on meds. They play Exy, which is the three-way lovechild sport of lacrosse, ice hockey and bad decisions, and Kevin takes it upon himself to train Neil into the prodigy he sees in him.

But The Plot is coming for them: Kevin’s childhood abusers, Riko and Tetsuji Moriyama, and their team, the Edgar Allan Ravens, have come into their district, and they are set on taking Kevin back to their magical land of abuse and kind-of slavery, destroying the Foxes’ athletic reputation and generally fucking up everyone’s lives.

But the Foxes are not going down without a fight, and after an epic smackdown between Riko and Neil on national television, Neil is accepted into their dysfunctional family of fiercely protective psychopaths, and together they stare down into the abyss of whatever fucked-up shit is yet to come.

And that’s the Foxhole Court for you.

Did I like it? Hell fucking yes.

Do I think it’s probably going to be the weakest out of the three? Also hell fucking yes.

Let me explain.

The Foxhole Court mainly consists of one thing: Exposition. Nora Sakavic takes her sweet time introducing Neil as a character, unfolding both his backstory and his personality bit by bit, and introducing everyone else the same (although we are clearly not done with the backstories by any stretch of the imagination) as well as giving us a good feel of what Exy is and why we should care about this orange sportsball.

However, one tiny unimportant thing is kind of suffering under all that, and that is the plot.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE exposition. I love getting to know characters, I love them having plot-unrelated banter, give me all that good shit. There hasn’t been one bit in TFC where I was bored or wanted to skip ahead (which, if you know my attention span, is a big thing). But we can’t deny that not much has happened so far.

In fact, there have only been five parts in this entire book where I was truly off my socks, either in excitement or shock or just general WHAT THE FUCK-ness:

When we find out Kevin’s (and Neil’s) backstory, fucking wHAT, I was blown away. I had not expected the book to be this serious. A+

The entire club scene with the monsters drugging Neil and Nicky kiss-raping him. I had stuff to say about that.

Neil telling Andrew like 80% of his Troubled Past™, I am deceased

THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS NEIL SASSING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF RIKO CAN I GET A HELL YEAH

Seth overdosing being murdered by Riko, aka the latest installment in our popular series WHAT.

And while everything else has been lovely as well, this speaks volumes for the plot which has, up until this point, been kind of on the down low, save for the moments mentioned above.

The good news is: In all likelihood, Seth’s death at the end of the book marks the point where exposition is now the fuck over. Dramatically, it would make sense to now stop fucking about and get down to business, to defeat the huns Ravens and really get to grips with the plot now in the second and third book.

(( Also, side note on the Seth situation: Let’s take a lil look back at chapter 6:

          “The death threats were creative, though,” Nicky said. “Maybe this time they’ll follow through and actually kill one of us. Let’s vote. I nominate Seth.”

Like wHAT KIND OF SWEET ASS FORESHADOWING.

Huge thanks to spookymiscreant for pointing that out. <3 ))

As for writing style, I’m pleasantly surprised. Self-published authors sadly often tend to tell too much and show too little, they describe lots and lots of things the reader could have figured out on their own and it takes a lot of immersion out of the reading experience.

Not so our dearest Nora, oh no. I’m immensely enjoying how she often just hints at feelings or thoughts of characters with just little details she drops every now and again. This works so well because those details often aren’t consciously recognized by a quick reader, yet they are vital in shaping our views of characters and scenes, providing true immersion and a full reading experience. Top notch, A+, 10/10 would author again.

(I’m too lazy to look up examples for that right now, but you all know what I mean anyways, and I’ve pointed a lot of things like this out in my recaps as well because I LOVE IT.)

Now, characters! Where do I fucking start. I’m thinking I’m just gonna throw my opinions on each of them in here and see whether they’ll change throughout the next two books.

Neil, my son. I’ve really, really grown to like him. Homeboy is still majoring in Extra and Dramatic, and I will still drag him mercilessly for it, but I like it. I like his style of narration, I care for his emotional well-being, but most of all, I like his sass. Seemingly every time he has to speak to someone for more than three sentences, he just cannot help but be the savage comeback prince he was destined to be, and I’m living for it. I hope he has lots and lots of dialogue in the next two books. I’m still not over that Riko scene. Love him.

Kevin is... I don’t actually have a clear opinion on him yet. I find him interesting as a part of Neil’s history – still not sure whether I’m buying that he doesn’t remember Neil at all –, I was stunned by his backstory and I absolutely want to fucking gut Riko for everything he’s done to Kevin, but that’s about it so far. He just….. didn’t click with me yet. Let’s see what comes around in the future.

Andrew is growing on me, I think. I’m not his biggest fan yet – he did do some fucked up shit (//eyes the club situation YET AGAIN//) and I absolutely hate him when he’s on his meds – but he’s v v interesting, both as a character and because of the med situation. And honestly, I think this is exactly what’s intended with him. Andrew was not made for immediate attachment, he was intentionally written to grow on you. And I kind of like that, it makes his character more round, more fully-formed, gives him more dimension. Also, I love him in combination with Kevin and Neil. Also just with Neil, obviously. He’s buying him clothes. Who is chill about this, not me.

Nicky……… My problematic sunshine idiot, I still have a very complicated relationship to him. I think Nicky is (as far as I've read) a wonderful example of a fuckboy who means well, meaning someone who does shitty things as a joke/bc he doesn’t think about them/bc it’s been socially engrained in him that they are okay to do (see: the kiss thing), but realises they are shitty afterwards and wants to better himself. Also, I’m just really, really grateful to have someone who brings a bit of laughter into this angsty shitshow. And gayness. Oh, how I am grateful for the gayness. Actually, who are we fucking kidding, I still love Nicky.

Aaron – who even is Aaron, seriously. I still know literally next to nothing about this dude. Apparently his mother was quite fucked up. Not close with his twin brother. Okay. Next!

RENEE, my daughter, my love, my darlingest little murder snowflake. We still don’t know much about her, but for some reason she just instantly clicked with me. She is so unbelievably kind and sweet and probably hiding like, three axe murders. GIVE ME ALL HER BACKSTORY AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW. She is probably my second-favourite character so far, together with Neil.

I’ve gathered that quite a lot of you like Matt?? I can see why, I guess. He’s a ray of sunshine as well, and an unproblematic one at that. He probably would have deserved to be captain as well. Tall Billie Joe is a good egg. <3

Pretty much all of that goes for Dan as well. Good human being, good team person. Takes no shit. Very Gryffindor. I’m wondering what her backstory is tbh, because so far, she seems like an actually stable, healthy person, which we all know cannot be true in Foxland.

I’m still sort of indifferent to Allison. She hasn’t given me reason to hate her yet, she also hasn’t given me reason to like her. I feel bad for her because of Seth’s death, though.

And Seth… Well. We kind of discussed that already.

As for the Parent Triumvirate: Idk if this ever came up, this may be news to you, but hAVE I MENTIONED I REALLY REALLY FUCKING LOVE WYMACK. Seriously. He is my favourite character, from chapter fucking one. He is the only person who can rival Neil in terms of unbound sass, which makes him great to begin with, but most importantly, he is caring, compassionate, and just the fucking kindest person in this book, yet takes no shit and doesn’t baby anyone.

           “Did you think I made the team the way it is because I thought it would be a good publicity stunt? It’s about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you.”

This is the best thing anyone has said in this entire book fucking fIGHT ME. HOW DOES ONE NOT LOVE DAVID WYMACK TO THE HEAVENS AND BACK. #dicksoutforwymack

Abby and Betsy are both shaping up to be Really Cool People as well. As well as with Wymack, I love their “I’m gonna be supportive kind and good to you, but I’m not going to take any shit from you” attitude, which is precisely the way to run a team as dysfunctional as the Foxes. A+ parenting, 10/10 would love again.

Lastly, some predictions about what will happen within the next book! We’ll see what came true. I cannot wait to cringe at myself and my idioticy/blissful unawareness eight weeks from now.

They’ll deal with Seth’s death – some better, some worse

The banquet thing will happen and it will be hella awkward and hilarious and something Super Dramatic And Important will happen

Neil will master the Raven drills Kevin is making him do and it will be EPIC

Andreil will continue having Important Gay Moments™

The “Kevin and Riko know Neil” situation will not be addressed (!) (I’m expecting that to be in the last book, near the final epic smackdown)

Neither will we meet Neil’s father (again, last book)

However, we will meet Tetsuji and shit will go down

Also, we’ll meet some Ravens I suppose, since it is the Raven King after all. There was this Jean guy?? I’m intrigued

We will find out Renee’s backstory

We will find out something – if maybe not everything – about the Minyard-Hemmick backstory

Some more kisses will happen. I don’t care who kisses whom. Probably not Andreil (yet). Let it be Abby and Wymack. Aaron and his irrelevant girlfriend. I don’t care. Give me kisses.

And now all that’s left for me to say is, again, thank you thank you thank you to all of you who read this blog. All of you who give me your thoughts and comments on everything, who keep this project going and who drag my motivation back in by its hind legs every time it wants to run screaming into the other direction – you are the sole reason this thing exists. You all rock and I love you infinitely.

We’ll meet again next Sunday with The Raven King. xx  

Side note: I’ve gone through the blog and organized all asks/replies dealing with frequently discussed topics, go check them out! All links are listed on the Read All Chapters page as well.

The demisexuality discourse

The mental health discourse

The Seth discourse

America vs Everywhere Else things

Side side note: Remember when I said I was going to rename all the chapters Percy Jackson style? So I may…… be doing that soon…….. keep ur eyeballs peeled friends!!!