#i adore both of these books

[xxselenite]

Why we should stop comparing The Secret History and If We Were Villains

I've seen people putting the two books together as pillars of dark academia countless times, often trying to explain why their favourite one is the best and it is useless. The two books are incredibly different and you will inevitably be disappointed in one of the two if you read them with the same intentions.

The Secret History is a reversed mystery novel: from the very first lines, we know who died, how, and who killed him. The questions we are left with are "Why did they do that?", and "Will they get away with that?" The book is fundamentally psychological, it's a character-driven book, which explains why such a long part is dedicated to establishing them, their relationships, while the actual murder is surprisingly short.

If We Were Villains, on the other hand, is a more traditional detective novel, though it doesn't totally fit the standard. It's a whodunit, and when we start the book, we know who got arrested but the mystery throughout the novel follows four questions: "Who died?", "Who did it?", "Why did they do it?" and "Why did Oliver get arrested?" We are trying to solve the murder at the same time as the detective. It's a plot-driven novel, and although the characters are very important, they are all defined by one quality and one flaw during the first act (the characterisation in this book is amazing, I'm probably gonna make a post about it).

Obviously, if you read TSH and IWWV with the same expectations, one of them is going to bore you. However, if you consider their differences, they are both excellent books in their genre. If they do have some common elements (a group of students that's almost sectarian, and murder), saying that IWWV plagiarized TSH sounds pretty ridiculous to me. IWWV is a love letter to Shakespeare and the madness in his characters, TSH is a critic of elitism in academic spaces. And they both deserve praise, if only people would stop comparing them.

[egophiliac]

What do we think, will we get Briar Valley Event somewhere in the future? And WILL WE SEE PRESENT PEEPAW ZIGVOLT? I wonder what Sebek meant that he looks older and I really wanna see Lilia and his relationship after retirement. What do you think?

god I hope so, I desperately want to see Briar Valley and whatever family member they throw at us. and if it's Baul I hope he's the exact same sprite but with, like, a mustache crudely pasted on. that's how he looks in my head and in my heart.

my entire KINGDOM to see one or both of Sebek's parents though, they are the best characters in all of Twst and they haven't shown up even once. 😭 though I think I might prefer his dad, because 1) show me the noodley dentistman, and 2) Mrs. Z is such a mythical figure in my mind at this point that reality could never compare (w-what if she gets a canon design and she isn't a hundred feet tall and could crack the earth by flexing her thighs, how could I go on) (jk jk she's so great that I would love her no matter what) (but also...)

of course based on past Twst events if they go to Briar Valley it's just going to go basically like this:

[julijbee]

girlbossing too close to the sun.

[mavenne]

disaster trio

if you like my work and wanna support me visit my kofi

[many-gay-magpies]

one thing in good omens that i did not fully pick up on in the show and was instead made to realize upon reading the book is that it is not crowley that loves queen and has an unholy amount of queen CDs/tapes and literally only ever plays queen music. it is The Car. the car is sentient and turns every fucking thing put in it into queen. that car fucking loves queen. i think genuinely one of the saddest scenes in the book is when zira and crowley steal a jeep and drive it back to london and the cassette they put in doesn't turn into queen.

[nadiajustbe]

We don't talk enough about what a painfully small chance Prince Justin had against the Witch of The Waste, a literal magic holder. There was particularly no chance he could do anything to her, no matter how strong he was. There was a huge chance he would just get himself killed. But he did it anyway, hoping it would lead him to Wizard Suliman.

He knew it was connected to the Wastes. He argued about how he the King shouldn't have let Ben do anything there in the first place, argued to the point he wouldn't even listen anymore, just do whatever he needs and go away.

He bought way more than one searching spell to find him — a dozens from Howl, at least two from Lettie and ms. Fairfax. And he didn't stop until he found something that looked the most right, even though it still missed. Everyone, almost everyone including his own brother and Ben's mentor believed his was long dead at this point, but Justin still spend loads of money and power at the really smart chance he could find him. He was searching for months.

He had to go there himself, clearly, without any additional help from the Royal, because no one believed him — because Howl mentioned that Suliman might be alive along the lines and that made things worse. He went to this scary place miles away from Kingsbury, the spells were leading him the wrong way and the Witch had to use her own magic to show him the right one, but he still knew where he was going.

The Witch used Ben as a bait to lure Justin right to her hands — the exact same strategy she used with Sophie to lure Howl — and it worked perfectly, to the point when ever King himself acknowledged this?

The fact that the first time they actually became separate people and saw each other aftee all this horror with dogs and servants, they were smiling at each other, shaking hand and basically hugging?

The fact that Ben was almost able to recognise Justin, saying he "reminds him of someone he knows" without a doubt, — the same way Midnight were able to recognise something familiar in gennie's bottle — even though the Prince was under a spell and the room was in a horrible haos?

And you're telling me the only fanfiction there is about them is mine?

[ejunkiet]

I- I may have picked up too many books. i've got a lot of books. sdhjfk

[agir1ukn0w]

I'm sorry but I just do not subscribe to the opinion that the hunger games movies were in any way bad or that they "butchered" the characters or themes that suzanne so meticulously and lovingly created, because a) she was always a constant presence in the creation of those movies and the directors/producers were very respectful and mindful of the differences between her books and what they could actually implement in a visual medium that would make sense and propel the story forward in a way that made sense in their interviews, and b) even though the movies definitely don't show all of the thematic nuances of the books, and although they do gloss over/erase a lot of the ways that the games affect katniss and peeta (namely his disability/her loss of hearing), and while the movies are quite preoccupied with the visual aesthetic and streamlining the story for a wider audience, they do still contain the heart and soul of the books and, to me, the creators seemed fiercely protective of suzanne's core vision. also fuck you they're just amazingly well-shot, well-written, and well-acted films, including the mockingjay movies, and i will die on this hill

[melusthings]

The show is about as loosely based on the book as the book is based on actual history

[hanzajesthanza]

geralt & rest of the wolf witchers: so we put ciri on the comb and the windmill in the afternoon, and before that she runs the killer at dawn…

triss: hell… i’m going to call kaedwenian CPS on you. i’ve seen the girl, she has bruises all over—this is abuse!

lambert: hah! like hell, it is!

coën: hardly abuse, it’s quite average really.

eskel: we have tried to go easy on her…

vesemir: she’s doing a quarter of what i made you all do 🤨

geralt: triss, i’m trying to give ciri a normal childhood. these are things every child does

triss: …

[callmefaceache]

I'm visiting my sister for the holidays, and The Wizard of Oz is on. I remember I had some old doodles of a related thing I made way back when I made this blog hopped up on 4 bottles of cold medicine at the time and had a dream of Murdoc riding his bass like a witch. Maybe someone will at least find them amusing?

... I kinda wish I was joking when I say there are a couple more of these I drew, but I don't have them saved on hand. There's some I'm still nervous about showing. Including a sona version I share with a friend (2-D in the same role just with 2 stu simps joining him instead.) I'd like to finish these someday for shits and giggles.

Sorry for the constant unfinished stuff.

[dragons-library]

Damn I just finished re reading iron flame again

Still devastated

Still so fucking glad they are sleeping in bed together that’s the only thing I’m clinging on to right now.

Please recommend some fanfics of violet and Xaden 💜

And any Ridoc or Garrick ones would also be greatly appreciated

[emeryleewho]

I don't know who needs to hear this but if a story makes you laugh or smile or cry or even just walk out of it saying, "huh, that was an interesting way to spend a few hours", then that's actually a pretty cool work of art. This idea that every piece needs to be some World-Altering, profound work that will restructure the very fabric of reality itself to be considered good or worthwhile is absurd and also counterproductive. All art serves a purpose and sometimes that purpose is to reestablish important threads within the fabric of culture and the human experience and sometimes that purpose is to make you giggle at 2am and nothing else.

[discjude]

Yeah this is about right (as always my thoughts are in the tags so there's actually kei content there lmao)

[drumlincountry]

I'm so surprised to see so many ppl talking about the end of Young Mungo being depressing or dark........ like the middle is horrific! Many things in this book are horrific. but the end is a beautiful beacon of hope?

[ssreeder]

I am again sorry for my past digressions against you but I truly love the part in LIAB where Sokka subtly changes from saying ‘the firebender’ to ‘my firebender.’

It’s great and subtle writing and you never really put attention to it, only sometimes putting it in italics with ‘his Zuko’.

And also I truly love the part of Sokka fantasizing about Jett trying to fight his boyfriend and fantasizing about turning Jett to ash together.

you are completely forgiven <3 :)

I love that you picked up on that subtle shift, and how Sokka’s pov fluctuates between being sweet and possessive (the his zuko being probably the most possessive when he is feeling extra emotional about zuko )

Hahaha, awwww true love is when someone includes their boyfriend in their murder fantasies <3 :D (run jet run run run runnnnn)