#i am supposed to read the last book of broken earth trilogy

[tenrose]

I finished A cosmology of monsters and I absolutely devoured the whole book.

It's kinda ironic how the beginning really scared me in a way no other book has ever done, when it took in fact a complete different direction to what I thought.

What scared me was that I thought we were gonna see characters slowly becoming mad and paranoid and maybe violent and we'll have trouble separating what's real and what is not.

But in the end it's not a story about monsters. The monsters are real. But the scariest monsters are the ones the characters are facing in their real lives.

It's a story about a family falling apart because of secrets, grief, depression and precarity. These are the real monsters. And in a way it's way scarier that what's scared me in the first place, because nobody can't escape real life problems (I try but hey they're still here). So my fear was replaced by sadness and the heavy weight lies and unsaid things let on a family.

I have to admit I am always found of stories about dysfunctional families and their intergenerational trauma and how intricate and hard it is to find a way out of all this. I do enjoyed that the story does not let the reader with this in the end with no sense of hope. But I guess the moral of the story, or the moral I choose to believe in is to share your emotions with your loved ones. If only I knew how to that IRL, but that's not the topic here.

Some moment were really gut-wrenching, I particularly appreciated how depression was being written.

[wutheringmights]

I finished The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin last night, then spent all of today digesting it. I really needed time to figure out how I feel about this book, nonetheless the Broken Earth trilogy.

As a whole, I like this series. My biggest praise will always go to the relationship between Essun and Nassun. That Essun, a woman defined by her motherhood, was a terrible mother to her daughter, and that her daughter in turn found solace in her mother's old abuser, is fascinating. It's insane. I would read a hundred books about them.

But even though the series is about Essun and Nassun, it's so just... not. I've complained before that the intricate world building is as fascinating as it is distracting. The narrative is always scrambling to explain something new, so much so that the characters aren't allowed to interact as much as they should.

I'm not even just talking about Essun and Nassun. Tonkee was wasted. She was first introduced in the very first book, and she was very cool and interesting. I kept waiting for the reason why Tonkee is in this story beyond a few lines of needed exposition. But after the first book, she stops being important.

Outside of characters like Schaffa, Hoa, and Alabaster, I didn't really care or know any of the other characters in the large cast. In theory, I'm supposed to have feelings about Lerna and Ykka, but... no. They served a function. And that's it.

The plot of this series just baffles me. Why did we spend so much time with Castrima? Why did Nassun have to keep finding excuses to not go after Essun? Why was this three books? This could have been duology! If I really wanted to, I could put on a tin foil hat and claim that someone outside Jemisin forced her to turn a two-book plot into a trilogy. I'm just utterly baffled that someone would let this story meander like this.

All my griping aside, I don't hate this series. I like it a lot, but on a intellectual scale.

This book is filled with fascinating observations about our society. I bet someone who knows more about the neo slave narratives of the 20th century would be able to write a killer paper on how this series ruminates on the legacy of authors like Butler and Morrison.

I like all of the complicated characters, how they defy dichotomies like good vs evil. Nassun is one hell of a character. I want to study her. I want more of her.

I don't want to pit two bad bitches against each other, but I can't help but compare this series to R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy. They have little in common, but they are both dark fantasy series I read this year, so bear with me.

The more distance I put between myself and Kuang, the more I struggle with how simplistic her stories can be at times. She doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation or for the reader to introduce their own feelings to the mix. If you scrape off the overt violence, it surprisingly simple. It's a series that doesn't require a whole lot of input from the reader. But, the plot has fantastic momentum. Each book by itself is a joy to read.

Jemisin embraces uncertainty far more. There are no clear answers. The reader meets these characters and are forced to come to their own conclusions about them. Everything from its world to its themes gets more complex the more thought you put into them. The book demands you think about it. But, each book is kind of a slog. I always had to force myself to pick it up and read the next part. I never regretted doing so, but I also never really fell in love with the series the way I wanted to.

This is a case where I can say that a series is objectively excellent, but not really for me. I'm glad I read them all and I'm going to continue diving deeper into Jemisin's books. But I am so very glad to get the Broken Earth trilogy off my plate.

I also want to talk about the acknowledgements at the end of the book. In it, Jemisin explains that she wrote the trilogy while caring for her sick mother, who died before the last book was finished. I wish I got this context sooner. As Jemisin says, the trilogy is inadvertently an exploration of motherhood and her grappling with her mother's death.

There were a few scenes in this book in particular where I felt her experiences and thoughts echoed my own. I'm not a Hugo Award winning author, but I did notice that after my mother died a few years ago, everything I wrote was about her, even when it wasn't.

"Even that part where--?" Yes, even that. Even now I'm still writing about her and my relationship with her, and in many ways that are and aren't painfully obvious.

It was just an interesting thing to read when her death anniversary just past.

(Do me a favor and don't give me any more condolences. I really don't need them, and I would like to not regret adding that little tidbit about myself to this reflection.)

[veliseraptor]

Hi Lise, if you are still doing the top 5 meme: Top 5 high fantasy book series. I am kind of looking for recommendations as I am between books.

ooh this is a fun one. always love throwing book recs at people. I mean, first disclaimer is that I have a very hard time distinguishing genres so "high fantasy" is going to be sort of loosely considered here, since I never quite know what counts.

for instance, Wikipedia tells me that The Last Unicorn is high fantasy, which I would not have called, though I suppose it makes sense. (and incidentally, I do recommend.)

completed series only on this list!

1. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I'd be remiss if I didn't, because this series is both formative and beloved of me, and for all it gets flack largely for being very long (which it is) and having some slow pacing in the middle (which it does), it remains probably my favorite high/epic fantasy series, with the exception of Lord of the Rings which kind of occupies its own category.

2. Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It's been a hot minute since I read this one, and it's definitely a bit of an oddball as far as fantasy goes, but that's kind of what I love about it. And the dynamic of the trio of main characters is *chef's kiss*, and in particular the Damien & Gerald relationship is. Delicious. I need to reread this one.

3. Malazan: Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. This is sort of a complicated one, as I attempted to express in my retrospective that I wrote after finishing the series. But it is also one of those series that I keep circling around and really want to do a reread of, even if it would be even more of a time commitment than Wheel of Time, I think, despite being...technically shorter. I think it's because they're harder to read, for multiple reasons. But god, it really is...very good. And not like anything else I've read. I'm sure people compare it to A Song of Ice and Fire but I don't think I would.

4. Farseer Trilogy (and company) by Robin Hobb. Old favorite but still a favorite - one of my O.G. painfully angst-ridden fantasy protagonists! (FitzChivalry, that is.) I loved all of the books I read in the Farseer/Liveship/Tawny Man trilogies, and also the Fitz and the Fool trilogy (though that one slightly less, I'd say). These are very classic epic/high fantasy in a lot of ways, though there's some unique worldbuilding going on here. I wouldn't necessarily call it the most sophisticated series on this list but it is very enjoyable, and very emotionally crunchy, which is a thing that is important to me.

5. The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. While it's definitely not as strong as the Broken Earth trilogy (which I think is probably her strongest work to date, though that's setting a very high bar), I have a lot of personal affection for this one, both for hitting some personally satisfying notes and also as my first N.K. Jemisin series, and the one that pulled me back into fantasy as a genre after I'd been sort of jaded with it for several years.

bonus recs to Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin, Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley, and Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey, which it feels weird to call high fantasy but it probably counts. (Also wasn't sure if the Divine Cities trilogy counts as high fantasy, but that one's also very, very good.)

the only reason the Silm isn't on this list is because calling it high fantasy feels wrong. it's mythology more than anything else.

I have some general book recs lists floating around on this blog, too, if you're looking for more, including my starter kits (for very specific categories) and a more general list of my favorite books (not all fantasy, but mostly)/top 25 sff of the decade from 2010-2019. there's other recs lists somewhere around in my #sometimes i read things tag, if you're inclined to go fishing.

(also incidentally, Wikipedia's list of high fantasy also claims that the Bas-Lag series by China Mieville is high fantasy, which, are you drunk. very good series! would not call it high fantasy.)

[tamorapierce]

Tammy's Spring 2020 Reading Recommendations For the Bored

Sooner or later the bookhounds among us are going to start joining my relentless song, from age five on up, of “I don’t have anything to read!!!!”

 I am here to help.  In this space, as I get to it (knowing, as my readers do, that I have no sense of deadline), I will be posting a constant set of collections of book titles by authors my team and I have read and will recommend in a wild variety of genres and for a wild variety of ages.  (And I’ll give a short hint as to the subject of the first book/series—if I did them all I’d never finish this.)  This last is for the many of you who are reading teen and adult books in grade and middle school, and those adult readers who are reading teen and kidlit. These people are for those who love books and don’t care who is supposed to be reading them.  

 Also, you may have to look far and wee, since we will be drawing upon not only recently published books but older ones that we have either read recently or that we read long ago and have re-read or have never forgotten.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you when the writing is archaic.  If you’re a true nutsy reader like the rest of us, you won’t care.

 -Tammy Pierce

                                                        *     *     *

Assume the book came out within the last 2 years unless I put LO next to the title, which means you have to check libraries and bookstores online and paper for copies.

 *     *     *

 Diana Wynne Jones  LO

A generation or two of fantasy writers, particularly those who love humor, bow to this woman as our goddess.  Not only was she out of her mind in a very British and manic way, but with her TOUGH GUIDE TO FANTASYLAND she taught a number of us to ditch some ill-considered tropes of our genre.  If you write historic fantasy in particular, move heaven and earth to track this book down.  There’s a bonus: some of the entries will make you laugh till you cry.

           She is best known for her books for middle grade and teens, but they are enjoyable for all readers.  I cannot list them all here because my fingers will break (curse you, arthritis!), but these titles will give you a jumping-off point.  And remember, authors change with each book, so you won’t encounter the same author with each title as the author you read in the previous one!

           The Chrestomanci books, all in the same universe, in order of story,

                       not publication

Charmed Life  (1977) An innocent lad follows his plotting egotistical sister to live with England’s chief wizard

The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)

Conrad’s Fate (2005)

Witch Week (1982)

The Magicians of Caprona (1980)

Short stories

 The Dalemark Quartet begins with

The Spellcoats (1979)

3 sequels

 The Derkholm books are

Dark Lord of  (1998)

Year of the Griffin (2000)

  The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is standalone, but is a kind of offshoot of the Derkholm books.  You don’t have to have read the Derkholm books to get Tough Guide!

 There are other books and stories by Jones—I’ll let you find them on your own.

  Philip Pullman

To this day I am unable to call him anything but Mr. Pullman—that’s how much in awe of the man I am.  We’ve had dinner together, talked on the phone, talked at an event or two, done a conversation on audio with Christopher Paolini—it’s still Mr. Pullman to me.  (I was an assistant in a literary agency when I discovered his work, and I never recovered.) He is, in a word, brilliant, and his interests range through all kinds of areas, particularly history and religion.  I could have talked with him forever that night we had dinner, but the poor man had jet lag and I let him go to collapse.  It was one of the best exchanges of ideals, values, and books I’ve ever had.  

Read his work carefully, because what he discusses is never just the story on top.  No matter what he writes, he is making strong points about social justice, human nature, religion, and history without preaching.  He is one of the few male writers out there who can write female characters as people, not Something Different.  And you never know, with his work, where he will go next.

 The Ruby in the Smoke,

book 1,  the Sally Lockheart mysteries

Victorian mysteries with a female hero and male assistants,

           The Book of Dust and sequel,

first 2 books of The Secret Commonwealth

           His Dark Materials trilogy

                       The Golden Compass

                       2 other titles                

           THE COLLECTORS

           LYRA’S OXFORD

           THE WHITE MERCEDES

           FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM

           I WAS A RAT!

           TWO CRAFTY CRIMINALS

           COUNT KARLSTEIN

           (I will stop here and let you find the rest. Most are available as Nook books.)

  Sharon Shinn

I discovered Sharon Shinn with JOVAH’S ANGEL, but a shortage of funds left me unable to pursue my interest (I am an economic disaster with libraries, so I buy rather than borrow) until, with a job and money to spend, I spotted THE SAFE-KEEPER’S SECRET.  It is the story of a medieval-ish world and a small village where a baby was left with a childless couple.  She is raised as their daughter and discovers, as she grows, that her mother is an important, a Safekeeper, the person to whom a secret can be told, relieving the person who told it of the weight of guilt from it, to be carried by the Safekeeper until the owner either decides to tell or dies.  (And if they die without giving permission, the Safekeeper never reveal the secret.)  The baby who is adopted by this town’s safekeeper becomes the safekeeper in her turn.

           The next book is THE TRUTHTELLER’S TALE, about a girl who acquires the gift (??) of telling the truth, whether the person she tells it to wants to hear it or not. The third book is The Dream-maker’s Magic.  The three main characters now learn why they have been brought together over the course of the two earlier books, in what I thought was a satisfying, if unusual, conclusion.

           And there’s more!  I just did the two I love best!

             THE SAFEKEEPER’S SECRET (book 1, two sequels)

           ARCHANGEL (4 books)

           TWELVE HOUSES (5 books)

           ELEMENTAL BLESSINGS (4 books)        

SHIFTING CIRCLE (2 books)

           UNCOMMON ECHOES

           GENERAL WINSTON’S DAUGHTER

           GATEWAY

 Daniel Jose Older

 I was a Daniel Jose Older fan before I was sent DACTYL HILL SQUAD for a blurb (preodactyls in flight!  Of all sizes!  Confederate spies!  Thuggish bigot northerners!  The backlash of Gettysburg and the forced recruitment of blacks for the war effort! And strong, smart, fierce kids of various ages, sizes, colors, national heritage, and skills doing their best to help the war against the slaves, keep escaped slaves safe, duck the cruel managers of the homes and jails where they are being kept, find a half-decent meal, free other kids in trouble, learn who’s killing their friends, and help the dactyls!  That’s part of it, anyway!

Yeah, I loved it.  And there’s at least one new book, and once I’ve mowed though that, there are his older teen books, and his grownup mysteries, with their half-dead taxi driver who doubles as a part-time troubleshooter for the undead powers in his Bone Street Rhumba series.  {happy sigh}

  Edgar Allen Poe

Yes, some of these are reminders of why we ended up to be the readers we are and to nudge us to corrupt—I mean, “introduce”—­new readers to the glories that are our legacies.

­

THE COMPLETE TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE

           Here are the greats:

poems like “The Raven,” and “Annabelle Lee”

stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Telltale Heart,” and  ::shudder:: “The Pit and the Pendulum” (yes, a deep pit and a swinging pendulum topped with a razor-edged blade will be featured in this story).  

My dad would read these to us on dark and stormy nights when we lived near the Pacific ocean, when the fog came rolling in, softening every sound, when there were no cars driving by and no other sounds in our house but his deep voice and the crackle of the fire in the fireplace.  We would listen, soundless, as he wove the stories and poems around us and the foghorn sounded offshore.

           That’s the power of Poe.

  N. K. Jemisin

I think I began with Jemisin’s THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, soon followed by its sequel THE BROKEN KINGDOMS.  The series ended with a third book, THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS.  She presented a rich and varied world from the aspects of people of different classes, showing the growth of societies and their formation.  I have a secret passion for society-building and social interaction, and whether or not a book is difficult to read (as Jemisin’s books are in spots because she refuses to insult a reader by talking down to them) is immaterial.  I want the world and I want the characters, and with her far-reaching mind and her respect for her characters she delivers each and every time.  I have read almost everything she’s written since that first trilogy: if I’ve missed something, it’s because I was in the middle of a deadline and on the road and somehow didn’t see it.  I’ll catch up!  This is just a sample:

           For readers of all sexes and adult reading skills

 The City They Became (pub’d April 2020)

 The Inheritance Trilogy:

           The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, 2010

           2 book sequels

Novella: The Awakened Kingdom, 2014

                       Triptych: Shades in Shadow, 2015 (3 short stories) 

             The Dreamblood Duology:

           For readers of all sexes and adult reading skills

           The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, 2010

                       Two sequels

 The Broken Earth series:

         The Fifth Season (August 2015)

                       Two book sequels

And there are plenty of short stories out there.  I may even have missed a book or twelve!

For those who prefer to hear my ramble in person, a video!

[my-smial]

Books for 2022

ragIt’s been a while since I’ve done something like this, so thank you @sous-le-saule for tagging me to ask: what are 9 books you want to read in 2022? I usually don’t make reading lists, but between work and everything else I’ve been reading less than I’d like to, so maybe this will help!

So here goes:

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, which  I suppose counts as 3 books. It’s been a decade since I read it and I am finally getting around to giving it a try with adult eyes.

2. Whatever the sequel to Iron Widow Xiran Ray Zhao ends up being named - it’s supposed to come out in the fall!

3.  Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. This is a book that I’ve been meaning to read for years; it sounds exactly like something I might like and yet I’ve never gotten around to it.

4. Looking around my room, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I’ve had a French copy of it for years and it’s so short it can’t take me long to read, I just... never have.

5. Speaking of French books, I just acquired Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which I’ve been intrigued by for years. Time to see what it’s about!

6. The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. Another one that I’ve been meaning to read for years.

7. The Broken Kingdoms  by N.K. Jemisin. I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the first book in this trilogy, last year. I did like the world building but was only meh about the plot - it just hit a lot of tropes that bug me personally. However, the second book jumps into the future and follows different characters, so I want to give it a try.

8. The Nature of Middle Earth by the Tolkien estate, which I got for Christmas!

9. Something from The Witcher series. I’ve been enjoying the TV show, so while I’ve heard mixed reviews of the books I definitely want to just see where it’s coming from.

To pass it along, if a few people want to join me in making reading lists, please do! Feel free to ignore, though, or to jump on if I didn’t tag you! This was fun, thank you Sous-le-saule.

@mornyavie @greensarek @rauwyn @gender-trash

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 6 of 26

Title: The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) (2012)

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, First-Person, Third-Person, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist, Asexual Protagonist.

Rating: 8/10

Date Began: 2/07/2021

Date Finished: 2/13/2021

Peace is sacred in the walled city-state of Gujaareh, and must be maintained at any cost. The Gatherers are a priesthood tasked with maintaining this goal. In the name of Hananja, Goddess of the moon, they walk the city at night and harvest Dreamblood-- the magic of dreams-- from Gujaareh's denizens. They bring the peace of death to those who need it... and to those judged criminal or corrupt.

But something else haunts Gujaareh's streets. A Reaper, a rogue Gatherer driven to endless madness and hunger from Dreamblood, is preying on the innocent, casting their souls into an eternal nightmare. Ehiru, one of the elder Gatherers, finds himself caught in the middle of a political conspiracy between his priesthood, the holy Prince, and the monstrous Reaper. An insidious corruption runs deeper than Ehiru knows-- and it may be too late to stop. 

The Gatherer’s eyes glittered in her memory, so dark, so cold--but compassionate, too. That had been the truly terrifying thing. A killer with no malice in his heart: it was unnatural. With nothing in his heart, really, except the absolute conviction that murder could be right and true and holy. 

Full review, major spoilers, and content warnings under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Graphic depictions of violence, gore, death, warfare, and murder-- including death of children and mass murder. Discussions of p*dophilia/grooming (nothing graphic). Brief reference to r*pe. One character is a minor infatuated with a much older character-- not reciprocated. Rigid gender and social roles, including slavery. Magic-induced addiction and withdrawal. Loss of sanity/altered mental states/mind control/gaslighting.

Last year I read N. K. Jemisin's short story collection How Long 'Til Black Future Month?  One of my favorite stories was The Narcomancer, which explored a vibrant, ancient Egypt-inspired world with themes of faith, dreams, violence, and duty. I wanted to read more from the universe, and finally got to do so with The Killing Moon, the first book in the Dreamblood duology.

Jemisin's creativity in worldbuilding is, in my opinion, unmatched in the fantasy genre. I thought Gujaareh was super interesting and fleshed out. While the ancient Egypt inspiration is obvious, it's also clearly an original fantasy culture in its own right. Everything from religious practices to social castes to gender roles to the fucking architecture felt methodical and thought out. The base premise of assassin priests compassionately harvesting magic from people is a fascinating idea and totally gripping. The pacing is a little slow, but I didn't mind so much because learning about the world was so fun.

While there's a hefty amount of worldbuilding exposition in the story, Jemisin doles out information gradually. Bits and pieces of Gujaareen law, etc are introduced at the beginning of each chapter, and usually have a thematic connection to the events of the story. Information is sparing at times, meaning that one doesn't have a full picture of how everything ties together until pretty far into the story. Even something as crucial as the dream-based magic system isn't fully realized until near the end. I like the mystery of this approach, and I can appreciate how difficult it must be to keep the reader invested vs frustrating them with a lack of info. Jemisin consistently does a great job with this in everything I've read by her.

I did want a little bit more from the narcomancy aspect of the story, since dream worlds are such a huge part of Gujaareen religion and culture. In The Killing Moon we see just a few dreamscapes, and then only briefly. There's so much potential with narcomancy as a magic system, yet most of what we see is an outside, "real-world" perspective, which isn't terribly unique compared to other kinds of magic. Dreamblood being a narcotic (heh) with some Extra Fantasy Stuff is interesting, but I wanted more. Perhaps The Shadowed Sun expands on this. 

Characterization is the other Big Thing with this book, as it's very much a character-driven story. Overall I'm torn. There's some things I really liked, and others that felt underdeveloped. I'll go over my favorite things first.

Ehiru is probably the strongest of the main cast, and I really enjoyed his character arc. Here's a guy who is completely devoted to his faith, regardless of what others may think of it. Yet he's not a self-righteous dick. He sees Gathering as a loving and holy thing, so when he errs in the line of duty, it totally consumes him. And things just get worse and worse for him as the story progresses. Say what you will about the Gatherers and the belief system of Gujaareh; Ehiru comes off as intensely caring, devoted, and compassionate, and I genuinely felt bad for him throughout the novel. I'm not religious but these kinds of faith narratives are super interesting to me.

Looking at characterization as a whole, I appreciate The Killing Moon's gray morality. No one in the story is wholly good or evil. The Gatherers are an obvious example, considering they murder people in the dead of night in the name of their Goddess-- but do so to help those in need. Despite being a megalomaniacal mass-murderer, the Prince has believable reasons for his horrific actions, and they’re not wholly selfish. Even the Reaper is a clear victim of Dreamblood's addictive and mind-altering nature; it sometimes regresses into the person it used to be, which is sad and disturbing. There's a lot of moral complexity in the characters and the laws and belief systems they follow. This kind of nuanced writing is much more interesting to read than a black and white approach.

Beyond this, though, I struggled to connect with the other leads. Nijiri's utter devotion to Ehiru is basically his whole character, and while the tragedy of that is interesting for its own reasons, I kept wanting more from him. Sunandi is a good "outsider perspective" character but I had a hard time understanding her at times. For example, the two most important people in her life, Kinja and Lin, die in quick succession. Yet besides a brief outburst when Lin dies, this barely seems to affect her. I get people mourn in all kinds of ways but it seems odd. Her sexual tension with Ehiru is also weird and underdeveloped. Perhaps this is meant to be a callback to The Narcomancer, but it doesn't accomplish much in this narrative.

Another issue I had was emotional connection to minor-yet-important characters. Kinja dies offscreen before the story, yet is supposed to be a big part of Sunandi's past (and thus emotional arc). But he's never even in a flashback, so I never felt WHY he mattered to her. Una-une is the big one, though. It's pretty easy to figure out he's the Reaper by process of elimination, but he's barely in the story outside of a few early mentions. There's this part near the end that's clearly meant to be an emotional moment; Ehiru realizes his (apparently beloved) mentor Una-une is the horrific monster, and thus a foil to the situation between himself and Nijiri. But we never saw the relationship between Ehiru and Una-une, and nothing really established this prior... so there's no emotional payoff. It felt at times like this book was part of a much longer story that for whatever reason we never got to see. In some ways that can be useful to make the world and history seem vast, but here it made me feel emotionally distant from several characters. Perhaps flashbacks with these important characters would have helped bridge the gap. 

Credit where it's due, though; it's clear a lot of the dark, often brutal tone and stylistic flair in The Killing Moon was adapted into Jemisin's fantastic Broken Earth trilogy. Probably the most notable are the cryptic interlude chapters told from the perspective of a mysterious character whose identity is unknown until the end. We learn bits and pieces of the beliefs and lore of the world through excerpts of common laws and wisdom. I also liked the occasional stream-of-consciousness writing during tense or surreal moments. The Broken Earth is an improvement overall, but I can appreciate The Killing Moon for establishing some of these techniques early.

I enjoyed this book overall and am planning to read The Shadowed Sun. While I have some criticisms about The Killing Moon, I think it just suffers in comparison to other works I've read by Jemisin. It was still an entertaining and intense read, with a captivating and original world. It's not a story for the faint of heart, though, so please mind the content warnings.  

[grumpyoldsnake]

Tagged by: @ausp-ice​ here

Rules: Tag however many people you want to know better/catch up with and then answer these questions

Tagging: @zodiac-mage, @beefstatic, @spectralan0maly, @throughoutthestars, @quothreblogs, @novamoth, plus anyone tagged below. As ever, only if you feel like it; no pressure!

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THREE SHIPS

Uhhhh I'm going to be honest, I don't ship things much. xD It's usually more a case of enjoying something in a particular work than a case of general "I want to see them together"-ness.

That said!

@it-refused sold me on Sans/Grillby with her Fired Up and Bone Weary series, years ago.

Garak/Bashir comes to mind mostly because I watched this video the other day, ahah.

I'm not sure if it counts when it's my own darned characters, but I am really enjoying writing Space/Ventro in the Abime Spire fic that I'm working on. xD It's just. Giant space monster cuddles are nice, ok.

[Image description: A messy digital illustration of a crab-bat monster and a dinosaur-centaur monster cuddling. End description.]

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LAST SONGS LISTENED TO

It's not my normal fare, but I've been slowly putting together a playlist that's supposed to catch the general feel of what Diamond might like to listen to when he's working! So listening to it has been part of the process. 

(...It's thoroughly limited by what songs I myself am familiar with. xD)

(Disclaimer: I also wouldn't really describe all the songs in the list as 'easy listening,' hah.)

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CURRENTLY WATCHING

Ummmm shoot what have I been watching. Uh.

I've been giving a few episodes of the Ductales reboot a try this week.

I was also watching Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts -- got through the first two seasons a few months ago, still need to watch the third. I've been watching The Mandalorian some, when my parents have it playing. And I've been meaning to finish The Good Place some time, but it's been a year since I last picked it up. :'D

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CURRENTLY READING

Ahahaha, lots of things! Pretty sure I've read more new stuff in the last 8 months than I had in the preceding 8 years, heh... I keep meaning to ramble about it. For now:

I just finished N.K. Jemisen's The Broken Earth trilogy, and I liked it a heck of a lot! It's definitely my favorite of the new stuff I've read recently. (I mean. Needless to say the subject matter is dark, but... goodness are they beautiful books.) (Also: geology magic! :D)

Some other things that I'm still in the process of reading:

Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings series

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

I've been rereading bits of the Vorkosigan Saga here and there! Mostly just following along with @psqqa​'s own read-through. :)

And, lastly, there's always fanfic. xD

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HOW’S IT GOING?

Eh. Well enough, I suppose! I'm coming out of a few weeks of anxiety & low mood, but I think I'm starting to get my feet under myself again. Certainly feeling better, even if my motivation is still low. Just gotta... fix the sleep schedule yet again, hah.

Drawing is going well, though! I've been trying to do daily concept thumbnails the past several days, and it's been a fun exercise. And I've been doing more active video calls with friends, which has been nice. :)

[zhuhongs]

I was tagged by @66muse to post my reading list for 2020 (supposed to do 21 but lmao idk abt that one sorry)  Thanks for tagging me. One of my new years resolutions for the past two years was actually to read one book each month and sadly I haven't done that. I only read 4 books all year :((( so lets hope I do better this year. Anyways here’s my list!

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K Jemisin. (I’ve been meaning to read this forever and a lot of ppl including my brother cant stop raving to me about it.. maybe this coming year I’ll finally read it)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Reread The Color Purple by Alice Walker bc tbh i sped through it and I didn’t fully absorb it, which is a pity

Home by Leila S. Chudori. I bought this book in portland last year and always tried to read it but forgot about it and then had to reread the beginning a bunch bc i forgot what had happened.... it’s a pity bc it seemed rlly good but i always got distracted.

Female General Eldest Princess by PDL. Yes i’m putting c novels on here.. ik its not the same as published books but its still reading so yk...

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Earth is Online (so i can know what u gays are talking abt)

Jing Wei Qing Shang (Same as above)

Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (my first gf was obsessed with it and idk anything abt it rlly but i wanna understand.. maybe.. who knows)

The Curious Case of the Dog at Midnight by Mark Haddon (ok this is only bc  a girl i rlly liked in hs was reading this book tho im p sure it was required for her ib course but still....)

Blink by Malcom Gladwell (the ib kids also had to read this but my fav teacher also recommended it so idk.. ive been meaning to read it for years)

Honestly thats all I can think of. I really am bad at reading books even though I really try to read. I read a lot of articles and scholarly papers but books.. not as much. 

I tag @grlfriends, @woolfsapphic, @otterplush, @mikamona, and @selfinsertsibling to try this but dont feel obligated to. I rarely do tag games nowadays as well bc i forget alkfjasdkf

[skullhaver]

ten favorite fictional characters

1. Granny Weatherwax, Discworld

Granny Weatherwax is selfish, prideful, generally unpleasant, and the best goddamn witch in her kingdom. And despite her intimate understanding of human foibles, she deeply values human beings. I’m fond of the way Terry uses her to moralize, and the way her arc becomes a story about accepting aging and dying. Child Liv needed a model of non-traditional old womanhood, and Granny Weatherwax was She.

2. Pearl, Steven Universe

When I first heard, “It’s Over, Isn’t It?” something broke in my brain. Here was the yearning. The devotion. The soft butch lady knight I dreamed of. Pearl’s stereotypical mom flaws (fussy, shrill, out-of-touch) would make her one-dimensional or unlikable in a worse show, but the writers love her enough that these traits become part of an endearing greater whole. Her arc from “Do it for her” to “I’ll do it for me!” genuinely brings a tear to my eye. 

(inb4 “watch Utena” yes, I know, I will get to it when I get to it.)

3. Keladry of Mindelan, Protector of the Small Quartet

There are lots of great protagonists from Tamora Pierce’s books. What I like about Kel is that she’s not magical or a Chosen One. She is a girl who’s pretty good at math, and works fucking hard at everything else. Reading stories about Kel training to fight, plus the ways she confronts bullies and makes allies, had a huge impression on me as a kid.

4. Agnes DeWitt/Father Damien, The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse

This book is too beautiful for me to do it justice with a summary, but Agnes/Father Damien is one of the most interesting and thoughtful depictions of a nonbinary character I’ve ever seen, by an author who had no idea that’s what she was writing.

5. Zevran Arainai, Dragon Age: Origins

I love this stupid man. I love his outrageous flirtation. I love his morbid practicality. I love his moments of sticking up for the little guy. I love the slow reveal of his tragic backstory. I love that the hero of my story unexpectedly got to be a gay wizard dating the man hired to assassinate him. But what I really love is how emotionally well-adjusted Zevran feels. By the end of his arc, I felt like he was on a true path toward healing, with a solid foundation of being funny and badass.

6. Father Chains, The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

Of course I like Locke and Jean, but you know who I really like?? A man who is so deeply reverent to the god of thieves that he goes behind the back of his closest friend in order to train a gaggle of orphans into ultra con artists, so they can rob as many rich people as extravagantly as possible. What is Father Chains’ deal, man? Also, the resonant, Shakespearean diction with which Michael Page enunciates lines like, “Suppose I’m willing to spend about three coppers and a bowl of piss for an unlooked-for mystery boy,” probably helps.

7. Antonio Salieri, Amadeus

Amadeus is pretentious, overwrought, and self-indulgent almost to the point of farce. I love it. Some of my favorite movies focus on two highly-motivated characters who have a lot in common, but who nevertheless fucking hate each other. I like The Favourite. I like There Will Be Blood. But a composer who offers God his chastity, if only God will grant him skill at his craft, only to lose again and again to a boorish man-child whom he eventually resolves to murder? Salieri is my favorite mediocrity. 

8. Sook-hee, The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden left some things to be desired in its execution, but Sook-hee’s character concept is honestly amazing. She’s a pickpocket hired as a lady’s maid to encourage said lady, Hideko, to marry Sook-hee’s con artist associate. BUT she and Hideko fall in love instead, kill a creepy pervert, and run away together? Okay wow?? (Uh, spoilers.) Sook-hee is clever, tough, and totally charming.

9. Harrowhark Nonegesimus, The Locked Tomb Trilogy

Since I am only halfway through Harrow the Ninth, this feels a bit premature, but I have simply never read a book series structured quite like this one. And I have never before encountered a character who regards bodies as meaningless and malleable meat, and who has such profound determination to stay alive. Her melodramatic pathos moves me. I love her terrifying drive and devotion. I love her bitter heartbreak and dry humor. I love her ostentatious lesbianism. Harrow is so important.

10. Alabaster, The Broken Earth Trilogy

Okay, let’s review what we’ve learned: Alabaster an ultra-powerful magical dude with a huge ego. He’s gay and has big trauma. He gets into a brief but beautiful poly relationship with his magic protégé and a pirate king. He’s kind of a shitty, difficult person to get along with. He causes the apocalypse because he values human life too highly to let a broken system stay in place. Of course I love this guy.

thanks for the tag, @degenerate-perturbation :) tagging @thereinafter, @miholjskoljeto @sapphirescience, @rainy-bloomingtide, @aubergion, @mocha-writes, @jellydishes, @stylographic-blue-rhapsody, and @bidaubadeadieu

[melobee]

30 Questions

Rule: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you want to get to know better

G’day mates! Welcome to my 30 questions post! This one tagged me to do this. So yeah blame her for filling up your dashboard....jk love you Laura 💜

Question 1: Name/Nickname

Melissa is my full name but my nickname I’ve gone by since I was like 14 is ‘Melo’ (pronounced ‘Me-low’. So many people pronounce it as ‘Mello’ lmao). Mel is also a common nickname I get at work and such.

Question 2: Gender

Female She/Her

Question 3: Star sign

Ok I’m a nerd for Star signs so I’ll give a more detailed answer than necessary

Virgo ♍️ || 150-180 degree || The element associated with Virgo is Earth || The type of Earth I am is mutable || The planet associated with Virgo is Mercury || I’m most romantically compatible with a Taurus, Capricorn and Scorpio || I’m least romantically compatable with a Gemini, Aquarius and Sagittarius || My opposite star sign is Pisces || Traits of Virgos, they are Kind, Reliable, Patient, Loyal, Idealistic, Overthinking, Shy, Critical and sometimes Stubborn

Obviously this isn’t all Virgos so take this with a grain of salt but yeah just a little in-depth analysis.

Question 4: Height

168cm | 5’6 feet

Question 5: Time

My Timezone is AEDT. Right now as I’m posting this it’s 10PM 23rd December 2020

Question 6: Birthday

31st August 1999

Question 7: Favorite bands

Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, Major Lazor, Fall Out Boy, X Ambassadors, Galantis, The Chainsmokers, The Script and Coldplay

Question 8: Favorite Solo Artists

Ellie Goulding, Ariana Grande, Khalid, Logic, Nicki Minaj, Sia, Marshmello, David Guetta, Lauv, Eminem, Dj Snake, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone

Question 9: Current song stuck in my head

Hmmmm atm it’s definitely ‘fire meets gasoline’ by sia cause our boi Pedro is in the music video 👀

Question 10: Last Movie watched

The Santa Clause Trilogy lmao

Question 11: Last show

The Mandalorian to absolutely no ones surprise

Question 12: When did I create this blog

Oh jeez idek sometime in 2018 I think. I only really started to blog since watching S2 of the Mandalorian though. Needed to vent somehow lmao

Question 13: When Do I post

Same reason as above when I need to vent or when I feel strongly about something and feel confident enough to vocalise it which is very rare.

Question 14: Last Google

Ok for this I’m going to bend it a bit cause my recent searches is to do with Christmas gift buying and that’s boring. So I’m going to go with ‘Triple Frontier’. Cause a certain someone is in this movie 👀

Question 15: Other blogs

Nope this is my one and only!

Question 16: Do I get asks

Oh god no I’m not that cool lolllll

Question 17: Why I chose my url

It’s a combination of my nickname ‘Melo’ and my last name ‘Beesley’.

Question 18: Following Count

36

Question 19: Follower Count

43

Question 20: Average hours of sleep

Sleep? Wtf is sleep? I do not know of this sleep. As an insomniac and a night owl (I know double whammy) I don’t get much sleep at all maybe 5-6 hours if I’m lucky. My sleep is very broken, so I usually wake up like 2-3 times during the night. I try to go to bed at 11 and I usually wake up at 7 which I absolutely hate. I’m NOT a morning person at all. It’s worse cause it’s daylight savings rn so the sun is up at 5am. I swear I don’t know how I function sometimes.

Question 21: Lucky number

I don’t really have one???? I guess if I had to pick it would be.....54! thank you random number generator

Question 22: Instruments

Not really sure what this is referring to. If it’s referring to instruments I’ve played then the only one I can say is I played to recorder when I was like 7 and it was forced by my teacher so it doesn’t really count.

If it’s referring to my favourite instrument then probably an acoustic guitar. I love me some acoustic covers. Plus there’s so much variety with this instrument it can be both upbeat and happy or really slow and somber. It’s all around a just a great instrument.

Question 23: What I’m wearing

It’s night and it’s summer so just some shorts and a singlet. Anything more and I’ll die from drowning my own sweat.

Question 24: Dream Job

My dream job is to be a voice actor. Key word dream. My realistic dream job however is to become a pathologist.

Question 25: Dream Trip

Ohhhhhh boy I have so many places I wanna go to! My first priority would be the UK (England and Ireland specifically). Nearly all of my heritage is from there so I think it would be really cool to go back to my roots amd explore the culture my family is from.

Second on my list is America not too sure about all the states I want to go to but I know for a fact that California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Texas (cause of N.A.S.A) and New York is a must!

Third is literally any Spanish speaking country whether it be Spain, Mexico, Colombia or Chile. Just anywhere that Spanish is the primary language.

Paris and Italy would be a solid fourth

Norway, Sweden and Finland would be fifth

Japan is 6th

I’m not really interested in visiting Africa, Indonesia the Middle East or Asia (except for Japan) and I wasn’t interested in South America either until recently.

Question 26: Favorite Food

I’m a sucker for pasta and Italian food! Ravioli in particular. It’s been my favourite since I was little. Chocolate is another big one. Any chocolate with caramel in it I will swipe from you.

I can’t do spicy foods I’m so intolerant to it like even the mild stuff makes my face go red and my tongue go numb it’s ridiculous.

Question 27: Nationality

Australian

My ancestry however is British/Irish/Ashkenazi Jewish. 75% Irish, 18% British, and 7% Jewish with less than 1% French and German.

Question 28: Favorite Songs

I get too personally invested in my music SMH

1800-273-8255 | Logic, Alessia Cara and Khaild

First Time | Kygo, Ellie Goulding

Treat You Better | RÜFÜS DU SOL

All the stars | Kendrick Lamar, SZA

Runaway | Galantis

breathin | Ariana Grande

Ocean Drive | Duke Dumont

Powerful | Major Lazor

lovely | Billie Eilish, Khalid

Let you down | NF

Elastic Heart, Fire meets gasoline, Big girls cry amd chandelier | Sia

Capsize | FRENSHIP, Emily Warren

Question 29: Last Book

Like physical book??? Oh lord I legit have no clue. I think the last time I read a physical book was in high school for English don’t ask what it was cause I have no idea lollll

Question 30: Top 3 Fictional Universes I want to live in

Miraculous, Star Wars, Assassins Creed

Annnnnnnd that’s it I’m done I guess! As for the 20 people I’m supposed to tag that’s just too high of a number there’s no way I have that many friends 😂. So I’ll only tag a few and if you don’t want to do this, just ignore 💜 See ya later!

@littlemisspascal @razordest @thisisthe-wayson

[theladyragnell]

adorablecrab replied to your post: It’s time for asking for specific recs! Lately, I...

I suppose you’ve already read some discworld but discworld?

I have definitely read Discworld! Several of the Watch books and definitely the Moist books are definitely along the lines of things I am looking for.

cansada-contenta replied to your post: It’s time for asking for specific recs! Lately, I...

@theladyragnell n.k. jemisin’s the inheritance trilogy is s t u n n i n g

It really is! It’s been a while since my last read of it, I should give it a reread sometime. I’ve read the first book of her Broken Earth trilogy, but it’s so hard that I’m going to need a year to recover between each of them!

ETA:

ruthlessandstormyeyed replied to your post: It’s time for asking for specific recs! Lately, I...

Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers, Embassytown by China Mieville

The Becky Chambers series is one of my very favorites of the past few years! I actually haven’t read any Mieville before, but now I know where to start, because that definitely looks intriguing.

[bomba-tea]

tagged by: no one. i stole it like the thief i am. tagging ( eight people ): @brumatifl, @legacycarried, @scorchedson

one ( name / alias ):  mav two ( birthday ):  feb. 9 three ( zodiac sign ):  aquarius four ( height ):  5′7″ (”and a half!!” she screams, tearing off her shirt in a frenzy.) five ( hobbies ):  sleeping, reading old horror literature (and new--any recs?), true crime??, podcasts, writing, drawing, running, coming up with half-baked ideas six ( favourite colour(s) ):  yellow, purple seven ( favourite books ):  the broken earth trilogy (n.k. jemison), salvage the bones (jesmyn ward), dracula (bram stoker), drown (junot díaz), the engelsfors trilogy (sara b elfgren & mats strandberg)  eight ( last song listened to ):  the system only dreams in total darkness by the national nine ( last film watched ):  oh fuck. uh? happy death day, maybe? ten ( inspiration for muse ):  !!! she’s a latina in pastel, what was i supposed to DO? honey is a repository for my optimism and hope. she’s sees so much good in people and in situations that it feels refreshing to play her, because where i get worn out, she carries on. it’s nice. when i need to get into honey brain i listen to the amélie soundtrack.  eleven ( dream job ):  living off my own writing, lol.  twelve ( meaning behind your url ):  bomba tea is probably the best pun i’ve ever come up with. it’s a play on boba tea (which honey would drink, let’s not kid ourselves), but bomba means bomb in spanish. c: 

[midnightartemis]

Chapters: 34/? Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Ben Solo, Finn (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Rose Tico, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Maz Kanata, Amilyn Holdo, Snoke (Star Wars), Boba Fett, Armitage Hux, Chewbacca (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abuse, Suicide Attempt, Star-crossed, Dreams, High School, School Dances, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Foster Care, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Near Death Experiences, Multiverse, Reincarnation, Attempted Sexual Assault, Assault, Graphic Description, Teenage Drama, Horny Teenagers, Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Past Drug Use, Drug Dealing

Chapter Thirty-Two

The next morning, there’s a quiet stillness that wakes me. It takes a second before I realize that the wind has stopped its incessant howl through the woods. I can’t remember the last time I had been somewhere so quiet. There was no hum of electricity, no dogs barking, no sirens. Ben sleeps beside me, my fingers rising and falling with his chest as he breathes. As I drift in and out, I can see her.

Dream Rey hovers in the air of her own accord. Her eyes are closed and her legs crossed in a deeply meditative state. Her lips move in a quiet mantra only she could hear. At first, we share the silence. Then the sounds and the smells and the warm green foliage of the forest surrounding her fade into my mind and solidify.

Rey’s eyes snap open, and, in an instant, the air between us electrifies. A long metal tube flies to her hand and a humming beam of bright blue light shoots from the end like an electric sword. “Who are you? What do you want?”

I hold my hands up slowly, not wanting to alarm her again. There was an itching feeling in my gut that told me she might have the answers I was looking for. “My name is Rey. I just want to talk.”

The woman’s brows furrow. “You’re the darkness. From the cave!”

“No!” I keep my hands up and don’t move. I don’t want her to sever this strange connection again. “No, please, believe me. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on. I don’t understand what’s going on. I was in a cabin in the woods and now I’m here. And it doesn’t feel like a dream.”

Rey studies me for a moment, seemingly wrestling with this strange occurrence in her head as well. She lowers her weapon and the blue blade disengages. “Are you with the First Order?”

“No. I don’t even know what that is.” I lower my hands slowly. It was strange to look at her, like looking in a mirror almost. Was this how twins felt? Was this woman my twin? “Are you- Are we sisters?”

The woman’s eyes flash with pain. “No. I don’t think we are. My name is Rey as well. Do you know where you are? Can you see what’s around me?”

“Yes, a forest. A jungle, really. Are you somewhere in South America?” I gaze around at the luscious green foliage that surrounds us. Everything is so vivid. I can smell the dirt and the sweet scent of plants and flowers. I can feel the cool ground beneath my bare feet and the light breeze against my skin.

“South America?” Rey gives me a puzzled look. “That’s a strange name.”

“You’ve never heard of South America? Didn’t they teach you that in school?”

She shakes her head. “I never went to school.”

“Oh.” I guess that explains a lot, sort of. “Can you see my surroundings?”

Rey shakes her head again. Is that what I look like when I’m confused? Do I really knit my brow like that? I’m going to have the worst wrinkles if I keep doing that. I snap myself out of my thoughts when I realize that Rey has asked me where I’m from. “Oh, Jakku. Ah… Vermont. America.”

“What?”

“America. The United States. You sound British. Are you in New Zealand or India, may-”

“You are not from Jakku. I am from Jakku.”

We both stare at each other uneasily. Rey is the first to break our silence. “What planet are you from?”

“Uh… Earth. What other planets are there?”

At my answer Rey takes a step back, nearly stumbling over a root. “Earth? Is that in the outer rim? The unknown regions?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m from Earth. Like all humans. There are no other planets that we’ve found that are habitable unless NASA is doing something we don’t know about which, really, is likely, but as far as I know there are no other planets that have humans on them in the Milkyway Galaxy and if there were I feel like they would probably have gone to school.” I’m rambling; I realize that, but I can’t stop myself. She’s giving me a look like I’m insane when really it's me who should be looking at her like that. “This is all just a dream right?”

“I’m not sleeping,” Rey says quietly. “This is real. At least for me.”

“Maybe I am going crazy. I saw those men die. I watched Hux and Snoke die right in front of me. I almost killed Bobby Fett. And the concussion… I’m going crazy aren’t I?”

“You watch Snoke die?”

“You know Snoke?” It wasn’t a common name. “Weird old guy with a twisted face?”

“Yes. I was there when he died. Ben killed him.”

“You know Ben? Right. The mirror incident. And no, Hux killed Snoke. Are we talking about the same people?”

“Maybe what we need to be asking is are we the same person?”

“Like… Twins?”

Rey shakes her head. “A divergence in the Force. Ripples of reality throughout time and space.”

“Alternate Reality.” The suggestion sends my mind reeling though I had no idea what she meant by the Force . I really was going crazy. I was- The forest around me began to fade away. The warm humidity was replaced with bitter cold. My hands and feet painfully numb with it. The green around me turned to bright white. I was blind until my eyes adjusted to the dazzling sun-lit snow around me.

Tall trees whose branches are covered in thick layers of snow and ice surround me. I spun trying to see a glimpse of the cabin, but my eyes landed instead on the remnants of a giant hollow tree. The four broken tree bases jutted out from the center base and curved towards the sky. All five trunks were long dead, the tops broken off and long gone.

Though I was freezing in the snow, wearing nothing but the shorts and t-shirt I wore to bed, there is a warmth and a light to this place. Something old and ancient calls to the deepest parts of my soul. I have no choice but to answer. Shivering, I stepped forward, walking towards the dark opening in the side of the massive tree.

The inside of the tree was surprisingly warm and dry. Even just a few degrees difference already does wonders for my cold hands and feet. An ancient life radiated from the long-dead tree. Life and death. Balance.

Beams of hazy sunlight filtered through cracks in the wood. One such beam cascaded down and highlighted a small chest nestled into a natural shelf in the wood.

“Impossible.”

The voice was my own though it did not come from my lips. I didn’t want to turn, didn’t want to face the reality that I was no longer dreaming, but that Rey from my dreams was here with me. She wore her strange clothes still- a thick all-white fabric, a tunic with strips of cloth crossing her torso. She seemed to glow in the dim light like a golden specter. Perhaps I was still dreaming.

“Why? Does this mean something to you?”

Her eyes narrowed in distrust. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Why? What is this place?”

“It’s sacred. And you should go.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to come here. I just kinda showed up. I don’t even know how to get back to the cabin.” I crossed my arms and turned to her fully. “Whatever is connecting us brought me here. So, maybe I’m going crazy, but I think I’m supposed to see this.”

Rey sighed. “I’m starting to understand why Luke doesn’t want to train me. I’m stubborn aren’t I?”

“Yes, we are.”

The glow surrounding Rey grew brighter as her form began to fade away. “Kirff. I can’t keep this up. I don’t understand how you’ve been able to cross over here so easily. Just- Take…. The books.”

“What? Wait!”

Rey fades away before she can say more and I am left alone in the hollow tree once more. Cautiously, I pick up the small, surprisingly heavy wooden chest terrified that something would jump out or something still stranger would happen. But, this was a dream, right? I couldn’t die in a dream. Not really.

There’s no symbols on the outside, nothing to give any clue about the chest’s origins. Just simple, rough wood. Judging by the state of the rust on the hinges, very old as well. Taking a deep breath, I open the lid.

Books. Six of them. Four hand-bound in leather, two also leather, but newer. All perfectly preserved. There’s a heady, papery scent that wafts off of them. How did Rey know that there would be books?

More importantly, if this was a dream, shouldn’t I be waking up right now? Or am I supposed to read the books? Can I even read if I’m dreaming?

“Rey!” The call is distant, desperate.

My heart races.

“Rey!” Ben’s voice bellows through the forest, closer now.

I close the lid on the books. No. No, this had to be a dream. This had to be. Please let this all be a dream. I close my eyes.

Wake up wake up wake up wake up.

“Rey!”

I pinch myself and I feel it. I feel the weight of the chest in my arms. I feel the warmth of the soil beneath my bare feet. It’s all real. It’s all real and it can’t be.

“Rey!” Ben stumbles into the hollow tree and nearly crashes into me, grabbing my shoulders in his hands. His eyes are wild and dark and terrified. “Goddammit, Rey! What the hell?”

I’m frozen in place, unable to move, unable to process it all.

“It’s all real. It’s not a dream.”

[samleheny]

Jedi and Lutherans: what Rey and Martin Luther might have in common

When I was a kid, I was a massive Star Wars nerd. How massive? I read the books. THE BOOKS! That’s when you know you’re lost!

One day I stopped, looked at my bloated belly, and decided that between the film, games, dolls, books, TV shows, legos, bed sheets, death star shaped ice cube trays, and Shakespeare reinterpreted to involve Star Wars characters,  I’d consumed enough Star Wars to last several life times, and even without actually going all that ham personally on all the merchandise and expanded lore, merely living in a world saturated in such an omni-present franchise had rendered the Star Wars universe a fairly mundane setting for me. And growing up didn’t help, because as your tastes refine it becomes harder and more thankless to spot the one or two good things about the Prequel trilogy, which was ‘my generation’s’ Star Wars. And I didn’t have any industrial strength nostalgia goggles lying around.

So when Lucas Films was snapped up by the equally omni-present Disney Corporation and a new line of Star Wars films was announced, my reaction was “Neat... I’m going back to bed.” I still haven’t seen the Force Awakens nor Rogue One (Is Rogue One a code name? Or is it like “The one who is rogue”?) but just recently a mistaken click on some click-bait rumour article about the upcoming instalment The Last Jedi saw me stumble upon a fan theory that turned out to be the most I’ve been intrigued by Star Wars in over a decade. It started in the article with ‘Grey Jedi’ and ended in my head with the Vatican and the Protestant Reformation.

Strap in.

The rumour is that Rey, the main protagonist of this new line of films, is the first canonically recognised Grey Jedi. “What on Earth is a Grey Jedi?” I wondered. It’s a fan made term, or maybe one initiated in the obscure expanded lore which has apparently now been declared non-canon by Disney (it’s all very confusing) and its meaning is a little vague, but is usually given one of two definitions. The first is just a Jedi who’s a bit of a bad boy, and who has some trouble following the rules of being a Jedi. So I guess by that logic any Jedi who becomes an evil Sith Lord by definition has to have transitioned from Jedi, to Grey Jedi, to Sith Lord (the Black Jedi by the naming convention suggested by “Grey Jedi”). Fans have suggested that Qui Gon Jin was a Grey Jedi simply because he was a bit of an arsehole who never agreed with anything the Jedi Council said. That makes sense I guess. I recall Count Dookoo suggesting that Qui Gon had been fertile for conversion to the Dark Side.

But the second definition - the one I find interesting – is simply one who is in balance with the force (much like a Jedi) but who is not a Jedi. Does not subscribe to the force related teachings of the Jedi Order. Following the Order’s teachings has long been depicted in the series as synonymous with being ‘in balance’ with the Force, the only alternative being to make the force one’s figurative bitch, which seemingly defines one as belonging to the evil Sith. Basically the anti-Jedi. But the very existence of Grey Jedi calls that dichotomy into question, which means nothing if Grey Jedi are just a figment of the fandom’s imagination, but if the current makers of Star Wars are indeed planning on taking this idea and running with it, I could see that being very interesting and somewhat daring.

Here’s the thing. The now long extinguished Jedi Council were a bunch of idiots. That’s not how they were deliberately depicted, it’s just a result of George Lucas’ horrendously amateurish plot and character writing throughout the prequel trilogy that many Star Wars fans have this unofficial idea that the pre-Luke Skywalker Jedi weren’t as wise as the story would have us believe.

What? The guy who’s been acting like a Sith Lord all this time and has benefited from every bad thing that’s gone down to which he’s always had a super obvious connection turned out to be the Sith Lord? Oooooh nooooo, who could have figured that out except anyone?

Suppose that notion was also picked up by the film makers and officially recognised. If they don’t have the onions to just add the prequels to the increasingly crowded bin of Non-Canon, then they could at least acknowledge that the Jedi’s old fashioned mindset and rigid insistence that the Force moves in mysterious ways was partially responsible for them getting outsmarted and all but wiped out by the Sith.

But if Grey Jedi are a real thing now and one can officially be not only force-sensitive, but also successfully wield the force as a partner (like a Jedi) and not as a slave (like the Sith) without giving a toss about shunning emotion, or never hooking up with anyone, or wearing your hair in a stupid braid until the council tells you you can stop, or any other silly little rule from the How To Be Awesome Jedi handbook, then how much or how little authority do the Jedi as an institution actually have on the subject of the Force?

The reason this intrigues me is because I have an affection for internet history videos (how did my high school manage to make history seem so boring?!) and this potential ‘Force Schism’ reminds me of a medieval figure whose story I recently got pretty big into. Martin Luther.

His is the story of the Protestant Reformation, which was a huge goddamn deal for Christians and consequently anyone who happens to share a planet with them. I am an agnostic atheist; I don’t believe in the divine, but I don’t for a second claim to know that the divine does or does not exist. I typically don’t get on well with organised religion, but even I have to admit that I like a lot about the way this Martin Luther guy thought.

Who was he? He was a German law student turned monk born in 1483 and who by 1517 had grown increasingly frustrated with the Catholic Church’s corruption and abuse of authority over people’s immortal souls, authority which he believed it didn’t actually have. This came to a head one day when a friar arrived in town selling ‘indulgences’ which were basically little slips of paper absolving you of some of your sins.

Yes, you could buy that. As far as the Catholic church was concerned, redemption in the eyes of God was quite literally for sale. If you think that sounds a little messed up, Martin Luther agreed. He wrote Ninety Five Theses decrying the custom and famously nailed them to the church door before the eyes of the public.

From here his ideas became increasingly radical (and increasingly awesome) generally attempting to expose the Church’s rituals like the priesthood as being mere formality, entirely of human design, possessing no actual spiritual power. High ranking church officials were seen as holy, and having authority to dictate the will of God to the masses, and priests were often the only ones in each town or village who could read, or at least who could read Latin, which conveniently was the only language in which scripture was available. “God has a thing about condoms. You can’t read the bible, but trust me, that’s totally what it says!” But Luther denounced even the pope himself as imperfect and fallible like any other human being. At the core of Luther’s system of belief was “Sola fide” - “Only faith”. The belief that everything one needed to attain salvation in the eyes of God was their own faith, and not the outside help of anyone specially authorised to admit God’s approval.

In addition to spreading the idea that people didn’t need priests and as individuals already had everything they needed to practise their faith, Luther translated the bible to common, everyday German and used the new technology of the printing press to distribute it to the people on a massive scale. Now everyone could read the bible for themselves, breaking up the church’s tidy little monopoly on salvation. And when a monopoly gets broken up, the previous holder of that monopoly suddenly finds them self facing actual pressure to perform well in the face of new competition. The Vatican’s officially sanctioned interpretation of scripture was no longer automatically the correct one by simple virtual of being the only available interpretation.

This was a massive, massive deal because the Catholic church had been - without hyperbole – the most powerful institution in Europe, and that power was based on having built a necessity for themselves and their man-made traditions into what was the dominant form of the dominant religion throughout the entire continent. And Luther’s insistence that soul authority (har har) over what God says and wants was not held by anyone here on Earth led to massive fracturing in the church. Suddenly everybody had their own interpretation of scripture and everybody was going off to start their own church.

This wasn’t just a spiritual schism, it was a continental political revolution.

So what if the Jedi’s authority over matters of the Force is also assumed and has been gradually born of hubris and vanity? You might think “What?! But the Jedi are the good guys! The way of the Jedi has been at the centre of every mainline Star Wars story!”

Well… Not only have the Jedi failed spectacularly in their role as galactic, Force fueled peacekeepers at least twice, but I’d argue their methods have led to a repetitive loop of stale events and plot lines in the Star Wars films. I’ve always felt this weird inconsistency in the spirituality of Star Wars. A clashing between Western philosophical themes of dichotomy - of good vs evil, and Eastern philosophical themes of balance in all aspects of life and nature. The overarching goal of the Jedi throughout Star Wars history has been to “bring balance to the force”. Balance implies harmonious existence of two opposing forces, but the Jedi usual speak of this balance in terms of defeating and eliminating once and for all their long time counterparts, the Sith. And twice now within the films they’ve thought to have finally achieved this only for the Sith to pull the rug out from under them and reveal just how distant this dream of balance still is.

Well what if that’s because the Jedi have been going about it all wrong? What if this Western style dichotomy in pursuit of Eastern style balance never works because the dichotomy itself is a perversion of the Force? Is being an emotionless, celibate hippy like being a Jedi requires really what brings balance to the force? Or is this insistence on what are actually arbitrary, man-made ideals what causes force users to become frustrated and seek emotional freedom as Sith, seeking conflict with the Jedi allegedly being the only force sensitive alternative to being a Jedi?

Maybe the Jedi’s authority over matters of the force has become muddied and misused. Maybe all that pomp and ritual can be thrown off for what it is - meaningless. ‘Sola vis’ if you will. “Only the Force”.

The hopelessness in the way the Jedi have always operated, and the accompanying contradiction has I think long been unintentional and the result of sloppy writing. But now is a new era of Star Wars, so why not get meta with its narrative? The writers should pull the old “Nah, we meant to do that!”. Take the nonsensicalness of the prequel Star Wars era and embrace it – recognise it as nonsensical and use it to explain why the Star Wars story keeps looping (then nobody can complain anymore that Return of the Jedi seems pointless now that we know the peace didn’t last five minutes). Just as Star Wars is recovering from a run of bad writing, let’s have the characters’ understanding of the force recover from thousands of years of flawed, fallible people assuming undue spiritual authority (Thousands? Hundreds? I don’t know, every era in Star Wars history feels pretty interchangeable).

The moral compass of the Star Wars world has traditionally been a pretty simplistic one (ain’t nothin’ wrong with simplicity): Jedi good. Jedi are awesome. Jedi know what’s up. Do you want to be absolutely sure that you’re one of the good guys and that you’re talking sense? Then make sure you’re a Jedi. So it would be quite a drastic change to the franchise to suggest that all this time the omni-present Jedi have been getting it at least a little bit wrong. But it’s also exciting to think that maybe being a Jedi is just one way of using the Force harmoniously, and that this balance will finally be possible once the Jedi finally stop and ask themselves “Huh... what is the point of all these super specific rules?”

I hope it turns out Rey does indeed reject the Jedi teachings without losing her harmony with the force and becoming a Sith. And what if Kylo Ren comes to the same realisation from the other side of the court? He seems pretty insistent that the Jedi suck, but he also seems unsure of himself as a Sith. Sounds like he should give this Grey Jedi thing a try too. Unless it turns out I’m misreading, completely, and The Last Jedi turns out to be going after something completely different and this was all a waste of time...

2020 edit: Fuck sake, Abrams. Yes, I do in fact remember my childhood. We established that with Force Awakens. But that can’t hold up an entire trilogy if you’ve nothing else on your mind!

[burnt-violets-blog]

Welcome to ‘Reviews’, the segment where I review stories I’ve read recently with varying degrees of detail and inanity. Read on to see what I’ve been enjoying and upon which writer the most illustrious and highly coveted 🏆 emoji for ‘The Best Damn Thing I Damn Did Read’ has been bestowed.

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N K Jemisin – 4 STARS

The Fifth Season (2015)

The Obelisk Gate (2016)

The Stone Sky (2017)

When the end of the world happens, which Essun plays a far greater role in than she could’ve ever anticipated, she is is a mother-of-two whose young son has just been brutally killed by her partner Jija. Essun’s son was an oregene—someone who can harness the Earth’s elemental energy, and has the ability to do things such as causing earthquakes—and with the world now literally falling apart around her, Essun can no longer be an oregene in hiding. Jija has fled with their daughter and Essun leaves her community to find her and get her revenge. That story is just one piece of a ornate puzzle. Essun’s story is joined by Damaya, who is a young girl taken from her home to receive training as an oregene, and by Syenite, a young oregene woman who has received instructions from her superiors that will have very a unexpected and transformative impact on her life and everyone else’s.

There is a lot to love about this series. This is high fantasy that makes me excited as someone who greatly appreciates the genre both as a reader and writer. The Fifth Season features very detailed, vivid, geology-based world-building that is a delight to get accustomed to. The cast of characters here live in a tough and collapsing world, and are themselves an intriguing lot damaged by an array of traumas and who over the course of the series make unpredictable decisions by grief. Without spoiling the series, there’s a few narrative tricks at play here such as the second person narration and the structure of the first book in particular that were fun. My only criticism is that especially through using second person Jemisin tells you everything about how her characters operate which can be far too much and leaves very little to the imagination. At points in the first book especially the language/dialogue also grows quite melodramatic (far too many italics and ellipsis’s) but this became less of an issue as I got more invested.

Be reassured, however, because those are small complaints. In all, there’s a slow ongoing reveal about what is going on and how everything is connected that takes place in these three books that is greatly satisfying. Once you’re under its thrall The Broken Earth trilogy is absorbing as fuck. This is for the people who love high fantasy and want a glimpse as to what the future of the genre may look like. This is also for those who want to read a high fantasy that isn’t Eurocentric. This series is enjoyable to read and features some really excellent moments to look forward to.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera – 3 STARS

The premise is simple but engaging: a company called DeathCast exists and they give you a notification on the day you’re about to die. Because of this company we now live in a society with the blessing and curse that is having advanced warning. When you have advanced warning of your impending death, you can ensure that your last day alive is spent living life to its fullest. We follow two teenage boys marked for death, Matteo and Rufus, as they spend a whirlwind last twenty four hours together.

If a review could hurt me it would be this one. I love Adam Silvera and what his books, featuring LGBT characters of colour, represent for YA. We need him. He is for me the most interesting new YA contemporary/speculative fiction writer of the last few years. Having said that this book didn’t hit the right notes. Emotionally impacting the reader is of importance for a romance set over twenty four hours featuring two teenagers trying to live their best lives before their inevitable death by the day’s end. And to that end They Both Die at the End is underwhelming. Silvera writes simply and really inhabits the voice of his characters so his books are easy to fly through. But overall this book read a bit too juvenile and (surprisingly for a book on dying and living your best life) did not achieve the depth I was looking for. Including a twenty-four hour romance and the subsequent whistle-stop (and often cheesy) nature of all of the couple’s conversations and interactions that follow have something to do with that. You can read more about my thoughts on my review here but the short of it is that this wasn’t it for me. Silvera has promise, though, and I love that he’s achieving success with LGBT characters of colour. Make money, king.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – 3 STARS

Another one that I was excited to read because there was lot of good things said about Celeste Ng’s debut, Everything I Never Told You. That one came out in 2014 and I still hadn’t gotten around to reading it. Then, in the weeks leading up to release, a succession of positive reviews for Little Fires Everywhere peppered my social media.

Dear reader, I was excited. I harboured no premonitions as I started with book in hand, with green tea besides. I wanted to like this.

The majority of Little Fires Everywhere is pedestrian and underwhelming. The novel is told through the perspective of white middle-class characters and I could absolutely feel it, each page had weight. I just did not care for their perspective around this novel’s interesting central issue, about a Chinese woman and her attempt to regain custody over her child where that child has been taken in by a white family. There is also so much ‘telling’ used to convey what are supposed to be close and dynamic relationships between the characters. Significant parts of chapters in this novel read like Wikipedia summaries of relationships between characters. The novel does end well and so I am glad ultimately to have stuck with it. Unfortunately, as a purported drama between two families that meet and become obsessed with each other at a devastating cost, I was bored and uninterested in the lives of the majority of the run–of-the-mill, bland characters populating this book.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward – 4 STARS, and 🏆.

The less you know about this one the better. You must simply know that Sing, Unburied, Sing is fantastically written and deals finely with an assorted bunch of issues that culminate toward an incredible piece of work. This is a story about poverty, the aftershocks of intergenerational trauma, the effects of bad(/borderline abusive?) parenting on children, and drug addiction. All set in the South and with added ghosts. It feels sweaty, grimy, and claustrophobic. Sing, Unburied Sing is what an engaging family drama (and what literary fiction, generally) should be and I didn’t even know it could be until I read it with my own eyes. You can stick a 🏆 in that pipe and smoke it.

  And that’s all from me, dear reader. Congratulations to Jesmyn Ward. I know what with the autumn months there are so many amazing books being released but you definitely want to make time for Sing, Unburied, Sing.

Until next time this is your friendly neighbourhood peruser of the written word, signing out!

      Reviews, II Welcome to ‘Reviews’, the segment where I review stories I’ve read recently with varying degrees of detail and inanity.