#i do not trust RR to do something this intricate

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I just think, the idea that Disha is lying about Kyoshi's honor and stuff to put some kind of wedge between Roku and Kyoshi would be really cool and spy-y and would fit really well with the weird Cold War-eque/espionage that Roku's era seems to want to emulate. It'd be a cool way of making him doubt himself without realizing he's doubting himself.

And it'd also force a parallel between Roku/Kyoshi and Kyoshi/Kuruk. How, while Kuruk appeared in RoK and Kyoshi didn't have the best opinion of him, really ramped up in her sequel novel to the point she wanted to fucking brawl him. The way it's set up now, Roku's timidness and confusion with Kyoshi could easily fester into the same hatred and want to confront her in Roku's sequel novel too.

And I'm also just grasping at straws but I just really fucking hate how RR is trying to drag Kyoshi through the gd mud. And like it just doesn't work with the knowledge we already know about her and he could've done something (anything really, he didn't utilize her at all) else with her character in Rokus era that would've better explored... and I'm also a bit of a bitter bitch about it. tbh

[sadbi-hours]

So I guess 9x07 of ahs decided to come after my deeply angsty ass tonight...and my god, did it do it beauitfully!

Oh, god, this episode bruh...where do I begin?!

Well let's start with Benji! Just when I thought I couldn't connect or feel anything new for Benjamin after the 100th episode than I already processed, welp I ended up being 100% completely wrong...so freaking wrong! I felt it all for this man tonight...I felt everything I could possibly feel for him!

I felt that bittersweet happiness that he emoted after he said his final goodbye to his brother...and he did what he believed was the right thing (spoiler and tw ahead) for the first time in his life...by ending it forever!

That fucking logic hurt me deeply in my soul! I understood it on a gut level. It resonated with me...because for--I am going to get personal, but heck it was a very personal episode tonight--someone who's tried to end their life before, I can empathize with his logic of believing the people you love are better off without the burden of you!

He's thinking of what he believes is best for his son, protecting him the only way he had left and knew how to...he took it as a fool proof plan to defeat RR and end the horrors he started in 1940s by being forced to kill his own mother...who only ever wanted the same before grief and rage twisted her soul and intentions!

I mean that's some deep shit! And Miss Lily Rabe just decided to came for our souls tonight, huh?! Lol! Because how could I condemn her for what she's done! She lost her son in the worst way possible...let it fill her with rightful hate and rage and a call for justice and she unleashed her pent-up emotions in a horrifying way--i am seeing a recurring theme for the ladies of 1984!

And I kind of like how it tied into the blood curse of Camp Redwood! I've been wanting to know more about the camp's logic for keeping everybody who has died stuck there...and we got it and why it may not have been as intricate as some of Ryan's plot twists, I believe it worked beautifully! Sometimes simple is better...and The White Lady's hatred for the camp counselors of any kind is what has keep them there...not a moral thing per say was fucking brillent on his part! Plus Hello our little Friday the 13th easter egg so to speak lol!

And I will just say too that the writing was really on point this episode...for me at least! Ryan wasn't relying solely on soundtrack to get his point across on what we should be feeling...he let the shows composers and Lily and John's amazing acting do it for us and I think that was a wonderful decision!

And speaking of amazing acting, Lily and John both slayed it this episode...I mean their scenes together are what sold me on Ryan's twist! They broke my heart in two...I mean when Benji was giving his speak to the ghosts of Redwood even they were lowkey crying for him, except Montana...she didn't even bother to hide how deeply what he said touched her...and I think that she can relate to him deeply when it comes to losing a sibling that was in some ways your entire reason for existing!

And while we didn't get too much of Benji and Bobby's relationship...I feel like Bobby was probably Benji's only friend...someone despite his jealousy of, understood and listened to him! I see the recurring themes you are sending out there, Ryan Murphy...and tonight, just know that you have my full support of it haha!

(Warning for those who are anti Montana, dark xavier, or xantana...this is their little section but I won't be sticking on them much because there wasn't much of them tonight...which I actually liked but anyways...)

And I guess Montana just runs the ghosts of Camp Redwood now...I mean in her words: Choice! I believe that 100%...and I don't need to explain why lol...but I also like that while they are scared of her and they should be...they also subtly in some ways look to her for or to know how to express compassion! I mean, I love my girl but she is Montana (who hasn't shown much of it besides those two times with brooke in ep 2 and again with xavier in ep 5) and while I know that all of Camp Redwood was crying at Benji's speech, they all tried to hide how much it affected them...all except Montana! She so to speak openly weep for him...and showed him that she understood and felt for him by once again offering up one of her homeboys off as tribute to take him to his mother...

And tbh, I don't know how I feel about that...It could just be Montana always trying to adapt to what people need and crave from others as a way to get what she wants...or she does it because deep down that's who she is: always giving up who she truly is to be what people need her to be!

Richard wanted a ruthless sex kitten...she gave that to him, but that was to get him to do what she wanted...but it still in a way makes my point lol...anynhow, Chet seems to be seeking something of a sister/mother type figure and she's given that to him, by looking out for him and keeping him in check...Xavier wants to have control over his situation, she gave him that (tho my xantana loving ass still thinks there is more to it than that but that's for another day)... Ray wants someone to take his moral conflicts out on, well she lets him bitch her out as he cleans up her kills... and everyone in Redwood wants to leave, she hatches a whole ass plan to maybe help release them from it...and Trevor wants what could have been, so well you know...and I ain't mad because we all know Montana lives for variety and no matter how much she loves someone, she'll never be 100% faithful in a sexual manner, so who knew I'd come to a day i'd be cool with that, but she has never lied about that part of her...and in some ways, she remains me a lot of Brian Kinney from Queer as Folk, who was very similar in that belief...and I swear it's so nice to see a woman in media allowed to be that sexually open and not condemned for it by the people around her who matter...

But we will see, Xavier has been known to be a jealous boy when it comes to Trevor...so who knows how that will turn out?!

And look I know I may be reaching, but that's what I've come away with for her this ep. and I'm just airing it out there haha!

And that leads me to Brooke and her whole debacle this episode:

Not only do Donna and Brooke need a freaking hug after this episode, but I truly thought I couldn't love Brooke more after last ep...and I was pleasantly wrong on both beliefs lol!

I loved her struggle to trust Donna and her motives for helping her...all understandable! Donna and the entire lot of those she's blindly trusted have fucked her over, but I love that here her trust wasn't misplaced. Donna only ever wanted to fix what she's caused...and she never wanted anything else from her. She gave back to Brooke what Brooke gave to her: trust and understanding.

I mean she was so in sync with what Brooke was trying to do with rushing her with the truck...not for a moment did Donna believe she was trying to kill her and I adore it! I seriously thought for a moment that Brooke was going to let her trauma and need for revenge allow her to become Montana 2.0 but she didn't! Brooke has completely stuck to what she believes is right these last two episodes and I 100% love her for it.

And I also liked that entire roller rink scene...and it's underling purpose! Donna let her experience some of what she missed in 80s while in prison...and thank you Ryan Murphy for having one character in 1984 actually in a way healthily air their traumas in a safe place...with a trustworthy (ish) person...and in return get almost a heathy response on how to cope with it!

I forever will give you kudos for that, but I also understand this is ahs and this is also a homage to 80s slashers and the main final character always returns to their greatest horror...and for Brooke that's Margaret and Camp Redwood, but my girl Donna decided to fuck it all and be a ride or die bff for a bitch...and I stan it so hard!

I love how we are getting ahs' verison of a positive female relationship...i'd never thought I'd see the day haha! Ryan just giving everyone something this season!

And Dylan's character, Bruce (?) is it bad I want to see more of him, even tho he's clearly psychotic and probably be looking to end Brooke's life after what she did...which I cheered her on the whole way as she did it...but yeah, please give me more of Dylan's insane character! Please and thank you...as if we didn't have enough chaos going on with only two episodes left, I also want Dylan's brand to be added to the mix haha!

And to Margaret, I still only have one thing to say...

I mean Lavinia said (@scienceandmischief for pointing it out her name to me! Thanks so much ❤) that Margret was already unhinged...Lily's character just nudged her in the direction she wanted to go...she still needs to pay for what she's done and hopefully my wifey Brooke will be the one coming to collect...but I am fascinated by a few things. Has Margaret's fanatic religious talk...been her deep down way of trying to atone for what TWL awoken in her and the things she's done?! I mean I don't know if it really matters at this point with her...but it still makes my brain wheels churn.

[tompatel95]

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan review

There’s been a lot of buzz about Wicked Saints and I’m pleased the hype is real! I was completely obvious to it, only discovering the book through Kindle recommends. I had little idea what the story was about before diving in, so I was surprised, horrified and delighted in equal measure.

 Before we get started, below is GoodReads’ synopsis:

 A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

 A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

 A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

 Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

 In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

 So, what are the positives about Wicked Saints? Firstly, it’s a fully realised fantastical world, inspired by Slavic folklore. There’s been quite a few comparisons with Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse, yet I found any similarities to be superficial at best. In Bardugo’s own words, her works are inspired by imperial Russia, whilst Wicked Saints is definitely medieval in tone.

               Moreover, each chapter begins with a brief biography of one of the Gods or Saints, helping to build the religious system of this world. Personally, it felt so real and tangible that I was immediately transported within the first few pages.

               With one exception, the characters were engaging and absorbing. The main character, Nadya, can commune directly with the Gods and is dedicated to ridding her world of heretical blood magic. Nadya is refreshing – she’s so sure of her destiny and accepts it, unlike many YA protagonists. Additionally, her faith in the gods provides her with strength, yet her doubt renders her belief believable. As a Hindu, I really responded to this as it is rare that religion is depicted positively at all in contemporary culture.

               Nadya’s counterpart is the High Prince Serefin, an accomplished Blood Mage. Alongside the rest of his kingdom, Serefin has rejected the Gods and practises blood magic. Whilst our first introduction to Serefin paints him as a villain (he burns down Nadya’s home), his chapters illuminate his character – his fractious relationship with his father, his companionship with his fellow soldiers Ostiya and Kacper, his love for his country. He’s drunk, witty, snarky and utterly charming.

               Other supporting characters, from Rashid to the Queen’s witch, help to boost up the narrative whilst still enjoying character arcs of their own.

Are there any negatives to the book? Well . . . yes. The most glaring one is Malachiasz. As Nadya’s love interest, he follows the enemies to lovers trope. There’s also a touch of the insta-love about their entire relationship. Now, don’t get me wrong, these techniques can work – Zelie and Iman from Children of Blood and Bone work fabulously, as do Elias and Laia of Ember in the Ashes. However, Malachiasz felt kind of bleurgh. I found him dull and I couldn’t understand Nadya’s attraction to him, even despite his multiple lies and manipulations. Personally, I feel like Nadya and Serefin are a far better fit, which may be the direction the story is heading. A huge part of Malachiasz’s blandness is that he doesn’t have a POV chapter like Nadya and Serefin. Without an insight into his psychology, he comes across as just another tortured bad boy – utterly forgettable.

               Secondly, there’s a sense of confusion within the narrative which is never resolved. The book never appears to make up it’s mind over whether the Gods are good or bad – do they deserve Nadya’s devotion? I feel like Emily A. Duncan will head down the latter route which would be a shame – as mentioned earlier, it’s nice to see the positives of religion highlighted. Who the actual villain is remains confusing; if you’re going to play around with whose the villain and whose the hero ala George RR Martin, you need to know what you’re doing. Speaking of Game of Thrones, I felt the political machinations weren’t intricate enough.

Information was found out easier and the political elements were simplified. I wanted more conniving, manipulation from a variety of characters, not just the main ones. Billed as a bloody, gothic fantasy, this element felt underwhelming. Lastly, the magic is underdeveloped. Whilst the blood magic is ingenious, I felt like I don’t understand the rules of magic and where it comes from. The gods? Humans? Who knows.

 In conclusion, I do recommend this book. It’s enjoyable, engrossing and immersive. The issues with it will hopefully be ironed out with the sequel next year. It’s already on my wishlist!

[tfrohock]

Recent Reads: The Grand Dark, Thus Were Their Faces, The Last Sun & The Hanged Man

My reading is eclectic at best, and while I do maintain a Goodreads page where I post reviews, I’ve made a promise in late 2019 to get back to blogging, so here we all are. I’ll still post reviews on Goodreads, but I’ll also sum things up here with some of my more memorable reads. If you’re looking to see what I think of a book, you might find an easier time locating it here.

Here are a few of my favorite recent reads:

The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey

My most recent read is Richard Kadrey’s The Grand Dark, and while Goodreads’ reviewers seemed to somewhat ambivalent about the book, I enjoyed it immensely.

I noticed that a great deal of people referenced the Sandman Slim series by Kadrey, which makes me wonder if expectations of a different kind of story might have been part of the issue for a lot of folks. I’m peripherally aware of Sandman Slim and have read a few, but I found myself enjoying Kadrey’s The Grand Dark much more.

Just as George RR Martin used the War of the Roses as the historical basis for The Game of Thrones, so does Kadrey use that heady period between the Great War and World War II for his world-building of the fictional city of Proszawa.

Here is a steampunkish world with mechanical Maras taking over human jobs, and a city in transition from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy. The Great War has left mutilated soldiers, known as Iron Dandies for the masks they wear to cover their mangled faces, living on the fringes of society. Anarchists plot rebellions and the mysterious secret police, the Nachtvogel, make malcontents and enemies of the state disappear in programs reminiscent of the Nazi’s decree of Nacht und Nebel.

Largo is a courier, valued for his knowledge of the city, but that exceptional ability sometimes draws the wrong attention to his existence, not that Largo notices. An addict and a wastrel, Largo is in love with the beautiful actress, Remy, and at times, the early chapters have a Cabaret feeling about the hedonism the two experience in their daily lives. Then Largo is introduced to a series of opportunities that he believes will enable him to break free of his mundane job as a courier and make him worthy of Remy’s love.

Instead, he finds himself drawn into political intrigues, and the beautiful life he envisioned for himself and Remy takes one tragic turn after another. Largo is no longer able to drift through life, carried by his whims. He makes dangerous decisions and follows through, and in doing so, he loses his innocence and grows emotionally.

Kadrey brings his world to life and makes it his own. Only people with a background in that transitional period between the wars will pick up on a lot of his references, but the singing of patriotic songs in the streets and the smashing of shop windows all resurrect the ghosts of the “Horst-Wessel-Lied” and Kristallnacht for those in the know. For readers unfamiliar with the historical references, they’ll find a story set in a dark world that will feel vaguely familiar.

Kadrey takes his time and builds the novel’s atmosphere carefully so that when the various plot points begin to fall into place at the end, I couldn’t stop flipping the pages. This is the kind of story that I love to read—dark and twisted and hopeful in the end.

Highly recommended, though your mileage may vary based on your expectations.

Thus were their faces by Silvina Ocampo

Thus were Their Faces is a wide collection of Ocampo’s short fiction and novellas. According to the blurb, the reader will find “stories about creepy doubles, a marble statue of a winged horse that speaks to a girl, a house of sugar that is the site of an eerie possession, children who lock their perverse mothers in a room and burn it, a lapdog who records the dreams of an old woman” and it’s all there.

These aren’t the snappy stories that most readers are used to by today’s standard. Ocampos takes her time moving into the stories and characters with Gothic prose. Even her most mundane stories have a fever-dream creepiness about them. If you’re looking for something to while away the dark of winter, this collection is for you.

The Last Sun and The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards

Both The Last Sun and The Hanged Man are urban fantasy at its most imaginative and finest. In a modern-day Atlantis off the coast of Massachusetts, the city is governed by powerful Courts based on the traditional Tarot deck.

I actually read The Hanged Man first, and I enjoyed the adventures of Rune, Addam, and Brand so much, I went back and picked up The Last Sun.

You can read these books in any order and not miss a thing, but the true beauty of these novels are the intricate relationships between Edwards' characters. They're brought to life and made to feel human in so many ways. The scene with poor, stoned, Max almost broke me for the gentle way that Edwards showed Max's angst without seeping into melodrama. The book is full of deft writing by a skilled hand.

The plot is a fast-paced mystery with lots of magical fighting thrown in along with witty banter, and the world-building is finessed and believable. Trust me when I say there is something for everyone here. The story pops from beginning to end with excellent pacing and enough court intrigue to keep you flipping the pages deep into the night.

Edwards doesn’t miss a beat between the novels, so if you loved one, you’ll definitely love the other. If found families, strong LGBTQ rep, and good storytelling are your thing, I highly recommend The Tarot Sequence series.