#is it sad or funny I know the plot of the whole novel

[thevikingwoman]

Inspired by this wolquestion and discord discussion thx friends for rotting my brain

Fandom: FFXIV | Words: 431 | Read on Ao3

Emmanellain de Fortemps & Meryta Khatin | Somewhere between 3.3 and 4.0 | friendship, fluff Rating: G. bad romance writing, hint at fantasy racism, friends being silly, maybe the WoL has time to relax once, past Emmanellain/Meryta

The Perils of Ishgard Publishing Houses

Emmanellain de Fortemps is sprawled on the couch, feet dangling over the armrest, empty wine bottle at the floor beside him, full glass beside it. His attention is focused on the book in his hands, the cover boldly reading Taming the Warrior - a High House Novel.

Across from him, Meryta leans back among the pillows on the oversized armchair. A half empty wine glass sits on the table in front of her.

"Delightful," Emmanellain grins, and continues to read aloud: "Meryta sighs, her leaf-green skin a contrast against Atoriel’s red doublet, and looks up at him, her orbs brimming with unshed tears. Her sweet pillowy bosoms heave... "

Emmanellain looks up at her, waggling his eyebrows. "Pillowy indeed. How fondly I remember —"

Meryta groans, and tosses a pillow at him, hitting him squarely in the face.

"Anyway.  She leans against Atoriel’s broad and solid chest and says: Oh Atoriel, I love you so much. We must be together. I will give up adventuring for you and only fight for the glory of house Fortemps! Atoriel kisses her brow, and looks at the horizon with his cruel blue eyes – cruel alright got that right – his chiseled jaw is as sharp as his words.”

"I am afraid it would not work my darling. My Father would not allow it, someone so foreign as the wife of his heir. I love you darling, but it cannot be."

Emmanellain scoffs and stops reading.

“Ha! At this point I'm sure Father will be happy if my dear brother married a nice boy and adopted some brume rats as heirs. Not that it will ever happen; who’d want to spend that much time with him.”

“Someone likes him, Emmanellain. At least the person who wrote the book seems to think him very handsome.” Meryta grins and amends, “And I think you’re doing your brother a disservice. He’s trying to help your father the best he can.”

Emmanellain sits up and grabs his wine glass. He sticks out his chin, pouting.

“Meryta, pretty girl. Do you think my jaw is chiseled?”

“Emmanellain. You're handsome enough on your own. Stop it.”

He drinks down half his wine, and flops back into the couch.

“Alright - let me skip to the good part. There should be a chapter where the Lord Speaker and my dear brother spars half naked. It's very dramatic, according to the reviewers.”

“Reviewers? How many people are reading this? Spare me! Tell me of you latest Ul’dah ball instead.”

Meryta throws a pillow over her face, and Emmanellain laughs and starts flipping the pages.

[kimbapisnotsushi]

it's akaashi's birthday!!! you guys know what that means!!!!!!!!!! have some timeskip special headcanons about akaashi and co. let's go!!!!

i think akaashi deserves a spin-off about his misadventures in the manga department honestly

gekkan shoujo nozaki kun. sekaiichi hatsukoi. bakuman. there is a lesson to be learned here people!!!!!

tenma gifts him a planner for his birthday and the first thing he does after opening it is mark all of tenma's deadlines. which he also has recorded in his phone calendar. AND he has them memorized. AND on sticky notes scattered throughout the office

tenma: you know i got you this planner so that you wouldn't have to put sticky notes everywhere, right? akaashi, sleep-deprived and running on five cups of coffee: time waits for no one, udai-san

the office has a special "akaashi keiji emergency rest kit" for when he falls asleep at his desk

it's got a blanket if it's cold, a pillow they tuck under his head, a bottle of water and snacks they leave next to him if he gets hungry/thirsty when he wakes up, and an eye mask that they put on him after they take off his glasses

idk i think the whole office really loves akaashi

and he really loves them back!!!! they're a team!!! they work together!!!! deadlines might be hell but at least it's a hell they're united in!!!

akaashi finding love and contentment and happiness in a place he initially wasn't sure about is everything to me okay

also i think he wingmans tenma and akiteru. i think it'd be very funny.

akaashi knows it's bad when he catches tenma drafting a whole new romance plot and he's like "udai-san. please. you have something due in five days you canNOT be doing this right now"

honestly akaashi just wants them to get together so that tenma will stop being dreamy and distracted and ACTUALLY focus on getting his manuscript done on time

and then they DO get together and akaashi is subjected to even more dreamy sighs and staring off into the distance and whatnot

tenma is such a disaster you guys i love him

ALSO YOU KNOW HOW MANGAKAS HAVE A LIL MASCOT TO REPRESENT THEMSELVES IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. TENMA'S IS DEFINITELY SOME KIND OF CROW

someone asks tenma if he has a favorite pro vball player and tenma says "hinata shouyou" with the BIGGEST smile on his face and hinata almost cries

LMAO HOW FUNNY WOULD IT BE IF KENMA OFFERED TO BANKROLL AND DEVELOP A ZOMBIE KNIGHTS VIDEO GAME

i mean i barely even know what zkz is about but based on the title i feel like it'd make a good video game

yachi can help design . . . lev and komi can voice act . . . yes . . . it's all coming together . . .

NEVER MIND I KNOW WHAT IT IS I READ A TRANSLATION OF THE LIGHT NOVEL IN THE MIDDLE OF WRITING THIS

he wrote zkz in a restaurant are you SHITTING me udai tenma i love you

so apparently it got discontinued?? instead of allowing tenma to finish it the way he wanted?? so when tenma hears that kenma wants to make a video game out of it he ends up in tears

kenma's like "well it might have failed as a manga. but i think it'd make a pretty good video game, if you want to help out with that"

god everything about it makes me want to cry actually. tenma who is still chasing after his dreams. and akaashi right there, learning how to be better. learning how to be passionate. learning how to give tenma his all. because he's TENMA'S editor and he'll be damned if he doesn't do it well.

udai tenma in an interview about meteo attack: "yes, i am sad i didn't get a chance to end zkz in a way that would have made me happy. it was my first series, and that's always going to be precious to me. but meteo attack is one i'm looking forward to. it's a story about learning how to fly, when everybody else has long since been trampling on your wings and telling you that you can't."

sorry i did NOT mean to get this emotional over them. but now i am. and i am going to be thinking about it forever

meteo attack def gets raving reviews from players in the pro volleyball league, especially from hinata shouyou

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

Hey there, first time anon here! I wanted to review blood ties properly, since i binged it in like a few hours some time ago (oops) and let you know that i truly believe it is a masterpiece of writing, i’m talking good enough to compete with many published novels out there. I really love how this fic dives deep into one of the most interesting (unexplored!!) eras of the group, the winter, i also adore how its developed through the quarry and farm eras (i’m so excited for the prison as well) and how the real romance develops and is strenghtened by time.

 Daryl is a really hot’n cold guy just like i imagine him being in truth, i love the romance so much and the way the relationship between Daryl and our reader is the backbone of the story as it should be, it pushes the plot fowards and even affects characters that aren’t them in funny (and sort of sad) ways, your depiction of Daryl is so authentic he’s truly amazing, a bit of a dick sometimes, and so true to canon he’s not all self loathing, he’s got a lot going on and you can tell just by the reader’s POV, that even with all his flip flopping she can read him like an open book most of the time. I’m really really looking foward to how thumper being there will affect his development from now on, we know he has a Strong sense of responsibility and so now the whole prison arc (if that is where we go next, i don’t really know, you work in mysterious ways Murda) will have a bigger impact on him beyond Merle being present, also thumper too, i’m counting on her being much like him from what we’ve seen of her during the pregnancy, very smart and perceptive, you could even say... observant, but also an absolute menace (thats what i got from all the moving around at least) and i look foward to seeing all the ways she’s going to change Daryl’s brain chemistry every day, for better or for worse she will torment every minute of his day, i hope she is a true daddy’s girl that will make Daryl pay for for his every sin on this Earth by being a brat just like he is.

Most of the reason why i didn’t really comment on it normally instead of writing this freaky text is to comment on the development of secondary characters on this fic, i think they are very Strong and all feel true to the show as well, there is one relationship i absolutely love in this fic, only second to Daryl and reader really, its Lori and reader, maybe its my nerd brain overanalyzing but they almost feel like narrative foils in this fic (or is it parallels? let us know if it is intentional or not please!!).

 I really love the interactions with Lori and reader, i’ve Always felt like she is overhated in most fics (sure she kind of messes up, but only wants the best most of the time) and here she feels really close to how it truly is in the show, and its so sad, especially contrasted with the reader. They both start in different positions/ -reader is in a very casual relationship with Daryl- Lori is commited to Rick (and somewhat casual with shane, but not really) - Reader knows the ins and outs of survival out there and is not completely vulnerable - Lori relies on the men around her for everything including emotional support, - Daryl is initially cold towards reader as usual with him - Lori has the full attention of both Rick and Shane/. But slowly the places of these two in the world are reversed, not completely but still, Reader gets sick and vulnerable, she doubts herself and her destiny in this world and needs a lot of emotional and physical support, she is no longer that huntress in the woods and needs to rely on a man ( still very Strong on her own tho, that birth scene is seared in my brain forever) and others to survive.

Meanwhile we have lori, and her journey is what it was in the show, she starts off with support from a lot of people, especially Rick and even Carl, but loses it and ends up sort of lonely and the presence o our reader only makes it more apparent, reader IS what Lori wants to be now relationships wise, her pregnancy was not all well but she had the support of Daryl most of the way, while Rick is distant, Can’t imagine what its like from  her perspective, seeing reader and Daryl together, him keeping her warm Always looking out for her, meeting her needs. Meanwhile Rick is out there doing thangs y’know, stuff. But she never resents reader for it, not visibly at least, she is a good friend who reassures and comforts her, and has to mostly make do on her own (and with Carol’s help, i imagine) and is really a wise figure during this pregnancy, i think in this fic her develpment really shows how she got to her s3 form. And yeah, i really love the interactions between them very much, it’ll be even sadder to see reader’s perspective of that day...

I also adore Carol in this fic very much, i think it shows how much of a caretaker she is in canon as well, we forget that everything she does, she does for someone else, Always looking out for others before even thinking of herself and really being the rock of this group ( a rock that can easily bash some skulls in) Also love Hershel having to stick his hands in places he wouldn’t go with a gun, bless his heart for not being mad af at Daryl in That scene, i know i would have lots of opinions about having to touch the man’s fluids y’know. He’s also a guiding light though this whole pregnancy, which is depicted in such a realistic way i’m in awe every time i think about it, things i had no idea could happen, how it really makes you feel the passage of time during this winter with both dread and wonder (especially with thumper rolling around in there, kid really is a menace) and with the birth scene, i knew Daryl would be the first to fold he was Always the weak link in that van, i’m sorry. Also sure Maggie is also coming out of the van with at least one new trauma, but she can handle it, Hershel will Always be God’s strongest soldier bless him twice. Also its really funny thinking of this whole thing on Rick’s perspective, it must all be one long ‘’TF is going on back there???Omg walkers!!!What do you mean Daryl passed out???Omg herd!! What do you mean its stuck???where am i going??!!’’.

And oh my God this ‘’review’’ is more than one Thousand words long, its time to stop i sound like a stalker, so sorry but i’m a Nerd with an overactive brain, i’m almost at the point of sending fanart attached, but yeah I REALLY REALLY love this fic like many do, i hope you receive all the love you can for it and are Always succesfull with everything you do, its really one of the best finds in modern fandom i’ve seen lately. Sorry for the mistakes, i’m not even near being good at formatting and punctuation in english lol. So yeah have a great night, we’re all really excited for the next chapter, i hope you’re also taking some time for yourself as well, its very important, Thanks for everything Murda

(PS: is it weird i forgot to talk about all the smut? Its really good, one of the best i’ve ever ready, sorry lol)<3

Okay, here we go!

This review was just… I cried. Hard. I mean, I love everyone’s reactions and replies but this just… wow.

Exploring the missing months was something I was so excited to do. Especially in this sense. To have him going through these months not just growing closer to his survival buddies, slowly finding them to be more of a family, but also exploring something we didn’t see on the show at all: being a partner and a soon-to-be father. I wanted to test those waters and see if I could stay true to who he might be had this all happened in canon.

One of my biggest concerns with every chapter is the struggle of keeping him in character while being with reader. I’m so happy that you feel like I’ve done that! The story will likely always be from reader’s prospective so to know that I am articulating what is happening with Daryl through her eyes is encouraging. I want to make sure that their struggles and victories are equally explored.

Thumper is already a daddy’s girl. She calmed when he was around, they had a connection which is 100% a thing. My daughter was slightly the opposite. She was calm and never moved much; to the point I would go to the ER to make sure she was okay. But then I found that when my sister was around, my daughter would wiggle and kick and roll. I just started calling my sister to come over if I got worried. That’s where the inspiration of having them connect like that came from.

Thumper is going to challenge both of them. I won’t say much more than that but they will definitely struggle as new, first time parents.

Merle will appear. I also won’t say much more about that.

I don’t dislike Lori. I think she made some impulsive choices to ease her pain and fear. I also think that sometimes she was more blunt or yappy than she needed to be but it came from a good place. I wanted to incorporate that, like when she wanted everyone to leave Daryl upstairs. She meant well, but spoke out of fear. Reader adores her. They had their moments but I wanted reader and her to be close, like Lori being a guide for her and just a good friend. Lori does see the changes in Daryl, really showing when she’s whispering advice to him. When she’s in the van with reader and they talk, I hope I really expressed Lori’s solemnity. Just “I’ve done this before” but you can tell that she’s carrying a burden and it’s not the baby. She’s yearning for what she’s seeing. That’s why she steps in to help. She wants to see in them what she’s missing. Yeah, that scene will be difficult.

Carol is my queen. I love her so much. She will always be the biggest cheerleader for Daryl and reader. In every story I write. Here, she wants to make sure reader had the support that she never had with Sophia. There are going to be some really deep moments that involve Carol in the next chapter. Or it may be the one after that. I also love to show Carol’s growth from the sidelines. She’s a secondary character in this series but not by much.

I honestly wish I had included more of Rick in the birth scene. Maybe I’ll do a “deleted scenes” series lol.

Omg, fanart. 🩵 @bananafire11 has done two. One for The Dixon Chronicles that was a surprise and it’s attached to the chapter. And then one for my birthday that I’m printing and hanging on my Daryl wall. I will never ask for art from my stories unless I’m going to pay for it but I will never turn it down!

This was such an inspirational review and it really allowed me to think about the way I’ve constructed this story so far (not in a bad way). I appreciate every word and I’m so so happy that the series is getting love like this. I am always so hard on myself. I’m still learning to write for myself and be glad that others like it but as a bonus and not something that defines my writing. If that makes sense.

Thank you so much for this. I hope I answered your questions and gave some insight on where my head is with certain scenes and characters.

Whoever you are, thank you. I love you. 🩵🩵🩵🩵

[savagewildnerness]

Lestat at the start of The Tale of the Body Thief:

Hi! I’m The Vampire Lestat! I’m 6ft tall & VERY attractive! Miami’s pretty great! Apart from all vampires can’t stand each other so we’re all solitary now! I love that though! (Even though I am in love with all vampires. I wonder where my beautiful mother, who is also my child is?)

I love killing the evildoer!!!… Can I be good if I save just one human who would have been murdered from death….? I don’t think so (but I’d appreciate it if you thought so!)

Wait… this murderer I’ve been following is utterly insane & unaware he’s even a murderer… I won’t even get to drink all his delicious murdery thoughts… how very disappointing… AND he’s not even beautiful! He’s ugly & dirty & mad…. but that old lady he was going to kill… she is so wonderful: her incredible life & self & the skeleton leaf of her younger self that she remains as now. Why, we even have the same taste in novels! I guess I’ll kill the murderer. SIGH. That was unsatisfying….

…Whoops I killed the lady too. In a very sexy way though! I’m so awful! (It was so Romantic!) I’m hungry for MORE!

Why is this weird person who’s followed me round the world giving me a story? Probably just some mad mortal & it means nothing.

Oh look, there’s David Talbot! I think I might have ruined his life, but I’ll just follow him everywhere anyway. I do worry about him.

I’d write a book about Rembrandt & The Devil if I was mortal. Here’s my plot summary… maybe that writer - Anne Rice could write it for me….? Obviously, since I’m a vampire, *I* can only write about MYSELF!!!

Gosh! I wish Claudia would stop haunting me. I can’t talk about it really, but I wish Akasha hadn’t turned me into a cipher to the terror of masculinity & made me a massacring evil Angel from which I can never absolve myself. And worse… I enjoyed it. It was sexy too. Why did I (sexily) kill that old lady? I THINK IT IS TIME TO SHUFFLE OFF THIS (IM)MORTAL COIL!!!

Well, I know I said I’d ruined David’s life, but I think I’ll just nip in for a visit & tell him he’s got less than a year to live & that I’m suicidal & am off to kill myself immediately…. But I’ll check a few hundred times if he’d like to be a vampire too! Just to torture him some more. David’s so funny! Why on Earth is he reading Faust & the bible!!!?! Bonkers!! Mmmmm… David is so beautiful & sexy too. But yes. I am ready to DIE.

I don’t know if I can kill myself, but I AM THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, so OF COURSE I’ll make like Icarus himself & fly directly into the sun! I’ll eat the sun if I can! I MUST MAKE SURE I AM TOTALLY NAKED BEFORE I FLY TO MY DEATH! Did you hear me? I’m taking my clothes OFF!!! I’m flying to the sun NAKED! I’ve done it! I have no clothes on at all! Are you sure you’re not thinking about how sad it is that I want to die & you’re definitely thinking about how naked I am instead?

I’m not in any way thinking about how I might only get a sun tan from this & I don’t want it to be uneven. I am SUICIDAL! I’m suicidal AND naked! I do sometimes lie to myself. But I wouldn’t lie to you. So let’s just say it’s one & the same to me - if I am blotted from existence or if I just get a marvellous tan. OK THEN! You’re absolutely certain you’re thinking about how naked I am?! Let’s go!

Oh no! I’m not dead, but this hurts a lot. I wish I was dead… I don’t think the sun can kill me…. But let’s give it one more go….

Omg… I gave it two whole days & this hurts a lot & it might take a year to kill me. I think I’ll just stay alive after all. I’ll just go lie naked on David’s tiger rug for 3 days as I contemplate my existence some more (he killed that tiger, you know!) I’m sure this won’t traumatise him any further & that it has zero psychological implications.

3 days later! I *suppose* I’d better put some clothes on now.

Woohoo! I’m glad I’m not dead actually. OMG I have such a FABULOUS sun tan! I have never looked more exquisitely beautiful! Thank GOODNESS I had the prescience to attempt suicide NAKED in order that I’ve made total use of this effect! Look at my iridescent eyes! Yippee! I’m so excited I could do a tap dance! I can’t believe I wanted to die so very deeply & now I’m filled with delight about how pretty I am! I think I’ll try to kill myself more often! Next time I’ll make sure that as I feel the sun like the fire of Hell upon my skin, I do a little twirl, just to make sure the tan is that much more even!

…

[inthe-afterglows]

A Court of Thorns and Roses Review

A Court of Thorns and Roses - 3 stars -Was boring and repetitive for the first twenty chapters, second half redeemed it but overall I didn't really get the hype. Tamlin lovers ... I will never understand you. Feyre was in that place for three months and Tamlin only attempted to see/speak to her alone once and they didn't even talk. They just made out after she'd been traumatised for months. How about some words of encouragement? How about trying to get her out? How about sending someone to heal her after Lucien was injured? Rhys played the villain to help her and you know what? It worked. She's only alive because of Rhys.

A Court of Mist and Fury - 5 stars -Was actually really good! Romance was 10/10, fantasy and action was 10/10. Chapter 55 really did live up to the hype and I loved Rhys and Feyre's banter and tension leading up to it -- they had so many good moments in this book and Rhys gatecrashing Feyre and Tamlin's wedding will forever be iconic. The last 100 or so pages had me so hooked with every plot twist gagging me. Also why is Tamlin pretending to sleep whilst Feyre is vomiting her guts up every night due to PTSD so funny and yet so sad? The ending of this one really cements him as a piece of shit. TBF he is not THE villain but he is Feyre's villain and I hope she makes him pay.

A Court of Wings and Ruin - 4.5 stars -Was really good, Feyre really delivered on her threats to Tamlin and I lived for it. Rhys and Feyre were both in top notch form in their final novel and all the action was great. And again to Tamlin lovers who say Feyre went to far in destroying his Court, let's not forget that when given the chance to be civil to Feyre, he double downed and basically called her a slut in front of all the High Lords in Prythian after thinking of her as property he could bargain for. I personally lived for Feyre taking down the Spring Court, it really showed how far she'd come since the last time she'd been (trapped) there and shows how worthy she is of being High Lady of the Night Court. Just remember, Rhys built her up whilst Tamlin tore her down. Again, he's not THE villain but he is the villain in Feyre's story.

A Court of Frost and Starlight - 3 stars -I liked the insight into their 'quieter' lives after the war but this was essentially a Christmas special. Nothing actually happens in this book plot wise and I actually really begin to loathe Nesta in this one. Kinda sad in this one that Rhys and Feyre weren't having their own little adventure like they talked of in acowar. I would've enjoyed it more plotwise if they had taken a week off to hunt Bryaxis or something (low stakes but still action-y) and they could have cute moments/convos whilst camping on the hunt.

A Court of Silver Flames - 3 stars -It made me understand Nesta more but I still don't really like her as a person. I think there was a bit where someone said she didn't fail Feyre and I wholeheartedly disagree. Elain and Nesta BOTH failed Feyre as older sisters when they were living in that cottage. They were both happy to sit at home and spend the money Feyre earned whilst Feyre was the one who went into the dangerous woods and kept them fed and clothed. I also didn't love the romance in this one because it wasn't a romance. Nesta and Cassian fucked and were friends but there was hardly any romance. Another issue I have with this one was the lack of anything really happening. This was more a mental health journey than a fantasy action / adventure romance which isn't really what I was looking for from a series like this. I think this one might've been improved with a Rhys or Feyre POV or even a Mor POV so we could have at least seen more of the politics going on in the NC at the time and with Nesta's mental health journey / training being contained to the first 30-50% of the novel instead of the whole thing. I would have liked to see her being involved more in missions and making amends more because her hating on her sisters and Rhys for over 80% of the book was really getting old and she really did not have a leg to stand on so it was infuriating to read. At one point I was really only reading for the Feyre x Rhys crumbs.

Overall: As a series this is really average for me. Out of 5 books I only really liked 2 which is less than 50% so I really didn't understand the hype for this series which was really sad because I really wanted to like it. I will say the world building was fantastic. I think the world SJM created was done so well but unfortunately the plot or lack thereof in a few of these novels really bumps it down for me and the pacing novel to novel really sucks. I also would have been more invested if the books following the first four still had Feyre and Rhys as main characters. As it stands, I feel SJM has mostly sidelined them from a storyline perspective for future books. I would have enjoyed seeing more of their adventures that they spoke of at the end of ACOWAR before they started having kids.

As for the Fourth Wing vs ACOTAR debate .... FOURTH WING all the way! I am convinced that people only like acotar more because it came first. To me Fourth Wing has the better romance and overall books (it certainly had the better first novel). This could change as more books from Fourth Wing come out but as it stands, in my opinion, Fourth Wing has given us 2/2 really good books (rated 4+ stars) so far, and acotar 2/5 so y'all do the math lol.

[quietbluejay]

Solar War 2

I'm here for Layak stalking Abaddon, this is beautiful

layak pulls a "we're not so different" and needles abaddon about killing the loyalist sons of horus at isstvan iii

and layak pulls a batman lmao on the one hand, he's an incredibly irritating coworker on the other hand, i think it would be funny to stick these two in the pear wiggler together, and i think canon will give me what I want there i'm really hoping the people reading this are familiar with that meme otherwise I sound like a lunatic Boreas is dying one of Sigismund's comrades in his fight

yeah he's kind of…haunted by that

Mersadie is kind of grim, lol

depressing lol but she's had a bleak seven years

honestly i kinda…want to drop this book this is just…it's like trying to bite a windshield there isn't anything in here that really compels me to see what happens next

does my bestie andromeda show up more search says no boo!!!!

ok im giving it another shot Mersadie's subplot is at least somewhat gripping and now, over to the Emperor and Malcador there's a planetary conjunction and the time is at the turning of the year which has significance but like, the winter solstice is when things start getting lighter

also i can't believe there's been so much about wolves and winter in a book where I'm pretty sure Russ never shows up

IGNIS HES HERE and Menkaura is slowly transforming into what we see him as in the Ahriman series

okay i guess i am a bit curious as to where this is going and also how French writes pre-Rubric Ahriman man Mersadie is picking up a whole group I'm really hoping the kids survive this I thought they were dead for sure

i…what what

are you serious

So just…lock them all in a room???

DORN

I'm going to leave bite marks on every stone in your walls

things are not going so well on earth

FINALLY we're getting a human face on things (got to see this guy's nightmare of his undead mother) ah time for malcador to go hard men doing hard things (loken's mad at him)

he's going after Mersadie

aah Forrix POV even Space Marrines get fatigued after a while hm

ominous forrix also really doesn't think highly of the EC and the NL which is especially funny for the NL

man, no matter what, French always writes Ahriman as a sad wet beast, a poor little meow meow i mean okay i guess McNeill did it too this bit was a little funny to me

like Ahriman of all people thinking something is ridiculously pretentious ah tension between the WB and the TS

there have been some shreds of what could have been an actually good book buried in here I'm sorry I haven't really been doing a detailed breakdown lol

that one review was right (about a different John French novel, lol) "John French takes an overly verbose axe to anything resembling a cohesive plot in this book."

I'm not sure how I'd fix this one aside from getting rid of half the descriptions lol I know 40k as a setting is about armies and not individuals but this is a book I swear a good chunk of this stuff read a lot like it was taken from campaign fluff not sure that's the correct term I finally got around to reading most of the TGS fluff and it clarified a lot of things for me in terms of wtf Thorpe was doing and why his writing was so weird in Ghost Warrior

hm I think I'd cut all the stuff that happens on Terra, it belongs in a different book or do it as a short story

I'm not sure about the Mersadie subplot tbh but honestly I think that one deserved to be a novella it's one of the best parts of this book ah Mersadie and Loken are reunited!

French, seeing my aggravation, immediately decided to attack my weak points

that's what this book is trying to be about, isn't it it's not doing a great job but the parts that hit, do it well ah classic ahriman

yeah this whole thing has been a word bearers teamup which has been…interesting, for ahriman, lol

Mersadie accomplished something!

oh yeah she also has a lot of flashbacks and at this point I'm wondering if it's not just the trauma oh ok the memories didn't actually happen yeah I'm worrying about something spooky

visual representation of the traitor command centre before the battle

hah it's actually really funny, I was reading about this recently and thinking about it w.r.t. to what Haley was trying to pull off with Wolfsbane

so the traitor forces were only doing all this to get this planetary alignment

you know things have finally been picking up …starting at the 70% mark

im also sitting on my hands to not quote TS Eliot's Four Quartets, I know I overquote it agh I'm weak, I give in

Garlic and sapphires in the mud Clot the bedded axle-tree. The trilling wire in the blood Sings below inveterate scars Appeasing long forgotten wars. The dance along the artery The circulation of the lymph Are figured in the drift of stars Ascend to summer in the tree We move above the moving tree In light upon the figured leaf And hear upon the sodden floor Below, the boarhound and the boar Pursue their pattern as before But reconciled among the stars.

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance. I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where. And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time. The inner freedom from the practical desire, The release from action and suffering, release from the inner And the outer compulsion, yet surrounded By a grace of sense, a white light still and moving, Erhebung without motion, concentration Without elimination, both a new world And the old made explicit, understood In the completion of its partial ecstasy, The resolution of its partial horror. Yet the enchainment of past and future Woven in the weakness of the changing body, Protects mankind from heaven and damnation Which flesh cannot endure.

back to book

(i thought dorn had lighter eyes lol)

anyways i guess i should actually finish Flight of the Eisenstein at some point it can't be more tedious than 75% of this book ugh samus is here ah so that's the twist in the mersadie plot

i know she's being controlled or possessed or something but that's a fun image so the "keeler" in the visions was…Samus I think

so back on the vengeful spirit maloghurst did a sorcery to turn Mersadie into a sleeper agent uh huh [press x to doubt] Mersadie left right before Isstvan III!!!!! unless this is trying to tell me that idk Erebus was secretly tutoring Mal in dark magic, something that makes absolutely zero sense in the time frame we're looking at i can't believe it yeah okay some of the elements in here are fun horror stuff but I can't focus on that because I'm too irritated to quote that one reviewer "Samus is here and I wish he wasn't"

[neonscandal]

If you were asked who is the better antagonist in JJK or BNHA, who would they be? I found some similar ask that asked, "who is better antagonists between Kenjaku, Toji or Sukuna"? And what I think about is the antagonist in BNHA are cool, too.... What do you think?

I can't tell if this is a comparative question of JJK vs BNHA or just generally the best of both soooo I'll try to answer to the best of my interpretation.

⚠️ There's a spoiler warning for the below, I'm just riding the struggle bus today so assume spoilers through recent chapters.

Jujutsu Kaisen

🏆 Best Antagonist: Kenjaku

The Competition

Don't get me wrong, Mahito and Toji are certified demons too but their impact on the story is not as expansive. Admittedly, this is kind of silly considering Toji and his justified denouncement of jujutsu culture is precisely what creates the chasm that informs the greater conflicts we're currently in the midst of. Personally, I think Toji will make one more comeback on the side of the good guys, somehow. It's not outside of the realm of possibility and, based on spoilers around Chapter 236, he's been potentially alluded to as some sort of insurance. Who else's father could Gojo have been talking about unless Jin is still alive?

Regarding Mahito, I think an interesting insight into his character is buried in one of the light novels. He mentions it in the fight with Yuji to a degree to in that he's a mirror of humanity. He rampages as he sees violence in the world. But when encountered by a human at peace, he, too, found peace and his interest piqued. Ultimately, Mahito was a knife in the heart that just kept twisting but he was nothing more than a rabid dog interested in seeing what kind of curse Yuji's turmoil might bring about. How many times could he rend his soul without laying a finger on him.

Kenjaku, however, is insidious in the fact that his power spans millennia and I don't think we've seen the full exposition of his impact. With his ability to commandeer bodies, he did whatever he wanted throughout history using the bodies of countless people and why? Sick curiosity. There's no rhyme, no reason, he just wants to see how big of a clusterfuck he can make of the world and, so far, we've only seen a few of the ripples of that. He is both unpredictable and, yet, exceptionally cunning and resourceful. Who knows how many back alley deals he made with the reincarnated sorcerers. How many other cursed paintings, artifacts or vessels he forged that haven't revealed themselves. Where Toji and Mahito kinda allowed themselves to fly off the handle, Kenjaku is playing a long game of chess. I've considered whether Geto was doomed by the narrative and, I think we'll find that Kenjaku was a part of what pushed Geto to his ultimate defect to better line up his next body. Scarily, Kenjaku had the time and means to plot where that possibility isn't that far off.

Sukuna, similarly cunning, is the villain of the story with all the traditional markers of being the big bad and, seemingly, unredeemable but Kenjaku effectively could have put the whole course of events into action a thousand years ago. I also always think its funny that Gojo randomly rattles off facts from other eras/periods. I don't know that that isn't by design either.

My Hero Academia

🏆 Best Antagonist: Dabi

The Competition

I think we've seen the resolution of Toga's story and, as far as antagonists go, she added a degree of mayhem on the final battlefield when, in mourning Twice, she let forth his Sad Man's Parade. While she has the quintessential recipe of being cast aside, misunderstood and vilified on the basis of her quirk (see also: Spinner and Shigaraki), I think she more served as a device for character development or a parallel to Deku. Having found acceptance with Ochako, her current status is unknown.

Spinner really had a big moment at the hospital but namely as a pawn for AFO. He kind of waffled around, wringing his hands over whether LOV was true to Stain's vision before choosing to follow Shigaraki. But his lack of resolve coupled with a forced power up ultimately fumbles what could have been a huge win for the LOV at the hospital. Actually, Spinner probably could have been utilized better but his story was overshadowed by Shoji coming into his own. Maybe his purpose was really just to be the real time example of someone wanting to do the right thing, ending up on the wrong side, having so many opportunities to do better but sacrificing that path for whatever acceptance he found with the League.

Shigaraki is an obvious choice for villain but, we can see how tenuous his connection to villainy is. He, like the other members of the LOV, are ultimately the product of never having someone reach out a hand to help but I think we're getting closer to Deku untangling the knot of his trauma and it'll be what frees him of the grasp AFO has on him. Further, while Shigaraki was ultimately dubbed the prodigal successor of AFO, his struggle to enact a grand scheme to unite the League and the Paranormal Liberation Front, I think, is more indicative of what we've noted to be a really immature mindset. He's no diabolical genius.

Which leads me to the best antagonist, in my opinion. Ain't no vengeance like that of Touya MF Todoroki. In addition to burying the lede of his identity for so long just to build up to one magnificent, triumphant dance, Dabi's origin story is so zesty. Born into the pinnacle Haves of quirk society, he was on track to follow in Endeavor's footsteps only to have so many odds stacked against him. The right quirk but incompatible with his body. Still, he wasn't deterred and his similarly obsessive commitment to besting All Might for Enji causes him to self destruct. He winds up in AFO's clutches. Found and rehabilitated by Garaki, he dips without so much as a name only to resurface years later. Still a phantom. Still guided by his twisted need to make his father just as miserable as he was when he found out he was not sought after despite the years that passed. Not only that but, spoiler for the big Shiggy Showdown (chapter number escapes me), but he is unaffected by the reconciliation of his family. Unbothered by their pleas or the fact that he'd burned through his own skin, nerves, pain receptors, organs. He is possessed by his need to wreak havoc and he cries tears of blood to boot. This doesn't undermine the tragedy of his origin story - his stolen birthright, the inequities of what should have been his given his quirk and tenacity, the fact that at the height of his power he can't help but cry. Just like the rest of the League of Villains, he is just the product of a family who did not adequately support or care for him and a society that cast him aside. He just also happens to have grander schemes at play, the exposition of which provided a more comprehensive understanding of hero society and its failures which was Shigaraki's desire all along to shift the whole paradigm. What sets Dabi apart from other antagonists, in my opinion, is that there really aren't villains in MHA. Just people waiting to be moved by how earnest Deku is or rehabilitated by their own recognizance. This is as it applies to Stain, Gentle Criminal, La Brava, Lady Nagant and even Overhaul (so I won't bother going into them individually). But Dabi stays 10 toes down on his commitment to madness. I'm still uncertain whether his charred corpse will actually see redemption but it stands to be seen.

All For One is of course the irredeemable demon lord and I'm not sure the power of friendship is going to affect anything there.

Winner Take All

Best Antagonist: Kenjaku. This largely stems from my belief that, despite his death in recent chapters, we're going to get additional exposition into his depraved dealings or another layer of his plans that lays in wait and is ready to devastate us all. The possibilities there are endless with the way the story oscillates from present to past.

Bonus, Best Villain: Gege Akutami. They know what they did.

[punkxcalibur]

personal mphfpc recap since i finally finished reading all the books

spoilers for the entire mphfpc series ahead. this will mostly be me talking about the book's imperfections, because when i love a piece of media, i also love criticizing it to its core

so, i first read the books 1-4 in 2020 and i was SO obsessed!!?? i wasn't really into social media and fandom culture back then, so i didn't really have anyone to talk to about mphfpc and i remember being very sad about that. i also remember trying to make fanart of the characters, but i REALLY sucked at art back then and to this day i find old mphfpc drawings and cringe at them. maybe it's time to redraw some of those...

anyways, i read the fifth book when it first came out in germany and i kind of hated it lol. i was really rushing through it, because i couldn't wait for the fugh reunion. so i kind of missed out on the whole plot because i only cared about fiona and hugh.

basically, i recently finished rereading the books, because nostalgia or whatever and i'm kind of obsessed again. so...i'm just dumping some thoughts on the whole series here because on tumblr i can actually find ppl with mutual interests.

first of all there's literally SO MANY inconsistencies and plotholes?? what the actual fuck ransom riggs. idk how much of this is prevalent in the og books, because i mainly read the german translations, but sometimes riggs just forgets who hugh is i guess?? he mixes up his and horace's peculiarities once and at some point he is referred to as howard. who the fuck is howard. these are literally the most easiest mistakes to fix. does he not have an editor?

i'm not even gonna talk about the movie. i have a whole seperate post for it

it sometimes bothers me how only certain characters seem to serve a purpose. in every novel emma, enoch, millard and bronwyn are clearly the focus (besides jacob) despite the fact that the other characters are equally interesting and likeable. hugh, horace, claire, olive and obviously fiona are just NOT THERE for like the entirety of AMOD. are you kidding me

the entire second trilogy...is kind of a cashgrab. of course i'm happy we got more books and i liked them, but it's kind of obvious that the author simply had some pictures left and saw an opportunity to make some more profit out of them. that's not bad, but these books weren't necessary for the overall storyline.

the thing with the prophecy in DODA...the entire book was dedicated to finding the other lighteaters, but they don't really do anything in the end?? i kinda get why noor has to be the *main character*, but why introduce julius and sebbie when everything could have played out the same way without them?

julius and horace...is it really that hard to age julius down? it would've made that a lot less creepy. there is literally no reason for julius to so much older than horace. not sure if this could be considered queerbaiting, since i don't know a lot about that topic. would be grateful if anyone elaborated more on that.

hugh and fiona are still my favorite thing about these books THEY ARE PERFECT IN EVERY WAY AND DESERVED SO MANY MORE SCENES UGH. i don't need another jemma kiss i need FUGH. there is just so much potential and plus, we never really get to learn about their backstories?? like we know that they're from the 1840s, so how did they get into a loop a century later?

how was fiona able to *whisper* to hugh in DODA, she literally had her tongue cut out, hello?

so many characters with lots of potential either die or just disappear. lilly, sam, althea, peter-and-joel...ring any bells??

why is horatio kinda

ok i'm sorry

the photos are so funny sometimes, because at times there will be a photo of, say, emma and in the next book there will be another picture of her and she just looks like a different person. because,obviously, that's a photo of a different person. but apparently, ransom thinks we're too dumb to notice that.

i would just love it if there'd be storylines that focused on each character individually, because again, WASTED POTENTIAL

ricky deserved to have a comeback, i feel like this is general fandom consensus

introducing v, just to kill her off? idk man

despite all of these criticisms i just made, i fucking cherish these books

since pjo gets a new awesome reboot i think we deserve one too

i also wish the fandom was bigger but maybe it's a good thing that it's kind of niche. i don't know.

uhh i guess that was my not-so-little rant and yeah...enjoy this post i guess

[tehamelie]

Garp isn't a funny man (Community 1.3)

Previous Post index Next

It's taking a lot of energy to restrain myself from just plowing through the show at this point. Writing about it is so much more challenging than watching it. I hope at least somebody appreciates my sacrifice. (Hi @pink-squirrel ) Why didn't I become a reactor Youtuber?

Community S1E3: Introduction to film

See, people get worried about Abed cause he watches so much TV, but here's professor Whitman who's EXCLUSIVELY watching Dead Poets Society on a loop. Yeah I figure it's playing in his brain constantly. But only the happy fun parts with the unconventional teacher encouraging students to act on an impulse for once in their lives, of course not the sad parts when the boys go too far outside of the bonds of conformity and the world punishes them, or even the great but serious parts with poetry reading at night in the woods.

But let's not get too far ahead of the plots. Next we encounter Pierce catastrophically failing to use voice command on his phone and driving the whole study group up the wall with this relentless effort to adapt to new, useless technology. I don't want to be a Luddite (and the Luddites had a good cause that's been twisted around by their critics anyway) but I'm entirely on Britta's side here. Because Big Tech is not on our side, not because it's just really irritating to have to listen to someone loudly producing the same error on their device ten times in a row. Well, not only that.

Jeff enters to spread the good word of Whitman's easy A grades. Annie is against it, and it feels like it's more about how it's making a mockery of academia than a question of how much time she'd have to waste on not learning anything in this class. Except when Troy wants in she immediately sees the educational value. And Shirley joins in cause loves Robin Williams.

But Abed does not, in a shocking twist. Well, it's not that shocking. He values good filmmaking and novel stories and he correctly points out there's an element of cheap drama at the cost of credulity that fuels most of Williams' movies. But come on, suspend your disbelief a little and enjoy the tremendous force of his performance.

Rest well, Robin.

And we find out how Abed's life and education plans are restricted by the struggles of his father. "9/11 was pretty much the 9/11 of the falafel business." Britta, of course, immediately rallies to help him rebel by paying for a $70 filmmaking class. I have no idea if that's unusually cheap or expensive for community college, and it's a different joke depending on which, but both are funny so whatever.

Shirley worries Mr Nadir is going to cut Britta's head off with a "salami sword" for, I don't know, talking to Abed while being a woman? It's such an outrageously racist thing to worry about based on just the vague impression she has that the man might be fanatically Muslim, I think the group is focusing on the entirely wrong thing when they just seem to object to the term "salami sword".

But then, it does set up the great joke of Jeff setting a timer and betting Pierce will top her racism within one minute. Which he does.

"Are we going to study Spanish or keep getting involved in each other's personal lives? Hey, Troy sneezes like a girl!" Kind of an uncharacteristic tone for Jeff - caring about what other people say and do and all that - but maybe it's just to remind us he'll do anything to not have to actually study.

I started organizing a thought that these spots of marginally weak writing that seems focused on delivering jokes above all else, could be how Community has its sophomore slump in the third episode. But then the intro played and I realized I'd spent an hour picking apart just the cold open.

Next in Dead Poets Society class we learn more about Shirley. She says she's at the school "To get a degree in business to sell [her] baked goods and whatnot on the Internet," which, what does any of that mean? A highly unspecific "degree in business"? That you'll need to run an online bakery because? And wait a minute, who the heck is going to order a chocolate cake from the Internet? Are you going to send them in the mail?

As it turns out, she's really here to start her life after 15 wasted years. That story she had to tell herself to get out of the house and go to school evaporates. She really does become fully alive, alive with intention and earnestness, and she deserves her A for that moment of truth.

Only when we stop stopping our lives can we begin to start starting them, indeed. Okay, I'd fail Whitman here for that tremendously uncreative line. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping couldn't do it worse.

Cue the standing on desks and accidents with collapsing desks. Ah, impulsivity is fun.

I like that Whitman sees right through Jeff. For being a word class lawyer, he's consistently terrible at being convincing. But it's nice Whitman wants to give him a chance anyway. He believes in Jeff, he wants him to have a genuine emotional moment in his life.

And the reveal, that the class is actually supposed to be accounting. That's comedy.

Over to Abed shooting a documentary. "It's like a movie but with ugly people." His dad shows up but doesn't talk to him, rather focusing on having a ridiculous argument with Britta, Could it be he has trouble speaking plainly with his son? No no there's never been a dad with that problem.

He seems to jump at the chance to disown him, in fact, and leave the mess of Abed for someone else to take care of. I guess he may just be speaking in anger.

Britta crying "They day I cut myself loose of my father was the day I finally started being *choke* happy" makes me feel such mixed emotions. One, great joke, II, I just want to hold her close, and C, also kind of just want to squeeze her.

The next day, I'm guessing, finds Jeff going into overdrive with his carefully calculated efforts to demonstrate his spontaneity. A Christmas tie with flashing lights, rainbow suspenders and bunny face slippers with bells on? The only thing matching his obnoxious tryhardness here is Whitman, who shows up to complain about Jeff drinking boring normal coffee before ordering a wedding cake. Yeah the act is getting pretty worn out. I'd like it if we saw at least a moment of him like, trying to listen to people, or just being sad, instead of giving the impression he spends every moment of every day relentlessly pursuing the most whimsical impulse.

And we get a whole scene of Pierce teaching Troy about deliberate sneezing. He wants to know more. This can't end well.

Back to Jeff flying a rainbow pattern kite and running through a finely choreographed scene of children playing. I think he'd actually have fun doing these things if he wasn't so desperately, overtly looking for Whitman's approval. And as Whitman continues to see right through him, wouldn't it be time to rethink this approach? Maybe Jeff genuinely doesn't know how to let his guard down and let the world in, even for a moment.

Cut to the study room where Abed gets everyone pizza. There's a whole subplot with Abed acting suspicious and spending too much money that's going to come together in a moment when he finishes the movie so I'm not worrying too much about relating it here, but in a vacuum this is a super weird scene where Abed seems to have fully disconnected from reality, barely interacting with people as they (well, Britta) desperately beg him to explain himself. Love the coffee delivery guy who has to stand there for what seems to him like an impossibly cruel, far too intimate family argument.

At last, everyone's there to see Six Candles just as Abed finishes rendering it. It's like he directed the whole series of events. Get it, because he's a movie director, and he spent the whole time directing his unwitting actors into giving the exact performances he needed to put together this movie to tell his dad he makes him feel neglected, unloved and guilty about his mom leaving them.

That would be a difficult thing to say in words, but it had to be said, and the men are now able to reach each other in a way that maybe neither thought they ever could, and they establish a level of trust, of compromise. That all happens immediately after the end of the film, before the tears dry, while the bright colors and snappy high-energy jingle of the COOL ABED FILMS logo still echoes in the room. Ah, the contrasts.

Cut to Troy sneezing like a big man, making Shirley jump while Pierce looks upon him with approval. Wait a minute, wasn't this episode about learning not to fake spontaneity? Yeah I realized that parallel just now.

But as this corruption of the innocent plot goes, I think the story of Troy's sneezes has the lowest stakes of any piece of dramatic storytelling ever written. I completely forgot how the show does that. Like, I remember the fun of all the extremely low stakes conflicts ("The stakes have never been higher" "Shut up Leonard"), but not how they make it work.

Like Jeff and Britta's kiss here. It's funny because Whitman is completely correct in his assessment that it's a turning point for their relationship (which is why he takes it as an acceptable act of day-seizing and gives Jeff the A), it does feel unexpectedly important for both of them, but where are the stakes? We may be led to believe this will be a Significant Romance, but that never actually happens. Their relationship gets more emotional involvement from Annie than from either of them. It's aggressively medium stakes drama all the way and it's beautiful.

The stinger, with Jeff teaching Troy and Abed about krumping, also beautiful.

[lloydfrontera]

It's the banquet anon again. I think you also covered that part too but oh god they also removed all the class separation criticism from the webtoon. and it's just. I guess the whole bone dragon arc is really the cruelest they've been with the adaptation, like, I started reading the novel out of curiousity right after I read it because even to my tastes it was just too stupid. too unserious. and I was 100% on board with the webtoon being silly and surface level! I can't say I was that invested! but the whole thing felt so out of place I had to pause and seek the original source because it was literally too much. it's like. I don't even know. after they made that FAQ I've became disillusioned with exactly how reliant the story became on Lloyd's ugliness, on the abundance of his scary faces, how it all gradually meant less and less. such a shame actually. but oh well

yeah. yeah i did. more than once aklhdksa

lloyd feels,,, very strongly about the way rich and powerful people act towards those who are beneath them in the webnovel. it's one of the biggest components on who he is as a character. he despises the way he was treated when he lived in korea and abhors the idea of being treated like that again or even worse mistreating his people the same way he was back then. and the fact the webcomic has apparently completely forgotten about it when they included it at the very beginning just really goes to show how downhill things have started to go.

'cruel' is a good way to put it nonnie. it feels,,, meanspirited. as if they were bored with the way the original content was written and didn't want to bother adapting it in a way that wasn't funny to them. lee hyunmin used the word 'entertaining' but i don't think that's what they're going for. you can be entertained by something serious, heartfelt and earnest, but that's not what they're doing with the adaptation. they're turning into a parody of what the webnovel was. yeah, it follows the same plot points and beats but it's not taking itself seriously, it makes fun of everything and apparently cannot go a single scene without making a joke of the characters.

i thinks that's a little bit of the issue. it wants you to laugh at the plot and characters rather than with them. it makes fun of the source material rather than having fun with it. i'd say it's a subtle difference but it really is not.

it is a shame. one that i really don't think can be fixed at this point, not completely. even if they started taking the webcomic seriously at this point they already mucked up a good half of the plot. all those arcs will forever be,,, like that. and let's be honest, they don't think there's anything to be fixed. they're doing exactly what they set out to do. so unless a miracle happens this is what we have.

and i cannot begin to explain how sad that makes me :')

[brigdh]

I used to write weekly reviews of what I was reading and post them to tumblr, but then I fell out of the habit. However, I did manage to finish some books last month, and maybe you will enjoy reading my thoughts?

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi. A thriller set in modern-day London. Anisa, a Pakistani immigrant from a wealthy family, dreams of translating great works of literature, but is stuck doing the subtitles on Bollywood movies. Her white boyfriend Adam speaks eight languages fluently, perfectly, like he was born to them. At first Anisa is only jealous, but then she learns that Adam is hiding a connection to the Centre, a mysterious organization that promises to teach anyone any language in only two weeks – for a price. And, well, who wouldn't be tempted? But visiting the Centre is only the beginning of Anisa's uncovering a whole host of secrets, as she meets and grows close to the Indian woman of her own age who runs the place; she and Anisa fall instantly into a close friendship which reveals some of Anisa's own missing pieces.

Anisa is a fabulous character – sympathetic and self-centered, unreliable and occasionally awful, trying her best but so often (like most of us) just justifying her own lack of action. The writing is fantastic, compelling and funny and sad and precise. Right from the first page, I had trouble putting it down.

The mystery of how the Centre does what it does is obvious from fairly early on, but I didn't feel like that was a problem. The drive of The Centre isn't so much about answering the question of "how?" but that of "what now?" Knowledge (of a language or of anything else) is power, but access to power is complicated by race, gender, sexuality, class, age, and so many other factors, all of which come into play. Anisa – and the other characters, and readers ourselves – want to remake the world for the better, but can she do so by using the tools of the powerful? Or would the act of using their tools change her into just another copy of them? The Centre doesn't answer these questions (and to be fair, how on earth could a single novel do so?), but the way it raises them and the dilemma it poses to Anisa is just so good.

Hugely recommended, and I can't wait for Siddiqi's next book.

Gilded Needles by Michael McDowell. A historical thriller set in 1880s New York City, focused on the rivalry between two families: the Stallworths and the Shanks. The Stallworths are upper-class, respectable, and include a judge, a preacher, a would-be politician, and a fashionable hostess of ladies' committees. The Shanks are sordid criminals, and include a fence, a prostitute, an abortionist (which, you know, I don't have much of a problem with, except that she cares less about her patients actually surviving the procedure and more about getting paid), opium addicts, and lesbians. They come to one another's attention when the Stallworths decide to lead a 'clean up the slum' operation to boost their own political prominence, which unfortunately happens to focus on the Shanks's neighborhood and ultimately causes the death of three of the Shanks. Black Lena, matriarch of the Shanks family, seeks revenge, and vows to kill three of the Stallworths in return.

This novel is better categorized as a thriller than as horror, which is unfortunate because I wanted something scary to read for Halloween. But despite that, it's hugely compelling, a real race of devious motives and sinister plots and squalid historical detail. Not a single character in the book is remotely likable, and despite their outward differences, the Shanks and the Stallworths are united in finding the very concept of morality irrelevant and laughable. The Shanks come out ahead as slightly easier to root for because at least they seem to like one another, whereas the Stallworths hate one another as much as they hate the poor, the unpopular, and the pathetic. Gilded Needles is a bit like watching a reality show, where everyone is terrible but you still have a great time throwing back popcorn as they tear the competition to bits.

A ton of trashy fun in a historical setting? My very favorite kind of book.

[booksandchainmail]

Hugo Best Graphic Story or Comic Finalists 2024

To start out with a disclaimer: I have not read the Saga volume. I was last caught up with Saga in ~2018, I'd have to reread it all, and there are only three days left. Normally I try not to vote for categories I don't fully know, but it's already won a Hugo, and been nominated for most volumes, so I don't feel too bad about leaving it out.

Rankings for the others:

Shubeik Lubeik This absolutely slapped. I started reading it not knowing what to expect, and very shortly went, "oh, this is Art". It's a story in three parts, set in a modern-day Cairo in a world where wishes are bought and sold, centering around the three valuable first-class wishes a kiosk vendor inherited. It's deeply funny in places: I kept reading parts out loud or showing pages to explain why I was laughing. It's also deeply sad: the central characters are all grappling with the kinds of problems a first-class wish might address: grief, and depression, and the prospect of loss. In particular the first section was deeply moving, starting with a loss and then unfolding the weight of it. This also feels like a story taking full advantage of its medium: the middle section in particular uses frequent graphs to great effect, but throughout I was struck by how it uses varying line weight for impact. I am not someone who often notices much subtleties of art, but individual pages kept striking me as the kind of inkblock print style I would frame on a wall.

Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons First: the art for this is gorgeous. It's lavish to the point of being overwhelming, in a way that is entirely appropriate for its mythical subject. This is a superhero comic, but only technically: it's a backstory for DC's Amazons which means it's mostly greek mythology. I don't know enough about existing DC lore to be sure, but I get the sense that it's patching together multiple contradictory backstories from comic history into one thematically-consistent origin. The story isn't complex or particularly subtle (which admittedly is not what you go to a wonder woman comic for), but it really shines in the depictions of the goddesses, at once very human in their interactions and alien in their being. There are some great panels where small art changes shift them from human to animal to spirit.

Bea Wolf This was very cute! A retelling of Beowulf aimed at small children, that nevertheless keeps the vocal patterns of the original old english. I was extremely not the target audience for this, and I can't say I was deeply moved by it, but I respect the craft of it and really like the concept.

The Three Body Problem, Part One This was... fine? It is very very clear that it is an adaptation, and I honestly don't think the format is adding anything. It also cuts off rather abruptly, in the manner of adaptations whose source materials does not neatly fit into the size range of the new format. I think in particular the fact that the back ~1/3 of this is the main character playing a VR game, but we don't get any payoff of the significance of the game works against it. I have no desire to continue with this graphic novel, but might check out the original

The Witches of World War II I think I am being unfairly harsh by ranking this last, but also I stopped midway through reading it to wonder if I maybe just didn't like graphic novels as a format, which I think is a bad sign. The plot was hard to follow to me, especially at first, and I found the characters generally uninteresting. The pacing also seemed strangely compressed, but that could be common to the format. The most interesting part to me was the afterword, which explained that all the characters were occultists who offered to do anti-nazi magic in real life, but I think the comic as a whole would have read better if I had known that going in. Also, having read the afterword, I am baffled at the fact that it seems to have changed many of the characters/historical figures to the point of unrecognizability for no clear reason. I also really did not like the art style.

[pearblossommina]

ToG Read-a-Long, Queen of Shadows, day 9

I’m so normal about this chapter set you guys

Ch 52

"Not yet," he said roughly, his own breathing uneven. "Not now.”

BOO

BOOOOOOO

Rowan you TEASE. How dare you.

Please, my crops, they’re so dry. Please. Chomp down on her neck. Mark her up, be a beast, I know you want to do it, SO DO IT! You think Aedion has never heard the sound of people having sex in the next room?!? It’s fine! He’s a big boy, he’ll get over it!

You can be as loud as the hell you want when you’re making love, don’t let the neighbors stop you from having fun; they’ll have peace and quiet when you’re good and done.

Ch 53

AGAIN?!?

(SJM: hey are you turned on? Excited to read a chapter about Rowan and Aelin dancing around the idea of maybe potentially consummating?)

(Me: yeah yeah gimme gimme!)

(SJM: *writes about Dorian filled with doom and gloom and sorrow instead*)

(Me: *sigh*)

Who edited this. Who let her get away with this. I need to know where to send the bill for my whiplash.

Ch 54

Heyyyy well this is a surprise

Kaltain beat back the demon

(With fire) (mmmm)(sounds good I’m pretty sure we can muster some fire)

Good job Kaltain, can you tell our baby boy Dorian!

Ch 55

Lysandra god damn it

How dare you get kidnapped, my crops are turning to dust in the field and I’m so thirsty, I can’t be concerned for you right now

You better not be about to be killed violently like Nehemia

(I can’t keep going through all this intensity) (I CAN’T)(my feelings are all over the place)(what is even going ON)

Ch 56

I feel like I am actually being pranked right now

There is no way

There is no way she can keep getting away with this

Is the next chapter going to be another sad Dorian chapter, SMH

how much longer can these two possibly hold out! Another temptation and another postponement… yeesh

Ch 57

I’m getting so sick of all the war and high stakes stuff happening in this book

I AM IN HELL

Like genuinely I can tell this is important and I should care about what’s going on right now and yet, HEAD EMPTY, DON’T CARE

I WISH I CARED

BUT I DON’T

Ch 58

Plot!

I care a little bit

It made me kinda excited when Dorian managed to talk in his own voice, Dorian, what the hell have you been waiting for? The right moment when Aelin happened to be watching?

Lol

Is grandmother Matron fucking the king?

Probably not, since he has a wife

I just want to see Manon eat everybody, actually

Ch 59

My how the turn tables, CHAOL WANTS TO KILL DORIAN NOW

Chaol, are you fucking kidding me? This whole time you have been the only one holding onto hope

How could you let your hopes die now? Don’t you believe in good triumphing over evil? Weren’t you fighting for a better world, for humanity or whatever? What happened, Chaol? I thought you were on my side.

I thought we were doofuses together

Don’t leave me here to be a doofus by myself

I find Manon so sexy especially how she just effortlessly holds Chaol captive. I still think Baba Yellowlegs is the silliest name for any villain, it just rolls off the tongue in such a funny way. Shouldn’t Manon be glad that Baba Yellowlegs died, though? I mean maybe it’s bad when a witch dies because they’re so strong, but the fact that she died is what caused her and the other clans to join together and rival for a new Wing Leader, sooooo actually, Aelin did you a service, baby. If you look at the bright side. If you are capable of looking at the bright side.

Lol

Yeah! fight each other

Hot!

Ch 60

“If he had been one inch farther behind, it would have hit his heart.”

Aw shit be careful Rowan! You can’t be out here getting mortally wounded! I am so sick of it! Get your act together, what do you think this is, an action novel? NO, dummy, it’s a steamy romance, I don’t have time for your bleeding heart heroics! Literally!

The Manon x Aelin fight is pretty hot actually

I am here for it

Guys this chapter set gave me hell

IT GAVE ME HELL

It wasn’t a very LONG set but boy was it hard for me to pay attention lmao, and I KNEW, I KNEW the stuff happening after the Rowaelin tease was important but I was like what the actual fuck is this! Get back in bed! No! I hate myself - I hate everything!

[silverjirachi]

2, 16, 32

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Humor, Kissing, Sad, Crack - each of these only have 1 each, so "most-used" maybe not the word. I agree they do describe my works in a funny way. I am both a hilarious and deeply sad person and that definitely comes out in the writing. I mean DATDS was just two men being sad and gay on a boat in the rain (but it was also full of memes) and Exile//Vilify is about someone living an entire life knowing they're doomed to hell. Likewise, Stories from Exile is a compilation where I tried to bring to life every zany, weird thought that ever crossed my brain. (My brain never. stops. rotating. blorbo.) And like 90% of those thoughts are actually deeply silly. So while it may not describe the bulk of my novels, I think it accurately describes my mind.

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

I want to read a whole book with the first incarnation of Astor being Ganondorf's royal seer. I have a small one-shot planned for this but not enough to make an entire novel and I would be absolutely INTRIGUED to see someone plot out how that relationship worked and what sort of plans they would have made to keep Ganondorf alive/bring about his reincarnation in the future.

I also would like to read more content that explores the potential relationship between Astor and Zelda's mom.

There aren't a lot of Pokemon AUs I want to explore right now I've just been sort of chilling on my own island over there.

32. What’s your ideal fic length to read?

Very pathetic bisexual male of me for someone who frequently crosses 100k but I prefer one shots or shorter novels of like ~60,000 words. While I can churn out a ton of writing, reading is not my forte. I also like collections of short stories because I can consume them in little bits without being overwhelmed.

Ask me writing things!!

[peridee]

Mae plays Jack in a Castle

Hi,

So, I’m continuing my playthrough of all Nemlei’s games, and next on the list is Jack in a Castle. I played it, I liked it I’d like to talk about it, 

Jack in a Castle is another visual novel game like No-Good Noelle. It’s about a boy called Marion(ette), a doll in Toyboxian, a fairytale kingdom of toys, and his mission to find out what’s happened to the Kingdom’s King. He is given this mission by his Master, a powerful wizard. In order to achieve this, he gets a job as a servant in the King’s castle. The castle is now being run by Jack, the King’s Jester, and an all around funny guy. The truth about the king and what happened to him unfolds as the game progresses. But unlike Noelle, which had only two routes, this game has nine real routes, and one joke one. The nine real routes are centered around three main characters, Jack, Sylvester, and Bunnie. There’s three for Jack, good bad and neutral, a good n bad end for both Sylvester and Bunnie, and some other unimportant ones. 

But, broadly, each route concerns one of the three boys, so we should probably talk about em. 

Jack is the King’s Jester and secret interim King until the King returns. He spends his day running the kingdom, and apparently doing it as well or better than the King, so nobody has noticed anything except the King’s absence. Jack is  a Jack in the Box and we'll talk more about him later.

Sylvester the music box is a musician and citizen of Toyboxian. He is concerned about the missing king and infiltrates the castle to investigate. He’s refined, calm, and the total opposite of Jack. He’s not a very interesting character really. But it is his good ending, that resolves the plot so that's probably important.

Bunnie is a rabbit girl(?) who’s very cute, but very dumb. I actually don't super know what their deal is, but their design is really great. That’s all I have to say about Bunnie.

OK, so we didn't really talk about the characters that much, but that’s because they’re fine, cute, interesting enough, but nothing amazing. They’re not the reason I wanted to talk about this game. Aside from documenting all NemLei’s games. No, the reason is the character of the King and the plot itself.

(Big Spoilers below)

The King isn’t missing or dead, he’s in a magically imposed sleep. Jack is using a mystical Dream-caster to keep the King in a magical sleep, but one where he can still eat and move around, this detail is important later. Jack’s motivation for doing this isn't evil, he’s keeping the King asleep, because the King has become disillusioned with the sadness in the world and wants to destroy it. He has become depressed and hopeless. His depression has come to warp the castle and cause sharp vines to sprout. He wants to destroy a sad and hopeless world. He believes there is nothing worth saving and everything worth destroying. “Only a complete obliteration can bring forth a new dawn” . He does not wish to hear Sylvester’s song or to “know of beautiful things” because they make him reconsider “continuing [his] wretched life”. To carry on “living in agony for a fleeting moment of happiness”.

This is the heart of the game, I think, the King sleeps, but still moves and eats. He is alive without living, He’s convinced the world is hopeless and sad and he wishes to destroy it all, to destroy himself, to die. He’s depressed, the magic sleep is a metaphor, the vines, the castle, the desire to destroy it all. It’s the whole point of the game, Jack can only keep the king asleep for so long, suppress the desire to die for a limited time, the dream-caster is growing weaker over time, having less effect on the slumbering king. Eventually he will wake and the world will be destroyed.

It’s only in Sylvester’s good end, when he plays a beautiful song for the king, that he is convinced not to destroy the world, and not to go back to sleep.We’re told that Sylvester and the orchestra often play for the King and it helps him “Forget his worries for a little while and gives him motivation to move forward”.

It’s cute, it’s sincere and it’s earnest. At first, it was the cute art and characters that made me keep playing, but the mystery of the King and its reveal is what made me really like the game. The King and I share the same fate, feel the same desire to die, to end things, and yet we persist onward. In its own way, this game is one of those things that makes you reconsider and to feel even a little hope.

Thanks NemLei!      

[jimmycarterghostland]

The Flaws of VE Schwab's novel "Vicious"

Before I begin, I need to say that I loved Vicious. But I hated the sequel book, Vengeful. And as much as I like Vicious, nothing is without flaws, and I want to bring up my dislikes about Vicious. Maybe some of my opinions about it haven't been discussed by anyone else before.

What I didn't like about Vicious:

1 The overly comedic tone. I'm not a fan of comedies. I prefer more serious works. Comedy can be great, but sometimes, it can make a piece of fiction suffer. It's hard to take something something that should be serious seriously when there's a noticable comedic tone, which Vicious has.

In Vicious, there's humor in pretty much every chapter. And all of the characters are funny and witty in a way. It makes the quality of the novel suffer, because the characters are too similar. Plus, the dark tone in Vicious would've been darker if there was little to no humor. It would've made the novel better. The series is called Villains. But the Marvel's Cinematic Universe type of tone in this series ruins it a bit for me. You never want to make all of your main characters be funny.

One comic relief character is fine, but the excessive amount of humor in Vicious is very "try-hard". It's forcibly witty. Which makes it annoying. In my opinion, Schwab should've given all the jokes and humor to the character Mitch. Everyone else should've been more serious, especially Sydney, who should've been more depressed, considering she got shot by her sister's boyfriend. Her own sister tried getting her killed. Sydney should've been more sad throughout this novel.

Basically, Vicious has a Joss Whedon sort of tone. And I'm not a fan of that kind of humor.

If I had written Vicious and wanted to insert some comedy, but not too much of it, I would've made one comic relief character. I can tell Mitch is the main CRC. So, I would've given him all the jokes in his dialogue and his narration. Only his chapters would've had the humor, though. This is actually how I tend to insert humor in my creative writing these days. I only make the designated comic relief characters say jokes and have humor in their POV chapters. The characters who aren't CRCs rarely joke around. With my method, you get humor, but never too much of it.

I wish Vicious were more of a grim novel. I would've enjoyed it more if the characters weren't cracking jokes like too many fictional characters do these days. Especially because of the influence of the humor found in the MCU. Vicious had too much humor in it. It reminded me of a Reddit post I read once, where the original poster was clearly trying too hard to be funny. There was a lame "joke" in just about every other paragraph. It was irritating.

2 Sydney and Serena's parents. It bugs me how they're rarely mentioned and don't matter to the plot at all. Apparently, they were those emotionally neglectful sort of parents.

Regardless, I hate that this book didn't include them or explain why they're neglectful to their daughters. It's not so bad that Victor's doesn't get fleshed out or anything, because he's an adult. Sydney is a child. Her parents not being concerned about her is "hand waved" away. They think she's still with Serena. So, no need to check on her.

This whole thing just feels weird. Schwab could've done something with this. It gets worse in Vengeful, because the parents are absent in that book too. I don't remember them looking for her or anything. The absent parents trope is heavy in this series. For everyone. It's like nobody in this duology even has parents. Bizarre.

Sydney and Serena having neglectful parents was a cop-out. It was also a case of bad writing, because it presents some issues.

3 Victor's plan to kill Eli. Victor had no actual plan to kill his immortal, self-regenerating former friend. He wanted to kill him, but he had no real method of doing so. What exactly was Victor's plan in that final battle between them? He knows he can't kill Eli. But he wants to. The whole thing is ridiculous, because Victor pointlessly tries to kill Eli. He never has a real plan to do it, either. When Batman wanted to kill Superman, he used kryptonite. As far as Victor knows, Eli doesn't even have a weakness. His ultimate goal was always to kill Eli, though.

The quality of the book goes down because of this. You would think Victor is smart enough to not fight Eli without a plan, but that's exactly what he does anyway. And it gets him killed. Another instance of bad writing. Victor trying to kill Eli when he knows he'll just heal is something that doesn't make sense when you think about it.

4 Are ExtraOrdinaries all over the world or just the area Eli is in? The way the book makes it seem, people with superpowers(EOs) only live within driving distance from Eli. He's clearly not murdering the ones who should be in China, Alaska, Mexico, etc. Like Victor, Eli has an unrealistic plan, and the author tries to hide it from the reader by not mentioning how the plan is unrealistic. More bad writing.

5 Serena's jarring change of mind. In one flashback chapter, Eli wants to kill Serena's sister, Sydney. She doesn't want him to kill Sydney. We are never shown Serena deciding that maybe Sydney should die. It's jarring, and the fact it wasn't expanded upon is terrible writing. We get the reasons why Serena believed Sydney needed to die, but we don't see the transition from her wanting to protect her to her being okay with Eli killing her. This should've been expanded upon. Sadly, it wasn't.

6 Serena controls people's minds, but when she tells Eli to "wait", he shoots Sydney anyway. There's no excuse for this one. What Serena tells people, they will do it. Eli should've waited. This is an annoying plot error. Schwab broke the rule of her own superpower system.

7 Detective Stell is hesitant about believing Eli is a hero, even though Serena tells him to believe it. This is another instance of Schwab being inconsistent with Serena's power. Stell shouldn't have been able to delay his agreement that Eli is a hero. He should've nodded right away.

8 Sydney should've been more depressed that her older sister tried to have her killed. Sydney doesn't seem all that bummed out that her sister's BF put a bullet in her arm during an attempted murder attempt. It's weird. I understand fiction can suffer when a character is being overemotional, but there's such thing as being underemotional. Sydney treats the murder attempt like it was a minor inconvenience. Strange.