#it's just weird

[theoriginalbylergod]

Genuinely why do so many people seem to WANT Mike to be a one dimensional character? Why do so many people get so defensive when you read into the things he says and does in order to better understand him? The acknowledgement of Mike and his complexities and struggles is not a dismissal of other characters. I feel like some people just do not understand that.

[fallloverfic]

The Tomb of Dragons spoilers

I'm not broken because Thara and Iana didn't get together, but it makes zero sense that they didn't end up together. This isn't me being blinded by shipping sunglasses. This is a series of very obvious events that I had assumed, certainly by the end of book 2, would have resulted in Iana/Thara being a couple, if not leading into it at the start of book 3/at some point in book 3. They held hands in the dark after Thara met Iana's mother, who clearly thought they were dating, how else do you read that???

If Monette wanted to highlight that supportive male-male platonic relationships can exist, Anora is right there, and a mainstay of the series and the book in particular. Ulzhavar, Csathamar, Rohethar, Ormevar, Maia, Csevet, Azhanharad, Teru, Thilmerezh: all these other platonic male friendships exist in Thara's life, and literally all of them come back for Tomb. Heck, even Hanu is a good example of this kind of relationship (until it ends where it ends). The build-up of Thara and Iana's relationship makes no sense if this is where it leads, even in the context of strong friendships. I love a good strong platonic friendship, too, and showing men comforting each other outside toxic masculinity or romance matters, I get it. And I don't dislike Hanu as a character, and I even find his relationship with Thara cute when it doesn't feel really forced. Their ending probably makes up for things about as best as it could when you introduce a brand new character and romance in the third novel of a trilogy (and not many of Monette's gay leads get this much! It's good it ends this way!). But just... why?

I don't know. This is massively disappointing. And after knowing this was coming (ARC readers wrote reviews about it months ago), reading the actual novella at last, hoping she had better explanation for it, only to find out she didn't, is not helping.

I enjoyed the book. I really did. It's got a whole lot of great stuff in it. But just... why?

Also, I enjoy bodyguard romance as a trope. I've had shippy thoughts and Cala/Maia and Beshelar/Maia for years. I've been a Jago/Bren stan since like 2005. I always thought the Queen and Joe were adorable in The Princess Diaries. I love Choi Han/Cale Henituse as a ship. And there are lots of manga ships I can think of that fit the trope... It's not the trope I have an issue with, and I'm not averse to it appearing, canonically.

But seeing this as "what if this is about fan thirst for the bodyguard ships in TGE" or "we can't feel bad about it because we've been asking for it" is... I mean sure. Whatever. It feels way too forced. I hope Monette found her bliss with it. Difficult as the book was to write, I hope she wrote the version she wanted to.

Like just imagine, if Monette had read a series where a bodyguard character was introduced in book 1, with a canon crush on the protagonist, got closer to the protagonist for the next two books (and the interest was returned if highly conflicted), and they became an official couple in book 3 of the trilogy, and this was inspiration for Osreth. Wait, what is C.J. Cherryh (author of Foreigner) doing in this Monette interview???:

Sarah Monette: I don’t know if I can claim her as an influence, but I really like Shirley Jackson. Definite influences are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ellen Kushner, Joan D. Vinge, C. J. Cherryh.

The thing I’ve read most recently that I really enjoyed is Martha Wells’s Network Effect.

Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?

Sarah Monette: I’m currently in the middle of revisions on The Tomb of Dragons, which is the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy (the first two being The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones).

Just... there are ways to do the trope. Even speedier ways in one novel (e.g., Bad Judgment by Sidney Bell, though that's a romance novel). This ain't it.

[mottemort]

more Ginger Jason

[cat-downthestreet]

quick reminder for the people who ship shadaria:

Maria is twelve. Shadow is seventeen.

don't do that 😐

anyways look at this cool thing I found by chillisart

[soviet-siscon]

my sense of self is very divorced from my hosts appearance and sometimes i look in the mirror and go "oh yeah"

[dittography-direwolf]

Such a weird thing to take the extra time to add "(For the hearing impaired)" to the English language subtitle option on a disc. Like what is that the actual purpose of that? They think deaf people are gonna go "Ohhhh that's for me! Thank god they pointed it out, I'd've thought I couldn't use it otherwise!"

Like they don't stick "(Para personas con discapacidad auditiva)" under there just in case a deaf Mexican is watching, they seem to figure the deaf Mexicans can figure out that the "Espanol" option is usable.

[pippin-pippout]

Someone shoulda let Franky get some of the women's egghead clothes so he could maintain his speedo-wearing reputation.

[faejilly]

in my continuing: too brain dead for anything except nostalgia media

I've been watching Father Dowling and been struck by the fact that they had an entire initial half-season in WINTER with snow and ice and people wearing coats

and yeah it takes place in Chicago

but also no one does that in any tv I've seen in like a decade

and now I feel old

and I miss winter

[chaos-potat]

the confusion of being called racist for drawing poc

[maid-of-steel]

The things I would do to only see beautiful spiritual art depicting a woman/goddess that isn't ruined by two ridiculous gravity defying spheres on her chest

[pigeonstab]

I should re-do my Intro post maybe

[ghostcat96]

Ughhh I hate that crying makes my face feel all weird

[tayloralison]

the way Israel's official government account went after gigi and then unrelated to that, it became public knowledge which house gigi is currently living in. I don't like this 😬

[funkylilomen]

mmm in a weird mood tonight chat

[arya-is-a-fanatic]

Those random accounts that follow you and start liking all your posts, but you go to their account and they never post anything 😭