#lainie hawke

[roseshavethoughts]

Europe on Film: My Top 5 Films About Greece

Europe on Film: My Top 5 Films About Greece #Film #Cinema #GreekIndependenceDay

Greece has been a popular location for filmmakers for decades, with its picturesque landscapes, ancient ruins, and vibrant culture providing an ideal backdrop for a variety of stories. From classic films to modern blockbusters. Greece has played a starring role in some of the most memorable movies of all time. Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash Zorba the Greek Directed by Michael Cacoyannis,…

[thetempleofthemasaigoddess]

Bellona’s videos masterlist - movies - part 1 (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit...) full

The Lord of the Rings

Boromir and Aragorn meet in Rivendell

The Council of Elrond

Arrival at Lothlorien

The Three Hunters meet Eomer and the Rohirrim

Charge of the Rohirrim

*****

The Hobbit

Gandalf meets Thorin at The Prancing Pony

*****

Push

Opening narration by Cassie Holmes

*****

Taking Lives

“You have something that I want. Therefore, it’s mine”

*****

A Knight’s Tale

William finds his father

Introducing Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer

*****

Knives Out

Ransom confesses killing Fran and attempts to murder Marta

*****

The Breakfast Club

Dancing scene

*****

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Dale Cooper talks to Sam Stanley

First meeting of agent Desmond and agent Stanley.

Agent Desmond and agent Stanley talk to Irene

Agent Desmond and Agent Stanley examine the body of Theresa Banks

*****

Van Helsing

The Holy Order

*****

Bordello of Blood

Corey Feldman as Caleb Verdoux

*****

Mad Max: Fury Road

Meeting the Vuvalini

*****

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Jacob meets Nicolas Flamel

*****

The Old Guard

Andy learns an important lesson

“Her name was Quynh”

*****

The Crow

Initial narration by Sarah

Darla is cured by Eric and begins to rebuild her relationship with Sarah.

*****

Kill Bill

Black Mamba (The Bride/Beatrix Kiddo) vs. Gogo Yubari

*****

Stand by Me

Chris’ gun and Dennis’ cap

Gordie confronts Ace

*****

The Mummy

“I… am a librarian!”

*****

Dragonheart

Draco heals Prince Einon

Bowen names Draco and Dragons’ Heaven

Bowen meets the spirit of King Arthur

*****

Kickboxer: Vengeance

Kurt trains with master Durand - part one

Kurt trains with master Durand - part two

*****

Lady Bloodfight

The first round of the Kumite - part one of four

The second round of the Kumite - part two

Jane vs Svietta - part three

The final of the Kumite - part four

*****

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Lucy meets Tumnus

Meeting Aslan

The coronation of the Kings and Queens of Narnia

*****

St. Trinian’s

Annabelle arrives at the school and meets the various cliques

*****

The Three Musketeers

“Three duels in one day…”

*****

Dream a Little Dream

Bobby asks Lainie out

*****

Aquaman

“Are you that fish boy from the TV?”

The story of Tom and Atlanna - part one

The story of Tom and Atlanna - part two

*****

Night at the Museum

Larry releases Ahkmenrah

*****

Footloose

Ren teaches Willard to dance

Ren anger-dancing to Moving Pictures’s Never

The tractor chicken race

*****

The Warriors

The Warriors & the other gangs

Swan and Mercy’s conversation on the tracks

The Warriors vs. The Punks

*****

Eagle vs Shark

Lily and Jarrod

*****

Flatliners

Nelson convinces David to help him

David Labraccio apologizes to Winnie Hicks for having bullied her when they were kids

*****

Renegades

Buster and Hawk learn to work together

*****

Maleficent

Diaval is transformed into a man

*****

Hellboy: The Golden Army

Prologue

Hellboy and Liz meet the Angel of Death

*****

Fight Club

The rules

*****

The Green Knight

The Green Knight issues his challenge

Gawain meets Winifred

*****

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Mani fighting

*****

Gunpowder Milkshake

Sam meets the Librarians

*****

The Village

Lucius and Ivy on the porch

*****

The Kid Who Would Be King

Prologue

Merlin’s debut

Merlin talks to Alex and Bedders

*****

Seven Sisters / What Happened to Monday

Adetomiwa “Tomiwa” Edun as Eddie the doorman

*****

Young Guns

William Bonney arrives at Tunstall’s ranch

Dinner and reading at Tunstall’s

*****

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Prologue

Arthur grows up in the brothel

Arthur pulls the sword from the stone

Jack’s Eye visits Arthur

*****

The Last Witch Hunter

Kaulder speaks to Bronwyn

*****

Priest

Prologue

*****

6 Underground

“We find a Seven.”

Ben Hardy as Four/Billy

Ben Hardy as Four/Billy (II)

Manuel Garcia Rulfo as Three/Javier

*****

The 13th Warrior

“The thirteenth man must be no Northman.”

*****

Logan Lucky

Jimmy defends Clyde when a bar patron bullies him

*****

Legion

Michael talks to Jeep and to Gabriel

*****

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire

Tarak tames the bennu

*****

DOA: Dead or Alive

Tina Armstrong is invited to the DOA

Christie Allen is invited to the DOA

Princess Kasumi is invited to the DOA

*****

Night Watch

Prologue

Anton meets Olga

Day Watch

Anton and Olga swap bodies

Anton's confession to Svetlana

*****

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Edgin and Holga's story - part one

Edgin and Holga's story - part two

*****

xXx

Rammstein perform Feuer Frei!

*****

Django Unchained

Schultz frees Django

Django tells Schultz about Broomilda

Schultz reunites Django and Broomhilda

*****

Bellona's masterlist

[sixofravens-reads]

2, 11, 20?

Hi!!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

I did, mostly the first books of series I meant to finish:

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Witchmark by C. L. Polk

Pantomime by Laura Lam

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Hmm I'll answer with a different book this time: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. A retelling of Sleeping Beauty set during the Holocaust, extremely sad and beautifully written. The kind of book they should teach in schools, except it would probably be banned by a crusade of Karens due to one of the MCs being a gay man.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Nona the Ninth, and YES!! I had very few expectations except "weird shit, Ianthe being worse, and hopefully Gideon in her proper body" and well...technically we did get those! And so much more! I definitely wasn't expecting a John Gaius Origin Story in this book so that was extremely exciting.

[darrowswraith]

Hello! Looking for new bookblr type blogs to follow! Please reblog if you post about the following:

Red Rising

The Raven Cycle & CTHD

The Folk of the Air

Six of Crows & TGT

Fantasy Books in general 

Or books by

Marie Lu

Sarah J Maas

Madeline Miller 

Naomi Novik

Maria V. Snyder

Erin Morgenstern

Cassandra Clare

Colleen Hoover

Monica Murphy

Cambria Hebert

Laini Taylor 

I will follow from my main @sebbytrash

[mxgxn]

Books On My Shelf I Want To Read

(in no particular order)

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Children Of Virtue and Vengeance and Tomi Adeyemi

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

Call Down The Hawk by Maggie Stievater

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

[stileslittlebanshee]

Favorite reads of 2019 

[trvelyans-archive]

:)

[beths-escape-from-reality]

Winter TBR

Hey Guys!

We are well into winter now so I thought that it was about time that I share with you my winter TBR. I make a seasonal TBR every season as it really helps me to narrow down my giant TBR. So, here are the books that I’m hoping to read over the next few weeks

The Queen Of Nothing by Holly black

Days Of Blood And Starlight by Laini Taylor

Call Down The Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Winter by…

[ladytabletop]

2, 3 and 6

2: What are you currently reading?

hoo boy okay here's the list

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer The Invasion by K.A. Applegate Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer Dracula by Bram Stoker Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

3: What book are you planning to read next?

Next on my list, in no particular order:

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

6: Which book was the last one you really, really loved?

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen (and its sequel, The Faithless Hawk)

Ironically, the second series featuring bone magic that I've really loved.

[tcm]

Interview with Richard Benjamin on Making Comedy Look Easy in MY FAVORITE YEAR (’82) By Donald Leibenson

To hear Richard Benjamin tell it, MY FAVORITE YEAR was a charmed production. For his first film as a director, he had been looking for a comedy (“I’m just kind of bent that way,” he jokes) and the stars aligned to bring him a script that, he says, was everything he knew. He had Mel Brooks as the film’s guardian angel. He had a bona-fide movie star that his wife, Paula Prentiss, recommended after another actor regretfully declined the film’s plum role. And he heeded Carl Reiner, who gave him succinct advice about making a comedy: “Get funny people.”

Which he did. The film is character actor heaven, with Joseph Bologna, Anne de Salvo, Selma Diamond, Adolph Green, Basil Hoffman, Lainie Kazan and Bill Macy.

MY FAVORITE YEAR is set in the mid-1950s when television was live and comedy was king. Mark Linn-Baker stars as Benjy Stone, a young comedy writer on a variety show reminiscent of Your Show of Shows, where he ardently pursues the show’s not-amused production assistant (Jessica Harper). During one life-changing week, he is assigned to chaperone the show’s guest star, his idol, former swashbuckling screen hero, Alan Swann (Peter O’Toole in an Oscar-nominated performance), who has a penchant for drink, womanizing and otherwise behaving badly. 

Benjamin spoke with TCM about casting O’Toole, trying to pin down Mel Brooks and why you should never end a comedy in a graveyard.

To quote Alan Swann’s great line, dying is easy, comedy is hard. With MY FAVORITE YEAR, you make it look so easy. How did the project come to you?

Paula and I were in New York. My agent, David Gersh, sent the script by Norman [Steinberg] and Dennis [Palumbo, credited as co-writer due to the Screen Writers Guild arbitration]. I remember reading it in the hotel room and as I finished, I said, ‘This is everything I know.’ I was in high school when Your Show of Shows was on. I would get on the phone with my friend Shelley Berger, who I am still close to, and we would do all these routines they had done on the show on Saturday night. I grew up loving Errol Flynn and those swashbuckling movies. I had also worked at 30 Rockefeller Plaza [the film’s setting] as an NBC page and guide, and I knew every inch of that place. [The script] was right up my alley, as they say.

Brooksfilms produced the film, and Mel Brooks was a writer on Your Show of Shows. Did he serve as the film’s guardian angel or offer any input?

Guardian angel’s good. He kept saying he would give Norman and I two full days to sit down and go over the script to see if we could make it even funnier. The truth of the matter is that the script didn’t need much of anything, but he promised that. Trying to get Mel to stop moving is a feat. We went to his house, and he invited us in and then said he was going out. He said he had to walk the dog. Then he comes back, and he said he had to go, that there was a crisis at Fox. I said, ‘No there’s not,’ and he said, ‘Well, there could be.’ So, what he ended up giving us was two hours, but it was a great two hours. And the next thing you know, he was gone.

But Norman and I came up with one of the best jokes in the movie while we were standing in his driveway watching him drive away. It’s the one where Swann falls off the roof and plummets past the two elitist guys. And one says, ‘I think Alan Swann’s beneath us,’ and the other guy says, ‘Of course he’s beneath us, he’s an actor.’

I cannot imagine anyone but Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann. Was he the first choice?

Albert Finney had been offered the role, but he had not committed. He was up in Sausalito making SHOOT THE MOON [’82]. They told me I had to go up there and convince him to do the film; otherwise they couldn’t make the movie. The list of people M-G-M would go with was very short, because who are you going to believe with a sword in their hands? So, I’m on this mission, because if he says yes, I’m going to get to make a movie. We arranged to have lunch together. He’s completely charming. I get ready to ask the question – which could change my life, by the way: ‘Will you do it?’ He said, ‘Well…,’ and I could tell it was going to be a no. He thought the script was really good, but he had done two or three movies in a row and he said he wanted to get back to the theater. Then he said to me, ‘Why don’t you get O’Toole?’ He said, ‘We do this all the time. I turn something down, he does it, he turns something down, I do it.’ When I got back home, Paula who had made WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT? [’65] with Peter, said, ‘Get Peter. He is perfect for this.’ Finney said it, Paula said it. And I asked [co-producer] Michael Gruskoff if M-G-M would make the film with O’Toole, and Michael said yes.  

What was the meeting with Peter like?

(Laughs) That meeting! That meeting was quite something. First of all, we couldn’t find him. We could tell we had the right person because the behavior was just like the character. He had a farm in Ireland with no phone. You had to call this pub to get a message to him. I called the pub and they said Peter wasn’t there. His agent didn’t know where he was. I called his manager and said, ‘We’re trying to find your client.’ He said, ‘He’s at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. He’s been here for a week.’ 

So, I’m actually talking to Peter O’Toole, and he said he had heard about the project and to send him a script and we would get together the next day. I go over and there he is in a beautiful suite wearing a smoking jacket; he is the character. He said, ‘Here’s the thing…’ and I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ He said he liked it very much, but he hadn’t read the last ten pages and to please indulge him and he would call tomorrow. The next day, on the dot, he called and he said to turn to the last page of the script.

Now, in the original script, there’s a scene which I shot that would have played after what’s in the movie. It took place in a Hollywood cemetery, and Benjy is walking past the gravestones. He says in voiceover that Alan Swann made him promise he would do something on his birthday every year. Alan has passed away, and Benjy comes to his grave, kneels down and pours a bottle of Courvoisier over the tombstone. That’s what’s on the last page. Peter asked me to read the date that was on the tombstone. It was Aug. 2. He said, ‘Aug. 2 is my birthday; did you know that?’ I asked Norman if he knew that, and Norman said no, he had made it up. And Peter says, ‘Therefore, I must do the film.’

What happened to that scene?

I was terribly reluctant to take that out because Peter did the movie because of it. But people at M-G-M said I couldn’t end a comedy in a cemetery. We had two audience screenings, one with that ending and one without it. In the screening with it, the audience enjoyed the picture, but the scene put a pall over things. Then we had the screening without it and the audience was very enthusiastic and very up as they came out.

How did you find Mark Linn-Baker?

Our casting director Ellen Chenoweth said the first person to get was Mark Linn-Baker. Mark came in and read and was terrific. I said, ‘This is my first movie, I can’t cast the first person who walks in here.’ I saw maybe 25 to 35 more—some really good people—but she was right, so after all of that, I said to get him.

Peter and Mark had great chemistry.

They seemed to hit it off right away, but later, back in L.A. after we shot the long scene on the roof, which played like a mini-farce, Peter came up to me and said, ‘I like the lad, you cast him well.’

Was Peter game for the physical stunts?

I couldn’t stop him from doing them! The bathroom scene required him to fall headfirst into the wall. I came to him before we shot and I said, ‘The camera is so close, I can’t pad this wall.’ He said, ‘I was brought up in music hall. I can do this all day. Don’t concern yourself.’

Director Howard Hawks once said that a good movie was three or four good scenes and no bad scenes. I lose count watching MY FAVORITE YEAR of how many great scenes there are in it. Between those driven by comic banter, the TV sketches, the physical comedy scenes, the quieter romantic scenes and even the dramatic confrontations, did you have a favorite type to direct?

I can’t say there was a favorite. It’s all of a piece. I will tell you that one of the scenes I like is in the Stork Club and getting to do something that reminded me of all these kinds of wonderful comic movies I loved growing up. I do remember that one of the first things we shot was the scene in Central Park where Alan Swann mounts the horse. It just seemed to lack energy. And I was thinking, ‘I have to go tell Peter O’Toole that he has to pick up the pace and it has to be lighter.’ I went up to him and said, ‘It’s good, but…’ and before I could finish, he said, ‘You want it faster and funnier.’ I said, ‘You’ve got it,’ and he said, ‘And you shall have it.’ And I thought, ‘This directing thing is not so hard.’ (laughs)

Were there directors you worked with as an actor who particularly inspired you when you became a director? For example, you worked with one of the best, Mike Nichols.

Mike, yes. He directed me in the national company of Barefoot in the Park and [the film] CATCH-22 [’70]. Mike’s thing was he’d come up to you very quietly and say, ‘Just like in real life.’ That was his main thing. It meant that there should be no ‘acting’ here; your character responds to situations as they would in life. It’s like what [critic] Walter Kerr once said about Neil Simon’s jokes: They have the truth in them. This is what funny people know: You can’t try to get a laugh, because you won’t get it.  

At one point, Alan Swann says that doing the TV show was the most fun and the hardest work since the world was young. Was that what making MY FAVORITE YEAR was like for you?

It was the most fun, there’s no question of that. It was a magical experience because of the screenplay and everyone involved. Everyone’s game came up because of Peter. You don’t need many takes with him, that’s for sure. But how all of this came about and got to the point where I would be offered this, and what has to happen in your life to come to that moment – you can’t make it up. And when that moment comes, you’re hopefully ready. I was really fortunate.

[northernreads]

2022 tbr update

alrighty so here’s the latest update as of the start of february. january was pretty productive. I read three of the tbr books, and february is off to a decent start.

I finished “Any Way the Wind Blows” (and it was great, making up for how much I wasn’t really a fan of book 2). I am now halfway through “Dreams of Gods and Monsters” and I am loving it. I also, so far, have not bought any new books, though there are some that are veryyy tempting.

so the list now looks like this:

“A Little Life” Hanya Yanagihara

“Poppy War” R. F. Kuang

“Ninth House” Leigh Bardugo

“Call Down the Hawk” Maggie Stiefvater

“Days of Blood and Starlight” Laini Taylor

“Dreams of Gods and Monsters” Laini Taylor

“Rule of Wolves” Leigh Bardugo

“Any Way the Wind Blows” Rainbow Rowell

“Tower of Nero” Rick Riordan

“J.R.R. Tolkien: a biography” Humphrey Carpenter

“The Becoming” Nora Roberts

“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” D.H. Lawrence

[mediaevalmusereads]

Year-End Reading Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Meh

Hello, gentle readers!

Below you will find 3 lists: books I read in 2021 that I liked ("The Good"), books I read in 2021 that I disliked ("The Bad"), and books I read in 2021 that I found enjoyable but not earth-shattering good ("The Meh"). Other than these three lists, the books aren't ranked or tiered in any way. For in-depth thoughts on each of these books, you can check out my Tumblr reviews or my Goodreads reviews.

Disclaimer: If your reading tastes are different than mine, that's perfectly ok! I'm not trying to tell anyone what to think about a book; I'm just reflecting on my own reading experiences from 2021.

The Good

Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen

An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles

Pekolah Stories by Amanda Bales

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History by Linwood Custalow

Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich

The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan

Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

The Devourers by Indra Das

Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

The Bad

Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley

The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zarate

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

Master of Crows by Grace Draven

Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn

The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

A House of Rage and Sorrow by Sangu Mandanna

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

Radiance by Grace Draven

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

The Meh

Cold Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Ann Long

Between the Devil and the Duke by Kelly Bowen

A Duke to Remember by Kelly Bowen

Something Like Love by Beverly Jenkins

A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles

Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Ann Long

Bombshell by Sarah MacLean

Nobber by Oisin Fagan

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

True Pretenses by Rose Lerner

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

[lastparty]

anika @djotzi tagged me to share my 2021 reading list! thank u <3

books i own / have borrowed / have started:

beloved - toni morrison

plains of promise - alexis wright

love in a forbidden city - eileen chang

the travelling cat chronicles - hiro arikawa

first four earthsea books (the others too but i own a volume of the first four)

the buried giant - kazuo ishiguro

dig - a.s. king

strange the dreamer - laini taylor (i started this in 2019.)

lumatere chronicles

the bone witch - rin chupeco

books i want to read:

the likeness - tana french

last night at the telegraph club - malinda lo

one last stop - casey mcquiston

queen's thief series

eurydice - sara ruhl

call down the hawk - maggie stiefvater

the midnight lie - marie rutkoski

plain bad heroines - emily m. danforth

books i want to reread:

graceling trilogy

blue lily lily blue / the raven king

tamora pierce's tortall books (i got three books into rereading song of the lioness this year)

the scorpio races - maggie stiefvater

[papika]

short(ish) list of books i’d rec, read in the past ~2 years

this isn’t in depth or anything and i’ll probably redo it sometime in the near future! but i did want to get this list out here so i can revisit it later.

most of these are ya fantasy/sci-fi, though there’re definitely some exceptions! books that aren’t ya will be marked with an *, and books that—off the top of my head—might need trigger warnings will be marked with a †.

gideon the ninth by tamsin muir

six of crows† by leigh bardugo

a darker shade of magic by v.e. schwab

vicious*† by v.e. schwab

the diviners† by libba bray

jane, unlimited by kristin cashore

the reader by traci chee

the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee

uprooted by naomi novik

spinning silver by naomi novik

daughter of smoke and bone by laini taylor

strange the dreamer† by laini taylor

sawkill girls† by claire legrand

sabriel by garth nix

clockwork angel by cassandra clare

lady midnight by cassandra clare

chain of gold by cassandra clare

the cruel prince by holly black

scythe† by neal shusterman

ninth house*† by leigh bardugo

the raven boys by maggie stiefvater

call down the hawk*† by maggie stiefvater

the midnight lie by marie rutkoski

wicked as you wish by rin chupeco

the fifth season*† by n.k. jemsin

city of brass by s.a. chakraborty

the bear and the nightingale* by katherine arden

an ember in the ashes† by sabaa tahir

axiom’s end* by lindsay ellis

this is most of the books that stand out! not quite all of them, but the others are books that i’d only recommend with a caveat (or two.)

[brightbeautifulthings]

A - C | D - H | I - L | M - O | P - R | S - Z | Recent

Reviews are alphabetical by author and then by title.

Sachar, Louis - Holes - Small Steps

Sáenz, Benjamin Alire - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Sager, Riley - Final Girls - The Last Time I Lied - Lock Every Door

Sakavic, Nora - Elysium - The Foxhole Court - The King's Men - The Raven King - The Sunshine Court

Sanders, Bernie - Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In

Sarrantonio, Al - Halloweenland

Satrapi, Marjane - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood - Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

Schaeffer, Rebecca - Not Even Bones - Only Ashes Remain - When Villains Rise

Schow, Betsy - Spelled

Schumacher, Ashley - Amelia Unabridged - Full Flight

Schwab, Victoria (V.E.) - Our Dark Duet - This Savage Song - Vengeful - Vicious

Schwartz, Alvin - More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones

Schwartz, Alyssa - The Lost Causes

Scorza, Nick - People of the Lake

Scott, Victoria - We Told Six Lies

Sebastian, Laura - Ash Princess

Sedoti, Chelsea - As You Wish

Selznick, Brian - Wonderstruck

Sepetys, Ruta - Between Shades of Gray

Sergi, Zachary - Major Detours

Shaffer, Mary Ann - The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

Shah, London - The Light at the Bottom of the World

Shallcross, Leife - The Beast’s Heart

Shapero, Rich - Balcony of Fog

Sheff, Nic - Tweak

Sheinmel, Alyssa - A Danger to Herself and Others

Showalter, Gena - A Mad Zombie Party

Shusterman, Neal - Challenger Deep - UnBound - UnDivided - UnSouled - UnWholly - Unwind

Silverman, Laura - You Asked For Perfect

Simmons, Kristen - Find Him Where You Left Him Dead

Simon, Shaun - The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Simone, Sierra - A Merry Little Meet Cute

Smythe, Rachel - Lore Olympus: Volume One - Lore Olympus: Volume Two - Lore Olympus: Volume Three

Snyder, C.W. - Child of Nod - Queen of Nod

Sparks, Kerrelyn - All I Want For Christmas Is A Vampire

Spinelli, Jerry - Love, Stargirl - Stargirl

Springer, Nancy - The Oddling Prince

St. Clair, Scarlett - A Touch of Darkness

Stanojevic, Ana - Fire Wave

Steinbeck, John - Of Mice & Men

Stiefvater, Maggie - All The Crooked Saints - Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Call Down the Hawk - The Dream Thieves - Forever - Greywaren - Linger - Mister Impossible - The Raven Boys - The Raven King - The Scorpio Races - Shiver - Sinner

Stine, R.L. - The Awakening Evil - Cheerleaders: The Evil Lives! - Cheerleaders: The First Evil - Cheerleaders: The New Evil - Cheerleaders: The Second Evil - Cheerleaders: The Third Evil - The Dead Boyfriend - The Haunted Mask - The Haunted Mask II - Say Cheese and Die! - Say Cheese and Die– Again!

Stoppard, Tom - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Suma, Nova Ren - Imaginary Girls - 17 & Gone - A Room Away From the Wolves - The Walls Around Us

Sutherland, Krystal - House of Hollow - Our Chemical Hearts - A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares

Sutton, Kelsey (K.J.) - Fortuna Sworn - Smoke & Key

Suzuki, Kōji - Ring

Swyler, Erika - The Book of Speculation

Tahir, Sabaa - An Ember in the Ashes - A Reaper at the Gates - A Sky Beyond the Storm - A Torch Against the Night

Tartt, Donna - The Secret History

Taylor, Laini - Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Days of Blood & Starlight - Dreams of Gods & Monsters - Muse of Nightmares - Night of Cake & Puppets - Strange the Dreamer

Thiede, Emily - This Vicious Grace

Thomas, Aiden - Lost in the Never Woods

Thomas, Angie - The Hate U Give

Thomas, Kara - The Cheerleaders

Thomas, Scott - Violet

Thorne, Jack - Harry Potter & The Cursed Child

Thorne, Sally - The Hating Game

Tiffany, John - Harry Potter & The Cursed Child

Tremblay, Paul - Floating Boy & The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly

Tucholke, April Genevieve - Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea - Between the Spark & the Burn - Slasher Girls & Monster Boys

Urban, Diana - All Your Twisted Secrets

Valentine, Danielle - How to Survive Your Murder

Vega, Danielle - Survive The Night

Veste, Luca - The Bone Keeper

Wallace, David Foster - Infinite Jest - The Pale King - This Is Water: Some Thoughts … about Living a Compassionate Life

Wallace, Kali - Shallow Graves

Walters, Damien Angelica - The Dead Girls Club

Ward, Catriona - The Last House on Needless Street - Little Eve - Looking Glass Sound - Sundial

Ware, Ruth - In A Dark, Dark Wood

Warga, Jasmine - My Heart and Other Black Holes

Way, Gerard - The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Weingarten, Lynn - Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Wells, H.G. - The War of the Worlds

Wexler, Jennie - Where It All Lands

Weyr, Garret - The Language of Spells

WhatAreFears - Not Easily Conquered

Whitcomb, Laura - A Certain Slant of Light - Under the Light

White, Kiersten - The Camelot Betrayal - The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein - The Excalibur Curse - The Guinevere Deception - Hide

Wilkinson, Brian - Paramnesia

Williams, Kate - Never Coming Home

Wilson, Carter - Mister Tender’s Girl

Winfrey, Kerry - Not Like the Movies - Waiting for Tom Hanks

Winning, Joshua (Josh) - Burn the Negative - Camp Carnage - Heads Will Roll - The Shadow Glass

Wolff, Tracy - Crave

Woodson, Jacqueline - Brown Girl Dreaming

Wyndham, John - The Day of the Triffids

Yamashita, Karen Tei - Tropic of Orange

Yolen, Jane - The Emerald Circus

Yoon, Nicola - Everything, Everything - The Sun Is Also a Star

Young, Suzanne - Hotel for the Lost - The Program

Yovanoff, Brenna - The Replacement

Yuknavitch, Lidia - The Chronology of Water

Zappia, Francesca - Eliza and Her Monsters - Katzenjammer - Now Entering Addamsville

Zentner, Jeff - Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee

[trvelyans-archive]

when hawke cries, it sears.

she doesn’t cry often. whether she doesn’t let herself or she doesn’t need to, no one is sure, but when she does cry... it positively scorches.

hawke has never been close to her mother - fenris knows that much. but leandra’s death hurts hawke more than he thinks anything has ever hurt her. and he doesn’t know why. carver is still alive, and besides the fact that he’s a templar, he is the same person he’s always been, is he not? lainy even said that to fenris once. “he may be a templar, but he’s my little brother. he’s just... trying to find his place in the world. sometimes you have to dig through wet, sticky mud to reach the rich, hearty soil. that’s something the farmers always told us back in ferelden. it still stands, i think, in this case. it will take him a while, but he’ll reach the place he’s meant to thrive in soon. because the order... isn’t it.”

but perhaps even that small comfort is not enough.

she stays in the estate for days on end. fenris doesn’t visit. he doesn’t think she’d want him to. “i am the last person she’d want to see right now, dwarf,” fenris told varric earlier that day in the tavern. 

“how do you think?” varric asked, his eyes flickering between the cards in his hand and fenris across the table.

“it would not help for her to see another person who disappointed her; who left her,” fenris answered. “i left her. returning now would be insulting.”

“i don’t think she’d think so,” varric replied. “i think it’d do a lot of good if you stopped by. it doesn’t even have to be a big thing. just make, i don’t know... an effort?”

“it’s too late,” fenris said dismissively, but varric threw his cards face-down on the table and crossed his arms over his chest.

“it’s never too late to comfort someone after their mother died, elf.”

fenris finds himself in hawke’s room before he even thinks of a good enough retort.

the sheets of her bed are burnt in sections - where there were once smooth, richly embroidered yards of red and gold silk and cotton, there are now crinkled patches of charred, black fabric and smudged gray ash. the air still smells like smoke and fire, and though there’s no light on in the fireplace, the ceiling glows orange, humming and fading yet never going out entirely.

and that’s when he sees hawke. sitting in front of the open window on a collection of thick pillows. there is a fire flickering in her hands, and it takes him a few seconds to realize that her palms are blistering - worst of all, he doesn’t know if she realizes it or not.

“fenris?” she looks up at the sound of his footsteps growing closer.

“hawke,” he murmurs worriedly, all reservation washed away at the sight of her hands. “you must stop that. stop this.”

“stop what?” she cocks her head at him. 

he grabs her wrists gently in his fingers and pulls her hands up towards him. the fire winks out almost immediately, and left behind is tender, bubbling skin. few times has hawke ever injured herself with her magic - she has unreasonably good control over it. perhaps this behavior isn’t an accident.

he feels knots growing in his stomach, and he shakes his head.

“do not do this,” he whispers, letting one of her hands falling and running his fingers alongside the burned flesh. “do not do this.” if there is something else he can say, he doesn’t know what it is. but seeing this hurts him more than he can explain, and no other thought runs through his mind but this needs to stop. “do not, hawke.”

“do not what?”

“do this!” he turns her palm so she can see the wounds. “stop. i am... i am begging you.”

hawke stares back at him. 

“do not hurt yourself, hawke.”

“i am not hurting myself.” she yanks her hands away from him and rubs the sore skin with a tender touch of her thumb. “i didn’t realize it was burning me.”

“you didn’t smell the enflamed flesh?”

she grunts. “i wasn’t paying attention.”

“so i can see.” 

the two fall into silence as he sits down on the ground, ignoring her clear effort to move over on the pillows in order to make room for him. though she doesn’t conjure another flame, she clenches her fists and digs her knuckles into her knee. she often does that to keep herself awake when they’re journeying - she’ll punch herself in the leg or the arm, or ask varric to do it (although he never really does it hard enough and she winds up doing it herself anyway.) but this is different. she already looks wide awake. like she’s been awake for days and days.

fenris doesn’t look at her as he shuffles over onto the pillows.

“i...” sighing, he reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “i don’t know what to say, but i am here.” 

hawke glances over at him, but he fixes his gaze on the window above them - a bird soars by, swooping and swirling through the air. it takes all of the strength he can muster not to reach out and touch her in the ways he desperately wants. his comfort is not complicated - but that would be.

hawke draws her legs to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

“am i to blame?” she says quietly. “for... for not saving her?”

hawke carries guilt around with her like a knife to her throat held by her own fingers. sometimes it seems the only way she values herself is by her level of ability to complete tasks, and complete them well. while it makes her dedicated and driven, and tactically brilliant, if she fails, she marks herself as incompetent, useless, and it weighs her down for days.

this failure is one she will be reminded of with every waking breath, and fenris wishes there was something he could do about it. but there isn’t.

“i could say no, but would that help?”

she laughs bitterly.

“you are looking for... forgiveness,” he says uneasily, “but i am not the one who can give it to you.”

he thinks he hears her mutter a little ‘who can’ before she buries her face into her knees and starts crying.

fenris knows pain. he knows it as well as he knows his own shadow. and yet nothing he can think of is as bad as this. hearing hawke cry - no, not cry, sob - louder and louder and louder with every second until he can scarcely hear his own breathing is worse than any pain he’s ever felt. because there’s nothing he can do. he can kill slavers. he can push his memories of being danarius’s slave out of his mind as best as he can. but he can not save hawke’s mother. he cannot save hawke.

and for once, this time, even she can not save herself.

“hawke,” he whispers, unable to bear the thought of looking over at her. “hawke. hawke.”

“don’t... don’tdont’don’t... there’s nothing...”

she takes in a wheezing breath and lets it out immediately in a splutter, grinding her knuckles against her skull, shaking her head and shaking her head and shaking her head until she must be dizzy.

“hawke,” fenris repeats, eyes widening. “stop.”

“i can’t!”  she whirls around, eyes blazing so strongly it’s like she’s lit them on fire. “i can’t f-fucking stop!” she screams, but her voice is hoarse from crying and trying to be loud strains it so much that fenris’s heart breaks at the sound. “i can’t fucking stop thinking about how i let her die! i let her d-d-die, fenris! my own mother! just like i let bethany die! and my father! i want to - i can’t - i just -”

her face screws up and she’s crying again, and fenris, unable to see any other way out, hurries to her and wraps his arms around her, drawing her in until she’s pressed against his chest. she sobs against the soft, dull metal, and bangs her fists against it, and screams, and all the while she twines her legs around his torso and squeezes him so tightly he’s about to burst.

“fenris, i... f-fuck, i can’t do this...”

fenris shuts his eyes. “you can, hawke.”

“no, no, no... not this time. not this time, fenris, just let me... let me...”

“no,” he says firmly. “whatever twisted request it is you are going to ask of me, i am not doing it. you will get through this.”

“how do you know that?” hawke mumbles, but a mouthful of spit and tears slur her words so that fenris strains to hear her.

“because... because...”

he sighs. 

“because you are stronger than any storm and brighter than any sun,” fenris whispers, almost so quietly in the hopes she doesn’t hear it. “because... because... you’re hawke. you are... brilliant.”

hawke drags her face away from fenris’s chest and looks at him closely, an image of strength and bravery despite her swollen red eyes and running nose. “you’re... you’re sure?”

“i am.”

hawke tilts her head at him and bites her lip. “i am sorry you had to see me in this state,” she whispers, moving to climb off of him. “i’m... really, really sorry.”

“i am not,” fenris responds, holding her a little tighter for a moment longer. “i do not wish to know what you would have done if i hadn’t visited tonight.” 

and then, regretfully, he lets her go.

when she stands, it is shaky, but focused. she fumbles with the hem of her shirt, pulling it down over her exposed hip, and shifts her weight from her left foot to her right. the smell in the air, no longer of raw flesh and smoke, is ripe and vile, and he realizes that hawke hasn’t bathed for days. but it is not his right to correct that, or tell her that she should - she knows well enough already, he’s sure. and then, as if on cue, her stomach rumbles.

it is time for her to get back in the swing of things, he sees her realize.

“you can leave,” she murmurs, bending down to pick up a pillow and tossing it across the room onto her bed. “i... i should be fine. i might go visit the hanged man.”

“that would be wise.”

he follows suit and stands up, looking down to see black streaks across his breastplate where her fists banged into him. frowning, he runs a lazy thumbnail over them. if it weren’t hawke, if he weren’t wearing armor, if he wasn’t so worried and hurt and confused, he’d be angry or alarmed or worse. but instead he is...

tired.

“i can buy you a new one,” hawke says, arms crossed over her chest. “i... we can go out tomorrow.”

“there is no need,” fenris replies, but hawke shakes her head.

“yes, there is, fenris,” she murmurs. “there is every need.”

he hesitates for a moment, his body caught somewhere between walking away and standing still, and hawke takes a step closer. “goodnight.” 

he nods curtly at her as he always does when he bids her goodbye and turns towards the door. this is familiar - leaving hawke when her guard is let down and she is tender, wounded. it pains him that he remembers this feeling, but he does. it’s like a punch in the gut that keeps turning and turning.

“hawke?” he calls out when he reaches the door, not realizing he had spoken until he heard hawke’s response.

“yes?” she says, and there’s something hopeful in her voice that makes him shut his eyes.

“aveline is close by, should you need anything else.”

he hears her shoulders sag even though he doesn’t see them. “i’ll keep that in mind.”

fenris leaves the estate quickly, his brisk walk turning into a sprint the closer to his home he gets. he is desperate to outpace the sound of hawke’s weeping ringing in his ears with every step he takes, and yet, he never does. in fact, when he crosses the threshold and slams the door shut behind him, the emptiness and silence of danarius’s mansion makes it even worse.

he starts a fire in the fireplace and curls up next to it, hoping the sound of crackling flame will staunch the memory of hawke’s anguish searing fresh in his mind until it positively scorches.