#more than with any other series i think

[scribefindegil]

My beloved tattered copies of my Artemis Fowl books that I got from library sales are the love of my life. I’m 90% sure I’m so snarky in my writing because of these books. Artemis and his relationships with everyone are so well done. The eye swap thing still gets me. What a duo. What a series. God do the last three really….. do things. I am still mad about Artemis losing his magic immediately yes. And for them making a character so powerful they have to keep making excuses why he’s not around. And… well. You know. But goddamn if I didn’t consume them like 800 times as a kid and goddamn if I’m not so sorely tempted to reread them now that you’ve reminded me (and maybe finally actually read fowl twins)

Listen, the last few books sure made . . . . Choices. AND YET. Even when they were bad (and sometimes they were very bad!), they never did it in a way that made me want to stop reading, which is honestly very impressive! The characters remain recognizable and entertaining and their relationships are compelling even as the situations they're in become increasing Like That, and the characters are what I'm here for.

They're not books that I would necessarily recommend to people who didn't grow up with them but man. I love them so much. Artemis' character development is so good. Every single thing about Holly Short is so good. The whole weird messy found family of it all is so good. The way the later books veer from heist narratives into fairy-tale structure is . . . like, objectively bad, but man does it manage to hit me where it hurts thematically.

Don't even get me started on the eye swap; I'm obsessed with the ongoing progression of how these characters look at each other, because with the magic of control so closely tied to eye contact at the beginning there's always something in the way--mirrors and shields and helmet visors--and it's a huge display of trust to actually meet eyes without any sort of intervention, and the swap ties into this and takes it to the next level and! UGH! (Was literally ANY of this intentional? Knowing Colfer, probably not! Doesn't stop me from losing my mind about it though!)

(I have not read Fowl Twins. I have not even read their cover blurbs despite staring at the audiobook versions every day when I worked at the bookstore. Has anyone read Fowl Twins? And can you tell me if Holly's in them? If not I do not care.)

[liauditore]

i once had a dream where tango took revenge on bdubs for killing him in last life but before he killed him bdubs turned into like a puddle of goo and tango started crying

[numericalbridge]

i think it is especially hilarious that the fandom made such a big deal out of Darius' "only the small ones will get eaten" moment, considering:

how many times characters try to eat someone; not to mention many gags where the core characters are comicaly callous in inappropriate moments. And that Darius' line was framed similary as a comedic moment in canon!

[thepoisonroom]

'I flirted with the idea that instead of being trans that I was just a cross-dresser (a quirk, I thought, that could be quietly folded into an otherwise average life) and that my dysphoria was sexual in nature, and sexual only. And if my feelings were only sexual, then, I wondered, perhaps I wasn’t actually trans.

I had read about a book called The Man Who Would Be Queen, by a Northwestern University professor who believed that transwomen who were attracted to women were really confused fetishists, they wanted to be women to satisfy an autogynephilia. And though I first read about this book in the context of its debunkment and disparagement, I thought about the electricity of slipping on those tights, zipping up those boots, and a stream of guilt followed. Maybe this professor was right, and maybe I was only a fetishist. Not trans, just a misguided boy.

About a year later, on the Internet, I come across a transwoman who added a unique message to the crowd refuting this professor. Oh, I wish I remember who this woman was, and I wish even more that I could do better than paraphrase her, but I remember her saying something like this: “Well, of course I feel sexy putting on women’s clothing and having a woman’s body. If you feel comfortable in your body for the first time, won’t that probably mean it’ll be the first time you feel comfortable, too, with delighting in your body as a sexual thing?”'

-Casey Plett, Consciousness

[kastalani123]

Having Mr D thoughts.

What if he's like. Extra Bitter about his punishment because:

1) These modern demigods have it so easy, with Camp and Thalia's barrier and the Mist and the monsters' reduced powers and on and on with all of the world's developments

Like, yes, this batch in particular got impossibly unlucky, with two wars and the Triumvirate's bullshit happening in the span of not even a decade, but they still get to go to school. Sure, there's always a monster here or there, but that's nothing in light of having a home where they feel safe and not having to constantly travel because if just one monster finds where you're staying, you're doomed so you have to leave immediately. And the monsters are weaker now, too, because people don't remember and believe in them in the same capacity as back in ye' old days!

And there's always something around, some building or bus or whatnot the demigods can use to their advantage, rather than being stranded on a mountain or in the middle of a forest. They don't even have to hunt, or go hungry for months at a time, because there's food everywhere — sure, there's demigods Fated for some dumpster diving and nights in sewers, but that's a minority.

And the humans around them are better, too! Child protection and the legal system are far from perfect, but for the most part, people won't turn a blind eye to you being tied up and kidnapped, or beaten into a pulp in the middle of the street for stealing.

(Your mother won't be convinced to disintegrate with you in her womb)

(You won't be confused about your very being during your childhood because you must hide from your stepmother, your identity unimportant in face of fear)

(Your aunt and uncle won't be driven to insanity and murder with no repercussions)

(You won't be hunted down since before you were even born)

But also

2) It still isn't easy, and they're still living in pain and dying young, and can the gods (him included) really not do anything about that?

The other gods don't get children in the way he does; they see extensions of themselves, weapons, people ready to take up arms in their name. But Dionysus once gnawed on fabric dolls and wooden teethers just the same as these new demigods, and though it's been millennia, growing up with death on every step leaves a lasting mark — especially when he has found kin in his wife about it.

So he knows: the eight-year-old girl is not stupid, immature, or cowardly for crying upon the first stains on her sword; the eleven-year-old boy is not defective because of a burst of random emotion; the fifteen-year-old girl is not foolish for clinging to her toys whenever she can; the sixteen-year-old boy is not weak for getting hurt and not remaining stoic about it.

He was like that once upon a time, too, and is the point not for it to get easier? Has it really not yet been enough time for it to be easy?

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Road To Ruin

start of a postapocalyptic fantasy series set in an Asian-inspired desert world plagued by dangerous storms

follows a courier who transports romantic letters between a prince and princess, who helps the princess escape across the wastes towards the prince’s safe haven

but they’re pursued by bounty hunters, and accidentally uncover some ancient secrets. and also she’s in love with both of them

dinosaurs, magical motorbikes,

bi MC, start of polyam triad

[deus-ex-mona]

some couples say “yappari kimi nanda kimi janakya dame nanda” / “as expected it must be you; apart from you no one else would do”

other couples say “suki sugite yabai” / “i can’t even describe how much i love you”

but m y ship says “watashi no kokoro anata/omae no mono ni natteru” / “my heart belongs to you”

[frobby]

i was thinking up an expanded chart for the manga gagverse and i was gonna exclude kyuushi (u know cuz of all the vampires running around shin yokohama) but then i remembered that kyuushi is actually the only manga here where iruma is canon it in

[hanzajesthanza]

also i realize i'm saying all these noble and beautiful things about the channel from the purest depths of my heart. but actually i'm also just doing this because i fucking love the witcher books and it pisses me off that people don't know about them that much in english and i can only go for so long (seven years) with people not knowing that there are books. or that the witcher is from the 90s. or polish.

[watermelonsloth]

It’s so weird to think back on myself when I first got into Naruto. Partially because it’s been years and I’ve changed as a person, but mostly because of how drastically different my opinions are now.

Best example of this: I got into Naruto in spite of team 7, not because of them. It wasn’t until I got into video essays and media analysis that I actually started to appreciate their characters and like them (but that transition is a story for another time).

I really didn’t like Naruto. I wasn’t screaming at the screen or groaning whenever he made an appearance or anything, but I was ignoring a lot of the Naruto shaped parts of Naruto. I thought he was annoying at twelve and a flat, stock-standard shounen protagonist in shippuden. I was also under the impression that he had no character arc, which only made me less interested in him. Don’t ask me what show I was watching, I couldn’t tell you.

I was also in the same camp as a lot of others when it came to Sakura. I thought she was deadweight on the battlefield, selfish and superficial with her affections, bratty overall, and way too emotional. It got to the point where I was getting frustrated whenever she started crying. So… not only was I hardcore taking out my insecurities about sensitivity out on her, but I also fell hook, line, and sinker for konoha’s bullshit about ninja not expressing emotions, like a fool.

I didn’t care much for Sasuke, even if I tolerated him more than the others. Weirdly enough, I remember liking him fine personality wise but finding everything plot related about his character boring. His backstory, his revenge, his relationship with Itachi, all boring. I don’t know how I found it boring, but apparently that’s where I was at.

[vvienne]

I literally woke up in the middle of the night like God will dark rise is so fucking screwed. The line that’s like. “Everyone wanted to kill the Dark King.” What’s the part where he looks at Violet helplessly, haunted, almost pleading for mercy? But of course he reveals nothing of substance to anyone. Elizabeth is too young to understand but the reader knows what “Her relationship with that boy was…unnatural” can mean. Tying him to bedposts? Failing to strangle him? What else? Never not even once seeing beyond a mythological identity Will himself didn’t know he had? What did he think was the reason? That he was just intrinsically hateful? Of course he says nothing. Of course Violet can’t trust him- he’s given her nothing as painfully real as what she’s given him. So he gives her the sword hoping at least he can die at the hands of someone he loved, but even that doesn’t work out - she gives the sword to a Visander still furious at SARCEAN. The pattern continues; no one looks at Will, who vomits when he realizes what’s happened to James, Will who is much of a liar and killer and sneak as Elizabeth accuses but nonetheless wants to be different. Even when he doesn’t remember his own past. There’s no way out for him that doesn’t hurt. Hope this obsession passes soon given the one and a half years of waiting required for book 3

[not-so-terrible]

So Kisame's often considered the fourth most powerful Akatsuki member, but the top three are pretty unanimously Obito, Pain and Itachi. And with Kisame's motto being survival of the fittest and MO being taking out the weakest links, it’s fascinating to see him end up as one of the most well connected members of the Akatsuki. And since the top three never openly get to clash, technically speaking, he stays loyal to all of them. He's; 

- Working broadly for Pain, Akatsuki's open leader, who wants to create peace through traumatising the world through a cycle of war

- Working secretly for Obito, Akatsuki's real leader (and by proxy, Madara and Zetsu, Akatsuki's real-real leaders), who wants to create peace through trapping the world in a dream realm

- Working day-to-day for/with Itachi, the Akatsuki's biggest name, most powerful field member, and a secret double agent, who wants to create peace through becoming the most powerful shinobi that's ever lived,  and through using that power 'as much as he wants', 'lead the world to subjugation'

So either Kisame is the ninja equivalent of the minions, or the dojutsu wielding top three of the Akatsuki all looked to him and went 'yup, he's Henchman Shaped'

[etrosgate]

the second readthrough of world trigger is where it really kicks in

[future-island-egghead]

Muse of Violence, Warrior of Science.

To the ordinary, everyday genius scientist-for-hire with a heart too big for her own good, we raise our sake cups.

You gave us food. You tried to protect us. You gave your life to ensure we'd all live on. Just lending a hand.

You knew it would end like this. We all knew it would end like this, and yet you still did it. And you did it to protect the friends you had made and the family you had left. And you did it all on your own terms, smiling all the way to the afterlife, knowing your will would be inherited by those you saved.

Clone or Machine or Satellite or Daughter. It matters not what you were. Because you went out like a true member of those who carry the will of D.

Thanks for everything, Atlas. For a satellite representing rage and violence, you had the biggest heart of any of them.

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

3l!grian is frequently depicted as a tragic figure and sometimes i wonder if we even watched the same series

[dye-it-rouge-et-noir]

"For particularly important things, it's always more reassuring to write them down like this." - Zhang Beihai

[ID in alt text]