#revenant gun

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 4

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

Imperial Radch series (Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Provenance, Translation State, and other stories) by Ann Leckie

Endorsement from submitter: "Breq/Justice of Toren is a ship AI and doesn't have a gender. The Radchaai language only has one pronoun for people, so (almost) everyone in the empire is she/her, to the point that they're infamous for failing to correctly guess which pronoun to use with outsiders."

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

Science fiction, space opera, far future, series, adult

The Machineries of Empire series (Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, and other stories) by Yoon Ha Lee

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim.

Science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, series, adult

[the-one-and-only-overlass]

'we need evil fucked up gays!' shut your fucking mouth y'all couldn't handle fcuking catra what makes you think you'll be able to handle shuos mikodez and shuos jedao and nirai kujen

[chefoshawott]

Started the 3rd book in the Machineries of Empire trilogy and I just can't get this out of my brain. This is the whole series lol.

[syeniites]

Shuos Zehun: I will never name a cat after the Immolation Fox

[one book later]

Shuos Zehun: everyone meet my newest kitten Jedao :))

[ritavonbees]

shuos jedao fanmix go

[foxintheglass]

Main account is DreamsAtDusk. FoxIntheGlass is my sideblog for Machineries of Empire meta (and more! More...something!)

Want to chat about MoE? Feel free to drop me an ask, tag me in a post, etc.

The meta links below are currently to posts on my main; will get things updated over time. Fics are on AO3.

FANWORKS

Recursion Instinct How many times has Jedao learned that Kujen cannot be trusted? Written for Trick or Treat Exchange 2021.

The Lie Is the Game In the wake of a shocking betrayal that rocked the heptarchate and high calendar alike, Shuos Jedao confronts a long-awaited reunion and the weight of necessary lies.Yeren/Jedao/Ruo. Written for MachinExchange 2021.

A Moth Beats Its Wings With the mystery of the Revenant's disappearance at the Battle of Tereberg still unsolved, Cheris has been asked to investigate...with Jedao Two in tow. But another discovery proves to be waiting even closer to home.Written for Yuletide 2020.

META

Ninefox Gambit Reread (DreamsAtDusk Posts) Chapter by chapter thoughts on Ninefox Gambit. Has been on hold on and off, currently resumed. Will update this note when it’s done.

Hellspin Fortress and Ties that Bind Jedao 2 thinking he misses Kujen as a thread back to the experience of trauma and manipulation.

On Sartorial Choices  Cheris wore a festive lavender dress at one point in Raven Stratagem. But how about the fact that it ties back to Jedao and his mother in a way?

[sock-to-the-third]

Revenant Gun

By Yoon Ha Les

Machineries of Empire series concluded? :(

Well, it is a fantastic conclusion. I like how all the loose ends were tied up with Cheris and Jedao. Not to mention with the light drop of Brezan and Tseya getting together lol. Political marriage or not, they’re gonna be on hell of a couple!

There’s a new they/them fella in this book, Talaw (Kel Commander, I think). They originally worked for Dhanneth (prev General) who has a helluva personality that I love. Very subtle the changes but so gratifying. I love have Yoon Ha Lee gives bits of character development even to supporting characters. Talaw’s a nice addition to the gang who last time I checked only included Sho Zehun (advisor of Hexarch Mikodez).

One thing I can’t get over with Revenant Gun but all the books in Machineries of Empire series is the vocabulary. I love the references to how language changed via Jedao with honorifics to how the “high language” and “low languages” didn’t always translate well into each other but also informal and formal ways of addressing that don’t come up in English so much but add so much to comment on. It made the world feel so vivid and bright.

Lee also did some fantastic development with the Moths like Revenant as well as different groups of serviters. Some of them implied to have hexarchy sympathies while others want to ally with certain humans and the moth-allied ones who just want to fuck off. It makes totally sense the moth-allied servitors (especially under Kujen) to be pretty radical compared to the others but DAMN! I did not think they’d straight up massacre all of Revenant’s crew. Then the servitors being like “we won’t murder Jedao cuz you helped us and we’re polite” but also the moths totally are pissed you’re a turn coat.

It just works so well narratively. Utterly terrifying and suspenseful while reading and I legit thought that moth-Jedao is no way surviving this. Also, I love how Lee differentiated moth-Jedao from Cheris character-wise. AlsoI love how moth-Jedao doesn’t have dyscalcula yet nearly fucked up the whole assasination having the wrong sign which threw off the formation. It’s so simple and believable and real and damn, flipping signs and keeping track of them such a pain.

I have to admit that moth-Jedao being 16-17 y/o yet using formation instinct to get Dhanneth’s assistance pretending to be in a relationship… that.. I still don’t really like that, especially with how it ended for Dhanneth. Say all you want that moth-Jedao is a kid with crazy power yet no life experience in a shitty situation driving him to do shit. Hawkfucking is still pretty fucked up. It’s acknowledged, hell, Cheris shoots moth-Jedao for it. *shivers* It’s just alot and still doesn’t sit well. Not that it should just.. idk what I’m saying.

Anyway, I did enjoy Revenant Gun alot. I didn’t expect singular they/them pronouns and it was a happy surprise plus the queer rep with Inesser (she/her) having wives. Then Brezan having two fathers, one referred to as the “older” and another as the “younger” which I might use that style in my writing.

All around vibe of a book. Vibe of a series. I plan on reading other books by Lee in the future.

Prev: Raven Strategem

[beepost-generator]

@ Jenks from Wayfarer

@ Seivarden with Justice of Toren

NOT @ Jedao from Revenant Gun please that's upsetting. Luckily this spoiler is imcomprehensible until you finish the book.

...I read a lot of books that happen to contain upsetting ship ships.

YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, GO MAKE OUT WITH THAT SPACESHIP CONSOLE I MEAN SPACESHIP CONSOLE I MEAN

[pettyprocrastination]

The Revenant Wife

Pairing: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of grief and death. 

Summary: Ellie knows very little of Joel and even less of the wife he had before the outbreak. When she finally meets you, its just as much as shock to her as it is to your husband. 

Word count: 1.6k

Note: ficlet is based off of this previous post about Joel getting separated from his wife during the outbreak and assuming you died until you find one another years later. Reader is described to look like Sarah. Title came from the ever lovely @djarin-junk​ <3

Tagging those I think would enjoy: @pedrostories​ @thesadvampire​ @joel-mlller @softanon​ @max--phillips​ @captainsamwlsn​ @hooplahoopla​ @moondirti​ 

-------------------------------

Ellie didn’t know that Joel had a wife. 

Granted, she didn’t know much about his old life at all. 

She knew he built things. That he had a brother named Tommy and a daughter named Sarah, but didn’t like to talk about the latter that much. In one fleeting conversation, full of mumbles as her eyes began to close while they rested under the night sky she heard him mention you but was far too gone to truly hear what he said. Nothing more than the vague rumble of his voice saying “my wife” before her eyes opened once more. 

“You’re married?”

She asks with such incredulous shock it sounds more like “somebody married you?” but girls at her age hardly ever have filters. 

“I was.” 

There’s the same bristle in his throat and far off look in his eyes as when she first asked about his daughter. An open answer but one that carries enough unsaid to tell Ellie of your fate. To warn her that she should change the subject or simply shut her mouth and go to sleep before plucking his raw nerve one too many times until he snaps- 

“What was she like?” 

But Joel learned early on that Ellie wasn’t one to follow warnings. 

“Kind.” His breath stutters. “But not a pushover- she didn’t take shit from anybody.” He stares up at the sky, feeling his chest grow tight and fingers twitch by his side until there’s a rustling, the girl next to him rolling over to face him and he turns to find Ellie peeking out from her sleeping bag with a smile. 

Damn this girl. 

“Not even from you?” 

Joel scoffs. “Especially from me. The amount of times she gave me and Tommy and earful-” he shakes his head, Ellie watches a smile grow on his face in silence, as if worried she may frighten it away. 

“Did she cook?” 

Ellie thinks of the stories the older kids would tell her. The ones who remembered life before the Outbreak, who told her of freshly baked pies on weekend and fluffy pancakes in the morning. 

Joel remembers the first time you tried to bake him a cake for his birthday back when he was sixteen. How he opened the door to your forlorn face and a store bought sheet cake in your hands because as your mother told him over the phone, you damn near burned the whole house down trying to bake for him as a surprise. 

“From time to time.” 

There was only so much she could get out of him before his voice became clipped and eyes full of an emotion she didn’t quite know the name of that he told her to get some rest. Leaving her with nothing to do but to stare at the sky and wonder about these stories in the shape of a woman who unveiled a little bit more about the mysterious man she traveled with. 

Of all the silence and secrets that made up the man that protected her, she created stories to fill them. Stories of Joel Miller, husband, father, brother and badass contractor that everybody loved.   Of his soldier brother, of his wife and their smiling daughter between them both. 

In Ellie’s mind, you didn’t work. 

But not in a ditzy lame way like some boring housewife. But just because you didn’t have to. 

Joel said that everybody loved contractors so that means he probably got paid like, a ton of money to build stuff for people so you got to stay at home all day. Ellie imagined your house to be ginormous. Maybe Joel made it himself for you when you guys first got married. It was big enough that when Joel came home everyday he’d call out your name and it’d echo through  the hall as you called him into the kitchen, where your daughter sat reading as you set dinner on the table. Sometimes you’d get upset if he came home late but then he’d kiss your cheek and you would roll your eyes but smile before you all sat down and ate as a family. 

Ellie imagines Joel’s daughter, she wonders if Sarah looks more like her mother than her father. 

Ellie wonders as the sleep takes over her body, if they could have been friends. 

When it happens, months later after she’s come to think of Joel as something akin to family and he thinks of her as something he can’t say out loud just yet, she’s shocked. She’s face to face with a woman holding her at gunpoint that looks nothing like the smiling mother she dreamt of during cold nights. 

You don’t match the stories Ellie made up in your head.

You’re mean. 

No. Mean isn’t the right word. 

Cold. Yes. you're very cold. 

Ellie watches in shock as you ask where they're headed, gun focused on the center of her chest while the two boys at your side point their own at Joel, who has yet to speak. 

She waits for him to answer, but he just stares at you in awe. The same man she’s seen kill and threaten to keep her safe day in and day out is rendered speechless until all he can do is utter your name and she realizes that he knows you. More than that, judging by the way he surrenders his gun to you with no fight, something she had never seen him do. 

You lift your head to look at him, the brim of your hat raises just enough to clear the shadow cast over your face and Ellie can finally see your eyes and the snarl on your face. 

You’re also very pretty.

“I won’t ask again.” 

The two boys standing on either side of you have your eyes. Same color and intensity, narrowed into slits like guard dogs waiting for an order and Ellie sees the way Joel stares at them. 

She wonders if Sarah had brothers. 

“Out west.” He manages. “Takin’ her to her family.” 

Your eyes move to her and she holds her hands higher in the air. 

“That true?” “What?” 

“Is he telling the truth?” 

The taller one, Duke, she had heard you call him, had already ripped the bag from her back and emptied its contents onto the ground, she had nothing else to hide from you. 

But then she sees something in your eyes. A concern for her that she hadn’t seen since Tess or Marlene. 

And she understands. 

“He’s telling the truth.” Ellie forces out. 

You watch her for a moment and there’s a moment of panic where she thinks you can see right through her lie. 

But then you lower your gun and jerk your head over your shoulder. 

“C’mon.” is all you say before you begin to walk away. The boys gawk at you for a moment before you give them a look of warning and they follow in your step, occasionally casting glances behind them at Joel and Ellie who follow suit. 

She’s quick to grab onto the sleeve of Joel’s jacket and pull with a harsh whisper as the other’s march forward. 

“You know this psycho?” 

Joel flinches at her voice as it pitches up. If any of you heard her, which he gathered you did because Ellie didn’t have an inside voice to save her fucking life, you didn’t care enough to react. 

Ellie whispers his name again. Insistent and angry for answers but he just keeps looking forward. He can’t take his eyes off of you or the boys ahead and it fills her with worry but she doesn’t know why. 

“She’s my wife.”

You lead them to a cottage. Its paint is chipping and the fence is reinforced with wiring around the perimeter but it looks like a home. She can vaguely hear the soft clucking of chickens nearby and there's a flash of fur behind the fence with a pair of pointed ears that duck away just as fast as she saw them. 

Ellie has seen the remnants of homes before the outbreak. The plates still stacked in the sink and the jacket still hung up on the hook. A story telling a family that once lived within its walls and is now nothing more than memories that ghosts along its foundation. 

But this one is real. It’s yours. 

 There is a rickety wooden table in the dining room. Each chair around it seems to have been brought from a different house and is varying shades of faded brown. You kick the leg of one and nod toward it.“Sit, both of you.”

Ellie looks to Joel before sitting. He follows suit, choosing the chair closest to her. 

“I’m gonna get some bandages for that leg-” 

Joel shifts forward. “I don’t need-” 

“I wasn’t fucking asking, Joel.” 

You’re not stronger than Joel, if she had to guess. You both look the same age, but she’s seen his strength, his violence, all done for her safety and knows if it came down to it, you might not win in a fight against him. 

But at your order, he sits back in his chair. 

You turn and set a shoulder on your son’s shoulder. 

At least. She thinks he’s your son. 

Softly spoken words are exchanged while the other keeps his eyes on Joel and his hand on his holster. The boy says something back in insistence, but you tilt your head and he nods. 

“If either of them try moving or taking anything.” You offer them one final look over your shoulder before slipping out of the room. “Shoot them.” 

They listen to your footsteps slowly retreat until there’s nothing but the subtle creak and groan of the wood floor beneath them. Ellie leans forward to look at Joel, setting her hands firmly on the dinner table in announcement. 

“Dude-” The young girl breathes out. “Your wife is a bitch.”

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries below:

The Trials of Apollo (The Hidden Oracle, The Dark Prophecy, The Burning Maze, The Tyrant's Tomb, The Tower of Nero) by Rick Riordan

How do you punish an immortal? By making him human. After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour. But Apollo has many enemies—gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go… an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood. Fantasy, mythology, middle grade, adventure, urban fantasy, series

The Machineries of Empire series (Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, and other stories) by Yoon Ha Lee

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general. Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim. Science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, series, adult

[miyaneatworld]

why does this game have two people who can silence now lmfao

[fuwafuwashi]

I just think I just think I just think that in the beginning she wanted to be a part of something larger than herself so badly, she wanted to conform in the matrix of the larger Us and even through all that she was still so human she couldn’t help but listen to the ghost in her head and realized he was human too. in the end she again gave up who she was for the hope of something greater

she was such a good Kel but god she was a better Person

[unrestedjade]

Jolting awake just as I'm dozing off to jot down "holism/perihelion biomechanical horror unwanted pregnancy" hell yes fucking brilliant this will still make perfect sense in the cold light of day for sure

[syeniites]

🌱 vs 🦋 flavor of genetically-alien humanoid construct

[a-green-onion]

hi. it's about your boyfriend again. we were able to recover his memories but only some of them. so he has all his skills but he thinks he's 19. yeah he's looking for his high school crush, sorry. also we had to put him in a body derived from an alien horror. he's indestructible now and this version of him is also trying to kill you. he still thinks you're hot, though, if it helps.

[phagodyke]

kind of annoys me sometimes how I can happily listen to my roommate explain the entire plot of whatever she's currently into but when it comes to my interests she can only listen for a few mins before wordlessly walking out of the room