#sequel trilogy liveblog

[thethiefandtheairbender]

pjo tv show demonstrating how to elevate and further develop a character like grover my beloved

[businesstiramisu]

wait has tumblr been going on about Mando being king of mandalore just because of some Elder Wand style rules lawyering? lmao

[wanderingandfound]

I don't know if people pay attention to the trend on my blog but if people think I've made a downturn because I've been posting negatively about

The new Scooby-Doo show

The new Addams Family show

Dragons ^ Dungeons

I would just like to remind them that the first tumblr blog that I was checking daily (long before I had an account) was reasoningwithvampires, a blog ripping apart Twilight mainly on the basis of grammar and continuity, and that I've always been a bit of a petty hater when it comes to bad representation in ""unimportant"" popular fiction.

[bumpscosity]

Ok there’s a lot going on here with ahsoka being framed and all but more importantly that black r4 sounded exactly like bb8

[starplusfourletters]

I read specter of the past (hand of thrawn book 1)

This turned into a liveblog srry

Me, reading the Thrawn trilogy: Okay obvi Mara/Luke is a slow burn

Me, skipping to the duology set 10 years later: GUYS YOU’RE LOSING DAYLIGHT

Oh no they have a passive aggressive “may the Force be with you” / “good luck” thing oh no I might ship it

Also the small existential crisis that ensues every time I remember Luke is (checks Wookieepedia) THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD. I cannot picture Luke Skywalker a day over 22 I think my brain would explode [actively represses the sequel trilogy]

This book is absolutely crawling with badass female smugglers and I’m living for it

Oooh proto-convor! [two pages later] OH NO PROTO-CONVOR DEATH ☹

Mara Jade, Force sensitive specializing in precognition, former Emperor’s Hand, second-in-command of the most powerful information dealing organization in the galaxy: Runs into a wall and spends the rest of the book knocked out

Lando “Could I Please Get Back to My Day Job It Has Been Two Decades” Calrissian. Just let the man mine in unlikely places it’s all he’s ever wanted

I got way too happy about the implication that the Imperial whose name I've forgotten figured out the tractor beam thing. He solved Science! Good for he!

Loving how everyone’s opinion on Karrde is basically “nice guy; sus that he insists on getting paid, though.” Like yes this is still a capitalist economy and he runs a business with a large number of employees

We interrupt your space fantasy to bring you a “Chicken Fried” music video with clone sleeper agents

Okay everybody place your bets is Car’das a secret brother, secret father, or ex-boyfriend (hype for some Karrde backstory and realizing the extent to which my brain has decided he and Kaz Brekker are the same person is Extensive)

Legit starting to feel sorry for Gilead “Sad Fascist Grandpa” Pellaeon. Somebody give this guy a peace treaty and a hug. Also more and more irked about No Prisoners why did that need a retcon

Really enjoyed the book’s interrogation of the premise “how do we actually make a galactic organization that includes cultures with mutually exclusive legal and ethical codes WITHOUT being fascist.” Felt very Trek. Actually went further toward radical inclusivity than Trek usually does; the Federation does have an element of “you must be this close to 20th-21st century American values to ride” which is its own kind of cultural imperialism and in this essay I will -

I simply cannot get enough of these books’ “protagonist stumbles, Kramer-like, into the Site of Maximal Galactic Importance Du Jour.” I will let you know when it stops being funny to me. Also really like how the villains are starting to learn to use it to their advantage; like yeah it DOES look like a conspiracy when you think about it

[tarisilmarwen]

Ahsoka "Dreams and Madness" Liveblog

Heeeeeeeeee.

My week has sucked, let's get into this already, this is some of the only true joy I'm deriving from life right now.

(I'm okay but legitimately, my week has sucked, lemme have this.)

HELLO CORUSCANT YOU'RE LOOKING PRETTY.

Ho daaaaayum, Hera bringing the fire to this meeting.

I am... annoyed by the emphasis on Hera as a maverick though, she was the Rebels character MOST beholden to the protocol and procedure of the hierarchy, the time she saved Kanan was the only time she ever really defied orders and dammit I have just patchworked myself my own answer okay so obviously she's normally very rule-abiding EXCEPT for times when her family and the people she cares about most need her help and no one else will give aid to her.

Curses upon my ability to iron out plot wrinkles I don't like.

Filoni must REALLY not like Xiono, he's giving him all the skeptic lines.

Course this is also one of the times the writing has to be hampered by trying to patchwork and salvage the Sequel Trilogy by explaining why the New Republic ignored the problem of the First Order until it was too late.

HI THREEPIO.

Man I am gonna cry ugly tears when we lose Antony Daniels, he loves playing Threepio so much, he's always up for it, never once complained that no one knows him from anything else.

Right so I get why they had Threepio deliver a message instead of trying to CGI frankenstein Leia into this but also Disney are cowards JUST RECAST THE MAIN TRIO I PROMISE NO ONE ACTUALLY HOLDS IT AGAINST ALDEN, TLJ JUST SUCKED AND SOLO WAS THE NEXT PRODUCT WE HAD TO TAKE THINGS OUT ON.

Seriously, the de-aging and CGI puppetry is starting to get uncomfortable and weird.

Chopper bout to throw hands in this courthouse lol.

I'm sorry, the emphasis on just how LONG this hyperspace trip is is absolutely making me reel with adoration for Ezra, he held the air inside the bridge of the Chimaera and the door closed and Thrawn in place ALL THE WAY TO PERIDEA IN ANOTHER FREAKING GALAXY.

YOUR FAVE COULD NEVER.

Loosen up a bit Rosario, you're stiff.

Oof that little bow between Ahsoka and Holo!Anakin.

Huyang begrudgingly having to remember to trust the Force lol.

Ohhhhh bastard, he put explosives in orbit to stop the purrgil!

.....Making the ring against the planet like that was supposed to be a visual reminder of the Death Star right?

The look of subtle but dawning horror in Thrawn's face when he realizes Ahsoka was Anakin's padawan lololol.

Like, "Ffffffffffffff--"

"Jedi are very good at hiding. They've been practicing that for years." Ah yes, excellent, another moment/quote I can add to my collection of "Thrawn barely containing his seething loathing of Ezra" bits lol.

*perks* Oh? Are we at the interesting parts now?

Ahhhh yes the minivan convoy with mom and dad Sabezra at the front.

There should have been waaaaaay more infodumping in this conversation, I need Ezra to boggle over everything.

Sabine still avoiding the question, but lol at Ezra's "The usual level [of complicated] or worse?" that's so cute.

THEIR BANTER IS ADORABLE I AM PILLOWING MYSELF IN IT AND MAKING A BLANKET FORT.

FRICK THIS IS PERFECT.

Ugh and he doesn't push her to talk about it, he's still so considerate of her armor and walls.

Someone, maybe multiple someones commented that they could see serious Two Towers aesthetics in this and... yeah no this is super LOTR-esque.

Lars Mikkelson continuing to kill it with his performance, as basic as it is.

[SIGHS HEAVILY AT THE CONTINUING INSISTENCE ON MAKING SABINE FORCE SENSITIVE] Okay, Filoni, whatever.

I'm ignoring this, I'm pretending she reached out to Ezra instead.

"Took me in when I really needed help." Ohhhhh do not do that, do not plant hurt/comfort ideas in my head ghgkasuhfkauhf.

He is so softly concerned about her aaaaahhhhhh.

I saw a few people confused by Baylan basically abandoning Shin to things here when he was acting so fond of her last episode so let me maybe shed some light on that situation. Ahem:

THE DARK SIDE DESIRE FOR POWER SLOWLY CONSUMES YOU UNTIL IT IS OVERWHELMING, UNTIL WHAT YOU WANTED THE POWER FOR NO LONGER MATTERS. THAT'S ITS NATURE THAT'S WHAT IT DOES. BECOMES MORE AND MORE OF AN OBSESSION UNTIL IT'S ALL YOU CARE ABOUT.

So yes, Baylan chucking Shin out to find her destiny or whatever because whatever it is that he's trying to seize power from is making him completely overlook her feelings.

"If Lord Baylan proves capable..." LOLOLOL BAYLAN DECIDED TO SCREW THAT NOISE HE'S IN IT FOR HIMSELF MY MAN.

GUNSHIPS! GUUUUUNSHIIIIIIIPS!

:D

Ezra can't leave the one crashed one, awwwwww.

Frick, him being the Noti's protector is just so frigging cute. I need fluff fics.

I'M GONNA DIE FROM THIS BANTER, IT'S ADORABLE.

Battle Couple Sabezra now? Y/Y?

Baylan's whole demeanor is changing, it's like he's soaking up the Dark Side energy of this place. Once again, awed by Ray Stevenson's sheer presence. The man feels massive and he's just standing there.

LOLOL THIS WHOLE ARGUMENT OVER THE "OUR" LIGHTSABER.

I'm grinning.

But also I wanna see Ezra hold his lightsaber again, pretty please?

Ahsoka doing much better now that she has both her blades this time.

*pillows hands* Can I watch Ezra forever please. I missed you son. Never leave me again.

HUYAAAAAAAAANG! :D

Oh man, how much dread and chagrin do you think Ezra had when he saw the stormtroopers?

Ho ho Thrawn looks eager for this.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE.

(They are this close to holding hands you guys.)

This is probably giving Ezra flashblacks.

Oh sue me I want some angst and whump and pain to have happened in the interim.

Ahsoooooookkaaaaaaaaaaa! :D

Oh for, please stop using the beskar as literal plot armor. It sucks a lot of danger out of the fight.

Thrawn being all Xanatos Gambit like the pro he is.

Shin looking like she might cry, oh wow actual emotions.

FRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIICCCCKKK THAT ADORABLE LITTLE LAUGH.

Oh gosh, don't jinx it don't jinx it don't jinx it...

Wheeeeeeeeee that was... fun, actually!

The Sabezra bits were adorable. I have quibbles here and there but I'm just so happy being Sabine being happy and content and seeing Ezra being... Ezra.

Nervous for the last ep though. Hhhgnghhhhh I am very much stressed and I do not wish to be.

[summersfirstsnow]

Mid-Year Book Meme (2023)

@sixappleseeds said that anyone who wanted to could do this so I have decided that includes me

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2023? I've read a lot of good books this year! Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh was a good read, the Will Darling trilogy by KJ Charles was also really good. My favourite debut so far is To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. Some others will be used later but have a right to be here too.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2023? The Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson! Nice fun sequel novella that ties up some loose ends and lets readers spend more time with the characters (and the house, which has Opinions).

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To? The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon is next on my list. And on my library borrows pile.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2023? Moon of the Turning Snow by Waubgeshig Rice is definitely up there, as are A Power Unbound by Freya Marske and The Salvation Gambit by Emily Strutskie.

5. Biggest Disappointment? Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall, which made me feel like my brain was being eaten by gummy worms. In a bad way.

6. Biggest Surprise? A Half-built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys! I was expecting to like it, but I wasn't expecting how often I just... think about it apropos of nothing now. It's one of the first cli-fi stories that is optimistic but avoids becoming too saccharine for my taste.

7. Favorite New Author? Terry Pratchett is kind of new to me, I had read Nation but this was my first time picking up Discworld books. KJ Charles is the other new author whose work I've read quite a bit of this year.

8. Newest Favorite Character? I don't have that many characters that I'm WILDLY attached to any characters that I read about this year. Emily Wilde from Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries is very good. I like that she's better at relating to fae than humans due to autism social awkwardness of no particular diagnosis I'm sure.

9. Newest Fictional Crush? *flashback to that time everyone thought I was lying when I said I didn't have a crush on anyone during an icebreaker due to my brain going completely blank* Uhhh...

10. Book That Made You Cry? And This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, in the The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 collection definitely brought tears to my eyes (older sibling FEELINGSSSSS etc), but the last book had me an utter wreck was last year when I read Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

11. Book That Made You Happy? The Luminaries by Sarah Dennard was fun and made me laugh as I liveblogged it for my friends. A Half-built Garden also merits a second mention because it was nice to find a book in the genre that didn't make me either deeply despairing or violently annoyed.

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw This Year? I guess Nimona wins by default, I don't think I've watched any other adaptations.

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year? I guess my June reading list wins by default also because I don't think I've written any other reviews.

14. Most Beautiful Cover? The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty has a gorgeous cover, I like that it looks kind like it's printed from woodcuts almost.

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill is on my list.

And I'm tagging: @lloonlloon, @notpuckconnolly, and whoever else wants to do it!

[crunchycrystals]

every book i read in september 2023

i did in fact bring this back because i thought it would be fun and all my followers should know that before everything, i am a book nerd. i genuinely think i only feel like i'm alive when i'm reading regularly. no spoilers for any of the books i talk about because i can only have one cut per post

before i get into the books here's some general info on reading stuff this month. so i read 9 books which i'm really proud of myself for after being in a reading slump for ages. i was still reading then but i really was not enjoying myself nearly as much as i was in previous months and i'm really enjoying myself now. 5 of the books i read were physical copies of them, 1 was an ebook, and 3 were audiobooks. my average rating was 4.29/5 and read a total of 13.78 hours on audiobook and 2476 of pages shout out to storygraph for all this info i am telling you use storygraph if you want to track your reading its so great

the cruel prince. i really liked this surprisingly??? the worldbuilding was great and i loved all the political aspects of it. jude was a really interesting main character and i had a lot of fun with the story (especially the plot twist/s, no i'm not saying if there's more than one). i liveblogged a couple parts of the entire series this month so you can check my tfota tag for more in depth thoughts

the lost sisters. it was pretty interesting to see the plot of the cruel prince from the perspective of a different character but i didn't think much about my enjoyment of it since i was just reading it for more info on the series lol

captain stone's revenge. so i went on a nancy drew diaries binge once and i've been keeping up with the series ever since then just because, and i had a hold on this book for like 2 months at the library and i finished it in a day lol. it's a short book and definitely not as good as other books in the series but yk it wasn't awful still had fun reading

we are okay. this is one of my favorite books and i cried for 40 minutes straight as i finished the last like 50-80 pages. it's a really great exploration of different kinds of grief that are complicated and how it affects people. i posted while reading it "every chapter there's something that makes me take psychic damage" which was very fun but also deeply painful (in a fun way most of the time, sometimes i was in public trying not to cry). the ending is so hopeful it made me cry for a different reason why i was crying for the past 35ish minutes. it's a great book i highly recommend it it's only like 230 pages.

the wicked king. sequel to the cruel prince, i also really enjoyed this but i don't think i enjoyed it as much as the cruel prince. still well written though and i have more in depth thoughts under my tfota and/or reading commentary tags

queen of nothing. 100% my favorite from the trilogy i loved it i thought the characters and plot in this one were all super great and i loved the ending especially. i do have more detailed thoughts that i wrote down for me personally but this is a no spoilers section so i won't share it unless someone asks

cress. this is the 3rd book in the lunar chronicles series and aaaaaaa i loved this so much i had so much fun reading it i love the alternating povs and how they all end up clashing with the dramatic irony in that one scene i loved kai's povs i wanted to keep reading constantly i love these characters so much go read the lunar chronicles please

chalice of the gods. uhhh so i finished this in less than 12 hours i liveblogged it all i really enjoyed it you can see my thoughts there go check it out (cotg or reading commentary tag). a lot of cringe moments (WHY does he mention boomers so much) but i am choosing not to see it i only see percabeth and percy grover friendship content again and i enjoyed reading it

daisy jones and the six. i listened to this on audiobook and it was incredibleeeeeeee the voice actors were amazing it was so entertaining. another taylor jenkins reid book about the drama between famous people and it was very entertaining to read about. stressful at times but overall i liked it. once again there are some notes in the reading commentary tag

i also started winter this month but i am definitely finishing it in october so i don't count it lol

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Nesha Reads 2022: My Not-So Organized Liveblogging of Books.

This Poison Heart | This Wicked Fate

Raybearer | Redemptor 

Skin of the Sea

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin | A Psalm of Storms and Silence

The Tea Dragon Society Series: The Tea Dragon Society | The Tea Dragon Festival | The Tea Dragon Tapestry 

Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens

The Dreamer Trilogy (Not Black books, but features a prominent Black female character.) I don’t believe that this is the case for the other books by this author. The reason I’m pointing it out here and didn’t for the Tea Dragon Society is that this series is hella long and I wanted MY audience to realize that this trilogy’s representation may not necessarily reflect the remainder of the author’s work and is the only portion of it that I intend to feature in this Black femmecentric space. Call Down the Hawk | Mister Impossible | Greywaren (Releases October 2022. Potentially will not be read until next year)

Iron Widow (This is not a Black story)

Akata Woman (Third installment in The Nsibidi Scripts) 

Bayou Magic *Didn’t liveblog. Very short read and cute story, though

Pinned 

The School for Good and Evil  (Not Black books, but features a prominent female character who will be played by a multiracial girl with some Black ancestry.)

Maya and the Rising Dark Series: I read the first book last year, then reread it this year, along with the sequels. Maya and the Rising Dark (Re-read) | Maya and the Return of the Godlings | Maya and the Lord of Shadows

Blood Like Fate (Sequel to Blood Like Magic)

I am currently not reading anything because of the two job, one off day thing happening, but lemme gon’ head and post this since we’re coming to the end of the year. :)

[icharchivist]

Exactly!

Writing isn't a competition, you're not playing against your audience in some way

You're telling them a story and they're engaging with it. That's great! It's a shared effort!

Funnily enough, I had the Star Wars sequel trilogy in mind when writing that first ask, because wow, how shameful to have something set up and then changing it seemingly at the last second for a "Well, aren't you surprised?"

Yeah, but not in a good way, you oaf

That whole trilogy is so haphazard, it really hurts. I get they switched directors, but they could have tried to build something together instead of each trying to tear down what came before it

But yeah, I've also seen it during your FFVII Remake liveblog, they seem to be scared of the subtlety the OG had and are trying to rush you to the money shots, not realizing that you kind of need buildup for those to really land

Exactly!!! exactly that!! Like man this becomes sad when all you want to do is make sure the audience doesn't know what's up.

lmao the Star Wars sequel trilogy is such a good example of that, this was just so shitty in general and so not interesting to engage with.

I get that the first movie was playing things way too safe (especially as mirroring things from the previous trilogies), but even if you want to ruin things to "make something more interesting" well, yeah, okay, but it doesn't sound like you care all that much.

(like the one thing that had me go "ok, i'm out, bye" was when i watched TLJ seeing all of that where Rey recognizes that "her parents were nobodies" because like. what does it matter to HER? the AUDIENCE wanted her parents to be something special and maybe the first movie was hitting at it, but Rey just wanted a family?? why would it MATTER that they are nobodies, she still wanted them to find her because it's her FAMILY. It feels like such an audience gotcha that is no longer character driven and it felt so useless to me right there. Not like the next movie did anything better about it lol)

and yeah the ff7 remake really pulled that at any turns and genuinely most of those set up felt so vulgar in comparaison and it made me so sad.

Just man. idk. This is so sad to see.

[solipsistful]

@lepertamar are you going to liveblog 👀👀👀

honestly probably not! i can't really imagine setting the book aside just to say some things on tumblr

however, as much as i plan to immerse ourselves all day, it is very likely that we do not finish it all in one day (it's nearly 500 pages. the omnibus is 600 pages; Jeff that's not a sequel you just wrote another trilogy). which will probably mean some kind of "OH MY GOD?" kind of post whenever we have to put it down lol

you'll get all sorts of (tagged for spoilers) Thoughts after the fact though, of course

- ace

ten more days until Absolution, vibrating

- ace

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

LOL so I’m finally watching the Last Jedi just because I’m tired of not having opinions on The Discourse.

(Also I finally watched all of TFA like a month ago, after having watched a little and rage quitting back when it first came out. My general opinion was that the script was kind of weak, and the plot and characterization was rather murky and heavily hindered by all the nostalgia baiting. It had some really good moments but none of the emotional beats really hit as hard as they should’ve.)

General thoughts so far:

-I’m not fond of overly long action sequences,and the space battles keep reminding me of this fact.

-that being said Rose Tico is fantastic and I love her. I get the sense that the sequel trilogies seems to do very well with establishing compelling characters in broad brush strokes, it just sucks at following through

-the slapstick comedy style feels dissonant af. and frequently the script seems to favor a joke over characterization. ex. the dramatic set up to Luke’s intro and then him immediately flinging the lightsaber behind him without any preamble or context

-Snoke and Kylo Ren’s first scene was definitely an OH SHIT moment. this honestly informed his character more than anything I’d seen in TFA

[americankimchi]

alright gamers its justice league 2017 time. watching these movies back to back is probably not the best idea but also if i stop now i dont think i could convince myself to pick it back up again so here we go

[luminecho]

why is this trial so long i'm gonna start sobbing

[sublimesublemon]

just finished. v good. more specific (but really only #4 is spoilery) thoughte below:

might be the most incredible piece of animated film ever created. not exaggerating in the slightest. no, roger rabbit doesn't count, that was a live action film that integrated animation, not an animated film

LOVE that sony finally realized that they technically have the rights to every piece of spider-man media that has ever existed on planet earth, and DID something with it all!!!

truly golden all around. cannot say enough good things. def will rewatch, and prob will liveblog said rewatch for more minute thots

at first i hated that there was a to be continued at the end. where every fucking piece of media these days is part of a piece of the extended universe and every piece of recycled ip needs to be a quintology or else it's a flop and gets canceled halfway through production, i felt like making a sequel to an otherwise standalone film that was altogether perfect except that it didn't actually have an end, and won't unless The Execs decide to grace us with one was a bit cringe tbh. but actually i do kind of like it. the ending of the first film had gwen showing up in a vortex - could read as standalone for sure! i chose to read it as such until news of a sequel came out. could just be potential for further stories, and that's not a cliffhanger or anything, it's just a tease of imagination. but it obviously could have been read as a hook for a sequel, which it ended up becoming. and now that there was an initial film with a tentative next, is now a film with a concrete next, the next step is to have a final, true, concluding final chapter. god, please, let there only be three. please let the trilogy return. there do not need to be fifteen sequels to a property. let your darlings die. kill them if you have to.

not gonna name any specifics bc it's just out today but dude i am currently 10 minutes into spiderverse2 and it is. SO good. i was honestly not holding my breath bc the og was so good and like truly how can you make an adequate sequel to that masterpiece?

but whoops, seems like they did!

[jb-nonsense]

Me last week: this is the book of Boba Fett why is this an episode of only Din

Me this week: LUKE. YES. LUKE TRAINING GROGU!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!