#shaylin

[nansmenagerie]

I joined a MineCraft server with Bori and I've been having a blast. First pic doesn't have everyone, but it's a basic rundown.

[waddler13]

Shaylin is an absolute sweetheart, and I love causing her problems 💚

[fortheloveofsweat-take2]

[bookishfreedom]

“I’ve been cursed twice in my life. Once when I was born. And again when I met you.”

HAPPY PUB DAY to Once Charmed Twice Cursed!! 🎉

I made the mistake of picking up this book during my lunch break yesterday, and I pretty much didn’t put it back down after that until I’d devoured the whole thing 🫢🫢 Review below the cut

Once Charmed Twice Cursed follows Bria, a young woman blessed by the goddess of fortune with unnatural good luck. Her family has decided it’s time for her to marry. The problem? The one man she wants is the one man she cannot have: Weston, her brothers best friend, and also a Null: cursed by the goddess Fortuna with BAD luck. When they’re together, their luck cancels out. But if they were to touch? They’d both lose their luck forever.

This book had me engaged from page one. I really loved Bria’s voice, and of course fell head over heels for Weston. (blonde mmc haters DNI - I love this man)

Once Charmed Twice Cursed had Princess Brode vibes, but with the angst cranked up to 100, and I was so here for it. I am a sucker for any story with some good pining, and this one delivers. To love and want someone who you can never touch? Absolutely feral in the best way.

I don’t usually love short books (this one is only about 250 pages) but the pacing honestly made it work for me. Although I would’ve liked to see a bit more of Bria’s personal growth - the hints of it that we got were delightful and I think it would’ve been fun to play around more with how life would be different when she’s around Weston and their luck cancels out.

All of this to say, if you’re looking for a quick but satisfying romance with a hint of fantasy, this might just be your book.

Side note: every time Weston calls Bria by her nickname “Birdie” I just hear the tiktok sesame street thing in my head over and over 😂😭 “it’s okay birdie, I’m gonna take care of you birdie” …. totally works for them tbh

One million thank you’s to Shaylin Gandhi for the free arc in exchange for an honest review. It was so worth the wait! ❤️

[floral-grunge]

Shaylin Wallace

[lizanneyoung97]

BOOK REVIEW: SONG OF THE HUNDRED-YEAR SUMMER BY SHAYLIN GANDHI

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I started my week with a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It was a fun twist ending on the story, and I enjoyed the theming about seeing someone for who they really are and not just for their beauty, or perceived lack of. 

What stood out to me the most about the story was that, in order to save her people from starvation in a heavy drought, Naia has to consider the ramifications of her actions and if they’re worth it to her. Because she grew up with birthmarks that were considered unsightly to others, this isn’t necessarily a difficult decision for her. However, it made me think more about the person who chose before her, since it seems like they didn’t know about the ramifications. While it may not change their decision, it’s still interesting to consider if it changed their perspective on life at all.

[ladyfogg]

Meet Shaylin, my new ranger Wood Elf who's ready for some hot vampire lovin'.

[lebojohnb]

Shaylin Michelle L

[houseofzoey]

Overall Thoughts on the House of Night Series

By my standards, this series failed in basically every way possible - except monetary success.

The characters are poorly developed, the majority of them fulfilling shallow archetypes or offensive stereotypes with minimal nuance or meaningful exploration. This is true even of major characters, particularly Damien, Stevie Rae, Shaunee, and even Aphrodite.

Much as Aphrodite is beloved by haters and fans alike for her hardships and ability to actually tell off Zoey on occasion, she's ultimately just the lovable bitch/mean-girl-turned-best-friend trope and sees little thoughtful development. We're told that she changes, such as when she declares that she doesn't want to be like her mother and opts not to mix Xanax and wine - but then she's back to the same "substance abuse for laughs" shtick in the next book. Aphrodite's only actual, consistent change is that she stops hating Zoey and considers her a close friend. But otherwise? She's still a quintessential mean girl. She insults people for how they dress, looks down on the poor, bickers and picks fights with everyone, and - oh yeah - is racist, ableist, and queerphobic. Because it's "funny".

Personally? I think Aphrodite is one of the most despisable characters in the series, specifically because a) she has all the makings of a great character with huge potential for complexity and development, b) we're told she goes through incredible growth and change without really being shown it, and c) she's a raging bigot and that's meant to be funny/charming.

I've talked at length about how Zoey, Kalona, and Neferet are giant disappointments as characters, so I won't harp on that here. The main takeaway is that P.C. Cast doesn't know how to establish interesting, nuanced characters, and she certainly has no idea how to develop the cardboard cutouts she does introduce.

It doesn't help that this series has so many characters. A lot of them introduced once and then promptly forgotten. Remember Hannah Honeyyeager? Red? Montoya? Ant? Enyo? Sappho? Kaci Crump? Yeah, I don't blame you if you can't recall more than one detail about any of these characters - if you can even remember anything about them at all.

I can understand wanting to make the series feel well-populated, seeing as it is set in a school in a major city. But there are ways to do that without it feeling like the author just picks fifteen names out of a hat at the beginning of each book and throws them into the text at random intervals. The end result is that the HoN doesn't feel well-populated; it feels cluttered.

The overabundance of meaningless characters leads to other problems, too. Namely... well, names. One great example of this is Shaunee Cole having a thing for Cole Clifton. That's ridiculous, especially because no one ever comments on it, despite this being the exact sort of oddity that these characters would banter about for at least a page. P.C. Cast just didn’t notice she did that. There's plenty of other examples of identical or extremely similar names throughout the series, such as:

Zoey's brother Kevin and Detective Kevin Marx

Erik and Erin

Neferet the person and Nefertiti the cat

Shaylin and Shaunee

Drew (human) and Drew (fledgling)

Kaci Crump, Cassie Kramme, Casey Young, and Kacie Lockwood (from the Other World spinoff)

Even Damien and Darius are a bit close. The author mixed up their names in narration at one point, and it was never caught during the editing process.

(It's also worth noting that P.C. and Kristin have stated that, if the HoN TV show ever comes to fruition, Shaunee and Erin's names will be changed to Monique and Misty.* Monique is already the name of a Priestess working under Damien at the NYHoN in Loved.)

This is only made more absurd when you remember that every single fledgling and vampyre - all these people who got Marked as teenagers - have complete freedom to change their name to whatever they want. Why are there three fledglings named some variation of Cassie (only Casey is human)? Where are all the kids naming themselves Destiny and Ebony and Serendipity? Why aren't more kids named after their favourite celebrities or characters? You're telling me not a single teenage boy named himself Mike Hawk? Where are the kids who gave themselves four middle names because it sounds fancy, or who made their initials into an acronym?

The number of characters who did something like this is very small: Aphrodite, Jack Twist, James Stark, Venus, and Thor are the only ones I can immediately think of. Frankly, that's absurd.

I know exactly why it's Iike that, though. PC Cast isn't thinking about world-building and internal logic when she names her characters. Instead, she regularly names her characters after real people she knows. Here is a non-exhaustive list of such names:

Shaunee Cole

Erin Bates

Damien Maslin (specifically the last name)

Seoras

Cassie Kramme**

Chera Kimiko

Adam Paluka

Mr. Shaddox

Bryan "Dragon" Lankford

Anastasia Lankford

(On a somewhat related note, both P.C. and Kristin both have multiple self-inserts throughout the original and spinoff series. For P.C., it's Sgiach and Tina. For Kristin, it's Zoey and Kacie. This is mostly harmless - except Tina. Tina is literary brown face, because the white author made her self-insert indigenous, specifically Creek. Otherwise, these self-inserts just end up glorified and coddled.)

This kind of offhandedness and carelessness with world-building plagues the series. It's why historical figures are casually mentioned to be vampyres with no thought to how that would actually impact history. It's why the author says, "yeah, all the best actors and singers are vampyres" but then never considers how different media would look if all the most famous entertainers were nocturnal and allergic to the sun. It's why only a handful of countries have large vampyre populations and many of them (such as Italy and Greece) are known to be incredibly sunny and have long days and long summers, while places like Canada are far less populated despite vampyres being minimally affected by the cold. It's why there's 25 HoNs in the world, seven of which are in the US, while only three are in Asia, one is in Africa, and there are none mentioned in Russia or South America. It's why there's only one HoN in Canada despite it being an enormous country that is difficult to travel because of terrain (mountains, wetlands, tundra), weather, and sheer size.

And the thing is, I can excuse Rule of Cool world-building, or world-building that is shallow/poorly thought out. But the execution and context matter. All throughout the text, there's this very clear vibe that the author thinks she has built this incredibly rich, detailed world that is well-researched and grounded in reality while still being fantastical. In reality, the world-building is about as deep and sturdy as a list of bullet points on a wet napkin: It's not detailed, half of it is unintelligible, and it's gonna fall apart if you put even the slightest pressure on it.

I think a great demonstration of both poorly thought out world-building and poorly developed characters is Nyx. She is a loving goddess who prizes free will and thus operates under the principle of non-interference - but she spent eons gaslighting Kalona and all of vampyre society; regularly pops in to give special powers, helpful hints, or immediate solutions to specific fledglings/vampyres if she likes them enough; openly plays favourites; and gives fledglings extremely cruel, painful, or confusing gifts with no explanation as to why said gifts work the way they do. Why is Stark able to accidentally kill someone because of a metaphor he didn't intend to use? Why do visions cause Aphrodite's eyes to bleed? It's also fundamentally unclear what she wants at numerous points throughout the series.

Much of Neferet's descent into evil and success in committing horrific atrocities comes down to the fact that a) Nyx decided that this was the situation in which she wasn't going to give Zoey or anyone else clear warnings or visions about specifically what Neferet was doing, and b) she refused to rescind any of Neferet's gifts, even when she was using them to hurt people and create undead abominations, and had completely turned her back on Nyx in favour of Darkness.

(This is only compounded by the events of the Other World spinoff, wherein Nyx responds to OG Neferet's crimes by erasing her soul from existence so she can never reincarnate or be resurrected. So, I guess she can interfere where she sees fit? She also reduces Other Neferet and a bunch of her soldiers to children so they can have a second chance [horrifying], and causes a bunch of people to instantly complete the Change - including Other Lynette, who was a human. That seems like a lot of very direct interference.)

I also need to acknowledge how absolutely nonsensical the plot of this series is. Like, even just looking at the (intended) core premise of each book, it's all over the place.

Marked: Zoey is Marked and must learn to navigate her new life as a fledgling, which includes discovering she is the Chosen One and ousting mean girl Aphrodite from her position as glorified Student Council President.

Betrayed: Neferet is acting suspicious, which includes accusing Aphrodite of lying about her visions, and being connected to undead fledglings Zoey has spotted around campus.

Chosen: Zoey must heal undead Stevie Rae while also juggling three boyfriends and lying to her friends about all of it.

Untamed: Creepy ravens are all over campus. Aphrodite gets a vision that reveals these are Raven Mockers and Neferet intends to free Kalona from his earthly prison.

Hunted: Kalona and Neferet have brainwashed pretty much everyone at the Tulsa HoN. Zoey and co. need to figure out how to break the spell or get rid of them.

Tempted: After being banished from Tulsa and unable to continue their reign over the HoN, Kalona and Neferet tell the High Council that they are Erebus and Nyx incarnate, and thus Neferet should be the new High Priestess of all vampyres. Zoey goes to the High Council to say they're lying.

Burned: Zoey is shattered in the Otherworld and everyone is trying to save her.

Awakened: Neferet murders Jack so Zoey will stop frolicking on the Isle of Skye and return to Tulsa. Once Zoey returns, Neferet pretends she's a good guy and asks for her forgiveness.

Destined: Zoey's mother had been ritually sacrificed by Neferet to create a living weapon, so Zoey and co. perform a reveal ritual to show how Zoey's mother was murdered.

Hidden: After being shunned by the High Council, Neferet kidnaps Zoey's grandma as vengeance. Neferet is also working a smear campaign against the HoN on local news, which Zoey and co. counteract by doing an interview badmouthing Neferet and announcing an open house on campus.

Revealed: Neferet murders the mayor outside the gates of the HoN, so the school is on lockdown until they can prove that no one living/working there killed him. The Seer Stone is making Zoey increasingly short-tempered and violent.

Redeemed: Neferet takes over a fancy hotel and declares all the hostages her worshippers. Zoey and co. need to figure out how to use Old Magick to stop an immortal without it making Zoey go mad.

Does any of that seem like a logical progression/escalation of events? This isn't even touching on all the random boy drama, abandoned subplots, or nonsensical digressions that only serve to pad the text.

What the author seemingly intended to craft was a Chosen One coming-of-age narrative about a young girl who always felt out of place finding belonging at the HoN while navigating romantic relationships, learning to be a leader, and joining the battle against Darkness.

What we got was a spoiled, selfish brat who complains about every privilege and inconvenience that falls into her lap, who refuses to do anything hard or unpleasant to the point that she repeatedly cheats and leads on her boyfriends, who never takes initiative, and who largely has her problems solved by her subservient friends or a literal goddess.

But it shouldn't be surprising that the plot is all over the place and fails to fulfill the intended themes/messages of the series, because information about P.C. Cast's writing process for the series is also quite inconsistent. Originally, the series was only meant to be a trilogy, but got picked up for more books. However, in a Reddit AMA***, Kristin Cast claims:

We plotted out the story arch, and it naturally ended with twelve books. We also had a per book word count we had to follow, which is why our books aren't as long as other YA novels. However, I don't think anything was rushed. It was all planned from the beginning, and was executed amazingly!

But in several interviews (can only find a couple**** because they were audio/video, not text), P.C. Cast has referenced going rogue - meaning she deviated from the outline. Stark was meant to be Stevie Rae's love interest, Rephaim was supposed to die when Stevie Rae found him, etc. These represent HUGE alterations to the plot, so obviously the whole plot couldn't have been planned from the beginning, nor could everything be executed as intended.

P.C. Cast has also stated that she hates outlining, but Kristin makes her do a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline when they actually co-write. When P.C. writes solo, she knows the beginning, the end, and a bunch of pieces in the middle, and then figures it out from there (which sounds like a plantser style). Given that Kristin wasn't involved in the planning process - she didn't even look at the outlines of the original series because, as an editor, she wanted completely fresh eyes for the text - she couldn't have been the one pushing for a thorough outline of the whole series before P.C. began writing.

And that's not even getting into the fact that P.C. has stated the series was originally planned as a trilogy, which is evident from how the first three books were written. She couldn't have planned a twelve book series because she had no reason to assume she would be able to publish more than three books.

I wish I had a more satisfying conclusion to offer here, but... that's kind of the problem with talking about this series. The problems both span so wide and run so deep that it feels impossible to actually cover everything. I've made tens of thousands of posts - including in-depth analyses of plot, character, world-building, and writing - for every single book in this series, and I still feel like I haven't covered everything.

*Discussed here, around 17:00

**Google searches show this is a real person who attended the same school PC taught at

***Reddit AMA

****PC Cast interview, q&a

[houseofzoeyotherworld]

Very random thought that I can't remember if I ever explored here:

Rather than shoehorning in a romance between Other Kevin and Other Shaunee,

Rather than writing out Shaylin (one of very few queer characters) as an excuse to introduce Kacie so she could be Other Stark's love interest instead of Zoey/Other Zoey,

PC Cast should have made Kevin and Stark date each other.

Like, they have so much to bond over in losing their "loves" (at least as far as this series is concerned) before they truly got to know them, and their guilt about the horrors they were part of while serving Other Neferet's army. Kevin is the Otherworld's version of Zoey, and in the original series, Zoey describes Stark as her soulmate. It would make the scene where Stark is getting cut up to enter the Other World and Kevin has to call on spirit and love to join him more impactful, because it would be his love for Other Aphrodite and his growing feelings for Stark both pulling him to the same place. It would give us actual fucking bi rep that isn't full of sex shaming (Other Erin) or just a one-off character who is immediately killed (Odin).

But P.C. Cast is a COWARD, so of course we can't have nice things 🙄

[archeracy]

Help me get my cat treatment!

I never expected to make one of these, but my precious kitty may need surgery! At the very least, she’ll be needing a vet visit, bloodwork, and possibly sedation to run specific tests.

Nellie has carpal hyperextension and we don’t know why. In the best case scenario, it’s temporary, but that still requires testing. In the worse scenario, she’ll need surgery.

I’ve made a gofundme to help support the cost of care for my darling girl. She’s my childhood cat and she means everything to me.

[figurelifeflirt]

Moon Chosen by P.C. Cast

Book 1 of The Tales Of A New World Series

released in October 2017

Started 1/11/24 Finished 5/22/2024

Mari and Nik are........ decent I guess. I didn't come here for the romance. But i think I'm just still learning their relationship.

I learned about this series when I was still reading House Of Night's otherworld books. I think I was somewhere in the middle of book 2 of the Otherworld series. But I was reluctant to start another PC cast series because House Of Night affected me SO MUCH.

House Of Night was special. Aphrodite Lafont meant the world to me after just three books. I also loved Jack Twist, Lenobia, Shayline Rude, Neferet and Grandma Redbird. I even developed a strange softspot for Erin Bates.

I seriously regret not starting Tales Of A New World sooner. The Skin Stealers make excellent villains. And Thaddeus's character arch is lovely.

I loved the unique names. Wilkes was probably my favorite.

I don't know when I will get around to book 2 and I admit that Paris 2024 will probably get in the way. But I definitely intend to keep going with this series.

[semper-legens]

30. Revealed, by PC and Kristin Cast

Owned: No, library Page count: 306 My summary: Neferet has been exposed. Disgraced, abandoned even by Darkness, she flies to safety under a tree to regroup and rethink. Meanwhile, Zoey and her friends have problems of their own. After the shocking death of their friend Erin, splinters have formed - can Zoey and her friends accept more red fledgelings coming to the Light? And Aurox is becoming more like Heath, causing Stark's possessiveness to go into overdrive. Zoey's got a lot on her plate… My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

So! Close! To! The! End! The last book is on its way to the library, but it's coming from outside my county so it's probably gonna take a while. Which means both I and you will have a break from it for a bit, thankfully. The penultimate book in the House of Night series. It's all coming to a dramatic climax, you guys! By which I mean more teenage angst, more circling around the same five plot points, and more dumb bullshit drama for no reason. As is the trademark of this series. So, without any further ado, let's get into…all of that.

First off, this book comes with a helping of Neferet's backstory. And it's stupid as hell! See, apparently Neferet was abused by her father as a child before being Marked. This is all kind of glossed over in a few paragraphs, no need to focus on it. Because the real pain for her came from when her cat died. She prayed to Nyx to save the cat, and Nyx gave her the ability to soothe pain…but the cat still died. And that was Neferet's start of darkness. Because God didn't save her cat. She then goes on to be a slutty slut slutterson, getting with different creepy guys for no particular reason other than to feel power. One of whom is a vamp Warrior who, like, is a masochist - literally, sexually - and that's both his whole characterisation and a bad thing for some reason? Because he's into being hurt? And then she drives one of her would-be suitors to off himself, because he annoyed her? For a subplot that should exist to make Neferet less one-dimensional, it's really not succeeding. She's just an oversexualised villain, at the end of the day. And seriously, girl, why was the cat the breaking point here?

Zoey's anger issues are a large part of the plot here, especially the later plot, but as usual they are not really handled well at all. The idea is that Zoey is getting angrier and more influenced by Old Magjyk (ugh) and will eventually end up doing something bad that she can't come back from. Aphrodite sees this in a vision and, despite her entire characterisation being 'blunt bitch mean girl who is reluctantly on the side of Good', doesn't say anything about it and instead recruits Shaylin to stalk her for a bit and spy on her magical aura in both an underhanded and unsubtle way which just makes the situation worse. Once again, characters picking up the idiot ball for drama. And the explosion comes with Zoey accidentally using her Seer Stone to kill two homeless guys in a park, which…one, I feel like if it's accidental it kind of negates the idea of it being a facet of Zoey's character if it was an unintended magical side-effect. Two, we've literally had this plot point before when Zoey smashed a car into some guys, and she didn't face any real consequences then? And three, it comes pretty much out of nowhere - there is a build with Zoey becoming more pissed off with everything around her, but it's not that unreasonable a reaction to her environment and the things that are happening to her. Once again, a minor character trait is introduced as a massive flaw just to give the characters some extra drama.

One big thing that Zoey et al keeps going on about with Thanatos is that 'We're not bickering kids!' - she wants herself and her friends to be taken seriously as adults and as sensible people, and resents being infantilised. The problem is that Zoey and her friends are just acting like bickering children constantly. They care more about their interpersonal issues than anything more important. They bitch and moan at each other constantly. They deal with everything like a stereotypical teenager from a mean girl Disney Channel movie. It's so obviously meant to be a 'don't underestimate teens!' style power fantasy, but the kids aren't being smart about anything they do. That kind of power fantasy only works if the teens do have a point and are being talked down to by the adults in their lives! Not if the adults are being pretty reasonable and the teens are making everything worse!

Stark's possessiveness rears its head here - by which I mean, shows up again because we gotta have a love triangle. Man, one of the very few things I was going to give to this series was that it seemed to have dropped the love triangle bullshit in the later books but nope, here it is again, this time between Stark and Aurox. Which is dumb for several reasons, mostly that Zoey doesn't consciously want to be with Aurox, she's just got the spiritual hots for him because he's Heath and soulmates are a thing apparently. And Stark is pissed, despite the fact that Zoey is trying to talk to him about it and trying to open communication about it and trying to work through it, and Stark is just doing the caveman NO ME ANNOYED thing, and it's exactly the goddamn same as every fucking time that a love triangle has shown up in this series. Exactly the same! It wasn't even interesting the first time!

And finally - hey, remember how there's been this whole thing about Erin going over to the bad guys for no real reason and none of her so-called friends seem to care about her? Yeah, so she dies at the start of this one. Just, boom! Neferet ghosts through her and she dies. And the gang get over it pretty damn easy. Shaunee is the only one who actually seems to give a fuck. Meanwhile, her replacement is coming in with the form of red fledgeling Nicole, who wants to come over to the good guys also for no stated reason. And she kisses Shaylin, I guess? Just as I was about to criticise the series for not realising lesbians are real. Still, this is a penultimate-book romance between two incredibly minor characters - if you were going to add lesbians, why not have Stevie Rae and Aphrodite be a thing around when they were Imprinted, or have like Erin and Shaunee get together or something? Not these two girls who got introduced very last-minute who I don't care about and have no connection to.

Next, something thankfully different - a trip to the North Pole.

[cuttoncandyhair]

thoughts on some (canon) HoN couples

Zoey and Stark: I never really understood what their connection was supposed to be. She thought he was hot and he for some reason decided to be eternally loyal to her for... what reason again? So I guess they will be together forever. Should they be? Probably not. They fight an awful lot. I consider them the kind of couple that'll come to resent each other but won't break up. Fun! Aphrodite and Darius: I think they'll last. I just don't like them together. Their relationship is almost too perfect. It's like the authors brain stormed about what kind of relationship they wanted to give to Aphrodite, picked an idea, but never developed it further. They also didn't really give Darius much of a personality. He is a perfect warrior and a perfect lover for Aphrodite. Period. Considering how big of a role Aphrodite has in these books, her man is considerably underdeveloped as a character. They are just not interesting to me. Stevie Rae and Rephaim: Love them. Love them to death. Definitly an otp of my childhood. Will they last? I don't know, and I hate that. A lot of their relationship is based on novelty, I feel. They have very strong feelings for each other, but how will they work 20 or more years down the line? What do they have when the initial passion mellows out a bit? What do they have in common? What will they talk about? I will never forgive the Casts for not developing them further. Their relationship was such a big part of the middle of the story and then they were practically abandoned for the sake of making room for more Zoey-drama. Too bad. I really wanted to see at least glimpses of their relationship getting long-term-development. Damien and Jack: Cute, but once again drastically underdeveloped. Also, what's with all the gay stereotypes? I could write up a whole wall of text about those, but whatever. They got significantly more development in the Other World series. One of the few, and I really mean FEW, good things about it. They got a little more of an edge and personality and I must say, it suits them. I even started to care about them. Shaunee and Erik: In all honesty, what the fuck? That felt so forced! Why are the Casts so afraid of letting their characters be single pringles? I appreciated them trying to redeem Erik, but that sure as hell wasn't it, fam. In the Other World series they didn't seem like they would last either. I think they are gonna break up on amicable terms soon. All in all, I couldn't care less about them. Shaylin and Nicole: Umm... Where did they come from, again? I never saw that coming? They too just felt forced to me. Also, that thing they did in the sequel? What in the everlasting fuck? Was that supposed to be funny? I found it terrifying. Did anyone else find that funny? Maybe I just didn't get it? Frankly, I found it offensive, but I'm not a lesbian so what do I know... Kalona and Nyx: I'm happy for them. I don't get it, but good for them. As in, good for Kalona. He's got the love of his life back. How did Nyx forgive him again, though? Like, she knows of everything he did. Damn, she probably welcomed the people he abused and killed in her realm and had to calm their souls and reincarnated them. I take her for an empath, so she probably felt their pain with them. I can somewhat understand she loves the good side of Kalona, but how she forgave him for all he's done is beyond me. I wish her reacceptance of him would say something about her as an immortal entity and how she preceives the death and pain of mortals, but there is no way in hell the Casts would have thought that far. In the end Kalona definitly changed but his sacrifice doesn't make up for everything he's done by a long shot. What a mess! Travis and Lenobia: Darling! So cute! The only thing that hurts me is that he will die before her again. It must be so hard for Lenobia to think about losing him again. But all in all I think they were fun to read about.

[ruindunburnit]

Okay, so I’m re-reading “Marked”. I’ve only ever gotten up to “Burned” before I quit, and that was years ago.

I forgot how awful Zoey was about Elliot. Wouldn’t she think he was rude because he was tired, and he was tired because he was a “fridge”. Nope, he’s a “slug” and ugly, therefore bad.

I remember Stark being rude and cocky, but that was okay because he’s attractive.

You're absolutely right on this one! I've never seen a character who adheres to this Pretty Privilege Principle -- that is, an aesthetic-based Halo Effect -- so strictly as Zoey Redbird!

When I say Halo Effect, I'm referring to a cognitive bias whereby someone allows a positive or negative impression of a person to influence their judgement of that person in other areas.

As you said with Elliot, because she feels he's unattractive snd she has a negative impression, she perceives everything he does is annoying to her, and because of that, she assumes he is "bad", and ergo deserving of death. That's a major cognitive bias, especially as nothing he says or does has anything to do with her relief when he dies. When he says something homophobic to Damien, that comes *after* she made her mind up about him being bad -- it's almost as though (in a Doylian sense), the authors only wrote in this incident to justify Zoey's baseless assumption to the audience.

Meanwhile, because she has positive impressions of Stark and even Kalona as being attractive, all of their worst behaviours are excusable, and don't make them beyond redemption -- including rape.

This is coming from a series that really tries to hammer in a "beauty is on the inside" message, especially in later books with Shaylin Ruede and her visions of auras (which supposedly show what people are *really* like on the inside). Unfortunately, all it does is remind us that the authors are only capable of showing goodness as aesthetic beauty, and forgiveness as only available to the beautiful...

Which is not how I imagined I'd be reminded of the fact that the Ancient Greeks believed exactly that: that being beautiful to look at was a sign not only of favour from the gods, but of being a beautiful person on the inside as well. (An idea encapsulated by the word "Kaloskagathos", and one which may well have won a legal case, as the old story goes).

Given that the series was also trying to hammer home the message of progressive leadership and ideas while honoring ancient traditions, I'm not going to give this a point in Zoey or the authors' favours. It was a logical fallacy then, and it's a logical fallacy now.

Thanks for the ask! Please feel free to ask more!

[trapkingswift]

About Me 🔆🌿

My name is Shaylin! I use She/Her pronouns. I am from twitter and i’m confused as hell but having a grand time

Folklore enthusiast and defender — I’m also the #1 seven stan in the world (it was my surprise song ;))

21 and currently in college. I work in medical cannabis and love what I do <3

18+ please! I tend to be unhinged and I just don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with jokes/topics I might post.

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