#sheep reviews

[sheepfics]

The Warden (Daniel M. Ford) The sword-and-sorcery romp that probably wasn’t supposed to be a comedy.

3.75 ⭐

Ok. So. This was sold to me by some shlub at [INSERT GIANT LOCAL BOOKSTORE] with the promise it has lesbianism and is Like The Locked Tomb. The book claims its Like Twin Peaks But With Wizards. This raises the important questions: Is This Like The Locked Tomb? Is this Twin Peaks But With Wizards? 

No. 

This is Northern Exposure if you replaced Dr. Fleischman with Aelis, a bisexual 22 year old workaholic Wizard. This has “pros”, and this has “cons”. Here’s the non-spoiler list that could help you decide if you might like this book.

“PROS”.

Cozy Sword-and-Sorcery adventure, heavy ttrpg pulls, but not serial-numbers-filled-off levels of referencing. Hearkens back to an older era of ‘cheap’ fantasy novels.

This 22 year old workaholic study-hard-party-harder Wizard girl sucks just the right amount.

Enough foreshadowing to indicate something is important, novel enough connections to spark interest in how things are important.

Great setup for interesting future adventures/world.

Solid and descriptive fight scenes.

“CONS”.

Necromancy in this book is not raising the dead, it just helps you be really good at practicing medicine. (see Northern Exposure Comparison)

Ignore the redhead elf on the new-edition cover, this is a book is only about the other girl. 

This is a Fantasy with hints of Romance, not a romance-fantasy or a romantasy.

Not as Meta/Intellectually Meaty as TLT.

Not as Ethereal/Supernatural as Twin Peaks.

Overall Non-spoiler Review: The Warden is a lighter-fare adventure fantasy read. Even if you only dabble in fantasy, you will find this to be a tasty little snack of a read. Chapters are short, pace is a bit odd at times but not overwhelmingly so. I finished this in about three days. 

Despite the book covering both a lot and very little time, The adventure pacing is acceptable. The time it takes for each fraction of the mystery to unfold makes reasonable sense. I find Aelis to be appropriately bitchy and hardworking, and I do really like that about her. I enjoy main characters that have strong enough personalities that they can definitively suck. I can see why people might not like Aelis, but I think her personality makes perfect sense with her origin and how she is told to relate and understand her job. She considers the feelings of others, but certainly doesn't need good bedside manner when her job is to exist outside, but in reach of, a specific community. Her affair with Maurenia is also appropriate in its intensity (or one’s perceived lack thereof). It feels like a very early-twenties-I'm-here-on-a-temp-gig affair. Tun is really fun and I like the mutual respect him and Aelis have for each other and how that is forged throughout the work.

If you can’t tolerate Aelis within about 5 chapters, I don’t think you’re going to like this book. This book might have two gals on the cover (depending on your edition) but its not about both of them. Its about Aelis. And if you aren’t even kinda rockin with her by the halfway point, its probably worth a DNF. It took finishing the book for me to go from “yeah she’s fine” to “ok yeah I wanna read more about her”. 

I am interested in seeing how the next book progresses. The mysteries of this book were enjoyable and (enjoyably!!!) predictable at parts. There was a good set-up of people/places/things where you could attach things that could be connected, and then be rewarded with how they were connected. 

If you want to read this book, I think you loose about 20-30% of the value of reading it if you get spoiled with the following review, so proceed below with that knowledge.

WITH SPOILERS/The Long Form Below.

I'm not covering main plotpoints here, I don't want this to devolve into a summary, because this is my first attempt at a book review and I know I am prone to such things. My notes on the overall plot are that: 1. This Is Very Much The First Book In A Series, 2. The Stakes Are Reasonable, At This Time, and 3. We're keeping MacGuffins to a minimum.

Ok, now the real review.

It took me until the end of this book to be fully convinced on Aelis, but now that I’ve put the book down (and waiting on my hold of the second book to come in) I can say more confidently that I like her. I don’t think I would be bothering to think particularly hard about her if I didn’t have that second book on route. The Warden is a book about Aelis. This series is a series about Aelis. Everyone and everything is tangential to her. I think that the OG cover (left) and the new cover (right) portray this book as two different books. 

I read the one on the left, and when I got it off the hold shelf I checked my phone make sure it was the correct book. That alternative cover really indicates that this will be a different kinda book. The Aelis & Maurenia cover indicates that Maurenia is going to be Cool and Fight in this book- and she doesn’t. She shows up, brings in a plot device, sleeps with Aelis, and then dips for a while before U-hauling back up. This isn’t a book about the two of them. This is a book that focuses largely on Aelis and then has a lot of screentime for Tun, who’s in the background of the OG cover. I think the first cover is far more accurate to the vibe of this novel than the newer one, and would argue that the newer one is almost false-advertising.

So Where’s the Dykes? An Addressing of the Queer/Romantic Elements this book is sold on.

Aelis is Bisexual, if her pre-Lone Pine Wardendom casual polyamory is to be read face-value. I found it very funny that 1. She allegedly boned a dude named Humphrey on the reg and 2. She liked Miralla more than him and her boning Humphrey was potentially her trying to best Miralla. Great stuff. This does bring me to her Tension with Maurenia. As stated earlier, we don’t know shit about Maurenia, even at the end of the book. Aelis notes this, but is reasonably apprehensive about pursuing romance, although she does think about it. I hope there is drama about this in the next book, because Maurenia seems wayyyy more into this than Aelis is. This makes their relationship very interesting, in a way some other reviewer called ‘very masculine’ while claiming both characters had a lot of ‘masculine energy’ and thats not important here its just really fucking funny to me. I had to get that into this review. Holy shit it made me crack up laughing. I just think Aelis is, like me, too focused on the grind to be thinking toooo much about emotional satisfaction. I would make a “while you were having sex I was studying the blade” joke, but she was doing both, so. Even after the semi-tasteful fade-to-black sex scenes that happen (Good call, Mr. Ford.), Aelis is debating wether to take this seriously. She didn’t seem to be taking the previous ones seriously, or at least, not as serious romantic relationships. She’s not dating the people she’s fucking, she doesn’t have any previous heartbreaks that we know of. I think her focus on (previously, her education), and now, her job, makes all that stuff a little difficult. 

Her job, at present, focuses heavily on this pioneering town that’s mostly sheep, where everyone there is afraid of her because she was mainly educated as a necromancer. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of the townspeople after this, for adventure calls!I wish I could expect more from/with them, but I don’t think I’m going to get that. Mostly because I can sense our inevitable adventuring party, which brings me to my footnote paragraph about Tun. 

Tun is a half-orc druid/woodsman/bear man. He’s really fun and I like him. He reveals just enough to be interesting, keeps enough secrets to keep me hooked, highlights when Aelis is being a bitch, and spurs her to make some tweaks. Coworkers-growing-to-respect-each-other sort of vibe. I liked it a lot. I like him being a werebear, the hints as to his well-educated past and orc-connected present, his I think his main thread being solved with very little intricate explanation from Aelis was a bit of a letdown, but I’m hopeful for book two. 

Maurenia must, certainly, be important for book two, because Necrobane only ever has had one cover design and its got her and Aelis on it. Aelis doesn’t know much about her, she says as much, I have no complex thoughts about her other than what I’ve already mentioned. Mostly that this book ain’t about Maurenia, its about The Warden.

The Warden, which is Aelis. She’s been shoved to Lone Pine in Bumfuck Nowhere to go serve as a government-sanctioned Wizard detective/helper/advisor. The motivations or details behind this system are hardly explored, and only expanded in the limits of the position. How Aelis can act in regards to financial issues, law enforcement, and other such things. Being a Warden is a 2-year tenure, and it is still unclear to me why exactly she wanted to be a Warden, other than proving that women can do it. That’s a fine motivation, but I wanted more substance on why she gives a shit about the things she does. She’s primarily a necromancer, but theres little time spent on why she wants to be a top necromancer or Wizard or Warden, other than just to flex. Towards the end of the book, she herself states that she doesn’t think like a Necromancer, she thinks like an Abjurer with the talents of a Necromancer. I am hoping she’s forced to explore necromancy more intensely as the series progress. I would like less school flashbacks and more details on how she’s tweaking her abilities and spells to suit her. The descriptions of her surgeries were very interesting though and followed solid logic and fantasy-adjusted practice. The way fight scenes flow with her were also very good! There are many good things about her. There are many bad things about her. The biggest thing about this book is that it’s all about her.

If you can’t get with Aelis, you will not like this book. There’s not much more I can expand this. I’m repeating myself from the non-spoiler section. If you ain’t rockin with her, you’re not gonna like this One Bit. I can live with that, because I think she’s super funny to read about. She’s an enjoyable type of mildly-pretentious intellectual. Other reviewers I have read have found her to be horribly insufferable for not Grasping The Call Of Adventure and being Mildly Rude To Peasants. I don’t care about that. I like that she’s very willing to do her job, but is understanding that a lot of it might be suckage. She wants to prove a point. She’s ambitious, and that's what makes you a good Wizard. At least, that’s what she tells us makes a good wizard. 

That brings me to my final note on the book’s content. I found Aelis’s isolation to be absolutely fascinating. She’s so goddamn lonely. Sure, there may be people around her, but as a Warden, she’s to serve as a Lighthouse, not a Tavern. She is not to become one of them. She’s there to be the voice of the Lyceum and the Crown upon a town that asked for her. Her choosing to ask for help from Tun is a big step for her, but also, Tun and Maurenia’s refusal to even offer company or further assistance to her when she goes off on her own, in winter, on undisclosed business? That solidified that this was an Aelis book. I expect the other books will also very much be Aelis books, but to a lesser degree. 

As mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t be thinking nearly the same amount of this book if I caught it when it had just come out. I think I would have read it, went “huh, neat”, and moved on. I think I may be giving this book more grace than I ought to, but that’s alright. I think if I could get into Aelis earlier, and I wasn’t sold a GTN-like with a Twin Peaks Twist, this would be a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ read.

I do think that grey goat that breaks into her tower is going to be the BBG though. (That’s only partially a joke.)

[zunshiner]

wooly be wildin

[whispangel]

"we need more mean women" YOU GUYS CAN'T EVEN HANDLE LANOLIN THE SHEEP

[fossette-promenade]

i was inspired to style this piece in a way they would have in 2009.

it always makes me feel cute to wear a full lolita coord ♡

[ankle-beez]

[wheredidalltheusersgo]

Jjba: Furry is unbreakable /j

[blindingliqhts]

is it bad that i just looked at a bunch of the lowest-rated TSC reviews on goodreads and i laughed at every single one

anyway goodnight

[halosoliloquy]

Get this, there was a second part to the wolf in sheep’s clothing that they didn’t tell us.

[exoticalmonde]

So Long, Adele... Was Only Pain and NO Whimsy

Once again, Dr. Eve is a little late to the party, but you must understand that even 11 days into the year, I am already a month and a half behind on everything I wish I could have been doing.

So instead of lamenting my unfinished fanfics and the cross-stitch that's been in box jail since the end of November, we're going on an adventure with Eyjafjalla.

Fair to say, that I didn't finish anything during the rerun last time. It was right after New Year's and let me tell you... I was not in the mood for that at all.

Naturally, we start off with an update on how RI-8 is doing right now.

This means we have the opportunity to look back into it from the POV of someone very opinionated about men and entirely blind to the women on the field.

A...

Ah--- W...Welcome maam. I've been waiting for

A while.

Welcome to the team of my light-hair-coloured women, ignore the Sarkaz sisters, and I hope you have a pleasant stay.

My fields were barren... Still are.

I'm pretty sure whatever I had was already wasted, but that's alright so far. Surely, there's nothing that could possibly mess up your future career as my favourite Instructor...

But why do I hear Kazimierz's music?

Right, it's because Flametail has also joined the team, in an attempt to rally that E1Max Texas that I've been trying to ignore for the last hm 3 years.

Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR from RI-8 and all of Yan, who are here to celebrate with me in a wild mix between 'enjoy this while you can before we all die' and 'RI has never seen such bliss, glad you're here' type of way.

Okay, updates are done. It was a slow descent into madness this time, nothing too fancy-schmancy.

Here's how So Long, Adele went for me.

---

EyjaBerry is THE best medic so far in my experience. She's not just a single target Wandering Medic like the rest of the Berries, her skills just make healing trivial the way W'Alter manages to make dealing damage feel trivial.

Her S1M3? Unlimited and covers 2 people at the same time.

S2M3? Become an AOE Shining, but better for all I know, because I don't have her. Would I have pulled for her now? Absolutely, she is doing a much better job protecting my allies from the enemy than anybody else could.

I'm sorry Lumen, despite Dr. Pinkie's constant confusion between the words, being a Wanderer and a Therapist are two different things and you specialize in the things you do.

S3M3? Don'tDieInator3000, global.

---

Last time I saw Sw'Alter actually being used was during the Icebreaker Event and it was because Dr. Pinkie had the ingenious idea to use her bottles to charge the machines. For any players out there, you know what I am talking about.

After ages of playing this game, I finally realized that some peaceable objects like that charge the SP machines just like that.

She looks good though. Merchant. With Lee and Mr. Nothing, I don't need another DP-leech for the job. I'm comparing her to Lee, so Sw'Alter seems to have less health, but better damage in the base stages. Her abilities have a funky range.

S1M3 - Medic defenders all over the place with 1 block.

S2M3 - A typical Trapmaster ability

S3M3 - An unlimited duration skill, with a knockback that

---

If there were characters who were thrown in a black hole never to be seen again, it's Conviction and Poncirus. From what I know about the story, she only shows up at the end too.

We've been talking with the other Doctors about how recently the characters who are featured on the banner alongside the 6 star are completely irrelevant story-wise.

None of the new Babel characters were ever shown up. They weren't even FROM Babel.

These gripes aside,

Compared to Texas, exact same S1 with the same 12 DP, wait time and everything on M3. However, what I just found out was that her second skill actually looks pretty good. She's with better health, less attack and better defence on the Max levels. Defensive Pioneer Vanguards have served me better than offensive ones.

---

Bryophyta is in a weird spot because he's an Instructor in a world where only 5 in total exist. Which isn't a few, but it's not a lot either.

Pallas is the best by a margin because of Bryo's 5-star debuff (and he's a shop-erator), but since he's Dr. Lundi claimed, I have to say something nice about him or the sniper on the roof next door is going to get me.

I feel like all of them would benefit from the INS-Y Module, being able to be deployed on a ranged tile extends their versatility better since their whole gimmick is 'Don't Block for Damage'.

His S1M3 is a delight to see. The second the words 'Next attack' show up on screen I feel power. Nothing to write home about though.

But what about his S2M3----

Oh. Stuns self. Okay. I didn't need him anyway.

---

That was all for the operators. Now to the event itself.

Did I read anything out of this event's story? I did not. Would I let Pinkie explain everything to me? They did. Did I love the trailer and the music? You bet. Did I hate the event? Entirely.

You see, while I do like this 'being forced to think' situation during events, especially for EX or S stages because I understand that the enjoyment of the game is as much gimmick and working with what you have, as it is... a strategy game.

However, Dr. Eve being Eve, I end up thinking myself into a corner. The operators I level up aren't always the ones that I need.

Very rarely in fact.

Look at my wife's list. Look at my husband's list! Not a single person can handle 3 enemies at once unless they are a defender. Nobody does enough damage the way I needed them to.

I guided Dr. Kryo through SL-S-5 and some of the earlier challenges and he was adamant that he didn't want a W'Alter guide. I respect that, we're all quirky and he didn't get a W'Alter during her run. It worked out well for him.

I knew he struggled for the CM on SL-S-4 because we were in call during the time and I was crying about SL-S-3 CM, thinking 4 and 5 would be worse.

Mind you, this man thinks when he levels up (most of) his characters though. Mudrock Max, Ines, Kal'tsit, Blaze, Hoshi. He got Mlynar, he has Logos, EyjaBerry.

The last time we struggled so much was during Stultifera. A LONG time ago, because back then - me nor Dr. Kryo had Lappland.

I didn't even try to think too hard about the levels at first. EX-1 to 8 were absolutely fine, S-1 and 2, even 3 were great. I managed S-5 in three tries or something with Kryo guiding me since it was late and I didn't feel like thinking.

I spent an entire afternoon on SL-S-4 CM.

Watched every single video guide. Nothing worked.

I couldn't manage to put down bottles for Lundi's Ex'Alter in the top blue exit.

DP not enough at any point.

Why are these bottles taking so long???

My Mudrock wasn't strong enough when I needed W'Alter. She was also not lvl90 or S3M3.

Instead of Mudrock, why not use Penance, she's mean to handle more enemies, right? Wrong. Gets eaten alive by the sheep. You're starting to understand who was being problematic.

My Kal'tsit isn't lvl90 and only S3M1, which was not enough.

Also don't have the modules for Mudrock, nor for Kal.

My allies kept dying on the bottom side. Hoshiguma was useless, using Nian for her innate skill was perfect.

They kept leaking past the 15/20 enemy count. Bam, put Shu behind Nian.

I figured out that the leakage mainly happened topside. I need someone who could do a lot of damage to a lot of people in a line since the magician goats are being a bother.

Hoederer S2M3 but his second phase for the +1 block count. He's too slow, that's not S3, what was I even thinking???

I don't have Ines and Silverash/Puzzle doesn't work the way she does.

I don't have Ascalon. I don't have Reed Alter. I don't have Mlynar.

Logos instead of Eyjafjalla does wonders for my mental health though.

Freaking Kazdelian Bubbling Hotpot, why are my Ling's dragons so easily perishable, she's lvl60 with the module.

Fiddled with this video for a little bit, but my ability to look with one eye in one direction and use the other for the other direction really made things unfortunate when I had to manage Pinecone's skill and also block the oncoming enemies.

If that doesn't work out, fine.

This one should work. I'm just going to borrow a Sk'Alter.

Blaze dies.

Ah, I don't have Nightingale, so I thought putting perfumer there would work. Let's switch it up, Perfumer goes in Ptilopsis' place.

Blaze doesn't die. She leaks instead.

Alright, then I will add someone to help with the enemies. Uh.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Sanity is still 133 from how much I've been wasting my time

Tries again. Perfects the bottom side strat, so I need to pay attention to my Blaze.

Mission Failed.

Oh, come on.

I'm starting to get angry, because the problem isn't anything else, BUT Blaze.

Civilight Eterna S2, borrow a Nightingale from Dr. Kryo.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Tries again. Mission Failed.

Alright. I give up. I can't do this anymore. I'm gone. I'm done. I just won't get the complete medal set.

Goes to bed.

Wakes up.

...

...

...

New day, New me. Let's get Arknightsing.

Okay, that previous run should've worked fine. Let's go back and see what I was doing to figure out what to tweak.

Wanqing in front of bottom blue box.

Nian is in the corner. Soda box in front of her.

Myrtle below her to optimize DP.

Exusiai when I have 30 DP, so I can immediately plop Perfumer.

Box blows up a bit late because of the DP drawback with Exusiai and Perfumer, drop Bagpipe to break the box on the top blue exit because the skateboard sheep will be coming soon.

Earn back that 13 DP.

Logos under Perfumer, remove Myrtle after skill.

Blaze > Sk'Alter > Ptilopsis.

Remove Wanqing, put down Shu.

Discrepancy happens for Blaze again.

Wait a minute...

I don't want to look at this event ever again in my LIFE.

SO LONG, Adele.

[isagrimorie]

Fandom asks: 10, 11, 12, 18, 19

For Fandom Year in Review ask:

10. Biggest fandom disappointment of the year

Ooh. The tough questions... well, I'm still disappointed that Star Trek Legacy isn't still a thing.

I think I wasn't as impressed with the new season of Only Murders in the Building (I'm not into actors playing themselves. And season 4 had a lot of them).

Oh. Dune Prophecy! I wanted to like it because it's Dune-- unfortunately, after the first episode... the things that bothered me in the first episode just magnified.

And it had me thinking: this got a second season meanwhile The Acolyte was cancelled?

11. Biggest squee moments of the year

Uh, this whole first episode? These moments and everything afterwards!

12. Favorite main character of the year

Answered here. But, it is... Agatha Harkness :D

18. Fandom that you never expected to get into

Answered here. It's Agatha All Along.

19. Fandom that made an unexpected comeback

Honestly? I didn't expect Criminal Minds grabbing me by the throat on the first half of 2024!

[sheepfics]

The Necrobane (Daniel M. Ford) Can this be the Aelis and Tun show, please?

3 ⭐

Alright. I picked up book two. Time to cover the big questions. 

Is it TLT yet? No. I wish the lesbians were that toxic.

Is it still Northern Exposure? Not anymore! Well, actually. Maybe we're at the later seasons. When it started getting bad.

The Necrobane follows in the steps of its prequel in many ways. Primarily, that this is a book about Aelis. If you ain't rocking with Aelis, you're not going to like this book any better than the first one. 

Overall, the Sword-and-Sorcery content continues. There are attempts at the beginning of the book to shove development at Aelis, but rarely at her crew. The plot points remain enjoyably predictable, with good payoff on how things fit together. You know exactly what is suspicious but not how it is suspicious, and for that it is quite fun. The ending is horribly abrupt and does not bode well for a sequel where Maurenia, Tun, or Timmuk are present in substantial capacity.  

This brings me to what I see as the series-killer element here. Everything is Aelis' fault, and everything will be solved by her.

The entirety of this journey and every random-encounter that happens is somehow related to her fucking up and/or her being the sole person expected to solve the issue. If it is not solely her, it is her and Tun being expected to piece things back together. This grows tiresome. Aelis can be annoying to some, and she's a bit stuck up, but it's statistically impossible how much every issue is her fault in this book. This is blamed on her rushing into things, but the biggest mistake in the book (I'll get. to it.) was very much not a result of that. No one else in her party even has the room to mess up, with how little they seem to do and say, and that's what's really nagging about this series. It's Always The Warden's Fault and Only The Warden Can Solve It. The party members hardly do anything, and then have the audacity to question Aelis' motivations to fix things! Solving Problems is her JOB!! Why don't you believe her when she says she wants to do this right? She's proven time over she's capable of getting stuff done! And yet, there's this thick thread of distaste about her we see again and again from the people around her. Once again, Aelis remains profoundly isolated as a character. 

The only other character that I think Aelis has any good back and forth with in this book (and the last one) is Tun. I enjoy Tunbridge as a character and I think he has the most interesting conversations with Aelis. It is stated in the text that her only true friend in the party is him, and that is very much true. He plays an important role in the plot, is the most directly useful of the team, and shows the most respect for her. More of his story unfolds in this book, although it treads on some of what was established in the earlier book. I'm willing to chalk his increased involvement with the townspeople up to off-screen development. 

Overall, before diving into major spoilers, I am declaring this book a bit of a series-killer. I am only reading the next book if my library can get it in my hands by June. Outside of that, this series will remain forgettable. 

The following remainder of the review will likely diminish your enjoyment of the book by up to 80%, I think. I cover major spoilers here.

This book started strong. Aelis messed up, she admits to messing up, she starts problem solving immediately, aaaaand then she gets a serious ankle injury. She struggles with this, everyone tells her to give up on the quest, but hoards of animated skeletons roaming the woods is Bad News for everyone living in it, and Aelis wants to set things right. This is a fine motivation. Timmuk and Maurenia even offer to join her! Great! The gang’s together and they’re Going On A Quest.

I’ll be honest. A lot of this quest, other than the main through lines, just feels like a series of TTRPG random encounters. Actually, if you like Liveplay podcasts, this might be a series for you, but I put this in the spoilered part, didn’t I? Shame! Whatever, a lot of the action feels random. Bad fight with reanimated dogs that Fuck Your Shit Up? Random encounter. Random dude in the woods who is creepy? Weird that Aelis is the only one who seems wigged out by him, even weirder she’s the only one to bargain with him when he offers plot-important information. Everything goes to hell in search of the McGuffin, and once again, Tun remains the MVP. I wrote that multiple times in my notes. Tun is the MVP. Everyone is overreacting. It's Aelis' fault... again.

The team dynamics are like. Fine? I guess? We don’t get any good downtime with them until Rhunival’s hall, and all those scenes are absolutely cornered by Rhunival, because he’s weird and Aelis is trying to parse what his deal is. Timmuk is solely motivated by Dwarven Moneylender Reasons to go on this quest (specifically to see this really luxe safe, which is interesting tbh), Tun remains MVP, and Maurenia is…

Maurenia. Good lord Maurenia. I wanted to enjoy her. I wanted more than a vague cardboard cutout of an interesting woman. Now? At the end of this book? I'm waving signs telling Aelis to save her then dump her. They don't have any chemistry. They refuse to be overly sickly for each other - which is fine, it'd be weird if they were - but they also won't be as dynamic as I want them to be. Aelis has more inside jokes and filler conversations and backstory-sharing talks with Tun. The love interest? Scraps. Also, how old is Maurenia? I don't care about Human to Half-Elf age conversions or allegations of improper age gaps, but Maurenia, from the scant conversations between her and Aelis, seems to have a Lot of life experience and is actively using very little of it. There are times she feels far less mature than even Aelis. That was horribly apparent after she got trapped to Rhunival’s homestead.

Maurenia getting trapped at Rhunival’s Hall was… my god. Really a ttrpg Random event, huh? Rhunival was sus to begin with, and that was fun! That was really fun! I had a great time with that! However, Aelis being the only person to mention how weird this is? What? Sure, other characters might have brought it up, but Tun and Timmuk may as well have not existed for that entire stretch of the book. When it's revealed that Maurenia is trapped there, upon the completion of the bargain, and everyone starts blaming Aelis for cutting the deal with Rhunival, for letting the little bit of Maurenia’s blood drop, my enjoyment of the book immediately shattered. No other character seemed to have made a remote effort to reminded anyone about the rule, or help Aelis clean up anything, or tried to help bargain with Ruinval. I really feel that Tun should have been there with that. How did he not feel it? How did he not sense that Ruinval was weird? Granted, he wasn't doing the blame game nonsense Maurenia and Timmuk were doing at the reveal, but how did he not detect anything?

Maurenia then even suggesting that Aelis would leave her there and not try and free her was crazy. This is a woman who’s trying to fix a mistake because she got egged on by her boss and got herself into trouble. Any one of them could have been more involved in the debating with Rhunival. I really wonder if the author wanted Maurenia either out of the plot or made damsel, and that's why the blame had to fall solely on Aelis. Regardless, the reactions were overblown, Aelis’s track record of being a really good person actually was totally ignored, and all those scenes were just terrible. Frankly, it should have come to blows. I wanted these girls to get toxic. If we’re gonna fight, don’t half-ass it, have Tun pulling Maurenia off Aelis while she lets herself get beat because she can’t bear to raise a spell against her- or have her raise a spell and have her ‘prove’ she actually sucks! Do something more interesting with this scene, good lord. 

Now, back to Aelis. Aelis keeps getting doubted and insulted for being a problem solver, and its getting annoying. Her choice to necrotize her torn ankle ligament to allow herself to personally protect this village from Undead horrors was cool and interesting and while its a strange thing to do, the fact that it took people some effort to accept it was necessary… That felt weird. She’s a Necromancer, guys. Would you rather her be injured? Come on. Her self-surgery was also very interesting, and compelling. Aelis keeps doing interesting things with her magic, she keeps learning and developing, and when she got Aldayim’s Matrix, I got hype. 

I want the Aelis corruption arc like nothing else, man. Every conversation she had with the Entity within was interesting, and I want to know more. Just enough for me to want to tolerate another book. The one scene she had the entire undead army? Yeah girl! That would solve problems!! This Matrix knows about, and maybe knows how to solve the #1 current problem with raising the undead- shit keeps getting into them! Aelis doesn't even seem to clock this, which to me is nuts, my ears would perk up, situationship or not. Her one, two scenes exploring this object are far more interesting than anything else that packs the later parts of the book. The Binding of Dalius? Smart and good, once again, Tun MVP. But the Matrix. That’s interesting enough to keep me going to maybe read book three. Maybe. 

Oh yeah. The ending. That whole journey and bit of screen time we got for Timmuk and Maurenia? Yanno, Maurenia who’s trapped in Rhunival’s Hall? Yeah. Forget about them. Forget about Tun, to, probably. Lone Pine? Fuck ‘em. We’re going to the city, because its the Aelis show, and the gods hate her and no one can ever let her see shit though. I’m actually quite mad about it. This was almost a 2.75, but I’m sticking with my first instinct of a 3, because it will have a sequel.

[andreai04]

“Despair like that, about total reality, is self-perpetuating."

The silence of the world could not rein back its greed. Not any longer. Not when it had virtually won.

Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community, whereas intelligence to some degree could be found throughout every phylum and order including the arachnida. For one thing, the empathic faculty probably required an unimpaired group instinct; a solitary organism, such as a spider, would have no use for it; in fact it would tend to abort a spider's ability to survive. It would make him conscious of the desire to live on the part of his prey.

Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.

He thought, too, about his need for a real animal; within him an actual hatred once more manifested itself toward his electric sheep, which he had to tend, had to care about, as if it lived. The tyranny of an object, he thought. It doesn't know I exist. Like the androids, it had no ability to appreciate the existence of another.

Empathy toward an artificial construct? he asked himself. Something that only pretends to be alive?

“But when you get that depressed you don't care. Apathy, because you've lost a sense of worth. It doesn't matter whether you feel better, because if you have no worth—"

The old man said, "You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”

[inkyxsmiles]

Minecraft Movie

Okay, I shouldn't be judging teasers, but I swear to gosh...WHY. I just- don't understand what I'm looking at here- literally so different from what I expected it to be...First of all- E V E R Y T H I N G IS WRONG WITH THE SHEEP, EVERYTHING! AND WHY DO THEY HAVE SO MANY THINGS WITH FUR, WHY DOES THE CREEPER..HAVE FUR! ID PREFER THEM STICKING REAL LIFE GRASS TO THAT CREEPER. I GET IT- BUT I ALSO REALLY DONT. I NEED THIS TEASER TO ELABORATE. ALSO WHO IS SAYING "STEP RIGHT THIS WAY!" L I K E ...I JUST DONT GET IT..PLEASE HELP THIS THING.

[hatefulbread]

black sheep by rachel harrison

3/5 stars... for now.

i don't have many strong feelings about this one. it was fine, it was pleasant enough to finish. it wasn't special. it didn't make my mind race or slow down, in fact, i forgot i was listening to it many times and would have to rewind.

i've been knitting nonstop this last week, so i decided to indulge in an audiobook while my hands were busy. i'm not anti-audiobook, but i'm not exactly pro either. with my auditory processing disorder, i can find it hard to fully digest what's been read to me, and the voice itself makes it more difficult because depending, there are just some voices that make my skin crawl. idk how to explain why, they just do.

the characters didn't feel very dimensional at all, and i often found myself angry with how little growth they all had, if any. there were handfuls upon handfuls of plot holes, especially in the end when we reach our 'resolution'. our main character, vesper, is constantly vowing not to do something.... and then immediately does it. it was annoying.

the one thing i did like was how harrison introduced the religion as satanism. for a little while, you hear vesper describe her upbringing as "extremely religious", and the way she describes traditions/beliefs makes you think of devout catholicism and evangelism. if you read this blind and didn't read the synopsis, you would spit out your drink at the drop of "satanists" after the first few chapters. it was a nice parallel on how extreme religion (aka, a cult) is terrible whether it's a christian one or a satanist one. that was clever.

[horse-reviews]

This is hypo hippus. Its on a different branch if horse evolution! I did my thesis on the evolution of there feet!

Hypohippus equid

Rating: ƱƱƱƱƱ (perfect)

Hello fellow biologist I also adore early horses in particular the shared traits between the other members of perissodactyla and equids, and the adaptations horses developed to their evolutionary niches! it is really amazing that horses can live in hot equatorial deserts and the arctic circle. Hypohippus is a lovely little animal I am glad that although they left no descendants their cousins are still alive for us to adore

Unfortunately I did not do my thesis on equids I instead studied ruminant diseases in production animals so if anyone wants to know about this specific topic I am certainly the pony for you

[sheep-review]

the sheep from warriors ( ravenpaw's path )

5/5 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

WHAT A DISTINGUISHED GENTLE SHEEP!! Very delightfully coloured and soft. Would put my hand in the fleece and it would be soft and warm <3