#silver on the road

[sixofravens-reads]

Finished Silver on the Road!

Ended up loving this book! It's set in a version of the Old West where a large chunk of what would irl be America is simply called the Territory, and is controlled by a man (?) known as the devil, potentially an Old God. It follows his foster child Isobel as she is tasked with becoming his "left hand"-- travelling the Territory and reinforcing his rule over the distant parts of it.

The magic in this book is super cool. Of course the Territory has its own powers: magicians who sell their souls for power and are guided by the winds, strange creatures varying from spirits to sort-of cryptids to Normal Animals But Weird, people who aren't fully magicians but have some small power tied to the land. It draws from a bunch of different sources, including some Native American lore (though imo it does a good job of not getting racist or exotic about it) and creates a really fleshed-out world. Nueva Espania and the US also seem to have their own sorts of magic, through nowhere near as powerful as the Territory (potentially because they've become "civilized").

Character-wise, I loved Isobel. She's freshly 16 and a wonderful blend of competence in a handful of things and incompetence in most of life, willing to learn but occasionally frustrated, never too overpowered or overly mature seeming (which is something that bothers me in YA--just because a 16 year old suddenly has magic powers doesn't mean they have the experience of a 30 year old!). Gabriel is also quite fun, the grizzled middle-aged trail rider who's able to train Isobel but also very annoyed at the hand fate has dealt him vis a vis all the weird shit that starts happening. Farron is an absolute delight, a "mad" magician who's never as bonkers as people make magicians out to be, but still terribly dangerous and cunning.

Spent the whole book crossing my fingers that this was a series, and IT IS!! so I shall have to read books 2 and 3 and the short stories as well.

Overall, 4.5/5 loved it, I think the only thing I'd change would be to tighten up the pacing a bit (but that might also be because I accidentally abandoned it for a few days and only got back into reading it last night, whoops).

ALSO! THERE'S NO ROMANCE!! THANK YE GODS!!!

Gabriel and Farron, the only potential romantic leads really, are both ~20 years older than Isobel (Farron probably even older since he seems to have an immortality thing going on) so it would have been Weird, but I was worried this book would do an Immortals/Pellinor thing where the teenage heroine has to fall in love with her adult mentor for....no reason whatsoever and it's just really uncomfortable.

Anyway, can't wait to pick up the next books. I hope there's more demons, and more magicians, and more Eldritch horrors lurking in unknown places.

[ventique18]

Diasomnia waiting for their youngest to get his driver's license because Lilia shouldn't, Malleus couldn't, and Silver wouldn't.

[ringosmistress]

[possession]

Possession (1981) Lolita (1997) Girl, Interrupted (1999) Revolutionary Road (2008) Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Hereditary (2018) Marriage Story (2019) Ready or Not (2019) Pearl (2022) The Menu (2022)

FEMALE RAGE IN FiLM

[brotherconstant]

BLACK SAILS || XX.

I'm useless to 'em up top. Gotta do my part somehow.

[donelywell]

Club Ruby (Team Dark) members in the Road Trip AU! (they're under the cut, I just don't want to take up too much of your space)

I have shown off Shadow before because Fearless: Year of Shadow was announced, but I have the rest of the family done too!

The clothes drawn on them are just an outfit, they change clothes all the time (like regular people), so don't be surprised if I draw them wearing something different from what was drawn here.

[uh-oh-its-bird]

Fanfiction of fanfiction is so fucking fun actually. Especially when you read it both without reading the original fic or the original media. Like. Have I ever read or watched naruto? Nope! Have I ever read Silver Queen's dreaming of sunshine? Double nope! Don't want to actually I have interest in the negative degrees to actually sit down and read it. However, do I read fics about our queen Nara Shikako fucking shit up? Absoloutley! They're so fun I have learned to love her!

Same for Road to Nowhere: have I read it? Nope! Will I read fics about and or set in it? Can, have, and will, babyyy

There's something so fun and fascinating about media spawning media that then spawns media. Fandom within fandoms, or fandom³, if u will

You have to cultivate such a specific fandom biome for it to happen naturally. Sometimes you'll stumble into it without even realizing, read one or two fics about fics before realizing they're spawned from the same place. It's so cool!!

[importantkidspyfarm]

Am I crazy or is Immortan Joe kinda. . .

His power. His stare. His attitude.

Just in Furiosa, not Fury Road.

[inkpotgoddess2137]

I don't need to explain myself to anyone, as what I'm into and what I'm not is only my business...

So I made this.

[rainingbaconbits]

This is exaggerating a lot, and most of these photos are from the white album session, but still

Gits and shiggles

[bunnycuns]

[micamicster]

One night Billy awoke from a terrible dream calling his wife's name / She lay breathing beside him in a peaceful sleep a thousand miles away / He got dressed in the moonlight and down to the highway he strode / When he got there, he didn't find nothing but road...

Cautious Man by Bruce Springsteen / Black Sails (2014-2017)

[sheepb1t]

Made a bingo card with some of my favorite characters limiting it to one perrrre franchise also this list sucks so much because the disparity on here is wild

(Character names in alt!)

[minzbins]

SEOHO I KNOW YOU KNOW Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace, Final

[caliginouscreature]

Sorry for being so inactive lately... been busy irl, and have been meaning to post here more often, but also, like... I always feel a bit shy approaching the 'kin communities on here because it kind of feels like everyone is sort of... "internet poisoned"? For lack of a possibly-better word. A lot of folks here on tumblr in the 'kin and alterhuman communities are children, and a lot of more prominent community figures treated like "elders" are only about my age or younger, and it feels really strange, to be honest. There's a lot of discussion of feelings and terminology, but very little "lifestyle"? It's like there's a universal expectation for everyone to just figure everything out on their own; you get some definitions here and there yeah, but the amount of variance says much more loudly "just figure out what it all means on your own, pal". ex. Not only can no one actually explain what "otherhearted" actually means sans relation to otherkin, but it feels like I never see anyone talk about dealing with what one could call "kin feels" in the workplace, when unable to acquire your habitat, etc... Othercon is online-only, and while I'm pretty sure I'd be unable to attend an in-person event, part of me has a hard time feeling like everyone is really taking it all seriously and is really unafraid of being "cringe" when obviously it's so much easier to act like you're so confident online. I kinda feel like meeting some wolfkin stereotypes in a park for snacks and doing a group howl would do more for me than years of reading essays on tumblr ever has.

I dunno, I tried watching a recording of an Othercon panel I felt would be relevant and useful to me once, and was floored at just how... utterly useless it was. Despite its promising title, it was just shallow "you're valid" garbage and internet discourse... Makes me feel severely alienated, to be honest.