#specifically book 1

[gayestfroginthepond]

actual photo of me trying not to check the tags for a book I'm reading

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Book Siblings

Round 1

Roger and Dodger : Psychic twins ftw

[virfujiwara]

Any The Book Of Life (2014) enjoyers here? Ramble in the tags lol Reminder that commissions are open and I'm making art for your donations and we are raising money for an AAPI charity through this zine, if you or someone you know likes Watcher, check it out!

[pepperpixel]

Initial drawings of that old man… I literally, I haven’t finished reading the book of bill yet!!! I had to stop and take a break for a week to feverishly draw fanart of myself petting fords floofy hair and giving him attention and shit…!!!! The urge was too great….!! I’ve literally. I had a crush on this guy the instant he was first REVEALED in the show, but I did not have the artistic prowess to draw good looking old men back then… but I do now… thank god… thank fucking god

[queenoftheimps]

Genuinely trying to figure out if Daniel's conversation with Justin Kirk is taking place outside the penthouse (meaning Daniel is, at some point, able to escape without getting vamp'ed) -- or if this is in the penthouse and Justin Kirk is someone Louis/Armand would allow to visit.

It might be the former (it looks like there's two other people in the background, who don't look like Armand/Louis) -- but him saying "I want to get out alive" feels odd if he's already made it out. If it's the latter, that raises the question of who, exactly, would be allowed in to talk to Daniel, because I have THEORIES.

[rantsramblesandrandomthougts]

Now, i love our arsonist boy lockwood, but i'd like to take this time to remind yall that, in the book, it was LUCY who set the Hope house on fire

[freaky-flawless]

I've given my thoughts on the Ghoulfriends series, and then Once Bitten Twice, Dead, so I figure it's time to go back to my roots and give my in depth thoughts about the original Monster High novels by Lisi Harrison!

I do wanna get my biases across though: these books were my first introduction to the franchise, and on top of that, I was already a fan of Lisi Harrison's writing as well. Needless to say I've always been a huge defender of these books, even though I acknowledge that they could be a lot better.

They have the issues...a lot of issues if I'm being honest. You can tell they were written in the late 2000s and are very much a product of their time, which is why some grace needs to be given when reading them.

That being said though, I think this series gives us such an interesting take on the gen 1 lore that makes them worth reading. Given that the first book was published the year the franchise came out, a month before we even got our first movie, Lisi Harrison did a pretty great job with what she had and managed to turn out a really interesting story (for the first two books that is...we'll get there)

Gonna add a read more in case y'all wanna avoid spoilers.

To give a rough summary of how the story differs, unlike the other media in which monsters live separately from normies, in these books monsters live amongst them, in hiding, keeping their true identities secret. Each character has their own way of hiding their monster traits, Frankie for example is forced to wear heavy stage makeup to hide her green skin, and wear clothes that hide her neck bolts and stitches. (some liberties were taken. Lagoona for example isn't blue, but still has scales and webbed fingers that she hides with gloves and lots of moisturizer. Clawdeen is relatively human looking, however she grows a tuft of fur around her neck that she combats with waxing. On top of that a lot of them use "normie names")

As for the lore, back in the day, monsters and humans lived amongst each other in harmony, but that all changed when the monster horror movies were released in the 1930s. Portrayed as being violent and murderous, monsters were run out of their homes by fearful normies, most of them making their way to Salem Oregon (by mistake...they were supposed to go to Salem Massachusetts to find a safe haven with the witches from the Salem Witch Trials) They built a neighborhood for them all to reside in called Radcliffe Way. The Monster community refers to themselves as RADs, or Regular Attribute Dodgers, and they occasionally hold underground (literally underground) meetings for the community to check in, ran by the only normie amongst, them, that being Mrs. J, Jackson Jekyll's mom.

Frankie is of course our lead ghoul, as well as a normie girl named Melody Carver. I'll get more into them a little later.

I'm gonna leave this initial post here, and talk about each book individually in the reblogs as I finish them.

[astyrra]

animorphs is fun from a "how could characters from other series deal with this" perspective because taking out the primary big bad (visser 3) is... not very helpful, actually?

like, visser 3 sucks at his job. he is terrible at leading a stealth operation, kills his subordinates when he's upset, and refuses to consider any possibilities other than what he's already decided is true. like, to be clear, none of this stops him from being a powerful antagonist - he has a whole military, and the animorphs are teenagers. it's just that if he was killed or otherwise removed from power, his replacement would be worse

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Polyam Ships

Round 1

[casually-eat-my-soul]

I lied, put your clothes back on. I’m going to explain how I think the wands in Harry Potter are tools that help the government control the population.

[3lliesan]

"Move."

Time.

Yuu didn't have much time.

They realized this after the Dwaf's Mines, the running, the fight, and the trip back from Crowley's office. Ever since that black ink sunk beneath their skin, there was no way to stop it from slowly killing them even faster unless they somehow found a way to release it.

Even before all of that, Yuu knew that their 'heart' was weak. Not having as much strength as when 'she' lived.

Yuu was almost fine with just being invisible. A passing wind, that a few would notice, and forget just as quickly when they're gone. That would leave less pain and bitter tastes...

...

But...

That feeling.

The running with a purpose to achieve something.

The trust in each of their hearts to continue living.

Going against the odds even if things seemed hopeless.

The victory.

A glimpse of any color will do. Just as it did back then.

drip. drip. drip

ba-dump. ba-dump.

There were drums in Yuu's ears right now. No. Heartbeats. Everyone was doing their best to keep themselves alive and find ways to do damage to the Blot creature behind the bloody red queen, and a close friend of one of the people involved.

[Doodle Suit] can only hold out for so long, about half the people fighting were only first-year students, and that incompetent excuse of a headmage was probably too busy to hurry up and get reinforcements to arrive.

Though, most importantly..

"...fuck--!"

Yuu was currently having a problem of their own right now.

Riddle's spear pierced their arm, pinning it to the ground.

And it took a lot of effort for them not to scream.

It stung more than any ordinary arrow. Like a parasite, it was eating away at their limb. Flesh dying black the more time passes. The ones that noticed wanted to help, shouting out in concern, but unable to do much since they needed to focus on fighting for their lives, with Yuu, the one leading the whole thing down.

Is this really it? This was how I'm going to die? What can I even do if Trey uses his unique magic? I doubt it'd lessen enough damage for anything to be done. Am I going to see the fight til' the end at least..?

Sounds went back and forth like a broken record. Yuu tried to block out the entire world with the sound of their heartbeat.

bam. bam. bam. bam.

bam. bam. bam. bam..

Is there really nothing that can be done? Come on, think! Anything!

---

"There's ghosts in the mines?!"

"You've got to be kidding-"

---

"What, you a chicken or something?"

"Who are you calling a chicken, huh?!"

"idiots- do you want to live through this or not?!"

---

"Here's the plan..."

---

"I don't know how we're still alive! Hah- haha!"

"... Bahaha-"

---

--

-

"Oi, Yuu- or should I call you prefect now~?"

"Say that again and I'll show you a demonstration with the word, defenestration." Yuu retorted without hesitation. It was still too early in the morning, they hadn't had coffee in two days, and being addressed formally never failed to weird them out.

"...You look like a pretty guy, but you're freaking scary, you know that?" Now what is that supposed to mean?

Ace sighed, making himself right at home on the previously dusty sofa. "Anyway, as I was saying. I've been wanting to ask this for a while."

"What's up with that sword? You've been keeping that thing with you since the entrance ceremony, and it's not even in good condition."

Ah, right. You've been bringing that broken blade around in its sheath. Now that both Ace and Deuce know that it's only half a sword, that makes it seem even stranger.

"What, is it a family relic? Ya trying to look cool or something?"

"That's.. uh..."

... Well, it's not like Yuu could say anything about it being the one thing tied to their past or something. The atmosphere would turn weird.

---

.

.

.

Yuu's eyes locked right at the unsheathed red blade, in its usual purplish glow during battle. Ever since Yuu figured out how to convert blot to magic power in small amounts, they thought that they'd never need to use the same weapon again from the previous world.

tick. tock.

They pushed their body up with their left arm the best they could, ignoring the pain from the other side.

tick. tock.

Their vision getting blurry, crawled with any remaining strength they had.

drip. drip.

There was no time to have any fantasies of an miracle to appear, nor was there any time to drown in the despair of the current reality.

. . .

. . .

The muscles were begging to stop. The fight was still ongoing. Sounds of running, dodging, clashing, and casting was heard.

There were also an air of anxiety, tense, unnerving feeling in the air.

Along with fatigue.

...

Oh, right.

I'm tired.

Taking a small nap should be fine, right?-

No, I would definitely pass out, or worse..

Give up.. then what would all that be for..?

Why am I... even trying...

----+----

"W-We did it?"

There was a moment of silence as the three tried to process what had just happened.. If the dead monster on the ground was an indication of anything.

"We won..."

"Hooray!"

"We did it!!!"

...

what is it?

Was it because we won? We survived it together? Was it the thrill?

As Yuu started having strange thoughts, they stared at their friends for a while, broken weapons loosely held, still dazed... but not from the same thing as the two boys, too happy to notice how uncharacteristic it was.

Yuu couldn't pinpoint it in a few simple words to brush it off as something cliche. No matter how many literary works they could find to somehow find a way to describe it, it wouldn't feel right...

And for the first time. Yuu wasn't sure if they wanted to figure it out whether it was a good or bad thing.

...

'I want more of it.'

----+----

"...Damnit!"

Reaching out to the purplish hue, so close yet so far, nameless continued ignoring the pitch black crawling up their skin.

drip. drip.

"Just a little... more..!"

Crawling up the neck, pulse dimming bit by bit, soon syncing with the booming of the chest.

drip. drip.

"Move."

A glimpse was all that was needed. Even if You became one with the abyss. A single strand of color in a monochrome plane was enough.

So.

Drip. Tap.

"Move, damnit!"

As soon as Yuu clenched the weapon...

-BOOM!

"...Eh? The attacks..."

"They're all dissolving and gathering towards one place...?!"

So I may or may have not decided to dump any ideas here as practice until I get back on ao3 since something is better than nothing... haha- Yea, this is brain vomit. Please do the same whenever you read what I make THANK YOU! :DDDD

(P.S: Could you tell that this is one of the few times I'm describing atmosphere and feelings? It's so complicated. And I'm going cry :'D)

@twisted-drawritings @karmicpunishment @mellosdrawings

[coquelicoq]

quick little check-in on how my effort to get rid of books is going:

-5 books i gave to my siblings for christmas. i will probably end up replacing at least 2 if not all of them, but i'll cross that bridge if and when i come to it

+1 book i bought at the bookstore when i was supposed to be getting a present for my sister's boyfriend (it just looked so interestingggg)

(no change) 1 book i read so that i could get rid of it, but then i liked it too much to get rid of it

(no change) 1 book i reread to see if i still liked it enough to keep it. and i did

-3 books in a series that i put in a little free library in my neighborhood after rereading

+1 book i picked up from a different little free library on the same trip

-3 books i put in a little free library in the next neighborhood over in the dead of night because i was embarrassed about my marginalia

[guy who hasn't yet received a package of books currently on its way here voice] i'm actually doing much better than i expected! i've gotten rid of 11 books and only picked up 2 new ones. and one of those is a bilingual collection of rilke poems, with the original german facing the english translation. i do not read german, but i'm still not sure how i was supposed to pass that up. the other is nonfiction about the poetry of rap. also unclear if there was a way to resist it that i just didn't know about. really don't think i can be blamed for either of those.

[seriousbrat]

vincent crabbe and gregory goyle

There are few HP characters I think are badly written, but while rereading I often feel like we could have done without Crabbe and Goyle. Or at least without one of them. They basically have no speaking lines and just "flex their muscles" a lot (I hate this lol it's so silly to me.)

To be fair, Crabbe does get more interesting in HBP/DH, when he emerges from Draco's shadow and becomes a character in his own right. And in a way Harry himself points this out in the narration-- he's surprised at the softness of Crabbe's voice because... he's basically never heard his voice in 7 years. Like alright I'll accept Crabbe's presence in the books because I do actually like the fact that he starts rebelling against Malfoy. The brief final exchange with Crabbe alone gives him a lot more depth, and it's hinted at in HBP with Crabbe starting to question Malfoy's orders. Like I think this is quite good:

All of this makes Crabbe slightly more interesting to me, but I'm pretty sure Goyle's only given character trait over 7 books is being stupid lmao. Arguably some of this lack of depth is just because Harry doesn't pay attention to them, but also it's remarkable how much more interesting Theodore Nott, who doesn't appear until OotP, seems just because of his ability to see Thestrals (also his father is more interesting than Crabbe Sr and Goyle Sr in the graveyard.) And it's weird because jkr is typically quite good at infusing very minor characters with interest and depth, even if they only have one line in the entire series (Nott's father being a good example.)

Goyle I think literally just doesn't add anything as a character. I'm a little torn about Crabbe because in a way I do think it's interesting for him to basically be a non-entity and then take Harry (and us) by surprise during their first conversation in 7 years, right before his death. So I think Crabbe would be a better character overall without Goyle dragging him down by association lol.

But anyway despite Crabbe's last hurrah, most of the time both characters are just kind of extensions of Draco, it's even stated that they "seemed to exist to do Malfoy's bidding." Pansy and even the much more minor Zabini and Nott all feel so much more dynamic. Like I said, characters who only appear for a single line are given more depth than Crabbe and Goyle who are "on screen" all the time but seem to share a non-personality, because until HBP there's almost no distinction between the two (apart from Goyle being a bit stupider.)

Honestly it seems like until HBP they're mostly there to make Malfoy more of a threat to the trio, since otherwise Ron and Harry could just pummel Draco when he got mouthy and win. I think if Malfoy's gang had just been one of them (Crabbe) and then maybe Nott as more of a sycophant type of role rather than just a thug, this would have worked much better.

I mentioned the Crabbe Sr and Goyle Sr, who are also remarkably uninteresting/blank compared to other minor Death Eaters like Nott Sr or Avery. This makes me never want to include them as Death Eaters in anything I write haha. They just "bow clumsily and mutter dully" so it feels like all we can conclude is that Crabbe Sr and Goyle Sr are just.. exactly the same as their sons but as adults, which is doubly boring because them being copies of their sons is boring but also their sons are boring to begin with. Neither family is part of the Sacred Twenty-eight, and the only mildly interesting inference I can draw here is that they were low-ranking Death Eaters, untalented, basic lackeys who deliberately encouraged their sons to suck up to Lucius Malfoy's son, which is why Vincent and Gregory dutifully followed Draco's orders for so long.

I can imagine that after Lord Voldemort's downfall, Lucius was probably the highest-ranking Death Eater to escape Azkaban, and he might have been seen as a sort of rallying point by those who believed Voldemort was gone. Natural followers like Crabbe and Goyle would have gravitated to Lucius as the new alpha lol, and I think it does add a little bit of interest if the reason why Vincent and Gregory allowed themselves to be bossed around and talked down to by Draco for so long is because they were specifically instructed or encouraged to do so as children. This also explains why Crabbe starts to rebel when Lucius loses favour after OotP.

[gottalovef1drama]

I kept wondering what it was that bothered me soo much about the 2025 F1 graphics… and then it hit me: it’s the awful tiktok romance book lettering

[catrasfreckles]

anyone else very confused as to the length of harrow's hair in GtN

[cadybear420]

HSS:CA critics: "HSS:CA has a lot of problems and was such a huge dip in quality from the OG HSS trilogy, the sabotage arc was especially awful"

Me: hehe |:) right on

the same HSS:CA critics: "Ajay is a terrible character and was by far one of the worst things about the CA trilogy especially after he accused MC of the sabotage why is he a LI"

Me: not hehe >:( leave Ajay alone he's not that bad