#starcrossed trilogy

[lilmcttens]

[plantdad-dante]

Book #110 - Goddess by Josephine Angelini

(at which point am I allowed to call all of this bullshit insulting)

How is it that I have yet to come upon an Iliad retelling that follows the "Helen actually wants to be there" idea which doesn't just straight up suck? I'd like to think I'm open to that. It shouldn't be a guarantee for failure.

So then why the fuck do all of those retellings/adaptations paint the Greeks as barbaric savages with DV eyes who never heard of compassion or decency, let alone hygiene, and all the Trojans as these kind, charming pretty people who could never do anything wrong, ever? Why do they all lack moral nuance. Why are they afraid of holding their protagonists accountable.

And even among those, I have never before witnessed one that flinched so hard at even the suggestion of narrative accountability. The book keeps making shit up to take as much responsibility from its faves as it is humanly possible, and it should have become comical at some point, but instead it just kept getting worse.

Anyway, some choice quotes and highlights fom my notes:

- So Orion's mum is "insane", "the kind of insane that is dangerous to be around" (yes, those are direct quotes). Such a tactful, nuanced portrail of mental illness. Bravo, truly. Bravo.

- If I understand this book correctly, then all the Starcrossed House of Atreus inherited from the actual House of Atreus (Agamemnon, Menelaus, etc.) is the name. Which is disappointing. Petition to rename it House of Helen or something?

-So... Paris looks like Lancelot who looks like Lucas who looks like Orion's dad who looks like Odysseus, and all of them look like Poseidon. I... I don't think this was thought through, tbh.

- light note: Hector went swimming in jeans. Was very astonished that he managed to keep his cool during the confrontation with Apollo, while his legs were in the grips of a denim boa constrictor. (who goes swimming in jeans????)

- speaking of that scene... "It was a queer-sounding cackle - not human, and a little less than sane." (again, direct quote.) Someone tell grandma that you can't say shit like this anymore, what the fuck. This came out in 2013, ffs. Jesus, you're lucky I read so much 19th/early 20th century lit, or I might have interpreted that sentence in a 100% less charitable light. (also, of course it has to be Apollo who gets described like this... not defending Apollo, just not a fan of biphobia or -erasure. which, yes, of course all his targets/victims here are female. did you expect anything else?).

- Since the presences of neither Demeter or Artemis get even alluded to at the duels/war, I'm choosing to picture them taking one long look at all of this and then saying "nah, we're good. we're just gonna sit this one out." and then they're just chilling on Olympus, maybe taking a nature walk while the rest of the fam go embarass themselves.

- Matt-as-Achilles looks at Hector and thinks "aw, him and his gf are reuinted. They were always such an awesome power couple. Hope it turns out better for them this time." And I ask, again, at what point am I allowed to call this insulting. Like, sorry, but if I suddenly got possessed by a magic dagger that sorta kinda turned me into a reincarnation of Achilles, I would not look at the splitting image of Hector of Troy and think anything other than "Hey. That's the guy who drove me into the deepest grief and the loudest wrath back in the war. I almost went insane because of him. Threw away my life and my principles just to kill him." Be serious.

- Why invoke shit you're never gonna follow up on. Why tease me with Arthuriana like this when you're not gonna do anything with it? Why promise me Nemesis when you don't even seem to be aware who she is??

- Why am I supposed to sympathize with God!Helen? Or any of her immortal posse? Also, why did this book end up punishing Ariadne so hard? She didn't do anything, did she?? She didn't even make a moral decision, she just sided with her bf. And everyone else got forgiven for that! Also, she deserved more than being a stand-in for the bland non-character that is Briseis. She only got that face so this version of Achilles would have a girlfriend (which hurts to type) and that's honestly just... yeah, it's insulting. To everyone involved.

- OH. Btw, Patroclus gets, like, name-dropped, once, when Helen remembers Achilles challenging OG Hector, "half-insane with grief", but nothing comes of that comment, it's a single sentence, and then the whole ordeal doesn't even get alluded to anymore. Matt fights Hector on moral grounds alone, on an issue that gets side-stepped later anyway, and- ugh.

- Every single relationship in this book is either a bad idea, rushed, toxic, or any combination of these. The Hector/Andromache speedrun especially was done in some very speaky clownshoes, and... ugh, did we have to make Orion a nonce? Did we? Did we really? You don't have to pair up everyone at the end, you can leave the fourteen-year-old prophet alone, Jesus. It's not that hard.

I wanted to do a contemplatative post for this last one. Look back on the series as a whole, reflect a bit... But no. No, I needed to yell, again. Because sometimes you just need to write a comprehensive list of why nobody should spend money on something. And I'm so very glad I didnt.

Reading this trilogy felt like chugging poison. Like I was doing a keg-stand, but the keg was full of poison. Well, folks, the keg is empty. And I'm gonna read some really fluffy shit now. Teeth-rotting queer fluff extravaganza. Fuck you.

[andiatas]

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another instalment of the Fandom project! This time, we are once again discussing books, this time, young adult books. Check out previous posts in this series here.

Once again, the list is quite long, so I will just mention the wiki and not go into deeper details about what each one needs help with. If I did that, the post would be too long, and no one would have time for it.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, if you can create & edit a Tumblr post, you can edit articles on a wiki. Here, you can find an easy step-by-step guide on how to get started with contributing, but you can also message me & I will help guide you through any question marks.

13 Treasures Series // A Walk to Remember // The Amateurs // The Archived // Artemis Fowl // Beautiful Disaster // Big Little Lies // The Bone Season // Books of History Chronicles // The Book Thief

Charlaine Harris // Chris Van Allsburg // Chronicles of Nick // Cornelia Funke // Covenant // Dan Brown // Daughter of Smoke and Bone // Destroyermen // The Devil Wears Prada // Diana Wynne Jones // Divergent // The Diviners Series

Emily of New Moon // Endgame // Eric Flint // Famous in Love // The Fault in Our Stars // Fever/Highlander // Fifty Shades of Grey // Fire and Thorns // Gabriel Allon // Gail Carriger // Gail Carson Levine // Gallagher Girls // The Giver // Guards of the Shadowlands

Half Bad Trilogy // Hardy Boys // Hush, Hush // If I Stay // Island in the Sea of Time // J. K. Rowling // Jane Austen // John Green // John Wayne Cleaver // Just One Day // L. J. Smith // The Last Kingdom // Little Britches // Little Women // Lockwood & Co. // The Lone City // The Lovely Bones // The Lying Game

Mara Dyer // Maximum Ride // Me Before You // Meg Cabot // Millenium Trilogy // Monsters of Verity // Mortdecai // Neil Gaiman // Nerve // Outlander // Paws and Claws Mysteries // The Phantom of the Opera // Phillip K. Dick

R.L. Stine // Rain of the Ghosts // The Reckoners // Red Queen // Roman Mysteries // The Selection // Shades of London // Sharpe // Shopaholic // Sir Robert Carey Mysteries // Starbound Trilogy // Starcrossed // Storm and Silence

Takashi Matsuoka // Trudi Canavan // Uglies // Unearthly // Unenchanted // Vicious // We Were Liars // Wicked Lovely // The Witchlands // The Work and the Glory

If your favourite book or series isn't mentioned here, I suggest checking out the literature page, the book club or go to this page & simply search for your favourite book/series/author. Its almost guaranteed to have their own wiki!

[schistostegapennata]

Please tell me someone on here read the Larklight trilogy growing up! I feel like whenever I mention it to people, no one seems to have come across it, so then I have to start explaining like "...well, it's set in the Victorian era, but in space. And there are hyperintelligent albino spiders, badass blue lizard people who ride moths and have a matriarchal society, a race of pandimensional women who can switch from one body to another and are responsible for making galaxies, Uranus is inhabited by mermaid people, there's a disease that causes people in a Martian colony to turn into trees, a Christmas pudding parasite, and the main character's father is an extremely clueless and attractive ichthyologist who studies space fish and writes obscure books on them. Also a motley crew of extremely moralistic pirates fly around space on their pirate ship after having escaped from being studied by the Royal Xenological Institute."

And I think it's really a shame, because this was such a formative part of my childhood/young-adulthood and it was my first introduction to steampunk, which I quickly became obsessed with. They are hilarious and also the illustrations are gorgeous

[englishotomegames]

Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom (天使のプレゼント マール王国物語, Angel's Present: Marl Kingdom Story)

Release dates Japanese (PS2): December 21st, 2000 English (Nintendo Switch, PS5, Steam): August 29th, 2023

"In Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom, music and love weave their way through the past, present, and future! As the concluding installment of the stories of the Marl Kingdom and its characters, this is one magical story you won't want to miss.

Though true love is the destination, there are many magical paths that can lead you to it. Experience the stories of Cornet, the ruler of the Marl Kingdom, her daughter Kururu, the 'Tomboy Princess,' and other lovestruck souls in Marl Kingdom, all of which span the past, present, and future of the Rhapsody series. Tales of true love both new and old await you, including the fate of Kururu's impending marriage, two starcrossed lovers and their warring families, and the journey of Cornet’s mother, Cherie. The trials and tribulations each of these characters face will put their hearts to the test like never before. Will true love truly prevail?"

This is the third and final game in the Rhapsody series - a trilogy of romantic comedy musical JRPGs - released in English for the first time.

You can get the Steam version here, the PS5 version here, or the Nintendo Switch version here! The console releases contain both Rhapsody II and Rhapsody III, under the name "Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles".

[daidoods]

Irene Lew: Devil Buster

[Headcanon/Fanfic] TLDR:

FILE NAME: Magkoss

After the investigation/hunt for Jaquio and his ultimate end in the Amazon [and before the Dark Sword Incident]; CIA operative Irene Lew would formally become acquainted with the last person on the world bearing the title of Dragon Ninja--Ryu Hayabusa.

The two would team up once again, this time around they work together to stop a dark plot orchestrated by a war cell in a disclosed installation, this cell is using an artifact called "The Eye of Magkoss" that can shape shift the mass of any object or person. And it just so happens that both Ryu and Irene infiltrated in the middle of their tests on humans!

Thankfully the cell was stopped, but in the meantime as the Eye of Magkoss is figured out, Irene has to guard the unlucky person that was..quite literally..sized down a notch..

Ah~ it feels great to draw wholesome/cool stuff once more, especially G/t related.

Depicted here is Ninja Gaiden's heroic lady and starcrossed lover to Hayabusa; Irene, saving the lone victim from an unusual, demon-made contraption, plus the aftermath from the final blow given to the wilder of the Eye.

PD: A shame there's not enough Fanart of not just Irene Lew herself but for the Original Ninja Gaiden trilogy [emphasis on the trilogy that uses Roman Numerals and was made for the NES/Famicom]...or even G/t Fanart of Irene.

[fun fact: this began because I fooled around with The Death Generator and made a custom image of Irene saying to an unseen tiny person that "there's nothin' to worry about" and then it clicked and you know the rest X) ]

[alkja]

You know, I don't know if someone already came up with this but let's imagine that our Schrodinger girl Lucy Gray Baird lives.

Let's imagine she lives and keeps on living to the time of the original trilogy. Snow did, after all. Mags did. Let's imagine that somewhere she does too.

Can you imagine how fucking delighted she would be watching Katniss and Peeta totally wreck Snow's day?

I mean, the whole "kids keep being sent to murder each other in a grosser and grosser spectacle" is obviously deeply upsetting.

But let's imagine Lucy Gray watching as the trainwreck of the 74th Hunger Games unfolds.

Lucy Gray appreciating the whole Girl On Fire showmanship.

Lucy Gray betting with herself about how likely the whole star-crossed lovers story is, evaluating every word and gesture as performance or reality.

Lucy Gray imagining Snow's face as another District 12 girl sings in the arena.

Lucy Gray punching the air as Katniss forces the hand of the Capitol with the berries.

Lucy Gray smirking as Snow has to crown a District 12 girl sporting a fucking mockingjay pin of all things.

Lucy Gray cussing that motherfucker for the Quarter Quell fuckery and then sitting back to watch it biting him in the ass in a Starcrossed Lovers vs The Capitol part 2 (except this time not even the Capitol wants this - bad mistake, Coryo, know your audience).

Lucy Gray laughing her ass off at the "if it weren't for the baby" bomb. You think Haymitch was gleeful? Lucy Gray would have loved the shit out of watching Peeta "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" Mellark sowing chaos with some tearful eyes and bald faced lies.

Lucy Gray watching Katniss having to be the face of the rebellion when it's clear the poor girl is really not suited to performing, bless her heart. Just as well she does have heart.

Lucy Gray seeing The Hanging Tree not just living on but becoming the official rebel song, imagining just how haunted Snow must feel by that song.

Lucy Gray seeing The Hunger Games ended, Snow deposed and the Capitol toppled because of a revolution that sparked in part from some nobody kids from District 12.

Lucy Gray Baird outliving and having the last laugh over Coriolanus Snow. And why not, maybe even making one more song about it.

[ma-lark-ey]

I’m here to review all of the covers of Carry On I could find. This is divided into three categories of a) English covers I see in stores so I presume are American but I also accidentally somehow have the Australian editions of Mortal Instruments so who fucking knows. b) other English editions that I’m assuming are UK/Canadian/other English speaking countries editions but don’t really know. And b) international translated covers. Now:

1. American Paperback

2/10. There is nO drip or pizzazz here. The minimalist covers in the UK have more drip and pizzazz than this mf.

2. American Bookshelf (Print-On Hardcover/School Library)

8/10. I didn’t like this one at first but it is the version I own so it’s grown on me. I annotated this motherfucker. It’s got SO much drip and pizzazz. I love this version.

3. American Hardback

4/10. I think it’s. Fine. I don’t particularly care for it, I think against the other two covers of the trilogy this one doesn’t match at all and the paperback/Bookshelf edition match better. I would like it more if we had editions of the the rest of the trilogy that matched this.

4. UK Edition

5/10 this starts what I call the ‘royal starcrossed lovers’ section of the cover editions. I believe this is the UK version? I’ve never seen it in the US, at least. Baz and Simon look like forbidden romance princes. I love it. It looks like a sweet tarts box. I simply cant rank it higher than a five but the rest ARE better.

5. Italian Edition <<3

9/10 this looks like. T4T royal gay forbidden romance. I KNOW its supposed to be Baz, Simon, Penny, and Agatha but its so much better to think they’re trans.

6. Italian Edition part II

7/10. This is soooo. Eating it up. They way they arent looking at each other… the DEER the MASSIVE watford silouette. Thank you Italy cover designed

7. Portugese edition

7/10 the colour scheme of this is PERFECION. im literally gonna eat this one its SOOOOOOOO perfect you guys I meant it. I love this cover.

8. Hebrew Edition

3/10. I have no qualms with the Hebrew cover it just feels so.. uncanny valley. Why are they switched. baz go back to the Simon’s right you’re his right hand man. His little hip jut out it so gay. What is this

9. German edition

1/10 this is sooo 😭😭💀 it looks like a parody novel. What is this. This look like a 1990’s parody of Harry Potter. Its so. What.

10. Russian Edition

10/10. No notes. Funniest covers EVER. My mate said this looks like Disney Magic Fairies and they were RIGHT. its so cartoonish. It looks like. Like a childrens novel AND IT HAS THE 18+ IN THE CORNER. the 18+ in the corner makes this ten times better its so FUNNY. it makes it so GOOFY. this cover understood the assignment. This book is silly and goofy.

[100blocks-archived]

I'm gonna be the worst person, but my entire younger-mid teen years was taken up by reading all these trashy YA books but I love them so much

I think I read the shadow hunters series like 2-3 times or something (only the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy)

They made me so happy when I was younger and I'm not ashamed of that

you should never be ashamed of that i read selection and starcrossed and iron fey and all of those and i could never regret it

[ao3feed--reylo]

Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/hcRnZPV

by junkyardjeditrash

Regency AU: Benjamin Solo rarely sees his brother's new wife and senses something is amiss in their marriage. When their paths finally cross, Ben's suspicions are confirmed even as he begins to develop romantic feelings for her. However, their love can never be...

Words: 7872, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Kylo Ren/Rey

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Regency, Kylo Ren & Ben Solo are Twins, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Verbal Abuse, Kylo is a Bully, Ben Solo is Soft for Rey, Adultery, POV Ben Solo, Starcrossed Lovers, Gentleman Astronomer Ben Solo, Kylo Ren is a mean dude, Rey Needs A Hug (Star Wars), Violence, Sibling Rivalry, Complicated Feels

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/hcRnZPV

[marydublinauthor]

Do you plan on doing anything with the other stories you have on deviant art? Caught, starcrossed, wander, etc. You don’t really talk about those here

Ahh I wish I know who asked this! I appreciate it. Short answer is yes!

Valour started off as a Caught AU but eventually became an entirely original story. Valour will now be book 1 of the Jüren Universe trilogy written with @smol-smoggie

Book 1 = Valour (revision in progress!)

Book 2 = Wander (rewrite)

Book 3 = Caught (rewrite)

You have no idea how excited we are to dive into these characters and stories and breathe fresh life into them! I miss Adrian and Jude and Kanna and the gang so much 😭❤️😭❤️😭 and we have exciting plans for the villain of Caught — now Violet and Avery Gallows, which their own twisted and heartbreaking story. The original co-author of Wander gave her blessing for Meg to take over as co-author, so she is adopted mum to the Wander crew 😍 and OG coauthor of Caught and Valour!

As for Starcrossed, I would love to return to that someday. It always felt very solid and fun sci-fi to me. Definitely on my list!

I have enough stories in me to last literally my entire life and then some.

Thank you, anon! ❤️

[plantdad-dante]

Book #109 - Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

(JAIL. Jail for Lucas.)

Ohhhhh I hate this. I hate this so much. I don't even know where to start. I'm so mad at this, from so many angles, it's like a kaleidoscope of misery. A panopticon of hatred. Consider this your warning.

How can a book based on the most accessible and most widely historically preserved mythology contain this amount of bullshit. I don't get it. And what makes it worse it that sometimes it gets things right?? Even things that I hadn't known before and had to google?? (I may not like the "Myrmidons are insect people" angle, but it at least makes somewhat sense, in a God Of War, "we twist everything morally ambiguous about what you love into fucked up, gory, evil monstrosities" kinda way.) I think it's the weird disconnect for me, of seeing one thing that is actually based in myth, that like, has an actual foundation somewhere and makes sense - and then two pages later encountering something either flat out wrong (like Chiron, the Ferryboatman on the Styx), or completely barmy ("River of Joy", shove it up your bum).

By the way, it takes a lot to actually make me want to punch a fictional character, but oh boy. Oh boy, I want to kill Lucas. I want to fucking disintegrate that motherfucker. An invisible man stalking a woman he is obsessed with is literally the plot of a horror movie!! Literally. Also, there is one passage where he a) admits to watching her sleep, and b) says that someday he won't be able to stop himself from climbing into the bed with her (!!!) and honestly, it's so ambigously worded, for a second I forgot how clueless this book is about sex and was legitamtely convinced he intended to SA her. So, yeah, jail for Lucas.

For some other greatest hits of this book:

- The "All Tell No Show" writing continues, making, for example, Zach's character and arc completely incomprehensible to me. - The women hate continues, this time expressed in the form of at least one incel we are meant to sympathize with, the majority of the male cast being possessive and volatile fuckheads and it being portrayed as romantic and good, and none, literally not a single one, of the female characters being concerned about Lucas' stalking habits. Additionally: thank fuck for exposition talk or I doubt this book would pass the Bechdel test. - Ares, God of War - not the clean, strategic roundtable stuff that Athena concerns herself with, this is the gory, blood-soaked carnage aspect of war we're talking about - is a coward. Yeah. Sure, I mean... what else would he be. Right? - While the reader knows that Lucas and Helen aren't actually related, they and the majority of the other characters have yet to learn this little factoid. Weird, then, that the book just kind of... forgets about it. About two thirds in, this book flat out forgets that they are supposed to be cousins, and drops it in favour of love triangle angst. I wish I was making this up.

I'm still confused about this book's portrail of Hades and Persephone. From the moment they brought her up I was waiting to learn her feelings on the whole kidnapping matter, but all we get is a confusing talk with Hades, where he justifies his actions with his feelings. Persephone gets to be nothing more than a plot device. Another strike for women hate.

I am worried about what Antman's death means for this series' portrail of Achilles. For a story that wants to base its lore and characters on the Iliad, the first two books have very curiously avoided bringing up the Greek side of the Trojan War, and specifically Achilles. And I can't help it, I'm a Greek Mythology gay, of course I'm worried what these books will do to our boy.

All in all, this feels like that Simpson's meme.... "This is the worst book I have ever read" - "The worst book you have ever read - so far". Get it? Because this is a trilogy, because there is still one left to go.

[aundreathewriter]

Chapters: 19/? Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Original Female Character(s), Qui-Gon Jinn & Original Female Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi & Original Character(s) Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Eris Constellan, Qui-Gon Jinn, Q2, Nebula Starcreth, Aries Starcreth Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Galactic politics, Nightsisters (Star Wars), Mentioned Qui-Gon Jinn, Flashbacks, Father-Daughter Relationship, Princes & Princesses, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Developing Friendships, Droids as Human Beings (Star Wars), Cyborgs, Droid Revolution (Star Wars), Droids (Star Wars), Angst, Family Drama, Duty vs Love, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Sassy Droids (Star Wars), Civil War, Force Visions (Star Wars), Force Bond (Star Wars), planet invasion, droid-human war, revenge of the sith to a new hope, Space Opera, Not Abandoned, Eventual Romance, Romantic Fluff, Friendship/Love, Adventure & Romance, Yandere Droid Prince Summary:

"Jedi and Nightsisters never work together." Or so the old adage goes...But when Obi-Wan encounters a mysterious medic on Polis Massa with her gung-ho droid, strange visions in the Force haunt him with reminders of his master. When two opposite worlds collide, will they find comfort in each other by healing the past, or will the longstanding feud between them rip them apart?

[starsandsteelandbrokenglass]

May 2024 Reading Wrap Up

This is coming in late because I've been traveling! And am still doing so, which means I expect June reading stats to be very low. But I'm having a great time doing other things, some of which might eventually be posted. I left right at the beginning of June, so my May reading was still pretty solid--15 books and a little over 5,000 pages. Here they are:

Leisure Reading:

Empire of Sand (The Books of Ambha #1) by Tasha Suri- 3.5/5 stars; didn't like it quite as much as the Jasmine Throne trilogy, but still a solid fantasy read

Realm of Ash (The Books of Ambha #2) by Tasha Suri- 3.5/5 stars; again, interesting world and I think I liked the characters of this one slightly more than the first

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison- 4.75/5; this was delightful, somehow managing to be both slice of life and high court drama and both low and high stakes all at once

Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini- 3.5/5 stars; not as good as I remembered from high school, but still passable

Dreamless (Starcrossed #2) by Josephine Angelini- 3.5/5 stars; again, not phenomenal, but I have read worse takes on the Trojan War

Goddess (Starcrossed #3) by josephine Angelini- 3.5/5 stars; a true 2010s YA novel that wrapped everything up neatly

All the Hidden Paths (The Tithenai Chronicles #2) by Foz Meadows- 4.5/5 stars; I like this world and these characters a lot, and seeing them grow is really rewarding, especially within a well-constructed plot

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead- 3.5/5 stars; didn't super connect with any of these characters, but it was a compelling mystery/thriller

Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8) by Seanan McGuire- 3.75/5 stars; another great addition to this series, and an interesting new piece of worldbuilding

Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt- 3.25/5 stars; great premise and love an asexual found family but honestly not as much heisting as I wanted

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher- 3.75/5 stars; not my favorite Kingfisher I've read, but a well-done reversal of a familiar fairytale

Metamorphoses: A Play by Mary Zimmerman- I would looooove to see this done onstage, especially with the pool elements

Academic Readings:

Affective Intensities and Evolving Horror Forms: From Found Footage to Virtual Reality by Adam Daniel

Post-Horror: Art, Genre and Cultural Elevation by David Church

Characterisation in Apuleius' Metamorphoses: Nine Studies by Stephen Harrison

Favorite read in May was The Goblin Emperor--I definitely want to read more Katherine Addison now!

Currently Reading: The Night Villa by Carol Goodman and The Palgrave Handbook to Horror Literature

[imadangerouscause]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you to get to know your mutuals and followers <3

AAAAA IM SORRY FOR ANSWERING THIS SO LATE!!! and thank you so much for including me in this tag game @adventures-in-mangaland <3

anyways 5 things that make me happy? in no particular order:

my friends both irl and online

2. stuffed animals

3. makeup. like i dont always wear it but i always have fun trying out new looks!!

4. reading fanfic and books. finally read the hunger games trilogy and it was amazing!!! now i gotta go and get the prequel

5. taking candid/silly photos. i need to do that more with my friends. i want to take more photos to remember things :)

I'll tag @smaragdine @somethingabouttheway @secondlandiareblogs @amaricanidiotlover @tawnyevergreen @bootown @catastrofhe @starcrossed-blog @jupiter-rae @manyfandomsonelog @fernposting and anyone else who wants to do it feel free!!!

[thecatsaesthetics]

GRRM's blindness when it comes to Rhaegar and R/L at large haunts lmao. Here's the thing, and I don't know if I will articulate this well or not, but I don't have any issues with characters being terrible or engaging in terrible/amoral actions - these books aren't a moral play after all or an after school special lmao. But my issue is when characters act like that, but the narrative or author still wants to push them as good people we need to sympathize with and root for, while contradicting what the narrative shows with zero self-awareness.

I think he genuinely wants R and L to be seen as Good People(tm) who just greatly miscalculated their actions but the narrative just makes them into assholes lol with seemingly little self awareness by GRRM. Like, it's nice I guess that Lyanna wanted to defend Howland Reed or whatever but then having her watch Rhaegar publicly humiliate his pregnant wife and then being like, 'Yes, I am in love with him and will run away with him (while his wife and two babies are chilling at home) so I don't have to marry Robert who is a single, unmarried man having consensual sex...' I just.....am so baffled lmao. I feel like people think GRRM is a 5d chess master and all of this will be perfectly explained and make sense should he ever finish the series and I just....don't think that's the case lol. I just genuinely think he's so married to these juvenile Romeo and Juliet fantasies that his self-awareness was no where to be found when he conceived of this.

Like, he genuinely wants readers to find it romantic that Rhaegar said his teenage mistress' name when he died.....and then we find out that his toddler daughter he abandoned was hiding under his bed hoping her dad would save her before being brutally slaughtered. Like I'm sorry but IS HE INSANE LMAO.

Personally I think he got himself into a pickle. Martin never expected ASOIAF to become what it has. He expected a three trilogy fantasy series and wrote the basic plot points in the 1990s. One of ASOIAF biggest plot points is Jon is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. He can’t undo that, it would break the story.

And so much has come out since the 90s about abuse, sexual assault, power, and age gap relationships. We have all grown in this matter. I think he might try to make Rhaegar as morally grey as he can but I think the basic plot that they were doomed starcrossed lovers will still be a plot point.