#thank you as always to percy for spoiling me with a little friend who goes literally everywhere with me

[remyfire]

Every time I go to work, he comes with me.

[alextriestowritestuff]

Blood Of Olympus Read W/ Me

This was the worst book of the series by far. I almost didn’t finish it. I think my thoughts are going to be rather short but they’ll still be below the cut for spoiler reasons. There will also be Trials of Apollo spoilers so I highly suggest not reading this if you haven’t caught up with those books! Let’s get into it.

I’d like the start by saying what I like: Nico/Reyna POV. I loved their relationship (which I didn’t see coming at all) it was very big sis-little bro vibes. I love that Nico finally found a place and his budding relationship with Will. What’s funny is though I knew Will would be his love interest (You can’t avoid them in fanfic at all) I thought he’d be more like super sunshine/super happy and that would contrast with Nico’s emo nature. But he was just chill and was like Nico, stop being a dumbass, we’re friends. I think fanfic gave me a different impression of what he’d be like (Granted I never read the fics, just summaries) and I was surprised that he was not like that. It’s not bad or good, just pointing it out. 

Oh and Nico telling Percy he liked him and Percy just being like ‘say what?’ I didn’t expect Nico to actually fess up to that one but Percy’s reaction was gold. 

The best moment in this book is Reyna taking down Orion by herself. She was that BITCH. Correct me if I’m wrong but the only other person who defeated a giant by themselves was Percy right? In the Battle of Labyrinth when he fights Antaeus? I think Antaeus was a half-giant though because Percy, a demigod, managed to kill him without the help of a god. Anyway, Reyna was everything in that scene. Oh I lied, he took down Polybotes too. They’d be unstoppable together (though I love Percabeth). She was about to sacrifice herself too!! What a queen. I respect the crap out of her. UM Jason you really picked the wrong girl lmao. 

I appreciated the Thalia cameo (because again, I didn’t re-read the Lost Hero so I haven’t seen her since the last time I read the PJO series) and the mention of Zoe. I hope Kenzie didn’t really die though, I liked her. 

And that’s all the good I have to say about it. Now for the bad...so much bad.

So after thinking about it, I realize that what makes HoO so different from its predecessor series is that there’s no consequences. The closest we got to consequences was Annabeth and Percy falling into Tartarus because they weren’t saved in time. No one important (protagonist/good guys side) died. Leo was resurrected (And I looked it up and found out that he came to Camp in the Trials of Apollo series so everyone knows he’s alive). Even for the Tartarus one, we didn’t even get a PTSD arc. It would’ve been helpful to have Percy or Annabeth’s POV in this book to wrap up that subplot. Instead we get two lines about their time in Tartarus and when Percy brings it up, Annabeth tells him not to mention it. So no PTSD arc. Got it. But we can just casually mention that Octavian committed suicide (which I don’t care for that ending at all).  Right.

The HoO books are boring because there’s no consequences. I never felt true fear apart from Percy/Annabeth being in Tartarus. In the Last Olympian, mortals were put to sleep, Annabeth was gravely injured, Silena and Beckendorf died. Luke and Ethan died. There was no magical save for them. Blood of Olympus had NO stakes, coupled with a weak, slightly developed new characters made it a bad series imo. It also doesn’t deliver on the questions posed in the book.

Hazel’s curse is still active, no descendant of Neptune has taken it away. I read the wiki summary for every book of the Trials of Apollo (The last one isn’t out yet) and there’s no mention of her curse being lifted. I think Frank’s stick is resolved imo being that it’s safe in the fireproof pouch but for some readers, they don’t think that’s resolved. Kym told Percy he’d have to face his fatal flaw. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t feel as though he did. Percy also never helped Leo find Calypso but Ig that’s null because he never got the chance to. Also is Black Jack, Frank’s grandmother, Hylla okay? Orion said Hylla got away but I was hoping for another cameo. 

Let’s talk about the villains/the entire quest of the Seven. The quest was boring, Nico/Reyna/Hedge’s quest was 100x more interesting and they were transporting a freaking statue. The quest of the Seven was fight this minor god/villain who is working for Gaea who promised them something (Even Jason has a line where he makes fun of this), outsmart/fight them, get to Athens where all the monsters are. Percy and Annabeth’s blood awakens Gaea. The gods come down which makes me angry because most of them weren’t helpful throughout the series. Poseidon wasn’t in this series at all. He didn’t even send a symbol or talk to his son who went missing. I’m pissed that the battle against Gaea wasn’t even in Athens! I’m pissed that they got slapped to New York, like what? The gods really couldn’t poof them back there, they gave some excuse but it was still bs. But I guess Rick needed Argo II to get back to NY so Leo can turn festus back into a dragon. But anyway, the gods come down, the demigods work with to defeat the giants in less than two pages. The giants that were poised as a massive threat for four books straight. Defeated in mere minutes. We don’t even get a cool battle description, they just hack and slash at them and they’re dead. Huh? 

Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were reduced to background characters and I understand they don’t have a POV but I never felt that characters who didn’t have a POV in a certain book were ever forgotten/not utilized. They didn’t really get to do anything. 

We also don’t really see the Roman and Greek gods all that much. I know they’re the same people, different Greek and Roman personalities. But like I thought their Roman side could be seen a bit more but they were having difficulty maintain one persona throughout the whole series. I can tell you what the Greek gods are like and how they interact w/ each other based on the throne room scenes/anytime they help demigods in PJO/HoO. But Roman gods as whole? I can’t tell you how they even interact with each other. 

But wait, it gets worse. There’s not even a formal recognition thing like there was at the end of the Last Olympian (where Percy is offered godhood and Annabeth is given position of architect) there’s a little meeting with the gods and the Seven in which Jason is like give minor gods shrine and the gods aren’t really all that interested in what he has to say. There’s no thank you demigods. No, thanks Annabeth and Percy for literally going through Tartarus and Hazel for sacrificing yourself at 13 back in the 1940s. And the rest of them sacrificed something too. Like damn, no wonder why Luke was always like the gods don’t care about their kids. 

Gaea was built up to be a big bad (honestly not really, she talked trash the entire time/sent people to do her work) and the woman is easily overpowered by the three demigods. She’s not even awake for 20 minutes and she goes down. WHAT?? 

Overall, it was anti-climatic and totally did a 180 on everything else established in this series-the fact that Gaea was such a major foe and turned out not to be (that SEVEN demigods had to take her down, not just 1 like Percy’s prophecy) and the giants were to be feared too but they get taken down. At 200 pages in, I dead ass wanted to DNF, it was so boring. I gave it a one star because although the good I mentioned was really great, it doesn’t save the book. So for me, this series had every book be 3 stars or under except House of Hades. 5 books and I only really was able to like one and get through it easily and it still had issues. Like what?

Lastly, I want to touch on Jason. I still think he’s bland though I appreciated him giving Nico a hug at the end there. Again from ToA/being spoiled over the years, I learned that Jason died and I won’t be reading ToA but I read the summary of the book where he died and um, wow. I don’t feel anything for his death but the fact that he and Piper broke up sent me into a laughing/anger rage. Laughing because they really said ‘I love you��� at the end of BoO and they didn’t even make it a year lmao. And the fact that PIPER, miss always insecure in her relationship with him, McLean broke up with HIM. WOOOOOW. But it made mad because I listened to her complain/fawn over Jason for 4 freaking books (not counting tSoN) for NO REASON cuz they ended up breaking up. Overall, I appreciated what Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Piper did in the HoO series because they were helpful but I couldn’t connect with their characters. I’ll admit that in BoO we got a little bit more bonding between characters which is what I asked for in my last read with me and I like the Percy/Jason scene underwater and Piper/Annabeth scene from the beginning. I do think some relationships were summarized when they could’ve been shown--i.e. Annabeth/Reyna/Piper friendship but they have potential. 

The bonding was good, it was just too late. It should’ve happened in MoA/HoH as well. Random but I also hate how Leo was treated (esp. by Jason and Piper) throughout the series and I’m glad he got out of that mess. He was reduced to a deus ex mechanic and that wasn’t cool. The Seven wouldn’t have been able to do this quest without him. 

Sooo I guess this is it. I don’t think I’m going to read another Rick Riordan book again unless I hear something drastic happens to Percy or Annabeth/Any of the PJO characters and Reyna. I’m strongly reconsidering removing him as my fav author. I still love the PJO series but this one was not it. I don’t know if Rick was on a tight deadline for these HoO books but it was just poorly executed. I don’t regret reading the series, I think reading HoH was worth all the time I spent reading this series. I wish I had just read a summary of tSoN and MoA, especially because I already read them years ago and knew I wasn’t into them from my first read. I wasted my own time by doing that. So if I had done that I would’ve gotten to just read HoH and then only be disappointed by BoO as opposed to three books. It is what it is. It’s nice to be in the loop because I always see these things about HoO characters and spoilers so now I know how it went down. 

But that’s it guys, thank you for reading this entire thread and the ones before it. I have a lot of opinions and I don’t think I’m in the minority by saying I didn’t like this series overall. I will get back to my writeblr content and I will leave you guys with my final ratings for the series (My rating system may seem generous compared to my read with me thoughts but I personally don’t give less than 3 stars to books that plot wise made sense. It may not be the most compelling plot or have the best characters but if it made coherent sense, I have to give it at least a 3.) :

The Lost Hero: This score is based off of my original reading in 2012/2013 and my thoughts on the main characters in that book, I give this a 3/5 stars

The Son of Neptune: 3/5

The Mark of Athena: 2/5

The House of Hades: 4.5/5

The Blood of Olympus: 2/5 

Worst book of the series: Mark of Athena (Blood Olympus is a close tie but the Nico/Reyna really saves it from this spot) and best book- House of Hades. 

[gatesofember]

Frailty and Fortune: Chapter 4

PJO Arranged Marriage/Royalty AU Part 10

Rating: T | Pairing: Solangelo

Prev | Next | AU directory | Read it on AO3 (Recommended) | Arranged Marriage AU Masterpage

Summary: A few months have passed since Prince Nico’s wedding to William of Solace. Even with his husband at his side, Will sometimes feels lonely as he settles into his new life. He misses his home, his family, his friends, and his studies in Venadica. Meanwhile, Nico is uncertain how to help him, awkward about expressing himself, and he wonders if he’ll ever be able to truly make his husband happy. As time goes by and Will continues to feel lost in his new home, Will and Nico must both learn how to make their marriage work.

Nico woke up late the next day.  Very late.  Reyna was not pleased with him.

Despite her lecture, Nico was in no hurry to get up until she reminded him of two things: firstly, that Midas had noticed his absence all morning, and secondly, that Nico’s husband had been entertaining their host alone.

Nico shot out of bed at that.  He quickly dressed and readied himself, decided that he could wait until lunch to eat, and then hurried with Reyna to find Will and Midas.

Reyna brought him to a windowed drawing room where the early sunlight made Will’s hair more golden than anything in Midas’ estate.  He was standing with Midas at a large round table littered with maps.

Midas politely greeted him, which Nico ignored, and Will smiled kindly.  At first, Nico was overwhelmed with relief to find him safe, but once the feeling passed, it was quickly replaced by anger.  How dare Will meet with Midas alone?  Had Nico not been very clear about what he thought of that?

You were sleeping, reminded a rational voice in Nico’s head.  Nico ignored it.  Yes, he should have woken up earlier, but that wasn’t a reason for Will to meet with Midas alone.  He should have at least taken Reyna with him.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Will said, oblivious to Nico’s fury.  “We’ve been looking over maps of the mines and making projections of what an extension of the slope would entail.  Engineering isn’t my specialty, but I thought I’d have a look.”

Will looked well-rested, happy, and eager.  Hadn’t he seemed disinterested in helping just the night before?  Now he suddenly wanted to be involved?  After leaving Nico and Reyna to deal with him before, he suddenly decided to speak with Midas on his own?  Had he forgotten that Nico was the duke?  That Nico was supposed to lead their discussions?

Will didn’t mean anything by it, Nico tried to tell himself.  It didn’t make him feel better.

“The outdoor pony stables should be here, at the slope’s entrance,” Will said, pointing at the top of a cross-section map.  “I suggest building them as soon as possible, at least so that the ponies on the first three levels can start using them while work on the slope progresses.”

Nico’s lips pursed.  Will was only trying to help, he reminded himself.  Really, he was doing exactly what Nico had asked of him.  Nico shouldn’t be angry.

When a manservant entered the room and took Midas’ attention, Will leaned closer to whisper in Nico’s ear.  “I’m glad you’ve finally woken up.”

Nico made a noncommittal sound in response.  He was not in the mood for teasing.

Will frowned.  “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Nico grunted.

Will didn’t seem satisfied by that answer.  For a moment, it seemed like he might drop the matter anyway, but then he reached for Nico’s hand.  “Nico?”

Nico snatched his hand away.  “You may not call me that here,” he hissed.  “I have already told you the circumstances in which you are allowed to use that name.”

Nico immediately regretted it.  He’d lashed out at Will like that once before, when he’d berated Will for touching him during Prince Percy’s wedding.  Will’s expression this time at least wasn’t as confused and scared as it had been back then, but he still looked hurt.  And not just hurt, either—it was like a cold steel wall had suddenly sprung up around him.  He looked angry.

“I didn’t mean to snap,” Nico said quickly, determined not to get himself into trouble like he had the last time.

Will nodded slowly, but his features didn’t soften.  Before Nico could apologize, Midas returned.

“Lityerses has everything prepared for you to leave,” he said.  “Your man is already waiting.”

“Man?” Nico repeated.  He was Will’s man.

“Hedge,” Will explained.

Nico nodded.  That was alright, then.

Then Nico caught himself and forced his thoughts to grind to a halt.  Of course it was alright.  He had to keep his penchant for resentment in check.  There was no reason to be getting jealous.

“Then I will leave you to your talks,” Will said, standing up straight and fixing his coat.  “Will you send the documents I requested to my room, Lord Midas?”

“I already have someone locating them,” Midas answered.

And the jealousy was back.  What documents?  Why hadn’t Will mentioned these documents to Nico?

Nico mentally trampled the thoughts away.

“Thank you,” Will said, then he turned to Nico.  “Until this evening, Your Highness.”

“Yes,” Nico said, because that was the only thing he could think to say other than “Don’t leave yet!”  He tried to discreetly touch Will’s hand as he passed, but didn’t manage to reach him in time.

Nico watched him go with an uncomfortable wrench in his gut.  He’d thoroughly spoiled what could have been a perfectly good morning.

*   *   *

Will had worked as a healer long enough for examinations to become second nature to him.  He made his way through the mine’s ponies without needing to think much about it.  It was a good thing, because Will’s mind was preoccupied with his husband.

He knew why Nico was angry; Nico had asked him to be careful around Midas and was upset when he found out that Will had met with him alone.  Still, Will couldn’t explain that they’d been discussing his daughter’s health.  He did feel guilty for worrying Nico and keeping Zoe a secret, but he wasn’t sure that he had a choice.  Zoe deserved confidentiality.  Will didn’t have the right to tell Nico about her health.

Anyway, Will thought Nico’s anger was unreasonably inflated.  He could understand the frustration, but honestly—snapping at Will for the mistake with his given name?  It was all quite ridiculous and even a little bit offensive.  Why was Nico so against his husband using his given name in public?  Why was he so ashamed of Will?

Much to Will’s surprise and relief, Lityerses made a good conversation partner.  He helped keep Will from dwelling too much on Nico while he worked on the ponies.

“The Prince must have told him to keep a close watch on me,” Lityerses said, referring to Hedge.

Will glanced at Hedge, who was glowering at Will and Lityerses from the entrance of the stables.  There were in the first level of the mines and Will was sitting on a stool, working by lamplight to examine a pony’s hooves.  Hedge had made no attempt to hide his distrust of Midas’ son.

“Yes, well, my husband is worried about my safety and Hedge is suspicious by nature,” Will said.  “I’m sure no one meant any offence.”

Lityerses raised an eyebrow.  “Your Highness, I do recall the way the Prince objected to my accompanying you at dinner last night,” he said.  “Besides, I am well aware of what he thinks of my family.”

Will paused while examining one hoof, and all he managed to say was, “Oh.”  After a second, he gathered his thoughts and added, “Well, really, it’s just your father.”

But Lityerses shook his head.  “Oh, no, the Prince doesn’t like me, either,” he said.  “He rejected me quite quickly when I was considered as a candidate for Royal Consort.”

Will sat up so quickly that he knocked his head on the wooden slats behind him with a loud crack.

“Your Highness?” Hedge called.

“I’m fine, Hedge,” Will answered quickly, lest he come back inside and start breathing down Will’s neck again.  He’d been so distracting that Will had been forced to ask Hedge to keep an eye on the mine from the entrance of the stables within ten minutes of arriving.

Lityerses eyed him curiously.  “Didn’t your husband tell you I was considered?”

“He...uh...neglected to mention that,” Will said, rubbing the throbbing spot on the back of his head.  He supposed it wasn’t surprising that Nico hadn’t said anything, given how much he’d teased Nico about his failures with Cecil and Ellis.  Nico had probably been embarrassed.  Given how much Nico despised Midas, any attempt by Lityerses to court him must have been disastrous.

“It fell through immediately,” Lityerses said again.  “Hardly worth mentioning.  Suits me well, anyway; being the Prince’s consort would have been nice, but I’m needed here to take the county after my father.  Zoe...well, we always assumed that Zoe wouldn’t live long enough to do it.”

Will wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.  Lityerses must have misinterpreted his uneasiness, because he said, “You don’t need to worry about my relationship with your husband.  It was bound for failure.  He never would have accepted my father’s son.”

“Right,” Will said, racking his brain for another topic of conversation.  Nico wouldn’t have wanted him to talk to Lityerses about this.  There had been a reason Nico hadn’t mentioned courting Lityerses and Will didn’t feel right learning about it from someone other than his husband.

He got to his feet and opened the pony’s mouth to examine its teeth.  “I’ve noticed that these ponies all seem quite young,” he said.  “At least, that’s what I’d assume based on their teeth.”

“They are,” Lityerses confirmed.  “That’s actually what I wanted you to look for in the records.  It’s always been this way.”

“They’re too young,” Will said, stepping back to look over the pony.  “He’s even quite small.  He can’t be more than three years old.”

“Some are younger.”

“Younger?” Will repeated.  “What age do they send them here?”

“Two or three, according to the records I’ve looked at,” Lityerses answered.  “Then they work here for the rest of their lives.”

“And I’d wager that isn’t very long,” Will grumbled angrily as he left the pony’s stall to move to the next one.

“It’s not.  Three more years, if they’re lucky.”

Will halted in his tracks.  “Three?”

“Three,” Lityerses confirmed.  “Pit ponies usually only live to about five.”

“But they’re not even fully grown before five!”

“I know.”

“They’re practically children!”

“I know.”

“Do you realize how long ponies are supposed to live?  Twenty years.  Twenty!  This is only a quarter of how long their lives should be!  I expected their lifespans to be short, but I thought they’d at least make it to ten.”

“I know,” Lityerses said again.  “I’ve been looking into this for at least the past two years.  It’s all in the records that I told you to ask for.”

Will ran a hand through his hair, forgetting how dirty his fingers were.  “And your father,” he said.  “What does he think of all this?”

“He doesn’t particularly care,” Lityerses answered.

“But you do,” Will said.  It was halfway between a statement and a question.  “You do, and you can’t let your father know.  Why?  Why haven’t you confronted him?”

Lityerses sighed.  “You have to understand—he’s my father.  Every son worships his father when they’re young.”

Will couldn’t say he agreed with the sentiment.  He liked his father well enough, but he’d always been very much aware of Apollo’s flaws.

Will nodded for Lityerses to go on anyway and chose not to voice his thoughts on the matter just yet.

“I only recently started to realize that something was wrong here,” Lityerses continued.  “Or, at least, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally came to terms with it.  I’ve known for a long time.  You’ve heard about my father’s trial, I presume?”

“I’ve heard.”

Lityerses crossed his arms and averted his eyes.  “I knew about the baiting before the trial,” he said.  “My father took me to watch matches when I was younger.  At the time, I thought it was just a normal sport.  It wasn’t until the trial that I found out it was illegal.  Even after that, it took time for me to accept that it was wrong, because if it was wrong, then my father was a bad person.  I didn’t want to believe that.”  Lityerses looked up at Will, and whatever expression he was wearing made Lityerses close his arms further over his chest.  “I’m not proud of it, Your Highness.”

“I imagine not,” Will said.  He didn’t mean it judgmentally, but he certainly wasn’t feeling compassionate, either.  “Continue.”

“I assumed that he changed after the trial.  In fact, I was desperate to believe it.  But sometimes he said things—things that seemed...flippant.  Like he didn’t care.  Eventually, I started to suspect that he could still be causing harm to animals, or even to people.”

“Lityerses,” Will interrupted.  “Is he still baiting?”

“No, I haven’t found evidence of that,” Lityerses answered.  “That was one of the first things I tried to find out.  He doesn’t travel enough for me to think he attends matches elsewhere and I’d have found out by now if he were holding them in Phrygia.  We’d have more guests, for one thing.  I even looked at financial records, and everything seems to be accounted for—no large, unexplained sums of money that he could have earned or lost off bets.  It’s possible I missed something, but...if there are still active baiting circles in Pluto, somehow I doubt my father would be invited to join.  The last time he was found out, he gave names.”

Will nodded.  It was unlikely that anyone would trust Midas after he betrayed the last baiting circle.

“No baiting, then,” Will said.  “But you did find out about the ponies.  What else?”

“Well, ponies don’t leave the mines.  Accidents aren’t exactly rare.  The work hours are long—for ponies and humans.  And the pay is barely enough for the workers to feed their families.  Actually, quite a bit of it gets back to my father through taxes, so it’s like he’s hardly paying the workers at all.”

“But Phrygia hardly seems poor,” Will said.  “It’s so clean.”

“He’s willing to spend his tax income on improvements in the city, but I suspect it’s out of vanity rather than concern for Phrygians,” Lityerses explained.  “He pays sanitation workers, then taxes them so much that they may as well have done their jobs for free.  The streets are clean, but the people who live in them are starving.”

“Ni—the Prince told me that your father is well-liked in Pluto.”

“Oh, he is—by the aristocracy and merchant class vying for his favor,” Lityerses said.  “He’s the wealthiest man in Pluto; people know what kind of advantages his friendship can offer.  That’s how he acquired some very powerful connections.”

“And he earned everything off the labor of animals and the poor.”

“Labor, if not their lives,” Lityerses said.  “I did try to ask my father about the ponies once.  I mentioned that I noticed the lifespans were rather short.  He just told me that it was normal for pit ponies and that all mines are that way.  And he’s right—I even checked.  All this?”  Lityerses gestured to the ponies in the stable around them.  “This is happening in mines all over Pluto, Your Highness.  My father isn’t an outlier.  He may be worse than most—that’s why he has the highest profits—but he’s hardly the only guilty party.”

“Gods above,” Will murmured.  “And no one cares?”

“I care,” Lityerses said.  “And you care.  I suspect that the Prince would care, too.  Your Highness, I only just started finding out about all this and I’m hardly a capable researcher, so I know that there are things I’ve missed.  It took me years to deduce everything I’ve told you.  I know I can’t convince my father to change anything and I’ve been too afraid to confront him further because if he stopped trusting me, then there wouldn’t be a way for me to keep investigating.  There is very little I can do.  Even if I could, I wouldn’t know how to start fixing any of this.  You, though—you’re a consor.  You’re the Prince’s husband.  Your aunt is the Matestra.  You can do something.”

Will’s mouth felt dry.  Lityerses was right.

If anything were to change, it had to start with Will.

*   *   *

That realization should have terrified Will.  He was still growing accustomed to the fact that he was a member of the Royal Family and hadn’t quite mentally grasped exactly how much power he now held.  He wasn’t the illegitimate son of a duke anymore.  He was the husband of the future King of Pluto.

But this was exactly why Artemis had arranged for his marriage consultation with Nico in the first place.  Will remembered what his aunt had told him when he expressed his doubt that he’d make a suitable match for a prince— “ You are a consor,” she’d said, “which, I daresay, is exactly what the Royal Family needs.”

There were other consors and sorors acting as advisors in the palace—Reyna, for one—but there was a very clear difference between serving the Royal Family and being a part of it.  And unlike some of the advisors Will had met, he was also a healer, and that had fostered a nurturing quality in him which their personalities lacked.  They made fine partners to discuss theory with, but were too stolid and analytical for Will to enjoy a more casual conversation—with the exception of Reyna, who Will had discovered made quite a good friend.  The rest of the palace advisors were often too concerned with rigid numbers and charts and intellectual discussions to step back and think of people as people or of Pluto as a home for millions of individuals.

But Will—Will not only could, but wanted to make a change.  And it wasn’t just Midas.  It wasn’t just Plutonian mines.  There was Plutonian healthcare, too, and the appalling rate of poverty throughout the country.

Will could change all of it.

His thoughts were interrupted by Zoe’s wet cough jostling the thermometer in her mouth.  He checked the reading and offered her the cup water at her bedside.

“I really hate having my temperature taken,” she said.

“Well, at least we know your fever has gone down,” Will said as he recorded the information in his papers.  “Actually, there are smaller, faster types of thermometers now.  You ought to ask your father to buy one.”

Lityerses sighed from the other side of Zoe’s bed, where he was sitting to watch over his sister while Will tended to her.  “Faster thermometers?” he said.  “Then I’ll never get her to be quiet.  The only time she stops talking is when she’s having her temperature taken.”

Zoe snickered.  “Or when I’m being sick all over my bedsheets.”

“Hopefully, that won’t happen as much anymore,” Will said.  “It’s your sacred duty to annoy your brother.”

Zoe looked like she was about to say something, but then she started coughing again.

“Keep drinking,” Will said.  “I know you don’t want to, but you can’t be healthy without it.”

Zoe was too busy coughing to answer.  When it finally calmed, she took another sip of water.  Will encouraged her to drink more before he took the cup back.

“I hate this,” Zoe whispered, her voice thick with phlegm.

“I know, but this is a good sign,” Will said.  “The cough always gets worse at the end.”

“Then the medicine is working?” Zoe asked.

“Yes, I believe it is,” Will answered.  “You’ll be able to get out of bed soon—definitely by the time I leave at the end of the week.”

“I wonder if you could treat my skin condition, as well,” Zoe said, looking up at Will with large, hopeful eyes.

Will thought carefully before replying.  He’d expected Zoe to ask about that at some point.  Patients with skin conditions always wanted to know how to hide it.  “Right now, I think it’s most important to take care of your illness,” he said.

“Is the rash difficult to treat?”

“No,” Will said.  “It’s actually quite simple.  Unfortunately, the treatment counteracts the medication I’m already giving you.”

“Counteracts?” Zoe repeated.

“Yes, it....”  Will paused, realizing that Zoe didn’t understand what he was saying.  He considered his answer for a moment, then folded his hands in his lap and said, “Zoe, do you know why you have rashes?”

“Because I’m ill,” Zoe answered.

“Your rashes aren’t caused by your illness,” Will said.  “They’re trying to protect you from your illness.”

Zoe frowned.  “I don’t understand.”

“Let me try to explain,” Will said.  “Right now, your body is working very, very hard to keep you healthy.  You’re trying to fight off the sickness inside you.  One of the ways your body fights is by raising your temperature, and that’s why you have a fever.  So your fever isn’t really a bad thing; it’s helping you heal.  Of course, having a fever that’s too high can also be dangerous, so we have to regulate your temperature externally—”  Will stopped, realizing that he was letting himself ramble.  He had a habit of that.  “Anyway, your body also is fighting on the surface of your skin, which is why you get rashes.  Rashes mean that your body is working hard to keep you safe.  Do you understand?”

Zoe nodded.

“Unfortunately, it also means that your body is wasting energy fighting in the wrong place,” Will said.  “But if I try to get rid of your rashes, I would have to make your body weaker, and that’s the opposite of what I want.  The medicine I’m giving you will help your body fight harder.  Unfortunately, this means that your fever will rise and....”

“And my rashes will get worse,” Zoe said.

“Yes,” said Will.  “But once you’re better, your body will be able to stop fighting so hard and the rashes will go away like they always do.”  Will patted her hand.  “It’s late.  You ought to rest now.”

Zoe tucked herself further under the blankets of her bed as Will cleaned and packed up the equipment he’d used.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lityerses smile gently and kiss his sister’s forehead, but by the time he turned around, Lityerses was standing and ready to escort Will back to his chambers.

Lityerses looked surprised when Will invited him for a drink in his room, but he accepted the offer and found a manservant to bring them tea.  Will waited until the servant left them alone with the door shut to ask the question that had been on his mind since their conversation in the mines.

“Does Zoe know?”

Lityerses blew at the steam rising out of his cup.  “No,” he said.  Will waited patiently while Lityerses took a sip.  Lityerses glanced at him and sighed, like he’d hoped Will’s question ended there.  “Zoe’s too young to remember his trial.  I was only twelve at the time and I was confused, so I defended him because I didn’t realize....”  Lityerses paused again and his shoulders dropped.  “He’s my father,” he said.  “It’s not easy to realize that your father isn’t the hero you thought he was.”

“You only knew what you’d been taught.”  Will didn’t say it to be comforting.  He meant it more as an observation than an expression of sympathy.

Lityerses’ eyes looked downwards, focusing on the gold-brown ripples on the surface of his tea.  He didn’t seem to find much relief in Will’s words, either.  “I’d been taught wrong.  I understand that now.  But Zoe isn’t like me—you have to know that.  I had to unlearn everything I knew and completely ruin my image of my father just to be half as kind as her.  I don’t want her to have to go through that.”

“So you want her to live in ignorance?”

Lityerses looked up and met Will’s eyes again.  “You don’t agree with me.”  He didn’t sound accusing.  Instead, he sounded questioning, almost pleading, like he was begging Will for his thoughts and guidance.

“I understand your reasoning, but there are too many secrets in your home, Lityerses,” Will said.  “Your father’s trying to cover everything wrong that’s happening here, his criminal record is being kept from your sister, your sister’s health is a secret, and you can’t voice your objections to your father.”

“And I want to protect Zoe from all that,” Lityerses said.  “At least until she’s older.”

“She’ll start to notice things eventually, just like you did,” Will said.  “I think you ought to talk to her before she does.  You don’t want her to feel like she’s alone.”

Lityerses nodded.  “When she’s older,” he said again.  “And healthier.  Right now she ought to focus on recovering.”

“Good,” Will said.  “And you need to stop hiding from your father.  Nothing good will happen if you allow him to continue what he’s doing.”

“I can’t rebel against him.”

Will raised an eyebrow.  “Can’t you?”

Lityerses’ mouth fell open, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’m not saying you have to rebel,” Will went on.  “But voice your opinions more often.  You have an excuse now—you’re only trying to ensure that the mine follows the guidelines left by the Prince.  Then a little later you can start to have an input on how the city is run, on the taxes, and on ways to use your father’s wealth to help people.  My husband and I are leaving at the end of the week, Lityerses.  Do you want everything to go back to the way it was, or do you want things to change?”

For a long moment, Lityerses remained silent.  Finally, he took a breath and started to speak.

He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Will heard the click of the handle as he looked up, and there in the doorway stood Nico.

*   *   *

Nico was livid.

He’d been bothered by what had happened that morning all day.  When he met with Midas’ head engineer, he hardly listened to her speak because his mind kept echoing the words he’d snapped at Will for using his given name.  Will hadn’t deserved it, he knew.  He’d been angry for a foolish reason and had lashed out at Will over a minor offence.  And the sight of Will’s face?  He had never looked at Nico with a gaze so cold.

Nico hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with Will since he arrived back at the estate after being in the mines all day.  He had barely looked at Nico over dinner and he’d once again declined the invitation to meet with Midas.  He wanted to read, he’d said.

And then, when Nico went to Will’s rooms to apologize for that morning, he’d found Will not reading, but instead sharing tea with Lityerses.  Lityerses, of all people.

“Your Highness,” Will said.  There was still a hint of that steely, guarded air around him, but he smiled at Nico.  Nico, however, was too furious to care.

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to retire, Lityerses?” Nico said sharply.  “It’s awfully late to be in a room alone with another man’s husband.”

The guarded air came crashing back around Will.

Lityerses quickly got to his feet.  “Yes, Your Highness, my apologies,” he said, and he left the room with short goodbye to Will.  Nico shut the door behind him.

“Why was he here?”

“Because I invited him,” Will answered calmly.

Nico blinked.  “You what?”

“I invited him,” Will repeated.  He took a sip of tea.

“Invited?”

“Yes, Your Highness.  I believe that is what I said.”

Nico’s jaw clenched.  “Do not tease me now, Will,” he snapped.  “And you did the same thing this morning, too!  You sought out Midas alone.  I asked you very clearly not to be alone with them.”

“No, you didn’t.”  Will set his tea down on the table beside him, right next to the one Lityerses had left behind, and folded his hands primly in his lap.  “All you told me was to be careful around Midas.”

“And Lityerses is just as bad as his father!  You knew that I didn’t trust him.  Don’t pretend you didn’t.”

Will tapped his fingers on his knee once.  “I think that Lityerses must have given you a bad impression when you met,” he said slowly.

“What?  Don’t be ridiculous—”

“Really, Nico,” Will said, fixing him with a tired, annoyed glare.  “He’s helping me with the ponies.  He approached me and said that he’d heard I was hard on his father about their welfare, then he gave me some information he thought I might like to know.  If you had simply asked instead of accusing me as soon as—”

“It’s a trap,” Nico said.  It didn’t even bear thinking about.  “Midas must have set him up to it.”

Will sighed like he was dealing with a difficult child.  “Why can’t you entertain the possibility that Lityerses is better than his father?”

“Because he’s not!”

“Is this because he’s a failed suitor?”

Nico’s blood at once went icy, and then just as suddenly was hot with fury.  Will knew.  He knew what Lityerses’ family had done, he knew that Nico hated being reminded of his failures as a suitor, and Will knew, somehow, that Lityerses had been offered to him—a memory that Nico had tried very hard to forget.  “Do you think,” Nico growled, “—do you think that this is some petty grudge?”

“Nico—”

“Because I must have been such a horrid suitor, is that it?  After all, how is it possible that I failed every attempt at courting until you came along?  Clearly— clearly it must have been my fault.  Clearly there must have been something wrong with me because it simply isn’t possible for all my suitors to have been so awful.  Surely I was immature, saw the worst in everyone, purposely sabotaged every arrangement—”

“Nico—”

“So obviously, if I ever speak ill of someone who was offered as a potential fiancé, then I must be wrong about them.  It’s all in my head, isn’t it?  I know that’s what everyone’s thinking.”

“I wasn’t trying to—”

“Yes, you were, Will.  You were.”  Nico turned away before Will could answer.  “Goodnight,” he said as he left.  He heard Will call his name just as he slammed the door shut.

Next

[chaosgod4life]

Changing Fate || Harry Potter Reader Insert || Chapter one: Mayham

A young girl of age thirteen, suddenly appeared in front of a tent. A huge snake figure was hovering in the sky, however the girl did not take notice, as in her hands, she clutched seven books. All of these books were Harry Potter books, her favourite series. The girl soon did take notice however, that people began to shout, and looked up. She saw an adult male with flaming red hair, " Miss you need to get out of here. Take the next Portkey and get out." 

  The girl looked at the man, and then her books, ten times before saying, "Did I read for two days again? God, I need to stop doing that. This can't be real."

 "Miss truly the death eaters have begun to gather. I've got to get my children out if here. You can go with them if you don't know where to go." The red haired man entered the tent, then came back followed by four more red haired boys, and one red haired girl, along with a bushy brown hair girl, and a black hair boy. "Fred, George watch your sister. Ron help this young lady get to safety. Percy you come with me," he was saying talking to his red haired children.

  "Oh my God this is real holy cow," muttered the h/c hair girl. She picked up all the Harry Potter books. They might be useful to Death Eaters.

  "What the bloody hell. Hermione, I think you have a friend here," the tallest and youngest of the boys said staring at the girl's books. 

 "Don't just stare grab a book it won't hurt you," said Hermione sharply. The two of them picked up the girl's books.

Everyone was running so fast but the girl, managed to catch a faint glipse of Harry Potter, and ran over to him, his glasses were knocked off his face so the girl put them back on him. "You alright?"

 "Yeah,what is going on?" Harry asked.

  "That appeared," the girl said pointing at the snake figure. "It's not a good sign."

  "What does it mean?"

  The tallest and youngest red hair boy and Hermione, ran over to them. "Oh thank goodness, we lost the both of you," Hermione breathed.

  A group of wizards and witches appareted, in front of the four teenagers.

 "STOP, those are my kids!" Shouted the red hair man that the girl had first seen. The girl had already known if course who he was, but wanted to be careful.

 "Which one of you summoned the dark mark?" Asked one of the wizards.

 "The what?" Harry inquired.

 "You know who's symbol," Hermione responded pointing up.

 "Don't be ridiculous. They are just kids." The red haired man told the wizard.

 "I thought I heard someone over there," said Harry pointing towards an area of trees.

 "Yeah the culprit is over there. I don't even have my wand with so I couldn't have," said the youngest of the teenagers. More like don't have a wand at all, she thought bitterly.

 All the wizards except, the red haired one left.

"Miss what is your name and where are your parents?" he asked.

"Y/N,my parents aren't here. I um don't know how I got here," Y/N looked around to make sure it's just Harry,Ron, Hermione,and Mr. Weasley before continuing. "The books that you saw me with did you notice the titles? I'm from a different universe and it's just books in mine. Well movies as well but the books are better...when I said this can't be real that was because I couldn't believe that I've just been teleported into the world of the books I love so much. I know it doesn't make sense."

 "Did you get knocked in the head?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Ron!" Mr Weasley exclaimed at his son's behavior, "Y/N, where were you before you got here?"

  Hermione who had been looking at the books the enitre time spoke up, "Mr. Weasley I believe she's telling the truth look at these books."

 "Harry should too. I mean he is the main character," Y/N said passing Harry the first book opened at the seconed chapter.

 "I was told people had written books about me, but this is my real life!" Harry exclaimed flipping through the pages, "Ron look here is that trip to the zoo with my cousin."

 "Blimey Harry, I've never seen magic like this. It even has what you were thinking. How would anyone know that?" Ron said shocked.

 "Like I said I'm from a different universe. That book was written as fiction. It's one of if not the most popular book series in the world," Y/N explained.

 "So in your universe are you a witch or a muggle?" Hermione asked.

 "In my universe magic doesn't exist so I guess a muggle," Y/N responded.

 "Certainly it exists, you're here aren't you. If that's not magic I don't know what is.  Your ministry of magic is just very good at passing it off as fiction!" Exclaimed Mr Weasley excitedly.

 "I guess that is a possibility. I never thought of it like that," Y/N said thoughtfully.

 "Yes, well you better come along with is. Molly would never forgive me if I didn't bring you home with us."

 "Alright. This is crazy," Y/N sighed.

 "I agree," stated Ron.

 "Really Ron?" Hermione asked annoyed.

 "What it's true. It's bloody brilliant, now we can know what's going to happen if it's all true. Hermione you read all the books and tell us who wins," Ron said excitedly.

 "I don't think you'll like what happens in some of the books. Especially book seven," said Y/N recalling Fred's death.

 "Why what happens?" Ron asked nervously.

 "You fail out of Hogwarts because you never do your school work. Now we need to find Fred , George and Ginny. Y/N, you can tell us later," said Hermione.

 Y/N laughed, "Yeah let's go find them."

They head for an area that Hermione had last seen them.

 "Fred! George! Ginny!" Mr Weasley shouted.

 "Over here dad," said Fred

 "Thank goodness," Mr Weasley sighed.

George gave Ron a noogie, "you little prat. I actually got worried for a minute!"

 "Get off!"

 "Dad we saw the mark is anyone dead?" Asked Fred.

 "No whoever cast it disappeared. They just wanted to scare everyone."

 "Well he got his wish," said Harry

 "Yeah definitely," Y/N sighed.

 Hi I'm George, this is my brother Fred, and our sister Ginny. We weren't introduced when the mayhem started. Don't think I've seen you around before. So what school do you go to?" 

 "I'm Y/N. No you wouldn't have seen me before, I'm from a different universe where this is just books,and movies,but the books are better."

 "Not another Hermione," groaned Fred. 

 "Excuse me what's wrong with another Hermione?" inquired Hermione.

 "Nothing nothing but there is only so much perfection the world can take."

 "Let's go back to the tent. Y/N you can room with Hermione and Ginny. We leave first thing in the morning," Mr Weasley interjected.

 "Okay!" Y/N said brightly.

 The group began to walk back to the tent

"Hi, Y/N!" Ginny greeted her.

 "Hello," responded Y/N.

 "So what's it like in your universe?" Ginny inquired curiously.

 "Well,none of this is real,it's 2019,and there's always at least one person talking about the Harry Potter books or movies. Everyone hates getting spoiled the ending of a book or something else. At least a lot of people are myself included. Though I technically did get them spoiled by watching the movies first," Y/N explained.

 "That is crazy that is so far in the future. It's only 1994!" Ginny excaimed.

 "I knew it was somewhere around that time," Y/N admitted.

 "So you've read all the books so you know my future, right?" she asked glancing at Harry, "can you tell me anything? Will you tell me?"

 "You and Harry get married and have kids," Y/N whispered.

Ginny jumps up and shouts, "Yes!"

 Everyone turns and looks at her and she blushes.

 "Sorry," she mummbled embarrassed, Y/N stifled a chuckle.

 "I wonder is it right to read the books you brought?" Hermione asked.

"Of course it is. People go to those frauds like trawleny all the time. This will make us famous," Ron replied smirking.

 "Now kids, I don't want you reading these tonight," Mr Weasley interjected.

 Everyone reaches the tent and, goes to their rooms, Y/N going with Hermione and Ginny.

 The next morning Mr. Weasley  wakes everyone up early. Everyone heads to the portkey area. There is a large crowd. Mr Weasley talks with the ministry official and the group all gather around a mangy old boot. "Ok Y/N make sure you touch the boot," said Mr Weasley, and Y/N did just that.

 Everyone appears on a hill not far from the burrow, and start tracking towards their home.

 "You ok? Traveling by portkey made me feel pretty sick. Not as bad as floo powder though," Harry said to the girl.

 "Yeah. I kind of knew what to expect still it was kind of strange," Y/N admitted.

 They all go around a corner and  the burrow comes in sight. A cry echoed along the lane, "Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!" Excaimed Mrs. Weasley running towards everyone. "Arthur I've been so worried, so worried!" She hugged her husband. "You're all all right, you're alive, oh boys!"

 She grabbed Fred and George and squeezed them in such a tight hug their heads banged together,"Ouch mum  you're strangling us!" the twins said together.

 "I shouted at you before you left. It's all I've been thinking about. What if you know who had got you and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.S!" She began to cry again.

 "We are ok Molly everyone is safe. Come on now," said Mr. Weasley prying her off the twins.

Once Mrs. Weasley composed herself she saw Y/N, "Oh hello."

 "Hello, i'm Y/N, it's nice to meet you."

 "We met Y/N at the quidditch match, and she had lost her family, so she is going to stay with us for a bit. Speaking of I need to send that owl to Dumbledore. Let's get inside and have a nice cup of tea," Mr. Weasley explained. They all head inside and Y/N can't help but look around in awe at all the magic.

 Hermione makes Mrs Weasley a cup of tea. Mr Weasley adds fire whiskey to it and hands it to her.

 "Boys can you hand me the daily prophet, I need to see what it says. I will need to go into the office. It will be crazy." 

 "I'll go with you father. Mr crouch will need all hands on deck," said Percy.

 "Mrs. Weasley has Hedwig come back yet?" Harry asked.

  "No dear I haven't seen him come back."

 "Ok do you mind if I go drop off some stuff in Ron's room?"

 "No dear you can run along. Y/N dear we can talk later. I'm sorry I'm sure Dumbledore can help you find your family they are probably losing their minds just like I was."

 "Definitely. My mom is probably freaking out," sighed Y/N

 "Dumbledore will find them I'm sure. They can apperate here or we can add them to our floo network."

Y/N smiled, "I'll be upstairs with Harry I want to talk with him." Y/N quickly went upstairs before Mrs. Weasley could argue, and found Harry, "Hey,can we talk?"

 "Sure what's up?"

 "Well,you woke up not that long ago with your scar hurting. I know why. Please don't freak out but when your scar is hurting it's um, related to Voldemort. You see your scar is hurting because he is getting stronger. He's trying to come back. Maybe if possible I can stop that,or at the very least postpone it. I'm determined to do something good while here."

 "Thank God. I'm not crazy. I've been waitingon a letter from my god father. I was asking about that very thing."

 "Yeah I know. You're not at all concerned about what I just said? Or surprised I said Voldemort's name? To be honest I wasn't expecting you to have that reaction."

 "I'm just glad I'm not crazy. I was beginning to think that I was because normal scars don't start hurting."

 "Well it isn't a normal scar."

  "Yeah you can say that again," laughed Harry.

 Ron and Hermione walk into the room,

 "I'm pretty sure mom is going to start knitting you a sweater soon," said Ron and Y/N laughed.

 "I wonder what Dumbledore will say, hopefully we will know soon," said Hermione thoughtfully.

 "Yeah I wonder what Dumbledore will say," agreed Y/N.

 Ron looked out the window,and said "I don't think you have long to wonder. I'm pretty sure that's him walking up the way."

 "What?" asked Y/N, and she looked out the window too. Sure enough Mr Weasley was meeting him outside the house and handed Dumbledore a book. "I wonder what book that was," Y/N said curious.

 Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore both look up. Ron and Y/N step back, "I don't know but professor Dumbledore is going to want to talk to you about it for sure."

 "I'm partly hoping it wasn't book six," admitted Y/N

 "What happens in book six?" asked Harry.

 "You don't want to know. It has the most Dumbledore parts though."

 "He's coming in," said Ron suddenly.

 They all began to listen and hear Dumbledore come in downstairs,

"Hello Molly, yes I could use a nice cup of tea. Yes Arthur told me about your guest. I'm going to help her find her family. Yes it was a very frightening thing to happen at the world cup. I'm glad everyone is ok. Do you mind if I head upstairs? Yes I'll just speak with her up there."

 Ron looked at Y/N and then his messy room and began throwing stuff in boxes.

 "Really Ron, I don't think professor Dumbledore is going to care about your room," Hermione said amused.

 "He might," responded Ron.

 Dumbledore entered into the room ducking through the doorway, "Good afternoon everyone."

 "Good afternoon professor," Harry,Ron,and Hermione all said at the same time.

 "Would you three please leave Y/N and I alone so we can discuss this new situation?" asked Dumbledore.

 "Yes professor," the three said, and then rushed out of the room.

 "So, Y/N, it's nice to meet you,"  Dumbledore held out his hand to shake Y/N's, and she did so.

 "It's nice to meet you too."

 "So tell me about where you are from and what you know of how you got here."

 "Well,I am from a different universe where this is just a bunch of books and movies. I don't know anything on how I could've gotten here, I'm very confused still," Y/N admitted.

 "So in your universe, do you know of any witches or wizards?"

 "No. I always believed in magic but I never knew anyone who could use magic." 

 "Have you been able to do anything unusual since you've been in this universe?"

 "No, not that I'm aware of anyways."

 "I don't know if it's because you are from a different time and universe, but I sense magic in you. I'd like you to come to Hogwarts. I'm not sure how we will get you home. I would like to take your books and read through all of them."

 "I can go to Hogwarts?" asked Y/N squealing, "This is a dream come true!"

 "Yes, I definitely think it will be important to have you there. My question for you is what do you wish to do while you are here. Your books appear to go to the defeat of Voldemort. Do you plan to change anything? If so to what end?"

 "I do plan on changing things. I would like to prevent the deaths of as many as I can."

 "A noble quest."

 "I do have a question. As I am thirteen that would make me the age to be in my third year of Hogwarts but as it would be my first year what year would I be in at Hogwarts?"

[pandabearer]

Thank you @readalotsleepyhead​ for tagging me! I’m excited bc i feel like I rarely get to talk about books, but I have so many that I love!

1.) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

I’m not 100% sure bc I can’t remember which happened first. The first book that I ever bought was Bliss by Lauren Myracle. I wasn’t a big fan of it at all. But the first book that my mother ever bought me was the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce (it was technically one book with all 4 stories included). I think I may have gotten the Tamora Pierce book first though?

2.) What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?

I’m reading more than one book right now, but the ones that are my main focus are my rereads of acotar and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and actually finishing Gangsta (hope manga count). Acowar was the last book that I actually finished. And next I’ll probably start on King Hall by Scarlett Dawn which a friend recommended to me recently.

3.) Which book does everyone like and you hated?

I don’t really think I’ve ever really hated a book I’ve chosen to read. I eventually stopped reading the House of Night novels bc the heroine started getting on my nerves, but I was more disappointed in the authors than anything. There were still some aspects of the books that I liked though. Maybe Percy Jackson? I never got all the way through the series, but the fandom really turned me off of the books.

4.) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

I keep saying I’ll finish the Divergent series but it’s pretty unlikely. I finished the first book, but then my twin spoiled the end and a major death for me so I haven’t been able to bring myself to finish it and I probably won’t.

5.) Which book are you saving for “retirement”?

I guess I’m saving the entire asoiaf series. There are so many books already, with 2 more hopefully on the way. I want to save the books until they’re all published at least, bc I don’t want to get frustrated waiting like so many people already have. Plus there is so much that I definitely need a while to get through it all.

6.) Last page: read it first or wait till the end?

It depends on whether the book is a physical copy or an ebook. I never bother going all the way to the end to take a peek with an ebook. But I’ve been known to read the last paragraph or so of a physical book before starting from the beginning. (I majorly spoiled myself once doing that though and never even bother reading the book, it’s still just sitting on my self </3 ).

7.) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?

I think that it really depends on how the author executes it in regard to them being interesting. I rarely care enough about the author to read the acknowledgements (oops) so I think that is also a factor. If I’ve read another story by the author, or the plot was amazing, or the characters really drew me in and had me invested then I’m more likely to appreciate and bother with acknowledgements. So overall I’d say it varies, but for me they mostly don’t matter.

8.) Which book character would you switch places with?

This one is super tough. I’m going to say Hermione though. I think that the opportunity to experience magic and that world and it’s creatures, along with being around such extraordinary people and forming such strong relationships would make the trying and traumatic experiences that she goes through worth it tbh.

9.) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince reminds me of all the times I fucked around with my friends during study hall in 6th grade (I’m 21 in a month how do I remember this).

10.) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.

I’ve bought all my books or been gifted them by my fam. All of them except two. During my last 2 years of high school I was home schooled and the school sent me the books I was supposed to use. At the end of the year they emailed me the ones that I was supposed to return by mail. The list didn’t include To Kill a Mockingbird or Our Town by Thornton Wilder, so those 2 are still on my shelf.

11.) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?

When I was younger I was super possessive of my books (more so than I am now) so I never would have willingly given them away (I legit only let one friend that I trusted even borrow my books) plus my mother would have killed me for doing that with something she spent money on. But me twin let a friend borrow our shared copy of the first Maximum Ride novel and we never got it back so that could count right?

12.) Which book has been with you to the most places?

Probably either The Host or The Hunger Games. I know I took them both to school when I was younger, and to friends’ houses. I’ve also taken them to college to reread when I’m bored and have some time.

13.) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?

I don’t remember a lot of the required reading, but I liked the majority that I can remember like The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Outsiders. We always saw the movies after finishing the books too, which was fun. The ones I didn’t like reading (that I can remember) were things like The Scarlet Letter, which was hard to understand, and A Separate Peace, which was full of details that a bunch of 14 yr olds were supposed to find deeper meaning in. I didn’t like them then and I’m still not a big fan now (but it’s been less than 10 yrs so I still have time I guess).

14.) What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?

Probably just some notes and underlining in a used copy of Don Quixote that I bought. Now the strangest item that I’ve ever put in a book is another story. It was a library book that I’d checked out and I had written down a bunch of misleadingly sexual URL’s that I’d found online on the receipt. Things like penisland.com (pen island). Then I forgot the receipt in the book when I turned it back in.

15.) Used or brand new?

I prefer new, but if I’m tight on cash and I really want the book I’ll buy used. Lately I’ve just been doing ebooks bc they’re pretty cheap and I can start reading right away (give me that instant gratification).

16.) Stephen King: literary genius or opiate of the masses?

I’ve never entirely finished a Stephen King book, and the ones I’ve started I barely remember so I can’t really say. I’ve liked the majority of the movies and shows I’ve seen based on his books and short stories, but I don’t know how accurate they are to his actual works.

17.) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?

Pride and Prejudice probably. I’ve liked all the interpretations I’ve seen more than the book surprisingly, even the zombie version, and don’t think I don’t feel like a heathen bc of it (I still like the book though, don’t get me wrong). I think it just translates well to the screen, or maybe we’ve just been lucky. In most cases though I like the book better, even if I do enjoy the movie too.

18.) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?

Twilight

19.) Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded?

If we’re not allowed to count cookbooks then the answer is no, not as far as I can remember.

20.) Who is the person who’s book advice you’ll always take?

Idk if I would always take anyone’s advice about books. I mostly trust my own instincts over anything else. Probably the person I trust most would be ma girl Ash who does the most reading of any of my friends, including me. But she’s not very selective about the books she reads, she’ll try just about anything, whereas I’m a little more particular about what I like. If she’s really emphatic about a book though I can generally trust it to be good.

This took longer than I thought it would. I had to try looking up a couple books bc I couldn’t even remember their names. Hmmm, I guess I’ll just tag @starswove since I’m not sure who all are readers. @lev-viathan I don’t know what all you’ve read, but if you wanna do this you can just put a different warrior cats book for every answer :3c