#that and the plot didn't jive with me at all so i was bored as hell (i will say i have it like 300+ pages before giving up)

[stormbros]

Me trying to decide whether or not I'll read Tusk Love after DNFing the Hurricane Wars...

[heleizition]

holding cain gently in my hands. do ya got a jive on what happenes plotwise? like a timeline and shit. does cain die. does cain kill able. who takes eden by the hand and shoves love down his throat? whats up with able caring for nell in a sibling capacity and whys that not happening with cain. whats their p a s t why are they so fucked.

ok so . plot wise . it's messy and not very good ngl but the rundown is as follow. its long and BAD im . but its my thing and i have strong feelings about.

Nell and vik meet as angel & demon and cooperate on a thing . which they're not allowed to bc angel and demons have been at wars for Ever and no one really remembers why.

when he comes back to th demon realm nell is subjected to torture as a punishment from the demon council or something . abel doesnt like that and he's been trying to find a way to fuck up the demon realm for a while anyway so he takes nell and runs away with him in "purgatory" which is the vast land between angel and demon reals. his team follows (titania and jasper) (the four of them are basically demon . soldiers.)

cain stains behind and acts as abel's ears in the demon realm as he's high ranked.

anyway in the meantime cody's angel team finds abel's team in the purgatory bc they were just Out There doing Stuff. at this point abel and cody, both high ranking, have know each other for a long time and have been forming a sort of understanding that they're both pretty tired of this endless war.

anyway somehow all of them decide to team up. dont ask me why. im not a good writer.

we learn that things have been shitty bc god decided to communicate for the first time in for Ever to the angel & demon leader that They sent someone down there with part of Their power to shake things up. because god is a Bored CHILD

the whole story revolves around trying to find out who's god's soldier.

several things happen including discovering that vik is under noah's (angel chief) orders (but like its bc he had zero memories of his past life and died a child and was easily manipulated and had no idea what was going on for a while and oh man . he's at the center of this now), vik getting thrown into angel jail, getting jailbreaked by those who are mad but not THAT mad at him, eden gets snatched and his head explodes, he survives

theres like a whole thing about past lives and memories btw. its kinda boring lmao but its a thing.

jasper learns that actually he was created in this realm and never had a past life to begin with and he's an experimentation from a rogue demon council guy that abel & cain killed, thats when abel took jasper under his wing . he had no idea lol poor guy!!!!!!!!!

um things accelerate . its time for the final showdown ! we still dont know who's god's guy. if i were actually drawing/writing this id give every character their focus time to throw readers. like heheheh who is it >:) ?

ok final showdown everyone fights someone that is meaningful to them bc of the story yeehaw . cain is here.

cain what are you doing here (atop of the battlefield) and not on the battlefield

cain . cain why are you fighting nell

flashback time ! abel & cain only ever had each other in their past life and this one and cain is basically a "i'll do it all for you" guy bc he has no chill except the demon council manipulated him into thinking that abel is pushing him aside because he's weak or not good enough and that nell is the actual family he needs yada yada

cain why are you leaving nell with his guts open on the field

oh man . nell is dying . vik is holding his almost lifeless body . oh no

cain is behind abel and oh man isn't it weird that i'm thinking abt the first murder in pseudo history rn . wild

so cain stabs abel in the back who had absolutely no idea of the turmoil his brother was in . cody is here . cody and abel love each other in a ay that goes beyond memory beyong tragedies beyond universes. cody can't go on without abel thats how it's written (?).

cody is god's soldier. she didn't know. she couldn't have. she unleashes the power. this world is dead.

god is looking at this. looking at them. realises they're fond of that part of them they sent in this endless war. that she made a family out of the people she met and . that it'd be nice if she could have that for real, right ? after all, god can feel her feelings. and it's warm and love and ugly and fury and god had forgotten about all that.

epilogue. cody wakes up. it's april. a sunday. the sun is out. she has to get up because she's meeting up with friends. we follow her and her routine. we see the friends. we know the friends.

the end

OK for the other questions : cain was manipulated, a pawn in this universe, he has serious abandonment issues that ARE worked on post story once they are "revived" lol. he's a bit of a cold guy but he's doing his best. he does actually like nell in this "universe", but it takes a while.

eden was surrounded by lovely people by chance and by force. thats their difference lol

it's not that abel does not care about cain, he does, but it's always hard when someone comes around and can replace you. ofc thats not what abel is doing, he cares about nell a lot and he can't help it, but it makes cain just,,, rage on . idk how to explain it. you know when you're not doing great and your friend who you cling a bit to has other friends ? and you think oh . oh they don't..... care about me as much as i care about them (which is wrong btw) ? yeah thats a feeling i had a lot when i was younger and that i still have sometimes but that i know how to beat down now hehe but . some people are more vulnerable to it, especially when the support they need isn't there at the right moment. i feel for cain. he's jst, not doing great emotionally.

[marsdetective]

Ok this may be too many but I'm curious 8, 12, 16, 18, & 20 📚tell me you book secrets!📚

thanks for sending this buddy! and sorry for the delay in answering this! <3

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

Yes, I've met most of them!

My first goal was to read 3 Jewish fantasies- I read The Light of Midnight Stars by Rena Rossner, The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid, and The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. Loved the latter two especially.

My next goal was to read 3+ books set under the ocean (I played Subnautica last year as you know and I just wanted more ocean stuff!!). I read Below the Edge of Darkness by Edith Widder, Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan, Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, and Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. While I didn't love Into the Drowning Deep as much as I thought I would, I did like all of these overall!

I always try to read at least 2 new-to-me classics, so this year I read Beloved by Toni Morrison, Strangers On a Train by Patricia Highsmith, Passing by Nella Larson, and ofc Dracula. Strangers was kinda weird lol but I liked the other ones.

I also wanted to finish at least 3 series I'd started and are now complete, which I did! I actually completed like 10 because most of them I only had a book left lol.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Yeahhh I DNF'd several books I thought I'd enjoy, but of the ones I actually finished I felt most disappointed by Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. D: We've already talked about it so tldr I didn't like the writing, the characterization was flat, and the plot was boring to me. also the romance had no flavor. SIGH.

Another one I felt a lil disappointed by was Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. It seems soooo up my alley, but I didn't jive with it for some reason. With that one though, I can see why people like it and I wish it captured my heart, but it just didn't do it for me personally.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Lol probably Daughter of the Moon Goddess. Everyone loves it! I don't get it!!

18. How many books did you buy?

probably around 15-17 lmao. i get most of my books from the library but I love owning a book I love! or one that has me a bit hyped to read!

[flavia8]

Thoughts: Unholy Blood

Okay! Well- Unholy Blood is A Webcomic about Vampires

NOW! There is a lot of good vampire media, but in general I am pretty leery of it

Especially when it comes to anime/manga bc a lot of it I've seen/know about except for like, Hellsing (Which I love) is along the lines of Vampire Knight

(Which is not to say that all Vampire Anime/Manga/Webcomics/media in general are like that it's just v. common)

Oh- by like "that" I mean Vampire Knight has one of the Vampire love interests be the cousin of the main girl. Twilight's whole thing. Ect. That stuff. (Also, Vampire Knight is super boring and I dropped it 2 chapters in lol)

Unholy Blood is free to read on Webtoons

Aesthetically: I really like the art. The poses are dynamic, the coloring and shading is great and it's a unique style!

Some of my favorite Panels:

Storywise: It's somewhat straightforward with some nice juicy mystery bits and fun twists (that you can figure out but they're still fun)

ALSO this is spoilers kinda but! MY FAVORITE CHARACTER LIVES HELL YEAH

I don't want to say too much but it's kinda like. Taking down an MLM?

Characters: Now. I already mentioned that my favorite character lives!  So that to me is a plus. xD Each main character is multidimensional enough and goes through at least some sort of development through a variety of ways.

Generally the moves the characters make are sensible in the story and jive with their established motives

And if their motives change so does their course of action. Like, a character who has a moment of development will act in accordance with that development instead of it being dropped and retconned or ignored

Would I say the plot/writing/characters are perfect? No. But they're a solid 8/10 for me for what I read as a like a fun action revenge story that has genuine moments of depth and not just being fun fluff/entertainment.

Romance:  Spoilers ---

.

Okay. Please take what I say with some consideration for the context I have, which is being aromantic. I thought it was well developed and didn't come at the detriment of either character involved. It was nice and I actually thought it added stuff to the story and the characters.  It wasn't something I had strong feelings about at all but I could appreciate the writing for it!

Additionally - the romance does actually have an effect on the story and without it the characters and story would be v. different. Personally I think that's good as it means I didn't have to read about something that ultimately didn't matter that I just didn't really care about XD

(Just me, personally I didn't care, I'm not trying to say it was bad or anything or that nobody should or anything of the sort)

Worldbuilding and Mechanics: I thought that the worldbuilding was interesting! I also liked the abilities each character had, they were unique and fun. Additionally, though the MC is hyped up as being SUPER OP her abilities actually develop and she really does struggle in fights it feels like she should struggle in. The author does a relatively good job with scaling her development and the  difficulty of the important fights. Though it's not perfect.

A genuinely fun series! I liked it a lot and I think I will probably reread it sometime actually!

8/10

Bonus: One of my favorite panels from the series (The other ones are favorites too but I REALLY LIKE this one bc of the Composition, the colors, the shading and how well it serves to introduce the character [in context])

[kdramaxoxo]

diff anon but I watched DAYS till e8. the cinematography was pretty and all but after like a possibly big moment of like the fl being in the hospital? (I've forgotten their names it's been a while) and the guy running to her or something like. I think it was near the of their contract thing they'd mde? the concept in itself was compelling but I think it got weak in the latter half which is why it didn't stick w me. idk if it gets any better after that I know some memory jiving stuff occurs and stuff like he forgets her?? or something?? but that's abt all I know.

does it get better tho?

---spoilers---

Ok as someone who has literally the worst memory every I feel like I did finally settle into the fantasy romance and overall I enjoyed that part of the drama. It had a lot of flaws, and without Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk being the killer actors they are, it would never have worked. But once I leaned in (and ignored the stuff that was weak plot wise) I did love the romance. That kiss!!

However, we have to remember that literally 50 percent of the show is about ANOTHER romance that has nothing to do with the two mains, their contract or really anything at all. And on top of that it was boring and the FL deserved better. Like WHYYYYYY - it seriously ruined the drama for me.

So overall I'm like mixed...If you love fantasy and you love the actors you'll probably like Doom at Your Service enough to enjoy it. I don't regret watching it and I cried which means I was into it. But I really did not like the other 1/2 and well, that's part of the show too.

If you're unsure or started it and dropped it you won't miss anything because that's probably long enough to know that it's not going to change ;-)

Side note: wouldn't it be cool if I DID have a good memory? I'd be like k-drama discourse UNSTOPPABLE lol :P

[codeforsomethinggay]

can i ask why you didn't like rise of the tomb raider? not arguing, just curious! (if you don't mind, cause i'm interested in your opinion)

I don’t mind at all! Actually, thanks for asking, because I love to rant ;).

i think my biggest issue with Rise comes from an inherent difference in what i was expecting and wanting from a tr 2013 sequel, and what the Rise people actually wanted to make. I think the people behind Rise wanted to make a classic tomb raider game, but Modern and open world (which, just personally, are strikes 1 and 2 for me, since i don’t particularly care for classic tomb raider or open world games). What I (and I think most of the fandom) was wanting and expecting was … well, an actual sequel for tr 2013. 

And yeah, mechanically, Rise succeeds in that. The platforming and playstyle is essentially the same with a few fun new tricks (tho I would argue that the controls are a little screwy and the ai finicky in this one (i was stuck on one platforming puzzle for around 40 minutes because lara just wouldn’t grab the exact part of a platform the game apparently wanted her to, though i can’t say if this is more a problem between xbox/playstation, as this remains the only xbox game i’ve played)) and the light crafting system and sandbox of tr 2013 is hugely expanded (again, a personal pet peeve, but also a strange decision for a tomb raider game and kind of a transparent attempt at modernization bandwagoning. hell, apparently even god of war is crafting/open world now). Combat is improved. I don’t really have an  issue with any of that. The play is by far the best thing about Rise. And that’s really my problem.

It just doesn’t feel like an actual continuation of the story told and characters molded in tr 2013. And a huge fucking part of that is that of the four survivors of the Endurance, only two appear in this game. And one of those two is Jonah. Now, I like Jonah. If Reyes and especially Sam actually had any sort of presence in Rise, I would appreciate his presence as well. But, and really this is the biggest thing, they don’t. The first game was, frankly, just as much about Sam as it was Lara. The official, canon comics make it very clear Sam’s story isn’t close to finished. Yet, Rise mentions Sam a total of one (1) time, and that single mention doesn’t even jive with comics canon (which it really should, as the comics are really doing the heavy lifting story and character wise). And Jonah just straight up does not have the narrative or emotional connection to Lara that both Reyes and Sam do. 

Anyway, Jonah aside, the other survivor of that horrific trauma is Lara. But, honestly, you wouldn’t know it. The teaser those gifs came from showed us what we thought was a deeply traumatized, suffering, ill woman who doesn’t know what to do or how to be after she Survived. Not long after this perception was largely known and accepted, someone on the Rise team (and i can’t remember exactly who) straight up said they were surprised at this interpretation, and that the teaser was supposed to show how impatient Lara was to Get Back Out There and Discover. And I guess that’s the crux of the problem. That latter interpretation is the one present in Rise. Despite this pretty explicitly going against both tr 2013 and the comics. And despite the fact that that interpretation is fucking boring. It’s boring, disappointing, and just so fucking common. 

Actually, now that I read all that back, I think the Rise team and I had at least one problem in common: the comics. As I said, I think the story and character is far more present in the comics than the actual game itself. And this is also my problem with games like dragon age: inquisition and final fantasy 15 and blizzard: You cannot (or should not, I suppose, since they definitely do) rely on outside media that most of the players are not going to consume to make sense of (or, in the case of Rise, straight up tell) the story for you! Jonah’s arc exists just in the comics (again, unlike Reyes and Sam, who went through actual arcs in the original game). Lara’s emotions and tr 2013 personality and relationships exist just in the comics. Trinity, the main bad guys, are really only introduced in the comics. Sam pretty much just exists in the comics. The big problem I have here is that Rise relies on the comics for things like investment in Jonah’s character, Lara’s character development, and explaining Trinity. And then the game completely disregards the comics when it comes to Sam and overarching plot. 

The comics and game just don’t know how to coexist. The game doesn’t want to tell the story the comics are telling, and the comic has to contort itself to serve the game. I mean, the arc leading up to Rise was all about Himiko taking over Sam and Lara being there for her! And then, out of fucking nowhere, to justify why Lara would go on this ~adventure without Sam, they throw Sam in jail and have Lara ~realize she was just using Sam as an excuse to not go.Really, the plot of Rise should have been the some of the Ana + trinity stuff combined with the Choice and Sacrifice (trinity experiments on Sam, bring Himiko out, Himiko goes on a rampage throughout europe and collects followers). arc in the comic. Now that is a game I would have loved. A direct follow up to tr 2013 that wasn’t a retread, involves the original big bad with the new one, an interesting concept, a continuation of the comics that doesn’t make having read them necessary, and giving both Lara and the audience immediate emotional investment. Ah, but now I’m getting into what should have happened instead of what did.

Anyway, some smaller things: Jacob. Everything about him. The typical, boring messiah. The fact that he’s an ancient Syrian but is still white (like, his daughter is a fucking redhead). The fact that Lara cares more about him than the woman who is essentially her stepmother, and the audience is expected to as well.Which brings me to Ana! What a waste of a charcter. And the fact that she was killed post credits? Jesus.Plus Sofia, whose name I actually had to look up she’s such a nonentity. The treatment of men and woman in Rise is … bad. Especially following a game that has the tagline “a survivor is born” in which 3/4s of those survivors are women.

In the end, how I ultimately feel about Rise will depend on if we actually get an end to the trilogy, and how it’s handled. If we don’t or it’s handled poorly, I could end up seriously hating Rise for for being a poor ending/starting a downward spiral; or i could end up really appreciating it more! If we do get a final game and it’s satisfying, I’ll probably just resent Rise for wasting a game in a trilogy, and for making the lead so ooc and obscenely, disgustingly selfish.

…Sooo that was long and like, hopefully not preachy lol. Thanks for asking/sorry for this essay.