#the girl who set out to seek a living wage

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

[warriorviscera]

LEGENDARY WARRIOR VISCERA INFORMATION POST

“Draw steel or die, craven dog! If you don't fight, then you cannot live!”

Who is the Warrior Viscera? Or rather yet, what? In the Etherrealm, might makes right, and blood spilled is debts paid. The God of Flesh and Materialism, Diphtheria, chooses a teenage girl who hails from a rural town to represent the role of judgement in this modern age of violence and destruction. Struggling to retain control over her life, Viscera sets out to search for a missing friend. Pray take heed, Warrior Viscera! This world is cruel and seeks your destruction... or even worse... your guidance.

The story takes place in THREE PARTS:

Part 1 – INSTANCE Part 2 - REOCCURANCE Part 3 - ETERNITY

The setting is THE ETHERREALM, a strange and violent fantastical world on the verge of it's own haphazard industrial revolution. Bloodlust is inherently woven into the world's construction. The creator of mankind, ETHER, wages war against CHAOS and her children for the right of the lands.

Titular Main Characters

Viscera Pesante – The main character. Chosen Judge of Mankind, a girl who has been bequeathed the true 'Divine Right' to Bloodshed and Warmongering. However, despite all of this, in her heart, there is a compassionate and tormented girl who is desperate to seek peace within herself. Viscera is brutally honest, and doesn't hold back on expressing her thoughts, even if it'll get her in trouble. 🩸

Bone - Viscera's eccentric best friend and confidant. Despite his childlike behavior and unusual outlook on life, he is not to be underestimated in a good fight, least you lose a limb to him. Never uses weapons – his hands and feet do just fine by him. He is a Rotlander, hailing from a west-southern Etherrealm clusternation named as such. Originally, he followed Viscera out of concern and protectiveness for the younger girl, but is eventually dragged into a violent struggle beyond his control. 🖤

Valentine D'Adagio - A nervous, yet good-intentioned knight, of an overseas faction of the Order of Anomatheca. He speaks in a very dated manner at times, using 'thy' and 'thou' naturally. His noble and steadfast personality is rarely found in Etherrealmer warriors these days, due to the decline of noble intent giving way to violence. However, his noble behavior may be just a personality front, as he desperately wants to be a good person and cannot stand being seen as morally incorrect. 🎠

Vanillia Aevom Ethercrowne - Trained from her youth in politics and psychological warfare, Vanillia is the heir to the Ethercrowne Capital. However, Vanillia also had access to forbidden books and history, leading to her researching and acquiring additional abilities and skills that are deemed unnatural and evil. Deep down, Vanillia is incredibly spiteful and vindictive due to realizing her entire life was being planned for her. The strength of her personal ambitions can lead her to making rash decisions when it involves enforcing her own free will and power. 👑

[sparrow-in-boots]

okay so, I'm going to get to Lucy Stillman and the franchise's treatment of her, but i think I need to explain my own feelings about the portrayal of the modern brotherhood first. I do not buy the "brotherhood = conspiracy theory cult" angle. It's flawed and leads to terrible takes overall, by the lore and by the fandom.

It's a holdover from the fact that the game decides to run with conspiracy theories that we have in the real world, and assign them all to the Isu. they even poke fun of it in the earlier games with the whole lizard people and space wizards in tinfoil hats comments. now that's a whole can of worms in itself given how deeply racist and antisemitic the overwhelming majority of conspriacy theories are, but it's not a good way to portray the assassin brotherhood because that's not what they are. they are far leftists. they are anarchist cells, they are commune organizers, they are revolutionaries. that's not me saying it either, that's just canon, plain and simple.

but that would make the story too close to real-life politics and they can't do that cus it's not in their interests.

therefore, the brotherhood is coded as isolationist cultists, or at least as far as The Farm goes. in current year, i think we can all agree there's an inherent fallacy (if not outright disengenuous portrayal) of painting your leftist organization fighting against the capitalist neocolonial hegemony with the same strokes as the whacky people starting communes in the middle of nowhere to escape 5G towers, fluoride water and the [insert villanized minority group here].

i don't buy it, i don't appreciate it, and i think we could have had a stronger story without it, even regarding Desmond's backstory.

THAT SAID, let's take a look at Lucy. her's is the story of a girl who was forced into adulthood too early after being left to her own devices by a very sheltered and isolating community that failed her, and then inducted into a cult which ultimately killed her and then was promptly swept under the narrative. that cult is the templar order by the by.

Lucy was born and raised within the Brotherhood, and pretty much set lose on the world with no connectiosn to speak of. surely they must have given her a paper trail, fake parents and school enrollments, medical records, the works. she was told to infiltrate Abstergo and probably given a general path towards that, namely research that could be useful to them, but otherwise? she was on her own.

first thing that comes to mind is when Amish folks get their time away from their hometown to experience the world and choose to come back or not. i can't comment on their experience and general view on this so i won't attempt to draw a parallel here, but just that initial mental connection speaks for itself imo.

She speaks of having to wait tables to make ends meet, and while that's the socially expected experience of solo living for a young adult leaving home (work minimun wage jobs, go to college, climb the chain, start small, etc), she has no home to return to. In fact there's this looming tension that even opening up to missing her home or going into detail about it could blow her cover. Even in the privacy of being around friends and colleagues, there's this necessity of keeping up a front. She has to buy it so deeply it becomes her, inside and out, and doing that at such a formative age is bound to take it's toll.

You're removed from everything and everyone you've ever known. You don't know when or if you'll ever see them again. In fact they can die at any moment and you might never hear about it. Contact with them is a fraught and dangerous thing, and even the slightest slip could spell your doom and theirs. Connection is a constant swinging sword of Damocles over her, and who can take comfort and solace from community like that? No one, is who. So of course she'd seek that away from where she could endanger everyone.

So in comes Vidic. She knows he's a templar, of course she does, but he's kind and understanding, a bit frustrating and headstrong, but she can usually talk him into chilling out here and there. And of course, one can draw a parallel between him and Bill. Both are strict and charismatic (in their own way) father and mentor figures, but while Bill is cold and hard, Vidic feigns affection (as Haytham so eloquently put) and the worst part is, it works. Any affection and attention is good attention for the starved, and Lucy's been on the end of her ropes since she's been outside of the Brotherhood.

She knows and can see it's all manipulation, she's not that blind of course, but it chips away at her. That's what emotional manipulation does after all. And then, in come the agents to kill her, and Vidic stops them.

All her life she's heard how brutal and merciless the templars are, and surely she's seen it too while working under them, but right when her facade slips and she should be dead, she's not. Because Vidic spares her. Of course that leaves a deep impression on her, and further erodes her resolve. Slowly but surely, she opens up, and Vidic is an expert at what he does. She may hold quite a bit of guilt and shame at turning, but the templars were there when the brotherhood wasn't.

Bill says that of those they send to infiltrate the templars, they are either "too strong" and can't keep up the charade, or are "too weak" and turn. How is being a human being who needs connection and community "too weak"? How is being slowly lovebombed and manipulated into choosing the wire mother and then being foresaken the plush one when in need weakness?

Desmond says that she "seemed so sincere, like she really wanted to make a difference", and I truly believe she did. Her morals and belief were twisted through years of emotional torture and isolation, and she knew she couldn't return to the brotherhood after how far she caved under the pressure. There's no space for the nuances and endless gray areas of such an unbalanced war in the current brotherhood, and she knows it, so throwing in with the templars for her was the lesser evil. She's not fool enough to buy their propaganda wholesale, but it's a necessary concession in her mind so she can excuse her taking advantage of their attention and community. Again, as long as she's useful to them, she has a place among them.

However, the way she's treated by the narrative is... w o w. We never get the chance to hear it from her side, expect by a pathetically short email on the ACR dlc. While having the protagonists agonize over someone's beliefs after their passing and finding no solid answers, they really don't spend nearly enough time for that to carry much weight narratively. In fact, there's hardly much of a critique on the conditions that led her to that kind of fall from grace, and even less is done to fix it.

She, much like Clay, are the epitomes of how the brotherhood is mirroring too much the templar's and Juno's disregard for human life, and how that needs to change in order for them to turn the tides. But nothing comes of it, because our anchor to the modern timeline gets doomed by the narrative and now all those loose plot holes go nowhere. Her funeral, her burial, her memory, it all gets waved about like an annoying gnat on the dinner table, and nobody does anything but try their best to ignore it until it goes away. Her actress couldn't keep with their schedule, so they got rid of her in the most pathetic horrifyingly dismissive way possible.

Personally I'm not a fan of the templar turncoat plotline they gave her, but if that's what they wanted to go with, then it needed much MUCH more careful writing and it needed to fucking GO SOMEWHERE. But it doesn't. And it sucks.

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all. But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea

Author: Axie Oh

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2022

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, mythology, retelling, historical fiction

Blurb: Deadly storms have ravaged Mina's homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God - once their protector - now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God's bride in the hopes that, one day, the true bride will be chosen and end their suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village and the beloved of Mina's older brother Joon may be the legendary true bride...but on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong's stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God...only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin - as well as a motley crew of demons, gods, and spirits - Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all...but she doesn't have much time. A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits, and there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking.

[richincolor]

Crystal’s 2022 Favorites 

This year I had a lot going on in my life and I read fewer books than usual. Fortunately, the quality was fabulous even if the quantity fell short. I don't think this has happened to me in the past, but all of my favorites are from the same imprint.  Feiwel & Friends is doing some great work.

Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix [Crystal's review] Feiwel & Friends

Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.

But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.

On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers―including a softspoken Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma’s childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie―as well as a healthy bit of mischief―in each other’s company.

But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh [Crystal's Review] Feiwel & Friends

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin [Group Discussion] along with the second book A Venom Dark and Sweet Feiwel & Friends

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, “These are the hands that buried my mother.”

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

A Venom Dark and Sweet (The Book of Tea #2)

A great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust.

Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess’ loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning’s newly healed sister, Shu. Together the four young women travel throughout the kingdom in search of allies to help oust the invaders and take back Zhen’s rightful throne.

But the golden serpent still haunts Ning’s nightmares with visions of war and bloodshed. An evil far more ancient than the petty conflicts of men has awoken, and all the magic in the land may not be enough to stop it from consuming the world…

What books pulled you in this year? 

[lissamason]

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village―and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon―may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin―as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits―Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

[themovieblogonline]

"Caterpillar" Is Outstanding Documentary at SXSW 2023

"Caterpillar" was a fascinating documentary at SXSW about a new YouTube fad, changing one’s eye color, which is done, surgically, in India. It sounded very dicey, and, as it turns out, it is. Endlessly struggling to feel seen, David becomes infatuated with a mysterious company’s promise to transform people’s lives by permanently changing the color of their eyes. After traveling to India to get the controversial procedure, he begins to question if this artificial beauty will give him the fulfillment he truly seeks. The documentary, written and directed by Liza Mandelup of the Parts & Labor film enterprise, followed the journey of Raymond David Taylor of Miami as he set off for India to have his brown eyes turned into a color described as “frost.” It seems that there is a thriving cosmetic industry in Cairo, Mexico, Panama, and India and, of course, the recent deaths of two American citizens in Matamoros, Mexico, was a trip for cosmetic surgery. A friend of mine flew to Costa Rica for dental work, so I’m surprised I had not heard of this latest fad, but I don’t spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. David had a very rough childhood, even getting kicked out of the house while young, at one point, he (and most of the other patients) seem to think that “Changing me will change my outlook on life.” As David says, “If I feel sad one more day, I don’t know if I’m going to make it.” He doesn’t have the money for the surgery. Still, a well-written letter explaining his desire for the implants brings an offer from BrightOcular to come to have the cosmetic procedure for free if he will let the company use his story and photos for advertising purposes. We then meet others on this medically unregulated journey, including Izzy, a woman from New Delhi, a young man from Japan, a male underwear model, and a beautiful girl from Jamaica, but the focus is on David, which the filmmaker/writer  Liza Mandelup explained was her attempt to initially start out with three main characters and trace their journeys, with one character emerging as central to the story. She described this riveting film journey into eye surgery this way:  “I wanted to visually convey it. I wanted to do something that people wouldn’t think was cinematic, but make it cinematic. It became an emotional journey. David allowed me to make the film that I  was craving.” In the course of the journey, we meet David’s mother, who also suffered a rough, abusive life, but tried her best as a young single mother to care for her children on wages of $2.35 an hour. David’s mother and David don’t agree on a lot of things. She is okay with David’s being gay, but she says, “I cannot deal with that if you start cutting parts of your body off and adding stuff.” She adds that she thought he was a great female impersonator. Mom’s point of view is, “You’re stubborn. You don’t listen.” And, she adds, “You’re never satisfied with the way you look.” Others in Caterpillar describe the cosmetic procedure as “a bandaid to the past.” Most of the others have selected jade green as the color their brown eyes will be after surgery. It is a big blow to David when they do three surgeries simultaneously and he is given jade green by mistake, rather than frost, which will mean another eye surgery to fix. All of the prospective patients seem to want to transform into someone else, an ideal they have created in their heads. If you are thinking, “This can’t be safe,” you’re right. It is only about four months post-surgery that David describes undergoing the procedure as “the worst mistake of my life.” Some patients, we learn, who did not heed the United States ophthalmologists warning about the damage the implants are doing to their eyes ended up partially blind after a number of years.  One former patient whom David tracks down after he begins encountering headaches and blurry vision said that he woke up after 5 years with blood on his cornea. “I had to remove them or go blind.” The unfettered access to the surgery and the patients seems quite unusual until we learn that the leadership of BrightOcular is very circumspect. No one ever comes forward to represent that entity or another such provider called Spectra. These agencies exist and are offering this service and heavily advertising how it will “change your life” on social media, with pictures of patients like David. David bought into it with words like, “This is my new beginning. I’m changing,” or “Beauty matters. Beauty gets you through the door. Musical selections like “Stand By Me” and “I Want to Dance With Somebody,” selected by Music Supervisor Melissa Chapman, merge with the early upbeat theme seamlessly and add much to the extremely well-done production. Afterward, writer/director Liza Mandelup and David, the chief subject, answered questions about the origin of Caterpillar and its aftermath. Liza said she had been doing research on the apps that can change one’s appearance when she learned of this eye surgery and sent the BrightOcular company an e-mail asking if she could do a documentary about the process.  She remarked that the company received her request very positively, but no one from the company ever emerged to guide her or supervise the process, which includes some gruesome close-up shots of the patients being operated on.  She cautions that David was one of the few patients who listened to the warnings from U.S. eye doctors and had his implants removed fairly quickly. Other patients have faced the need for cornea transplants; some have gone blind because they refuse to give up the implants. Among the best compliments of the terrific job the filmmaker did with this riveting documentary was a woman who stood up in the back during the Q&A and said, in heavily accented English, “You mean this was a documentary? I thought it was a movie.” Read the full article

[oots-digitalmedia]

Queer Rep in Comedy Podcasts

Looking for your next fictional queer comedy podcast? Check out our previous entries:

Arden

Big Data

Brimstone Valley Mall

Burst

The Fall of the House of Sunshine

The Flame: A Podcast Musical

The Girl Who Set Out To Seek A Living Wage

Junction

Less is Morgue

Light Hearts

Patient 33

Queer as Fiction

Site-42: SCP Foundations Fanworks

Swings and Roundabouts

We Fix Space Junk

Welcome to Night Vale

Wooden Overcoats

Missing your favourite show? Put it in the reply or tags and I’ll make an entry!

Check out our other queer podcast recommendations here.

[miralines]

“Though this didn’t guarantee a livelihood–nothing could do that, for it seemed there was no right to anything but guns in this land— it brought her joy.”

— The Girl Who Set Out To Seek A Living Wage, being very real

[fanofthepod]

Just finished 'the girl who set out to seek a living wage' podcast and i absolutely loved it. I wasnt sure what to expect but it was fantastic. Love me a good old anti-capitalist fairy tale

[jennysparkling]

Presenting a shiny, new podcast following an older oral tradition! "The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage" is a two-part fairy tale about a young woman on a quest through retail in search of her fortune, only to find it's being hoarded by truly terrible beasts - corporate executives! It's gay, it's fun, and it's full of fairy tale justice for the frustrated millennial.

Content note: contains a brief mention of suicidal ideation.

Listen on:

iTunes

Stitcher

TuneIn

Soundcloud

Bandcamp

Finally, you can find a transcript HERE.

If you enjoy "The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage," then please - share it, like it, review it, reblog it! Whatever your platform of choice supports. If you can, please join me at Patreon.com/jennysparkling to support this and future projects, or consider a one-time donation.

You can check out more of my writing right here on Tumblr, as well - I'm not stopping. Feel free to message me with any questions, or email me at jsparklingwrites@gmail.com.

The conclusion, part two, will be released on April 4th, 2017.

"The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage" was written, performed, and produced by Jenny Sparks. Music from Musopen.org. All works used are listed in the public domain. Artwork by Christine Eglantine; find their work on www.lurkingintheburbs.tumblr.com. 

[weaverlings]

So, I know there are a lot of you out there interested in gay content, and a lot of you who are upset about capitalism. Me, too! So I made this.

“The Girl Who Set Out to Seek a Living Wage” is a short fairy tale podcast, mixing old and new storytelling styles to tell the story of a young woman as she seeks her fortune through retail work. But when that’s not enough, she decides to challenge the greedy executives at the top of it all.

Also, it’s got lesbians and the lesbians have a happy ending.

If you check it out and enjoy it, I have one request: please leave a review on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are a big part of how podcasts are discovered. But while this piece has received a lot of positive feedback, I found out tonight that it only seems to have one review! It would really help me out if more people could take the time to do that. If you don’t know how, you can find instructions here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/write-itunes-review#sm.0006z4v9vufbdrf11a21uc5iqit9h

Thank you!

[raimijenner]

"Now, she was autistic, and often only considered what was in front of her. This made the test difficult in places, but she hoped that she could perform neurotypically enough to deceive it."

-the girl who set out to seek a living wage

[rockislandadultreads]

Fantastical Book Covers & Asian-Inspired Fantasies

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother." For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan, Kuri Huang (Illustrator)

A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of Chang'e, the Chinese moon goddess, in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm. Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor's son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh, Kuri Huang (Illustrator)

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all. But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

“I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions — much good it did me.” So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on tales about the might and benevolence of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear. Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her. But as the evil from her childhood stories threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. And Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak — and what legacy she intends to leave behind.

[hedevimaiyya]

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering. Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead. Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all. But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…