#the hunger games + the new prequel is on my read list now too | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

it-happened-once-in-a-meme · 2 years ago

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Hi everyone! I'm new on Tumblr and would like to make a proper introduction, mainly so that my first post won't be something incredibly random 😆 Well, I don't want to get too personal with age, gender, looks, sexuality or social security numbers, so here are a few, certainly not all, of my fandoms (or rather fandoms that I would like to be a part of), in no particular order: Before I begin: it's important to note that quite often my opinion of a content is separated from my opinion of the creator. Most often I simply don't know or don't have the time to research what the creator does outside of their content so I wouldn't even know that someone else might think I support a certain opinion because I express my joy over someone's content.

So, here are some of the things I like: 😊

•The MCU (though these days there's too much content for me to watch so I just watch things with my favourite characters from the last phases)

•sometimes X-Men (mostly Cherick, one of my many ships)

•The Wizarding World (mainly Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, but I've also read The Tales of Beedle The Bard). I still love the worldbuilding and the many characters even though I've been a bit distanced to it the last few years.

•The Umbrella Academy. I love a good soundtrack, lovable characters with family issues and awesome fight scenes. In the beginning I thought that Viktor would stay my favourite character but now there are so many others I love.

•The Picture of Dorian Gray (so far I've enjoyed the book and watched the beginning of the 1945 adaption)

•The Hunger Games universe, with the prequel not entirely read because I could only read an extract and after that I dindn't have much time to read. I like dystopias, as long as they don't lean too much towards the horror genre.

•The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I read the first book this year and am currently reading the second one. The plot just reminds me positively of: •Knives Out. The early reveal of the "killer" made this murder mystery something special along with the amazing acting & the realistic family dynamics.

•BBC Sherlock. I do like mysteries and detective stories as long as they are consistently entertaining and not just towards the end

•The Great Gatsby. I prefer the book but Baz Luhrmann's adaption has its good sides too.

•Snowwhite and the Huntsman/Winter's War: The Huntsman and the Ice Queen/hopefully 🥺 a next film (as long as it isn't just an out of character cash-grab) because these fairytale films are magical and awesome and look great and the theme of the second film-

•The Three Musketeers 2011. I haven't read the book but I'm sure it isn't supposed to be an accurate adaption anyway. Oh, how I love this film! The story, the characters, the soundtrack, the costumes *chef's kiss*! ❤

•The Selection series by Amy Ewing. I like the plot idea of the Bachelor but I prefer it to be openly "scripted" instead of being a fake reality show (I've still watched a lot of seasons though🤫).

•Eragon. The film. 2006. Just kidding, I thought a short comedy break may be needed after so many Fandoms 😊. Or is this just me being tired of writing them down? 🤭 Whoooa, no, I scrolled upwards and this is a lot! Sorry if this is too much for you reading this. 😶 Anyway, don't be sad if you actually happen to have liked this film; it's still better than a lot of others. Though I've never heard of someone who liked it. I'd be curious to know though... In any case: good luck to all Inheritance Cycle fans on the new adaption. 🍀

•The Witcher (Netflix TV series, otherwise I don't know much except for some random facts like Triss' hair color in different types of media 🤣)

•The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani (who knows what the Netflix adaption will be like?). I particularly like the first three books.

•How I Met Your Mother. The way it ended made me sad but I still liked it overall.

I may also write about things that I'm not a big fan, or any fan of, but I don't need to list these here.

If you want to you can ask me about my perception, opinion, theory or maybe even explanation (maybe of something less complex 😅) about something from these Fandoms. When you do so, could you please mark spoilers, especially if you're referring to a Fandom with a lot of content? 🙏 Even if I've seen/read said content, others have maybe not and it would be a shame to spoil a part of experiencing a film/book for the first time. Perhaps I won't respond quickly: don't take this personally, I don't plan on checking tumblr regularly (hopefully I won't distract myself too much with Tumblr😮) and when I see a notification I can still be a little shy so it may take some time to formulate an answer I'm content with. 🤷

Anyway, a lovely day to everyone who's reading this🤗

#introducing myself #fandoms #harry potter #mcu #The Picture of Dorian Gray #School for good and evil #sge #The Witcher #The Selection #The Huntsman #The Great Gatsby #How I Met Your Mother #The Three Musketeers 2011 #BBC Sherlock #Bbc Sherlock #The Sorcerer's Apprentice #The Inheritance Games #Knives Out #The Umbrella Academy

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geekymoviemom · 3 years ago

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I posted 7,690 times in 2021

60 posts created (1%)

7630 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 127.2 posts.

I added 9,936 tags in 2021

#i can queue this all day - 2741 posts

#bucky barnes - 1505 posts

#the falcon and the winter soldier - 1416 posts

#sam wilson - 1114 posts

#sambucky - 683 posts

#tfatws spoilers - 559 posts

#wandavision - 540 posts

#hehehehe - 519 posts

#steve rogers - 436 posts

#loki laufeyson - 423 posts

Longest Tag: 62 characters

#i’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s not mcu peter’s hand

My Top Posts in 2021

Rules: List 10 different male faves from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people.

I was tagged by @90spopstargirl thank you so much! ♥️

1. Peeta Mellark - The Hunger Games

2. Tony Stark/Steve Rogers/Peter Parker - Marvel Cinematic Universe (I can’t pick just one, sorry! 😆)

3. Daniel Jackson - Stargate SG1

4. Walter Bishop - Fringe

5. Leonard McCoy - Star Trek Original

6. Commander Data - Star Trek TNG

7. Ben Solo - Star Wars

8. Jack Bauer - 24

9. Barry Allen - The Flash

10. Erik Lehnsherr - X-Men movieverse

This was so fun, thank you so much! ♥️

Tagging: @b-boop5 @jroseley @mega-aulover @norbertsmom @crownofstardustandbone @gaiagalit @srebrnafh @sherlock-who-mentalist @sherlollyandspoilers @hailing-stars

14 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 23:20:20 GMT

@everlarkedalways

24 notes • Posted 2021-08-05 22:21:20 GMT

My family knows me well. Happy birthday to me 😎

28 notes • Posted 2021-10-16 02:15:46 GMT

Hi, I’ve always wondered- why do you write Steve referring to Peter as “little guy” so frequently (instead of any other terms of endearment or just ‘Peter’)? Just curious!

Hey! Thank you so much for your ask, and for reading my fics! 💗

Steve does call Peter by his name pretty often, but his term of endearment for him is the ‘little guy’, as you’ve noticed. There’s a couple of reasons why I chose this.

One, in my eyes, Steve doesn’t use a lot of nicknames for his loved ones, preferring to stick with one or two. He calls Tony ‘sweetheart’ and the Irish ‘mo gra’ in some of my fics, which means my love. For Peter, I wanted to go with something a bit different that Tony’s ‘buddy’, and ‘son’ just seemed too… I don’t know, I just can’t picture Steve calling Peter that. Little guy is sweet without being too sugary and since Peter is pretty small, it fits him well.

Two, in The First Avenger, when Steve is chosen to join the SSR, Dr Erskine says, “Well, there are already so many big men fighting this war, maybe what we need now is the little guy.” This is an important line in that it shows his acceptance of Steve even though he’s not the traditional soldier-type. This had a big impact on Steve, as later when the two of them are having their toast in Steve’s barracks room, Steve says, “to the little guys”. At the time, Steve had no idea that the serum would transform him size-wise, so he was prepared to spend the rest of his life just doing what was right as a ‘little guy’. It’s always been my headcanon that Steve sees the same kind of strength and determination in Peter, since he’s on the smaller side too 💗

I hope this makes sense! Thank you so much for the ask! 💗

29 notes • Posted 2021-06-23 16:59:37 GMT

To distract you on this scary afternoon, how ‘bout some pictures of our new puppy? 🥰🥰🥰

31 notes • Posted 2021-01-06 21:50:32 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #thanks for tagging me!

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bookowldawn · 4 years ago

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My best books of 2020

Well, here we are again. I don’t know if anyone will even read this, but time for my yearly recap of the top 5 best books I read the previous year. I think we can all agree that 2020 was certainly an eventful year, and escaping into a good book was definitely nice at times. Due to avoiding going to the library for periods of time, I read a lot of the books I own at home and thus quite a few of the books I read last year were re-reads. Out of the 50 books I managed to read, 13 were re-reads and will not be included in this list of my favourite books that I read in 2020, only the books that I read for the first time were considered. Since I can’t be bothered to rank them, I will simply present them in the order in which I read them. So, without further ado, here are my top 5 books read in 2020.

1. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Well, at least one book of Cassandra Clare is bound to make it’s way onto this list each year so this is certainly no surprise. I read Chain of Gold as soon as I could get my hands on it and I was certianly not disappointed. This book did a wonderful job at intruducing the new characters, I love them all so much already. I really feel like Cassandra Clare gets better for every new book she puts out and I felt that Chain of Gold was a very good first book in this series. I’m really excited to see where it goes. I really loved it and I can almost guarantee that the second installment in the series, Chain of Iron, will be on this list for 2021.

2. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive of this book when I first heard about it. I thought it would certainly be interesting and something I at some point would want to read, but I wasn’t really sure how much a prequel would add to the story. I didn’t even realize it was about President Snow until shortly before I decided to read it, and that made me even more uncertain. Snow wasn’t exactly my favourite character in the Hunger Games trilogy, and I thought it would be hard to relate to him and care about him in this book, but also interesting to see what set him down the path to be the person we see in the series. To my surprise I actually liked it a lot and found it very interesting to see how the Hunger Games came to be the way they are in the series and how Snow got the be the person he is. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it if you liked the Hunger Games trilogy!

3. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

The largest thing I took on reading-wise in 2020 was probably finally starting the Throne of Glass series. Sadly it was hard getting my hands on them from the library, so I couldn’t finish the series (I did that now in the first weeks of 2021), but I managed to read the first five books. Since I couldn’t let this list be full of the Throne of Glass books, I limited myself to picking only one for this list. It was hard, but I chose Empire of Storms since it was the last book I read and the tension is certainly high after that book. But really it symbolizes the entire series, because it’s just sooo good. I’m partly asking myself why I didn’t read it sooner and partly thanking myself for deciding all those years ago to wait with reading them until all the books were, because I don’t know how I’d survive needing to wait a year for each book. This series is truly great and I’m so glad I finally decided to read it!

4. The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu

Well look at that, another Cassandra Clare book made it onto my list, who would have thought? No but in all seriousness, this book was great! Certainly not the best book in the Shadowhunter universe, but definitely good. Alec might be my all time favourite character and Malec is one of my all time favourite ships, so a book with them as the main characters can’t be anything other than good. It was also really nice seeing the old TMI gang back together again, I’ve missed them. This book did however kind of feel like a weird fever dream and thinking back on it now it almost feels like it can’t have been real. I guess the reason I didn’t like it more than I did was because it was almost too funny and weird for me to take it seriously. I did still love it though, and it was definitely hilarious from beginning to end!

5. The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan

This is probably the book that took me most by surprise last year. I truly didn’t expect it to be amongst my top books of the year before I read it, and I was absolutely shocked by how much I loved it. I mean, I absolutely love Rick Riordan, PJO, HOO and MCGA are amongst my all time favourite series, Riordan is one of my favourite authors, but for some reason I never really liked the Trials of Apollo series that much. The first book was pretty good, but towards the end of it I kind of stopped liking it and I don’t quite know why. I didn’t like the second book much and the third I didn’t read until it had been out for almost six months (I usually read his books as soon as I possibly can). The fourth book was quite good and I therefore had hope the last book would be alright as well, but considering that I’d almost given up on the series in the middle, I did not expect the last book to be more than “quite good”. Boy, was I wrong. I read most of the book in just one day, I just couldn’t put it down, and the ending left me feeling soooo satisfied! This book just emotionally wrecked me, and it was all the more powerful because I had not expected it at all. It was such a good ending to the series, I’m not sure if I’ll ever get over it. This book made powering through the previous ones totally worth it for me, it was such a good pay-off. Also, absolutely hilarious in true Rick Riordan fashion, and with the hints in it for upcoming stand-alone novels I am now so extremely excited for him come out with more books. That Solangelo novel that he heavily hinted at? I need it now please! Truly a great ending to the series, it exceeded all my expectations.

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archersandsunsets · 4 years ago

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hi there! do you have any hunger games or Katniss/peeta blogs to recommend for new people?

oh gosh! i do, but i will say there will be some multi-fandom content on their blogs in addition to thg content—though right now there should be an uptick bc of a certain prequel....

god i feel so honored that you came to ME... **stares off into the distance**

i’m probably forgetting some people, but i tried to put together a good list of everyone who is mildly active usually. i also included a few blogs that write some GOOD fanfic.

@safeinpeetasarms

@rosegardeninwinter cate my darling!!!

@tindomrl more general thg content, but definitely worth checking out. shoot her a message, too, bc lia is so so sweet. also her retelling of THG Pink Rabbits is deep and kinda spooky and so so magical. go read.

@lovely-tothe-bone K!!!!

@flamesonarrows bff of mine and a big reason i’m so obsessed

@shesasurvivor has written some of the most addictive aus i’ve ever read

@jakeperalta good for TS, B99, THG... hits all the bases!

@alliswell21

i beta for @booksrockmyface who has some of the sweetest modern aus

@jlalafics uh prime fanfic content here, gonna be a best selling author one day i swear it, you’ll mostly see other content here—but you wanna check out the fics, also she’s a darling

@awkwardeverlark gOD go read Cavedweller and Elsewhere right now

@reachingforaspark

@mega-aulover

@smartalexy

@everlarkrealornot

@dandeliononfire / @duckpotatodandelion (psst go read Geometry)

@jhutchmyanchor puts out a good list of fanfic they’re catching up on

@acpoe82

#answered #anon #anonymous #hope i didn't miss too many people!#feel free to add below if i did!#Anonymous

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theastrophilearchitect · 4 years ago

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March TBR/W.

Every book, audiobook, tv show and movie I want to consume in March 2021.

-Hence ‘TBR/W’ - to-be-read/watched.

I’m not usually a fan of pre-planning my media for the month - I plan out all my media obsessively, but doing it by month seems a little too much like setting deadlines for my taste, and I’m sure I’ll somehow manage to turn watching tv into a chore. Regardless, it’s worth a shot, so this is going to be a rough guide - I’m going to pick four of each category, one per week, because I’d rather underestimate and surpass than overestimate and have to defer things to the next month. So let’s go.

Books

1. Skyward and 2. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Skyward is set in a future where the human race is on the verge of extinction, trapped on a planet constantly attacked by alien warriors. Spensa, a teenage girl stuck on the planet, wants to be a pilot, but it seems far-off. Then, she finds the wreckage of a ship that appears to have a soul, and she must figure out how to repair it, and persuade it to help her navigate flight school.

In truth, I mainly want to read this because of how highly it’s been praised by Hailey in Bookland on YouTube. I actually tried reading Sanderson’s Mistborn series a couple years ago, and just didn’t click with it. I love fantasy, but I can pretty confidently say epic fantasy just isn’t for me. However, Sanderson’s work is adored by many, and Skyward and its sequel Starsight appeal so much more to me, and I can’t wait to get to them.

3. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

This is Maas’s first technically-adult book; Throne of Glass is young adult, ACOTAR being classed either as young or new adult. I’ve been a fan of Maas for a long time, and, though I enjoy her books less now than I have in the past due to how seriously they tend to take themselves, I’d still love to read this one. Where her previous series were both fantasies, this sits somewhere between that and a sci-fi, but I can’t say as-of-yet what I think, because I haven’t read it yet.

Bryce Quinlan finds herself investigating her friends’ deaths in an attempt to avenge them after they were taken from her by a demon. Hunt Athalar is a Fallen angel, enslaved by Archangels, forced to assassinate their enemies, when he’s offered a deal to assist Bryce in exchange for his freedom.

4. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

I listened to this as an audiobook in 2019 as part of BookTuber Book Roast’s Magical Readathon, and didn’t hugely get along with it in truth. The audiobook was excellent as an audiobook, but the story Ian’s I just didn’t really vibe. I think I just want to like this book, so I think it’s worth a reread to see if my opinion changes.

This follows Citra and Rowan, a reluctant pair of apprentice Scythes - in a utopian future where humanity has the means to live forever, it is the job of the Scythes to control the population by essentially reaping the souls of those they choose to die. Neither Citra or Rowan want it, but I don’t remember enough about this book to say any more.

Audiobooks

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and you either already know what this series is about, or you’ve been living under a rock for the last thirteen years. I read this book for the first time nearly seven years ago, and it’s stuck with me. It sent me into a phase of only reading dystopian books (The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken was part of this, and was the series that really got me into reading), but this was the main one that stuck with me.

It contains a powerful message about capitalism and discrimination, and this is the second time I’ve listened to the audiobooks, though the god-only-knows-what time I’ve read the series. I listened to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in February, which automatically puts this on my to-listen for March.

2. Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman

This is a novella bind-up set in the Shadowhunters world, that I would imagine has quite a bit to do with the Shadow Market, an aspect of the Downworld introduced in The Dark Artifices, which I finished in January.

In truth, I’m mainly planning to listen to this audiobook because it’s the only Shadowhunters novella bind-up with an audiobook, and I’d just rather read additions to the main Shadowhunters series in this format rather than physically.

3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

This is a Hunger Games prequel that was released early last year, and I just wasn’t going to read it. I heard several reviews, the general consensus of which was basically that it’s not as good as the trilogy and is somewhat unnecessary, but, in truth, my curiosity’s got the better of me, especially since I started listening to the trilogy’s audiobooks again.

This prequel follows Coriolanus Snow as a mentor in the Games before he became President of Panem and the wonderful villain of the original trilogy.

4. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

I mentioned this in my physical TBR post a couple weeks ago, but have decided to listen to the audiobook instead. A few weeks ago, I’d started to run out of audiobooks I wanted to listen to, and didn’t want to read anything on my regular TBR in this format, including this book. But, I went through a load of audiobook recommendations, and this was one of them, so it joined my to-listen.

I’m not hugely into contemporary books, but I’ve wanted to get more into the genre for a while, and this was the first one to join my TBR.

This novel follows Eliza Mirk, your typical high school outcast, who publishes a hugely popular web comic under the pseudonym LadyConstellation. Then Wallace Warland, the biggest fanfic writer of her comic transfers to her school and begins to draw her out of her shell.

TV Shows

Before I go into my list, I’d like to mention that I am currently watching WandaVision and am definitely planning to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+, but both come out on a weekly basis, so aren’t being included on this list. Also, I’ve been watching way too much YouTube recently, so I’m not sure I’ll get through all of these this month, especially since I’m watching the Arrowverse shows, which have such long seasons.

1. Love, Victor Season 1

This Love, Simon spin-off follows a character named Victor at Creekwood (I think that’s the name?) High School. I saw Love, Simon twice in cinemas when it was released, and, miraculously, it made me cry. I love that movie.

This series was released last year on Hulu, which is only available in the US, but as of February 23rd, it’s one of the shows that came to Disney+ as part of Star.

2. The Flash Season 1

As mentioned, I’ve started watching the DC Arrowverse shows. I watch tv shows through alternating seasons - as in, I watch season 1 of show A, then season 1 of show B, then 2 of A, etc., then when I finish one, I start watching show C - but I’m treating the Arrowverse as one show (even though it isn’t) so it’s not the only thing I’m watching. So this is technically Arrowverse S3, preceded by Arrow S1+2 (though I haven’t actually started S2 as of writing this because of how much YouTube I’ve been watching, so I’ll be finishing that first).

I genuinely don’t know that much about most DC superheroes, Flash included, but I’m going into this having been assured it takes itself less goddamn seriously than Arrow. It’s my sister’s favourite Arrowverse show, and I can’t wait.

3. Dare Me Season 1

I added this Netflix show to my watchlist when it came out, and my basic understanding is that it focuses on the cheerleaders at a high school, and begins when a new coach arrives. It focuses on the psychological damage behind competitive cheerleading, and I’m not convinced I’m going to love it, but I think it’s worth a shot.

4. Arrow Season 3

I’m so confused by this poster. This is specifically the season 3 poster, and I’m so confused, but I’m sure it’ll make more sense when I watch the season.

I explained the weird way I’m watching Arrowverse (named as such because Arrow was the first show in it) already, but Arrow follows Oliver Queen, the son of one of the billionaires of Starling City upon his return after being stuck for five years on an island when a cruise ship carrying him and his father sunk. His father left him with a list of names of the people ‘corrupting’ the city, and Oliver takes it upon himself to assume a vigilante identity and take them down.

Movies

I’m not a huge movie-watcher, but I end up compiling so many to watch that, to ensure I get round to them, I watch a movie every time I finish a tv show season. I’m also currently re-watching the MCU movies in chronological order.

1. Instant Family

This is just something that came onto Netflix recently and I thought might be entertaining, and so it joined my list.

This follows a couple who decide to adopt a teenager, only to find out she has two more siblings.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

This is just a continuation of my MCU re-watch - I love this movie. I love Guardians of the Galaxy, full stop (on another note, I just generally don’t understand why British people call it a full stop and Americans call it a period. Neither name makes particular sense).

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron

And here we have another continuation of my MCU rewatch. I honestly think this is my favourite Avengers movie, because the whole teams actually together, and Wanda, Scarlet Witch, is introduced - I love her. I really didn’t like Vision until WandaVision came out, though.

4. Behind The Try: A Try Guys Documentary

Not technically a movie, but still. (Are documentaries movies? I tend to think of them as separate categories, but I guess they’re both movies. Hm.) I’ve been watching the Try Guys for years, which means I need to convince my sister to give me her Google password so I don’t have to pay for this.

I’m probably not going to stick to this list, and even if I do, I’m either going to also consume things not on it, or just not finish it. But, you’ll have to wait for my March wrap-up to find out.

#tbr #book #books #reading #reader #bookblr #marchtbr #tv shows #movies #review #films #movie #tv show #writerblr #march tbr

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fullmetalscullyy · 5 years ago

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Uh Hi! So I am new to the Royai fandom and I am looking for fics and honestly I don’t know where to start :( Do you have some writer recs or fics recs for me? Thankyou!💕

hey anon!! welcome!! yo there’s so many good fics out there you’re in for a real treat!!

i have far too many to choose from but i guess i can choose a top 5? 10? 15? we’ll see how long this list ends up being lmao

Vacuous Heart of Blood by MoonStarDutchess - supernatural au with roy as a vampire? sign me the fuck up. this is 100% one of my all times favourites and i very highly recommend reading it! the world building and the relationships are phenomenal. it’s ongoing and has been for years but i’ll follow this fic until i die i’ve read it like eight times already sdkfnd

In His Bed or Mine by Pokypup49, Rando29 - royai swingers au with havolina thrown in there too! oh. my. god. the way pokypup49 writes royai makes me melt on the spot i’m not even kidding. they’re so in love with each other in this fic (and!!!! there’s an ongoing prequel to this fic too!!! Only You) there’s smut, there’s exquisite romance, and there’s beautiful angst. it’s literally got everything!

The Trickster and the Lionheart by LadyAureliana - THIS FIC. OKAY. SO. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. it’s one of my all time faves. fbi agent roy is on the hunt of thief riza….. oh hell i’ve read it about five times i won’t lie. just… please read it. it’s so worth your time.

Best Kept Secret by MoonStarDutchess - another one from this author which explores what would have happened in canon if royai had been secretly married from the start. top tier angst in this fic too

may i feel, said he by bergamots, haganenobeato - smut for days and good smut. porn with plot? real life consequences and conflict about what the characters are doing? excellent relationships? this fic has it all. a college au where professor mustang and student hawkeye have the hots for each other and it is /chef’s kiss

Ex tempore by Tasia (ruikosakuragi) - historical/gangster au where riza gets transported back in time to meet mobster hughes and roy. ongoing and still in the early stages but oh my god there’s so much going on already and i adore it

City of Stars by Tasia (ruikosakuragi) - another one of tas’ fics! this one is a modern au with aspiring actor roy meeting upcoming songrwriter riza in la. the setting and the progression of their relationship is beautiful ;_; it’s my go to comfort fic when i want to feel warm and fuzzy inside

Breach of Contract by Stockholmsyndrom - victorian au 👀 marriage of convenience 👀 the pining!!! 👀 it’s heavenly. definitely worth a read!

Unexpectedly by waddiwasiwitch - college au where riza finds out she’s pregnant and who does she confide in?? her best friend roy of course! the pining!!! the denial (“we’re just friends”)!!! the aaaangst i love it sm

Where is Our Gravity? (Hunger Games AU) by the_musicalbookworm - fuck me up the royai in this is phenomenal. it’s a mix of edwin and royai but omg read it. please read it. it’s so beautiful. it says its ongoing however they are oneshots and are mixed up in the timeline so it’s not like there’s an ending missing

Our embalmed hearts, our desolate kingdoms by spooky_bee - neon genesis evangelion au! this… this fic had me binging it immediately. the relationships in this are perfection

Royai kid by ohmytheon - now, this is a series on ao3 and i urge absolutely everyone to read it all!!! oh god… basically post canon events where royai had a kid. the angst… oh my god. it gets me man. it’s perfect. if you want to cry and scream (”close your eyes, bug”) then read this part of the series: i would part the sea

Atlas by Tasia (ruikosakuragi) - historical/espionage au!! yooooo tas nails the history aus again. she’s an expert and the amount of thought and thoroughness she puts into these fics realy brings them to life. they’re so real and you as the reader really feel like you’re there with royai. well worth a read!!

Buried Alive by rizahawkaye - riza kicking butt? riza stealing the show? riza in general being an absolute badass?? this fic has it all. an au where she fakes her death to go undercover to infiltrate the group who tried to kill her. the group? based in ishval. the ocs and the villiaaaans omg they’re perfect in every way

Reign and Sovereign by sarabethloves - fantasy au where riza is the queen of aerugo and roy is the king of amestris. that description is excuse enough to read it for me bc fantasy royai aus own me. there’s pining, there’s romance, and there’s angst!!!!! my faves!!

The Amestrian Revolution by LadyAureliana - roy and riza are on there way to fuck up fuhrer bradley!!! an au where they’re members of the resistance who are fighting against bradley’s 300 year rule of tyranny. the action is /chef’s kiss

ok so that was so many lmao but i can’t pick a few. all of these are my all time faves, although i’m sure i’ve missed some!!! if you want anymore just hmu i’ve accumulated a collection over the years haha

#ask #anon #fic recs #royai fic recs

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rosereview · 5 years ago

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Most Anticipated 2020 Releases

So there are so many new books coming out this year that I am super excited for. Most of them are a continuation of a series I love or by an author I really enjoy, so not many of these books will come as a surprise.

10. My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

First we have the final book in the Jane Series by these three amazing authors, which isn’t really a series and more like companion books which started with My Lady Jane followed by My Plain Jane. Both of those books were so funny to read and had an interesting supernatural plot that I was really into, set in a historical time period. So I’m really excited for My Calamity Jane to come out.

9. The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee

This is also the last book to Mackenzi Lee’s Montague Siblings series, which is a historical fiction series that follows each Montague sibling in each book. I thought there were only going to be the first two, so when I saw she was coming out with this third book I was really excited. This historical fiction is also very humorous and tackles a lot of topics that you normally don’t see in historical fictions, so I highly recommend.

8. Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

I’m really excited for this third book in the Aru Shah series which is part of the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. While the first book was just okay for me, the second book that came out in 2019 has gotten me really excited for the next books in the series. It’s all about Hindu mythology which I found I’m now really interested in, and a really fun adventure with cute and adorable characters that learn a lot of valuable lessons.

7. Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller

I read Samuel Miller’s debut, A Lite Too Bright this year and it became one of my favourites of the year and of all time. When I saw that he was coming out with another book, I was intrigued, especially when I found out that it was about a boarding school and mystery about a missing girl, I’m now really excited. I found that I really liked mysteries set at a boarding school.

6. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

When I was in Elementary school, I became obsessed with reading when I picked up two certain series. One was Percy Jackson and the other was The Hunger Games. Ever since, I’ve just read more and more books and fallen more and more in love with reading and stories, and that wouldn’t have happened without Suzanne Collins. So now that she’s coming out with a prequel novel for The Hunger Games, I can’t not be happy and excited. Honestly I have nothing more to say than that.

5. The Betrothed by Kiera Cass

I’ve been waiting for Kiera Cass’s next book since The Crown came out four years ago. Now I did not love The Heir or The Crown but I did love the Selection trilogy and I want more of that good writing that she did there. I almost lost hope that Kiera Cass would ever finish her mystery project, but now here it comes! I could use some of her royal romances right now.

4. Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth is one of my favourite authors and even though she’s had some talking going on around her books, I’ve loved them all and think the things people are saying are false and that they didn’t actually read Carve the Mark because I never read what Miss Roth was accused of, Anyways, despite all that I will gladly continue reading everything she writes because I’ve been impressed every time before.

3. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

I need to know what happens in this final book of the Truly Devious series. This series was absolutely amazing and made me love mysteries in boarding schools, and mysteries in general. Now I need to know the end of this epic mysteries and how everything ties together. I really hope I’m not disappointed.

2. Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

I will read anything that Sarah J Mass writes since she’s my second favourite author of all time. Her writing is so well done and she creates the coolest worlds. I don’t even remember what this is about, but I’ll read it no matter what and probably love it, which is why this my second most anticipated release of 2020.

1. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Finally we’re at the end, and who would have guessed it would be anything other than a Cassandra Clare book. I’ve been waiting for this book forever! It was supposed to come out in 2019, but due to some health issues with Cassandra Clare we have to wait for March of 2020, which is okay now because we’re getting closer. I already know that this will be very high up on my favourite books of 2020 list.

And that’s it! Thanks for reading till the end and maybe you found out about some new releases you didn’t know about on this list.

Until next time!

~Rose Reviews

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starlightgirl08 · 5 years ago

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Who's the star of the Hunger Games prequel? Read the exclusive first excerpt

Meet your new hero.

We know Coriolanus Snow, from Suzanne Collins’ original Hunger Games trilogy and its film adaptations (where he was portrayed by Donald Sutherland), to be a villain — a manipulative tyrant, a brutal killer. Those were Katniss Everdeen’s novels, after all, and Snow’s dictatorial presidency stood as the main antagonist to her resistance-underdog story. But what if there was more to him than we knew? What if he could be — crazy as it may sound — a hero?

Last June, Scholastic announced that Collins had written a prequel set 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games, titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (out May 19). And now EW can offer eager fans a taste of what to expect with this first excerpt — and reveal Snow as our new protagonist, a teenager born to privilege but searching for something more, a far cry from the man we know he will become. Here, he’s friendly. He’s charming. And, for now anyway, he’s a hero.

Excerpt from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins

The grand staircase up to the Academy could hold the entire student body, so it easily accommodated the stream of officials, professors, and students headed for the reaping day festivities. Coriolanus climbed it slowly, attempting a casual dignity in case he caught anyone’s eye. People knew him—or at least they had known his parents and grandparents—and there was a certain standard expected of a Snow. This year, beginning this very day, he was hoping to achieve personal recognition as well. Mentoring in the Hunger Games was his final project before graduating from the Academy in midsummer. If he gave an impressive performance as a mentor, with his outstanding academic record, Coriolanus should be awarded a monetary prize substantial enough to cover his tuition at the University.

There would be twenty-four tributes, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve defeated districts, drawn by lottery to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. It was all laid out in the Treaty of Treason that had ended the Dark Days of the districts’ rebellion, one of the many punishments borne by the rebels. As in the past, the tributes would be dumped into the Capitol Arena, a now-dilapidated amphitheater that had been used for sports and entertainment events before the war, along with some weapons to murder one another. Viewing was encouraged in the Capitol, but a lot of people avoided it. How to make it more engaging was the challenge.

With this in mind, for the first time the tributes were to be assigned mentors. Twenty-four of the Academy’s best and brightest seniors had been tapped for the job. The specifics of what this entailed were still being worked out. There was talk of preparing each tribute for a personal interview, maybe some grooming for the cameras. Everyone agreed that if the Hunger Games were to continue, they needed to evolve into a more meaningful experience, and the pairing of the Capitol youth with the district tributes had people intrigued.

Coriolanus made his way through an entry draped in black banners, down a vaulted passage, and into cavernous Heavensbee Hall, where they would watch the broadcast of the reaping ceremony. He was by no means late, but the hall was already humming with faculty and students and a number of Games officials who were not required for the opening day’s broadcast.

Avoxes wove through the crowd with trays of posca, a concoction of watery wine laced with honey and herbs. It was an intoxicating version of the sour stuff that had sustained the Capitol through the war, supposedly fending off illness. Coriolanus took a goblet and swished a little of the posca around his mouth, hopefully rinsing away any trace of cabbage breath. But he only allowed himself one swallow. It was stronger than most people thought, and in previous years he had seen upperclassmen make complete fools of themselves by imbibing too deeply.

The world still thought Coriolanus rich, but his only real currency was charm, which he spread liberally as he made his way through the crowd. Faces lit up as he gave friendly hellos to students and teachers alike, asking about family members, dropping compliments here and there. “Your lecture on district retaliation haunts me.” ��Love the bangs!” “How did your mother’s back surgery go? Well, tell her she’s my hero.”

Dean Casca Highbottom, the man credited with the creation of the Hunger Games, was overseeing the mentor program personally. He presented himself to the students with all the verve of a sleepwalker, dreamy-eyed and, as usual, doped up on morphling. His once-fine physique was shrunken and draped with sagging skin. The close-clipped precision of a recent haircut and crisp suit only threw his deterioration into relief. Due to his fame as the Games’ inventor, he still had a tenuous hold on his position, but there were rumors that the Academy Board was losing patience.

“Ho there,” he slurred, waving a crumpled piece of paper over his head. “Reading the things off now.” The students hushed, trying hard to hear him above the din of the hall. “Read you a name, then you who gets that one. Right? So, fine. District One, boy, goes to…” Dean Highbottom squinted at the paper, trying hard to focus. “Glasses,” he mumbled. “Forgot them.” Everyone stared at his glasses, already perched on his nose, and waited while his fingers found them. “Ah, here we go. Livia Cardew.”

Livia’s pointed little face broke into a grin and she punched the air in victory, shouting “Yes!” in her shrill voice. She had always been prone to gloating. As if the plum assignment was solely a reflection on her, and not on her mother running the largest bank in the Capitol.

Coriolanus felt increasing desperation as Dean Highbottom stumbled through the list, assigning each district’s boy and girl a mentor. After ten years, a pattern had emerged. The better-fed, more Capitol-friendly districts of 1 and 2 produced more victors, with the fishing and farming tributes from 4 and 11 also being contenders. Coriolanus had hoped for either a 1 or a 2, but neither was assigned to him, which was made more insulting when Sejanus Plinth scored the District 2 boy. District 4 passed without mention of his name, and his last real chance for a victor—the District 11 boy—was assigned to Clemensia Dovecote, daughter of the energies secretary. Unlike Livia, Clemensia received news of her good fortune with tact, pushing her sheet of raven hair over her shoulder as she studiously made note of her tribute in her binder.

Something was amiss when a Snow, who also happened to be one of the Academy’s high-honor students, had gone unrecognized. Coriolanus was beginning to think they had forgotten him—perhaps they were giving him some special position?—when, to his horror, he heard Dean Highbottom mumble, “And last but least, District Twelve girl…she belongs to Coriolanus Snow.”

#TheHungerGames #KatnissEverdeen #PeetaMellark #Panem #SuzanneCollins #TheBalladOfSongbirdsAndSnakes #CatchingFire

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rayofspades · 6 years ago

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Everyone in the World Forgot How Remakes and Sequels Work and I Have to Talk About It Because I’m Losing My Mind

I tried very, very hard to make this a coherent and somewhat organized post, but it’s still gonna sound like the ravings of a mad woman, so...prepare yourself.

Also, this isn’t gonna be an analysis of why remakes and sequels are so popular, because it’s exactly as simple as it seems: people like things that make them feel nostalgic and creators have caught on to this and realized that by remaking a familiar property, their new product has a built in fan base.

Great.

What I want to talk about is how the concept of remakes/reboots/sequels/whatever has been kind of destroyed. Both audiences and Hollywood have created these weird perceptions that are flooding the market in a way that is exhausting to audiences and confusing to creators.

So, I’m here to discuss all the different types of remakes and why they work or don’t work and how this culture has been conditioned to support them regardless of quality.

Alright,

let’s do this.

Part 1: Cross-Media Remakes:

I find it somewhat impossible to criticize the existence to book--> movie remakes too much because they’re a vehicle for both creativity and audience expansion, even in cases where they’re motivated by money. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games made for some pretty solid movies, and that’s largely because those books just translated well to film. Obviously some changes had to be made to account for time constraints and visual storytelling, but they can get away with having a similar structure and still feeling entirely new based on the hard shift in presentation from book to film.

I would make a similar argument for Marvel movies. From what I understand, those movies change more from their source material, and there are a lot of them, but it makes perfect sense to adapt comic books to reach a wider audience. I feel like the main reason people are becoming tired of Marvel movies is their overwhelming quantity, not so much the fact that they’re remakes.

I would also love to talk about the popularity of GoT and LotR, but I don’t think I’m familiar enough with those franchises to properly discuss them, so I’ll leave that to someone else.

But there is something else I want to talk about.

While Harry Potter and The Hunger Games translated really well to film, the same isn’t true for some other cross media adaptations.

Part 2: Adapt or Die:

In the late 70s, Stephen King wrote The Shining. I’ve read the book and I really enjoyed it, largely due to King’s writing style (the prose, the internal monologues, etc.)

The thing is, The Shining doesn’t really translate well into the film format; it’s really long and a lot of what makes it good is tied to its presentation.

So when Stanley Kubrick adapted The Shining into a film in the early 80s, he changed a lot.

a lot.

The setting and characters remain pretty much the same, and the story follows similar beats, but certain events and themes have been drastically altered to the point where I would consider it a different story.

(Brief aside; the three most famous/iconic scenes from the film (”Here’s Johnny!” “All work and no play”, and Jack frozen in the snow) are ALL exclusive to the film.)

Regardless, both the movie and the book have maintained their own popularity with their own audiences. Both are considered good and both are considered classics.

Although, from what I’ve heard, The Shining film did receive criticism back in the day for being needlessly unpleasant. Interesting.

It’s a somewhat similar story with John Carpenter. If you ask people to list good remakes, 90% of the time people will list The Thing (1982). It’s practically the poster child for “hey, not all remakes are bad, guys.”

In this case, Carpenter was working from both a previous movie (The Thing From Another World) and the prior novella (”Who Goes There?”). Carpenter’s film definitely borrows more from the novella, but it was obviously going to be compared more to the previous film, and it is v e r y different from the previous film. Carpenter’s film (like The Shining) received criticism for how gross and unpleasant it was, but became the definitive version of The Thing and stood the test of time to become a horror classic.

Basically, if you need to change the original product when remaking it, do it. That is the best thing you could possibly do. It gives the creator a chance to actually create their own unique product that just happens to be based on or inspired by an existing property. This is actually a legitimately cool phenomenon; taking preexisting stories and altering them to fit a new cultural context or simply expanding and improving on ideas. It’s a similar concept to “old wives tales” and fairy tales, and how those stories are constantly changed and retold and in doing so become timeless. Gee I wonder if fairy tales are going to come up later in this post.

Part 3: Bad Changes are Bad

*Strums guitar* This one goes out to all audience members out there who have convinced themselves that bad remakes are bad because they’re too different from the original. *Strums guitar*

Stop.

Please stop.

Look, comparing a remake to an original to showcase how bad the remake is is perfectly valid criticism. It can highlight how an idea can be botched when it’s not handled properly. Sure. That’s fine. I highly encourage people to compare the dialogue, characters, and world building of Avatar: The Last Airbender and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. It’s important to recognize how one story is an utter fucking masterpiece and one is a poorly told train wreck.

Here’s the thing:

people seem to criticize the film on the basis of “it’s different” and, I mean, sure. But it’s not just that it’s different, it’s that it’s different and....um....

bad?

Like, one of the “complaints” I saw about the movie was that firebenders now need actual fire in front of them in order to bend it, and I consider that to be just a neutral change. It’s not really better or worse, it’s just different. And please don’t comment on this post with “skflsfjsf NO it’s because in the original firebenders used the SUN as their source of fire” like yeah I know I get it it’s still an inconsequential change.

Now, saying that the earthbenders being held on land as opposed to the sea is a bad change? Yes, that is valid criticism because it makes no goddamn sense within the movie’s universe and just makes everyone look dumb.

That movie is an utter fucking disaster. It’s poorly directed, it’s poorly written, the casting decisions are baffling, the acting is horrible, it’s poorly paced, and it’s bad.

It’s a bad movie.

I would apply the same logic to the new Death Note live action movie (the American one). Putting aside the racial controversy for a minute, I’m fine with changing things about the plot and structure to properly adapt it into a movie. But...yeah. The plot is bad. It just comes across as really dumb and weird.

So yeah, bad remakes are bad, but it’s not as simple as just being “different.”

If y’all keep complaining about remakes making changes, then you’re only encouraging the products I’m about to talk about in the next few Parts.

Arguably the worst and most prolific products of them all...

Part 4: Sometimes, Things That Are the Same.......Are Worse

Alright, I’m gonna start with a really extreme example, but it perfectly captures the essence of what I’m trying to say.

In 1998, Gus Van Sant made the incredibly confusing and brave(?) decision to remake Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. And I do mean “remake,” as in, it is shot for shot the same movie. It’s some sort of bizarre cinematic experiment.

I really like the original movie, so you would assume that, since this movie is literally the same movie, I would like it too.

I don’t.

No one does.

It’s the same movie but with worse performances.

It’s pointless.

Its existence is both unnecessary and confusing. Watching it was a bizarre experience that just made me wish I was watching the original.

(The best part about this is that 15 years after this remake came out, Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin solved remakes forever by making Bates Motel; a contemporary prequel/reimagining of Psycho (1960). This show takes the characters and key events from the Hitchcock film and puts them in a different setting with an altered version of plot points. The creators openly and repeatedly state that they did not want to just remake Psycho and instead wanted to tell a tragedy/thriller using the framework of Psycho. To me, this perfectly encapsulates what remakes are supposed to be. It’s a good show and it’s severely underrated. Please go watch it, just ignore like half of season 3 and you’re gold.)

Unfortunately, the most common and (arguably) the most frustrating type of remake/sequel/reboot/whatever is the “let’s do the same thing...but different” type. They can be a retread of the original plot or just take the title and elements of the original and use them while adding nothing substantially new.

Independence Day: Resurgence, Alien Covenant, The Thing (2011), and proooobably most direct sequels in any popular franchise (like the Transformers movies) fall under this category.

The most notable ones in recent years are D i s n e y r e m a k e s, but those get their own section.

Also, I’m hesitant to talk about these because it might just be a cultural difference, but it deeply bothers me when I see Japanese live action films that are based on anime and they just...keep everything the same?

Like, in a live action remake of FMA, why the fuck wouldn’t you make up some grotesque and upsetting monster thing for the Nina Tucker scene? Why would you just use the design from the manga/anime??? WHY WOULDN’T YOU ADAPT IT TO MAKE IT WORK FOR LIVE ACTION?????????????????????????????????????

But hey, what do I know. It might just be a culture thing.

From what I’ve gathered and experienced, people have the following problems with these types of overly-faithful and/or pointless remakes:

1) They’re boring because it’s just a retread that feels inferior.

2) They try to replicate elements of the original without understanding the actual appeal (aka the tangible details are addressed while the underlying ideas get sidelined or misunderstood).

3) They just...don’t adapt well.

Even if we were to take The Last Airbender and give it to a competent director who has a decently written script, that’s a case where you probably should have changed a lot more to properly make the jump from animated show to live action movie. Obviously, a lot of things would need to be cut or moved around in order to properly pace it.

I’m gonna talk more about this type of movie in a different section so for now let’s move on to the most recent remake craze that’s driving me up the wall.

Part 5: “I’ve got the power of remakes and anime on my side”

Fuck.

So part of the appeal of anime for me has always been its creativity. While some of it is pretty derivative when looking at specific genres, I’ve always found there to be a significantly wider range of creative ideas and concepts in anime than in any other medium.

But now the industry’s running on fumes and someone let it slip that you can make a quick buck by just remaking a popular IP.

Fuck.

And I don’t wanna rag on the new-ish trend of readapting old anime for the sake of following the recently completed manga. This has had unbelievably successful results with FMA:B and Hunter x Hunter (2011) becoming massive critical hits (and two of my favourite shows).

(Although it hasn’t escaped my attention that studios have, in fact, used this gimmick to make half-baked and poorly crafted products with the knowledge that the existing fan base will buy that shit anyways. I’m looking directly at Berserk (2016) and Book of the Atlantic.)

But now they’re also adapting/sequel-ing shows purely for the sake of cashing in on the original (or adapting pre-made sequel products that were already made with that mindset in the first place).

Clear Card was boring as fuck and transparently existed to sell toys.

I dropped Steins;Gate 0 after around 8 episodes when it become abundantly clear that it took the “let’s take elements of the old plot and just....do stuff” route without keeping any of what made the original cool and unique.

The Evangelion movies seem really antithetical to the original show, and the third one feels like it was made by someone who thought they understood Evangelion and hated it. (But luckily the original is coming to Netflix next year so who even cares. Give me that 10/10 show.)

Although I will admit, Devilman Crybaby’s existence kind of falls under what I was saying earlier in this post. It’s one of many adaptations of an old manga that is changed substantially to fit the current cultural climate, with some unique aesthetic changes thrown in there for good measure.

It’s pretty okay.

But um...

Oh boy...

We’re about to get into it lads.

Part 6: Production IG Broke My Whole Brain. Brain Broken. Dead. No Brain.

Hooooooooo boy.

So, FLCL (also known as Fooly Cooly) is one of my favourite shows. In fact, it’s the only show I’ve ever watched that I have absolutely no problems with. None. Not even nitpicks.

I’ve watched it 6 times, including with director’s commentary. It has an utterly perfect and unique/fluid aesthetic and I wish its visuals were just playing in my brain all of the time. It’s an arthouse comedy, which is a...rare (nonexistent?) genre, and it pulls it off perfectly. Its cool, its beautiful, its silly, its poetic, its creative, it has great themes that can reach both teenagers and adults, and there is literally nothing else on the planet like it.

So when it was announced that they were making a sequel 18 years later with a different cast of characters, I was...weirdly excited. Like a pavlovian happy response. I got even more excited after seeing the trailer.

Only a short while before the show aired did it dawn on me.

Wh...what are they doing?

From the trailer, I could see that they were taking some familiar plot elements (Medical Mechanica, Haruko, N.O., Atomsk, etc.) and adding some different protagonists.

who gives a single fuck about the plot of Fooly Cooly?

The plot elements...don’t matter. It’s just a vehicle for cool and amazing things to happen.

So the show came out, and I saw more clips on youtube. While it is cool that they’re using different episode directors with some different art styles, the difference in quality between the directing and overall visual presentation is shockingly noticeable. I partially blame the fact that the anime industry isn’t as financially stable as it used to be, but this is also a Production IG show that’s based on an extremely popular property, so that’s barely an excuse.

It mostly just looks like an anime with some cool stylistic elements, whereas the original looks stunningly perfect, dynamic, unique, and beautiful in every single solitary shot.

I’ve read and watched many reviews of the sequel, both positive and negative, and from what I can tell it’s a textbook example of a “lets take components of the original and just...use them...while kind of missing the point and appeal of the original show.” Fooly Cooly is made of 100% intangible details. That thing is lightning in a bottle, and by taking the tangible details (plot elements and callbacks) and putting them in your show, you’ve already proven that you’ve completely and 100% missed the point.

Also:

this is the new show’s MAL score. While I consider anything between a 6 and a 7 to be “okay,” MAL scores tend to be higher since people rate on separate components of the show.

Like, a 6.7 on MAL is probably a 3 for everyone else. Yikes.

But honestly, the quality of the show is completely irrelevant, because that’s not the actual problem.

The only way to make a new FLCL product would be by accident. Have a director make a deeply personal product in which they do whatever the fuck they want. Have it be stylistically wild and make it look amazing. Create some sort of arthouse comedy with resonant themes and then just get Production IG to slap the FLCL brand on it to appeal to people’s nostalgia.

And that’s when it hit me.

That’s when my whole brain broke.

That accidental, spiritual sequel product can never happen.

Because it looks like a huge risk to producers.

Somehow, by remaking one of the most original and generation defining pieces of media ever created, Production IG proved that we do not live in a world where that type of product is allowed to exist. It can’t exist.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Part 7: Disney and the Culture of Hype(rbole)

When I was young, my family owned two versions of Cinderella on film. The 1950 Disney animated version, and the 1997 live-action version with Brandy.

Obviously, they’re the same story. They follow the same beats and have the same characters. However, there are some major differences in scenes, character portrayal and, most notably, the songs. Both are musicals, but with completely different soundtracks.

If we want to go even further, we also owned Ever After, which is a completely different retelling of Cinderella with a whole new plot made for an older audience (and it’s also very good. Check it out)

In other words, I have nothing against live action Disney remakes, In fact, I think Disney movies based on fairy tales have become their own type of fairy tale; classic stories that are being constantly retold and reshaped to remain both relevant and timeless. It’s beautiful.

What the fuck is Disney doing in the 2010s?

Right now, the trend seems to be completely recreating older Disney classics, only making them live action and, um, “fixing” them.

If you want a detailed analysis of this, go watch the Lindsay Ellis video about Beauty and the Beast. I’ll briefly sum up, but you should definitely watch the video.

Look, I personally don’t hate Beauty and the Beast (2017), but once you notice that the Beast’s character arc doesn’t really exist...

and that there are a bunch of plot threads that either don’t go anywhere or are just kind of pointless...

and that there’s a weird trolley problem with Belle and the servants that completely botches the moral of the story....

and that by adding a bunch of logic to a fucking fairy tale you’re stripping it of its appeal and also just creating plot holes...

and that the singing isn’t nearly as good as the original...

and a bunch of other problems with acting and characterization....

you start to notice that “hey, they made the exact same movie....but worse.”

But, people are okay with that.

Most people didn’t even really notice. And that’s fine, like what you like. I enjoyed the movie well enough, even though I definitely prefer the original. But...I would probably also like a different retelling of Beauty and the Beast if it was a good product. Except, then it would also be...new? And potentially better? Or at least a lateral move.

I just watched the trailer for the new Lion King (2019), and it looks...kind of good. But even thinking this...I kind of long for death, because the entire trailer is just “hey, remember THIS from the original.”

I’m just...I’m just done. I’m burnt out. I’ve had it.

When are we gonna stop making the same movie over and over again?

Or when are the changes actually going to make sense? I’ve seen most of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and it just goes in the opposite direction of changing everything, but the changes are just.....uggggh. Not good. Bad changes are bad.

The thing with Disney is that they are also a hype generating machine, especially after purchasing both Marvel and Star Wars. I once heard someone say in a video that, back in the day, people were trying to make the best possible product so it would sell and get popular. People...don’t really need to do that anymore. If you get 304958493093 billion people excited about the next movie in their favourite 80s franchise by promoting and hyping the shit out of it, then you’ve already secured tons of butts in seats before the movie even comes out. Every movie is an event movie if it comes from Disney and is part of one of their big franchises. Every new thing based on an old thing is the new “best thing.”

Even a new sequel that I actually liked, The Incredibles 2, was weirdly hyped up. (Also, even though I liked it, it didn’t escape my notice that there were a bunch of plot problems with the villain and the script proooobably needed another draft. Just saying.)

So, the big questions are, in this current culture, are we ever going to get another original sci-fi property, like the 80s Star Wars trilogy? Are we ever going to see a boom in a genre outside of Disney owned properties? Are we ever going to get another insane, passion-project smash hit like Fooly Cooly?

No. I don’t think so.

Not in the current state of things. 10 years from now? Maybe. 20 years from now? Probably.

Part 8: Concluding Thoughts

I don’t know, man.

People are still making original things, but they’re not as popular and/or creative as they need to be to change where we are right now.

The very existence of Get Out does lend me some hope. It was a creative and original movie and a very large audience of people (including myself) really liked it.

Yay.

More of this please.

So, um, yeah.

I’m going to go watch Fooly Cooly for the 7th time and scream into a void.

Mmmm bye.

#movies #Disney #flcl #the thing 1982 #psycho #the shining #beauty and the beast #cinderella #update:i fixed the video link

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butteredonions · 7 years ago

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End-Of-Year Fic Meme

IT’S BAAAAACK!

I’m tagging anyone and everyone who would like to have fun with this. @bosstoaster, @velkynkarma, @ashinan, @mumblefox, @flusteredkeith, @atimelordswife, @oldmythos, @queenvallkyrie, @maychorian, @andriseup, and anyone else who wants to play!

[2017 onion edition]

Stats:

List of Fics Posted: They’re all Voltron :’) All gen unless otherwise indicated.

On Tumblr: Onion 2017 Masterpost: 10,800 words voltron thinktank masterpost: my portion of which equals ~5200

On AO3: The Size Of Our Actions, ch. 6-12 (smol!Shiro, de!aged fic, gen. 40,081 words added this year) The Cavalry (Paladins, adventure/mission fic. Conclusion of a 4-part series with @bosstoaster, @mumblefox, and @ashinan as part of the Season Two countdown. (9,644 words) First Steps (Lance-centric, Star Wars!AU) (9696 words) Foundation (Keith-centric, Star Wars!AU, prequel to First Steps) (8982 words) Intrinsic (Star Wars!AU featuring Padawan Shiro) (1219 words) Disturbance (Star Wars!AU, sequel to First Steps) (18915 words) like threads, weaving (Uliro, collection of 5 prompt fills) (5338 words) brace (Uliro) (2532 words) collision (Uliro, role reversal AU of sorts) (10455 words) cutthroat (Lance-centric, Hunger Games!AU) (1363 words) colors don't fade (Keith-centric, remix for @andriseup) (2625 words) parallel (daemon!AU, primarily Keith and Pidge) (5656 words) if tomorrow never comes (time!travel AU, onion’s first Sheith) (4195 words) indulgence (Uliro featuring blankets and h/c) (1859 words) enough to endure this (Uliro soulmate AU) (4916 words) relentless (Hunger Games!AU, prequel of sorts. Shiro-centric, tagged as pre-Sheith) (3217 words)

Total number: 16, plus tumblr Total word count: 144,156 * ( tumblr: 15,995 | AO3: 128,161) *not counting another 100k+ of drafts that have yet to see the light of day :’)

Ship/character breakdown: Ship breakdown: 5 Uliro, 2 Sheith. The rest are gen. Character breakdown: 1 full ensemble piece; 1 smol!Shiro with complete ensemble (no single narrator, everyone gets a turn); 1 young!Shiro; 3 Lance-centric, featuring others; 3 Keith-centric (one with help from Pidge); 3 Ulaz POV. The rest are all Shiro :)

Characters that had the main focus: Exactly the same as last year: Shiro is the clear winner here. I have no regrets.

Answers to more questions beneath the cut!

Specifics:

Best/worst title? Best title: I am that rare breed of creature who loves titles :’) this year it’s a tie between collision and if tomorrow never comes. Both give me chills for different reasons. Worst title: I’m not really fond of cutthroat or relentless, but they’re accurate.

Best/worst first line?

The second-best and sometimes most evil part of a story. Best: if tomorrow never comes Of all the reasons why Shiro had missed their date, ‘time travel’ is the last thing Keith expects to hear. :’)

Worst: colors don’t fade Finding out about Shiro hurts. Yeah, definitely, but also the understatement of the year. Something more riveting and gripping would’ve been a stronger opening for Keith here.

Best/worst last line? The best and also most evil part, too. Best: cutthroat “My name’s Pidge,” Pidge snaps. The setting sun gleams in her glasses, her brown eyes vicious and hard. “District Three. Who are you?” One of the best plot twists and cliffhangers I pulled off all year.

Worst: colors don’t fade “That’s Shiro’s number,” Commander Holt says, to the room, to his daughter, to Keith. His face is pale and equally full. Keith can barely breathe. “117-9875 is Shiro’s number. If his file’s here - if he’s in penal lockdown like my son is - then the Arena didn’t kill him after all.” Honestly it’s a good ending, I just don’t like it because I had more story to tell and ran out of time. This one’s entirely on me. There’s more here than I could get to and that irks me.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted? Bit less. I’d planned on finishing two major WIPs this summer, but grad school and The Move™ took over so much more of life than I expected.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? I wasn’t expecting to foray into ships. I also wasn’t expecting to realize how deeply I love blankets and fluff omg What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest. collision :) I love the premise and I’m stupidly proud of the pacing.

Okay, NOW your most popular story. I still have to count smol!Shiro, because it’s still in progress and it still isn’t done. Catch me next year on the wrap-up, too, hopefully with a finished thing~

Story most underappreciated by the universe? daemon!AU got a little less attention than I expected, but in hindsight it was a pretty busy time for folks and the pieces were quite short.

Story that could have been better? I really wish I could’ve spent more time on colors don’t fade. There was at least one more scene I wanted to write, but I ran out of time and energy for it pre-season four, and brooke had already patiently waited long enough. I wanted to do better for her. I also am not super happy with how The Cavalry turned out, but considering I wrote it when I had bronchitis, I guess it’s not bad.

Sexiest story? I started writing ships this year, so I guess.....that? it’s really mild ship as far as ship goes, though, hardly even noticeable most of the time. I don’t read hardcore ship so I don’t know how to write it beyond pining and snuggles, and I’m comfortable with that. Saddest story? enough to endure this. Most fun? collision practically wrote itself, which was awesome. Actually, so did First Steps - I grin wildly when I reread it. I miss writing fun scenes like the first half of that story. Story with single sweetest moment? The entirety of Smol Chapter Nine is so sweet and fluffy it gives me cavities. Also I giggled like a smol child myself writing it, so.

I also am just so partial to this moment in relentless:

Winning means killing three others. No; forty-seven. The odds aren’t good. “Keith,” Shiro manages. “I brought you something,” Keith says, pulling away to dig in his pocket. “Here.” A thin beam of sunlight breaks through the window, glinting weakly off the small copper object in Keith’s hand. “Keith,” Shiro says again, his breath caught in his throat. He cups his hands beneath Keith’s; the little rusted key dangles on the string between Keith’s fingers, between their hands. “I can’t take that from you, that’s - that goes to your father’s - ” “The shack’s a dump and we both know it,” Keith says, before Shiro can. His eyes shimmer, but his chin is set firm. “I need you to take it.” “I can’t,” Shiro breathes. He can’t take his eyes off Keith. “Keith, that’s all you have.” “No, you’re all I have,” Keith corrects, and pushes the key into Shiro’s right hand.

Hardest story to write? Probably The Cavalry, just because of circumstances. I gleefully volunteered to wrap-up the series, and had fun tying all the pieces together, but the timing just wasn’t good. I had to wait until all three other pieces were complete, as well as my grad school applications, and then I got bronchitis and was traveling that same weekend....just couldn’t dedicate myself to it properly or clear my head as much as it deserved.

Easiest/most fun story to write? collision wrote itself, I swear.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters? Yes. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with writing Ulaz, and how much fun he’s been to explore and develop based off a mere ten minutes of content. I also wasn’t expecting to enjoy writing Lance as much as I did. I put off using his POV for a story until there wasn’t a choice, but he’s actually quite a fun narrator. He’s so stream-of-consciousness that he’s surprisingly easy and relatable to get into.

Most overdue story? parallel was at least a year in coming. I sat on those snippets for entirely too long.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? This year I posted my first sheith fic, and nobody died :) Which sounds irrational to someone outside the fandom, sure, but I’m glad and relieved. This year I took risks in taking prompts and learning how to answer them. That’s largely been nothing but fun, though I’ve had to learn how to say no to a few things and not feel guilty for them. It’s also been a great lesson in learning when good enough is fine and not waiting until things are perfect. Also, a fantastic way to keep writing and/or get back into it. All the prompts you’ve sent in have been motivating and fun to think about, even if I haven’t gotten to / or won’t quite get to them as I’d hoped. <3 I also learned it’s way easier to start ideas than finish them; fun, yes, but something I’m hoping to improve upon next year.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

1) Figure out a writing schedule that works with grad school, if that’s even possible. 2) Finish things, including: - The Size Of Our Actions - collision - maybe the epic star wars fic I’ve now been sitting on for a year and a half - and at least one of the AUs (Hunger Games, Star Wars, etc. or....?) 3) Boss has told me I should stop being scared of writing sick!fic

:) happy new year and 2018!

#chatty onion #onion meme #about the onion #onion writes #onion reflects #annual wrap-up #2017 #thank you all for sticking with me #i know we got a little quiet at the end of the year #and we've got a ways to go yet before that lets up #but i'm determined and hope you are too <3 #blessings upon your new year <3 #here's to a productive and happy and healthy 2018!

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terresdebrume · 7 years ago

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A Fic Rec Post

Okay so @julinettewrites asked me for a few fanfiction recs to get to know the fandom side of things. The requirements were: ‘good character development/introspection’ and ‘doesn’t require in-depth knowledge’ for fandoms she isn’t in. Of course I had to oblige.

Note that several of the fics on that list will be novel-length and beyond (wordcount included in the post) and several of them will deal with mature themes including but not limited to : mourning, death, rape-recovery, slavery, depression and medical torture. Please check the warnings on fics before reading :)

Legend for the brackets in front of titles:

M = Multichaptered fic

OS = One shot (one chapter) fic

S = Series of fic

C = Complete

I = In progress

The first fic on the list is my go-to rec for people discovering fanfiction, the rest doesn’t really have any order of preference, fandom or length. I stuck to fics hosted on AO3 for convenience’s sake, although a detour through my fic rec tag has a couple of little gems for your perusal.

I also included a couple of my own fics at the end, because I’m proud of them, and also because I can.

Enjoy !

I. Others’ fics

[M|C] Spin Control by trovia (Hunger Games, Finnick/Haymitch, 146k+ words, Rated M)

Summary : When Haymitch Abernathy’s alcoholism makes the prime time news, Finnick Odair is sent to live in District Twelve to pick up the pieces. But it’s hard to save a friend if you can barely stand looking yourself in the eye. And it might become impossible once that friend decides to move hell and high water to bring two of his tributes home at once, even if it should cost him his own life.

[S|I] Double Agent Vader by fialleril (Star Wars Original Trilogy, Gen, 78k+ so far)

Series summary : The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion.

[M|C] All The Angels and The Saints by speranza (MCU, Steve/Bucky, 48k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : In which Steve Rogers loses God and finds God and loses God, and also: Bucky.

[M|C] The Weight of the World by bellinaball (Glee, Gen, 12k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : Blaine's parents have given him a present. No matter what Kurt tells him, Blaine knows that his gift isn't a person.

[M|C] The Twin Thrones by Angelike (Merlin +Chronicles of Narnia, Merlin/Arthur, 40k words, Rated E)

Summary : While visiting a neighbouring kingdom for peace negotiations on behalf of King Uther, Arthur finds his attempts to seduce Merlin thwarted at every turn. Hiding in the wardrobe seemed like a good idea at the time.

[OS|C] Migratory Birds by nekare (Supernatural+X-Men, Gen, 11k+ words, Rated Teen & Up)

Summary : When the end comes, one brother is on one side, and the other on the opposite.

[S|C] The Guiding Winds by Fialleril (Star Wars OT & Prequel Trilogy, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated General Audiences)

Summary : The one where everything is the same, except Anakin survives ROTJ. Mostly a connected series of fics written in the same universe, centering on Luke and Anakin's relationship, and written by request - updated on a whim, but each fic is complete.

[OS] different from all other nights by metonymy (Xmen, Gen, 2k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free." Kitty and Erik host a seder for Passover at the Xavier School.

[OS] In Starships and Cups of Coffee by lorata (Star Wars OT, Gen, 1k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Han has no idea when he was born and it doesn’t really matter, it’s what he’s done with his life that’s important, not whatever day he got dropped into the world, red-faced and screaming and smeared with gunk. (Chewie would have his hide for that, but you know what pal, just because his kid had fur from the start didn’t make the whole process any less weird and slimy.)

Birthdays away from home can be complicated, whether you're an orphaned smuggler who doesn't remember, a princess whose home planet exploded, or a farm boy whose native world used an obscure calendar system.

[OS] A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) by pocky_slash (X-Men : First Class, Charles/Erik, 20k+, Rated T&U)

Summary : Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

[OS] Guardian Angels by WerewolvesAreReal (Digimon Adventure 01, Gen, 3k+ words, Rated Gen)

Summary : After the digital portal closes at the end of 01, TK looks for a new guardian angel. This search leads mostly to heartbreak.

Things to know : Takeru’s Digimon is Angel-shaped at his highest levels and died (twice, I think?) in the course of adventure 01. This fic takes place soon after that.

[M|C] The Crystal’s Song by sebastianL (Rogue One : A Star Wars Story, Chirrut/Baze, 160k+ words, Rated Explicit)

Summary : He is a Guardian. He believes in the Force. He is alone. Things change.

[OS] To Have Outlived The Night by stillane (Teen Wolf, Stiles/Derek, 23k+ words, Rated Mature)

Summary : Derek steps away from the window. “You helped me. They took that as a declaration.”

[OS] The Butterfingers G. D. I. Stark to Problem Solving by Epiphanyx7 (MCU, Gen, 18k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Tony begins to notice that things are going missing from his workshop... and discovers that his bots have been hiding a very, very big secret from him. Or rather, a very, very small one.

In which Dummy is a kleptomaniac, You is painfully shy, Butterfingers is a programming genius, JARVIS is a sarcastic sonofabitch, Pepper takes care of Tony outside of the workshop, Bruce is Tony's boo, Thor is Tony's favourite, Clint is actually kind of smart, Steve has terrible timing, and problem-solving is never simple or easy.

Things to know : Dummy, Butterfingers and You are Tony Stark’s robots, the ones in his workshop, which we mostly see in Iron Man 1 & 2.

[OS] Je n’ai jamais promis un jardin de roses by chezvous(XMen : First Class, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Charles had wanted a puppy for his tenth birthday.

(Or: Charles takes care of roses to make up for the fact that he was not loved quite enough during his childhood.)

II. Things of mine

[M|C] Once more, with kissing (Digimon, Taichi/Yamato, 41k words, Rated M)

Summary : In which Taichi has questionable ways to handle his issues, everyone tries to be nice, and Yamato yells at him a lot. Same old, same old, except for the part where there's kissing.

[OS] The Green Teacup (Saint Seiya, Gen, 7k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Aphrodite, after a week-long absence, is finally back in the Sanctuary, which means Deathmask can just yell at him for leaving everyone behind and let things go back to normal.

Except for the part where they don’t.

Things to know : The characters mentioned are all super-powered child soldiers with Tragic Backstories (Deathmask’s takes the cake). In this fic, Aphrodite was sent 200years into the past and has just come back to the Sanctuary (where they all live) a little too late to prevent people from knowing he time-traveled at all.

[S|I] Teeth of the Desert (Star Wars OT, Gen, 9k+ words so far, Rated T&U)

Summary : In which the homestead doesn't burn but Luke is orphaned anyway.

In which he never leaves Tatooine, but learns to know Han and Leia anyway.

In which Luke never becomes a Jedi, but he saves a world anyway.

[OS] Killing zombies, and other fun activities (TWD+Battlestar Galactica, Gen, 4k words, Rated GA)

Summary : Daryl finds Kara in Griffin, roaring drunk and just about ready to die. Things, as it turn out, don’t quite go according to her plan, but she doesn’t really complain.

[S|C] The Boxes ‘Verse (The Hunger Games+Avatar : The last Airbender, Finnick/Haymitch, 7k+ words, Rated T)

Summary : "Remember that time we talked about little boxes? That was ages ago but try to remember it, if you can?" "I can, Mom. I remember it. What about it?" "Well, we're trying to see if it's possible to unpack them."

#My posts #fic recs #julinettewrites #Fic Rec

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thenerdyunhealthybrit · 8 years ago

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Klaroline FanFiction Recs

(NOTE: Updated on 29/03/2018 - Just factual information)

Hello everyone, so I decided to share with you my Fanfiction recommendations. Now I’m a harsh judge, on my FanFiction.net account, I rarely favourite fics, but these fics have wormed their way in, I find them so well written, they got me hooked and they do something rare - they make me want to reread it, despite knowing what will happen.

So I’m going to share my recommendations, what they are about, the pairings (because some are a no go) and share why I love them, If you know the author of any of the fics on Tumblr feel free to let me now so they can get the recognition on Tumblr as well. I’m aiming to build on it to include those drabbles and one-shots that are exclusively on Tumblr.

Always Only You by MysticManhattan | FanFiction.net AU/AH. Caroline is in a horrible car accident and goes into a coma. When she wakes up she thinks it's 2009, every memory from then to present has vanished. Will she choose to go down the same path that she chose before, or will she choose an entirely different one? And most importantly, will she ever get her memories back? Everyone is human! Chapters: 19 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson Ships: Klaroline Last updated: 20 April 2014 Complete

I just love this FanFiction that after I read it I did what I usually did and moved on, but months later while reading other fics, this popped in my head and I remembered particular bits and how much I loved it, so I had to try and remember what it was called, reread it and still loved it. You can feel the chemistry in their relationship and it has the balance of plot and romance - although leaning more towards romance. My only complaint is that the ending to me felt slightly rushed, not awful, I just found myself wanting more, I wanted a prequel, more flashbacks and more of them rediscovering each other.

I Still Love You by AnnaTom23 | FanFiction.net AU/AH. Caroline has the perfect life. Trouble ensues when she realizes her loving Nik is a wanted crime lord along with her best friend Stefan. She loves him with all her heart but she can't stay with him knowing he is causing people so much pain. She has to run, if not for her sake then for the little one growing inside her. Even if she does run, it's not long before he finds her. Warning: It is a Dark Fic. Chapters: 22 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Stefan Salvatore, Kol Mikaelson Ships: Klaroline Last updated: 17 November 2015 Complete

Now, I must stress I’m not big on Dark fics, especially in this case when it’s an AU/AH, this is simply because there is no supernatural element and I know the safe thing is for them to not be together and AnnaTom23 is a notorious fan of Dark Fics, however this is one of the more tamer ones. I knew that I should walk away but I couldn’t their was something intoxicating about there story and I reread it recently. This kind of fic reminded me of all those couples from those classic soaps like Dallas and Gossip Girl, that are well loved that have those unhealthy dynamic. It’s not abusive, but definitely shows possessiveness, there are some cute moments as well. But this fic also suffers from a rushed ending, I won’t spoil it but something big happens and then it kind of has an Epilogue, I would of liked more of an aftermath, are the Mikaelsons still in the same lifestyle etc.

Hot (Sauce) by honestgrins | FanFiction.net Caroline Forbes had been a kick-ass surgical resident with a gorgeous fiancé when she accepted an invitation to a boat party on the Gulf. The night ended in terror as the guests started attacking each other. When she woke on the beach the next morning, the relief she felt at surviving the ordeal was quickly replaced by an intense hunger for brains. An iZombie-KC fusion fic. Chapters: 4 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Katherine Pierce, Kol Mikaelson Ships: Klaroline Last Updated: 14 January 2016 Complete

This is the my favourite fusion based on a show, especially when a Sci-Fi/Fantasy element is added, it loosely follows iZombie, I mean you can tell how each TVD character is in relation to the iZombie characters but they quickly go off on their own. Maybe I’m greedy, but again I wanted more. I’m aware that this was likely never intended to be anything long term but I wanted to see more of Caroline dealing with being a Zombie as well as the other characters, or even more of what they did after the fic ended. However I love their interpretation and spin on iZombie. So if you want something short but not a drabble then this is great.

The Madness Underneath by marvelouskatie | FanFiction.net Caroline is a psych student working as a sober companion in Chicago, hired by Elijah Mikaelson to assist his brother, Klaus, who is fresh out of rehab. For the next six weeks, she'll be with him 24/7 helping him to maintain a sober life. Caroline will soon discover Klaus is no ordinary client. AH/AU, based off Elementary/Sherlock Holmes. Do not have to be a fan of Holmes to read! Chapters: 32 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson Ships: Klaroline Last Updated: 22 April 2016 Complete

I won’t say much about this one and it is not an insult to the author, it’s because I believe that it’s a popular one with readers or many are familiar with it, but what I love about this is that it creates the right balance of romance and plot, it not overpowering that it’s just full one smut, although I’m guilty of liking that but the plot isn’t too much that the relationship is no existence. There is development, also wouldn’t a continuation of that little sequel you wrote. But again, this just worked for me.

Heroes Never Die by Angelikah | thetourguidebarbie | FanFiction.net Doctor Caroline Forbes devoted her life to protecting the innocent, but fell in love with the darkest parts of a man who was anything but. After a terrible accident, her only chance to save him was to take a risk with an experimental healing treatment, which went horribly wrong. All she can do now is look back on what they'd had and hope that someday he'd forgive her. Based off Overwatch. Chapters: 2 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Stefan Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett Ships: Klaroline Last Updated: 11 January 2017 Complete

I’ve never read Fanfics based on games, even when it has my OTP in their place, however I gave it a go because it’s Overwatch. Now I’m not going to go all fake gamer girl and claim that I’m a fan of it. My knowledge is based on watching people playing on Twitch, but I’m familiar with some of the voice actors from Overwatch (some of my fellow Hoomans). This game is on my to-do list. However, you do not need prior knowledge of the game to be able to read this, and god it is so good. I just love the reversal of roles because often Klaus would be made as the character that would go to the ends of the earth to save Caroline, so it’s nice to see it be Caroline and Caroline doesn’t come off as weak or some anti-feminist rubbish about how she can’t live without a man, this is a woman in love with a guy. This is a perfect two-shot, and I wouldn’t mind more, however I’m perfectly content with this. It is also a good example of a dystopian future fic that doesn’t lose it way and the world doesn’t suddenly get fixed or healed.

Picturesque by lil7miss7sarcastic | Fanfiction.net She doesn't talk to Klaus about feelings. Ever. Or at least when she's sober. Sure, there are times when their friends pass out and the two of them lie on the rooftop, looking at the stars, and talk. But some form of intoxication is always involved. AU/AH Klaroline (with slight Steroline) and the gang as Friends in New York City. Chapters: 7 Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Stefan Salvatore Ships: Klaroline Last Updated: 17 February 2018 Complete

This fanfic is kind of a HIMYM/Friends hybrid and it’s so good. None of these characters are actually directly based on the originals from the shows, it’s still the Klaroline you love. Now, when the author says slight SC, they mean it, they don’t date and they aren’t in a relationship at all. But this is great and I love the Klaroline dynamic and they finally finished this fic, two years later. My new complaint, which I shared with them, was that the ending does feel rushed, maybe it’s because I experienced the hiatus itself, but I feel like you can tell between Chapters 6 and 7, there is kind of a different tone to the last chapter than the rest. But I do understand writers block as well as losing the passion to writer for a ship or another passion overtakes the old one. But this is still a very enjoyable fic. It’s good for those who want to read something that’s long and a continuation as opposed to a one-shot, but also it’s not too long that you are spending time away from interacting with actual people face to face reading it.

I Have a Bad Case of Loving You by LitLover 101 | queenofthedramedies | FanFiction.net These would be the greatest years of her life. After seven years Hayley Marshall would officially be a doctor. Unfortunately, until then she had to deal with the rigors of her internship and residency with a colorful group of fellow interns and a one night stand who turns out to be her boss. What could wrong? Chapters: 24 Characters: Hayley Marshall, Elijah Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson, Rebekah Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes, Tyler Lockwood, Joshua Rosza, Bonnie Bennett, Freya Mikaelson Ships: Halijah, Klaroline (planning a reread, more to be added) Last Updated: 15 April 2017 Complete

Okay, bare with me folks! I know some might not be a big fan of Klaroline not being the main ship in a fic or are not a big fan of Hayley or Halijah, but this Grey’s Anatomy style fic is a current favourite of mine. For starters, Hayley is likable in this and not in the way where TO sometimes comes off as trying too hard to do that or is OP. She even has some of Meredith Grey’s qualities in the fic, but for me I love the Cayley friendship, it’s a crackship of mine. But this is a rare fic for me where they have characters from TO and TVD but none of them (so far have been portrayed negatively, or biased negative), even characters that you don’t like appear but you don’t care because they are either made likable or only appear briefly in the background, a 2D character. But the Klaroline relationship is written so well, it doesn’t suffer because the primary ship is Halijah. It is like Grey’s in which Hayley is the lead but the ensemble cast do have their own storylines. My only complaint with this - which I shared with the author was about how the storylines of the other characters has missing gaps in because the story is written from Hayley’s POV so one sec you have two characters arguing, a chapter later they made up off screen. So it jumps with the secondary characters storylines, but she has made it up to us with a tie-in fic that is currently in production/progress.

Somewhere Only We Know by LitLover 101 | queenofthedramedies | FanFiction.net Tie-in stories to I Have a Bad Case of Loving You: follow the lives, loves, losses and triumphs of the interns, residents and attendees at New Orleans Grace Hospital. Chapters: 3 Characters: Rebekah Mikaelson, Tyler Lockwood, Joshua Rosza, Jackson Kenner, Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson Ships: Klaroline, TBA (A lot is being kept as a surprise, I think) Last Updated: 24 June 2017 Ongoing

This is the tie-in that I mentioned in the comment of the previous fic. This is only one chapter in but this delves into the secondary characters and fills in those blanks and gaps that don’t completely make sense in the original fic or left you wanting an explanation. I won’t hype it up because we haven’t been giving enough yet but it is promising. One thing that the author is good at is making us care about these secondary characters, like Tyler is a bit of a fuckboy, not a negative portrayal but I still like him, he’s harmless. My hope is once it’s completed that someone (probably me) will re-edit the fic (for personal rereading purposes) so it can include the scenes from this fic in where they take place in the original one. This is being written co-currently with the sequel to the original fic. Again, I want to express my gratitude to the author for taking their time to write this tie-in because it probably wasn’t their intention and they are upping their workload just for us measly fans.

Rumor Has It by LitLover101 | queenofthedramedies | FanFiction.net Continuation of I Have a Bad Case of Loving You: Tales of failed boards, broken hearts, healing wounds, love, loss, friendship, family and resilience bring us back to the New Orleans Hospital. Oh, and, don't forget the new crop of interns. Things are about to heat up in this hospital. Chapters: 7 Characters: Hayley Marshall, Elijah Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson, Davina Claire, Caroline Forbes, Rebekah Mikaelson, Tyler Lockwood, Joshua Rosza, Bonnie Bennett, Freya Mikaelson, Aurora De Martel, Lucian Castle, Freya Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson Ships: Halijah, Klaroline (more to be added as revealed, I believe some are kept as a surprise) Last Updated: 31 January 2018 Ongoing

I won’t go into much because it is just chapter 1 but it is the sequel and I’m already loving it, it provides answers to the cliffhanger left at the end of the original fic - think of it as the cliffhanger to season 1 and this is season two. But this provides so many more questions, thanks to a 6 month time jump from the last fic to now. Now don’t quote me on this but if you’re worried that the secondary character and ships to Halijah might not get screentime or we will suffer from gaps due to it being from Hayley’s POV don’t worry, I think the author said that it will delve in a bit from other characters POVs and their storylines but Hayley and Halijah will still be the focus. Hayley is the Meredith of this TVD/TO Grey’s story.

Those are my current favourites, thanks for taking your time to read them. Sorry I might of gone overboard.

#the vampire diaries #tvd #klaroline #Klaus mikaelson #caroline forbes #fanfic #fanfiction #reccomendations #fanfic recs #TheNerdyUnhealthyBrit #TheNerdyUnhealthyBrit recommends Klaroline

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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A Guide to Getting Started with the Yakuza Series

March 4, 2020 3:30 PM EST

Want to get started with the Yakuza series, but not sure where you should start? Here’s a primer and a few options to ease you in.

The Yakuza Remastered Collection’s release marks an auspicious moment for the series. For the first time ever, you can now play the entire series from start to finish on the PS4. That alone is reason enough to grab a PS4 in my eyes, even as the console generation comes to a close. Western markets took a while to warm to the series, but increasingly more are starting to be drawn to these legendary games. There’s never been a better time to get started with the Yakuza franchise.

Personally, I arrived late to the Yakuza games, only getting started with the series about three years ago. It only took a small taste before the hunger set in, though, and I’ve since played through every mainline game to completion. Few series are as underrated as this one, even as those ratings continue to increase.

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The question remains for those getting started with the Yakuza series, however: where should you begin? These are very story-driven games, featuring a continuing narrative and persistent character arcs. As such, the typical response of “start with the latest and see if you like it” won’t necessarily work here.

“This is not about if you should play the Yakuza games, because that answer is an instant, resounding, unflinching YES.”

This narrows down the answer to one of a few options. Let’s go over their pros and cons, and by the end, a newcomer to the series should be able to make an educated decision on where to start with the Yakuza games.

I must preface this with a disclaimer: all these statements are based on my experience with the PS4 releases. I can’t speak to the quality of the PC ports where applicable. If you plan to use a different platform, I’d encourage researching the condition of the port first to help figure out which platform is right for you.

Finally, this is about where to start. This is not about if you should play the Yakuza games, because that answer is an instant, resounding, unflinching YES. Even the weakest title in the franchise features a pretty good story, fun combat, and lots of entertaining gameplay to hook you in. If you’re still looking for specifics on “why,” allow me to direct you to the video that spurred me to keep going with the series.

Allow me to be your guide into this wild world, and I strongly suspect you’ll find yourself having a blast. I’ll include a TL;DR at the end for brevity’s sake, as well. Let’s begin!

Yakuza Kiwami (If You Want to Start From the Beginning)

Pros:

Starts you at the beginning

Great introduction to Kiryu’s story

Has the excellent combat system from Yakuza 0

Mostly faithful to the original game

Cons:

Some minor alterations to the plot are shoehorned in, as is a slightly goofier tone

Changes to combat systems from 0 hurt more than help

Adherence to the original is faithful to a fault for some boss fights

The hardest of the games listed

The remake of the first game is the obvious choice for beginning your Yakuza experience. Great pains were taken to match the story, cinematic direction, pacing and setpiece encounters of the original release. As such, it still feels very authentic when placed side-by-side its PS2 progenitor. Throw in the combat, mini-games, and general game design improvements from Yakuza 0 and beyond, and you’ve got a very good starting point. Kiwami is a fun game with a story that should be more than enough to draw you in to the rest of the series. Here’s our full review from when the game first launched in 2017.

This comes with caveats, however. Some boss encounters in the original suffered tremendously from frustrating enemies and patterns. It’s not particularly fun to have a room full of enemies shooting you or tossing grenades your way, especially at the climax of major story points. Despite the fact that encounter design in the series has improved drastically, Kiwami remains authentic, which means those rougher fights are preserved.

As for the story, I think it’s paced just a little off. There’s a lot of big twists and reveals in the latter quarter of the game compared to the rest. It was enough to keep me going, but I do think it could’ve been balanced better. The inclusion of the Majima Everywhere system, on the other hand, really breaks the existing story. Scenes featuring Majima from the original game are incredibly memorable, leading to why he became such a fan favorite in the first place. In order to make them line up more with Majima’s heavier activity in Kiwami, the development team had to shoehorn in a couple scenes that don’t really work that well, leaving the whole thing feeling weaker.

Despite these complaints, Yakuza Kiwami is still a solid place to start the series. If you aren’t completely sold on experiencing the series, some of the little irritants might dampen your drive to continue. But for those who have strong interest and some knowledge of Yakuza going in, this is a fine choice.

(Note: Kiwami means “Extreme” in Japanese)

Yakuza 0 (If You Want to Start With the Best)

Pros:

Easily one of the best games in the franchise

Great introduction to Majima, as well as establishing what makes Kiryu great later

Content-rich, even if it’s the only one you end up playing

Cons:

New players miss the interesting references to future games

Yakuza 0 is arguably one of (if not the) strongest titles in the franchise, and my personal favorite. I have very little to criticize here about the game itself, honestly. The combat is excellent, with a variety of styles across two very different playable characters. The writing is exceptional, the story is engaging and well-executed, the side stories are absolutely hilarious, and a wealth of content abounds for those willing to seek it out. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this is one of my favorite games of all time. But don’t just take my word for it.

So with that glowing praise out of the way, should you start playing the series with Yakuza 0? For the vast majority of people, I would absolutely say yes. Familiarity with the characters and world isn’t a requirement, as it’s a prequel to the original game. We learn what we need to immediately from the outset, with crucial backstory given as the game progresses. Kiryu and Majima spend the narrative growing as characters into what they would later become. Between that and the general quality of the game, it’s almost a no-brainer to suggest it as the starting point.

Here’s the caveat, then: Yakuza 0 is loaded with little nods, references, and easter eggs that call forward to what will happen in the later games. These largely make sense and work nicely in the moment, but a lot of the impact or recognition will be lost on those that are new to the series. This isn’t too much of an issue and doesn’t weaken the delivery of the story, so there’s no fear of that. Still, that emotional recognition and glimpses of what is to come — or what could have been, in at least one case — means that the game has that little extra punch for recurring Yakuza players. Even just playing through Kiwami will help the connection to a couple of core moments and characters in 0.

As such, my recommendation to start here is “Yes, but…”. If you are brand new to the series and don’t know what to expect, and want to start on the strongest footing? Play Yakuza 0 first. If you’re only looking for a single game to play without committing to the series? Play Yakuza 0 first. Even slightly unsure where you stand? Just play Yakuza 0 first.

But! If you are a little more familiar with the series or have dabbled in a later game and want to start fresh? Consider starting with Kiwami, and come back to 0 afterwards. If you’re already committed to playing the whole series and don’t mind dealing with a few irritants, start with Kiwami and come back to 0 afterwards.

Yakuza 0 is absolutely amazing, but it’s just that little bit more amazing if you come in armed with the foreknowledge to appreciate the nods it has to the series’ future.

Judgment (If You Want to Start With Something Different)

Pros:

Not actually a Yakuza game

A strong stand-alone story and game

Introduces the setting and gameplay systems of Yakuza without relying on previous knowledge

Cons:

Not actually a Yakuza game

Combat is a little weaker than the mainline games

It would be remiss of me to write this article without covering all the potential access points one might have to the Yakuza series, which happens to include Judgment (known as Judge Eyes in Japan). Since DualShockers gave Judgment our 2019 Game of the Year Award, those reading this may very well want to know where that factors in.

Judgment is an excellent game, and completely deserving of the accolades given to it (and I should know, since I pushed hard for it to win the staff vote). Most of what I said about the qualities of Yakuza 0 are echoed for Judgment. This is some of the Yakuza team’s finest writing, with excellent presentation and a wealth of content. It’s a fantastic, self-contained story set in the same general locale as the Yakuza titles. My only nitpick would be that I personally prefer the combat flow in 0 more. Your attacks in Judgment tend to have longer and stiffer animations and wind-up, even with attack speed upgrades. That among other things made me less enthused by the overall flow of combat. Still, that does not make Judgment a lackluster experience by any stretch.

“Many of the hallmarks in writing and characters exist in both [Judgment and Yakuza], but it’s not exactly a great primer to the series.”

So, why have I listed Judgment not being a Yakuza game as both a pro and con? Well, this article is about getting started with the Yakuza series, after all. Playing through Judgment in its entirety grants almost no knowledge of the Yakuza story, aside from a general sense of geography and a veiled reference or two. Many of the hallmarks in writing and characters exist in both, but it’s not exactly a great primer. If you’re still looking to get into Yakuza, Judgment isn’t truly helpful in that front regardless of if you play it first or not.

With that said, it isn’t completely useless, or I wouldn’t deign to include it here. Mechanically and in gameplay terms, Judgment plays very much like a Yakuza game. It has the same wealth and diversity of content or distractions. The same cinematic flair and detailing is retained. It has the same flashy and over the top brawler combat. Familiarity with Yakuza gameplay going into Judgment will help you feel right at home, and vice versa. There is definitely some merit to beginning your journey here, and Judgment is absolutely a game that you should play regardless. It’s also the only one with an English dub since the original release, which can make it a little more accessible for some.

To summarize, then: Judgment is a good primer for the gameplay mechanics of Yakuza. Should you want to play a solid standalone game to completion and test the waters on if the gameplay is right for you, Judgment fits the bill. But for starting with the Yakuza series explicitly, this is not the ideal choice.

Yakuza [PS2] (If You REALLY Want to Start from the Beginning)

Pros:

No better place to start than the truest beginning

Still holds up pretty well

Different enough in style and tone to not be made completely redundant by Kiwami

English dub with Mark Hamill as Majima

Cons:

Some irritating boss fights and encounter design

Older, clunkier, and harder to get into for those not dedicated

Only available on the PS2

English dub is pretty awful (aside from Mark Hamill as Majima)

It’d be remiss of me not to speak of the truest place to get started with Yakuza, which is the first game on PlayStation 2. This one is only for the dedicated, but it is still a completely valid choice. And hey, what better place is there to start than the very beginning in every sense of the word?

The original Yakuza is still a strong game, otherwise it wouldn’t have propelled the series as far as it did (even if Yakuza 2 did the real heavy lifting on that front). Concessions made for Kiwami aren’t present here, so the story remains unaltered and flows a little better. The original Yakuza has weathered the test of time decently, and is still quite playable for those with a PS2 to run it. It’s not a bad experience at all…but as your first Yakuza game in 2020? Well, we’ve come a long way in terms of game design and presentation.

Yakuza on the PS2 is the only game in the series to feature an English dub outside of Judgment. Now granted, it’s a pretty awful dub that completely misses the mark in tone for a lot of characters and moments. But it does feature Mark Hamill as Goro Majima, and he absolutely kills it in that role. If there’s anything that the original offers which the others don’t, it’s Hamill’s Majima scenes. For everything else? This is a negative point.

All those other negatives about design and boss fights that I brought up for Kiwami are obviously the case here. It’s rough, unpolished, and still finding its feet. But for all that…Yakuza remains pretty good. If you’re the kind of person who likes to dive deep into a series history and see where it all began, then you might even consider starting here.

TL;DR

To briefly summarize: if you’re going in blind to the series, start with Yakuza 0. If you only want to play a single Yakuza title at first, go for Yakuza 0. If you know a little bit about it or have dabbled in the series and want to start at the beginning, start with Yakuza Kiwami. If you’re just looking for an excellent stand-alone game to try series’ staples on for size, start with Judgment. But if you’re truly dedicated to the experience, try the PS2 Yakuza release to see just how far the series has come.

And that’s about it. Now get out there and play some Yakuza! Then you can join me in waiting impatiently for the English release of Yakuza 7…which, coincidentally, might be a good starting place also. I’ll be sure to let you know.

March 4, 2020 3:30 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/a-guide-to-getting-started-with-the-yakuza-series/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-guide-to-getting-started-with-the-yakuza-series

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erraticprojectjunkie · 7 years ago

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Female Teen Leads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, created due to a fondness for lists. Each week they post a new Top Ten topic. After that, it's bloggers UNITE! Participate with your own Top Ten post, have fun, and get to know your fellow bloggers. Apparently my life is meant to be a whirlwind these days. Nothing like running late on a Top Ten Tuesday when a Top 5 Wednesday is on the docket for the day. Not to mention the fact that I actually meant to do my Book Blogger Hop post Monday (it was originally supposed to be posted on Saturday) and that still hasn't happened. Between a teething child, a sick Gary, canning, farm animals, and house renovations, I'm living in constant motion and feel like I've just been spinning circles. Today we're having the basement carpet replaced. Again. The initial carpet we had installed back in March has some serious flaws, so the manufacturer has given us a refund and we are having different carpet put in instead. As a result, last night was moving furniture and clearing out closets to let the install guys have access. It will be really nice once we get some of the major renovations finished, but this project house is sometimes a serious stress generator. The good news is that I'm actually slowly accomplishing stuff with the garden. I finished up the last of the freezer slaw (9 total gallon bags) on Monday and got yams pureed for the Boy yesterday. I still need to figure out what to do with the remaining heads of cabbage. After that, I need to make some applesauce and then pull carrots and a few pumpkins. Canning season may end at some point. It's a miracle! Now...I'm going to take a break and immerse myself in my happy place...books. Today's Top Ten topic is a fill in the blank of sorts... Ten Books that Feature Characters ________: Examples: Ten books that feature black main characters, characters who hold interesting jobs, characters who have a mental illness, characters that are adopted, characters that play sports, etc. etc. I wasn't sure at first what in the world I was going to choose. To be honest, my choice of topics may be a bit broad reaching. But...it's also allowing me to suggest some great books (and series). And...I couldn't eliminate one of the primary options, so I have eleven total entries. As a result, you'll really be getting (whoa) 25 books instead of only 10. See? What a deal. Now...as a caveat, I've removed a couple of book series from contention. Though great books, they won't be included in this list...for differing reasons. First, as part of the criteria for contention, the main characters must be teenagers for the duration of the book. So, there is no Harry Potter here and there is no Jane Eyre even though it is one of my favorite books of all time. Other books won't be included (even if they're fantastic) if I haven't finished reading the entire series. Them's just the way the cookie crumbles. Maybe that will motivate me to get off my butt and finish the series. So...no Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard or Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor. But...even with those restrictions, I promise I have some fantastic reads in here. Some you may be familiar with, some you may have already devoured, others may have been something you just dismissed or maybe haven't heard of. In any case, hopefully I at least give you some new fantastic reads to consider. Ready to roll? Let's do this! Top Ten Eleven Books (and Series) Featuring Female Teenage Protagonists These ladies differ in many ways. Some are meek, some are strong. Some find themselves along the way. Some evolve and some simply learn to be themselves. They aren't perfect. They make mistakes. And each one of them provides inspiration and education...insight into how one teenage girl can make some serious waves. 1. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare Consisting of six books, this series focuses on fifteen-year-old Clary Fray and her journey into the world of the supernatural. Clare's creation of the shadowhunter world is impeccable and the series just consistently leaves you ready for more. Clary isn't the strongest of characters in the beginning, but she evolves through the series to become one fairly formidable lady. Books in the Series: City of BonesCity of AshesCity of GlassCity of Fallen AngelsCity of Lost SoulsCity of Heavenly Fire 2. The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare That's right, Clare again. Running hand in hand with her Mortal Instruments series, The Infernal Devices is set in an earlier time, with the trilogy providing something of a prequel. However, there has been set a determined order to read the two series in...with the books overlapping one another. It doesn't really matter if you follow the order, but it does help things make a bit more sense and build in ways that don't create too many spoilers along the way. Primary lead in this series? Another awesome female character. The trilogy follows Tessa Gray and her adventures in the shadowhunter underground. Books in the Series: Clockwork AngelClockwork PrinceClockwork Princess 3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Easily Green's best work to this point (though who knows what his October release of Turtles All the Way Down will yield), The Fault in Our Stars centers on cancer patient Hazel and her relationship with Augustus Waters. It's beautiful, tragic, and inspiring. This one is a tearjerker, so have the tissues prepared. There will be all the feels. 4. The Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth Dystopia at its finest. A trilogy with a small pile of supplementals, Divergent is told primarily based on the view of Tris Prior in a futuristic Chicago where children are divided into factions depending on perceived skill sets. I will admit that I was disappointed in the ending of this trilogy and many fans will tell you to skip the third book altogether, but Tris is still a great teenage character and the plot line still holds quite a bit of water. Roth is a talented author...I just disagree with her choice of ending narrative. Books in the Series: DivergentInsurgentAllegiant 5. The Ruby Oliver Series by E. Lockhart This set is a bit more playful. It has colorful and unique covers and a colorful and unique protagonist. Ruby Oliver is fantastic. She's sweet, she's sassy, and she's just plain awesome. She isn't some wimpy teenage girl, though she has her moments. She (like many of the heroines in this list) evolves throughout the four book series. It's a fun, light set of reads that will put a smile on your face. Books in the Series: The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs, and Me, Ruby OliverThe Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Training ThemThe Treasure Map of Boys: Noel, Jackson, Finn, Hutch, Gideon--and Me, Ruby OliverReal Live Boyfriends: Yes, Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver 6. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Maddy is the girl in the plastic bubble. She is allergic to everything, confined to her house in an excessively sterile setting. Despite her isolation, she is brilliant, strong, and confident. And for Olly, she's just the girl next door...a barriered, complicated, germ-free door. 7. Nothing Like Looking by Chris Van Hakes Reed Larson just wants what all teens want. She wants to blend in while being herself. She wants acceptance in her new school, not judgement based upon the fact that expulsion from her prior school is what landed her there (somewhat against her will). Reed's quirky and special and secretive, but she's pretty fantastic as well. 8. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins Katniss Everdeen is a powerhouse. This girl is the epitome of strong female lead. She takes charge from the beginning and rocks this entire series. Collins creates a gripping narrative that will make you want to have all three books at the ready if you start reading. It's a high energy read from start to finish...and it's awesome. Books in the Series: The Hunger GamesCatching FireMockingjay 9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Easily the most controversial book on this list. Hannah Baker is dead. She committed suicide. Hannah is complex and a little gritty. She shares her reasons why in a series of tapes to classmates, creating intense dialogue and a window into the fragile teenage psyche. She may have succumbed to her frustrations, to depression and angst, but Hannah still has a lesson to share. She can be an incredibly inspiring character if viewed in the correct light. She is certainly not one to emulate, but she is one to learn from. 10. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Celia may be destined to be molded a certain way, but she is still her own person. She won't let anyone hold her down. She is determined to make her own future, to control her own destiny. The Night Circus is magical. It's full of wonder and intrigue. It's easily among my favorite books and it's one that begs to be read again and again. 11. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson Amy isn't anything special in the beginning. She's just another girl with another family drama. She's frozen within herself as the result of the trauma. But along the mileage of a roadtrip with a near stranger, she becomes...more. Amy thaws along the winding road and the journey is one of both pavement and internal evolution. This one is a hugger. It's a book you just want to love and squeeze and never let go. And there you have it (whew!). A nice pile of YA fiction with awesome female teens. They're a diverse crew, but they're all real...to the core. You can't go wrong with any of these reads. This post originally appeared on Erratic Project Junkie and is copyrighted by Elle. Find EPJ on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

#Books #Top Ten Tuesday

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