#the pattern wasn't super well written tbh

[crochet-and-creatures]

Just finished making this gorgeous pineapple lace crochet top, and it took forever to fit, but I'm very happy with it. The pattern is by Melissa Bjerregaard on Ravelry and is available for free download as a pdf.

[headlesscribbler]

I finished For The Future and it's good! But ALL BETS ARE OFF I'M POSTING SPOILERS AND THOUGHTS. (Also its super long like has 20 different points)

Written plotpoint wise and then in general.

-The tone at first was insanely confusing with everyone dying and then then Hooty flying and Eda almost immediately getting over her missing limb (well ig the cliffhanger made it look more dramatic). Also haha hot Harpy Eda scene, fan artists are winners.

-The curse actually wasn't explored that much (or the Owl Beast being trapped which I'm really annoyed at) but it seems to act similarly.

-Luz totally saw King's slightly grown up form with the wings.

-It's depressing seeing literally everyone screwed up but that makes sense and I do like how everyone gets a spotlight on their issues.

-Ok Belos is SUPER cool this episode. Tbh I found him more weird/slightly funny looking last episode but I like how this 350 year old man's flesh is falling off the bones. Also that's definitely dead Caleb we saw this episode and probably last (very cool but the knife looked a little funky dangling there)

-The broken playground and swing, nice Episode 10 reference. Also the graffiti is always funny.

-Lol screw you Terra you got picked to be the Owl Beast bc you're old and cranky. I can't believe her not being in the trailer was for this.

-That Draining Spell is literally only a kill everyone spell, ok? I mean it would have been interesting seeing them try to adapt without any magic but sure (also ig there wouldn't be time)

-Boscha you still suck! Also I can't believe my brother guessed the Kikimora reveal, I was like red skin, short, that's too easy. But looking back, the voice, the glasses. Ok I see it.

-Yeah no redemption all the Grimwalkers/Caleb want to kill Belos. Also lol I joked that he would say shut up to them and I guessed it right.

-Also not really surprised his Grimwalker body didn't last, like you're running out of resources. Still not sure why it still ended up looking like you. Also I was spoiled on him climbing up the skull so I was jumpscared by that scene AND it being a spoiler!

-I liked the visuals of the giant book circling around the tiny planet. Also Collector I know you can rhyme better come on.

-I have no idea what's up with the Collector portraits (hey Hollow Mind parallels). I'll let others dissect it but I found the lore kind id underwhelming like last time but I'm a terrible theorist and time crunch so eh. Also repeat images?

-Literally the entire Hooty and Eda scene was recontextualized to be weirdly more chill and cheery. Like Hooty is alive, why and also why immediately joke about it being weird?I'm not sure how their hideout works but hey there's some peace? Also you're killing me Eda please be with Raine oh my god! Also Eda saying "What's the matter?" made me want to cry, she sounded like a mom comforting her kid! And she said it so kind and softly!

-Ok I was pissed at the Hunter possession bc I thought it was fake/looked dumb. This feels random and weird. Belos possessing a puppet, really? I swear it's like "Huh screw Eda I'm gonna use Raine". But they look better off than Hunter (also why the goop on the ears, like injuiry from a piercing?) Ok but they(?) have cool expressions and their normal voice and mostly look the same and I doubt they'll die (otherwise it's that Diversity Loss meme. I'll pretend they'll die so I don't feel as bad/disappointed if it happens). I don't know why we're doing this again, pattern breaking says they must go but don't they have too much potential?

-Ok this possession concept feels kinda written badly? It's only introduced last episode and you're gonna convince me Belos can actually possess the Collector? Please! Also in general I don't like possessions as they take away the person's choice and creates limited character development for them.

-I've got beef with the Collector (who I now realize is probably different from the Owl Beast trapper but still), I don't like how it's not acknowledged that he was fine with killing everyone. King is nothing like that and I don't like how this Collector feels different from the more scary and dangerous shadow Collector we've seen the most from. It doesn't make sense they're supposed to be the same! Also they'll probably depower him simce he's too powerful (I wonder if doing this will make Collectors extinct.)

-Someone else probably articulated it better but I like the spotlight on Willow, how holding in her emotions to be strong for everyone ends up making her spiral out of control and how Gus and Hunter tell her she can let it out. It's really sad seeing her miss her dads but I'm glad it's acknowledged.

-Yay Camilla and Luz time! Yeah, it's sad how they both have regrets but I'm glad they're reconciling and Camilla is righting her wrongs. Also Luz's wish makes so much sense and I love the anime like tears. (Also yeah her saying she doesn't know what she wants definitely fits Amity given a predetermined path)

-For the teleportation powers Hunter gets, ehh but I do like the action is brings. Also YEAH new plant attacks Willow!

-Also literally calling out every single guess and putting it all in one. I like the Chinese dragon looking one. The designs all kinda look like OCs but it fits and it'll probably grow on me. Also 80% snake for the win!

Bruh the animation looks so good! Honestly mostly the effects but also the scattered fight scenes as well! I like how it goes from whimsy to body horror (would've liked more but eh Belos takes an L)

Tbh the pacing was kinda off since there was the school, King and Eda, and Raine being posessed. It felt weird because it didn't even really feel right for a cliffhanger. Hey who's fault is it (Disney)

Ok compared to Thanks to Them (which I really didn't like and don't want to rewatch due to the Belos possession) this is leagues better. No doubt because questions are answered, things are different and we get to see them again! Effects/fights/body horror/character design is good, I really like the character development and them coping with this nightmare, and others than the Raine thing/unavoidable pacing issues (this feels like similar issues to the first episode) it's super good!

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

ok finished reading and i have Thoughts so i'll put them under a cut (spoilers abound). also this got uh... a lot longer than i was intending it to be so apologies if it feels rambley.

Negative/Neutral Stuff first:

overall the plot was pretty meh. i didn't actively hate anything however the pacing of the story especially with how quickly Seven fell in with the Rangers when they didn't have any reason to trust her was... not good. maybe i misread things but i was pretty sure the main bulk of the book happens over a few weeks which just felt really rushed for a) the Rangers to trust Seven that much and b) for Seven to form the deep connections that the book allegedly described (especially with Harker who tbh just annoyed me a little bit given that he was in a pretty big chunk of the book but never got properly fleshed out beyond the "grumpy old soldier taking another rookie" archetype).

i think it's evident when you start reading but a lot of the plot beats were pretty clichéd. not bad but like... i knew exactly how the story was going to shape up after chapter 5 or so and my only surprise was that Ellory didn't die by the end of the book. which good for her i guess. her future doesn't look great given what we know about Seven's future but i hope they had some happy years together.

i think my main complaint is one i share with a lot of Star Trek books i've picked up (particularly those written by men) seem to veer towards Big Action Plots which is just. deeply not why i like Star Trek and imo novels (and tv/movies for that matter) with a lot of focus on action/fights/that sort of thing are just far less interesting and i found myself skimming over a lot of those parts. i think there are ways to write action-heavy prose well but i've found very few books that do it convincingly because imo action scenes are the hardest thing to write.

i found a decent bit of the dialogue was stilted and clichéd and wasn't always successful at bridging the gap between how Seven acts/speaks in Voyager and Picard (especially without Jeri Ryan's acting to sell it). and for that matter, it didn't quite bridge the general writing differences between 90s era Trek and new Trek. it wasn't the worst dialogue and there were some moments that i thought sounded nice (and demonstrated Seven's struggle between speaking in her natural Voyager-era speech patterns and her need to fit in and camouflage herself) but on the whole, it was just kinda eh and used slang way too much for my liking.

this is a very niche complaint as someone who has spent too much time thinking of Seven as a disabled character but i wish the book considered the fact that she is disabled and that her implants, while they might give her some super-human abilities, still come at a cost. i think just a few lines about her being fearful about finding safe medical care or being afraid of losing her portable regenerator (which... wasn't mentioned) would have really contributed to her fear of discrimination away from Voyager's crew and "outing" herself to people she can't trust when she is uniquely vulnerable. as i'll say later, the book very much leaned into some of the trans allegories that Picard s3 did with Seven and including a few lines about a fear of finding doctors she trusts/fear of being dehumanized in medical settings would have really strengthened that allegory and brought it some more depth.

oh and one thing that... idk i'm undecided of whether or not i like is that the other Voyager characters are implied to not be in close contact with either Seven or Janeway. i have complicated feelings about this and i think it does make sense and it is in character that they would all drift apart to some extent but i just find it off that Seven went for over a year without being in contact with either Naomi or Icheb. especially given the role Icheb's death plays in Picard s1. however, i do very much like that Seven still very much values her former crew and still has photos of them and thinks about them. it's understandable that she wants Distance but i think there are some people (Naomi) who she would never be fully out of contact with.

Positive Stuff:

all of that said... there were enough quieter moments that really appealed to me, particularly with regard to how Seven's queerness was portrayed. often in big franchise science fiction i think queerness gets reduced to "just" being gay/bi/trans/etc in a pretty surface level sense OR it's solely queer subtext without explicit identity. but i really appreciate this book for taking the already existing queer subtext around Seven and dialing it up on purpose (such as how her refusal to accept her deadname is directly tied to the Federation refusing her citizenship) while also exploring her textual queerness through her romantic/sexual relationships with women. like Seven in this book is portrayed as queer not just because she likes women but because by her nature, she is a perpetual outsider and because she's been refused inclusion by "normal" mainstream society, she's found a home outside of that "normal" society. i could (and should) write a whole essay on Seven and voidpunk identity/reclamation of dehumanization but that's a whole other conversation but i appreciate the book for playing into some of those ideas. tying together ideas of Seven's queerness and her perceived inhumanity isn't exactly a new idea in the fandom but it feels so wonderful to have an official book do it.

also as i alluded to above, there were a decent amount of small things regarding the Federation rejecting Seven's citizenship and her conflict with Janeway on that point that were just. really tasty. and i can't wait to play with those ideas in fics.

on that note, i think the book understood Seven and Janeway's complicated relationship beautifully. they might fight (a lot) and have some differing opinions colored by their different experiences but they will always respect each other on some level. i also think the book did a good job at showing how much Seven needed to get out of this mentor/protege relationship she had with Janeway and find where she actually belongs instead of following others. and Janeway realizing, however much it might hurt, that she needs to let Seven go and be her own person rather than trying to be overprotective and thinking she knows what's best.

also related ^ their last scene was so shippy for no reason. Janeway giving Seven permission to call her Kathryn... Janeway wishing she could reach out to touch Seven's face..... sorry for having shipper's goggles on but what else was i supposed to take away?

ok aside from character/relationship stuff – as someone who is very much invested in this era of Star Trek worldbuilding, i appreciate the book for expanding on what was going on during the Romulan rescue mission and i think it complements Picard s1/The Last Best Hope well by showing how complicated the political situation really was and what exactly was going on outside of Starfleet. again, it gives a lot of fodder for fanfiction especially with how Seven and Raffi were essentially on two different sides during this time with Raffi (and Picard) pushing for more of Starfleet's help with the Romulan evacuation and Seven seeing how redirecting Starfleet's forces ending up causing more suffering.

and it was a small thing but i was super excited that this book used elements of Star Trek Prodigy!!! there were just little references since this book is set 2(?) years before the show but i loved the continuity of including characters like Tysess, mentioning the Protostar, and having Janeway commandeer the Dauntless. it was just really nice to see other media use Prodigy's characters and world after Paramount fucked Prodigy over and tried to pretend it didn't exist despite it? being a very good show?

all in all – i'm very glad i read it even if it was just for the few scenes that i really thought hit the nail on the head. the stuff i disliked, i didn't feel particularly strongly about and can pretty easily ignore/forget about in lieu of the things that i REALLY did like. but yadda yadda your mileage may vary and my opinions will probably change over time as i think about it more.

anyways, i'm mostly happy because a few things were brought up that can very easily slide into the next chapter of my fic :) if i. y'know. manage to write it any time soon.

just got my copy of Star Trek Picard: Firewall! i've unsurprisingly been looking forward to this one since it's been announced so i'll post my thoughts after reading if anyone's curious.