#the prose is killer the pacing is killer the acting is killer the STRUCTURE is killer

[fagulaa]

Something I really love about the Silt Verses is how, in a world of gods and monsters, how grounded Faulkner's trauma [and relationship with his father] is. Especially as the season moves on, and the stakes amp up [and up] its so unexpectedly piercing to be presented with this exploration of childhood abandonment/negligence, inter-generational trauma, the indignities and stress that comes with unexpected elder care/early onset Alzheimer's. You're so locked in to these grander, more abstract concepts that your defenses are down! Mine were, anyway. TSV is so good at cutting its grand, complex plotlines with simpler [but not shallower] gutpunches, and it just grounds the whole thing.

[writeouswriter]

Winter Reading/Arting/Writing Tag

Thanks so much for the tag, @ink-bunny-blue! (X)

Describe one creative WIP project you plan on working on over winter

I always “plan on” working on a thousand things and then do none of them 😭 because I haven’t been in so much a “creative slump” as I’ve been in an iron gripped chokehold by hyperfixation for the last year, so on one hand I’ve been unable to focus on any of my original writing because it’s not about The Interest™️, and then on the other hand I haven’t even been able to write anything about The Interest™️ because the fixation on it is so strong, everything I write for it has to be Perfect™️ (and nothing’s ever perfect, you know). On that note, if my ability to write returns from the war and I ever get a day off from this purgatory of a job, I really really really want to work on this comparative essay about The Interest™️ involving analyzing parallels to a certain classic play, and looking into various aspects of the tragicomic structure and themes of identity and change. Also, God willing, I’d love to get one fic done, just one, please please please, I have a few winter-y or Christmas-y ones I’m dying to get my brain to sign off on despite my lack of free time, come on, brain, yip yip.

Art, same thing, something Christmas-y for The Interest™️, also I gotta finish some zine pieces.

As for original writing, would love to work on my untitled WIP about an astrobiologist and team of other assorted scientists brought in by a somewhat questionable facility to study an extraterrestrial artefact and being affected strangely by it, but it’s a bit up in the air plot wise. Would love to answer asks about it though if anyone is interested 😭

Recommend a book

Definitely mentioned it before but:

Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson

“Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It's his hallucinations who are mad.”

This is like speculative fiction/thriller/mystery that’s hard to explain, but perfect balance of humour and sincerity, sci-fi and reality, and character and plot, probably my favourite standalone novel ever (well it’s really 3 novellas that somewhat connect and come together to form a novel, but either way).

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Charlie Jordan is being driven across the country by a serial killer. Maybe.

This is a thriller book set in the 90s that as its title suggests, takes place over the course of one night, where a troubled, film-obsessed college girl (and unreliable narrator) who recently witnessed her friend’s murder (but can’t recall the killer’s face) decides to travel back home via a ride share where her driver may or may not be said killer, and has to, you guessed it, survive the night.

Now, this is actually one of Sager’s lowest ranked and seemingly most universally hated novels, whereas it’s the only one of his I actually thoroughly enjoyed/didn’t find mediocre and thought had a sense of style as I like the almost cinematic way it was written?? It was fast paced, it was fun, it had unique prose, and I think it perfectly captured the vibes of a cheesy 90s B-movie (said as a compliment).

Recommend a fic

I still cannot recommend From Out the Ocean Risen by Bluestar enough, it acts as a sequel fic to the movie Pacific Rim, and has some of the most gorgeously well executed cinematic prose and imagery I’ve ever read, not to mention impeccable character dialogue, and an incredible grasp on the balance between drama/angst/action/heart/humour.

What’s a Little B&E Between Friends by VoiceOfNurse is also a fantastic Pacific Rim series with a solid grasp on both character dynamics/POV and style. A fascinating, very humanizing character study, both angsty and fun.

Recommend Music

I’ve suddenly never heard a song in my life.

The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen is stuck in my head again, so, *tosses that at you*

She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult also in my head so *throws that also*

Also, even though I haven’t actively listened to them in a while, I’m still still actually super excited for Green Day’s new album, so *one more toss*

Dilemma

The American Dream is Killing Me

Tagging if you want to do it no pressure!: @the-angriest-bunny-of-the-fandom, @writing2sirvive, @druidx, @universalfanfic, @karolinarodrigueswrites, @multi-lefaiye, @transmasc-wizard, @drabbleitout, @merelyafigment, @aritany, @rockium-z, @caffernnn and anyone who wants to do this, feel free to say I tagged you, you’re tagged.

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

Descendant of the Crane. By Joan He. New York: Albert Whitman & Company, 2019.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: YA fantasy

Part of a Series? Not yet?

Summary: Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago. Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

***Full review under the cut.***

SPOILERS in the last paragraph of the “Plot” section.

Content/Trigger Warnings: violence, blood, references to torture, slavery

Overview: I really wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise seemed promising, and I loved the idea of a Chinese-inspired fantasy world with a touch of courtroom drama. Unfortunately, there seemed to be too much going on, so much that I couldn’t connect with this book’s characters and the narrative didn’t flow in a way that drew me into the intrigue and mystery. I would have given this book 3 stars on premise alone, but because I didn’t feel like the scenes built on one another, this book only gets 2 stars from me.

Writing: He’s prose is fine for a YA novel in that it is fairly straightforward with a few poetic images sprinkled in here and there to evoke emotion. It’s very similar to a lot of other YA prose I’ve read, and I don’t personally think anything sets it apart. I did notice, however, that would sometimes use imagery or metaphors that I found more confusing than illuminating. For example, He describes a character as taking to the shadows “like a knife in a sheath,” which would have been ok, but the character was supposed to be more dangerous in the shadows - and a sheathed knife isn’t a threat.

I also found that He would reference bits of lore, backstory, or worldbuilding at odd moments, and sometimes, this info wouldn’t be especially relevant. It felt like she was trying to make references to her worldbuilding without infodumping, which is all well and good, but these references would sometimes distract from the main action.

I also thought He’s pacing and focus was off; the trial/mystery plot would sometimes fade to the background, while the tensions with neighboring kingdoms wasn’t really felt until a certain point in the novel, then it disappeared again. Some events received more attention than I think was warranted, while others received less. For example, we get a lot of scenes of Hesina doing paperwork, but then the ending felt rushed and a lot of information was dumped on us after several plot twists. There were times when things would be summarized rather than played out “on screen,” which is ok sometimes, but it often felt like He used summary so she shock the reader rather than lead them on a journey.

And lastly, I noticed that He has the tendency to use constructions where things other than the characters have agency. For example, “fear creeped into her” or “hope fluttered through her” and the like; it wasn’t bad, per se, but it was noticeable, as if He didn’t want her characters to have as much agency.

Plot: Describing this plot is fairly difficult, since, in my opinion, none of the scenes seem to flow or build upon each other to create a structured narrative. It seemed like He wanted to write a courtroom drama, a high fantasy novel, and a political saga, all of which came together to meditate on things like truth, history, and oppression. It was a lot to cram together, so much so that instead of an action-packed saga, I got a narrative that I couldn’t focus on because there wasn’t the time to explore themes or events in detail. In other words, because a lot happened, all events were rushed and felt shallow. The murder trial plot, for example, didn’t feel very developed; all of the courtroom drama felt pretty standard (this suspect couldn’t have done X because she’s left handed and the cut had to have been made by a right handed person) and most of the people who are trying to fabricate evidence are pretty bad at it. The political conflict, too, seems to be an afterthought, as the people’s desperation for salt isn’t really felt (just told to us) and no one seems too bothered about the raids along the border. I think the novel would have worked better if it focused primarily on the trial and following characters as they uncovered evidence that would be important for that trial. Not only would the narrative structure have felt tighter, but I think the courtroom drama could have been a good vehicle to explore the themes that He seemed interested in (things like oppression and truth can definitely come up with the right focus).

I also found myself to be frustrated by the plot twists because many of them felt random. There wasn’t a lot of groundwork that was laid to make them seem plausible, and I personally don’t like twists that I can’t see coming on some level. Don’t get me wrong - I think a little shock is good here and there, but I think plot twists work best when there is some hint that something is awry. The twist with Hesina’s father, for example, felt earned, whereas the ones involving her brother Caiyan and Lilian, felt random. I especially did not like that the whole epilogue was devoted to explaining how one of the plot twists was made possible; the behind-the-scenes action was dumped on us all at once, and I don’t really like it when I read a whole book and am then told “actually, this was happening the whole time” without some hints during the narrative that there is a bigger picture.

Also, just a quick note: while the plot twist with the Tenets is interesting, I feel like it has the possibility to be a scapegoat in the vein of “prejudice is due to a magical curse rather than something real and ingrained that we have to do hard, continuous work to remove.”

Characters: Hesina, our protagonist, is a Princess who becomes Queen for the purposes of having control over her father’s murder investigation. Personally, I found Hesina to be somewhat bland. She’s not really a ruthless ruler or cunning strategist; most of her decisions are driven by emotion, which can be a good character flaw, but it wasn’t really balanced out by a trait that I found particularly defining. The most she has going for her is that she’s pretty brave and is sympathetic to people who are oppressed, but I don’t think Hesina developed enough for me to really see her character as having an arc. I did sympathize with her dilemmas, especially when she had to make difficult political decisions, but I wanted a little more from her.

Akira, the convict-turned-lawyer who is tasked with solving the case, is a ho-hum love interest who Hesina chooses to represent the crown in her father’s murder case because a Sooth vaguely tells her to “find the convict with the rod.” Akira is written as somewhat mysterious, with skills that seem to come out of nowhere: he is good at fighting, knows some languages, and seems to be good at understanding chemical compounds. All these seemed to be laid as breadcrumbs toward figuring out his tumultuous past; however, I didn’t feel like I was dying to know more because Akira is so aloof and fades in and out of the background. We also don’t really see him putting together clues or explaining how he figured things out; most of the time, we get a summary of what he said (”Akira explained this chemical reaction”), so he doesn’t feel like a major player in the plot. Even his background is dumped on us all at once in summary, which made it less emotional to read. The romance between Akira and Hesina also felt a little forced. While it doesn’t take up a lot of space in the story, it did feel a little random. I didn’t really understand why Hesina decided she wanted to kiss Akira, and the emotional moments they exchanged didn’t really feel genuine.

Supporting characters also felt a little one-dimensional, such as Hesina’s mother, who doesn’t get along with her daughter (because of mental illness? other reasons?) but does get along with her son. Civil servants also weave in and out of the story at convenient moments, and commoners are fairly faceless. I did, however, enjoy the family dynamics between Hessina, her brother Sanjing, and their half-siblings, as it created some complicated personal and official court tensions, while also showing some family affection that transcended “legitimate” bloodlines. The dynamics between Hessina, Caiyan, and Lilian were especially well-done, as they seemed to balance each other out. I would have liked to see more instances where Caiyan’s and Lilian’s experience living on the street affected how the plot went; He tells us this detail, but I think it only comes in handy once.

Other: I don’t think every fantasy novel needs a lot of world-building, but more support in this book would have been helpful. I might have missed some details because a lot was going on, but I constantly found myself asking questions like “What are the limits of Hesina’s powers as queen? Why can’t she command this person to do this thing? Why bargain with her main enemy, Xia Zhong, instead of expose him right away?” I also think some of He’s terminology needed to be reworked, as she used phrases like “sticks of black powder,” “Investigation Bureau,” and “pillow log” - terms that got the main idea across, but felt a little clunky.

I did, however, like the idea of the Eleven and the Tenets, especially their role as historical people/documents that are idolized and not challenged. There’s a real opportunity in there for some exploration of how history is sanitized or how bad things are overlooked in the attempt to present the current state of a nation in the best possible light - it reminds me of the ways in which America idolizes the Founding Fathers yet glosses over aspects like slave ownership.

TL;DR: Descendant of the Crane suffers from a shallow exploration of too many plot threads, plot twists which feel in service to shock value, and a forgettable main character and love interest. While it does have some interesting themes, such as the idolization of historical figures, there was ultimately too much going on that I found it hard to focus on any one thing for long.

[saturnsorbits]

This piece almost reads like a warning tale. It paints such a vivid and strong picture that it's easy to imagine Reader reciting to us this story, hoping to save us from a similar fate. The whole thing is steeped in a morose atmosphere that infects every single atom in your body and it leaves you just as hopeless, swaying in the in-between of knowing the emptiness of Readers relationship and the inescapabilty it of.

'Not all relationships are the same.' This is the first thing we read as we step into this piece and what a line it is. Just this, simple sentence sets up the story wonderfully and wastes no time in creating the tense melancholic atmosphere that floats endlessly throughout the story. The opening concludes just as strongly, with that one short sentence: 'Don't ask'. Nestled between these two lines is one of the most wonderfully written short openings ever, it wastes no time, marinates us in the atmosphere it creates and then, puts us on edge with that clipped sentence leaving us on the edges of our seats as we read on.

This piece is a wonder of pace. It has such a conscious control of it's sentence structure and the effect it has on us as readers is brilliant. We're treated to these absolutely beautiful, poetic and lengthy paragraphs that reel us in, maintaining the atmosphere the piece created in the opening as we're dipped further in the story. Using run-on sentences here, the piece almost makes us feel like we're floating in a recollection as we wonder just how Reader and Shoyo's relationship ended up here. Through these paragraphs, we're treated to some of the smoothest passages of time encapsulated in the loveliest, if not devastating, of prose. My favourite of these, comes in the form of the vague scene before Shoyo leaves: 'You learned and mapped the callouses in his hands, the muscles in his back that ripped and moved underneath your palms, his strong arms that held onto your waist tightly, helping you move against him, his thighs that settled underneath you when you both came down for you high and his lips that kissed you so dearly, it made you cry because you would miss them, you would miss him.' and the more heart-wrenching: 'You never mentioned anything when he came back to the apartment, smelling like them until he showered it off, at least he thought he did, but when he laid behind you and curled up against your back, you swear you could still smell the sweet floral scent on him; a harsh reminder of the questions you swallowed. Nor the late night calls he always hides as business, away from your ears or the texts of ‘miss you’ in the early mornings. You don’t even ask him, as he gets down on his knee and pulls out a ring.' Then, the pacing shifts.

Short, stand-alone sentences like the aforementioned 'Don't ask' and 'But you didn't', break up the piece and act as small, slices of clarity for Reader. In turn, they force us to stop, to linger in these moments with her as she takes stock of her relationship with Shoyo and the effects it has had on her life. Together, these two techniques produce that killer pacing, the kind that keeps you reading and tugs at your heart strings and it's used amazingly well.

Comparison, as well as pacing, is another place where this piece really shines. There's the comparison created by those beautiful drawn out paragraphs, that use the same techniques to produce wildly differing emotions. The first giving us the hopeful butterflies of young love and the second producing the melancholic hum that runs throughout the piece. It's a beautiful way to show the deterioration of their relationship and sucks us in, drawing us into the vortex of their relationship and forcing us to feel exactly as helpless as Reader does. Then, there's the comparison of 'vanilla and raspberries' vs 'rust and copper'. This is such an astounding little detail and I will scream it from the rooftops. The repetition of the scent, the fact Shoyo can't get it off of himself and how it comes to embody the cheating (not to mention that it's a sweet scent, signifying that the rest of the relationship has soured, leaving a bitter taste in our mouths). This alone is brilliant and works so well, but it's that final comparison, the 'rust and copper' of Shoyo and Reader's relationship that seals the deal and made my heart drop to the floor. It's subtle, but it's perfect and it really did rip my heart out.

This piece had me hook, line and sinker from the start. It doesn't miss a single beat, doesn't drop it's atmosphere once and has some of the coldest, most heart-wrenching passages I've read (I am really in love with those run-on sentences)... It was brilliant, utterly brilliant.

ᴛɪᴛʟᴇ― lie to me ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ― hinata shoyo x reader ᴇxᴛᴇɴsɪᴏɴ― 1.5K ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ― listened to 5sos on loop for this fic. my piece for the frozen hearts collab; thank you for letting me join @kingkatsuki & @bakuroo-writings ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs― +18 ONLY, communication is key but not here.

Not all relationships are the same, depending on the relationship and your partner, you must decide on some ground rules for each other… and listen to the ones that cannot be named.

Some of them are easy, like never going to bed angry or meeting your parents, taking turns to see each other’s families on the holidays; basic relationship things.

But the unnamed ones? Those are tricky if you aren’t paying attention. The main thing about it is only one thing: find what it is and stick with it.

Yours and Shoyo's is simple. Don't ask.

When you started dating Shoyo during high school, you came to realize that it was a common thing for him to never ask you about some topics, about your estranged relationship with your parents or when you stopped talking to a friend - he somehow always knew and comforted you about it, whispering sweet nothings to you that always made your heart beat faster. Because of this you decided you could do the same for him, so when he came one afternoon to tell you he was moving to Japan, you didn’t ask him to stay or let you go with him, you simply gave him that one smile especially reserved for him and kissed him - telling him you were so happy that he was one step closer to his dream.

That night before he left, you spent it with him and your new apartment close to school, learning his body before it was gone for months, for years. You learned and mapped the callouses in his hands, the muscles in his back that ripped and moved underneath your palms, his strong arms that held onto your waist tightly, helping you move against him, his thighs that settled underneath you when you both came down for you high and his lips that kissed you so dearly, it made you cry because you would miss them, you would miss him.

He never asked you if you would go to visit, even though you could see it in his eyes on each video call you both had, lingering in his voice during your quick chats, between the lines of numerous texts… you never asked if he wanted you to go either, leave everything behind for him and waited until he came back to kiss away all the unasked questions from the past two years.

Never asked him to move in with you, just took him to your apartment in the city and kept him there long enough for him to start filling your closet with his clothes, your drawers with his things and his food in your fridge.

He didn’t ask about the long nights at your job, only picking things up from what you said or shared day by day, just like him. He had an exciting life in volleyball, you assumed he would think your office job to be boring even when you felt so accomplished. He accompanied you to office dinners and banquets that you had been invited to for work. He watched you grow into a great entrepreneur and never asked about it, just took it all in with so much pride in his eyes.

But maybe, you should have begun to ask things… ask him about his day and his friends. Ask him about the long trips and the frequent out-of-town games.

You should have asked him to come home when you heard the MSBY cheerleaders giggling too close to the speaker on his phone to be ‘just background sound’. You should have asked why he came back home late when you knew his practice had ended early that day.

But you didn’t.

You never mentioned anything when he came back to the apartment, smelling like them until he showered it off, at least he thought he did, but when he laid behind you and curled up against your back, you swear you could still smell the sweet floral scent on him; a harsh reminder of the questions you swallowed. Nor the late night calls he always hides as business, away from your ears or the texts of ‘miss you’ in the early mornings. You don’t even ask him, as he gets down on his knee and pulls out a ring.

Sitting outside, in the balcony of your new apartment, every flake of snow that falls is an icy reminder of all the questions that were never asked, all the answers that are trapped and all the feelings that will never be exposed. Shoyo comes out after a while and wraps you around with your favorite blanket, one you use to cuddle him on the rare nights that he ‘doesn’t have practice’ and can stay with you. It's your favorite time, whenever he isn’t busy, it means that there are no questions that form inside your head, no answers you are dying to get.

He smiles at you as he pulls you into his lap, the scent of vanilla and raspberries every present in his shirt, and brings his face down to kiss you. It's slow, but where it once made you into mush, now is empty and void of emotion.

He kisses your cheek, “Come back inside, baby. Your dad wants to make a toast.”* *Its time to continue the show, we don't want them to know.

Your fathers toast is beautiful, but every time he refers to you and Shoyo, to your beautiful and honest relationship, guilt and pain invade you. If only he knew about what is really happening, if only he knew the number one rule in this relationship, but he doesn’t and both of you are experts at hiding it - so you smile and kiss Shoyo in front of everyone, not paying attention to the glare you feel behind you.

Even when everyone leaves later, you can still feel that glare and the scent of vanilla and raspberries all around your apartment, you even smell it on the sheets of your bed when Shoyo lays you down on them as soon as he has you out of your clothes. It's impregnated in your nostrils when he pushes your head onto the pillows, angling himself better into you, never failing to hit all of your spots. It's ever present as you cum all over him, squirting on the sheets and hoping that your essence can take the smell away.

When you both go to shower, you're glad the water is drowning the tears that come out of your eyes as you realize the smell of vanilla and raspberries has stuck to your skin.

It takes years until you finally ask him. Years of being together, of being married, of working until you became vice president, of buying a house and a car, of getting a dog and having a kid, of having children that you finally ask.

You went to watch him play with your kids, smiling whenever he pointed at you all and made a no touch set. Him running up to you and kissing you on live TV, the kids making vomiting faces and him kissing their cheeks, laughing. When the game is over, you take the kids to the bathroom and wait outside, where soon Shoyo appears, with a cheerleader wrapped around him and when they notice you there, he pushes her off of him. He’s speechless as you both stand there, watching each other without asking. The kids come out and without a hitch you smile at him, “I’ll see you at home, okay?”.

The kids hug and kiss his cheeks as they walk by and take your hands, when you walk by the cheerleader you wrinkle your nose. Vanilla and raspberries.

He comes home late, so late that the kids fell asleep waiting for him and you're sitting on the couch with the dog's head on your lap. He comes in looking like he has aged much more than he has in the past years together.

You both face each other, not saying anything for a while but you get the feeling you should finally open your mouth and face him. Face the infidelity and the betrayal and everything that is unspoken.

Instead you break the first rule of your relationship.

“Do you love me, Shoyo?”*

*I know that you don’t, but I hope you lie to me anyway.

You don’t have to say it, a spark flashes by his eyes, he understands what you say, because both of you have always been able to read between the lines.

“Sorry I’m late, long practice!”*

*I went out with that girl again, it took longer than usual.

“Don’t worry, I know it's ball season - you need to be ready.”*

*I know, as long as you come back, I won’t ask.

He smiles sadly at you at sits beside you, the smell of vanilla and raspberries so strong on him as he leans to kiss your lips. Leaning his forehead against yours, a sigh bursting from deep within, carried with years of guilt and exhaustion.

“Of course I love you, more than anything.”*

*I don’t love you anymore, but we have a life together and I’m not going to leave it or you. I promise.

You sob as you pull him closer, “I love you too.”* You kiss him harshly, biting his bottom lip until it bleeds at the smell of vanilla and raspberries are replaced for rust and copper.

*I won’t leave you either, as long as you lie to me.

[theastrophilearchitect]

Let’s talk about manga.

I’ve been avoiding manga and anime for a few years. Why? Not because I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, but because I thought I would. I knew I would, I would love it, but I had enough things in my life to obsess over already, so I wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.

Then, I tried to get one of my friends to watch Shadow and Bone, so we made a deal: she would watch the show, and I would read the first two volumes of her favourite manga: Death Note. 

Just to clarify, this is not a Death Note review (though I will be mentioning it a lot) but just a ramble about my introduction to manga. I’ve now finished Death Note (which is only 12 volumes) and am planning to read others next, along with watching one of this friend’s favourite animes (because I wanted to read the manga, but then she sent me videos of the characters using their powers, and I just can’t say no to that.

So my friend started Shadow and Bone, and I read the first Death Note volume. At least in this manga, each volume was around 200 pages, containing 8-10 chapters, and I read the first one in its entirety in just over an hour. It was a great feeling--a 200 page prose book would take me about three hours start to finish, and I enjoyed it too. I now know this was partly because it was just the first volume, but it was fast-paced, it set up storylines and mysteries, the story was interesting, and I did like the art style.

I read it so quickly, and was able to log it on Goodreads. This year, I initially set my reading goal at 30 books, because I only read 23 books in 2020 in comparison to my 79 in 2019, but I surpassed that halfway through March, mostly thanks to audiobooks. However, it gave me the ambition to read 100 books this year, but I didn’t want to set that as my goal until i was much nearer it, in case my reading speed decreased (which I was confident it would). I read 12 manga volumes in two weeks. While there is a clear difference between the value of a 200-page manga volume and that of an 800-page book in the context of my reading goal, it was a good feeling. Which means as of today, May 26th, my reading goal is 120 books in 2021, and I have read 60. I’m halfway there, and it’s not even June. (I also would not consider 12 volumes to hold the same value as 12 prose books, but I don’t really care.)

Death Note is set in the early 2000s, when one day, top student Light Yagami looks out of the window in class and notices a black notebook on the ground. After class, he picks it up, and it’s a Death Note, a book in which a person can write somebody’s name with their face in mind, and that person will die. And so, Light takes it upon himself to rid the world of criminals, and becomes the infamous, all-powerful killer ‘God’, Kira. Throughout the series, characters are haunted by Shinigami (Japanese death gods), lose memories, and there is so much deception. In all honesty, I understand like 55% of what happened in the climax, because one person explained how they executed their plan, then the other explained how they undermined them, then the first one explained how they undermined them, and it was just very, very complicated. 

Volumes 7 and 12 killed me. They killed me.

And the biggest shock to me: I loved the format. Reading ‘backwards’ took some getting used to--as in the original Japanese, it is meant to be read right to left, top to bottom, which was surprisingly easy to remember. I was impressed at the character design and the ease with which I could differentiate them. What in prose would have been told in narration was told in imagery, which sent the pace through the roof--and Death Note is apparently a slow manga.

This had a very different structure to typical prose books--where novels in prose have one climax, and the last book in a series has a final, overarching climax, this had several climaxes throughout the series. Sure, they built in intensity with every volume, but not every volume really had a climax. Where I tend to think of stories following a however-many-act structure as ropes, in which various threads are introduced, woven together, dropped and picked back up, Death Note followed more of a domino effect, the issue with which is that very few things mentioned early on foreshadow anything. For example, in the first volume, the Shinigami haunting Light, Ryuk, mentions a deal which will give Light Shinigami eyes, allowing him to see people’s names and lifespans when he sees their faces, at the cost of half his remaining life. This does come into play, but Light denies it and says he would make the deal for Ryuk’s wings--this is never mentioned again.

Also, I hate that I’m putting this bit last, because it means we’re ending on a bad note, but I do have to address it: the sheer misogyny in this series, published primarily in the 2000s, is astounding. The only reason I could put up with it was the sheer lack of female characters (which is not a good thing). Shall we review all the female characters in this series (at least the ones I remember)? It certainly says something that I can think of only four. (And this bit will have spoilers.)

First, Naomi Misora. Misora is female because she is the fiancee of an FBI agent, who obviously had to be male, which makes her female, because heteronormativity. Misora dies in the same volume she’s introduced. She investigates her fiancee’s death (after he was killed by Light), and Light kills her. Simple. That’s it.

Number two. This is the big one: Misa Amane. She’s the most major female character, and is kind of the worst character ever. She’s girly, obsessed with Light, and dislikeable. Also hate the fact she’s significantly shorter and generally smaller than any other character, male or female. At one point, it gave her measurements, and her wait was twenty inches. Twenty. Yes, some people have that, but for 99% of people, it’s impossible. 

Amane has no agency. The vast majority of her actions are under orders by Light, except during her introduction, in which she does what she does with the intention of meeting Kira--AKA Light. Her motivations are to get Light to love her--which he never does. She kills hundreds of people for him, retires in her early twenties to marry him, and does everything he says at the drop of a hat. She gives up three quarters of her life, making the deal for Shinigami eyes to aid Light not once, but twice, after she loses her memory and the eyes in volume 4 or 5. On the plus side, she survives to the end.

Number three: Kyomi Takada. Takada is introduced early on, then dropped, and picked back up. She primarily acts as a middle man, when Light becomes unable to continue Kira’s killings, between Light and the acting Kira. She’s only female because Light communicates with her under the guise of dates, and could literally be replaced by a phone. Also, she dies. Light kills her to save his own hide.

Number four: somebody Lidner. I don’t remember her full name. She is female because she was one of Takada’s bodyguards, and they apparently thought it would make more sense to give Takada female bodyguards. Lidner doesn’t die, but is merely a plot device, as is every other female character.

Four female characters, fine, but when compared to every male character I can name, not so much: Light Yagami, Soichiro Yagami, Ryuzaki, Watari, Near, Mello, Ide, Aizawa, Matsuda, Mogi, Rester, Higuchi, all of whom have more agency alone than the women do combined.

The characters who are women are only women because heteronormativity deems they have to be. Even if we accept heteronormativity, not every other character had to be male. L could be female. Mello could be. Near. Higuchi. Matsuda. Aizawa. Mogi. Ide. Almost every one of them. But, hey, sexism.

But I loved it. I did love it, so when I finally finish a prose book, I’m coming for Tokyo Ghoul.