#the unreliable narratorness of it all!

[daisywords]

nothing like going all caps in the notes doc <3

[lyssq]

The Ruin or Kings is truly the pinnacle of unreliable narrators. Kihrin and Talon are telling the story and you cannot trust either of them to tell the proper truth – meanwhile Thurvishar is writing this down and he’s pointing out the mistakes in the above two’s narrative, however we find out later that he himself added stuff that is straight up Not True

[warriorprincesstramp]

is daisy jones a tiktok book yeah is it not very good yes also but it's such a slay concept to adapt to the screen of course I'm tuning in. are you crazy.

[youssefguedira]

almost done with fleabag s1 and i do generally like what they've added tbh i like that it's a lot more fleshed out bc the first episode gets through like half of the stage show on its own. so even though i know how it ends it's still a good time. very curious to see how the show itself ends (i have 1 episode left) + what they do with season 2 because i think that is an entirely different story so thatll be an experience. ultimately for the story it covers i do prefer the stage show just cause it's a masterpiece and its format (isolation; feels like a stand up performance sometimes) really serves the story but i've said that like 17 times. good show tho

[bookinit02]

hi!!! i just read chp 12 of a new place to be from and GOD. SRNGGHN29IFDWNJAXXANDWJ;@#AWXNKASLKB.

your writing is absolutely beautiful i can literally see the scene playing out thank you so much for this fic and series <333 i am so normal about the pining the unreliable narratorism of it all it's so REAL.

THANK YOUUUUUU this means the absolute world to me and i appreciate you so very much💗💗🫶🏼

[puhpandas]

and he'd write ggy too. I feel like hed show it to Gregory so he could see his pov. it also makes the unreliable narratorness even funnier from any perspective bc either Tony still wouldnt have pinpointed his problems since he was 12 and accidentally wrote himself experiencing them without meaning to or he does know and hes making himself an unreliable narrator as either a love letter to his younger self or to make fun of himself 😭

and all of the mimic info would be from him being with Gregory for so long and experiencing the mimic stuff too until they defeated it, so he knows its history

hc that because the fnaf games are canon in the SW era that Tony writes tales from the pizzaplex when he gets older

[inknose]

mdzs read diary part IV, the end

It’s inspiring how much self care wwx is gonna finally get now that his husband will go along with whatever he does, so he’s gotta look out for lwj’s well being if not his own. that is emphatically the STUFF

dragging my hands down I face as I read this, after all these chapters of getting up close and personal with ghouls bleeding from every orifice, slaying ancient beasts, rebelling against the entire cultivation world, the two of them are absolutely paralyzed by middle school crush sleepover math

chicken

he actually drew kissy doodles .... he....

IDK I THINK I JUST DOCUMENTED THIS PART CUZ I WAS STILL SCREAMING you cant expect me to have very useful things to say at this point

this is torture you are both so mushy you are so GONE

This part really stood out to me, it’s an attitude I feel like wwx implies with his inner narration a few times but most clearly says here: he’s not one for allowing himself to exaggerate how bad his circumstances are/could be even a little bit - he’s already lived through some extreme low points and found a way to keep going, so he never makes sweeping statements about what he couldn’t live without (Inner JingYi: you’re supposed to say you’d be lost without him here!!!) Instead he seems to accept as a given that being alive doesn’t guarantee him any pleasantness or joy at all, and as a result his feelings toward being in TRUE LOVE are surprisingly pragmatic, but also colored with such gratitude. There are a lot of things in the novel that struck me, like this, as being just a little to the left of familiar tropes/sentiments, and were more touching for it. Whether it be the influence of culture difference as opposed to what I’m used to reading in most western romance stories, or MXTX’s unique outlook, or a combination of both, it was really refreshing and made me pause over it. Not “I can’t imagine living without you” but “I could be living without you, but instead I get to be with you and I think that’s the best thing that could happen.”

ADJFDKFJ THE UST BEING SO STRONG THAT EVEN THE VILLAIN COMMENTS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXECUTING HIS EVIL PLANS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL NEVER FAIL TO MAKE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF. hes like god damn! here I thought I had problems

it was at this moment that I realized we were doing this Now... I’m still recovering. What a scene. I am so glad I saw the most incredible fanart soon afterwards, bc the fact that someone has already drawn a perfect comic of this part means I don’t have to

I love you so much, you are so annoying, you are perfect... I like how he’s been experiencing openly requited love for all of ten minutes but he’s already figured out how to weaponize it to piss people off

doing!!! his!!! job!!!!!

ahh... it’s a really good story. JGY is a great character. One of the most interesting differences for me between drama watching vs. novel reading experience is that without an actor to bat his vulnerable doe eyes at you and smile faintly with his cute dimples, the book does not go much out of its way to try to lull the reader into a false sense of security around him or *endear* him to you the way the show does. But just by seeing events through wei wuxian’s POV, its still enough to evoke pity or understanding towards him. The overall impression is a bit more detached though, there’s less emphasis on the spectacle of how he could manipulate everyone closest to him and more of a general feeling of resigned tragedy that everyones the worst on this bitch of an earth.

I CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU FOR EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!!!!

I clearly paused to take note of less and less parts at the end & the extras due to: a) too excited to reach the end b) too spicy to photograph and c) too sleepy cuz I kept reading in the middle of the night. but I absolutely took the time for Bro We Are Teens appreciation corner:

I’d absolutely read 40 more extra chapters of their monster-of-the-week field trip antics.

god... poor Jin Ling now basically has to deal with divorced parents that talk shit about each other to him whenever he is saying with one of them. except they are both his uncles. just a disasterhood of all uncles from start to finish. AUUUGH wei wuxian and jiang cheng have fucked me up completely, I dream of them reconciling but I also REFUSE to believe it would ever be easy. let me know if theres a fanfic that absolutely tortures you for decades before they hug

HAHAHA oh no this man ain’t making it to immortality thats for damn sure. HE’S JUST GONNA TRY AS HARD AS HE CAN HIS WHOLE LIFE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM BUT THEYRE *MARRIED* SDLKFJSF ohhhh it’s too funny, like... the mundane domestic family drama IN the fantastical swords and sorcery setting is what really ratchets up these things from amusing to fucking hilarious I think

aaaa the end... final random thoughts? No not final, I would like to please keep discussing at length and exhaustively, all the time please - CQL has gotta be one of the best TV adaptations I’ve seen. ANY adaptation of anything would be lucky to be so good!! reading the novel has just made me appreciate it even more.

- I don’t think I can do justice to what I find most fascinating about comparing the two versions briefly, to do that I need to get drunk and ramble at my friends for hours but... the condensed version is something like this. Really all the significant differences between the two versions (besides the ones which can be attributed to censorship and therefore aren’t worth discussing) are a side effect of the structure of how the story is told - there’s barely anything changed arbitrarily. Aside from having a cold opening, the drama sticks to a very linear version of the story, and I think for a TV show or film, that’s probably the best way to do it. We see everything, we get shocked and tricked and betrayed and surprised along with the characters, we feel the biggest impact at the climactic scenes having experienced all the build-up. The novel on the other hand is not only much more non-linear in WHEN we learn bits and pieces of information, but that information is also obfuscated under wei wuxian’s multiple layers of Unreliable Narratoritis, which are as follows: 1) difficulty remembering things because of personality/avoiding painful memories/actual memory loss, 2) No Homo Goggles still on, and 3) a wry sense of humor that makes the reader unsure of how much they can trust his attitude toward things, especially near the beginning. The experience of reading is a puzzle the reader has to mentally piece together through all of the above listed camouflage, and the puzzle itself is a three-sided mystery: One - How Bad of a guy was Wei WuXian really, and how exactly did all the bad stuff in his life go down; Two - wangxian epic pride & prejudice gambits; Three - political murder mystery. (I love stories like this btw... though I fully admit I’m glad I watched first this time bc it might have taken me a long time to tackle otherwise.) Because of this, where the drama wants to pull you in and submerge you in all the most potent emotional parts, the novel in direct contrast deliberately side-steps around these things and asks that you hurt yourself by filling in the blanks. In fact the more intense emotions and painful memories involved, whether it be his relationship with jiang yanli, his DEATH, the darkest days of war times etc, the more the novel evasively withholds details. I actually really like both styles of storytelling but each one is obviously way better suited to its medium. ANYWAY.... THATS BASICALLY WHERE MY BRAINS AT WHILE IM READING GAY SWORD WIZARD BOOKS

- The extras are so saturated with domestic married bliss that it’s a good thing I stopped taking pictures because I’d just take a picture of every page. this is too much for me to take... I did jump the gun a few times and read a few fanfics while I was still mid-read of the book (I tried to hold out but alas I am mortal) and at one point after finishing I was like “wow what fic was it in where lwj says something cute and wwx kisses him in public but they’re in the corner of the restaurant so no one really sees... OH NO WAIT that was actually in there.” and ... and that’s the LEAST OF IT... *stares into the distance* theyre married wow

- I ofc couldn’t help but see a few vague blogs beforehand so honestly I was braced for something like, wildly ooc for the sake of porn to happen in the extras... I definitely appreciate how the incense burner porn interludes could be uhhh a lot for many people and not my personal cup of tea in terms of smut however [here follows the words of a poisonous frog who has dwelt her whole life in the rainforests of BL] the concept is also surprisingly SWEET SDFLKJF like wwx sees lan wangji’s darkest mixed-up violent teenage fantasies and he’s just like aww babe you had a crush on me!! just... good for them

- I swear I’m not gonna rehash every cute married thing they do but wei wuxian grading papers in the tub........................rEALLY GOT ME

- I want to Draw - ok thats enough if I keep going I’ll just write “wei wuxian grading papers in the tub” seven more times probably

[flightfoot]

Agreed with this! Nightheart’s perspective is fascinating to read, with his Unreliable Narratorness. I can see how he’s come to the conclusion that everyone, especially Squilf, is against him, but from an outside perspective I can also see that he’s expecting special treatment and to be treated as more important and with more deference than he’d realize is warranted if it was with any other cat. He and Sunbeam both very much give off teenager vibes. Ironically Frostpaw’s more mature than both of them, even with her being younger and feeling younger.

I really want to see Nightheart crash and burn, especially with him being convinced that Shadowclan will give him the respect and “fairness” he thinks he deserves. He’s gonna get a nasty wake-up call there, especially with Berryheart showing what actual unfairness looks like. Preferably I’d like to see him with some actual responsibility and stakes, so that he has some clue about the kinds of decisions authority figures need to make, and realize why his own feelings aren’t always at the top of say, Squirrelflight’s and Bramblestar’s priority lists, and why they might care about their clan more. 

And then I want to see him pick himself up, grow from it, and actually bring some decent ideas to the clans. I like how he questions the established ways of doing things, and comes up with new ideas. I think he could revitalize the clans and make it so they’re less stagnant, he just needs to be taken down about a dozen pegs first. I’m betting he becomes leader of Riverclan somehow.

Also Frostpaw needs all the hugs and to not have as much pressure on her shoulders. She doesn’t deserve any of this.

Just read Sky, and here are some quick thoughts

I actually liked this book more than I was expecting

I really liked how political it was — every POV character was grappling with politics in some capacity

I loved seeing the rise of factionalism in ShadowClan

It was interesting to me that the main traditionalists were two family groups that were both hit hard by the events of the previous two arcs (Berryheart, Yarrowleaf, and Snowbird, especially, are a family who lost several members as a direct result of the Kin in AVOS, and more still due to interfering with the Ashfur situation in TBC)

They have a good reason to oppose outsiders entering ShadowClan, but that doesn’t make them right

Berryheart is a special kind of crazy, straight up yelling at her leader

I loved all the drama in RiverClan and Mothwing trying desperately to hold the Clan together

There’s definitely some shady shit going on with Splashtail, and probably others too

I hate Tigerheartstar, but I really like that he’s being pushed toward tyranny by a dangerous combination of grief, ego, and his power as a Clan leader

I can’t wait to see where this all goes

Oh and somethings up with Bramblestar

Again

I also really liked that Frostpaw doesn’t really have a connection to StarClan

Also lmao poor Owlnose

Nightheart and Sunbeam are both very annoying to me, but I feel like their POV chapters perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be a teenager, which is the target audience

Both of them are petty and insecure, and they actively encourage the worst in each other, but they’re terrible in a way that’s realistic to teenagers

Nightheart specifically reminds me of myself in high school (please bear in mind, I’ve now graduated from college)

His eagerness to prove himself and frustration with not being taken seriously is unfortunately relatable

Actually what I like about Nightheart’s POV is that he’s a great example of an unreliable narrator

Like you can see how he comes to the conclusion that he’s being given apprentice tasks because everyone doubts him and he failed his assessment twice, and his insecurity makes him angry and bitter, which makes him snotty and withdrawn from everyone, which makes people dislike him (for valid reasons)

And all of that feeds his victim complex, so he digs himself deeper and deeper into his hole of self-pity

Honestly, it seemed to me that everyone’s reaction to Nightheart’s dramatics was totally reasonable

Thriftear and Flipclaw teased him all in good fun, but he saw it as making fun of him and doubting him

Squirrelflight reprimanded him for disobeying her and going to ShadowClan because it was a dangerous move, both politically and literally, but Nightheart took her reprimand personally because of his insecurity

Not to mention, he’s given apprentice tasks because he’s the youngest warrior and there aren’t any apprentices, but again, his anger and insecurity makes him take it as an insult

And honestly, it seems more like he’s the one constantly comparing himself to Firestar than his Clanmates do

Also, it seems like Nightheart expects special treatment from Squirrelflight and Bramblestar and is offended when they don’t give it to him

Reading from an outside perspective, it’s painfully obvious that Nightheart himself is the root of all his problems, but I can empathize with him because I too have been an angsty teenager who felt like it was me against the world (especially within my family)

I think the most interesting part of Nightheart’s POV by far was getting caught in the crossfire of his grandparents’ fucked up relationship

Also dear god Bramblestar and Squirrelflight are back at it again PLEASE JUST BREAK UP WITH HIM SQUILF YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER

Sunbeam also gives massive teen vibes, due to her petty drama with Lightleap

Literally only a high schooler would think “wow my ex-bestie is grieving for her little brother… too bad we’re not friends anymore and it’s not my problem!“ but then get jealous that she’s not the one comforting her friend

I really think Sunbeam and Nightheart won’t work out, just like a typical teen romance

Nightheart is using Sunbeam as an escape from his problems in ThunderClan, but he’ll realize that HE is the problem when the same things happen to him in ShadowClan

Not to mention that Nightheart doesn’t seem to REALLY want Sunbeam as a mate — he’s latching onto her as an opportunity to leave ThunderClan because she’s the only cat who puts up with him

Sunbeam is using him as a rebound — she doesn’t really like him, she just likes that he likes her

I think that this relationship has the potential to be great for both characters’ development, but only if it doesn’t work out

Please Erin’s I’m begging you don’t fuck this up I like where you’re going with this arc PLEASE don’t write another BristleRoot or turn this into the second half of AVOS

[roselightfairy]

Ah, I do love this! And I think you're right - I mean, Bilbo is definitely very fond of all of the characters in the book! And it's so interesting how you point at the careful storytelling and his Unreliable Narratorness as a way of showing it - and honestly yeah, re your point in that previous conversation, I really do think it's a misunderstanding! @deheerkonijn​ and I have joked elsewhere that Thranduil was ultimately secretly relieved the dwarves escaped because he didn’t really want to hold them prisoner but also didn’t want to admit he was wrong about anything - and I think that’s also something Bilbo could quite sympathize with! Also I love the theory that Bilbo has the dwarves look over parts of it and provide their critical commentary; it’s so sweet!

Anyway, agree, agree, agree :)

Am I reading too much into it? Mayhaps. But I think the way the Hobbit handles every scene with the Elvenking is a master class in a very specific genre of unreliable narrator.

[lokeanrampant]

YAAAAASSSS.  This is it, exactly.  @justiceforthedas​ and I were just discussing what they could do if they had a writer who actually liked Anders and liked all the unreliable narratorness of Varric in DA2 (and to some extent, still in DAI).  There’s Sooooooo much potential.  But I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.  

THEY DO NOT GET TO SHIT ON ANDERS IN DA4.

What I say: I don’t want Anders in DA4.

What I mean: I really want nothing more than for Anders to be a huge part of DA4 because there’s so much more you can do with his story but only if he’s handled by a competent writer who understands the nuances of his character and effectively illustrates them in the game so the fandom can finally stop with this ‘Anders is the most evil Dragon Age character’ crap. But since BioWare seems determined to demonize him for everything ( even things he didn’t do)I realistically know that the chances of someone giving him the arc he deserves are slim to none so I’d rather him just not be in the game at all than to see them fuck him up.

[dragon-with-a-tophat]

The way all the cliffhangers are written is so good?? Like it never got annoying to constantly have weird twists and I love that so much. ALSO X's unreliable narratorness?? I l o v e

i-

hmmm

girl in space

no murdering no murderingnomurderingnomu-

im,,,, okay??? i GUESS??

im almost done with girl in space and damn i am fearing but loving this fucking podcast