#vows of empire

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[cloudcover23]

Just finished reading (listening to) The Bloodright Trilogy by Emily @skrutskie and it was SO FUN and I’m miffed!

Yes!

Absolutely miffed!

That there isn’t more chatter about it here.

It’s one of those sci-fi/fantasy universes where queerness is a totally normal accepted thing.

The best-written trans man I’ve ever read. The fact that he’s trans doesn’t even come up because there are no outright sexy scenes (NUMEROUS innuendos and implied sexyness? Oh. Hell yah). I’m only sure he was from little snippets and my own experience being one.

It’s got roommates to lovers (omg they were ROOMMATES)

Super exciting action scenes.

Secret, covert plans within plans inside a plan sandwich.

Some really cute “we know we both like eachother but we shouldn’t be together, and now we have to pretend to be together but we aren’t, and now we have to pretend we’re NOT together but we are” shit without too much angst.

I love how the author wrote the characters. Everyone’s motives and thoughts and actions make complete sense given a character’s personality and history, and it’s an incredibly colorful cast.

There are some really excellent character arcs.

Really good fun sci-fi action adventure shit without getting too into hard sci-fi territory.

Politicking and plotting and strategizing.

A bit of graphic violence. Not gonna lie. Just a smidge.

Uhhhgggg someone please read these and come yell with me. The audio books were really good too. Well, the first was hands down one of the best audio books I’ve ever heard. The second was not as good. The third was good and had 4 different narrators. You can listen to them for free on Libby if you have a library card.

[aurorawest]

I’m so excited to read the final book in this gay space trilogy!

Hm the printing seems messed up…

Hm I literally cannot read the words on the page…

I mean who needs to READ a book, amiright?

Terrible job, Del Rey.

[dontyoulistentome]

Woah, Gal is such a simp he'll let a man kick him in the nuts, and still take him back

[linka-from-captain-planet]

"[Celene accepting Duke Remache's proposal of marriage, which would likely eliminate Gaspard's challenge to her rule] is worth considering," Briala said, interrupting Celene's thoughts. Celene glanced over to see that Briala was refilling her teacup, her eyes still downcast. "It is not." Celene took the elven woman by the shoulder and gently tilted up Briala's chin until those beautiful eyes met hers. "If I tie myself to some lord, it will be for more than good hunting grounds in the Deauvin Flats." Perhaps it was selfish. Perhaps it was a mistake in the Game, even. But Celene had lost enough of her own life to the Empire of Orlais already... as had Briala. Briala's gaze softened. "Majesty."

A favorite moment from The Masked Empire, encapsulating a lot of what I find so compelling about them, particularly the drive-by interruption by Celene's guilty conscience and how much of a colossal understatement "perhaps it was a mistake in the Game" turns out to be

[livingstonegordo]

Ettian and Gal do this thing where they say "no empire is worth it if I don't have you too."

These stupid boys will chose each other over their entire EMPRIES every time.

Book names + authors under the cut

KJ Brandman/Mac Coyle- Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan & Cliff Chiang

Ettian Nassun/Gal Ump Ember- Bonds of Brass/Bloodright Trilogy by Emily Skrutskie

Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Tennal Halkana/Surit Yeni- Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell

[thefourteenflames]

Valyrian Wedding Rituals & Its Parallels

“Among the people who came to inhabit Northumbria and the Lothians, as well as among other Germanic peoples, the nuptials were completed in two distinct phases. (…) The parties plighted their troth and the contract was sealed, like any other contract, by a hand-shake. This joining of hands was called handfæstung in Anglo-Saxon, and the same word is found in different forms in the German, Swedish and Danish languages. In each it means a pledge by the giving of the hand.” Handfasting' in Scotland - The Scottish Historical Review; Anton, A. E. (1958)

“In ancient Rome, a wedding was a sacred ritual involving many religious practices. (…) In a Roman wedding both sexes had to wear specific clothing. Men had to wear the toga virilis while the bride to wear a wreath, a veil, and a yellow hairnet.” Women's Costume and Feminine Civic Morality in Augustan Rome; Sebesta, Judith Lynn (1997)

“ When the terms of the ketubah were accepted a cup of wine was shared to seal the marriage covenant. (…) The bride and groom shared the same cup, symbolizing the shared life that would be theirs. (…) Wine in Judaism has always symbolized joy. (…) Wine also symbolized blood. The marriage covenant is a blood covenant in the eyes of God. Two lives become one in a lifelong commitment.” The Ancient Jewish Wedding; Lash, Jamie (2012)

[bumblee27]

Well, hello! Here's a little treat for @pearlescent-poppies as part of the @mcyt-summer-of-yuri! I hope you like it! ^^

"I'll be your house when your roof starts leaking <3" - It Gets Better, Bears in Trees (it's just cute and it fits :3)

-

The queen of Gilded Helianthia landed at the base of the winding stairs leading to the magnificent Prisma Palace of the Ocean Empire with great grace. She brushed down her dress, neatly folded her golden wings and began the ascent to the top of the tower. Granted, it would have been far quicker to simply fly to the top, but, well, she was a bit of a stickler for politeness.

“Lizzie? Lizzie, are you here?” she called, wandering about a bit. She waited, but there was no response. She wrinkled her nose in disappointment, telling herself that she would have to make her desired trade another time, and was just about to take off when she heard a cough.

A cough? Pearl wondered for a moment whether she was hearing things, but no, there promptly came another.

“Hello? Anyone there?” She followed the direction it had come from, her footsteps echoing on the prismarine floor. (A/N, I know it's not prismarine, but I can't remember what it is :’D) She crossed the bridge to the smaller tower of the two that made up the Prisma Palace, and after some hesitation, pushed aside the curtain of kelp that marked the Ocean Queen’s private quarters. “Queen Lizzie?”

Pearl took a small, surprised intake of breath. For the mighty, powerful queen of the ocean, renowned throughout the empires for her unmatched strength, knife-sharp intelligence and effortless intimidation - was curled in a ball on her bed, sniffling like a child with a cold.

“Queen Pearl! A- ah. A pleasure to see you, as always. What can I do for you?”

“Are you alright?”

“Me? Yes, perfectly.” The axolotl-hybrid wiped her nose with her arm in a rather unladylike fashion, standing up hurriedly, before stumbling, falling back onto her bed and swearing under her breath. Pearl’s compassionate nature took over, and she leaned in to feel her forehead. She did not notice Lizzie flush an even darker shade of red.

“Goodness, you're boiling! ‘Perfectly fine’? You're sick as anything! I'd say a fever, if you're lucky.”

Lizzie groaned, covering her face in her hands. “Please don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Your reputation is the least of your concerns right now, madam!”

“Excuse you! I am a respected queen-”

“Yeah, well, so am I. But I have medical training, and right now, you're my patient. So you are going to stay right here while I fly back to Gilded Helianthia and get my kit. Got it?”

Lizzie frowned, looking as though she was going to protest again, but then huffed and curled into a ball. “Please try not to be long.”

[zigcarnivorous]

I am your valentine you fatted hogs

You are a cast off meal for Satan, not even to care or fart on, you go on the heap, you rot

[rabbitholessk]

why can’t life pause so I can read ruthless vows in PEACE

[unhealthy-obessions]

For the past month or so, I have been reading. Like a fuck ton of reading. What exactly was I reading? The Rina-Kent Universe. Yes, my book taste has escalated severely, probs not in a good way.

Idk, I had an itch for a possessive book bf and I found a lot in Rina’s books. A few of them (Sebestian, Kingsley, Jonathan) were annoying. A few of them were concerning (Aiden, Cole, Killian, Creighton, Adrian, Jeremy, Sebestian again). A few of them I downright loved and I ignore each and every fault (Kiril, Levi, Aiden bcs I’m insane, Cole, Asher, Killian (as someone who doesn’t eat well, him making her lunches gives him a special place in my heart) Landon, Eli).

I can’t even defend myself. I just wanted dark shit and that’s exactly what I got. 10/10, I had so much fun during it all and I can’t even remember half of the couples!!!

[aurorawest]

Reading update

Once again Cat Sebastian took characters I actively disliked/didn't care about from a previous novel and made me love them. This one was lovely and the twist totally took me by surprise, even though it shouldn't have. A+ Cat Sebastian please write more books (I have totally already preordered her next book).

Who would think a book about living through the AIDS epidemic in NYC in the 80s would be as funny as this book is? It will also tear your heart out and stomp on it. Highly recommended. This was a 5 star read. Also takes place partly in Minneapolis (and is by a Minnesotan author) so it gets bonus stars for that.

Another delightful entry into Roan Parrish's Garnet Run series. This one was the most lighthearted. My only problem with this series is that I kind of don't want the old characters showing up as much as they do. I never like them as much when they're just side characters.

Neal Stephenson...you might want to consider taking a break from writing. Parts 1 and 2 were pretty good - typical Stephenson, though I wouldn't say he's at his best in this one. The science is super interesting (I have no idea if it's realistic) and it's an interesting doomsday scenario. Part 3, on the other hand, was unnecessary and simplistic (Cold War in space! Noble Savage! White Savior!). It was such poor payoff for the first 2/3 of the book that I repeatedly wished he hadn't bothered at all—and that I hadn't bothered reading the book.

Also it was almost 900 pages long.

I didn't LOVE love the first book in this series, but you know, it was good enough for me to pick up the sequel. I was actually enjoying this one more, but it fell apart for me during The Break Up. One of the main characters is basically allowed to get away with his bullshit because...I don't know, he's just Like That. It irritated me.

Despite the printing error, I was able to read this book. I love this series and am sad it's over. If you want a good space opera with a friends to lovers to enemies to lovers again, I highly recommend this one. It's also Very Gay! Plus great female characters.

This is a queer military series so if that's not your thing, you won't like this book haha. So far it's followed two guys serving on a submarine. It's pretty typical Annabeth Albert, and tbh the military stuff is pretty secondary (and in this one there is 0 time spent on a sub). This one has a single dad as the love interest, and while I'm always pretty eh about romances involving children, Albert does it pretty well.

Man was this one heavier than I thought it was going to be. Milo and Marcus both come from very conservative families and meet at Bible camp, where they room together and fall for each other, though neither of them acts on it. Milo decides he's going to tell Marcus how he feels, only for Marcus to disappear from camp. Three years later...Marcus moves to Daytona Beach and starts at Milo's high school! There is a lot of internalized homophobia in this one and a lot of Milo struggling with what he's been taught in church and by his parents, and at times it got hard to read. It was really good, though.

This is one that I kept almost buying because it's pretty, but then I'd read the summary (again) and think, eh. I ended up picking up a used copy at my local indie bookstore, and...eh. Definitely not a bad book. I loved the world, and I really like Lexos. Rhea was...not great. I realized after reading this that I really don't care for the current popular trope of the Unhinged Woman Who Doesn't Know What She Stands For. Like, she's got this thing that's ostensibly driving her, but that thing gets taken away, and now she's empty. I don't know that I've ever seen it pulled off in a way where I didn't go at the end, "Oh, so she actually was just a super flat character all along?" I was trying to think of examples of male characters who fit this trope. I'm sure they're out there but I couldn't think of any. Anyway, I'll probably read the sequel, because the world really was cool, and Lexos is poor little meow meow material (spent his whole life trying to earn his father's love and respect, never could).

Oh man this book was great. The first one had some horror elements, but this one was straight up horror for large portions of the book. Like, action-horror—think Army of Darkness. I love all the characters so much. The bond between Rune and Brand is *chef's kiss*. Male friendship done beautifully.

KJ Charles is like Cat Sebastian in that no one does historical romance like she does. I confirmed once more that I love the interwar period, especially when one of the mains is a Wounded Veteran of WWI. This book actually reminded me of Cat Sebastian's Hither, Page (which is post WWII) which I love, so I was pretty primed to also love this. I'd love to see the further adventures of Archie and Daniel, but considering it was written in 2015, I'm not sure that's going to happen.

I liked this book, but also the dialogue got very annoying at times. Is this how The Kids talk these days? Also rolled my eyes hard at the section devoted to the author getting up on his soapbox to share how he feels Call Me By Your Name is really problematic. But overall I enjoyed it, and the bi rep was top tier, as was the yearning.

Okay so while I enjoyed this book well enough, it would have been half the length if Pons had cut out all of the 'I've never felt so connected to another person in my life' paragraphs. I swear, the main character was constantly connecting with his boyfriend in a way he never had with anyone else ever. The book was very much about Will, but there was some heavy stuff introduced about Graham that I didn't think was really given the due it deserved. But it was a sweet love story, and a story about healing. Also I didn't see the twist coming.

So coincidentally, Call Me By Your Name was right there in my TBR pile as I was reading This is Why They Hate Us. I liked it a lot, though the weird racist interlude really threw me and I can't figure out what the metaphor was or what Acimen was trying to say.

Fam, I am finally reading Dark Rise. It is not gay yet, but I'm only up to page 100. I really didn't know what it was about and only picked it up because Pacat wrote it, so the plot has surprised me so far. Very different from Captive Prince.

[piratedashmod]

Marigold and Lavender were trailing far behind in the race at the Sisterhooves Social. The apple tossing was not going well. It didn't help the two crystal pones that Marigold wasn't too athletic and struggled to catch the fruit in the basket.

But it really wasn't about finishing first. It was about strengthening the bond the two shared, and getting Marigold away from her struggles in the Empire.

[acourtofquestions]

Please for the love of Wyrd tell me Celaena actually gets to say “I love you” to Sam at least once.

[ceruleanvermillion]

Enemies (with benefits) to lovers Guili hostage prince au where zhongli is the sickly prince of a small kingdom married off to the empire as a consort for a political alliance and Guizhong is the grand empress, rumoured to be heartless and calculating who only wants power.

[murasakikagekitsune]

On HRE's Continued Spiritual Existence in Hetalia

Instead of becoming Germany after his physical death, as most would assume, HRE became the representative of the Vatican. This is because he wasn't the representative of an imperial collective of states, in the typical sense, to begin with. Rather, he was the personification of what drew them together - the protection of the Roman Catholic faith. The Vatican serves much the same function now, and the Vatican states are considered by many to be the religious heart of Italy (let alone the heart of Catholic world) so it makes sense HRE would perform a similar role in his present life as he did in his first one; a role that would allow him to be close to Italy.