#writing about super heroes makes me think about nascent

[alkhale]

I did a thing…

Summary:

“You know," Lyla flickers into existence beside you. "I think you've maybe, like, just maybe got your relationship with Miggy tagged wrong."

You laugh, pouring the HQ complimentary Spider-man patterned charms cereal into your bowl. "You mean I shouldn't think he's not a couple of bad jokes away from slamming me into a wall?"

"Well, yes, he might," Lyla looks up from the entire folder of visual evidence of a certain Spider-man looking at and acting toward you in a number of questionable ways. You'd already started making your escape out the other door, Lyla's visuals leading her to where a familiar, hulking form of muscle and unresolved stress was now making his way dangerously toward you.

"But maybe just like," Lyla offers. "With different context?"

Or;

You've got your relationship with Miguel O'hara tagged under a pretty solidified set of words: boss, sorta friends, guy who's someone you can trust when it really comes down to it, and also the person who also seems the closest to ripping your head off.

Under the sharp eyes of one particular AI, however, her archives might beg to differ.

And it might not just be your head he wants to rip off.

Please check it out if you’d like 🥹🙇‍♀️

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Superman & Lois - Ep. 102 “Heritage”

In which the Sad Dad vibes and teen angst continues!

Spoilers!

Lois gets the opening and closing narration this week! And generally has more to do, which is nice.

The fam has officially moved to Smallville, so the boys are gearing up to start school...or are they???

Well, Jon is. Jordan is told he has to stay home until he can get his nascent powers under control because they don’t want him to accidentally flash frying a classmate. Which he almost did. Last week. 

Clark calls Jordan’s accidental heat vision an ‘ocular release of energy.’

This decision, of course, leads to some FAMILY DRAMA. Jordan feels like a freak! Jonathan is upset that they’ve had to move! Clark feels like he’s failing as a parent!

Oh and also the guy in the Master Chief suit is on the hunt for Kryptonite. Which is, you know. Troubling.

SO it’s off to school for Jonathan and off to the Fortress for Jordan!

Lois, upon Jonathan asking why Jordan gets to go flying with dad: “At least we have the radio!”

One plus side about the show being ‘grounded’ and ‘prestige-y’: the high school drama is of a more believable variety. Still tedious, but at least it’s not dated 90s tropes.

...Well, okay. Not entirely true. Sarah Cushing’s personality thus far is ‘nice girl who’s dating a jerk’ and yes, the line “What do you see in that guy?” is said aloud. So.

Win some, lose some.

MEANWHILE, AT THE FORTRESS:

Love the actor they got for Jor-El. He’s perfect, in that he feels like an homage to Brando, Crowe, but is also his own distinct version. I dig it. 

But there’s no giant key made of dwarf star matter because this is GROUNDED and REALISTIC and none of that SILLY CW NONSENSE, WE GOT HBO MAX MONEY. 

Back to the Lois vs. Edge plot:

For all the folks wondering how Lois working at the Planet was going to continue, what with the show being set in Smallville...

WELL.

Edge now owns the Planet, so he re-writes a negative article she’s written about him, which leads to her quitting, and going to write for the Smallville Gazette.

Which is operated by Chrissy Beppo.

Who is...named after the super monkey? 

Does this mean we’ll eventually meet other Smallville residents named after super pets? Like Marsha Whizzy, or maybe Kenneth Comet.

Seems a weird choice when ‘Bibbo’ is right there.

ANYWAYS.

Best line of the episode: “You know what babe? You do your Superman stuff, and I will do my Lois Lane stuff.”

MEANWHILE, THE SAD DAD VIBES INTENSIFY as Grandpa Jor-El reveals: Jordan...will never be like you, Kal-El. His human DNA is too limiting.

Which is a very interesting plot point (that was sorta mentioned/explored in Future State!)

So, about the boys: I still find them...mostly annoying. But I appreciate the dynamic they’re establishing: Jordan has always required more time and attention due to his anxiety disorder, and Jonathan has always had to look after him and compensate--this carries over into the new status quo where Jordan has the super powers and Jonathan further feels that his brother is getting time and attention and he needs to make sacrifices and changes for him/the family. 

This leads to a really lovely moment between the brothers at the end of the episode that I genuinely enjoyed, so. I’m hoping that there will be more of that and less of ‘drama with Sarah’.

(Also if you think that sounds a little like another pair of Super siblings...it does! And also hold that thought.)

The OTHER big twist is that Master Chief AKA Captain Luthor comes from a world with an EVIL SUPERMAN.

To be clear, the set-up is very obviously, ‘Our Clark will prove Captain Luthor wrong re: thinking he’ll turn evil,’ so I’m not seriously suggesting we’re in for a full-on Injustice situation. I just find it funny, how quickly they pulled out the ol’ evil Supes.

(The one we saw in Elseworlds doesn’t count since that wasn’t Clark.)

And maybe this one isn’t either! I admit complete ignorance as to the comics stuff they’re pulling from; I guess it’s somehow connected to Project 7734 (Which is ‘hell’ upside down, as any fifth grader with a calculator will tell you) a counter-Kryptonian force put together by Sam Lane, I think? 

IDK. Like I said, comics blind spot.

The episode ends with Grandpa Lane looking a bit spooked at the ominous 7734 keychain Captain Luthor gave him, and Captain Luthor still on the hunt for Kryptonite! DUN DUN DUUNNNNNN.  

And now, time for a segment I’ll call: Gettin’ Super Salty w/Stranger wherein I will stash all of my frustration regarding the fact that this spin-off doesn’t really want to be a spin-off.

Okay, so first up! As mentioned, the Fortress design has been changed because the silly Supergirl version does not vibe with the new serious aesthetic.

Their loss! More Legion Rings, baby Sun Eaters, and impractical front door keys for Supergirl!

The sunstone AI details the last days of Krypton, and only one (1) pod is shown escaping the destruction.

Thanks, I hate it.

I do appreciate that Jor-El at least kinda appears to be wearing clothes that match the look of Supergirl’s Krypton. I wasn’t paying close attention to the buildings in the hologram, no clue if they match the architecture we’ve seen thus far.

Like, I get it. There’s no time to pause the plot and be like, ‘hey, just FYI, I’m not the sole survivor of Krypton, my cousin escaped as well’ but also AAAARRRRRGHHHHHH. 

You’re using the versions of the characters introduced in Supergirl, the least you can do is namedrop her once. ONCE. That’s all I’m asking. XD

They missed their opportunity, actually; when the boys were like, ‘We have so many questions!’ All you had to do was slip in, ‘Are we related to Supergirl?’ Bam. Done. Never need to go back to it, you’ve acknowledged it, continue on with your solo Sad Dad adventures!

(Except I guess that wouldn’t work, since so much of this is built on Clark being the Lone Protector of the earth. If you allude to other heroes being around, your whole character motivation/struggle makes less sense.)

I get it but I don’t have to like it. XD

They shoulda just set this on another Earth!

Circling back to the sibling dynamic: I hate how now I really want Kara to someday appear on this show and hang out with the boys and be like, ‘ah, yes, I know the feeling, my sister and I were the same.’

That’s it, that’s all the crossover content I need. I realize Melissa is moving on to bigger and better things but MAYBE SOMEDAY. XD (Or maybe I’ll just write a fic, who knows.)

I can’t remember if I brought this up already but it is hilarious to me that anyone still thinks of Superman as a reporter--most modern takes treat it as an afterthought and here, it’s dispensed in the first episode.

It has not been brought up since.

Like, much is made about Lois leaving Metropolis, and what that’ll mean for her career, but no one in Smallville is like, ‘Clark, wow! Farming? That’s quite a career change!’

(I assume he’ll be farming, since they mentioned starting the farm up again.)  

...You think anyone will drag the writers for tossing aside Clark’s ‘true calling?’ 

Who am I kidding? Supergirl fandom is not watching this show, they’re just harassing the people running the social media accounts. 

SO OVERALL: The good remains good! The meh remains meh! I appreciate that this version of Clark and Lois exist as we inch ever closer to the release of the Snyder Cut! But also the behind-the-scenes stuff continues to hang over everything like a terrible cloud! Here’s hoping those problems are addressed!

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Why You Should Give The Original Mobile Suit Gundam A Shot

  The original Mobile Suit Gundam series, one of the most famous and deeply foundational anime of all time, is now on Crunchyroll! However, if you haven't seen it yet, that's totally understandable. It was created back in 1979, and since then, there have been dozens of sequels, spin-offs, OVAs, films, and manga. So while it's easy to say, "Just start at the beginning! Duh!", it's also easy to look at the labyrinth of titles in the Gundam franchise and slowly back away in disbelief and anxious horror.

  That said, you should watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam. And not just because it's a classic, but because of how much it's informed what we know of the anime medium today, its place in anime history, and just how entertaining it still is to watch. So here are five reasons to check out the original Mobile Suit Gundam:

  It's Kind Of A Miracle That You're Even Watching It

  When Mobile Suit Gundam first aired, people didn't exactly dig it to the extent that you'd think a long-running franchise would be enjoyed in its nascent period. In fact, it almost got abruptly canceled, with the production staff barely able to get one more month of episodes added just so they could wrap up the story. However, when Bandai bought the rights to create quality Gundam model toys, fans latched onto the idea that these big ol' robots were, indeed, pretty cool. And so, on the brink of disappearing into the swamp of forgettable '70s robot shows, it was instead revived and renewed and now Gundam pretty much sits on the Mt. Rushmore of anime franchises and is the closest thing the mech genre has to a worldwide household name.

    Gundam Fandom Majorly Influenced The Anime Fandom Of Today

  In 1981, an event was devised called Anime's New Century Declaration, and during its conception, it was mostly meant to be a promotional gathering for the 1981 Gundam movie. A few hundred or so people would gather, they'd listen to Gundam creator/director of the film Yoshiyuki Tomino talk about why you should check the movie out, and then they'd go home without much fuss. According to historian and author Matt Alt, something a little bit bigger occurred:

  "What happened was 20,000 people descended on Shinjuku and the cops were called and people worried about trampling, and it kind of turned into Anime Woodstock. A bunch of young anime fans who'd been expected to grow up and leave the "silly" cartoon stuff behind. But this generation was like "Screw that. If we're productive members of society, then why is it a problem for us to read manga and watch anime?" It was a huge coming out for that demographic and really set off a trend.

  Back in the '70s, anime pretty much existed to sell toys, and as long as you put the sponsored toys in the show, they gave you free creative reign. But in spite of it being a show that sponsors and producers were using to sell toys, Tomino ended up making this baroque, dramatic space opera that was a thinly veiled critique of war and post-war Japanese society. And the hero was, to be blunt, kind of a geek. He wasn't a muscle-bound superhero. He's introverted and shy and would rather be fooling around on his computer than going out to war, and I think that resonates with people who would rather be doing the stuff they love than being forced to fit into the world by older people who don't understand them. 

  It provided a platform for the maturation of anime into something that wasn't just primarily around to sell toys to kids."

  3. The Protagonist Is Super Interesting

  Alt's insight about Amuro brings me to my next point: A weirdly common claim is that Neon Genesis Evangelion was the first mech-centric anime "to be about the people, rather than the robots." And don't get me wrong - Neon Genesis Evangelion is good. It's SO good. But when it comes to characterization, Mobile Suit Gundam is no slouch. Protagonist Amuro Ray is stressed, y'all. Thoughout the series, the trauma of battle and war begin to weigh deeply on him, and he has a lot of trouble both fitting in and dealing with the fact that he might lose the people that he's trying to fit in with at any time. So while he is indeed the hero character, his internal struggles make him both relatable and very sympathetic.

  4. CHAR AZNABLE, BAYBEEEE

  Regardless of whether you've been introduced to him by a Mobile Suit Gundam series or a meme, there's a good chance that even if you don't know his name, you know the look of Char Aznable, the main antagonist of the series and one of the most iconic anime characters of all time. Full of pride, infinitely confident and the prize warrior of the Principality of Zeon, Char is a jerk and I love him. So many of the wonderful arrogant villains of modern anime are simply riding his stylish red shirttail.

    5. You're Watching A Ton Of Great Talent At Work

  Along with creator Tomino, the staff of Mobile Suit Gundam is pretty solid. You have writers like Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, who'd go on to work on Dirty Pair, Urusei Yatsura, and Osomatsu-kun, and Yu Yamamoto, who'd end up scripting the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy and the J9 series. The anime studio Sunrise would eventually develop the anime series for Dirty Pair, City Hunter, Patlabor, The Vision of Escaflowne, The Big O, and, of course, Cowboy Bebop. Oh, and if the confidence in Shuichi Ikeda's role as Char sounds familiar, it might be because you've heard him as Shanks in One Piece. And if you can't quite put your finger on where you've heard Toru Furuya, who plays Amuro, you might know him better as Dragon Ball's Yamcha.

  Anyway, Mobile Suit Gundam is fantastic and if you're curious about it, or just looking to rewatch it, it's now on Crunchyroll. Check it out!

  --------------------------------------------

  Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

  By: Daniel Dockery

[spelviin]

this has been sitting in my drafts for at least like a month because i basically just wanted to get my bonkers far-fetched theory out in writing somewhere and i never really intended to publish it BUT 

henry’s dad fact this week just made me kinda think at least some of it might have legs sooooo

my long-ass, incredibly unlikely Oak Theory under the cut

tl;dr

okay, so. 1939. one hildy russett makes the great decision to give her full-ass, real-ass name to the heart’s greatest desire casting director, aka full fledged (and likely high-ranking) member of the cult of the doodler

then proceeds to be used as a blood sacrifice in doodler summoning ritual 

ritual is kind of??? successful, but then stud convinces it to peace the fuck back to wherever it came from, the mystery box vanishes, the end

or is it????????

like, a cult that almost successfully summoned a chaos entity isn’t just gonna give up after one failure. fuck no. they’re gonna try again. which is where the facts get dicey, and my theory kicks in.

so the remnants of the doodler cult are disheartened by their near miss in tennessee, but they regroup and try to figure things out

the casting director recalls the name of the blood sacrifice, and the cult does some digging on her, until they find a scandalous secret in her recent past

a child, born out of wedlock, either given to an orphanage or being brought up by distant relatives or whatever. a child who is now connected somehow to the doodler by way of blood sacrifice magic or... something idk. told you this was dicey. 

anyway the doodler cult needs that baby for a future ritual. so the doodler cult gets that baby, either by adoption or more, shall we say, nefarious methods

they give the baby an alias, a new name. a powerful name. a name referenced several times in the script JJ abrams wrote when he was chanelling the doodler.  

oaks growin’ tall. oak ridge, tennessee. barry fuckin oak. 

doodler cult raises the baby in secret as one of their own, hoping to use his blood (aka hildy’s blood, aka possibly the blood of the unsung hero???) to take another shot at a summoning ritual

except as it turns out, barry can’t fuckin do shit, because he sucks of magic reasons idk

sooooo, what are we gonna do? give up? fuck no! we’re gonna get another fuckin descendant who can do it!

barry strikes out on his own, using the nascent hippie free-love movement in the 1960s to start up a commune that basically functions as its own branch of the doodler cult and tries to churn out a descendant with that eldritch x-factor

this is where our favourite nastyboy comes in 

henry grows up in the cult commune, raised from birth to succeed where his father failed

when he’s old enough, barry tells henry the truth of their mission, his birthright, and the important role he has to play in creating this new world. 

henry, being the sweet dude he is, is absolutely appalled by this. of course he’s not gonna bring about the end of the world, that’s so messed up!

they have a huge fight, and henry loses control. not in the way we’ve seen, but in a biiiiiig fuckin way. he gives into the chaos of his anger, and just blows. the fuck. up.

maybe he injures ppl with that eldritch energy he didn’t even know he had. maybe he injures barry, maybe even actually kills him. who knows? 

certainly not henry, because the trauma of it all is too much and between that and the Forbidden Eldritch Knowledge coursing through him his mind just shuts the fuck down 

he blacks out completely and wakes up naked in a forest weeks later, and we know the rest from there. mercedes finds him, they get married, have two beautiful boys who somehow inherently know the name and face of an eldritch abomination, and the rest is history

henry lives for the next 15 years as a normal, nerdy geologist dad. his mind literally can’t process the horror of his upbringing or the guilt of what went down after the argument with his father, so he packs that shit up tight behind a triple-locked door in his mind, rationalizes the extended blackout that lead him to his now-wife as nothing more than a bad trip, and moves on with his life. 

he raises his kids as best he can, without the stringent boundaries his overbearing father placed on him (or any at all) and, above all, refuses to ever express anger for fear of giving into the chaos and losing himself like he did before. 

which, i mean, kind of works??? except he basically ruins his kids in his attempt to protect them and sends himself down a toxic cycle of suppressing his feelings that just makes everything worse in the long run so i mean. not the best of strategies. 

anyways, that’s the background theory. in terms of what comes next, here’s what we know now:

barry seems stoked that henry’s brain door is starting to open and he’s “remembering who he is”

he also offered henry the chance to abscond with the twins, probably trying to use their powers for his own gain (bc as we know, the twins have magic too as confirmed by boreanaz and, in this ep, chekhov’s snake)

erin said that at least one of the anchor trails seemed to lead to a commune

barry’s in a place called oakdale or oakvale or something along those lines (similar to oak ridge, perhaps???) so by the sound of it, it’s possible he’s back to his old commune/cult-establishing tricks

also, interestingly, the only time willy has shown actual fear is when henry started to open the brain door and access more of his powers, which indicates he might have some idea of what’s going on there and it freaks him the fuck out 

also also, barry’s super fucking scared of willy

basically, i think barry wants to use henry and the twins in another summoning ritual with the help of his new commune/cult buddies, in order to a) succeed where he believes his mother failed in summoning the doodler and ushering in a new world, and b) use that eldritch power to get the upper hand in some sort of coup against willy.

i also think there’s some sort of link between henry’s powers and his anger (something to do with loss of control = chaos or smth like that? although that seems a bit toxic so maybe he just subconsciously believes there’s a link), and that he’s going to have to learn how to express both in a healthy way rather than, y’know. bottling it all up until he’s basically and incredible volatile molotov cocktail of dangerous eldritch energy they way he’s been doing it so far. 

...yeah that kind of petered out at the end there, but honestly it’s because i’ve put so much thought into possible backstory i have no fuckin idea what’s gonna come next. 

but honestly whatever it is, even when i inevitably end up being 1000% wrong about all of this, i’m stoked to find out

[terramythos]

TerraMythos’ 2020 Reading Challenge In Review - 9/10s!

See Master Post

Here's the 9/10 books of this year -- books I really liked but not to the point of perfection. 

1. This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Full Review Here)

This is a beautifully-written novella about two women from enemy time travel societies. They start as rivals who pass taunting letters to one another and gradually fall in love with each other through their writing. There’s some really beautiful and interesting locations, and I love the longing and emotion in the letter sequences. I think using a science fiction setting for a love story is super cool; especially with time travel, there’s a sense of predestination not found in other genres. I also like the idea of each author writing one of the two leads, so the style is slightly different between them. 

2. The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N. K. Jemisin (Full Review Here)

Jemisin is a fantastic author and created my favorite series ever (The Broken Earth), so I was stoked to read book one of a new series by her. The concept here is that cities become sentient beings over time given enough people and cultural influence. New York City is about to be born into a human avatar, but something goes wrong. An eldritch foe known simply as The Enemy seeks to sabotage the nascent city and almost succeeds. Proto-avatars of the city’s boroughs have to find their inner power and band together to rescue him and save the city. 

I really dig the ensemble cast, especially Manny (Manhattan), Bronca (The Bronx), and New York City himself. The book is also a great middle finger to Lovecraft, as the cosmic horror element is steeped in structural racism and oppression, with the Eldritch Aesthetic being a creepy pale white. Super excited for the next book. 

3. Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here) 

I’ve already said plenty about the Murderbot books on my 10/10 list. I really like this one in particular because it introduces ART, one of the best supporting characters in the series. It’s super interesting to see how Murderbot interacts with a non-human person (or... spaceship. But ART is also a person for sure) similar to itself and I really like the banter and friendship between the two. Like the rest of the novellas, it’s short, but it packs in a lot of story and heart. 

4. Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here) 

My other 9/10 selection for this series! There is a heavy focus on Murderbot’s past and how far it’s come ever since it freed itself from the company’s mental slavery. This probably has the strongest character development in the series outside of Network Effect, with a genuinely sad and sobering ending. 

5. Finch (Ambergris #3) by Jeff VanderMeer (Full Review Here) 

I think this book is where I really “got” the Ambergris series; it’s a pseudo-trilogy with a lot of postmodern elements, but this one is the most straightforward. Finch is a fascinating mix of noir, dystopia, and cosmic horror. I even called this “nontraditional cyberpunk”; there’s elements of a surveillance state, underground resistance/revolution, artificial implants/bodily enhancements-- but all related to fungi and eldritch horror. 

Anyway, this book stars Finch, a detective working in the city of Ambergris, who is tasked with solving an impossible double-murder case. In his investigations, he soon stumbles upon a web of conspiracy related to the downfall and takeover of the city by the gray caps, the humanoid mushrooms who enslave and oppress the human population. It’s just as weird as it sounds, but if you made it to book three, you'll be plenty familiar with how bizarre the series is. Technically, this book is a standalone, but I recommend reading the other two first as they are integral to understanding the plot. 

6. The Last Sun (The Tarot Sequence #1) by K. D. Edwards (Full Review Here)

This is a really impressive debut novel with an interesting world concept and great characters. The idea is that Atlantis was a real thing and got destroyed. The surviving inhabitants decided to build a new city by magically stealing a bunch of buildings throughout the world and transporting them to Nantucket. The result is a cool patchwork urban fantasy setting. There’s a huge tarot motif, hence the series name. It’s also gay! 

I fell in love with the excellent character banter, especially between Rune and his soul-bonded bodyguard Brand. While I had some criticisms on the plot structure and a reliance on same-y action scenes, everything else was so good I gave Edwards the benefit of the doubt. And it really paid off in the sequel, which improves on basically everything. 

7. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Full Review Here) 

I mean, the movie’s a beloved classic. If you haven’t seen it... go do so? It’s a great adventure story with lots of memorable characters, lines, and moments. Honestly I’m more surprised I hadn’t read the book before, and I’m glad I did. It often felt like an extended cut of the movie, with a few key differences in the frame story and some locations. While I think I like the film just a little more, I appreciate the novel for giving me a broader perspective on the story and characters. 

8. A Choir of Lies (A Conspiracy of Truths #2) by Alexandra Rowland (Full Review Here) 

A Choir of Lies is a standalone sequel to the book A Conspiracy of Truths and can be read on its own if desired. It stars Ylfing, a fan-favorite character in the previous book. He’s processing grief and depression in the wake of his mentor (the last book’s protag) suddenly abandoning him. A (sort of--it’s complicated) professional storyteller called a Chant, Ylfing tries to make it in the Netherlands-inspired fantasy city Heyrland, and writes a diary about his experiences. However, another Chant has found his manuscript and writes scathing commentary on his decisions in the footnotes. 

I had a difficult time getting into this one, as Ylfing is both relatable and infuriating, and a depressed protagonist can be hard to get behind. However, it's well worth sticking through, as the sheer catharsis of Ylfing realizing his horrible mistakes and doing everything he can to fix them is... well, pretty inspiring. Multiple characters own up to their failures, often at great personal cost, for the wellbeing of others. I think it’s a great message, especially reading it in 2020 when the future feels hopeless. A Choir of Lies also has two of the things I liked most about A Conspiracy of Truths-- lots of meta commentary on storytelling, and surprisingly interesting economics. 

9. The Harbors of the Sun (The Books of the Raksura #5) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

I thought this was a nice finale to the series. It has some satisfying thematic bookends regarding the Fell and Moon’s character development. It’s also probably the most “epic” fantasy of the series, with super high stakes and a broad cast of perspective characters. I have to wonder if there are plans for further books or a different series in this universe, since the setting has a lot of depth and potential. Either way, I really enjoyed it! 

10. A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) by Seanan McGuire (Full Review Here)

Another year, another October Daye book! Obviously I like this series if I’m fourteen books in and still reading it. A Killing Frost has some slow-ish pacing, but ramps up a lot in the second half of the story. It’s the conclusion to my favorite storyline in the series -- the redemption arc of Simon Torquill. He’s a really interesting morally gray character, and I think serves as the poster child on how the series plays with the idea of heroes and villains. Also, this book casually drops probably one of the craziest twists in the series at the end, and I am super interested to see the fallout of that. 

11. The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura #4) by Martha Wells (Full Review Here)

This is basically part one of Harbors of the Sun and involves the main cast going on a long journey to an ancient ruin. The first half of the book is pretty slow and probably could have been pared down -- lots of travel sequences. However the second half is super tense and action packed. I found the ancient ruin itself really interesting and creepy, and the book sets up a lot of things that pay off in The��Harbors of the Sun.