Normally i would judge a character for falling for an antagonist's tricks like eurydice for falling for hades's in hey little songbird but his voice does things to me like, girl same.

Nessian🔥

by: sallteas [instagram]

If you haven't seen the viral shirt that says "sorry for having great tits and correct opinions" just know that as soon as I saw it, I knew that was a Nesta Archeron shirt. And I knew that Cassian would absolutely get a matching one like the #1 Nesta Stan that he is.

Cannot thank @sassyhobbits enough for bringing this vision to life! I mean look at them! I'm obsessed. Happy final day of @nessianweek to all you lovelies!

Slowly getting back to my SJM tarot card project!

This time we got the first sketch of Hunt from Crecent City as the judgement card, because this scene absolutely broke me 🥲

knowing you’re crazy is seeing fanart of a tall dark haired traumatized man and being able to pinpoint exactly which one it is

Bryce and Hunt from one of my favourite scenes in HOEAB ♡

Bryce caught her reflection as she passed a large full-length mirror at the end of the room and stepped closer to take herself in.

The moonlight illuminated her figure and the bruises that peppered her golden skin were stark. The Harpy's blood still soaked her black leggings. Bryce only managed to remove her torn top as soon as she entered the room, but could barely do anything else.

The starry sky twinkling in the distance through the wide glass windows, even as a shadow took form behind her.

A foreign shadow in this world, yet familiar to her.

Bryce let out a quiet sob as her trembling hand extended to touch the smooth ice cold surface of the mirror, she can no longer tell what was real or what was not.

The moonlight lovingly crafted his beautiful face as he stood behind her—a face beloved to her more than anything.

“Hunt...” she couldn't hold back the tears.

His hand slid to her waist as he rested his cheek upon her head. No words came out of him, nothing but the devastation and longing on his face as her soul recalled his last words to her.

His promise.

“Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again. I promise.”

. . . . . .

Bryce and Hunt commissioned with Indrakiin based on a headcanon I wrote for a scene in House of Flame and Shadow 🖤Link to art on Instagram here

doodling some more

girls (gn) when "And as a young man blessed to pass so many road signs/And have my foreign ear made fresh again on each unlikely sound/But feel at home, hearin' a music that few still understand" and "In some town that just means 'Home' to them/ With no translator left to sound"

hozier's francesca (masterpiece) started playing in the car when i was driving my brother and he only heard the first few seconds and said "hozier's songs all sound like they're his last. as if someone said 'the world is ending you can make one more song' and that's just what all his songs sound like"

he's right.

The ending of Francesca mirroring the feeling of a storm to play on the motif of punishment for the lustful being an endless hurricane that sweeps them off their feet only for the vocals to defiantly assert that he would not change a thing and that heaven could not fit such a love anyway, is exactly the kind of deconstructive intertextual brilliance I’m expecting from this album and this is exactly why I want to marry Mr. Hozier for his brain not his body

Taking these circles of hell and the sins they represent and making them tangible and relatable and more human so that we can come to terms with the fact that the idea of sin is inherently learned and the ideas of things being morally good or morally bad are ingrained in us as people in a society and that we need to come to see everything as neutral for one reason or another is just so important like he knew what he was trying to do and he succeeded

Son of Nyx literally has no words but I feel the spirit of whatever god is possessing Hozier speak to me regardless

So you're telling me Swan Upon Leda isn't even on the new album? That song was just a free-range bombshell of emotional devastation and unearthed generational trauma and that's it? He just fucked off to make a whole separate, unrelated album? Will I never have closure from that song??

Thinking about Her (the 2014 Swedish arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar where Judas looks like Geralt of Rivia in a mesh shirt and he full on makes out with Jesus in a good 10 seconds of silence in the Arrest)

if you’re not @hurrricane-like-me, pls ignore

@hurrricane-like-me I saw your response, but when I went to post my response, your post was gone lol. response below line bc yeah lol I’m long winded too

Okay first of all, all respect to you, your opinions, etc. I am not trying to disparage anyone's taste, expectations, or reactions to this book or series! Disappointment is valid, and that's part of what I was trying to say above (not that I think you interpreted it differently) and part of the frustration brought on by the dramatic and often vitriolic nature of the rhetoric surrounding this book is it makes it difficult to express different opinions without it being interpreted as saying "You're just too stupid/ignorant to understand" which is like...not my goal AT ALL lol (also, don't worry about it being long, I'm clearly long winded too)

I have read TWoTQ. And I did largely enjoy it. I'm with you that I never took this series that seriously, even as a fantasy series. But they're my emotional support trashy books. And I really don't have any new gripes with the series after this book. I'm still frustrated with JLA's writing style bc it's vague and repetitive at the same time. But I loved the story that got told and I'm super excited for both this series and the prequel series to continue.

Also, I'm really not trying to imply that you have to...like...be smarter to read and understand this series lol. If anything, I'm trying to point out that you almost have to have muscle memory associated with the types of archetypes/tropes JLA is attempting to invoke in these books. Which is more of a negative commentary on her than anything bc readers shouldn't have to rely on muscle memory to be able to understand what a writer is trying to convey. You shouldn't need a phd in high fantasy to be able to figure out what kinds of tropes she's trying to write. But I do think that more readers would have picked up on the vibe she was trying to set if they had gone into it expecting romantic/political high fantasy rather than a straight up romance. Bc you're absolutely right that if judged by Romance Novel rules, the vibe was weird and off.

I completely see where you're coming from with the way that the development of Kieran/Poppy's relationship felt in this book. A relationship like this is something that personally, I'm used to reading. So, bc of muscle memory w/this trope, I filled in a lot of the little holes that JLA didn't fill in when it came to their relationship. IMO she really fumbled the ball when it came to explaining it. She 1000% should have had an explicit convo between C/P/K about Poppy's feelings. I get having a character that's emotionally stunted and doesn't understand relationship dynamics and feelings. But if you're going to do that you can't just leave something like this undiscussed. And she did. She left Poppy wondering, but never clearly explained that it was (I'm assuming) not because she was doubting her and Cas, but rather because she has no concept of friendship, or any relationship dynamic/feelings. She's canonically only ever had 1 friend, and always felt like that friend wasn't really her friend but just someone who was forced to be around her. So I get her not understanding the bond she feels with Kieran. But shit JLA...ya gotta elucidate that. Or else it comes across slimy and weird. 

Something else I think went woefully underdiscussed in this book was the fact that Kieran was literally trying to be Cas. Not bc he was trying to steal Cas' love, but because Cas provided a specific kind of support to Poppy and without it she was lowkey falling apart. Which Kieran knew. (In all seriousness, this book would have benefitted majorly from a Kieran POV) And I didn't realize that was what was going on until I thought back on the scene where Kieran showed her the beach while feeding. He knew she was uncomfortable, so diffused the situation with sexual humor. Quite literally Cas' calling card when it comes to Poppy. He loans Poppy his shirts to sleep in. Because that's what Cas did for Poppy. He's called out as acting like her husband bc he is. It's on purpose. He acted the way Cas did because it provided a certain amount of stability for Poppy. And after Cas gets back imo he completely backs off that vibe. He's still very close to Poppy, but it's less like it was for the pages while Cas is gone. But none of this was written clearly. JLA desperately needs an editor and beta reading team to help with all this.

Which, again, I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings re: this book. You are allowed to simply not like it. And I completely stand with people who came to this series with certain expectations that were not met. I think it's not right of JLA to have marketed this book as a romance knowing she wasn't writing it as one. And I am so sorry that you loved this series and were let down, and I hope you find another series to love.

But yeah, imo this is a case of questionable writing, and bad marketing. And I'm glad my rant was able to actually provide a positive outcome lolI started looking at books I don't like this way a while back. Asking myself "Is the book bad, or were my expectations not equal to what I was given? Was the way I was sold this book different in the reality and that's frustrating?" And it's helped me so much. It's helped me pick out books I'm actually going to like bc I've been able to hone in on what book marketing red flags are there, and what I like in theory vs reality.

Also, if you're ever looking for recs with men like Cas (possessive, explosive, willing to unalive, torture, and tear out spines and hearts) hmu. Because I would LOVE to talk about my favorite fictional homicidal men.