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#i just finished the last book in the trilogy so i promise i will stop talking about it after this

ofliterarynature · 1 month

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MARCH 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) bookclub*]

Supernova • The Last Unicorn • Cahokia Jazz • (Heartstopper Vol 1)* • The Hero of Ages • Godkiller • Humanly Possible • Traveller’s Joy • The Well of Ascension • Babel-17 • The Final Empire • Loot • The Death I Gave Him

Finished: 11 books (9 audio, 1 print, 1 ebook)

Not many books this month but by god I read THREE Brandson Sandersons, so -

I guess I may as well start with Sanderson while we're here. I promised a mutual years ago (who's sadly left tumblr) that I would read Mistborn and it's probably been at least half a decade but I did it Lourdes! I've read a few one-off Sandersons before, but nothing I fell in love with. The Final Empire definitely had some issues, some things felt a little off, but overall I think I liked it! Except those things did not then improve in the next two books, and by book 3 I was dragging and solidly decided that I wouldn't continue past the original trilogy. I was so mad at that ending y'all, and if the mixed vibes from the copy for the next books wasn't enough that definitely sealed the deal lmao. Happy for the people who like him but it's not really my vibe. (but god, did it remind me how much I love big, grand, epic fantasies. I really need to find a good one). 3 stars

Babel-17 (3 stars) - idk, I think I found this on a rec list for sci-fi about linguistics? Which it sort of was, maybe, ostensibly. It was weird in that old sci-fi way and I kind of wish I'd DNF'd it when I originally considered it.

Traveller's Joy (5 stars)- look I will never say no to more in the Greenwing & Dart series, especially if it's my good good boy Hal. Not to mention more info about the immediate post-college times, and an outside POV on Jemis (Jemis my dude I love you so much but you are not a reliable narrator). Victoria picked a great piece of canon to explore!

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope (4 stars) - I've been wanting to read this since I first heard about it (and Humanist thought in general), and while it was interesting and I'm glad I read it, I found my attention drifting a lot. It spent a lot of time in the early/distant periods of humanist thought, which ended up not really being what I wanted - I think I'm more interested in the modern Humanist movent, but at least I know I'm on the right track!

Godkiller (4.5 stars) - It was great! It was kind of idk, epic fantasy with fairy tale and D&D vibes sort of? My brain is throwing out T Kingfisher and Robin McKinley for comps, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. A great one for fans of less-than-benevolent voices in the back of your head that are nonetheless very concerned for your well being! A solid 4/4.5 stars from me, it switched pov a little to often and didn't stick well in my head as well afterward as I'd have liked. Can't wait to get the next book!

Heartstopper (5 stars) - so cute! at least half the people who have ever come to book club at some point have said they loved this, so since we're in our graphic novel era it just made sense! I read a good chunk of the comic online ages ago and it's still great (and much easier when not fighting my wifi to load pages lol)

Cahokia Jazz (5 stars) - y'all I lost my fucking MIND OVER THIS ONE. Absolutely going to be one of my top books of the year. I'm such such a sucker for books about an outsider trying to find themself, their place, and reconnect with their culture, and hnnnnnng it was so good! Not always easy, but I loved it. I sobbed over that ending so much, I had to get up at work and go hide in the restroom for a bit and couldn't stop tearing up for the next week. Warning that the opening is pretty gory/crime novel/these-cops-are-corrupt vibes that *did* almost make me dnf (GASP), but it gets so much better I promise. Give Joe a chance, he's got hidden depths.

The Last Unicorn (3.5 stars) - It was ok? I didn't really get into it and was glad it was short, but I'm sure if I'd gotten my hands on this as a kid I'd have read it 10x times. I've also never seen the movie. I'm debating if I want to keep my copy for future niblings, but probably not.

Supernova (3 stars) - finally, I am DONE with this series. I admit, the second book almost got me and had me reconsidering if I should keep my copies after all, but this one yanked me back to reality. The undercurrents of ethics/morals/philosophy? to this series are fascinating, but uh, I'm not sure the author is aware of them as much as I was? Because the ending was fine, but all of these questions it felt like the series was raising were just ignored or pushed past. Not a bad series, just don't think about anything too hard.

DNF's

Loot - I was here for the automaton tiger and clockmaking, but that wasn't really the focus? I'm not quite sure what was, actually, I dropped this pretty quick between that, not liking the writing style, or the narrator's voice.

The Death I Gave Him - I was SO sad to give this one up. It's told through excerpts and transcripts and all sorts of things pieced together that hint at events in the future, which is one of my favorite things!!!! Except I don't know shit about Hamlet, and it was giving more psychological-thriller vibes and less murder-mystery, and I wasn't really having fun. It made me want to reread Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife.

#bec posts #book log #wrap up 2024 #books #booklr #bookblr #book review #mistborn #babel-17 #traveller's joy #brandon sanderson #victoria goddard #humanly possible #godkiller #heartstopper #cahokia jazz #the last unicorn #renegades #marissa meyer

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crow-caller · 4 months

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Just thinking about the results of your poll, I know know it didn’t win but I just wanted to say if you ever do get around to reading the foxhole court, you really gotta read more than just the first book. I tripped and read all three books in three days last year, so hopefully it’s not too long? But really all three books make up one whole story (and personally I think books two and three are better written) so stopping after one will leave basically everything unfinished

I try to make good judgement calls on reading series. I like reading a series: I used to split them up book by book as I read them, but with youtube I now do it all at once. And reviewing a full series at once DOES give a much better picture of what the series is like.

But if I read something I just don't enjoy at all, I probably won't read the whole series. It doesn't happen too often, but it has: Unearthly is a para-ro angel 2010s trilogy, my speciality really, but book one was so boring I never bothered checking out the rest. Nothing interested me.

I've heard some insane things about foxhole court, so I'm curious. I can't guarantee I'd read the whole thing, because it's just not very authentic a review if I have to force my way through it. on some level, as much as hush hush was torture, I wanted to finish it. To defeat it. Best it. I don't know how I'll feel about Foxhole. Probably I'd read them all, I just don't want to promise.

#sometimes theres asks #like when I started reading Zenith a few months ago and totally dropped it. some books aint for me no matter what the reason #i doubt it'll be that wayfor foxhole court but I do feel a bit worried by how beloved it is with fans if I don't like it much

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morningstargirl666 · 3 months

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When is The Big Bad Wolf Act 2 coming out?? Are you going to release monthly or all at once?? (I just finished the series and I’m in love 🩷🩷 no rush to write, just wondering if you have an idea because you have loyal readers waiting to love it!!! Have a great day <3)

Hello! Lovely to meet you and thank you so much for reading, that fic is a BEAST. So glad you enjoyed it!

So. When is the next update coming out? [nervous laughter]

Thing is, I told myself now I'm halfway i'll go back and edit, smooth things out before this fic literally becomes too long to tackle and that kinda...turned into a full rewrite?

I'm not changing the plot. That's exactly the same. But my ideas for the lore have changed since I first started writing and I wanted to add in a whole lot more of characterisation and set up for the chapters to come. I rewrote The Little Wolf back in December and recently did some tweaking to chapter 5 of it just this last week (I couldn't work out how to fix it when I first did the rewrite but I had an EPHIPHANY okay). So The Little Wolf is around 35k now, which is a huge difference to the 11k it was in November when I posted chapter 35 of tbbw. It's got tons of new scenes, a sharper forcus on the Mikaelson siblings not just Klaus and two whole new chapters. Of course, you've probably already read that as it is posted and you're a new reader, but that's what I was doing before Christmas, essentially.

As for The Big Bad Wolf itself...boy, where do I start. I'm approaching 85k on the rewrite...only on chapter 7. Which technically used to be chapter 6, because I got 5 chapters in before I added a new chapter. I guess that's a record for my restraint, at least.

So, in terms of what's happening: I'm re-writing tbbw. The plot isn't changing, but new scenes are being added, conversations are being tweaked, the lore is being more consistently fleshed out. Grammar for dialogue is being given a complete overhaul because that was a mess. But. Listen. It's so much better. It's so fucking better. I re-read the chapters I've done and in some places, the drafts aren't quite finished yet, like my writer brain is like fix this later BUT omg it's like, THE shit. It's so good. I've very excited.

I'm not sure how long it will take to finish. I might be able to stop halfway and post the rewritten/edited chapters I've got so far but I make no promises because I feel more inclined to keep going and get it all done in one. Some chapters won't need much work at all as they've been more heavily edited in the past (chapter 8 and 9 should be done pretty quickly, just giving them a facelift), while others I'm really ripping into. There's one chapter I know I'll either delete or delete scenes from to be replaced with something else (don't worry, the scenes will go into my deleted scenes fic on ao3, it's not gone forever).

So yeah. At the rate I'm going, I'm not gonna lie, it may take till the summer before I get all this editing done AND finish the new chapter 36 update - and you may get two new chapters at once, because it might be a long one and I might split it. But by the end of it, tbbw won't be 378k anymore. It'll probably be closer 450k. So you'll get a 50k+ update (along with some bonus stuff) to the whole fic and then a week later I'll post the new chapters (I used to post fornightly, a chapter every two weeks, and I'll go back to that when I'm done).

But yeah. I've written like, 110k since December, which for context is is closing in on the equivalent of the second book of TLOTR trilogy: The Return of the King was 137,115 words. That's an epic novel's worth. In three months.

An arguement could be made that I'm making this fic way too long but I don't really care? I love writing this. It makes my head spin and makes me tear my hair out but...it's so much fun too. And I get to rewrite canon, the way it should have been (we were so ROBBED 😭😭😭), so hey! It's free therapy too! I'm not going to stop as long as I'm loving every second.

Thanks for reading, and thank for listening to my insane plans! Hopefully, I'll see you there on ao3 when this fic is back for business!!

-And it WILL be back.

#anon ask #the big bad wolf #tbbw #morningstar writes #klaroline fanfiction #klaus x caroline #klaroline #ask and you shall receive #don't lose hope anon I'm getting there #slowly but surely I'm getting there

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litcityblues · 10 months

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'Last Argument of Kings' --A Review

I didn't understand why this trilogy got tagged with the 'grimdark' label until I got to the end of the final book in the trilogy, Last Argument of Kings. I took them more to be a hyper-violent, highly realistic, pulpy, blood-spattered fantasy until we got to the end of this book, and hot damn is it kind of bleak.

I also- freely admit- that I looked ahead at the summaries for the next trilogy in the series (The Age of Madness) and thus spoiled some of it for myself-- but figuring out how it all came together, in the end, was interesting to watch (or to listen to, rather.)

At the end of the last book, our heroes had reached their destination only to find that The Seed they were looking for is no longer there, so faced with no other choice they return home and go their separate ways. Logen returns to the north, Ferro sticks with Bayaz to see if his promise of revenge comes through and Jezal goes back to Ardee West.

In short order, things change rapidly: Jezal is on the verge of resigning his commission to marry Ardee when he's given new orders to go out and put down a peasant uprising. He does this- just in time for the old King of the Union to finally die. With both Crown Princes gone, a succession struggle immediately begins and Glokta is thrown into the middle of it by Archlector Sult, who charges him with making sure the candidate they prefer wins. Bayaz, however, has other ideas and reveals Jezal to be a bastard son of the old King, places him on the Throne, and marries him off to Terez, the daughter of Duke Orso of Styria.

Logen returns to the north and reunited with his crew, offers the Union an alliance to finish off Bethod once and for all. The Northmen bait a trap for him and his armies come and while they're fighting off and waiting for the Union, Marshall Burr, West's mentor and friend finally dies and neither Marshall Polder nor Kroy are going to a damn thing until they find out who is in charge, which leaves the Northmen hanging. Agonizingly, it takes awhile for news to reach Adua and then return but Jezal, now King, gets irritated at his advisors and puts West in charge. West gets the army moving and comes to the aid of Logen and company just in time. Bethod is left besieged in the city of Karlium.

The long hinted-at Gurkish invasion of Middleland begins and before the Union army is pulled from the North, West gives Logen a day to sort the problem of Bethod once and for all-- he defeats the Feared in single combat and kills Bethod and is proclaimed King. He gathers the Northmen willing to go and heads back to fight the Gurkish.

Glokta in the meantime, has been put to work figuring out the true motives behind Bayaz's behavior and plans and doesn't seem to be coming up with anything much at all. He is, however, developing a certain amount of companionship/friendship with Ardee West as both are cynics and completely open with their own foibles and failings and willing to if not forgive each other for them, then certainly understand them. Ardee won't leave, even as the Gurkish begin the siege, and gets caught up with Glokta as things come to a culmination.

I'm going to stop there and give a strong SPOILER ADVISORY from this point on because I have to talk about the end and I don't want to spoil the end of these books for anyone who hasn't read them yet. So, consider this your SPOILER WARNING and SCROLL AWAY.

...3

...2

...1

Okay, the end: this is where I truly brought in to the grimdark of it all. Do the Gurkish win? No, of course not-- but everyone pays a price for it in one way or another in the end. Ardee, pregnant with Jezal's baby, gets married to Glokta and they honestly seem if not the happiest, then certainly the most content at the end. Her brother, West, however, is affected by the wasting sickness unleashed by Ferro and Bayaz's use of the seed against the One Hundred Eaters of the Gurkish- it doesn't seem as widespread as it was when they revealed it was used on the ruined city of Alcus in the far west, but it's still out there.

Jezal's wife, Terez is blackmailed into sleeping with her husband. Jezal, not knowing this, cannot understand her sadness and realizes that he, like the Union is under the thrall of the man behind the curtain himself, Bayaz.

I loved this, because, in fantasy, the powerful wizard tends to be virtuous, if occasionally bad-tempered (see: Gandalf) or powerful with a fondness for drink and not dressing the part (see: Belgarath) but I haven't actually come across a wizard in fantasy that so thoroughly embraces the role of all-powerful manipulative prick as Bayaz does. He's behind everything as it turns out. He is the Bank of Valent and Bolk that lent Glokta a million marks he can't repay. He arranged for Jezal's ascension. He makes it clear to both that they govern and do things the way he wants them done otherwise he's going to come back and he won't be happy about it.

Ferro, forever altered and driven slightly insane by the use of The Seed realizes that she has powers that make her more or less immune to the Eaters and very hard to kill. She sets off south to get her vengeance. (She too, might be the happiest of all the characters.)

Logen, who basically tells Bayaz to take a hike, despite Bayaz's warnings of what will happen if he does, returns home to find that a few people have other ideas about who should be King and winds up bringing the trilogy full circle by crashing through a window and dropping down below into a raging river.

Overall: The Bayaz Heel Turn I did not see coming and honestly, it almost undid the entire trilogy for me. Everything else is fine-- Logen has bad luck and wouldn't make that good of a King anyway. Jezal seems to be heading toward being a competent King- but not all marriages have to be happy, so that felt in keeping with the overall tone of the books. Glokta getting all the power only to find that he can't really use any of it is the perfect ending for that character- and honestly, remains amongst my favorite characters of this trilogy if not in the genre as a while- and his marrying Ardee works too. Even Ferro going off to get her revenge is fine.

But the Bayaz Heel Turn... almost cheapens the entire trilogy. Because what does it all mean if Bayaz has been manipulating everything the whole time? Why should we care? We get hints of Mamoon and Kalool and we don't actually see the big fight we should have seen. Don't get me wrong: it's an interesting subversion of what you usually see in fantasy, so I appreciate it for that- but it doesn't stick the landing. Therefore, I will have to say: My Grade: *** out of ****. (Those are stars, not censored curse words.)

#last argument of kings #first law trilogy #book review #joe abercrombie

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chayscribbles · 11 months

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EDIT: holy shit okay those slots filled up WAY faster than anticipated so i'm gonna be closing this now 😅 but don't worry, there are still two more books in this series (and potentially other wips) i'll need beta readers for! (note to self: make an application process next time.)

ANDROMEDA ROGUE ☆ beta reader call!

bonjour hi! having finally finished the second draft of this novel, i have reached the point where i might self-implode if i look at it any longer by myself and need a fresh set of eyes and brains to help me out. which means it is time to summon the beta readers!

☆ WHAT IN THE GALAXY IS ANDROMEDA ROGUE?

Andromeda Rogue is the first book in a planned queer, new adult space fantasy trilogy that i have been working on for way too long and want to self-publish... eventually. here's the summary:

Over twenty years after an interplanetary war fought over a plant with extraordinary properties–used both for healing and destruction–ended with the signing of the Neo-Interplanetary Alliance Treaty, six planet nations live in relative peace under the supervision of the Alliance Council. On the planet of Sayntagnesia, a brilliant young aspiring xenobotanist, Petra, snags her very first gig with the Alliance-sponsored Interplanetary Environmental Research Association: leading a small expedition to the less explored corners of the sector to search for a special plant. However, she finds herself at the head of a mismatched, unqualified team, with down-on-his-luck criminal Finneas reluctantly serving as the pilot; the rebellious daughter of an Alliance councilor, Azami; and Petra’s own clingy younger sibling Valyan stepping in as a last minute replacement. As Petra struggles to make the best of what she is given and fulfill her duties to the IERA, it soon becomes clear that there may be more to this expedition than simple research, and she, as well as the rest of the team, must set aside differences and personal convictions to get to the truth–and stop a growing threat to the Alliance’s era of peace.

you can find out more about it in the intro post here!

☆ OTHER FUN STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW:

word count: 85.7K, or about a 200-page google document

deadline: August 4th 2023 at midnight EST (but if anything comes up and you need a few extra days or think you might not be able to commit after all, just let me know in advance, i promise i won’t be mad!)

trigger warnings: mentions of war, mentions of death, some mild violence and use of weapons, brief allusions to/mentions of drugs and sex (but nothing explicit), some pretty shitty familial relationships (particularly from a father and a brother), anxiety attacks

if you're interested, DM me! i will send you a link to the draft in a google document that you can litter with comments to your heart's desire. there is also a google form where you can send me general feedback.

at the moment i am mostly looking for feedback on plot, characters, pacing, and worldbuilding, but i'm open to comments about style, syntax, and grammar, so keep that in mind as you read.

i'm aiming for about 10 readers! first come first served (and a few people have already showed interest) so get a spot while they're hot!

☆ TAGLISTS:

general taglist:

@nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @onomatopiya @quilloftheclouds @ashen-crest @writeblrfantasy @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @extra-magichours @avi-why @lefttigerobservation @chazzawrites @bardolatrycore @innocentlymacabre

andromeda trilogy taglist:

@bebewrites @nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @onomatopiya @akindofmagictoo @quilloftheclouds @nora-theteawriter @ashen-crest @corpsepng @writeblrfantasy @toboldlywrite @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @cheerfulmelancholies @extra-magichours @writeouswriter @cilly-the-writer @lefttigerobservation @rose-bookblood @drowsy-quill @chazzawrites @cynic-and-chief @enchanted-lightning-aes @aesa @outpost51

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #beta reader #beta reader call #wip andromeda trilogy #wip andromeda rogue #aaaAAAAAAAAH

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v171 · 1 year

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My year in books, 2022

It's that exciting time of year where I get to go into too much detail about all of the books I read this year, so strap in for a lot of stats observations, ranting, and not enough gushing.

This wasn't a great reading year for me. Not only did I not read as much as I would have liked (40 books compared to last years 50, and 2020's 60), but I also just didn't like as many books as I usually do.

I do a combination of pulling Goodreads books stats, The Story Graph book stats, and my own book tracking that I'll get into. Let's start high level.

Recitatif was only 19 pages?? I don't think that's right. But Oathbringer is definitely right. I think it took me over a month to finish.

I'll probably repeat myself here, but in an effort to achieve my goal of 40 books while I dragged my feet all year, I kind of loaded up on very short books. So my average book length of 334 makes sense, but would probably be a bit bigger had I had actually just picked up books I wanted to read rather than books just to pad my numbers.

Station Eleven being most shelved?? That was a bit of a surprise considering I read Oathbringer and some other literary heavy hitters like Recitatif, and the Earthsea trilogy. Least shelved being Infinite Ground perhaps makes sense. It's a niche book in a niche genre, but I really loved it. I think I would have expected some others to be a bit less popular, like The Silence or Enter The Aardvark.

Average rating of 3.5.. hmm yeah I guess. My ratings tend to be a bit weighted towards the higher stars because I simply stop reading a book when I don't like it, and I don't rate books I don't finish so I have few 1 and 2 star ratings.

Always impressed by the insanely high ratings Sanderson books get on Goodreads.

HOBOY The Poppy War, I completely forgot I read this first this year. Looking back at my review of this book, I was way too gentle and forgiving for the complete shit that it is.

I still find it interesting how my audiobook/physical divide has shifted over the years, largely due to COVID since I don't listen to them in the car anymore. But I'd have expected, working from home, I would have listened to more audiobooks while I worked. But with the shift in my kind of work, it has become harder to listen to anything while I work these days.

5 Books by Becky Chambers! Yeah that makes sense considering I pushed through her Wayfarer books and picked up the Tea Monk and Robot sequel. Damn I love her books, what a fuckin GOAT. I'm actually surprised there were so many authors on this list, I don't know that I typically read books by the same author in rapid succession, but it was my "Year of Series," so it's now wholly unexpected to have many repeat authors this year.

I would like to try to read more nonfiction next year, but we'll see. This year was supposed to be the Year of Series, and I think I did a good enough job with that, but I could have done better and I really shouldn't make promises that I don't plan on keeping to myself.

This tracks. First and foremost, I'm a SFF girly. Contemporary Fiction being 3rd I GUESS makes sense, but I tend to dump books under that genre when I'm just not quite sure how to classify them.

As expected, ratings are skewed high, but I'm still surprised about how clean of a skew it is. I do think I might have been a bit generous with some of those 4 star ratings though, I have a bad habit of feeling guilty about rating books kinda low. My 4 star rating is supposed to mean "I really liked this book," and thinking back holistically, I don't think there were a lot of books this year that I "really liked." So I'm probably just a liar.

I love these rating breakdown graphs because they really illustrate my preference for genres. I am such a slut for science fiction, I read more 5 star SF that I read books in most other genres. Also interesting to see here that I didn't seem to have a great Fantasy reading year. Mostly 1s, 2s, and 3s.

This breakdown looks like it confirms what I want to be true: that by ratings aren't really biased by book length. I like to think I allow the story to influence my attitudes alone rather than get bogged down with how long it is, unlike some people who live in the same house as me who instantly drops a star rating for every page over 100.

I like this breakdown chart too because I like to look for pattern in my attitude during the year. Doesn't look like there's a lot to observe here other than the fact that I didn't read at all in September and most of October (was traveling out of the country for half of Sept. and catching up on work in October). But again, I also didn't read as much as I usually do this year, so maybe a pattern would emerge with more data. August looks like a funny hot-and-cold month with the books being almost evenly split between 2 and 4/5 stars.

This shows a bit more about the book/page breakdown and how you can see how much I overemphasized shorter books toward the end of the year. You can basically track where I decided to pick up some epic fantasy books (January-Jade City and Poppy War, May-Oathbringer), where the pages exceed the expected number of books, and the opposite months where the number of books exceed the expected number of pages per book (April, November, December). You can basically see me panic to finish the 40 books in November/December where I was averaging 100-150 page books so I could hit my goal. I hate feeling rushed, I need to be more disciplined about it.

And that's basically it! To wrap up, here's all the books I read this year. I'll have a few more posts to make about some of the specific books I read, loved, hated, or otherwise had some strong emotions about.

#my year in books #2022 #my year in books 2022

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moistvonlipwig · 1 year

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Books I Read in 2022

I only finished 8 books this year, but amazingly enough that's actually more books than I've read per year in quite a while, so, I'll take it! These books are listed in the order I finished them.

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišić. I thought Stanišić's Before the Feast was a really magical novel, and this one is also quite beautiful. It's a work of fiction but it incorporates autobiographical touches of Stanišić's childhood growing up in Bosnia and then fleeing for Germany during the Bosnian War. The child protagonist goes on tangents that are often imaginative and whimsical and sometimes heartbreaking and brutal. A really thought-provoking read.

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. As always with Okorafor's work, the worldbuilding here is excellent and makes you want to spend book after book inside it. I really like Sankofa as a protagonist as well. It didn't quite feel like a standalone book and after looking it up I guess it's in the same universe as some of the books of hers that I haven't read -- I'll have to check those out. I do hope she writes more about Sankofa in the future, though.

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin. This book was good but not as good as the first one in the trilogy, The Three-Body Problem. I also have to admit I found it kind of sexist. The subplot with Luo Ji imagining up a perfect woman only for her to actually show up and then fall in love with him with no complications whatsoever...not a fan. Also, I can't help but feel that this book would've been better with Ye Wenjie as the protagonist; she is by far the trilogy's most interesting character and yet she's relegated to a brief cameo. Oh well. The actual ideas in the book are still really interesting, and Da Shi is still a legend.

Unexpected Magic by Diana Wynne Jones. A fun collection of stories. Weirdly enough I'm actually not sure I've read any DWJ before? Which is wild to think about since I have a ton of her books because my mom was such a big fan. (Obviously I've seen Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, but I've never read the book.) This was a nice introduction and made me want to dig into my mom's old collection and read some more of her. My favorite stories were the two written from the perspective of cats, "What the Cat Told Me" and "Little Dot". I mean...are you surprised? Lol.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. So I think the best way to sum up how I feel about this book is that I really wish I could read a version of this book written by William Faulkner. The basic plot of the book is twisted and haunting and somehow deeply Southern Gothic despite being set in Massachusetts. But the writing is just...fine? There are moments where the prose takes a more impressive turn but mostly it, well, feels like it was written for teenagers. Which it was. But still. I think a version of this book written for adults (and, again, preferably written in a Faulkner-esque style) could've been fantastic. Also, this is minor, but for a book called We Were Liars, there was remarkably little lying going on. Like...weirdly little. Where was the lying, E. Lockhart? You promised me lying!

A Mercy by Toni Morrison. Ah, Toni Morrison, how I've missed you! It's been a hot minute since I've read her and it was so good to come back to her. This book is short but packed with lyricism and depth. The way it switches between different characters' perspectives and imbues all of them with humanity, even the ones who don't treat other people with humanity...the way the title emerges throughout the book in brief glimmers, only to be heartwrenchingly pushed to its limits in the last few pages...God, I've missed Toni Morrison.

Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse. A good sequel to Trail of Lightning, although I admit it's been a couple years since I read that book so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy, and I kind of wish I'd stopped to re-read it before going into this one. Still, I was able to follow the story, and it's a compelling tale with some really great imagery and fun characters. (Ma'ii, my beloved!) I would love to see a big-screen or small-screen adaptation of this series, if Roanhorse is up for it.

Antigonick by Sophokles, translated by Anne Carson. This is the first Anne Carson translation I've read and I found it really intriguing and fun to read. The way she manipulates language and plays with anachronisms is so interesting. I would love to see this performed; I think you could do a lot of really cool things with it.

#my goal for next year is to read more than eight books #we'll see what happens lol #the thing with feathers

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xserpx · 2 years

Note

end-of-year book ask: 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 17, please!

What were your top five books of the year?

LOTR trilogy Boyfriend Material The Flight of the Heron A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats & Piracy Vanity Fair

Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

I love JRR Tolkein, and I think Alexis Hall can be added to my favourite authors list.

Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

I’m a total loserly loser and did not finish Daniel Abraham’s The Dagger & Coin series ;w;

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I guess? Idk, I remember posting a while back that I had 0 interest in reading LOTR, and it was exactly as good as I thought it would be, which is to say it was fucking incredible.

Any books that disappointed you?

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston was a big let down. I really wanted to like it, but dang, it just hit a whole bunch of wrong notes for me.

What were your least favorite books of the year?

Beach Read by Emily Henry was my least favourite by far. It was so generic, and didn't even manage to be a fun, funny beach read even though I took it to the beach!

Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake by Alexis Hall. I think the thing with Alexis Hall is that he draws you in with cute romcom promises, which he delivers on beautifully, but what he really wants to write about is class consciousness and ordinary struggles of ordinary (granted, middle-class) people. I really loved the depiction of bisexuality and single motherhood, it was such a great book.

I also love the shit out of Petticoats & Piracy, that book was incredible and I am recommending the whole Montague Siblings series to anyone who likes Pirates of the Caribbean, queer rep, and period dramas.

#book asks #omg i thought i posted this but it turns out i hadn't lmao x___x;;;;#aaaanyway xD #i should really try book lovers i feel like i might like that one more???#the problem is alexis hall is my benchmark for romcoms and like is anyone as funny as he is???

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confringo- · 2 years

Text

Talking to Myself

Things I want to do

Finish Hex: Haunted Pound

Write that Merril/Julian fic called Oral Intensity that I’ve been wanting to write for months now.

Write that Welcome to Night Vale!Widomauk fic in Night Vale format

Write that Ashton/Orym Punk/Ballet fic that someone mentioned on twitter that one time just because. I don’t even know what the plot is going to be.

Write a Drawfee fic for Luce and Rowan because I wanna play out what a corruption arc would look like BUT WILL ANYONE READ IT DO I REALLY HAVE THE ENERGY FOR A MULTICHAPTER, SUPER INVOLVED FIC???

Write a stupid lil Empires SMP fic about how Hermes was born through Joel and Sausage.

I sincerely want to do 30 days of Sebasthan because I love them so much even though no one will read it lmao

That one Juliark fic that involves body shots.

Read the Simon Snow trilogy because I have all the books now yeehaw

Finish up Wyfmite season 3.

Start a new podcast for the manuscript I worked on in my Master’s.

Catch up on podcasts that I haven’t listened to in months!

Things I have to do:

Finish reading the three books I haven’t finished reading for the last idk TWO YEARS.

I still need to query agents for my book. I’m still daring to do 20 more agents in the first couple of weeks of October.

Write a synopsis for said book

Edit the manuscript. Like, even though not much will change, it’ll be much better if I’ll be able to send the story how I envision it. There’s just this one aspect of it that I want to move to the end and I think I know which scenes i have to edit to make that work. But I still really need to make sure everything’s grammatically correct EVEN THOUGH FUCKIN WHITE PEOPLE SAY SHOULD OF ALL THE TIME god help me

Exercise a little bit more. Nothing too intense but I do want to start using the treadmill more often. I’m doing pretty okay with the push ups so I hope i can keep up.

I’m honestly most afraid of the query thing. I’m so sure that I’m going to be rejected by everyone I’ve queried so far. And while there are still many more agents I can query, will I be mentally alright if, by December, I’ll have that many rejections??? My self-doubt is already on an all-time high. Like, as much as I want to make plans, I just KNOW that the day I get more than one rejection, I’ll be out of commission. I’m so afraid of the state I’ll be in once the rejections start pouring in because I’m already so fragile. I don’t want to promise anything to anyone, especially myself. As much as I want to do so many things, December is a huge ????? Right now.

Like, okay. Most the agents say 8 weeks to hear back from them (or Not Hear Back from them.) The longest time frame I got was 10-12 weeks. So. Theoretically. I should be getting responses between October 17 - November 18 for the first wave of queries I sent. November 7 - December 16 for the second wave.

Maybe I should stop at the second wave. 40 agents this year should be enough, right? Could I squeeze in ten more? Make it an even fifty?? That would be kinda crazy. Alright. If I think about it, if I’m going to be in a shit mood the whole of November and December, I might as well push it. I think I can squeeze in another 10. Can I? Can I really???

After sitting here for a couple of minutes to mull it over, I don’t think I can. Not if I want to accomplish something I like. So I’m gonna cut it there. 20 more agents in October, no more. I’m gonna spend the rest of the year taking care of myself because I just know I’m gonna have to.

I’ll probably be able to write Oral Intensity in a week. It’ll be short, sweet, and smutty. Then I did promise that one twitter person I’d write that Asrym one so I’ll see what I can do for that. The rest...They can wait. I don’t have to write all of them this year. Though I might write a few more things just to remind myself why I write and why I love writing.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to do edits. I should do it at the soonest time but the second I thought about it, I felt a spike of anxiety. This is gonna be tough to calm but I’ll see what I can do. It won’t be so bad. The hard part is over. Writing the damn thing is over. All I have to do is move some pieces around and make sure everything’s grammatical. It’s not that bad. It’s not that bad.

I think I’m insisting that these things should happen during October. In that short span before October 17. Joey, don’t do that. None of these have to happen during that time. In fact, the one that should happen is the editing. And Hex. Alright. Let’s try this again.

This week, September 20 to 25: Finish querying the last six agents.

September 26 to October 2: Finish writing Hex and write your story’s synopsis.

Those are the only weeks you should care about now. I have this problem where I think too far ahead and get overwhelmed and shit like that. Hence, this post. I need to write it all down before I go crazy. I’m going to focus on just a WEEK ahead. That’s as far as I should go for planning ahead. We’ll figure out how we’re feeling then. For right now. Those are the things I should be worrying about. If I have time for more, if I have the emotional energy for more, then wonderful. Let’s stick with these okay? I believe in you.

#Joey's diary

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wildwood-reader · 2 years

Text

Reading Update #7

November 13, 2022

Currently Reading

BOOKS

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson (with illustrations by Cassandra Jean)

Edition: Paperback

Progress: 38/507

Re-read

Thoughts: After a ton of DNFs in the last week I felt like I need to read something I'm familiar with and that I know I'll have fun reading, so I've made the decision to do a complete re-read of the Shadowhunter Chronicles. In chronological order, though, which is why I'm starting it with Magnus's adventures (even though a lot of the stories in it take place during the other series in the franchise, but whatever, it's listed as the chronological first on Goodreads, so that's what I'll go by 👻). I'm not very far yet but I'm already enjoying it a lot more than what I've been trying to read in the last several weeks. 😤

FANFICTION

Pain is only a Pulse by ReyloRobyn2011

Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Progress: Chapter 4/?

Up-to-date? Yes

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: No new chapter since last week, so just sitting here patiently, waiting. 👀✨️

Heaven Has A Road But No One Walks It by Silvestris

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 48/48/?

Up-to-date? Yes

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: Ooh, there was so much good stuff in the new chapter, I had such a great time. 😋

And that's it for current reads! Nothing I've finished since last week. 😮‍💨 Unfortunately, since I still haven't continued Fall of the Crimson Flower, I moved it to my backlog for the time being, but I definitely want to pick it up again soon.

DNFs and my backlog are under the cut.

DNFs

BOOKS

Magic of Thieves by C. Greenwood

Edition: ebook

Stopped reading at: 64%

Thoughts: The writing wasn't bad and the story seemed very intriguing at first, but the more I read of it, the more monotonous it became. It just never felt like the plot was moving forward. To be honest, it didn't feel like there was much of any plot at all; if anything, the whole 64% of the book I read felt like it was a premise building up to a story, but without the pay-off. I read the last chapter, just to see if the book was leading anywhere, but it was pretty much still the same, so there's really no point in finishing it. A pity, really, I had high hopes for this one.

BACKLOG*

BOOKS

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Edition: Paperback

Progress: Page 102/341

Current Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thoughts: This is a buddy read with my bestie, and right now it just doesn't fit the autumn vibe. We'll probably pick it back up some time after Halloween.

FANFICTION

Red Azalea by CeNedraRiva

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 112/135/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 23

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: The stars are still not aligned for me to continue it just yet, but I'm really excited for everything that's coming. 👻

Setting Fire To Our Insides by StarsAlignNomore

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Chapter 14/22/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 8

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: Y'know what, I think I will be ready to continue it soon; it fits my vibe hunger just enough, so we'll see. 😋

Impossible Life (Series) by Comfect

Fandom: The Untamed

Progress: Part 1/3

Finished Reading? No

Parts Behind: 2

Kudos: Part 1 ✅️

Thoughts: Not sure yet when I'll continue this, but I'm looking forward to Part 2.

Fall of the Crimson Flower by AkatsukiShin (in artistic collaboration with brilcrist)

Fandom: Word of Honor

Progress: Chapter 2.5/7/?

Up-to-date? No

Chapters Behind: 5.5

Kudos: ✅️

Thoughts: I want to continue it soon, I promise! 🙈

*Backlog refers to books and fic that I've started reading but have since put on hold due to various reasons

#jengupdates #books #fanfiction #reading #booklr

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undeadentropy · 2 years

Text

I want to publish my books one day. And I hope to whatever God is out there, that I can sell enough books that I don't have to work as a wage slave the rest of my life. I love being a chef, don't get me wrong. But the work is brutal, and I can't do this full time forever. Not since I got covid back in 2020. And I'm getting older. I don't know how long my health will last.

I will die one day, I know. But I want to leave my mark before I go. My books are my legacy. I won't be having kids, even if I was able. I was infertile even before HRT. My books are the engravings of my very soul. And I so dearly hope that people enjoy them, even when I'm gone.

And I WILL finish them. That much I promise. I have a whole trilogy, over a million words between them. They arent ready yet. Lost of fine tuning and lore inconsistencies to take care of. They tell a singular story, and so must be finished together.

And if Fate would have it, I will gladly write more books within the same universe. I would love to create more stories, of the lives of characters from different places and times. That would be a dream come true. No writer's block could stand in my way, if people actually enjoyed my books and asked me for more. Books are meant to be read, and the demand would drive me to create more.

That would be the greatest dream. I fantasize of a time and place when people make fan art and fanfics of my stories. Such a thing is the greatest compliment of them all. I dream of engaging people to such a degree that they bless me with such gifts. As improbable as it may be, this fanciful dream keeps me going, even as life tries to stop me. Even as the world tries and fails to end my life. I'm still here, bitch. And I'm not done yet.

Sorry, I'm a bit drunk right now. I only hope my life finds meaning through my written works. And that my soul find a new home when I'm free of this dysphoric moral shell.

I know there is more to mortal existence than my physical brain can conceive. Time didn't exist before space came to be. Time is a dimension we only perceive through the inevitable growth of entropy. This is why we can't remember the future. Even though time itself is but another dimension, we can't perceive it. Only the effect it has on 3d space.

We don't know reality. And I fear what awaits me on the other side of death. But I know that reality is so much more than what we see. This life is but light filtered through to our meat computers we call our brains. There's so much more that we can't see, trapped behind the veil of our universe's axioms.

We will all see the truth when we die, never to tell the living what we learned. I know that one day, even humanity will go extinct. So why do i want to leave my mark, knowing just how fleeting it is? I don't know. Perhaps that's the true meaning of nihilism. We make our own meaning in this life.

This is why I chose the name of Undeadentropy. When creation goes to die, the soul lives on beyond even death. My name is the essence of the soul. Impossible to prove by the laws of science, bound to this world as they are. But inevitable when considered through a philosophical lense. Undeadentropy is magic. A force that has no place in this universe. It has no axiom to bind it to any reality our moral minds can conceive. But it remains the only explanation for how those axioms, and our very universe, came to exist in the first place.

I love you all. And I hope we all find some meaning in this meaningless universe, where even the Divine can exist as nothing more than a feeling deep within our soul. And though we might fight and struggle within these flesh prisons, one day we'll be free. We will meet again, and laugh about this crazy dream we know as life. Until that day comes, take care of yourself. And know that I will always love you.

#philosophy #existiential #drunk #serious post #life #writeblr #hope #death #books #writing #rambling #dreams #goals

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flightfoot · 3 years

Text

Friendship and Uncertainty

AO3 Thanks to @oblivionhold for betaing!

Marinette really didn't have a lot of great options in Prime Queen. She couldn't tell Nadja and her parents "Oh yeah, sorry, I double-booked myself as Ladybug, my bad! Guess my parents are gonna have to babysit instead!" And if she'd tried to make up an excuse about being busy, with how last-minute it was and how urgently Nadja needed childcare, I don't think her parents would've accepted it.

Her only viable alternative option would've been to cancel her interview with Nadja at the last-minute, citing some last-minute conflict with her civilian schedule. She could've transformed during a bathroom break, texted Chat, and told him as much, leaving him to interview with Nadja alone. I'd argue that this would've been the most responsible option, but not necessarily the best one. With how much the network was pressuring her, Nadja may have landed in hot water if she couldn't get one of her guests on, and Chat would've been disappointed as well.

The plan Marinette came up with in canon was her best shot at fulfilling all her responsibilities without anyone being mad or disappointed or hung out to dry. Manon got looked after by someone Marinette knew was a good babysitter, she got to go to the interview, and no one would have any clue things were remiss... at least, that was her plan. In canon, things got dicey for a bit with Alya calling into the show, but ultimately no one discovered Marinette had left the premises, and everyone was mostly happy.

But it was risky, and things could easily have gone wrong. Hence, this story.

It gives me a good reason to explore Alya feeling hurt and exploring her emotions while sticking closely to canon. There aren't a lot of fics that do that.

--------

“Where is she?”

Alya looked down at Manon. Nadja was worried about Marinette not being in the picture when she called, and she couldn’t blame her. Bringing over a friend to help babysit as well, or taking over babysitting momentarily while the hired babysitter was busy was one thing, but this was getting ridiculous.

Marinette had seemed weirdly anxious about talking to her parents. She’d chalked it up to Marinette being nervous about whatever she’d needed to tell them, but…

She let out a frustrated sigh. Marinette hadn’t even told her why she needed to talk to them so urgently. It almost felt like she was making up an excuse to ditch her with Manon.

“Marinette wouldn’t do that,” Alya murmured to herself. “She’d tell me if she needed me to cover for her, right?”

But the thought wouldn’t leave her brain.

Manon yawned.

Gears turned in Alya’s head. “Hey Manon, before you fall asleep, how about we go downstairs so you can use the bathroom?”

“I’m not gonna fall asleep!” Manon said, yawning again. But she stood up shakily and headed for the stairs, following Alya.

-----

As Alya waited for Manon to finish in the bathroom near the kitchen, she heard a soft humming coming from the kitchen. Seizing on the opportunity, she hurried over (while keeping near enough that she could still hear when Manon opened the bathroom door).

“Ah, Alya!” Tom greeted her. “Did you kids need some snacks?”

“No, but-” Oh what the hell, why not? “Actually, that sounds great.”

“Anything for my daughter! And her friends of course,” he said, cheerily grabbing a few of hers and Marinette’s favorite cookies.

“Speaking of Marinette, what’d she want to talk to you about?” she said, as casually as she could manage.

“She wanted to talk to me about something?” Tom asked, sounding perplexed.

“Maybe I just misheard her,” Alya said hastily. “I was playing with Manon and things got a little loud.”

Tom looked troubled. “Well, just let her know that if she needs to talk to me about anything, her papa is always willing to lend an ear.” She could almost see a lightbulb turn on above Tom’s head. “Oh! I’ve got a batch of Marinette’s favorite cookies in the oven right now! They should be ready in about twenty minutes. If you can send her down then, we can talk this out, see what’s troubling her! And if it was a mistake, well, I’ll never say no to watching her face when she bites into a strawberry macaron.”

Alya slapped on a smile. “Will do!”

The toilet flushed.

“That’s my cue to leave. Thanks, Mr. Dupain!”

“Anytime!”

She walked to the bathroom on autopilot.

Marinette had lied.

------

“I’m so sorry Alya! I had no idea it would take so long to talk to my parents!”

Alya didn’t look at her. “What did you guys talk about?” she asked tonelessly.

“Uh, you know… family stuff,” Marinette sounded nervous.

Alya turned to her. “Marinette, I know you weren’t with your parents.”

“I- uh-”

“I went downstairs earlier and asked your dad what you two talked about, but he said he didn’t talk to you at all. Your dad wanted me to tell you that if you need to talk with him about anything, he’s willing to lend an ear. The batch of strawberry macarons he was making should be ready by now.” Her voice sounded dead, even to her own ears.

“Alya, I’m- I’m really sorry-”

She took a deep breath. “I’m not ready to talk with you about it right now,” she said evenly. “If I do, I might raise my voice, and I don’t want Manon to see us fighting.”

Marinette winced, glancing at the sleeping girl.

“Um… could we talk tomorrow…?” Marinette asked, sounding small.

Alya nodded stiffly. Not like she could avoid it, tomorrow was a school day.

As she headed down the ladder, she paused and looked up, “Oh, and Marinette?”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t let anyone know you left. I’m still not happy you ditched me, but I didn’t rat you out.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and she started to stammer something. Alya shut the hatch.

Alya squeezed her eyes tight, letting out a small sob.

At that last moment, she’d been tempted to stay. To hear Marinette out. To see whether maybe, maybe, she had a good explanation. Some sort of excuse.

But she couldn’t.

If she stayed, with Marinette looking at her like that, clearly hurting… she wouldn’t be able to stay mad at her. Not when she felt worse than Alya herself did.

Alya wasn’t ready to let go of her anger and hurt yet. Not so soon.

Pausing only to text Nora that she was heading home, she hurried out the door.

------

“Little sis?”

Alya quickly wiped her eyes, trying to compose herself before Nora saw her.

It didn’t work.

“What happened? Who hurt you?” Nora asked, grabbing her shoulders.

“No one!”

Even to her own ears, it sounded false.

Nora frowned. “Really? Your eyes are red, and I can see the tear streaks on your cheeks. You really expect me to believe that?”

She looked away.

“Hey, look, little sis-” Nora said softly.

“Don’t call me that.” She couldn’t muster up the energy to put any heat behind her words.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Promise not to go after her?”

Nora blinked. “Her? ...wait, you were just at Baguette’s place- did something happen with Marinette?”

“Promise me,” she insisted.

Nora grimaced, before sighing. “Fiiiiine. Can I at least yell at her?”

“No. I want to handle this myself.”

“If you’re sure, little sis.”

Alya made a face, but explained what’d happened. How Marinette had called her over, ditched her with an excuse about her parents, how she’d learned Marinette was lying, everything.

“-and I just. I don’t understand why,” she finished. “I help her out all the time! Heck, I’ve even helped babysit Manon before! Why’d she lie to me?” She looked down at her lap, her fists tightening as she squeezed her pants legs, needing to get energy out. “I just- I feel used.”

Nora pulled her into a tight hug. She leaned into the pressure, listening to her sister’s heartbeat.

“Remember back in Martinique, with Maya?” Alya murmured.

“The neighbor girl?”

Alya nodded. “We played together a lot when I was a little. But sometimes… sometimes she’d get demanding, saying that if I didn’t do what she wanted - play some game she wanted, pick a role she wanted me to, whatever - she’d say that if I didn’t do it, she wouldn’t be friends with me anymore. There weren’t a lot of other kids my age in the area, so I agreed.” She gave a small smile. “Until one time she went too far. I stormed home in tears, scared that she wouldn’t play with me anymore, but not able to take it anymore.” Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, she continued. “You know what Mom did when she heard? When I told her how afraid I was that Maya wouldn’t want to play with me anymore? She told me to just wait. Less than an hour later Maya was knocking at the door, asking if I would come out to play. I stopped being afraid of her threat after that, and she stopped using it. I could say no.”

“I’m guessing this feels similar?” Nora said.

Alya nodded. “But it’s also weird! With Maya I understood what she was after. With Marinette, I don’t. Did she just really not want to babysit? Where’d she even go? And why-” Alya hesitated. “Why did she risk this? What was so important? Marinette, she- she doesn’t always think through other people’s feelings, but she DOES care about people! She doesn’t like hurting others! So why-”

Nora shook her head. “It’s no use speculating, you’ll just get your head turning ‘round and ‘round in circles ‘til you don’t know up from down. Just ask her tomorrow.”

Biting her lip, Alya sighed. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. I just don’t know how I’ll sleep tonight after all this.”

Nora smiled, pulling out a DVD from… okay she really wanted to know when Nora had hollowed out a copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy collection, because on the one hand that was SUPER cool, and on the other hand it physically hurt her to see a book damaged like that.

“I was saving this for your birthday,” Nora said, oblivious to Alya’s crisis, “But I think you need it now.”

She looked at the movie, letting out an inhumanly high-pitched squeal. “Majestia’s Early Days - Collector’s Edition?! How’d you even get this? I camped out on the website all day trying to snag a copy! They sold out in seconds,” she scowled, “Damn scalpers.”

Nora laughed. “Having fans can really come in handy. After one of my matches, I mentioned how bummed out my little sis was about not being able to get her hands on a copy. The next day one of my regular fans handed this to me, said he hoped you’d enjoy it.”

“If you see him again, tell him that he’s a wonderful person with excellent taste in boxers!”

Nora laughed, grinning from ear-to-ear. Alya bet her own grin dwarfed even Nora’s.

“Let’s watch Majestia kick some ass.”

-----

“Alya? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Nino lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve been staring down at the floor for the past minute, looking like your dogs just got kidnapped by subterranean monsters and you’re trying to figure out how to get them back and why they’d want them in the first place.”

She stifled a laugh. “You come up with that for one of your movie scripts?”

He adjusted his cap, grinning proudly. “No, but now that you mention it…”

“Do you even know anyone with a dog?”

“Maybe a shelter would help out? They’re always looking for more exposure. We could put a note during the credits that the pups are available for adoption!”

Hm… she could advertise their film on her blog too, maybe ask whether any of her readers worked at a local dog shelter…

“We could talk to Marinette, see whether she’d be up for making a monster costume! Or if she’s too busy, Halloween’s coming up and- Alya?”

She blinked, only just now noticing how tightly she’d been squeezing her shirt in her hands. “I’m- I’m fine.”

Nino frowned. “No, you’re not.”

She looked away.

Nino slid into the seat next to her. “Look. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s clearly hurting you. If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand. If you just want to go back to talking about something unrelated to it, something fun, to keep your mind off it, I’m happy to oblige. But I’m always here to lend an ear if you need it.”

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Marinette called me over last night, wanted me to watch the Ladybug and Chat Noir interview with her. She also happened to be babysitting Manon, and thought it’d be more fun if we were all there together. Everything was fine at first,” she said, fidgeting. “I played around with Manon for a bit, Marinette got some pillows to lay on, and we got set up to watch the interview. Then Marinette said she needed to talk to her parents and that she might be gone for a while.”

She let out a humorless chuckle. “I waited for a while, but… no Marinette. Finally, I went downstairs and checked with her dad. He didn’t know anything about it. As far as he knew, she’d been upstairs in her room with me the entire time. Marinette came back a little while later, pretending that her talk with her parents had gone super long and I just… I couldn’t deal with it. I left. I said I’d talk with her about it today, but…”

“But you don’t feel ready now either?” Nino guessed.

She nodded. “I just keep on turning it around and around in my head. It doesn’t make sense. Sure, Marinette makes up excuses and disappears sometimes, but…” Something niggled in the back of her brain. “Hey Nino,” she asked carefully, trying to catch the strand of thought. “Has Marinette always been like this? Running off at a moment’s notice with fake-sounding reasons?”

Nino scratched his head. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We’ve been in classes before, but we weren’t exactly close. I don’t think so? I think I would’ve noticed that. Not like we had akuma attacks distracting us last year.”

“Akuma attacks...” she murmured to herself.

There it was again. That niggling sensation, but even stronger this time.

*Slam*

Marinette threw the classroom door open, pinwheeling her arms as she struggled to regain her balance.

“AAAAAAH-”

At the last second as she fell backwards, Adrien seemed to almost teleport through the door, catching her.

Nino smiled. “I swear Adrien has a ‘Marinette falling’ sense. He always arrives just in time to catch her.”

Alya snorted. “Now if only he had a ‘Marinette feeling’ sense.”

Frowning, Alya tried to grasp onto the threads of thought from before, but they’d scampered with the distraction.

“...Can I sit here?” a soft voice asked.

Alya jumped a little, then scolded herself. She’d just seen Marinette arrive, she shouldn’t be able to startle her less than a minute later.

Nino got up slowly, giving Marinette a hard look, but moving to his regular seat without comment.

Marinette didn’t move.

Oh. Marinette was waiting for her permission, not just for Nino to leave.

“Sure. I mean, you sat here first,” Alya said. “I’m not the Queen of Seats.”

Marinette snorted at the reference, the edges of her mouth twitching upwards.

Alya narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t noticed before, but from this close, she could see the bags under eyes, along with a slight puffiness.

Guilt settled in her stomach. She was pretty sure she knew why Marinette wouldn’t have gotten enough sleep, why she would’ve been crying.

“But she broke my trust!” part of her screamed. “She lied to me, used me!”

She still didn’t like seeing her friend hurt.

“So?” She asked as Marinette slid into her seat.

“So what?” Marinette asked nervously.

Alya narrowed her eyes.

Marinette bit her lip. “I- I’m not sure what to say. I- I lied to you. You’re right. I called you over because I’d accidentally double-booked myself, but I couldn’t just TELL Nadja that and I couldn’t cancel on no notice, so I just… came up with what I thought was the best solution. Manon would get taken care of, Nadja, Mom, and Dad wouldn’t know anything unusual had happened, and I’d be back before you noticed anything was wrong. Everyone would be happy! At least, that’s what I planned…” she petered off, looking away.

She could get what Marinette was thinking now, when she called her over. Sometimes you couldn’t do the things you wanted without disappointing someone, without someone being upset with you. But if you lined things up just right, you might not need to upset anyone - so long as they never found out what you’d done.

It still stung that Alya had been the tool she used to solve her problem, but at least she understood Marinette’s thought process.

“What was so important?” she asked. “What was so vital that you had to sneak out, even if it meant lying to your friends and family?”

Marinette flinched. “I- I have to,” she whispered. “I don’t have a choice.”

Alarm bells rang in Alya’s head. “What do you mean?” she said urgently. “Is someone threatening you? Marinette, are you in danger?”

“No!” She thought for a moment. “Yes? Kind of? Not- not the way you’re thinking of!” she added hastily.

She didn’t know what she was thinking. Drugs? Gangs? A cult that’d ensnared Marinette in its clutches?

“Can I have your attention please?” Ms. Bustier said.

Alya turned to the front of the class, head still spinning. She still wasn’t totally sure how she felt about what Marinette had done, but she had bigger worries.

Something was wrong with Marinette.

-----

That girl could be slippery when she wanted to be.

She managed to avoid talking to Alya for the rest of Bustier’s class, not responding to any note-passing and hurrying out of the classroom the second the bell rang. With Marinette going home for lunch she had little opportunity to talk to her then, and as for their next period… Alya may be brave, but she wasn’t stupid. No talking in Ms. Mendeleiv’s class.

With a sigh, she watched Marinette run out of Francois-Dupont, somehow managing to take the stairs two at a time without falling. Clearly whatever it was, Marinette didn’t want to talk about it.

But if it was hurting her…

She shook her head. She’d been thinking about this all day. It was time to get her mind off it, do something else.

Nodding, she turned towards the park. Maybe some time climbing trees would help take her mind off things. And if it didn’t, it’d at least give her practice catching her siblings when they inevitably got themselves stuck in some high-up area. She could swear they had teleportation skills that they’d been hiding their whole lives just to prank the rest of the family with.

Chuckling to herself, she almost missed the flash of red out of the corner of her eye.

She whipped around. “Ladybug?!”

The superhero froze, looking caught out. “Alya!” she said, sounding strangled. “What’re you doing here?”

She shrugged. “Just enjoying the weather,” she said, pulling out her phone. “Would you be up for another interview?”

Ladybug started shaking her head before she even finished the sentence. “No, NOPE, nada, absolutely not!” she said, making an “X” with her arms for emphasis. “Not after yesterday. Not happening.”

She stashed her phone. “You just want to talk off the record then?”

The superheroine’s eyes widened a fraction. She nodded. “There’s… there’s something I could use your advice on.”

Something fluttered in Alya’s chest. Her idol needed her help? “I’ll do what I can,” she said, more confidently than she felt.

After going to a secluded part of the park, Ladybug turned to her. “You know a lot about superheroes right? About how we have to maintain a double life?”

Alya nodded. “It’s a comic book staple. Often causes a lot of trouble for the hero, but not as much as having their identity leaked to the world.”

“Yeah, I know what that trouble’s like,” Ladybug muttered to herself. Speaking more loudly, she looked at Alya. “I- I messed up. Badly. I forgot that I’d-” She paused. “Sorry, I need to be careful about this. I don’t want to expose myself.”

Alya nodded.

After a minute, Ladybug tried again. “I needed to do something as Ladybug, but as a civilian, I’d already agreed to another responsibility at the same time,” she said carefully. “I couldn’t tell anyone that I needed to do something Ladybug-related without spilling my secret identity, but I also couldn’t get out of my civilian responsibility so I- I tricked someone into doing it instead. And they found out and they’re mad at me and I can’t BLAME them but I can’t tell them everything and I just don’t know what to do!” She looked at Alya pleadingly.

Her stomach twisted. “Seems to be a lot of deception going on lately,” she muttered, surprising even herself with how bitter she sounded. She blinked as Ladybug winced.

Stop projecting your feelings about the sleepover onto Ladybug’s situation, they’re not the same! She scolded herself.

What would she do in Ladybug’s shoes? She couldn’t tell anyone her identity. She’d still want to be friends with this person. Just heaping on lies would make it worse when those came to light, alienating the friend (or former friend) even further.

“Have you explained as much as you could why you did it without giving away your secret identity?” Alya asked slowly. “Just… let them know that you do care about them, that you didn’t lie to them lightly, that you care about your feelings and you didn’t have a lot of options.” Ah, screw it. Maybe it was just because it’d been recent and she was still hurting and worried, but perhaps hearing it would help Ladybug with her own friend problems. “One of my friends recently tricked me into covering for her,” she said. “I’m still not sure why.”

“O-oh, really?” Ladybug said… nervously? Probably because it reminded her of her own friend.

“She vaguely explained to me why,” she continued. “What she was thinking and feeling at the time. She had another commitment too, but she didn’t tell me what it was.” She let out a deep sigh. “At least she didn’t lie about it - I think. I’d rather she not tell me, than lie about it.” A pebble sat near her shoe. Absentmindedly, she kicked it. “With how distraught she was when she explained it... I think she was sincere. That she doesn’t view me as a tool. That she was just in a tough spot,” she said. “That helps a lot.”

“I- I did explain,” Ladybug said, hope lifting her voice. “I think she believed me.”

Alya nodded. “In that case… I don’t think there’s much more you can do. Give her space, and try to avoid doing it again if you can.” She bit her lip. “Which might not be totally under your control considering Hawkbutt.”

Ladybug stifled a giggle.

She gave a small smile, snorting at her own joke. “Anyway, could I ask you a favor? So long as you don’t have any other commitments already, I don’t want to land you in hot water with anyone else,” she added hastily.

“Nothing to do with the Ladyblog, right?” Ladybug asked suspiciously.

As much as she’d like that… “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Actually, it has to do with a friend of mine. You know Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“Uh- NOPE never heard that name in my life! Who’s Marinette?” Ladybug said hastily, gesticulating wildly.

Huh. Weird. She could’ve sworn that Marinette had mentioned meeting Ladybug before, but come to think of it, she couldn’t remember a single instance of Marinette and Ladybug being in the same place at the same time-

Never mind, there was that time with Alix’s race. But if that was the only time, no wonder Ladybug didn’t remember her. She wasn’t even sure that anyone had said Marinette’s name while Ladybug was within earshot.

Aaaaaand there was that niggling sensation again. She wished it’d either divulge what it was getting at or leave her alone.

She whipped out her phone, pulling up a picture she and Marinette had taken together a couple months ago. “Marinette’s my best friend,” she said, surprising herself with how sure she sounded. “We’re going through a bit of a rough patch right now, but… well, I’m still worried about her. She was the one who lied to me yesterday, and when I confronted her about it, she said something about not having a choice. It sounds like she’s in danger but she won’t tell me from what, and I’m not sure what could be the problem and… I’m just worried.” Looking up from her phone, she locked eyes with the superhero. “Could you check up on her, please? Maybe she’d talk to you even if she wouldn’t talk to me. And- and even if she doesn’t, I’d feel better if a superhero was looking out for her.”

“You really care about her, huh?,” Ladybug said, giving her a soft smile. “Even though you’re fighting.”

She nodded. “I’m not happy with her, and there are some things we still need to work out, but- yeah. I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“You’re a good friend, Alya. I’m sure she’s fine, but I’ll look after her as best I can.”

“Buginette?” a boy’s voice called. A black figure landed next to Ladybug, crouched in the classic superhero landing pose, one knee bent, one hand punching the ground.

Oooh, new Ladyblog idea! Top ten Chat Noir poses! Seriously, that cat could be a model with the way he effortlessly mugged for the camera.

Ladybug groaned. “Did I forget the time already?”

“It’s fine,” Chat said, resting his stick on his shoulders. “Waiting made seeing you all the sweeter.”

The spotted heroine groaned again, for a different reason this time. Alya saw the corners of her lips quirk upwards ever-so-slightly, belying her annoyance. “Come on, you alley cat. Race you to the Tower!”

“Oh, you’re on!”

Alya watched them run off. Well, pole vault and swing off, but you know. Semantics.

Turning around, she headed back home.

She had an article to write.

-----

Alya hummed as she walked into class, glancing at her phone. The Chat article had been a major hit, garnering several dozen comments within a few hours of posting, including from a user called “TheCatsMeow” who seemed weirdly invested in convincing everyone that Chat definitely had no experience modeling and his on-point posing was entirely due to natural talent and charisma. People picked the weirdest hills to die on. She’d been joking when she proposed that he was secretly a supermodel, but after having defended the possibility in a ten-commment-long exchange, she was starting to seriously consider it. Hm, maybe Adrien would have an idea of a possible identity lead…

“Oooof!”

“Augh!”

Note to self: Don’t walk while looking at your phone. Sure she never listened when Mom told her that, but maybe this time she’d have the self-control to hold off! Optimism!

“Sorry,” she said instinctively. And blinked. “Marinette? You’re EARLY?!”

She should text her mom to buy a lottery ticket.

“Yeah,” Marinette said, chuckling nervously. She seemed to be in much better shape this time. A little down, but it looked like she’d gotten some decent sleep. “I- I just thought- if you wanted to talk- never mind. You need space.”

Suspicions percolated in her mind. “I should go to the restroom before class starts. How about you?”

Marinette’s head whipped up. “Yeah, sure, better to be safe than sorry. You know me, always needing to race to the toilet!” She rubbed the back of her neck.

“Every other akuma attack it seems like,” Alya said, walking down the hallway with her friend. “I swear, something about it being an inconvenient time makes you need to go even more.”

“Yep, that’s totally the reason!” Marinette agreed.

They walked for a moment in silence while she tried to gather her thoughts. “You know about my advice to Ladybug, don’t you?” she said at last.

“Ack-!” Marinette tripped on air, but managed to save herself at the last second. “Uh, no, that’s ridiculous, how could I know about that? It’s not like I was there or anything.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Uh huh. And it’s pure coincidence that you concluded I needed space the day after I gave that advice to Ladybug to help with her own friend problem?”

“Uuuuuh…” Marinette looked off to the side, before releasing a long sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. Ladybug talked to me last night, and well… your conversation came up. I figured our problems were similar enough, and you were the one giving the advice, so… maybe if I followed it, we could make up?”

Marinette wanted to go back to normal, to laugh and joke and just.. enjoy each other’s company again. And Alya… she wanted that too.

She knew Marinette hadn’t meant to hurt her. And she understood why Marinette had done what she’d done.

Well, except for what prompted Marinette to need to lie in the first place. She just had a gut feeling it was a cult, some sort of secret society. She was sure Miraculous had been around for awhile, that several historical figures had used them, and she could just bet that there was some sort of secret group watching over them from the shadows. She just needed a thread to follow, something that could lead her back to the guardians-

NOT THE TIME, BRAIN.

Abruptly, she stopped. “I- I want that too,” she said softly. “I don’t like fighting. I want my friend back.” She gave Marinette a hard look. “If Ladybug told you my advice, then you already know what I’m about to say. I don’t like being lied to - not like that. Not as part of a manipulation. You had your reasons, I get that, but I don’t think I could take that a second time. Unless someone’s in danger if you don’t, please, don’t lie to me. If you can’t tell me something or why you’re asking me to do a thing, just tell me that. I can’t promise to like it, but it’s better than being tricked.”

Marinette bit her lip and nodded. “I think- yeah. Yeah, I can do that,” she said, gaining confidence.

Alya smiled. “In that case…” she took off. “Race you to the bathrooms!”

“Hey, no running in the halls!” Marinette said, but her laughter undercut her words. As did her immediately overtaking Alya.

Girl could move fast when she wanted to.

------

(Several months later)

“And I… I’m Ladybug”

“This makes everything make so much more sense.”

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #alya cesaire #marinette dupain cheng #prime queen

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sunarintoes · 3 years

Note

hello! for the flowers prompts, could i request oda sakunosuke with aster? thank you!! <3

Aster; Wisdom & Devotion

cw: death || flower prompts || odasaku x reader || wc: ~700

He wanted to be a writer. A writer who could sit by the seaside and write about life like he had taken none. He really, really wanted to be a writer… but that was three years ago. Three years ago, Oda Sakunosuke, your Oda Sakunosuke, died a martyr. He died a man devoted to his ideals but you wished he died with you.

In all honesty you were jealous that your beloved died in the arms of another. Despite it being just your insecurities and your grief talking, you could not bring yourself to face Dazai - even when he visited you to tell you his plans of leaving the mafia.

Of course Dazai knew how you were feeling. He himself was feeling an immense pain from losing his best friend, he could not - would not, imagine how it would feel to lose the person you love the most. So he passed Oda’s wisdom to you, hoping that you would come with him. He was grasping at what was left of his dead friend - clinging to the connection.

And Dazai being the determined, stubborn man that he is, refused to give up on you. He made a promise to himself, he lost one friend and he will not lose another; especially one that used to be with Oda. So every Sunday he visited your apartment and sat outside your door, talking to you about life in the agency - life in the outside world. Hoping that one day you would come around.

And you did. After months of holing yourself in what was once yours and Oda’s shared apartment, you opened the door. You do not think that you could ever forget your old friend’s face, it had changed so much. Dazai, the cold hearted prodigy, had red tinted cheeks and colourful eyes that held emotion in them. His skin, you noted, was no longer a pasty chalk colour but more vibrant and healthy. You were glad, your dear friend had been taking care of himself; but you hadn't.

“Yn, come to the agency with me.”

Your gaze shifted to the ground, “I don’t know…”

His soft hand tilted your head towards his, “please Yn, it's what Odasaku would have wanted. Let us fulfil his last wish and ‘save the weak’.”

So here you are, three years later with a bowl of curry in one hand and a bouquet of aster, chrysanthemum and gladiolus. You kneel down at his grave and let a tear drip down your cheek, allowing it to burn ablaze against your numb cheeks.

You relax against his grave and recount everything from the past year. Once you have done that you pull out his favourite books, the trilogy that he wanted to finish himself. When you get to the third book you pause and smile, “you always wanted to be a writer, you always wanted to write the ending to this book…” the tears stream down your face - dripping onto the pages, “but you never did so I did for you.”

The third book is finished. Perhaps it is not how he nor the author envisioned it, but it is finished nonetheless. The ending you wrote spoke of how the main character stopped killing, he had a dream he wished to fulfill; he wanted to settle down and live life earnesty with those whom he loved. The ending is bittersweet but only because you wrote it about him, you wrote out the life he wished he had. The life he could have had. The life you could have had.

When the clock strikes twelve, you whisper your sincerest goodbyes and head home. Next time you will read to him a new book, one that you would have written completely.

Notes: ‘kokoro’ is the book many assume to be the third book in the trilogy that Odasaku was reading. In this book the mc stops killing, however because the pages are ripped out Odasaku never finds out why :)

#odasaku x reader #oda sakunosuke #bsd x reader #flower prompts <3 #bsd odasaku #oda sakunosuke x reader #odasaku fluff #odasaku drabbles #odasaku angst

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litcityblues · 11 months

Text

'Before They Are Hanged' --A Review

I listened to the episode of The Legendarium that covered the first half of 'The Blade Itself' (and now have to go back and listen to the second half and both halves of this book) and one of the things they mentioned that made me curious was how excellent the character work on the Audiobook was.

So, with free credit in hand and not all planning on finishing this trilogy this year, I plunged headlong into the second volume of the First Law Trilogy, Before They Are Hanged.

And you know what? They were right. The character work was excellent. Steven Pacey deserves all the flowers and plaudits for his work on this because he made the book come alive in a way I was not at all expecting. This was more engrossing than any streaming show I could think of and more entertaining to boot- and a large portion of that was down to the excellent character work and narration. So four-star narration for the audiobook.

One tiny question I have though: have I been pronouncing 'grimace' wrong my entire life? When I say, I think of this guy. When Pacey says it, it's closer to one of these.

Also, I'm going to give full credit to the Audiobook narration for completely turning me around on one of the characters, Sand Dan Glokta. In the first book, I found him interesting, but he wasn't my favorite. Pacey's narration of him here, however, takes him to another level. His world-weary cynicism and suspicion and hatred of stairs are captured perfectly and honestly, I got through this book so quickly mainly because I wanted to get back around to a Glokta chapter again.

The second volume of the trilogy picks up with the remnants of Logen's crew (Three Trees, Dogman, and company) heading south to the Union forces, trying to get away from Bethod. They soon find them but are turned away- but eventually, win employment with the Union forces and Colonel West/Marshall Burr as scouts. While Burr goes north to find Bethod and trap his forces, West is to stay behind with Crown Prince Ladislaw- who wants glory for himself and in an incredibly incompetent way leads his forces into a bloodbath and is eventually pushed off a cliff by West who stops him raping a woman, Kathil, who has joined their company. In a final confrontation with Bethod's forces, the Union emerges victorious-but Three Trees is killed in the final battle and it is Dogman who is elected as Chief of their band of Northmen.

In the South, Glokta is charged with mounting a defense of Dagoska, the Union's sole remaining outpost in the South. He, along with Severard and Vitari set about attempting to find the traitor in Dagoska (they do) and find out what happened to his predecessor (they do)-- eventually, he is recalled and Dagoska falls- but he is congratulated by Archlector Sult on mounting an effective defense of the city and gets back in time to assist West's sister, Ardee (whom he promised to protect) and blunder into a succession struggle as the other Crown Prince gets murdered.

On the quest, Bayaz, Logen, Ferro, Quai, Jezal, and Longfoot travel to the literal ends of the earth, searching for an ancient weapon that Kannadius, the Master Maker supposedly hid that could help them defeat Kalhoul and his forces. Along the way, Jezal learns to get along with people and that courage is something you have to work at and it might not come naturally the first few times. Ferro and Logen start a romance of sorts and then end their romance of sorts and Quai just sort of offers up information and stories now and again (I have a sneaking suspicion about him, but we'll see if the next book proves me right) and Longfoot remains their helpful navigator. Because this is the second volume of the trilogy and the Empire must strike back, it turns out they don't find what they're looking for-- and what that means is something that will have to wait for the last book.

Overall: I've seen these books described as grimdark and I'm not entirely sure why. They're not dark, I would say they're sort of pulpy? Hyper-realistic? It's refreshing in a way- so many fantasy depictions of fighting and battles sort of gloss over the blood and guts aspect of it (I mean, think of Minas Tirith-- sure, Theoden charges and dies, but you have to think that a lot of the Rohirrim die in horrible, horrible ways- but we don't see that in Tolkien because glory and mythmaking come first.) Abercrombie doesn't do that-- the fights are brutal because they often were in real life. The characters-- especially the Northmen vs. Union speak different languages and have distinct cultures. The supernatural aspects aren't overcooked-- you don't need a learner's manual to figure it out, which again, is the kind of magic system I appreciate (Don't Eat People seems to be the only hard and fast rule so far) and these books are just excellent. The Blade Itself was enough to hook me, Before They Are Hanged is enough to reel me in. This wasn't the trilogy I had planned on reading this year, but you better believe I'm going to finish this one and soon. My Grade: **** out of ****

#before they are hanged #first law trilogy #abercrombie #book review

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