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kayas-kosmos · 1 year

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Fantasy Mythology Mega-Post.

I've recently been posting a series of drawings from the series of folklore commissions I got to do back in 2021. These were intended to be a child-friendly version of specific creatures and characters from folklore as the commissions were created for a school.

For people who want to see the entire series in one go without having to trawl through my Tumblr, I'm putting them all here so they are all in one place.

Hope you like these!

Wolpertinger Family

Sphinx.

Quetzalcoatl.

Phoenix.

Kistune.

Lindworm.

Kodamas.

Kelpie.

Kappas.

Jormungandr.

Gorgon (Metal Bull).

Genie.

Fenrir.

Baba Yaga.

Bonus image - Forest Friends.

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cajunwitch101 · 2 years

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#fairies #fae witch #fae aesthetic #witch community #witchyvibes #witchblr #witches of tumblr #art #fantasy #goddess #fairy magic #magical fantasy #witchcraft #moon goddess #moon fairy #fairy aesthetic #witchy

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thetypedwriter · 8 months

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Fourth Wing Book Review

Fourth Wing Book Review by Rebecca Yarros

This book is incredibly popular. Unbelievably popular, actually. We’re talking about Colleen Hoover levels of popularity. On the one hand, I get it, I truly do. On the other hand, I think this book is beyond basic and shouldn’t be garnering the attention it currently is.

Yarros’ novel is set in a fantasy world with typical mythical names like Navarre and Tyrrendor where dragons and magic and a never-ending war exists. In terms of a fantasy world, nothing about Yarros’ universe is astonishing, interesting, or even remotely novel.

While this sounds incredibly harsh, it’s actually very smart from a marketing perspective and only adds to the book’s high demand because while it’s a fantasy world and therefore intriguing, nothing about it is very unique or complex—allowing new and old readers alike to delve in without stressing about the world and its intricacies. Instead, readers can focus almost exclusively on the action and romance, two things this book has in droves.

So while the fantasy setting allows for high stakes intensity, fighting, and dragons, dragons, and more dragons, nothing about it is complicated or even very important.

How does the magic system work? Some vague explanation of wards and that’s about it. Why is there a war? Don’t worry about it. Why was there a rebellion? You don’t need to know the intricacies of the whys and hows, only that the children of the traitors are alive and intermingling with the rest of the citizens, increasing tension.

However, as I mentioned above, while the setting is mundane it does allow Yarros to submerge her chapters in action and intrigue without much of a break. This is one of the main reasons why I think Fourth Wing is topping the bestseller’s list: it is constantly entertaining.

All of us have short attention spans these days, and Fourth Wing fills the gaping need to be consistently amused and engaged at all times, which Yarros delivers upon brilliantly. Every chapter contains some fight, life-or-death situation, a competition, someone trying to murder the main character, a break in, a break out, or a sex scene. That would account for 90% of all chapters in Fourth Wing.

That being said, it’s not necessarily a criticism. People obviously love the constant action and it keeps the book engaging and fluid. While I can recognize that Yarros is writing to fulfill a societal need and that constructing multiple chapters of action is genuinely difficult, it’s also not my favorite thing.

I have said time and time again that I’m a character driven reader. I would say the equation for Fourth Wing is 80% action and 20% character interaction. Personally, I would prefer a more equal distribution of action to character progression and growth, but I also recognize that’s a me problem.

In terms of Yarros’ characters, they are…meh. I think they’re extremely basic, but once again, I’m not surprised why people are foaming at the mouth for their story. The main character is Violet, nicknamed Violence, and she is the epitome of a perfect character. She’s extremely intelligent, generous, kind, brave, determined, stubborn, and sexy. You name it and she’s got it.

Her only “weakness” is literally that: she has a “weak” body. However, this weakness barely matters as she often overcomes it without any problem whatsoever. Yarros does have some descriptions of Violet wrapping her knee or being at a disadvantage physically during fights, but by the end of the book Violet is a certified badass who can take down anyone.

Violet’s “flaw”, if you can even call it that, doesn’t make her a more interesting character. It makes things infinitesimally more challenging for her and attracts some enemies, but she already has enemies because of her mother’s high status.

Other than this physical burden, Violet is literally perfect. There is nothing wrong with her, which makes her extremely boring and hard to relate to. I want complex human beings that have strengths and weaknesses, not unimaginable goddesses with brittle bones.

The only other character of importance, Xaden, is also the epitome of hot and flawless. He’s sexy, handsome, brooding, smart, and crazy talented. His only so-called detriment is that he can be a bit closed off and reticent, but that’s it.

He’s shouldering the lives of over a hundred orphans and can do no wrong. He’s also the hottest, the strongest physically, the most popular, and the most talented because of course he is.

Both Xaden and Violet also have two most powerful dragons that exist and their dragons are a mated pair, meaning that Violet and Xaden are inextricably tied together for life.

In addition to this, they have the rarest signets (magical powers) consisting of wielding shadows and controlling lightning, the likes which haven’t been seen in ages. Sigh.

I hate it so much. I’m so sick and tired of the trope of the main character being the strongest and most beautiful and then falling for the hottest and strongest guy who’s slightly cold, but actually the world’s best person.

The fact that they have the strongest dragons and the most powerful abilities also irks me. It’s not interesting. I predicted it from a mile away. Do something different, something better. But no, that’s not what we get in Fourth Wing.

You could argue that it was surprising that Violet bonds with two dragons, but think about it. Is it really? Also, I think Andarna plays no role other than to make Violet even more saint-like than she is. The other characters in Fourth Wing don’t matter. I make this statement often, but it could not ring more true for Fourth Wing.

Yarros throws so many characters at you and yet nothing about them sticks. Other than Xaden, and arguably Liam, Rhiannon, and Dain, no characters have any depth, nuance, or significance. In a book as large as Fourth Wing I find that hugely disappointing.

Even Liam, Rhiannon, and Dain are all one-dimensional characters at best. Some people tout that the relationship between Dain and Violet is interesting, but I don’t think it is at all. It is clear from the first chapter that Xaden is her game-end and Dain becomes increasingly aggravating and villainized as the book goes on.

Something else that Yarros does with her characters is make them very black-and-white. They’re either angels capable of doing no wrong or the most vehement villains to walk the planet. This opposition is incredibly boring and didn’t fuel my interest in any of the characters.

Fourth Wing’s plot, which I haven’t spoke much about yet, essentially follows the simple idea that Violet is meant to be a scribe, became a rider instead due to her mother’s negligent insistence, avoids being murdered while going to classes and participating in nonsensical competitions, and falls in love with Xaden Riorson.

That’s it. That’s the whole plot.

Multiple elements of the narrative also make no sense. For example, you're telling me that the youngest, most athletic, most talented people of your nation are being slaughtered for arbitrary reasons?

It makes zero sense. Riders are simply allowed to kill each other during fighting practice and during competitions. Think about that for one second in a logistical lens and realize how ludicrous that is as a nation.

The only reason Yarros puts it into her novel is because it's edgy and increases tension but it's genuinely really stupid.

There’s some heavy action at the end with Violet throwing lightning left and right after being betrayed. Except the betrayal can barely even be defined as such and is probably only happening because Yarros is trying to keep tension up. Maybe she thinks readers will get bored if Xaden and Violet are simply together and in love.

I’ll never understand why authors do this. We want to see them together. Let me see them navigate a relationship and the pitfalls that come with that. I don’t need some bullshit reason for them not to be together when everyone knows they’ll eventually reconcile and get back together anyway. Urgh.

Fourth Wing has a lot of elements that I find banal and that bother me, but as I also stated, it was highly entertaining at all moments. For this reason, I didn’t hate Fourth Wing. It does sort of blow my mind that this is the book that is being swept off shelves and beginning a cultural phenomenon, because at its core, I think it’s generic in almost every way.

However, maybe that’s what people want. Perhaps people want a simple fantasy with hot enemies-to-lovers moments and overpowered characters.

The end.

I just want something better.

Recommendation: If you want a watered down version of Game of Thrones and have been craving some alluring enemies-to-lovers moments with constant dragon-centered action thrown in, then Fourth Wing is a gold mine.

If you want something better than a generic fantasy with perfect main characters, a stereotypical universe, and a cliched plotline then avoid Fourth Wing. Not everything popular is worth the hype.

Score: 6/10

#book blog #book review #book recommendations #book rec #popular fiction #books #popular books #top books #book recs #fourth wing #violet and xaden #xaden riorson #rebecca yarros #violet sorrengail #favorite books #6/10 #dragons #magical fantasy

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chocolatepyrusart · 7 months

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Have you heard of the bird the Inca Tern? Look it up!

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the-mschristine · 2 years

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Tree of Life

#midjourney #aiart #aiartcommunity #forest #tree #treeoflife #tree of life #magical fantasy #fantasy art #prompter #artist on kofi #disabled artist

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naomivandoren · 1 year

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First Day of Magic School 🪄

Art Prints: naomivandoren.com/prints/school-of-magic-art-print

#witch #witchy things #sorcerer #magic #magical fantasy #fantasy art #digital painting #artists on tumblr #digital art #original art #original character #witch oc #fantasy oc

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glorious-drawing · 9 months

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Commission piece

#digital drawing #my art #art #digital art #commission #digital artwork #magical girl #mystical #dreamy #unicorn #magical fantasy #fantasy art

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fourbrickstall · 2 years

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Fiddlin Fairy

#fairy #fiddle #violin #rainfall #rain #magical fantasy #magic #lego #toy photography #lego photography #fairycore

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newkidonthebook · 1 month

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I'm finally back with a book review! Sorry it took so long 📚 In this book, join Emily on a quest to find her parents in a parallel world of magic and danger at the heart of London – The Midnight Hour brims with imagination and thrills 🌃! I give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ 🌟Read my full review here 🌟

Here is an extract of my review:

The Midnight Hour is a thrilling book. You never know what to expect and you’re eager to discover what new surprise awaits Emily in this strange enchanted world. It starts in Emily’s cosy home (complete with a feeding station for hedgehogs), then moves on to the incredible Night Post headquarters, and finally bursts into the parallel London, with supernatural beings and magic everywhere. There are some scary moments, like when Emily realizes her parents are gone and she’s left on her own! While a few elements felt clichéd, such as the ‘Bear’ villain she encounters and his chase scenes, on the whole the book shines with originality and builds an exciting alternative world.Emily and her parents are very real as characters. I especially like the family dynamic between the brave and contrary Emily, her calm and composed father, and her odd and rebellious mother. Some characters are not as convincing, such as Tarkus (Emily’s new friend in the Midnight Hour), whose personality is hard to pin down and whose background is never fully explained.

check out the rest here :)

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schwartzka · 2 years

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A weird ass looking kitchen.

#trippy #magical fantasy #kitchen #indoor #scenery #art #traditional drawing #my art

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betterthanapokeintheeye · 5 months

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30 gifts for 30 days of November - Day 28

This is the twenty eighth of thirty Better Than a Poke in the Eye recommended gifts for the book lover in your life, even if that book lover is YOU!

Today’s recommendation is a novella: Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch.

Jason has been a fan of Ben’s books ever since he picked up a copy of the Rivers of London in 2014. The Rivers of London books tell of a special police branch that deals with supernatural events and a young policeman named Peter Grant who, at the start, shows some magical ability. The stories are a wonderful mix of supernatural, mixed with grit, fantastical creatures and an orange Ford Focus ST known as the ASBO.

The novellas allow Ben to write about different characters but in the same universe. Jason’s not read Winter’s Gifts yet but he suspects he may be getting it for Christmas!

You can purchase it through our online bookshop or through any of our affiliate links.

Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch R.R.P. £14.99

Better Than a Poke in the Eye Bookshop .org

Amazon UK

Foyles

Waterstones

WHSmith

Blackwells

Forbidden Planet

To purchase any of Ben’s books, we have a dedicated section on our Bookshop.

#books #christmas gifts #yuletide gifts #love books #ben aaronovitch #peter grant #rivers of london #fantasy book recommendations #fantasy books #magical fantasy #winter's gifts

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larsmerch · 11 months

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❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Rainbow Mermay Mermaid Prints are coming June 1st!

They'll only be available for June Pride month.

Get them before they're gone.

You are welcome to message our Etsy or any of our social media pages to reserve a set of these cuties for $36

I'm also breaking the set into 2 categories:

Warm color set of 3 (Red, Orange, Yellow) for $21.

Or

Cold color set of 3 (Green, Blue, Purple) for $21

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

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thetypedwriter · 3 months

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Curious Tides Book Review

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle Book Review

This book has so many things to love.

Too bad I disliked almost all of them because of other glaring issues in the book.

I still give Lacelle so much credit. Her book had so many dreams (literally) and tried to tackle so much for a debut YA novel. However, I really think she could have benefited from a more succinct editor, by changing up her timeline, and by shearing off a good 200 pages or so.

This book’s plot is ambitious. It switches POV’s between two main characters: Emory and Baz. Emory, a student at Aldryn College, specializes in healing powers. Used to being mediocre and constantly standing in the shadows of her best friend, Romie, Emory is suddenly the recipient of every power after a near death experience that leaves several dead, including Romie.

However, in the aftermath of the event, Emory learns that she’s a mythical tidecaller. Baz meanwhile, is an eclipse-born, a person who receives his powers from being born on a lunar eclipse.

Known for their horrific and “evil” powers that combust in an event called “collapsing”, Baz is ostracized and alienated by the other students at Aldryn, but also the world at large for his incredible, but frightening ability to control time (another big issue that I won’t even get into).

The setting of this book is a world based on the idea that people receive abilities depending on the moon they were born under. There’s lore galore, colleges dedicated to honing special abilities, rituals, language, and mythology–all based on the tides and the moon.

The details that Lacelle includes in this is really interesting, as is the concept of magic based on the moon phases itself. A dark academia setting based on the tides and lunar alignments? I love it.

However, the magic system was needlessly complicated and Lacelle spent way too much time describing events, world-building facets, and societal elements that had nothing to do with the plot and only succeeded in making the book longer instead of pulling me into the story more deeply.

In addition, a lot of Lacelle’s writing was incredibly repetitive. She hit the same points over and over and over again: eclipse-born are evil and everyone hates them, everyone loves the moon, Kieran is hot, Romie is great, Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, Emory feeling inadequate compared to Romie, and Baz thinking or describing the children’s book Sorrow of the Drowned Gods.

No joke, the items I listed up above were about 75% of the book. The remaining 25% was action, too-in depth details about the college that didn’t matter—like what all the different halls were called and what they looked like in each dormitory, more flashbacks of Emory and Baz’s past, and interactions between the characters.

Even though Emory and Baz are at a college, their classes don’t matter whatsoever. Honestly, I have no idea why they’re even at a college other than to have them all in one place. Emory’s classes are described once, briefly, and we see her go to about two classes. Otherwise, it’s not mentioned at all.

The characters themselves were okay. Not great. Just…okay. Lacelle tried way, way too hard to give her characters depth, but only succeeded in telling instead of showing.

Instead of me figuring something out about Emory, Lacelle would have a huge, descriptive paragraph of Emory realizing that she compared herself to Romie too much and that she had her own self-worth. Moments like this aren’t bad per se, but they were way too frequent for my liking.

Let me, the reader, figure things out about the characters and come to my own conclusions. Don’t spell out every single detail for me and hold my hand. It’s tedious and it’s boring. Lacelle did this constantly.

In addition, for a nearly 600-paged book, about four characters mattered: Emory, Baz, Kieran, and Kai. Emory and Baz are the main characters so it’s hard to discount them, even though they’re not that interesting due to having every single personality trait of theirs spelled out and analyzed by the author itself.

Kieran and Kai, although important characters, were very one-dimensional. Kieran’s power-obsessed manipulative personality was not a secret whatsoever.

Lacelle reveals his “true” nature at the climactic end, even though the signs showing his megalomania were painfully clear to a ten-year-old.

I liked Kai the most, but he’s in very little of the book. We see him mainly in flashbacks and then at the very end. Lacelle, why lock up your most interesting characters and hide them away for most of the novel?? She does this with Romie too, a more egregious error.

Romie dying is the catalyst for this whole story. It’s what changes Emory and makes her a tidecaller, it’s what invigorates Kieran and sets him on his master plan, it’s what influences Kai to collapse—the whole story starts with Romie dying at Doveremere Cave.

Yet…Lacelle starts the story after this event. Why would an author do this??? It’s excruciating. Your most important part of the whole novel isn’t even included in the novel. She inserts it later as a flashback, but I don’t want a flashback. I want the real thing.

The book should have started with Romie and Emory going to Dovermere and then

progress from there. It easily could have been the first chapter and it would have introduced us to Romie’s character more, set up Romie and Emory’s friendship, and acted as the catalyst for the whole story.

Even better, it could have even started with Baz’s memory of his father’s printing press blowing up, then the three of them starting at Aldryn, them going to Dovermere, Romie dying, and thennnnn continuing.

That already would have been a better book. It wouldn’t even have to be longer. By cutting out all the repetitive and useless bits that I already mentioned, Lacelle would have had plenty of room to include these essential moments.

I truly don’t understand the choices she (or her editor) made about the plot timeline and pacing because they were all terrible.

This is a true injustice when you take into account how original and fascinating the initial concept is and how much time and effort she put into the world and its lore.

Recommendation: This book had all the right ingredients for something truly great, but fell short due to verbose, albeit beautiful writing, a slow plot, choppy pacing, predictable characters, and too dense world-building that added nothing to the story.

If you want dark academia, look elsewhere like If We Were Villains or the Atlas Paradox. These stories have much better plots with much more interesting characters and it doesn’t take 600 pages to get to the end.

Score: 4/10

#curious tides #pascale lacelle #favorite books #book #book blogger #book review #books #book blog #book recs #book rec #book reflection #ya book rec #ya fiction #magical fantasy #popular books #top books #popular fiction #book recommendations #4/10

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rogue-racers-fantasy-artwork · 2 years

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#mother of dragons #khaleesi #daenerys targaryen #rogue racers fantasy artwork #magical fantasy #emilia clarke #game of thrones #rogue racer

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naturalist-journal · 9 months

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Uno de mis libros favoritos de fantasía

#books #libros #gif #my gif #gifs #magical world #magical fantasy #fairy #the spiderwick chronicles

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naomivandoren · 1 year

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Riding the High Winds⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ "Slip off and away from this world and into the next. Let the winds carry you high and into far-off lands where the ground is fertile, ready, and waiting to plant new memories. Let curiosity guide you and kindness steady your sails.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Keep reaching for what’s ahead. Please, don't look back. Regret is only for those that wish to walk backward. This time and place is sweet with hope, beauty and the unknown which lies ahead.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ The light doesn't fade from here; it only grows brighter."⁠⁠

(Part 3 of 3: The Passage Series)⁠⁠⁠

#digital arwork #dreamy art #cloudscape #trees #forest #magical fantasy #naomi vandoren

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