Spring hunt.

I think what really elevated Zhu’s character for me was the excellent cheer in which she goes about doing the most morally corrupt things. She’s mild and funny and grins a lot and jokes with her friends and flirts with her wife and loves her sooo tenderly (the end of swbts though oughhh); she’s a monk who can’t fight for shit (or ride a horse) and is altogether a pretty chill guy. And idk it’s so refreshing because the author subverts the (incredibly infuriating) trope of squashing every ‘badass’ non-male character into the snarky-and-cold-and-hates-everyone cast. Zhu is warm and loving and wily and incredibly fucked up and it’s so much more fun to watch than whatever is going on with most YA leads

he who drowned the world is so fun* you guys

(*it's mostly not fun)

every sapphic book i love → she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan

"you have a lot of feelings in you, ma xiuying." "don't mistake it for caring about your life or death, monk." but it was too late; she already cared.

You know a character is beyond messed up when 'gay and homophobic' doesn't even make the top 5 reasons they need therapy

get yourself a man that hates everyone but mostly himself, that's powered by shame and spite, that would do anything for you, that would murder you

A Heart of Ice and Jade

I finished SWBTS a while ago and I love general ouyang so much! I’ve been waiting to read the book since 2020 but only got my book a few days ago, ahhhh it feels so surreal! well written eunuch antags are so rare in historical fiction and I never thought I’d live to see one beautifully written like a trans mlm, this really satisfies my incredibly specific niche (I’ve been fascinated by the concept for years), sorry I don’t know how to authentically describe how much ouyangs character means to me, he’s genuinely (almost) everything I’ve wanted to see in historical fiction, like oh my goodness... he raised the eunuch antag bar way too high now I’m gonna be disappointed when I read anything else

thank you if you read my entire paragraph above I feel like its really hard to articulate just how much I love ouyang as a gay dude with a eunuch hyperfixation... hope u like the art!

general ouyang no first name

Did Xu Da for @durgeteriormotives since she started She Who Became the Sun and bc I had to repay some kindness ;)

HAD TO GUESS FOR THE HAIR BC I COULD SWEAR HE'S GOT A TOPKNOT IN THE SECOND BOOK BUT I DIDN'T FIND ANY OTHER DESCRIPTION SO IF ANYONE'S WISER THAN ME, LET ME KNOW

oh 12.65 litres of blood clinging to the outside of my body, we're really in it now

Spoilers for hwdtw!

can we talk about zhu's genderfuckery. she's a girl when girl-on-girl violence is thematically relevant, and he's a dude mostly to piss ouyang off and be best bros with xu da. she's a dude because the alternative is a peasant girl, and he makes his final stand as a peasant girl because fate is funny like that. zhu's gender is a giant gleeful raspberry blown at the world, while simultaneously being a vehicle for themes of gendered violence and discrimination and toxic masculinity and girlhood. i am so normal about this duology btw

just finished she who became the sun, enjoy my shitty memes

she who became the sun lesbians

I've been in a meme mood lately for some reason

Of course you have immense desire for greatness at any cost and unstoppable determination dictating your every waking thought and action. And pronouns.