#it's really good i recommend it it wasn't as scary as it was hyped up to be but it's cool and unnerving and i liked the atmosphere | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

szyszkasosnowa · 4 months

Text

Bookshelf wrapped

A list of books I've read in 2023 for statistical and archival purposes and also because I like to catalog things (and tumblr let me down by not having a year in review this year).

If any of my followers would feel inspired to do a similar thing please tag me, I'd love to see what you've read!

Służące do wszystkiego, Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak. I love reading the first-hands accounts of history, esp from regular/lower class people. So it's worth to read just for it. There was something lacking for it to be a really good reportage tbh.

Fire and Blood, George R.R. Martin. Really nice if you're an asoiafhead. Can't really recommend to someone who hadn't read asoiaf before. Also I wish GRRM would focus on finishing the saga instead of starting new projects. But can't really blame him for pursuing side stories.

Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer. Keep thinking about that redditor guy who said this book inspired him to try and prepare to climb Mount Everest in one year. Maybe reddit pisses on poor even more than tumblr.

Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert. I must say that of (5) Dune books I've read so far, this has the higher amount of what I consider Dune's fatal flaws. Mostly unnecessarily convoluted dialogues that end up being borderline incomprehensible. It also underutilizes very interesting characters, like Scytale and Mohiam. I would give extra points for Paul's ending, but then I've read Children of Dune.

The True Deceiver, Tove Jansson. Just fine. Even better if you like winter.

Children of Dune, Frank Herbert. Way better than Messiah, can't hold a candle to the original Dune. I feel like some stuff was retconned in this part, concerning Alia's and the twins' abilities. Esp. Alia's arc could use more foundation set in the previous parts.

God-Emperor of Dune, Frank Herbert. Still not as good as the original Dune, but what a beautiful wild ride. So many cool ideas and characters, including the answer to the question 'would you love me if I were a worm', Idk why the people say it's not adaptable to the screen, I know exactly how I would direct the movie. I wasn't born a nepo baby so you will probably never see this, sadly.

Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov. I saw a really good performance before reading the play so it probably influenced my rating. Good read for ugly girls who pull no bitches.

The Last Question, Isaac Asimov. Clever.

Girl, interrupted, Susanna Kaysen. Good read for mentally ill and probably ugly girls.

Other voices, other rooms, Truman Capote. Loved how the climate was painted, and I'd say the way it was written, but I've read the translation. So I liked the translator's way with words I guess.

Dracula, Bram Stoker. Jonathan's diary at the beginning is crazy, scary and overall amazing, but sadly it's the highest point of the novel and the rest doesn't live up to the hype. It's still good and it nice to compare how some motives evolved in the popculture.

Chłopki. Opowieść o naszych babkach, Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak. Again, I absolutely loved the primary sources used in this book. And it's in fact rare to see some memoirs by the women of the lowest of low classes. But other then the sources, Idk.

Heretics of Dune, Frank Herbert. The issues of Messiah are back. Can we let go of Duncan at last. Honored Matres as a concept are questionable/laughable. I wanted to ask on Dune subreddit if anyone else thinks Teg and Patrin were gay for each other but they removed my ask, so I'm just gonna believe this on my own.

The Crucible, Arthur Miller. Very good. I have some issues with the character of Abigail and how she compares to the historical Abigail though.

Things fall apart, Chinua Achebe. Crazy good. I kept changing my mind on what I like the most about the book as I read it. In the end I think what I liked the most was giving a perspective of the people who didn't fit with the traditional society.

Śniła się sowa, Ewa Ostrowska. Raw, disgusting, unsettling portrayal of a small, closed off countryside society, and its violence. As small, closed off countryside societies are one of my biggest fears, I loved (?? appreciated) this book.

Owoc żywota twego, Ewa Ostrowska. As above, but even more disgusting and unsettling. Dead Dove Do Not Eat, but if you're fully ready for what awaits you, it's a good read.

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. Actually good.

Kiss of the Spider Woman, Manuel Puig. Very cool idea for the book structure (dialogue-only, two inmates try to pass time, one recounts to the other the movies he had seen). But the story itself isn't bad also.

Dungeon Meshi, Ryouko Kui. Beautiful! Heartwrenching! Heals your depression! Elf twinks! Extremely thought out worldbuilding and a consistent, planned out story. Love to see it.

I don't include the manga I've read that are ongoing (or I hadn't finished them).

#year in review #oc #fire and blood #dune

2 notes · View notes

aroacehanzawa · 1 year

Note

What are kaleidescope of death and global examination? You've piqued my interest after your liveblogging lol (as in, I'm very curious to know what makes one so terrible and the other so good, and what they're about)

Heyy! They are both danmei webnovels of the unlimited flow genre, with basically levelled survival games where if you die in the "game" you die in real life. Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu (147 chapters, info carrd) is horror-focused, where characters who are close to death must pass 12 doors that are kind of like elaborate escape rooms filled with ghosts and monsters typically from urban legends. Global Examination by Mu Su Li (166 chapters, info carrd) is similar but less focused on horror and follows characters who have been pulled into a mysterious system where they have to solve exam-style questions except the questions are actually dangerous scenarios where it's easy to die. And there's romance in both of them <3

GE is brilliant in the way that both the MC and ML are well-written with fleshed-out backstories and they are both incredibly smart and complement each other's skills perfectly. The exam system is really cleverly laid out and the way the characters solve each level is presented in a very logical way, so that the way they are smart doesn't feel forced and instead reads very natural! The world inside the system is also consistent and we get to find out more and more about it at a good pace, and the recurring characters all turn out to be very important not only to the plot but also to our protagonists.

To me the plot never felt like it was dragging on, because on top of solving each exam level there is a greater narrative connecting everything, so that eventually all the plot points come together in a very satisfying way at the end! The leads also have great chemistry even without knowing their backstories, which makes it even more emotional and romantic after you learn everything about them. It's genuinely one of my favourite webnovels!!

In comparison, KOD just falls flat despite the amount of 5 star reviews and the hype i keep seeing by people who recommend it as a similar novel to GE. I didn't think the horror part was scary at all, at least for me, because it relied mainly on stuff like grotesque ways to die and mutilated body parts, which i thought were just gross instead of actually scary. But the main problem i have with this novel is that the main characters are presented as 'smart' but the way they solved each door relied too much on luck and coincidences or them somehow coming to 'obvious' conclusions that seem like they just came out of nowhere. It was like the author just kept telling us that 'oh here is this random item or situation so clearly it must be like this' without any intermediate steps, and most of the time they never would've even escaped the door if the ML or MC hadn't ~somehow~ stumbled on a key item or hint.

There is also a ridiculous amount of plot armor for the main characters, which i could suspend disbelief for, if the rest of the story wasn't also written in this hand-wavy style of 'anyway so this is how they solved the problem' and 'anyway so this is how they got out the door'. The world of the doors is never clearly explained or given any more meaningful treatment than if they were levels in some random video game, and the climax felt like a poor attempt at bringing it all together but just ended up with basically 'then so-and-so many days passed and they survived'.

The characters were not very fleshed-out*, especially the MC who seemed like he was only given basic traits like 'exceptionally calm' and 'cat-lover' - and even the cat-lover part was forgotten for most of the story and feels like when you make an OC and give them random traits that are only ever mentioned in the character sheet... The way the leads got together felt abrupt and superficial, and after that it's like no other characters mattered, which i suppose is a romance trope of its own, but when you apply it to shallowly-written characters like this, it just feels forced.

*) My biggest gripe was the author deciding to put key plot twists about the main characters in the first extra chapter after the ending (like ?!?!?), that changed the whole perspective of the story but didn't actually add anything of value to the plot itself and just makes everything more convoluted and plain worse if you think about it. The side characters who were actually interesting were either used as plot devices or plain forgotten about. And the ML who starts off relatively interesting in comparison to the others, is practically reduced to a caricature of himself by the end.

Anyway. Sorry this got so long i really had to rant about KOD to get it out of my system. Basically GE did everything that KOD tried to do but wayyyy better, and if you're looking for a well-written infinite flow novel with an ingenious plot and well-written characters with outstanding chemistry, look no further than Global Examination!!

#can you tell i'm soooo salty about kod #i pushed through because i wanted to know how it ended but uhhhhh what a waste of time #and it's not even how low i would rate it but it's so annoying to see the amount of 5 star reviews like...........really?#i mean if you read it without using your brain then sure. unfortunately that couldn't be me

9 notes · View notes

funnywormz · 1 year

Text

watched the whole of guillermo del toro's cabinet of curiosities and figured i would make a lil post abt it since i watched the whole thing lol. im gonna put it below a readmore link so i won't annoy ppl with it bc it got sorta long........ this isn't a proper review or anything just my silly lil thoughts. there are minor spoilers below, jsyk

my episode rankings from best to worst + rating out of 5:

1) the murmuring 4.5/5

2) the viewing 4/5

3) the autopsy 3/5

4) the outside 2.5/5

5) lot 36 2/5

6) graveyard rats 1.5/5

7) pickman's model 0/5

8) dreams in the witch house 0/5

my overall rating is probably like. 2.5/5. i was hyped up for it bc it's guillermo del toro yknow....... but i was disappointed honestly. it's mediocre overall. if you're gonna watch any of it i would definitely recommend the murmuring and the viewing, but i can't rlly find it in me to recommend the rest LOL.

an overall pattern with the episodes is that they have good build up and atmosphere for the first 30 minutes or so, but completely fail to follow through after that. the two aforementioned episodes are the exception, i rlly liked both of them and felt they delivered well.

a little summary review of the episodes in order:

1) lot 36

lot 36 had great build up and an awesome atmosphere. i liked the set design and the general message of it was really good. however the last few minutes were honestly just. stupid. and i found it a little boring to watch bc the main character was such an asshole it was difficult to relate to him or care abt the fact that he was about to get eaten by a demon. it wasn't bad but it was just sorta eh

2) graveyard rats

this one was honestly more of a silly dark comedy than actual horror imo. but it wasn't really campy or silly enough to hold my attention, so it just straddled this awkward zone between not being scary enough to be horror and not being funny enough to be a dark comedy. it got boring fast, there are only so many minutes of a guy crawling in a tunnel and whimpering you can make me watch before i get tired of it and this episode definitely exceeded that limit LOL. if you're into gore and body horror that side of it is pretty decent, but personally that's not the main thing i look for in a horror story so it just wasn't interesting to me.

3) the autopsy

the autopsy was another episode with great build up that just failed to follow through for me. the atmosphere was great, i liked the vibes and the initial autopsy scenes, i had some pretty high hopes for it. but the last part just felt silly and too much in poor taste for me. like maybe if you're into body horror you'd like it more? but the whole "super scary spooky evil alien getting his rocks off on human suffering" thing was just. too stupid for me

4) the outside

i LOVED the set design and general setting for this one. once again, great atmosphere, great build up, stupid ending. the message of it was honestly just kinda outdated as well. the main character was likeable at first but quickly became obnoxious and impossible to root for or empathise with which made the episode boring to watch. her husband was so blatantly meant to be a stand in for the audience and a "voice of reason" type character that it was hard to get immersed into the story. the characters in general were just. not great. and the "twist" of "it was a creature!" at the end was just so stupid imo sorry if that's harsh lol. i appreciated the visuals and how weirdly horny it was for no reason lmao but honestly it didn't have many other redeeming qualities

5) pickman's model

this one just didn't grab me at all. the characters weren't charismatic or interesting and the plot was just so obvious and overdone with the whole "what if there was a scary painting BUT IT WAS REAL!!!!!" thing. the scene where the creature appears and drags pickman off was pretty cool but other than that it just sucked honestly. extremely boring, not scary whatsoever and not interesting or fun or anything else.

6) dreams in the witch house

oh boy this shit sucked so bad LOL. just right from the beginning it was silly (but not in a good or fun way), poorly acted, boring, and extremely not scary. the only bit that even vaguely scared me was the "OH MY GOD IT'S INSIDE ME" part but that's just bc it's a trope that always freaks me out (i still can't watch the chestburster scene in alien lmao). the dialogue was predictable and cheesy and the characters were bland as hell. it was just not good sorry

7) the viewing

FINALLY I CAN BE POSITIVE ok this one ruled i loved it. great performances from charlyne yi and eric andre especially. it has a slow build up but makes up for that with an awesome atmosphere and amazing set. the characters are all clearly established with their own motivations and personalities. the direction the plot goes in is a little bit predictable, but that's probably the biggest flaw it has. it's also darkly comedic in a way that works in this episode, unlike some of the others. and the creature design rules

8) the murmuring

they definitely saved the best for last in this anthology. this one is awesome. great acting, and you can really feel deeply for both characters. it takes just the right amount of time building up the tension. the setting is so wonderful and atmospheric, it's visually brilliant. there were also some moments where i felt genuinely scared and tense which is more than i can say for most of the other episodes. it was possibly a little rushed at the end but nothing major. some really creepy off-putting moments combined with great visuals and a compelling plot and setting. if you're more of a body horror/slasher/etc type of person then this episode might not be your thing, but personally i prefer a "creeping feeling of dread" kind of horror so this was right up my alley.

obv these are just my personal takes and i know a lot of this is down to my own personal taste and preferences. ive read some reviews where the reviewer has the exact opposite of my opinions on every episode lol. if you liked episodes i didn't like then please don't take this personally or anything, and in general i don't want this post to be interpreted as some kind of attack on the series. i just wanted to share my personal thoughts on it, and unfortunately this one wasn't rlly for me overall, but that doesn't mean that there isn't someone out there who will love it!

5 notes · View notes

clwnpunk · 6 months

Text

Looking for scary movie recommendations!

Heyo, my friend and I have been trying to find good scary movies to watch and just keep ending up watching movies that are either not scary or we just straight up don't like, so I wanted to ask for recommendations instead of just listening to horror fans on Tik Tok!

I think part of the problem is when looking for horror, "horror" as a genre seems to cover a lot. I'm not looking for like vaguely eery movies, or disturbing content matter but no real scare factor. That's why I'm saying "scary" movies here instead.

Movies I've watched recently/we've watched together that DIDN'T do it for me/us under the cut! (+ genre preferences)

SKINAMARINK - It was such a bummer that we didn't like this movie because it was so hyped, but it just didn't do it at all. The movie was so dark that you couldn't really see what was going on, so the long drawn out scenes of nothing happening had zero effect. Also the 'let your brain fill in the gaps' type horror doesn't work for me I think. I'm not trying to be vaguely unsettled, I want a good scare. This movie mostly just bored us.

CREEP - I watched this one alone so I dunno what my friend would think, but I just found it weird and kind of stupid. The "twist" was really predictable. The scenes that were really hyped up weren't scary, they were just uncomfortable and weird. It wasn't scary, it wasn't even creepy, it was just weird. and it KEPT GOING. I found myself checking the runtime multiple times, thinking "surely we must be getting to the end?"

THE CIRCLE - It was an interesting concept, but not scary. We mostly found ourselves yelling at the tv hoping they'd kill the clear assholes. The thing with the fetus getting a vote was almost comedic. I think it mostly just made us mad. Again, not scary at all. More frustrating than tense, even.

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT - I didn't DISLIKE this movie, it was interesting, but again, it wasn't scary. I was hoping the body horror aspect would amp things up, but it didn't. The scariest part for me was scaling the walls of hell because I'm afraid of falling lmao. It was an interesting movie, we had an alright time watching it, but it was disappointing in that we wanted to be scared and it didn't get there.

*** PREFERENCES MAYBE?

Personally, I'm into psychological and supernatural horror. I don't mind body horror/gore, but I don't particularly want to watch movies where the gore is the whole point. I prefer there to be more atmosphere and suspense than just straight gore. Suspense with a good scare payoff is ideal. My friend is into the gorier stuff, so something with a good balance, maybe. I'm not really into horror comedy or really campy horror, either. Highly prefer things that don't involve animal cruelty :) I can handle a bit of like oh there's something ritualistic that happened here but don't kill a cat on screen ykno? if it happens it happens i'll close my eyes but warnings appreciated in that regard

#horror #horror movies #scary movies #horror movie recommendations #scary movie recommendations #scary movie night #recommendations #movie recommendations

0 notes

silenthorrorfilm · 2 years

Note

Horror movie time! Do you like them? Are you a thriller person or a gore person? Any favorite villain? What horror movie do you think is over hyped? What horror movie do you like the most? How do you feel about jumpscares? Twist endings? If you're not a horror movie fan, just talk to me about your favorite Halloween movies :)

i used to not like horror movies, like i was just a mega anxious kid so i didn't watch stuff like that but i would watch older monster movies like the original dracula, the wolf man, phantom of the opera, etc bc those weren't like SCARY yknow?

as i've gotten older though, i've def gained SUCH an appreciation for horror movies! in fact this month i've been trying to watch a new one every day :33

i've seen stuff from all over the board, so i'd like to say i know what i do and don't like. like i don't like movies where the Big Scary Thing is like, an animal, like Cujo or Jaws or w/e. It's never really appealed to me. i also don't love supernatural horror, just like generally, but i think it can be well-executed when mixed with other things. i also don't care for the cannibal subgenre, as it's just kinda culturally insensitive as well as not incredibly interesting or engaging generally.

as for stuff i DO like, i really do like gorier/splatter movies (sometimes referred to as "torture porn" movies, but mostly pejoratively and i don't care for that term), if they're done WELL. it can be hard to strike a balance between good gore and a story that warrants it, bc if you don't have enough it feels like there's no pay-off, but if there's too much you get desensitized and it feels less like a movie and more a sfx showcase. it can be mega hit or miss, but i still like seeking out movies that bill themselves that way. i also love a good slasher, i mean it's hard to go wrong, it's the most iconic subgenre of horror for a reason, like if you ask people to name a horror movie off the top of their heads chances are it's a slasher. and they're fun!! even when they're bad they can still be campy and good to watch, more to laugh at. i also like psychological horror, like stuff that feels like the protag rly is tortured mentally and sometimes as a viewer you're unsure if what's happening is actually happening or if it's in their head??? good stuff. that's why american psycho is one of my faves, you're left wondering if patrick really did kill all those people or if he's just imagining it, bc there's evidence both ways!!

oh!! and a trope i ADORE is like,,,murderous artists as the killer. like characters who are like "i need to kill people for my art, and they will be immortalized in it even if i kill them"??? good shit!!! no matter what kind of art it is, murderous artists rly scratch an itch for me ehehe,,,

some of my favorite horror movies overall are scream (1996), black christmas (1974), hostel part 2, peeping tom (1960), house of wax (2005), psycho, re-animator, and halloween (1978) ^^

as for over hyped, recently my boss recommended the cabin in the woods to me and i really really hated it. like it's trying to do the thing scream does really well which is sort of lampoon the cliches of the genre, but scream was made by someone who has a lot of love for the genre and clearly wasn't just banking on that as the only draw. the cabin in the woods was clearly written by somebody who hates horror movies and thinks they're all pointless garbage, like it's just so much more mean-spirited, and it made me hate it so so much. and it's not like it's saying anything that hasn't been said before, it came out in 2011, i think that whole "oh the virgin always survives the jock dies first they always split up blah blah blah" observation had already been made a million times in a million different and much more interesting ways, this is just trying SO HARD to pat itself on the back for making that point too. also, in the last 10 minutes a character we've never seen comes in and explains to the protags what's going on in the movie, which like if you need someone to come in and just drone exposition at the viewers to make them understand what happened in the movie, YOU'RE A BAD SCREENWRITER. but for some reason, it has like a 90% on rotten tomatoes and i'm baffled as to why. there are some others but i'll spare you bc this is already too long as it is jsjhsjhsj

#i have a letterboxd acc just to track my horror movie watching ehehe #behind the scenes

1 note · View note

winged-fool · 3 years

Note

You should definitely watch Squid Game. I just watched it. It's amazing. I finished it in two days. If I wasn't so busy, I would have finished it in one. The ending is very satisfying. The pace, and the storytelling is perfect. It's kinda scary though. There's a lot of murder. But it's a really great show. I definitely recommend it. And the cast were on Jimmy Fallon a few days ago.

I've heard nothing but good things about it! But okay here's the thing, @exploring-in-space and I were just talking about this. I've seen everyone hype it up but I don't know what it's about or even what it is? Lol like I thought it was a game show but I guess it's not right? It's a fictional story about a game show? So yeah I think because I'm just confused about the premise is why I haven't watched it 😅😅

#My asks #moviesbuff

6 notes · View notes

dachi-chan25 · 4 years

Text

I had books that I either loved or hated so idk maybe I need to do another unhaul to ensure I read books I'll actually enjoy.

1- OtherEarth (Otherworld #2) by Jason Segel

🌟🌟

So this was a big disappointment. It started out fine, but I had this bad feeling about what the twist of this book would be about 50% into it, and then the twist comes and it was just as bad as I feared. Honestly I don't even know if I wanna continue with the last book, I have it but honestly I can't say I am looking forward to it, it wasn't just the plot that fell down but the characters felt pretty inconsistent and yeah not a fan.

2.- Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1) by Rosaria Munda

🌟🌟

The only thing I knew going into this was that it was inspired by Plato's Republic and that it was similar to Game of Thrones, so maybe that is why I found it pretty underwhelming. Like yeah I could see why it was based off the Republic with this system of education (tbh I still found it pretty basic and very much alike to other social systems I've read in other YA books) and there was some intresting tid-bits but not enough to keep me intrested. Now the characters, I liked both individually (unpopular opinion but I liked Annie more, I thought she had real potential but it was wasted because the moment she and Lee have this romance her character completely lost herself on thinking about him and what he did all the time) but I do not think they worked together romantically. There is some potential drama for book 2 but I am not intrested in reading it.

3.- The Mistress (The Original Sinners #4) by Tiffany Reisz

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was so good. Yeah it was super predictable, but the drama tho. I really loved Layla, she gave us an outsider's insight on Søren and Nora's relationship, and she is just the sweetest that I instantly knew she and Weasley were gonna get together. I cried at that last confrontation scene with Nora and Marie Laure and I am so happy that Nora is back together with Søren because they are truly a good couple despide everything.

4.-Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno Garcia

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I LOVED it. Ever since I saw the cover I was sold. This book I feel like it was meant for me. Like our protagonist Casiopea Tún is a dark skinned mexican girl of mayan descent in the 1920s who meets one of the lords of Xibalba and goes on a quest to help him retake his throne???? And on the way he falls in love with her so much he is about to forfeit his divinity to have a chance to be with her. I just, it was so beautiful, I felt my culture was really represented here, and it's so wierd to see the 1920's represented in Mexico I don't believe I had read something like this before and I will read anything Silvia Moreno Garcia writes from now on. Hopefully we will have a second book for this because that ending makes me wonder what adventures Casiopea will have.

5.-Little Gods by Meng Jin

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book blew my mind. The structure is perfect for the themes . Su Lan was a truly fascinating character though I felt very sad about her, always wanting to escape her past and thinking she was so undeserving for anything good in her life and still fighting to go on. The ending was so good, and all the cast of characters made an excellent conection between the past and the future.

6.- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Yeah I am a pretentious ho. I was very intimidated by this book (and anything written by Faulkner really) and I was really having trouble understanding the book at first because the prose is so particular (there are sentences that read like Shakespeare, some are almost Biblical stuff and then most of the dialogue is this very coloquial english with very poor ortography) and as English is not my first lenguage I struggled. But then we get to Addie's death and all this odyssey the family goes through to bury her, and it was so beautiful and exciting. I especially loved everything about Addie's chapter, she was so much better than her husband and she deserved better than what she got. I really liked Dewey Dell and Darl. While I hated Anse Bundren with a passion so the end really made me angry like waaaaat this selfish asshole gets everything he wanted and then some??? But I got why it made sense for the book. So I definitely recommend this, but my advice is to let yourself glide through the book, do not try to understand or make sense of it as you start it because then you become frustrated like it happened to me at first but it's a really beautiful book so I am really considering reading more Faulkner.

7.-Chosen (Slayer #2) by Kiersten White

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I enjoyed this book so much. It's a very easy read and we get some growth on Nina and Artemis. I liked the idea of the Watcher's Castle being a refuge for inofenssive demons. And omgggg I fangirled SO hard when Oz, Harmony and Clem appeared (my fave characters, like literally I only need a Spike cameo in these books to be completely happy). I really wanna see Nina meet Buffy in real life and ahhh I am excited for whatever the next book will bring us.

8.-Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is perharps my favorite book I read this month. It felt so relevant to things that are happening in the world, but escapist enough to bear it. For starters I love a good urban fantasy setting, and this was it. Z was a great non-binary protagonist (the fact the author is also non-binary also helps) like it was pretty original to make them a zombie when necromancy is viewed as wrong in their society and they get discriminated for it even though they knew nothing about how it happened to them. And their friendship with Aysel (lesbian muslim werewolf girl!!!) and Tommy (shapeshifter boy) was amazing. Like the way this book translates real life bigotry and social injustice to this magical creatures was truly amazing I recommend it to everyone of any age. Especially middle graders as this book is meant for that age group and I feel this is an amazing diverse read for that age group.

9.-El murmullo de las abejas de Sofia Segovia

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Realmente este libro es precioso, soy una super fan del realismo mágico y este libro realmente me toco el corazón. Aunque he de admitir que entre a este libro sin saber nada, y bueno que este libro pega diferente en el 2020, yo no tenía ni idea que este libro nos presentaba la Pandemia de Influenza Española de 1918, y bueno es bastante triste leer todo lo que paso cuando nosotros estamos pasando épocas muy similares. Simonopio es un personaje divino, poseedor de una sensibilidad y una inocencia verdaderamente fuera de esta mundo, y la forma en que la familia Morales lo adopta y lo abraza tan profundamente dentro de la familia es realmente hermosa. Fue muy difícil leer acerca de Anselmo Espiricueta porque puedo ver de donde venía todo ese odio y esa ignorancia que terminaron en tragedia y no puedo dejar de sentir lastima por él a pesar de todo el mal que hace durante el libro. Recomiendo mucho esta lectura.

10.-Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A book so relevant in our current times. So powerful and impactful even if the book is pretty short. We get to see how the systematic racisim at work. We get to get a glimpse of this awful reality through Kev and Ella, two gifted siblings that have lived this experiences in different ways and they cope with this in vastly different ways.It was such an intimate read I cannot begin to describe how angry and sad it made me, but also very glad I got to read it because we need to keep being aware that this is the reality for black people all around the world and they don't get to shy away from it so we shouldn't either we should see, learn and fight as hard as we can to change things for the better.

11.-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I re-read this book to have it fresh in my mind before the new series airs on July. And I liked it better now than the 1st time. This world is so scary because I see so many realistic elements it shares with the present. I felt a lot for Lenina (for everyone who lives in this world really) because she wanted more than what the society had to offer yet was so deeply conditioned as to what was right that she could just supress her emotions with soma. This book is of course full of racist and sexist stuff (cuz woman and indigenous people can never win) but I feel it helps to get a feel about how fucked up society is as a whole. In the reservation woman are subjected to the usual slut shaming and gender roles we get in our society while in London we get a world in which woman are judged for not sleeping around and being happy and infantile. Like it seems controling woman and their relationship to intimacy and sex is always a bit theme is classic dystopic books which makes a lot of sense given it works like that in the real world too. Same thing with indigenous people being treated as savage to congratula te ourselves for being so much more "civilized" never stopping to think how deeply fractured and flawed this may be. We also get explotation and brain washing of working classes and all that fun stuff. Really and amazing book eerily accurate tho.

12.-Brick Lane by Monica Ali.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is the story of 2 very different Bangladeshi sisters with very different temperaments making their way through life. Nazneen is a very dutiful daughter that marries the man her father picked for her, moves to London, though her husband doesn't make her happy she tries very hard in this foreign country with so many desires of her own she wishes that she always supresses because of her upbringing. Then we have Hesina, she was always beautiful and runs away with a guy she was in love with, later he abandons her and she gets jobs and loses them because different man keep making her fall for them to abandon them later. Different as they are this 2 Sisters keep relying in each other through letters. I thought it was very moving, and I really liked the ending for Nazneen while Hasina left me feeling worried and unhappy.

13.- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🌟🌟

I was very hyped for this book and I am so sad I didn't like it. I just didn't feel the world building was cohesive (we have space travel but we don't have baths??? And rapiers as weapons??? Most of it felt like aesthetic decisions) the characters felt very one dimensional to me. And the plot was all over the place, just when I thought I knew what it was about it takes another turn and introduces so many generes but it did not feel natural at all so yeah I will not be reading the next one.

14.- Luces de Bohemia de Ramón Maria del Valle Inclan

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Me pareció una obra maravillosa. Definitivamente captura el espíritu creativo bohemio.

15 .- Don Juan Tenorio de José Zorrilla

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Yo adoro el Tenorio, sin embargo si que he de decir que prefiero la versión del Burlador de Sevilla de Tirso de Molina pues siento que el final es más adecuado. Me parece que aunque la prosa es hermosa Doña Ines pierde mucha agencia en esta versión, me recuerda mucho más a Angelina de la obra "El Honor del Brigadier" que la versión que hizo de ella Tirso de Molina, definitivamente se romántiza mucho más está figura de seductor canalla en esta versión, aun así es una historia arraigada en México, es una tradición para mi verla cada Noviembre, este año me temo que no será posible así que disfrute muchísimo leerla.

#june 2020 warp up #booklr #dachi reads stuff

4 notes · View notes

ty-talks-comics · 5 years

Text

Best of Marvel: Week of August 7th, 2019

Best of this Week: Absolute Carnage #1 - Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin and Clayton Cowles

God is Here.

The seeds have been sown all over the Marvel Universe for the re-emergence of Carnage in a big way for months. He’s had single back-up pages in The Avengers, Black Cat, Captain Marvel, Immortal Hulk and many others portending his arrival and the sheer amount of people and creatures that are now within his thrall. Everything is coming to a head and it is absolutely terrifying.

The book begins with Eddie Brock recalling the events of everything Donny Cates has written since he took over the character.and other past events that have ultimately shaped what will soon happen. Eddie tells his son Dylan, who doesn’t know that Eddie is his father, about Knull, the God of the Symbiotes, and how he’s being kept asleep by the planet of symbiotes surrounding him. The only way for Knull to be woken up is if someone collected enough symbiote pieces and DNA to reconnect to the hive mind and if Knull is reawakened, he will begin spreading a new age of darkness across the cosmos.

Eddie references the fights against the Dragon of Knull in the beginning of his run, but also talks about the other people who have held the Symbiote or symbiotes. He pulls so much history out in so few sentences, along with a stellar double page spread by Stegman that one might be convinced to check out other great stories just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Characters from Maximum Carnage are shown, heroes that may have been changed during Venomized and of course Captain America, The Thing and Wolverine from the amazing Carnage USA.

After Eddie recounts the danger that the two are in, they see that Eddie is a wanted man after killing many inmates at Ryker’s Island. Of course Eddie was never there and after suspecting that they’re being followed, Eddie tells Dylan that they need to make a break for it and they run away from their tail into the subway. Unfortunately for them, Cletus Kasady was lying in wait and pushes them onto the tracks, only for them to be saved by their tail; Venom.

Eddie re-bonds with the symbiote after derailing the train and a new and terrifying Carnage confronts them. Stegman wastes not a single stroke in making Carnage look like a menacing force of pure psychotic evil. His teeth are jagged, his limbs are gangly with “skin” that looks like it’s constantly dripping with blood an his ribcage and spine are exposed, but covered in the same material. He could almost be considered skeletal if not for the pumping veins all around him. This is a Monster Carnage, even more terrifying than 2015’s Carnage series and many times more powerful.

Carnage, like most children of other symbiotes, has always been stronger than Venom. Though, with enough force and maybe some help, Carnage has always been defeated one way or another, but not this time. Kasady beats the ever living hell out of Venom, smacking him in the face and smashing him into the ground. He gets right on the cusp of killing him before Eddie grabs the third rail of the subway line and electrocutes the both of them, a temporary victory so that he and Dylan can escape. The symbiote puts Eddie into something of a coma while he heals the body and takes them to the one person that can help.

In a little diner where they think it’s safe, Eddie, Dylan and Spider-Man talk about what’s been going on. Spider-Man is taken aback and annoyingly jokes to Eddie about all of this being out of his league before a news report is shown depicting a mass grave of people that have had their spines ripped out, likely for the Symbiote DNA or Codices (plural for Codex) as Eddie calls them. After some chumps try to rob the diner, Spider-Man takes them out handedly while formulating a plan with Eddie, saying that Reed Richards could have made a machine to help remove the Codex from anyone that has ever been attached to a symbiote, but he would have needed to start long ago.

We then cut to The Maker, the Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe that has taken up residence in the 616 Universe, as he’s actually been working on such a machine for use on Flash Thompson. The Maker’s goals and those of his employers are unknown and that makes for horrifying implications because there is no way that he is up to any sort of good at all and makes it clear that he too is trying to reunite the symbiotes.

Spider-Man shows up with Normie Osborn as the first possible test subject, but doesn’t want it to be used until he knows that it’s safe. Maker moans that if he has to be so sure, then he should find someone else with a codex, someone dangerous that Carnage may in fact go after next. Peter and Eddie get the same thought: Norman Osborn.

Norman had used the Carnage symbiote to become the Red Goblin not too long ago and after his defeat at the hands of Spider-Man, lost his mind and gained the memories and personality of Cletus Kasady. Things go to hell in a handbasket very quickly as John Jameson, the guard who let them into Ravencroft also known as the Man-Wolf, reveals himself as another of Carnage’s infected puppets.

Mayer then coats the book in an intense and overbearing red hue, signaling nothing but danger as Carnage throws pieces of himself into each cell. There are elements of body horror as he pulls these tiny bits of himself out of his chest and they burrow into the victims. Kasady’s mouth and eyes also seem to drip with his symbiote form as he and the other barrel down on Venom and Spider-Man. A giant and beautiful brawl ensues with the infected ripping and tearing at the pair. The mass of bodies overwhelm and Eddie almost begins to kill before being reigned in by Spider-Man. Unfortunately Spider-Man gets caught by Carnage.

It was around here that I had the realization that Pete and Cletus haven’t actually clashed in YEARS. Maybe as far back as 2011’s Carnage USA was the last time the two fought, so to see Pete finally see him again with half of his mask gone, there’s a small bit of fear in his body language. This is doubled as Carnage throws Spider-Man into Norman’s cell door, breaking it open to reveal a deranged Norman who appears to have been slicing himself with a piece of glass in his cell. With the combination of the bright red of his blood juxtaposed against the darkness of his cell, Norman stands out, not as the cunning genius that we knew him, but as another victim of Carnage and he smiles with mad glee.

Absolute Carnage #1 absolutely lives up to the hype that has been built for it. This story can expand so far and with the tie-ins that have been announced, I’m actually very excited. Carnage has been scary, but this is on a whole new level for him. You never quite know who is one of his thralls! Hell, John Jamson appeared to be completely normal until the trigger was pulled in him and turned him into another monster. Carnage has always been a problem for the larger Marvel universe whenever people have had to fight him individually. Deadpool had a hard time fighting him. Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye and the Thing almost died fighting him. Even when he was temporarily a good guy during AXIS, he was still horrifically dangerous.

With new god-like abilities, lack of weaknesses and unimaginable unpredictability, what can anyone do?

Ryan Stegman’s art needs to be absolutely praised as well. His lines are crisp and heavy in an almost perfect way. He manages to give things a darkness and depth to them that makes everything feel absolutely brutal, disgusting and weighty. He can capture faces of absolute terror, rage and every wonderful expression that Venom makes. Personally I love how emotive he makes Spider-Man’s mask with the eyes widening and shrinking with his surprise or incredulity. He also has a talent for spreads as there are about three really good ones that really shows his skill for depth of field. Venom and Spider-Man also look incredibly strong. We all know that I love muscular art and all of their muscles are accentuated through their costumes. Spider-Man has his lithe and athletic body and Venom is nothing but raw strength and I love it.

Absolute Carnage hit every correct note. There was violence, horror and even a little bit of family drama. The stakes are very high and while not on the same scale as War of the Realms, the sheer amount of murders caused and their horrifying nature is more than enough to be concerned about. Donny Cates looks like he’s going to do it again with his first big Marvel event (I think, I don’t really remember) and bring us all to another level of badass storytelling.

High recommend.

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

I have never been more interested in Moira MacTaggert than I am right now.

Runner Up: House of X #2 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia and Clayton Cowles

I've always seen Moira as just another supporter of mutants that tragically had their life ended because of The Brotherhood's evil schemes. I loved that she supported Charles dreams and wanted to help mutants, but never actually knew that she herself was a mutant. She's always had something of a tumultuous history and this issue of House of X expands on that in the most amazing way and shows how important she truly has been in the advancement of the lives of mutant kind this entire time.

In her first life, Moira MacTaggert lived a fairly normal existence. She went to school, married, had kids and died at the rope old age of 78. Soon after, she woke in her mother's womb, capable of remembering everything that she had done in the past life. It was strange and she couldn't let on what she knew, but she knew that she was special somehow. It wasn't until she saw Charles Xavier on the news that it all clicked for her. When he said the word mutant, everything changed for her. She went to try and meet him, only for her plane to crash, ending that life.

In her third life, she dedicated herself to biology and sought out a cure for the X-Gene, achieving as much only for it to go horribly wrong when Mystique and Destiny, a character who died in Fall of the Mutants (1988) and was last seen in Necrosha (2010), appear and murder all of her fellow scientists. Destiny tells Moira that she knows what her abilities are and that if she continues down a path that could lead to the extinction of mutants, Destiny will always be there to stop her. She tells her that the only path to stop this cycle of reincarnation is to do whatever she can to help mutant kind.

As a reminder, Destiny has Pyro slowly burn Moira alive so that she never forgets what it will be like to die at her hands.

From here, Moira becomes a radical, leading lives that take her away from Xavier's dream and push her further into darkness. Everything becomes a lesson in repeating the past, however. At first she lives the normal life and history that we already know. Forming a school for gifted youth, the schism between Magneto and Charles, The X-Men and eventually Charles' and mutantkind's death at the hands of Sentinels.

In the life after that, she shows Charles her past lives and turns him into a radical, managing to take over America before Sentinels kill them again. The next sees her kill the Trask family line, only for someone else to design Sentinels instead. She aligns with Magneto or Apocalypse in different lives, all reaching similar or even worse endings.

Eventually, she realizes that there's only one path that she hasn't truly tried: Embracing the dream and making it real. This is the House of X timeline.

We've seen Moira passively protect mutants, but never engaged with Charles in a way that could truly help him. With knowledge of past events, the two can find a path forward that would not only save mutants, but propel their evolution farther. I believe that's why Charles has sought to UNITE everyone. Apocalypse, Magneto, Mystique, Mister Sinister, all of mutantkind under one banner to make the lives of all better. It's certainly a dream, but Moira MacTaggert is the linchpin that makes that dream a reality.

She's always been one of the X-Men's smartest and loyal friends. With her help, her genius behind Charles' vision there's no way that the House of X can fall. It's very telling that every path that utilizes violence or tries to eradicate one side has always lead to ruin. It's even more telling that even the peaceful path requires some bit of strong arming, but if that's what it takes to get humans to stop killing mutants, then it really doesn't matter. Charles will have peace between the two sides and Moira is more than willing to embrace this beautiful new path.

#comics #marvel #marvel comics #absolute carnage #carnage #venom #eddie brock #cletus kasady #spider man #donny cates #ryan stegman #jp meyer #house of x #x men #moira mactaggert #charles xavier #jonathan hickman #pepe larraz #marte gracia

18 notes · View notes