#SoulStar

[neg-im]

Black Star would call Maka Honey because of her hair.

Kid would be Pretty Boy (useful to start a fight and flirting)

Tsubaki is either Tsu or Cielo (I hc Black Star knowing spanish, either by being raised speaking it or learning out of spite)

Soul would be Sharky, it's kinda ridiculous but the way Black Star says it makes it clear that it's the most romantic pet name ever.

#im not gonna elaborate more #i just think he would give a special petname to a so #soul eater #death the kid #blackstar #maka albarn #tsubaki #deathstar #MaStar #SoulStar #tsustar

[christabelq]

'SOULSTAR' BOOK REVIEW...

I haven’t done a review for a while, but I felt I should for this book, as I didn't like it and wanted to explore why. The book’s about a necromantic witch called Robin, who is fighting to make the country of Aeland a better place. At first she tries to do this by working with the new king, who appears to be quite progressive, but as time goes on, it becomes clear he’s not the person she thought he was and she needs to take a different route. She takes over as the head of the Free Democracy party when the previous leader Jacob is assassinated and ends up bringing about a revolution. The blurb for the book describes it as A WHIRLWIND OF MAGIC, POLITICS, ROMANCE, AND INTRIGUE, which sounded right up my street, but it totally didn't live up to my expectations and here are some of the reasons…

One of the villains (a terminally ill old man) is tried near the end and sentenced to hang. I find the idea of capital punishment deeply troubling, so this was never going to sit well with me. I think it’s inhumane, and when mistakes happen (which they totally do), there’s nothing you can do about it. The trial also left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s what I believe is commonly referred to as a kangaroo court, when the accused isn’t given a chance to defend himself and the verdict’s pretty much decided before anyone says a word. To make matters worse, Robin traps the man’s soul in a tree for a thousand years after he’s been hanged. This isn’t part of the court’s decision and there’s no consultation. She just does it. For me this little display suggests that power has totally gone to her head and Aeland has simply traded one arrogant despot for another, which I’m sure wasn’t what the author had in mind.

The pacing feels off. Parts of the book seemed rushed (e.g. the revolution and a lot of the magic stuff), while other parts felt bloated and unnecessarily drawn out. The author seemed unable to tell what to focus on to best serve the story, and if there was any editorial guidance, it must have been pretty poor judging by how it turned out.

Complex issues are dealt with in what for me seems like a totally simplistic way. The revolutionaries are holier than thou and the people they’re fighting against are like pantomime villains, when in the real world, almost everyone is somewhere in the middle. You only really hear one viewpoint about stuff and the whole mess gets cleared up in a ridiculously short amount of time.

The character of Zelind. Zelind is non-binary, which on the face of it sounds great, but the sense I got was that khe was a token character. I had no clue about kher appearance or what kher life as non-binary was like (e.g. the specific challenges khe faced). I noticed that the author used the wrong pronouns for kher a few times (usually SHE/HER, but also at least one THEY), which made me wonder if KHE was once a SHE and the non-binary element was added quite late in the writing process to be on trend or something. It certainly doesn’t add to the plot in any way. If it wasn't a late change, then it's another example of sloppy editing. You expect that kind of slip in self-published books, but not when they're from a big company like Tor and not when its something people might be sensitive about. I also wondered how everyone the character meets seems to immediately know which pronouns to use for kher. I don’t have any direct experience of this myself, but I’m guessing it doesn’t always work that way for real non-binary people, so it doesn’t ring true. Another thing that didn’t seem realistic was the way the character rustled up a machine to generate electricity at the drop of a hat, when others have been trying for years and utterly failing. It’s not properly explained how khe is able to do it and it all happens off camera so to speak, so you don’t get to see what it actually involves. This character could have been so much more and for me was a big disappointment.

The plot feels contrived. I knew all along where the book was headed, so getting through it felt like a chore. There were also quite a few times when seemingly hopeless situations were quickly resolved by unlikely events, e.g. Robin happening to know there would be a hidden door which would allow her and Grace to escape from a burning room, or footsteps lying undisturbed on a snowy rooftop for days, so Robin can solve the mystery of Jacob’s assassination (luckily there hasn’t been any snow in the meantime and it hasn't melted either). Magic also felt a bit convenient at times and the rules around it seemed to shift to fit the plot.

So those are my biggest gripes. I won’t tell anyone they shouldn’t read the book, because I’ve seen a lot of glowing reviews and I’m sure a lot of people will 💜 it, but for me it just didn’t work. I haven’t read the other books in the Kingston cycle and I won’t be doing now. This one was more than enough. 2/5

#follow for follow #follow back #like for like #christabelq #christabel simpson #soulstar #soul star #kingston cycle #lgbtq books #queer author #c.l. polk #good idea badly written #revolution is super easy #tor need new editors #book review #book recommendations

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

The Kingston Cycle, A Summary:

Witchmark: Huh, it seems like people might be doing bad things for profit and power.

Stormsong: I'm trying to reform the system from within but gosh it is not going very well.

Soulstar: Burn it all to the motherfucking ground.

#cl polk #the kingston cycle #witchmark #Stormsong #Soulstar #post o' mine #clearing out the drafts

[segadriven]

New video! Core Design made some of the most technically impressive Mega CD games, and with Soulstar they may have made their best. Let’s take a look:

#gaming #sega #mega cd #sega cd #soulstar #core design #video #YouTube

[pewcat2]

"You taught me that I should make Aeland a better place than it was before," Grace said. "You told me to defend Aeland with everything I had. That's what I'm doing. I'm protecting Aeland from you." (Soulstar)

and

"You would applaud it if it were another woman," Ysbeta said. "You would call it ambitious, and bold, and brave. Why can't that woman be me?" (The Midnight Bargain)

be hitting me in the unique combination of mommy and daddy issues that come from being raised to be a strong, powerful woman by the same people that want me to dull my opinions when they make them uncomfortable.

Thank you, @clpolk, for emotionally ruining me for the forseeable future.

#c.l. polk #soulstar #the midnight bargain #the kingston cycle #inspiration

[chroniclesofnadia111]

✌🏾🖤🖤🖤🌙

#musiq soulchild #knxwledge #Musiq pt. 1 #soulstar #producers #hiphop #lofi #R&B #soul music #music #soundcloud #goodnight🌹

[reviewsthatburn]

There's something very satisfying about sitting down to read a series that's complete, ready and waiting for you to crack open and devour it. Finishing a series also requires readers to have supported each book along the way as they came out. Well, these duologies, trilogies, and series by authors of color are finished, available to be read entire. We've previously reviewed every entry on this list and included links to those thoughts for anyone who wants a bit more detail. While it's entirely possible that these authors may publish associated stories in the future (either sequels or just set in the same story universe), what's available now feels complete. Each entry includes the synopsis from the first book in the series.

Full post at link, book titles in tags.

#BookReviews #a song of wraiths and ruin #a psalm of storms and silence #raybearer #redemptor #empire of sand #realm of ash #queen of the conquered #king of the rising #these violent delights #our violent ends #the grimrose girls #the wicked remain #dread nation #deathless divide #witchmark #stormsong #soulstar #the kingston cycle #the hundred thousand kingdoms #the broken kingdoms #the kingdom of gods #the inheritance trilogy #shadow of the fox #soul of the sword #night of the dragon #ninefox gambit #raven stratagem #revenant gun #labyrinth lost

[iclout]

#whoknows #musiq soulchild #soulstar

[beelas-bees-art]

these are leafstorm(star), puddleheart and soulclaw(star). leaf and puddle are littermates while soul is their little brother. leaf and soul become leader of different clans and puddle is a medicine cat yayyy woohoooo

leafstorm also murdered the leader of their clan and got exiled but we dont need to talk about that

#embrace the weirdly colored cat beela. embrace it #warriors #warrior cats #old warrior ocs #leafstorm #leafstar #puddleheart #soulclaw #soulstar #my ocs #my art #leafs design is based off of a mine/craft creeper and soul is a mine/craft pig #while i believe puddle was supposed to be a cinderpelt ripoff #younger beela loved stealing ideas from the books and trying to execute it better

[musictyme]

Musiq Soulchild- Babymother

#Musiq Soulchild- Babymother #music #rnb #soul star #2003 #soulstar #2000s #music soulchild #musiq soulchild

[superbelievesintadcooper]

Ahh I finished Soulstar and it was fantastic! Beautiful end to the series, I'm so sad to be done. I love all of these characters so deeply and I know that they'll stay with me forever, they're always on my mind. Kingston Cycle has quickly become my favorite book series of all time and I'll definitely be rereading in the future!

#and i LOVED robin and zelinds romance #how they know each other so deeply yet have to re figure out their relationship after being apart for 20 YEARS #suchhh an interesting dynamic that i havent seen before #also love to see miles tristan grace and avia of course #now on to even though i knew the end!! #soulstar #the kingston cycle #cl polk

[neg-im]

The main cast is all in a big poly relationship.

Idc what anybody else says

#soul eater #im just in a big multishiper mood #mostly shiping Black Star to others but yeah #and Maka #MaStar #KidStar #SoulStar #KiMa #SoMa #CroMa #SoMaCro #TsuLiz #Tsubaki x Maka #Patty is in a queerplatonic relationship with Maka too

[extremesofmediocrity]

I just read The Kingston Cycle by CL Polk and even though it's a quintessentially Tumblr ™️ series I can't find other people talking about here.

My main question re: the series is, what the fuck was up with that?

We're just supposed to be cool with the death penalty all of a sudden?

#the Kingston cycle #cl polk #soulstar #also i did kind of feel like the author was feeling pressure to make all the characters queer #the only reason grace the straightest character I've ever seen ended up with a woman

[thumbedpages]

C.L. Polk - Soulstar

#c l polk #soulstar #books read 2021

[segadriven]

Soulstar is one of the Mega-CD’s showcase titles. A tour de force of sprite scaling and rotation and another outstanding release from Core Design who constantly made the console sing

#core design #sega #segadriven #sega cd #mega cd #gaming #soulstar

[soulstar07]

ahhhhh the old smell of tumblr, like a house that I left closed up for a year

#soulstar